Play with your words

It's National poetry month, everyone. Dare to disturb your universe.
Find a line that makes you want to turn cartwheels and then chalk it all over the sidewalk. Break out your poetry notebooks and free some verse.

Not sure where to begin?
Try the Internet Public Library's Poetry Page. It has lots of word play exercises and ideas to get you started.

Next, go play with the magnetic poetry game online, or make your own set of refrigerator words and play away!


DIY Magnetic Refrigerator Words - More DIY How To Projects

Once you are ready to dive right in...
Try Immersed in Verse: an informative, slightly irreverent & totally tremendous guide to living the poet's life by Allan Wolf, and "may the metaphors be with you" as you learn how to rearrange your favorite poems, stage an open mic night in your basement, record some spoken word, and get your work published.



Don't forget to drop by the Bealeton Library this month and help decorate the Poet-tree with a line or two from a poem you love.
If you can't make it to Bealeton, you can post your favorite lines of poetry here in the comments section.

Here is one of my favorites from "Coal" by Audre Lord:

"Some words are open like a diamond
on glass windows
singing out within the crash of sun"

Teen Tech Month: Mixed Emoticons

Main Entry: emo·ti·con
Pronunciation: \i-ˈmō-ti-ˌkän\
Function: noun
Etymology: emotion + icon
Date: 1987
Definition: a group of keyboard characters (as :-)) that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications (as e-mail)

From: Merriam Webster Online

How expressive are emoticons? I think most of us occasionally sprinkle them in emails and IMs. I find them quite handy when I need to clarify the meaning behind my words. ;)

Could you write a poem or tell an entire story with emoticons? Rives, a comedian, storyteller and slam poet, does just that. Watch.



Feeling inspired? Try writing your own emoticon poem in the comments section, below.

If You'd Never Been Born, Well What Would You Be?

You might be a fish! Or a toad in a tree!

Celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss today. Head on over to Seussville and play in the playground or create your own seuss-story.

Post a comment: What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

March is Teen Tech Month

The Young Adult Library Association's 3rd Annual Teen Tech Week is March 8-14 this year. Fauquier Libraries will celebrate throughout the month of March with gaming events, a text-messaging contest, polls, and more. Watch this space for updates each week.

So, Why is there a Teen Tech Month, Anyway?

Teen Tech Month is all about connecting teens with different technologies, especially those available through the library. This year, librarians across the country are encouraging teens to "press play" on mp3 players, DVD players, game controllers and more. Teens use these digital devices to explore and learn about their world - and libraries are here to help. Download an eAudiobook to your computer or mp3 player and get lost in a fantasy world. Check out a DVD and learn how to Pop, Lock, and Break, or start speaking Chinese with a book on CD.

Press Play

One of the best ways to learn a new technology is by "playing" with it. Some teens at the Cedar Lee Library Lounge have been learning HTML after school with the HTML Playground over at www.smartgirl.org (boys are welcome to play, too). The tutorial gives you some tips on building your first web page and lets you try out some commonly used tags with instant results.

For kids who are interested in building their first web site, check out A Kid's Guide to Creating Web Pages For Home and School by Benjamin and Peter Selfridge. It's a great beginner's guide for parents, too!

We Have a Winner

Congratulations to Tanner Russo of Liberty High School, the winner of Fauquier County Public Library's Created Equal Essay Contest.

Thank you to all the young writers who took the time to think and write about the topic of equal rights. Your essays were all beautifully written and an inspiration to read. Way to go!