An Original Poem, My Sessions at NCTE, and Guest Blogging at the Turley Blawg

I wrote the following poem earlier this year for my blog Political Verses. First, I’ll provide you with the news story that inspired the poem:

Study Says Women With Mates Get Heavier
By Nicholas Bakalar
New York Times (January 4, 2010)

It is widely known that women tend to gain weight after giving birth, but now a large study has found evidence that even among childless women, those who live with a mate put on more pounds than those who live without one.

The differences, the scientists found, were stark.

After adjusting for other variables, the 10-year weight gain for an average 140-pound woman was 20 pounds if she had a baby and a partner, 15 if she had a partner but no baby, and only 11 pounds if she was childless with no partner. The number of women with a baby but no partner was too small to draw statistically significant conclusions.

There is no reason to believe that having a partner causes metabolic changes, so the weight gain among childless women with partners was almost surely caused by altered behavior. Moreover, there was a steady weight gain among all women over the 10 years of the study.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/health/05weight.html

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Look at the Man: A Poem Explaining Why Women with Mates Gain Weight

Once upon a time he was a prince.
Now every time I look at him I wince.
That dashing fellow who once caught my fancy
Now sports big boobies like my old Aunt Nancy.
As I dream of wedded bliss…a life diviner--
He croaks out to me from his worn recliner,
“Honey, do me a favor—be a dear—
Would you go and fetch me another ice cold beer?
And while you’re at it, get a bag of chips!”
Those are the loving words that pass through his wan lips.
He never buys me flowers, takes me dancing.
My mate’s not into sweet talk and romancing.
He’s always in a couch potato mode—
That prince I married turned into a toad.


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NCTE Annual Convention News
I’ll be presenting at two sessions at the NCTE Annual Convention in Orlando in November.

Session Title: Poets and Bloggers Unite: Using Technology to Connect Kids, Teachers, and Poetry
Date: November 19th
Session/Time: A.09—9:30 am to 10:45 am
Format: Panel

Other children’s literature bloggers who’ll be participating in the session along with me are Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children and Tricia Stohr-Hunt of The Miss Rumphius Effect. The poet members of our panel will be Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jame Richards, and Marilyn Singer.

NOTE: I'll be featuring Lee Bennett Hopkins on Wild Rose Reader next week.

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Session Title: Poetry for Children and Teachers at Its Best: The 2009 Notable Poetry Titles
Date: November 19th
Session/Time: C.20—12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Format: Panel
Panel Members: The NCTE Excellence in Poetry Committee

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FYI: I've been asked to be a guest blogger on Jonathan Turley's law blog next week. Professor Jonathan Turley is a legal scholar and a contributor at MSNBC. He has appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown.

In his post, Introducing Our New Guest Bloggers, today, Professor Turley wrote the following:

I am happy to report we will be implementing another one of your suggestions for improving the blog. Various people suggested a year ago that we have guest blogging to allow regulars a chance to make entries on the blog. With my upcoming speech in France, I thought it would be a great time to try this out for a week from October 31st to November 6th. I have selected three of our best known and most respected regulars: David Drumm (aka Nal), Elaine Magliaro (aka Elaine M) and Mark Esposito (aka Mespo).

You can read the rest of Professor Turley's post here.

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have an original fairy tale poem--an urgent FAX message written by the seven dwarfs to Snow white. I also have links to other Wild Rose Reader posts with witch poems and recommendations for poetry and picture books perfect for Halloween reading.

Toby Speed has the Poetry Friday Roundup at the Writer’s Chair.