The House You Pass On the Way, reviewed by Theodora Ranelli

The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson
Please read this book. Do not read the review, do not pass go, just read the book.

The House You Pass on the Way is an incredible book, rich with language and layers. This book is only 99 pages long, but manages to fill many different voids. Staggerlee is fourteen and re-names herself after the character in the song when she realizes that the words were more about someone trying to shake off their chains than about a murder. She decides that she is going to shake off her chains. Living in the South, she is ostracized because her mother is White (her extended family shun them for this reason as well) and her grandparents are famous (deceased, but famous). She kissed a girl once and people made fun of her, since then she thought loving a woman was a bad thing. A cousin she never knew comes to stay with her for the summer and the two form an intense connection. This girl named herself ‘Trout’ because she wanted to be a fighter. They discus racism, family, identity, and sexuality as they wonder who they are. After Trout’s gone and seems to be headed in an opposite direction, Staggerlee wonders about herself, who she will become, and understands that she’ll have to go alone.

A wonderful depiction of how sometimes there are no easy answers, of the importance to keep moving even if you do not understand, of giving yourself over to the ride. The music adds to the book's texture. I saw Staggerlee's harmonica as something that she will always have, even if life erupts in chaos.

This review really does not do the book justice. Woodson packs quite a punch. Haunting, rare, and needed.

Katie Couric Loses 20 Pounds in 20 Seconds!

A lot of people are talking about this altered photo of Katie Couric (above).

From an MSNBC article:

The incoming “CBS Evening News” anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing. The touched-up photo of Couric dressed in a striped business suit appears on the inside of the September issue of Watch! which is distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights.

So, why are so many people talking? Why isn't the same attention brought to all the models and actors that get airbrushed all the time? Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that someone got caught. But why has it taken so long for them to get caught?

We want to hear from YOU!
Why are so many people talking about this?
Are you glad people are talking about airbrushing, or
do you think the media is making a big deal out of nothing?
Now that airbrushing is "the norm," do you think it's OK? Why or why not?

Voice Box: Pluto

Scientists have recently decided that Pluto is not a planet. They say that due to its size and strange orbit, it is actually more likely a resident of the Kuiper Belt. In order to determine what a planet is, the IAU (the International Astronomical Union) came up with guidelines. The first is that in order to be a planet, the candidate had to be a sphere. Unfortunately, this also included moons and some asteroids. The second condition is that the planet has to orbit around the sun. These two criteria led to solar system with far too many planets, including Pluto, UB313, Ceres (an asteroid located in between Mars and Jupiter), Pluto’s own moon Charon, and numerous celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt. So they IAU added a third. In order to qualify as a planet, these bodies would have to dominate their own orbit. This limited the number of planets to eight. Now textbooks, films, books, papers, and even gift shop items must be changed to eliminate Pluto’s claim to planet-hood. What is your opinion, should Pluto be a planet or not? Tell us what you think!

55802--The Office. Part One

Welcome to New Moon® Publishing, Inc. located in the Duluth's wonderful zip code, 55802. This is where New Moonies make all the magazine magic happen! What is a "New Moonie" exactly? A New Moonie is what New Moon employees like to call themselves and each other.

Let’s get started with the tour!







Your tour guides Jen and Melanie!





When you walk into our office you will be greeted by Jen's friendly face. If she's not here, just ring the bell for service.
A New Moonie will rush from her office to assist you. If you have to wait for a few minutes (because sometimes we don’t hear the bell) you can admire the beautiful millennium quilt hanging on our wall.

In 1999, New Moon sent out a call for girls to send in their home-made quilt squares that portrayed girls and women of the past, present, and future. We received over 3,000 squares! The squares were sewn into 50 different quilts, which toured in various universities, libraries, museums, and community centers throughout the U.S. The tour closed in 2003 and the quilts are on permanant display around the U.S. We are proud to display this one in our office!



The best room in the office is the conference room because we have large windows facing one of the busiest intersections in Duluth: Lake Ave and 1st Street.We have seen many interesting and scary things during lunches and meetings. One of the scariest things happened on a Sunday when no one was here. A car came down Lake Ave and tried to turn on to 1st Street and didn’t make it. The car hit our building and left a mark. This happened last winter and we can still see the evidence of the accident. As far as we know, no one was hurt.



The wall was caving in, so now we have a temporary plywood wall in the conference room.


All of the beautiful tiles on the outside of the building need to be replaced.


All of New Moon Publishing’s awards are displayed on the walls of the conference room. (Except the Golden Lamp award because we just won that) We spent many grueling days hanging our awards. It was worth it, because the conference room looks awesome!


This is only a small sample of our many achievements! To see them all, come visit us!

Next time...55802--The Office. Part Two
We'll explore bathrooms, birthdays and bins!

Should kids vote?

Hey, girls. Our September/October 2006 issue, "Politics and Leaders" is just about to hit the news-stands. Our Voice Box question asks whether kids should be allowed to vote. We'd love to get lots of responses to this question so that we can include the answers in our January/February "Letter to Congress" issue. But in order to do that, we need your responses by September 6th! So let us know what you think. Send your opinions to girl@newmoon.org and include your complete name, age, and address. See below for a copy of the full Voice Box, written by Emily C.

Not long ago, several groups in the U.S. fought for the right to vote. Women couldn’t vote until 1920. Native Americans couldn’t vote until 1924, and then only in some states. And until Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, many African Americans couldn’t vote because they couldn’t pass the required literacy tests (which were often rigged) or pay poll taxes. During the Vietnam War, 18-year-olds claimed they were old enough to vote if they were old enough to fight. Congress agreed, and in 1971, they changed the legal voting age from 21 to 18. Some people think the voting age should be lowered again. They argue that letting young people vote will decrease voter apathy.

California Senator John Vasconcellos recently proposed an amendment that would give 16-year-olds a half vote and 14-year-olds a quarter vote in California elections. Iowa, Washington, Maine, Texas, and Minnesota also have considered lowering the voting age.

Opponents of the change say 16-year-olds aren’t mature enough to vote. They point out that teenagers’ judgment hasn’t fully developed yet and they might be too easily persuaded by political candidates, parents, and teachers. But those in favor of lowering the voting age say that because teenagers study current events, politics, and government in school, they know just as much as most adults.

Some people also say that since teenagers often hold part-time jobs and pay taxes, they should be allowed to vote.

What do YOU think?
1. At what age should people be allowed to vote? Why?
2. Should kids’ votes count as full votes or partial votes?
3. Would you vote in national elections if you could? Why or why not?
4. Do you think politicians would treat young people differently if teenagers could vote?

Get Into Giving

There are a lot of kids whose parents can't afford to buy them school supplies. Today one of our local radio stations collected school supply donations for the Boys and Girls Club of Duluth. Their goal was to fill a school bus with bookbags, notebooks, crayons, pencils, pens, etc. I thought, "You know, I can help out with this!" So, this morning I went to Target and bought a donation. It made me feel good to contribute to something. It didn't take a lot of time out of my day (I was late for work, however) and it didn't cost a lot of money, but I know that some little girl or boy out there will be grateful that they have a Superman backpack with notebooks to write in and pens and pencils to write with. These are the types of things that leave an impression on the world and a good feeling in your heart.

We want to hear from you!
What charitable work, community service or causes are you working for or donating to? What causes are you passionate about? Tell us about it!

A Wonderful Surprise

Two unexpected guests made our day today!

Sarah Vokes and Alison Pflepsen stopped by the New Moon office late this morning. Sarah was one of New Moon's founding Girls Editorial Board members in 1992 and the first GEB member to retire-that's her to the right of Nancy Gruver in this photo. On the left is Alison, who interned with New Moon in 1997. Both Alison and Sarah traveled to the International Girls Summit in Beijing, China, with New Moon in 1995.

These two young women are both in graduate school right now, and it was so fun to see them and hear a few stories from their high school days--as many of our readers probably know, life for a high-school feminist can be challenging sometimes. ;)

If you're a past GEB member or a past New Moon reader, please write to us with an update. Or, stop by and see us!

WE SPOKE OUT!

The GEB girls (and Catherine) talk about the Sept/October 2006 "Politics and Leaders" issue of New Moon Magazine.

Women and Girl leaders came together to speak out about politics and leadership at a community forum in downtown Duluth on August 22, 2006! Community leaders, including Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson, St. Louis County Commissioner Peg Sweeney, and Duluth City Councilor Laurie Johnson, joined New Moon girl editors, girls from the community, and other women leaders for a night of great discussion!


New Moon and the YWCA collaborated on this event because of the need for girls and women's voices to be heard in the area of politics. We started off the evening with an introduction to the event by the YWCA's executive director Ellen O'Neill, who explained the importance of "Women's Equality Day" on August 26, the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Ammendment, which allowed women the right to vote.

Some girls who attended the event to encourage people to vote for their mom.


Next, we heard from New Moon's girl editors who talked about their new September/October issue "Politics and Leaders". The GEB girls also talked about things you can do in your community before you can vote. Examples were, writing a letter to your representatives, and newspaper editors, starting a petition, or protesting.

After the New Moon girls Q &A, Peg Sweeney, St. Louis County Commissioner, spoke about how she got involved in politics ,and why she feels it's important for more girls and women to get involved.


Then we broke into small groups for more in depth discussion. We came back at the end of the evening to talk as a large group about the next steps we can take to keep our voices out there in the world!

I was in a small group with Duluth's only female city councilor, Laurie Johnson, and we were very interested in learning more about her role on the council. She was very excited to share her thoughts and ideas with us and invited the New Moon girl editors to sit in with her on a city council meeting. She's an inspiration for women in the community who would like to one day run for office and it was so valuable that we got to hear her story.

Here's some reactions from other New Moonies who attended:

"My group talked about the barriers that keep girls from becoming politically-active--the lack of female role models was cited by all, as well as the need for better hands-on, nuts-and-bolts education in schools." -Catherine Conover, Assistant Managing Editor.

"I felt empowered and energized after the event." -Melanie McDowell, Administrative Assistant

Overall, the night was a great success! We had a chance to speak or minds, and we are ready and willing to stay involved and keep our voices heard in the world of politics. Stay tuned for our January/February 2007 issue "Letters to Congress."

What do you want Congress to know? What issues are important to you right now? Post a comment, or write to us!

Politics: "Not just for old dudes"

Photo at right: Crystal works on a poster for the "Girls & Women Speak Out" event.

One of our girl editors shared her thoughts on politics in the Duluth News Tribune on Saturday:

Sonja Peterson is five years away from being able to legally vote.

But the Two Harbors resident still thinks it's important for girls her age to start digging into politics.

"Women don't make up enough of our government," said Peterson, who has been an editorial board member of New Moon magazine for about a year. "This is important for (girls) to know about now. A lot of girls think politics is just a bunch of old dudes sitting around in a room."

Here at New Moon, we've been thinking about and working on the "Politics & Leaders" issue (September/October 2006) for a looong time, so we're very excited to actually have the issue in our hands! When I told Janna--the Duluth News Tribune reporter who called for more information about our "Girls and Women Speak Out" event--that our Girls Editorial Board chose the "Politics & Leaders" theme two years ago, she was surprised. Janna said she often only has two or three hours to do all the reporting and writing for a newspaper story!

I can't wait to get feedback on our September issue and hear what other girls and young women have to say about politics tomorrow evening at our "Girls and Women Speak Out" event. If you can't make it to the event, come back to the blog later this week to read our recap. Plus, send us YOUR thoughts on politics!

"Teen hopes to reach out to other teen girls"

Check out this nice article in the Sherwood Park News about Joanne Cave, author of the "Go, Girl!" article in our July/August issue. We love it when our fabulous writers get noticed!