Mike Sheehan shares his excellent sketches documenting the Murrieta immigration protests:

David is excited that the “Trapper Keeper lives!”.

Renee shares the story of a teacher who is looking for donations of journals for her students. She successfully collected 100 journals for the 2013-2014 school year, and now she needs to do it again! Please help her collect 100 journals by August 18, 2014 by sending a hardcover, lined journal of approximately 150-200 pages (with no references to drugs, sex, religion, etc, so it’s school-appropriate, though you are welcome to write an encouraging message to the student on the first page) to this address:

Alston Middle School
Attn: Ms. Krauklis
500 Bryan Street
Summerville, SC 29483

You can also make a contribution to her page at DonorsChoose.

 

And Alicia shares her own notebook story, about writing in notebooks in unusual places:

“I’m someone that only writes my novels in notebooks. I’ve tried typing them directly into my computer…it doesn’t work for me. My characters’ voices lose all enthusiasm and emotion…some of them even refuse to speak to me at all. There’s just something about a notebook and a pen. 

I have taken notebooks many places. I have written next to rivers, on the beach, on airplanes…but one of my favorites has been when I had a gay bar that I went to regularly with a friend and wrote there pretty regularly too. The first time I took my notebook to the bar with me was on Drag Bingo night. And yes, I went back and forth between my notebook and my bingo cards. I had several people come up to me and ask me if I was working on homework in the bar and I would respond “nope, I’m writing a novel” usually without even looking up. My friend Steven was fascinated by how much attention I got by not paying attention to anything going on around me. He insisted after that first night that I needed to bring my novel notebook with me from then on. I had lots of people ask me how I could write in that environment, but it was actually not hard at all. It’s all the same kind of music and all the same level of loud so it’s quite easy to make into background noise. I often had people ask me if they could read what I was writing. I would look at them with horror on my face and respond “no. No one reads the notebook…no one touches the notebook.” I wouldn’t even leave my notebook unattended on the table to get a drink or use the restroom. I had to know that someone from my party was going to be at the table while I was gone. 

 

Some of my friends recently made me set aside one of my beloved notebooks because it was falling apart. It made me sad because that notebook was the one that I took to that bar…it put up with many spilled drinks and long nights…as well as notes from classes, drawings from friends and even a few phone numbers. But it hasn’t completely gone away…I still have it in a safe place, mostly because it has a large chunk of my third book in my trilogy written in it that I haven’t managed to get typed up yet…it’s just not allowed to go out in public anymore. 

I love my notebooks. They are some of my most precious possessions.”

As always, thank you to everyone who sends in so many wonderful tips, photos and stories!