In The News!

Hope you saw the great article (note: link no longer avail) about Sit Stay Read in the Chicago Tribune Magazine yesterday! Rick Kogan and Charles Osgood visited us at Faraday School a few weeks ago for the Sidewalks column and did a fabulous job of capturing the program.

That's Shandy with Rick when he came to the office to drop-off copies of the magazine that he'd promised the students. As you can see in the second photo, they were thrilled to get them this morning.

Dancing Dog

As you can see, the students in Ms. Garcia's class at Lowell School were enthralled yesterday when Sarah Cullen Fuller read "James the Dancing Dog".

Sarah is a recently (like last week!) retired dancer from Hubbard Street Dance. Although still plenty busy working with special events at Hubbard Street, Sarah graciously volunteered to be a Sit Stay Read Guest Reader. The kids loved hearing about how she learned to dance and all the exciting places she visited.

I just hope the students don't expect the SSR dogs to dance when they return to the classroom in May!

Shandy Dog Tags Poem

I've never been one to write poetry but the poetry dog tags really make it fun. You just pull some tags from the tin and see what comes to you. Here's the one I mentioned about Shandy--almost seems inspired by the February poem of the month although it was random tags pulled from the box.

Her dark angelic eyes
Consume heart and soul.

Meet Our Newest Dog Teams!

Congratulations to our six new Dog Teams who were certified at the Sit Stay Read test at Call of the Wild on March 3rd.

In the full group photo, that's Julie with her mixed breed, Gracie; Marcia with Cavalier, Abbie; Sara and Ellie; Kathy and Maggie; Karen and Mystic; and Scott with Marley. (Click on a photo to enlarge.)

You're sure to be seeing these great teams in programs soon.

Poetry Dog Tags

The Chicago Cultural Center across from Millennium Park has a great gift shop where you can always find fun stuff.

Recently I couldn't resist the cool glycerin soaps from the Enterprising Kitchen that were reminiscent of the ice paintings in the park. And I just had to buy the Poetry Dog Tags seen here. I love to pull a few tags from the box, see what comes up for the day, and wear them as a literary reminder.

The first day I wore: Billions beat as one
While Richard's read: Free, fast, happy

It wasn't until later that we realized how well they work together. I'll post more later--there's one for Shandy that I especially like.

Ice Paintings

In case you didn't get to visit the Museum of Modern Ice in Millennium Park before the exhibit closed, here are a few photos. We finally took the el down there last weekend so we barely made it ourselves. Wish we'd been able to see it at night.

(Click on photo to see larger version.)

Laverne Pays a Visit

Laverne was tuckered out the day she visited the office. She'd been cross country skiing down at the lake front in the morning and was in need of a nap.

The second photo shows her on a perkier day. She's giving Bears player Joshua Beekman a kiss hello before they head into a Sit Stay Read program at Lowell School last fall.

March Poem of Month

This poem by Trish Dugger, Poet Laureate of the City of Encinitas, in California, came in a weekly update from American Life in Poetry. It's nice to get a poem each week. Usually makes me stop and ponder.

Spare Parts
We barge out of the womb
with two of them: eyes, ears,

arms, hands, legs, feet.
Only one heart. Not a good

plan. God should know we
need at least a dozen,

a baker's dozen of hearts.
They break like Easter eggs

hidden in the grass,
stepped on and smashed.

My own heart is patched,
bandaged, taped, barely

the same shape it once was
when it beat fast for you.