A writer always reads

Magnet #728 - Thomas Jefferson's Library

If you think I picked up this magnet as my secondary magnet from my superdupercool Library of Congress tour a couple of years ago, you've got another think coming. A friend of mine picked this magnet up for me at ALA in Anaheim a few years ago.

That phrase "you've got another think coming" always cracks me up. It was the root of one of the first professional arguments I ever saw in the workplace. One of my colleagues always thought it was "you've got another thing coming," and made sure to change it in the manuscript that she was proofing.

Right? I mean, that's how most people think the phrase goes!

Instead, one of our other most OCD supervisors - ever - took much pleasure in correcting this thought.

I have never seen my friend so mad! She was arguing her own point to me days later, saying that the ordinary reader believes it to be "thing" and we should just fix it in the mass-market book she was working on.

Now, it's entirely possible that this type of "catering to the mass-market" in our editing and proofreading is what's helped chip away at our collective intelligence. But I worry that it might start even earlier than that.

Today, we had the pleasure of three 10-year-olds and a 4-year-old in the office. Great fun! And a good reminder of how much I love kids. And sending them home with parents.

Anyway, I pulled out a stack of books - I know! The nerve of me! Books! - for the girls to read to the 4-year-old. And all three older girls were like, uh, we don't want to read. One went so far as to say, I'm not a reader. I'm a writer.

Gasp!

I couldn't stop myself. I blurted out, But a writer always reads! She said, nah. I don't like reading. I just like to write. Which then led us into this tangent of how she's a blogger. No kidding, here. She's a 10-year-old blogger. Of fashion. (Of course, this was the girl who gets up an hour earlier than she needs to, to wash, dry, style, mouse and gel her hair, for her headband to stay in).

Eh, despite that, I do love this kid, and think she's the smartest thing ever, but I so wanted to cry when I heard she's a writer not a reader.

Sheesh.

The few. The proud.

Magnet #430 - Semper Fi

The U.S. Marine Corps adopted semper fidelis, Latin phrase for always faithful back in the 1880s, meaning that they're always dedicated to the mission, the country, their brotherhood. It's a way of life and a mantra they always live by, even after they've left service - once a marine, always a marine. There are no ex-marines.

I picked this magnet for today, because on this day in 1805, the Marines took Derna, on the coast of Tripoli (now Libya), part of the Barbary conflict, or the Barbary wars, or the Tripolitan War. I know!

Barbary what? Tripolwho? Guys, I'm a fairly intelligent soul with a pretty good grasp of history, but I'm still trying to remember where this section was during our AP U.S. History class! Or, any of my other history classes, for that matter.

This time period, though, has been getting a little more play with all the piracy issues we've been having of late, with folks comparing Obama to Jefferson.

The gist of the story is that at the time, we were still paying monetary tributes to Barbary pirates for safe passage along the Barbary Coast (made up of what's now Libya [once called Tripolitania], Tunis, Morocco, and Algeria). Some bad pasha reneged on the arrangement, and tried to get the ships to pay double.

Jefferson, as minister to France had been opposed to these tributes for several years, was now president, and took this opportunity to say hell no, we won't pay, and the Barbary conflict began. From what I gather, it was one of the first times America tried to execute foreign policy.

But, it was actually the first time the marines were sent to fight on foreign soil, and it included an overland desert march of something like 500-600 miles, while the navy fought along the coast. Once they took Derna, they were able to restore the pasha-ship back to the rightful ruler, and the guy was so grateful, he presented one of our guys with the Mameluke sword - the only ceremonial piece that we still use today.

You know the sword I mean - the one that the really hot marines use in the ads? Here's one. Or here. Or this knight one. I know, I can't help it. They can be a bit over the top with the majestic views and heroic music and sometimes silly storylines, but I do so love them. (And the hot marines. What? Like you didn't know that was coming.)

And no, I didn't know any of this before I looked it up, everything sort of just snowballed from there. But, hey. Now you know.

eta:
Hey! I totally forgot the obvious connection for the USMC to today...Chuck's Col Casey is a marine. Ya'll don't forget to buy a $5 footlong from Subway - although instead of a bonafide save the show campaign, there's a part of me that thinks that NBC's just in cahoots with Subway to drive traffic there to save a show that's a sure thing on the NBC schedule.