Indexed

Whoever has been Googling "bitter knife-wielding children," you've got the wrong blog.

Elf dung

Blogging will continue to be light as long as the global economic apocalypse continues. In fact, consider me on strike. Me and Santa.

Santa Claus Bailout Hearings - watch more funny videos

cartographic imaginary

My favorite pedant and local-historian, Mitch Fraas, has started a new blog about Durham. It's what you might call a specialized blog. He's specializing in maps of Durham. [And they said it could be done!]

Hold on to your butt, Strange Maps. You've got competition.

Education

As some of you know, last year I browbeat most of my friends of into donating to a charitable cause in which I am heavily invested. For the last couple of years, I have been raising money to help send my former host sister in rural Nicaragua to high school. This year, Iveth is set to graduate -- an AMAZING feat considering the odds a woman of her means faces -- and I am determined not only to assist her in her final year of secondary school, but also to begin raising funds for her younger sister, Joselin. Last year the department came together and raised around $450; this year I'm hoping to raise $880.

If you are interested in helping or learning more about this project, please visit my website to read about Iveth and Joselin's story:

http://ivethbetancour.blogspot.com/

Please consider donating. Schooling in Nicaragua is free; we are merely trying to raising the funds they need to cover transportation costs -- about $1.75 a day per student. A donation of $10 sends Iveth or Joselin to school for more than a week. If you are willing, please pass this link around to your friends and family, post it to your social networking profiles, and publish it on your blogs. This is an eminently worth cause. http://ivethbetancour.blogspot.com/

Why I haven't blogged in a week

An expected series of unfortunate events has rendered me unable to blog in the past couple of days. First, my good friend, Chris Hentzen, died suddenly of heart failure, which prompted a trip home to Kansas City. Upon returning to the Dirty Durham, I was dismayed to sense the beginnings of a serious cold, which has made my first day at the library in a week little more than a prolonged and uncomfortable nap.

As unhappy it is to have to bury a friend, especially a young one, my trip back to the City of Fountains wasn't without its upsides. For one, it was nice to be with my old friends, reminiscing about the old days, going through old photos, and watching hours of (painful) videos from high school parties. I was also fortunate that my unexpected trip brought me into to town for Bloomsday, which I spent at the always delightful Bloomsday Books, where I sat and listened, appropriately enough, to a reading of the "Hades" episode. I also picked up a John Banville novel, which I am very much looking forward to reading. And in blog news, my friend Jack Barry alerted me to the existence of a blog named Phoneless Cord, written by our friend Rachel, which I will be stealing content from soon.

More content to come once my body heals itself.