Scarry Egalitarianism

I owe a lot to Richard Scarry.

When I was a zalmlet, I loved nothing more than hunting for Goldbug in Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. For hours.

When we moved and I skipped most of second grade and all of penmanship, it was Huckle and Lowly who taught me how to write in cursive, thanks to Richard Scarry’s Great Big Schoolhouse.

But the indubitable pinnacle of the Scarry canon is the understated classic, Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever. Hundreds of words and corresponding pictures. Hours of identification fun for the whole family. What’s not to love?

Earlier this morning, I was amused to stumble across a site that had compiled 10 differences between the 1963 and 1991 editions of Best Word Book Ever. Some are understandable, some are baffling, some are just downright funny.

And as a bonus, you get an answer to the eternal question: What’s the difference between a male bear driving a steamroller and a female bear driving a steamroller?

Turns out it’s a yellow ribbon. Who knew?

(h/t Bookslut)

More Kristof on Darfur

I linked to Nicholas Kristof’s columns from Sudan earlier this week. His final column is now up, and it’s a good one.

Read the whole thing. Especially this part:

Ordinary readers can push for all these moves. Before he died, Senator Paul Simon said that if only 100 people in each Congressional district had demanded a stop to the Rwandan genocide, that effort would have generated a determination to stop it. But Americans didn’t write such letters to their members of Congress then, and they’re not writing them now.

Finding the right policy tools to confront genocide is an excruciating challenge, but it’s not the biggest problem. The hardest thing to find is the political will.

Contact Info: White House :: Senate :: House of Representatives

It’s best if you send your own message. But if you don’t have time for that, at least head on over to Save Darfur and let them do the work for you.

Page 1 of 1 pages