Cupcakes for Japan

Last weekend in New York my sister and I saw this (she's a much better photographer than I am, and if she sends me HER pictures, they will replace this!).

In case you can't read the sign:


I loved this! Sometimes I think that children now don't have as much fun as they did when I was a child, with all their activities and pressures -- but as one mother said, those prepare them for life as it is now. It's true, too, that some kids thrive on scheduled lives.

But this kind of thing -- and (to site just one of many examples) how NICE I've seen kids be to kids with disabilities -- makes me think that many children now are just plain NICER than I was at their age. It would never have occurred to me or any of my friends to do anything for victims of an earthquake! It gives me hope.

It also got me thinking about charity and promotion -- what would YOU think of our doing some on this blog? My mixed thoughts: it IS nice to do something to help Japan or for that matter any group or cause that needs help. But is it better to do it without linking it -- however indirectly -- to products (even if those products are something else I believe in -books?) and the promotion of authors/artists? We as a group might raise more money than any of us could donate or raise individually. So I have come down on the side of doing something for the charity on the blog even though part of me does think it's in bad taste: what does good taste matter if we raise even $5 more for someone who needs it. BUt what do you think? Should we just keep it separate from our blog (what we have always decided to do up to now)? Would it offend or bore or annoy any of you?

Lastly, thank you, Jill and Julie, for your great advice about writing on the go! I'm following it already and it's working.