Michele Bacon
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Our Best Holiday Tradition

12/25/2015

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Starting in mid-November, our calendars and hearts are chockablock full: Thanksgiving, three family birthdays, gingerbread houses, baking, gift choosing and wrapping and giving, advent calendars, endless treats, homemade gifts, projects, school plays, parties, family visits--and that's on top of our normal, weekly activity.

Among all the holiday activities, the Book Angels Program is my favorite.
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When we lived in Illinois, we trekked to Anderson's Bookshop every December. Their Book Angel Program invited patrons to buy books for local children in need, and we loved choosing books that other children might love.

When we moved to Seattle, our local bookshop, Secret Garden Books' holiday giving program was defunct. Christy McDanold, the shop owner, and her staff no longer had sufficient time to run the program.

But I did. Last year, we reinstated the program and provided books for 84 children in our community. 

This year, three local schools provided children's names and book preferences. (As you might imagine, I keep a spreadsheet!) My girls chose their angels first, and spent a while poring over bookshelves, finding the perfect titles. My parents and sister were in town when I hung the angels, so this was a family affair.

We wrapped our books to display in store, and hung 117 paper angels throughout the shop.
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We invited patrons to choose books, and then the magic happened.

People in our neighborhood opened their hearts and wallets to provide books for children in need. Many customers bought multiple books for their chosen children. All told, people gave more than twelve dozen books to local children.

We had piles and piles of books! My dear friend, Kristina Cerise, accepted pizza and beer as payment for helping wrap all those gifts. (Kristina blogs--often hilariously--about motherhood here.) 

Nine days before Christmas, I delivered those precious parcels to an elementary school, a middle school, and a K-8. 
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I wore a Santa hat and blasted Christmas music as I drove around NW Seattle (but was totally calm and hatless inside schools, I swear.) My heart was full to bursting; delivery day was my favorite day of the year.

My family's emphasis on charitable giving and literacy dovetail perfectly in this program. I love helping people in my community, and I love bringing people to books. I hope children enjoy the books they receive. I hope their holidays are a little brighter.

And I hope to do it all again in eleven months.
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*Photo credit: Me. It's all me. You can tell, because they're not very artful! I wish I had a photographer's eye.
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Michele's Favorite Things

12/21/2015

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Okay, procrastinators, you have four days until Christmas. Usually, my spouse shops for Christmas presents the day before we exchange gifts, so I know all about your time crunch. Advanced procrastinators, I'm here to help you with your shopping. (This will mostly help you with your holiday gift buying for people like ME.)

I've included items for your sweetie's brain (books and games), body, heart, soul, and community.     Let's go!

Brain
Let's start with the part that matters most. If you and your sweetie are the types to play board games, try Akrotiri from Z-Man Games. It's my favorite new two-player game. (I gave it to my partner for his birthday.) The theme is exploration in Ancient Greece; gameplay combines tile placement, hand management, and pickup & delivery. 


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​If computer games are more your speed, you MUST try "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes." One person, the defuser, handles a bomb (on your computer. Relax. It's a game.) Everyone else shares the bomb-defusal manual and provides advice to the defuser. This game is all about communication and keeping your cool. Buy it on Steam, and don't forget your manual.

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 If your sweetie is a reader, I have two recommendations. Printz winner, I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson was my favorite Young Adult Book this year. Told from the perspectives of twins Jude and Noah, this beautiful, compelling story studies familial relationships, sibling rivalry, and passion. (If you want other YA that's just as good, read John Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, or Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park. Together, these are my top three YA works.) In stock at my bookstore!
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Etta and Otto and Russell and James, by Emma Hooper, is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. "Eighty-three-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots and begins walking the 3,232 kilometers from rural Saskatchewan, Canada eastward to the sea. As Etta walks further toward the crashing waves, the lines among memory, illusion, and reality blur." It's a story of longing and self-discovery.

​Find it in your local bookstore, or mine.
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Emma Straub's The Vacationers is just fun. Plugged as, An irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca," it's a quick and satisfying examination of who we are and who we pretend to be. It also is in stock at my bookstore!
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And one more game, for good measure. If you're more inclined to play games with many friends, try Hanabi. In this cooperative card game, you and 1-4 friends are putting on a huge fireworks display, but you need to launch the spectacle in the right order. Difficulty: you know which fireworks your friends have, but not your own. And you can provide only minimal information to your friends. In this game, again, if you fail, you blow up. (sorry.) Find it in your shop, or ask mine to ship it!

Body
If your sweetie is a runner (or trying to be a runner), the Brooks LSD Lite Jacket IV is the gift. It's the lightest waterproof breathable jacket I've found, and I love it. Bonus: it folds up into its own pocket. I'm a sucker for that. If you can't find it locally, my local running shop can ship to you.




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Thriftware hand warmers from Kavu, made from recycled wood. You know this is one of my favorite things, because I bought them for my own stocking. They're all different. Mine don't look exactly like that, but you can't have mine anyway, because they're MINE. Buy your own here.










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​Blue Q makes sassy products, like NSFW socks. BUT, if you don't mind a bit of sass in your shoe, check our their super-fast shipping. They are friendly above the ankle (I love my job!) but often include colorful in-the-shoe commentary (Ha Ha Just Kidding.) The one featured here is TAME.
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The best gifts aren't "things" at all. Feed your recipient's heart and soul with an experience instead. 
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I love working in the kitchen, so I find cooking and baking courses pretty awesome. Be mindful: some cooking classes involve observation only, so be specific when you're hunting: you want a hands-on class. In Seattle, that means The Pantry at Delancey.
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If I had infinite free time for practice, I would want violin lessons. (I'm saving that for my 2018 Christmas list, when all the children are in school.) Maybe your sweetie is passionate about violin, piano, ballet, or ceramics. It's never too late for any of those things. Help your sweetie start today.
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Soul
If you can go all-out, with an unlimited budget, send yourself (and your sweetie, of course,) to   Whistler, B.C. for a week. The scenery is breathtaking, the skiing spectacular, and pizza (at Fat Tony's!) is fabulous. Whistler also boasts a fabulous little bookstore, Armchair Books, that has everything you could possibly need for cozy nights in.

Community
If I'm being honest, I have everything I need, and your sweetie might, too. Consider instead making a donation in his or her name to help people aren't as lucky as we are. People in our country and aroudn the world are in constant need of food, water, and shelter. If you don't enjoy research and just want to give, try Heifer International, which is working to eradicate poverty and hunger through sustainable, values-based holistic community development. Or donate to my local food bank in Seattle. 
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Career Opportunity--a short piece

12/18/2015

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Last week, I prepared a brief reading for Ballard's It's About Time writers' series. I usually choose fiction for readings, but I wrote a short nonfiction piece for this event. (My on-the-spot comments are in parentheses.)
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CAREER OPPORTUNITY
​COMPANY OVERVIEW
I am Michele Bacon. My people--who are scattered across the globe--include computer scientists, attorneys, librarians, nonprofit executives, a playwright, an author, a doctor, a college student, expats, and a mother-of-three who I befriended at the beach when we were six.
 
I relocated to Seattle 19 months ago with my husband and three children. Eighteen months before that, we moved from the Midwest to Christchurch, New Zealand knowing literally no one and—bonus—my youngest was three weeks old. Prior to that, we lived in Wheaton, Illinois, one of the most conservative, and religious cities in the country. (I am neither conservative nor religious.) Prior to that, I lived in four cities in Ohio, briefly in Provo, Utah, and for years in Chicago.

As culture bifurcates and our interests diverge into niche markets, it becomes more difficult to find people who fit. For the better part of two decades, I have engaged in an endless loop of befriending amazing women in an effort to find a best friend in my back yard. (It’s worse than dating.) I have made many friends in Seattle, and am presently looking for "the one."
 
JOB TITLE
Best friend
 
REQUIRMENTS
  • Female
  • Approx age 32 – 45, preferably with young children.
  • Height, weight, hair, eyes, ethnicity, education, culture unimportant.
  • Compulsion to geek out over at least one of the following: board games, writing, Sherlock, Harry Potter, numbers, science, The Amazing Race, novels, or projects—all types
  • Passion for something, no matter the subject.
  • Reasonable cache of interesting, lewd, or hilarious life stories
  • Faults and vices may be numerous, but should not include chemical addition, chronic complaining, cheating, cutting down other women, or committing grammatical atrocities
  • You must not be a jerk.
 
RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Engage in friendship largely in person and via email; phone conversations will be a rare occurrence.
  • Tolerate my obsessions and peccadillos (They are many. I am sorry. My partner will commiserate with you, probably over beers.)
  • Accept that we will not, under any circumstances, go to the gym in tandem. (And don’t ask. I go to the gym alone and hate every minute of it. And if you see me naked in the locker room, please do not initiate a lengthy conversation.)
  • Spend long days at Golden Gardens or similar, digging for sea creatures, building dams, splashing in the water or attempting to converse while chasing our children around said activities.
  • Accept that I have a complicated relationship with my family of origin.
  • Entertain my wild ideas for upcoming manuscripts (They may depress or anger you. It’s okay, though; only something like five percent will become real books.)
  • Commit to regular meetings, or occasional meetings, or meetings whenever we can squeeze them in. (I’ll meet you for tea at 7 a.m. or for 29 minutes between when you drop off one kid and pick up another. Whatever works.)
 
COMPENSATION
  • A mad problem solver at your disposal
  • Excellent conversation, with very occasional humor (I can be very, very funny, but only twice a year.)
  • Small surprises delivered to your front porch or back porch or mailbox. Include with your application a delivery point for your surprises. (And then act surprised, okay?)
  • Generosity of spirit, time, heart space, and listening ears (or problem solving, your choice.)
  • Ample baked goods, to include: brownies, croissants, lasagna from scratch, and flourless chocolate cake
  • Long days at play, tolerance for your obsessions, partnership in your wild ideas, and understanding that your relationship with your family of origin also is complicated. 
 
PROCEDURE
Apply at michelebacon.com. I will evaluate candidates on a rolling basis. Cover letters that include the word “irregardless” or promise to “give 110 percent” to our friendship will be shredded and recycled. Candidates must live in Seattle. I will give special consideration to qualified applicants living within a 20-minute walk of my house.
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    I blog rarely, because I'm busy writing books. When I do blog, I focus on writing, friendship, family, and books. Because my family's best nicknames are private, I use their birth years for shorthand:
    1977: my partner
    2008: my first daughter
    2010: daughter #2

    2013: the final daught

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