Okay, folks. Last Friday night, Oct. 30, the craziest thing happened at CHS. We had a school dance with a live dj, trance music, black lights, strobes ... the whole bit. The students wanted to do this thing, wanted to call it a rave. Donna Jones and I knew we couldn't call it a rave and have the administrators understand. So we called it a fall dance. Man, did the kids have fun! Just look at all the fun they had. Dontcha just love it?

Frank and Steve Markley played music today at the Democratic rally in West Plains. The music was really for background and ambiance while people inspected the items for sale at the silent auction and shook hands with the local politicians. I listened in my usual somewhat jaded fashion to a young guy from Rolla, Tom Sower, who plans to run against Jo Ann Emerson. I was pleasantly impressed, especially since one of the first issues he mentioned is the low pay for women in this congressional district. He reported that our congressional district has the lowest average salary for women in the entire nation, and he said he wants to change that. All right. If you're interested in seeing a Missourian represent us in Congress, check out his web site at http://www.sowersforcongress.com and see what I mean.

CHS Library now has audio books. Thanks to Susie Skeen, we now have access to this new format. I'm hoping that students who are reluctant readers will look forward to reading Twilight and The Chronicles of Narnia.





I cataloged new books today; they are now ready to check out. The sci-fi appealed to me. Exodus and Zenith by Julie Bertagna are based on the idea of rising ocean waters that cause people to begin the search for higher ground. A woman discovers that the earth's wealthiest people built cities in the sky. Sounds intriguing.

Imagine you're Homer Collyer. You're blind and dependent on your brother Langley who marks the passage of time by collecting mounds of newspapers, a Model T that he reassembles in your dining room, pianos and piano parts, and typewriters - lots of typewriters. E. L. Doctorow's latest novel Homer and Langley tells the story of the two Collyer brothers who live in their parents' three - story Manhattan brownstone for fifty years after their parents die from the influenza outbreak. They watch the world pass by, peeking between their closed shutters. When I finished this completely satisfying novel, I wanted to learn more about the real Collyer brothers. A New York Press article (http://www.nypress.com/article-293-the-collyer-brothers-of-harlem.html) revealed the story of an ingenius hoarder. In real life, Langley was an engineer who used his knowledge to build a rabbit warren of tunnels in the family home using bales of newspapers.
After the brothers' deaths, crews removed 130 tons of Langley's carefully collected and arranged treasures. The novel gives a fascinating look at two eccentric, truly American personalities. Give it a try - E. L. Doctorow's novel perfectly captures the period.



.