On Monday, October 2 from 3-6pm, there will be a reading from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at the Berkeley Central Library in recognition of Banned Books Week, which is September 29 - October 6. Ry will be signing up to read a passage, as he just finally read this first in the series....without being too scared! He's now moving on to book 2, and writing his first book report at his new school on book 1....so it seems fitting that he should participate. They'll be reading in front of the library with a microphone, so anyone who's interested, just come out, sign up, and read! J.K. Rowling is the 4th most frequently challenged author between 1990 and 2004. A little background from the American Library Association website: "A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others." And guess who challenges materials more than any other group? Parents, of course. So, for my part, during Banned Books Week, and beyond, I shall try to live by their motto, shown above.

Some tidbits for your weekend planning...........Speaking of mariachis, (a few posts ago, which of course you know because you read every single post, yes?) there is a Mariachi Festival this weekend in San Jose that will have three stages of music and dance, food, drinks, and family activities. I know, San Jose sounds far, but it's really not that bad. What I discovered through this website also, is that the Mexican Heritage Corporation offers the Mariachi Youth Program in 5 San Jose area schools. It offers skill-based sequential mariachi music instruction with bi-lingual instructors. Students choose from the trumpet, violin, guitar, guitarrón or vihuela. Everyone also receives instruction in voice, and ensemble musicianship. And it's free! I wish we had that in Oakland.

Mariachis (and San Jose) not your thing? How about a Clothing Swap in San Francisco on Saturday? I could kick myself.....just yesterday I took an entire trunk full of clothing to Goodwill....and while everything will hopefully find a good home, it would have been a lot more fun to take it here. Everything that doesn't get traded gets donated at the end. And it's a party-like time with music and refreshments! Who wouldn't want to be there?

On Friday, it is once again PARK(ing) Day. The mission? "To rethink the way streets are used, call attention to the need for urban parks, and improve the quality of urban human habitat....at least until the meter runs out!" Check out this video overview and then go to the PARK(ing) Day site for ideas on how you can create your own PARK. Also be sure to click on the map page for all the locations to go view the PARK(ing) spots. (Thanks to streetsblog.org for the image)

Saturday night you might enjoy a free movie brought to you by your East Bay Regional Park system. The Princess Bride will play at the Lake Chabot Fairmont Ridge Staging area. The movie starts at 8 pm but get there early and bring your chairs.

And finally, on Sunday, the Little Farm at Tilden will be having their Little Farm Fair with music, entertainment, crafts, and old fashioned games, including pie-eating contests, sack-races and more. They're dedicating their new cow barn, so come on out and celebrate!

Oh, oh....I think we might have a little A's fan now. We all had a great time and if I could figure how to upload a video of them singing, I would. So I used my charm (no really, I can be charming) to talk my way down to the front row right over the visitor dugout, and by the time the boys had finished, a very nice couple gave us their extra tickets so we could sit down there for the game. So part of the game we got the big picture view from the 2nd level in foul territory past the 1st base line, and part of the game was right over the Mariner's dugout. Who beat the A's by the way. Badly. Which Ry now cares about because the A's have become his 2nd favorite team. Hmmm.

Ry's first gig with his new Chorus will be Monday night, 9/17, at the A's game. They'll be singing the National Anthem.....so check your local listings for the A's vs. the Seattle Mariners. The game starts at 7:05, I believe, and chances are probably pretty slim that they'll televise the National Anthem, but you never know. We have to temporarily set aside our Giants loyalty in order to commit to this. We feel that we can do it for the greater good of musicality in the bay area.....or something like that.

Separated at birth?

I went paddling on the outrigger canoe today for the second time in about a month. Before that? Two years. Before that? Four or five years. Before that? Every week! When we lived on Russian Hill I could walk down Larkin to the steps that essentially led all the way down to Aquatic Park and paddle every Saturday morning. Or ride my motorcycle (Honda Rebel 250 baby!) with my paddle slung on the side. But even more than having children, the move to Oakland really put an end to my weekly paddles. For those who don't know, I actually own an outrigger with a community of women, and have since the early '90's. In the mid-'90's I also joined a formal outrigger canoe club and raced as a novice. The kids love to look at my shiny medals (I have to admit....I do, too). But one season of racing was enough, and I realized that I much preferred my little community of wahines and a nice paddle on the San Francisco Bay without any training agenda. So no matter how many years go by, how many kids gets born, how many husbands and boyfriends come and go, we still go on.....and maybe go for a skinny dip in the bay a little less than before (except for the new recruits....and by new I mean the less than 10 year wahines.....who enjoy stripping down if you just mention the phrase "anyone for a swim?"). I've decided that if I can find the time to hike, I can certainly find the time for a 25 minute drive over to my old stomping grounds to do what I truly love to do. And by the way.....those are the sea lions at Pier 39 in the photo taken today. Hard to see with the phone-cam, but you get the idea.

Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano

Photo by Rosalie O'Connor

Single tickets for the 2007-08 San Francisco Symphony season have gone on sale. Four highlights not-to-be-missed - two new, two familiar. The familiar: Peter & the Wolf (see Dec. 17, 2006 post) and the Chinese New Year Celebration (see Feb. 25, 2007 post).

The new and very exciting: The Wizard of Oz playing at Davies with the Symphony playing in front of it. They will have a couple of family performances with children's tickets at half-price. But my personal favorite has to be Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano. On one of our many trips to Rasputin, this is one of the bands I chose and have been listening to for about a year. You can read a whole bio on them as well as on mariachi music and Mexico in this excellent University Musical Society Study Guide from the University of Michigan. They performed there a couple of years ago. They are going to perform on Saturday, December 22 and it will be in celebration of Festival de las Posadas which is a traditional holiday procession that symbolizes the journey made by Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem and Joseph’s search for shelter at an Inn. Ry and Si can't wait.....even though it's an 8 pm performance, Si said "well, if I just fall asleep in my chair, that's okay mommy." Indeed it is.