Wednesday, November 28, 2018

All but done ...

The Moon Myth covers, front ...


and back (stitched as a full moon memory of seeing Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus strung across the evening sky) ...



Plus the endpapers, front ...



and back ...



are done at last. Now all that remains is putting it all into Blurb which involves rescanning and reformatting all 18 pages ... piece of cake, right?

So, while you're waiting to see the final end product, here's a bit I wrote to amuse myself last month. Feel free to add your own bullet points in the comments if you feel so inclined.

What if? A modern day fairy tale

What if Bill Clinton had done the right thing and resigned from the Presidency? Imagine a world where …
  • Al Gore takes over the presidency in 1998
  • Climate change is given priority attention and the process of reversing global warming begins
  • The Republican-led Congress, without Bill Clinton as a whipping horse, has no one to blame but themselves when things go wrong
  • The country, satisfied overall with the progress of the new administration, elects Al Gore in 2000 and returns control of Congress to the Democrats
  • Hillary Rodham (after divorcing Bill Clinton in 1999) wins a NY Senate seat in 2000
  • With no contested election to call, the Supreme Court continues to be trusted and respected
  • President Gore reads a daily briefing warning of a potential attack by Al Queda and takes action, preventing 9/11
  • There is no war in Afghanistan or Iraq
  • Trillions of dollars are invested in infrastructure … unemployment decreases, GDP increases
  • Al Gore declines to run in 2004, and endorses Hillary Rodham for president
  • Barack Obama gives an impassioned speech on the floor of the Democratic convention and ends up as Hillary’s running mate
  • Rodham and Obama win in 2004 and proceed to serve two terms; Al Gore become Sec. of Energy
  • Universal health care becomes law
  • Wind and solar energy begin to dominate the marketplace
  • There is no recession in 2008 and record low unemployment leads to tax cuts for all
  • Evidence mounts that ten years of climate control is making a positive difference in reducing the frequency and severity of weather events
  • With no major crises abroad, attention turns to addressing issues of gender bias and sexual assault, as well as prejudices against minorities and LGBQT communities
  • Obama runs for president in 2012 and serves one term with Joe Biden, and wins a second term in 2016 with (fill in the blank with your favorite Democrat)
  • Former reality TV star Donald Trump is a contestant on Dancing with the Stars shortly after his divorce from Melania
  • Social media is closely regulated and becomes a strong advocate for progressive causes
  • Several moderate justices are nominated to the Supreme Court and Merrick Garland becomes Chief Justice in 2016
  • The “issue” of immigration becomes the “opportunity” of immigration as illegal aliens are encouraged to become contributing citizens
  • The US is a leader in successfully mediating global conflicts, which reduce in number
  • US security agencies pick up on cyber-hacking in the UK and work with their allies to defuse threats in a series of European elections
  • The slogan “Brexit” disappears after the initiative is soundly defeated at the polls
  • In a brief article on page 6 of the NYT it is noted that failed real estate developer and former dance contestant Donald Trump was found guilty of fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to 10 years in prison along with his many co-conspirators
  • We all live happily ever after …

15 comments:

  1. Oh Liz, your Moon Myth covers are exquisite! What a wonderful project. Good luck with blurb. I'm curious about your experience. My brother has had good luck publishing his photo essays through blurb and I too am thinking of a book. I can hardly wait to see Moon Myth published. Your grandchildren are so lucky.
    Your alternate reality has me laughing and sighing.

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  2. Thanks muchly Dana ... I'm feeling pretty chuffed, as Mo would say.

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  3. . July 1, 2019, Austin Statesmen feature article:

    "In an unprecedented announcement on July 1, 2019, for the first time ever in the history of book awards, the 2019 Caldecott Medal and the 2019 Newberry Medal for outstanding achievement in illustration and text for children's books has been awarded to one book, MOON MYTH by Liz Ackert. Judges loved the idea of using myth to explain a scientific fact as well as acknowledging the highly original format that began in cloth and stitch and then transformed into paper. The consensus was that this was one of the most unique nominations ever presented to the committee. Many families contacted their booksellers, their libraries (the author Liz Ackert is a former librarian) and spoke of how they felt the author's love, not only for her grandchildren but for all children because of her desire to plant a seed of discovery through her story. Liz was too modest to make a statement but the main characters in her book, MOON and SUN said that they had a clue of their importance and their impact for in this book, "moon spent the entire night dancing with stars around the sky" and "sun glowed with happiness as Moon raced alongside."


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  4. Dear, dear Marti ... you have outdone yourself! And made me absolutely glow ... much like Moon, come to think of it.

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  5. Oh Yay! will you be selling signed copies?

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  6. Superb finishing!! Can't wait to see.

    The bulleted items gave me chills, over and over. Yesterday I counted on two hands all the bad actors motivated by their hate of HRC and how much incredible damage they did on that account. It boggles the mind.

    (I'd have to add one small detail -- While dipping his dance partner on live TV, Trump's rug came unglued and fell to the floor. Both he and his partner went ass over heels after slipping on the thing.)

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  7. Liz~ Gorgeous Gorgeous Gorgeous You have such an eye for choosing fabrics and stitch to make everything look so real! Signed copy? :) Your bullet points made me smile and wince in regret fo the reality we are living instead of your fairy tale!
    PS Mart...perfect!

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  8. Mo - I have to see what the Blurb copy looks like before I commit, but hopefully yes

    Grace - now I just have to put the cloth copy together ... just!?

    Dee - love your added bullet point ... if only

    Nancy - I blush ... thank you.

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  9. point....The climate changes, alongside dam removals on key salmon rivers, have given the Southern Resident Orca pods in the PNW a resounding come back. Not only are the whales looking sleek and well fed, but the river systems themselves are looking healthier.

    point... Tokitae, once a captive orca, is doing very well in the whale sanctuary. Her health is improving, and she is talking more and more with her pod, who clearly remember her. Scientists are hopeful for her release to the wild, within the next year.

    Genius, the covers to the Moon Myth...I also really like the end papers! I have always pointed those out to my children/grands, since children books often have fun end papers.

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  10. Vicky - what wonderful points those would/could be ... there’s still time

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  11. Oh Liz - how marvellous. I am utterly besotted with the end papers - their delicacy and their movement. My breath catches and holds as I look at them. And with the cover; I love the simple strength and integrity of the land features, and the detailed, swirliness of the sky and the clouds - differentiates the spaces so well. I look forward to seeing the blurb book and hope production goes really well. I enjoyed your dot points tho probably missed a few references. Its a bit like Mo's project: I dream of a world where...

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  12. Fiona - thank you ... I hardly dared take a breath as I stitched through the paper, as the stitches could not be undone without destroying it. At first they were just outlined, but the centers called for more, so I held my breath and kept going.

    As for the dot points, they are essentially tiny backstitches worked in #8 perle cotton over a single thread of the linen cloth. They "read" like braille under my fingertips. Plus they act as a permanent baste, holding two layers of cloth together. What Jude Hill calls "invisible baste" ... but here made intentionally visible.

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  13. Wonderful! Oh, I do love grand endpapers, as are these...A college children's lit. class first taught me to notice & evaluate the endpapers, and I still do. And love for your sweet string of planets. What a magic moment that must have been to see them all.
    As for your fairy tale...absolutely BRILLIANT. Wouldn't it be a very fine picture book!

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  14. Hazel - Thanks you ... I agonized over those endpapers and in the end (ha!) they flew out of my fingers.

    I'm waiting to see if the Blurb book comes out well ... if it does, it will indeed be a picture book for our grandkids (and others perhaps). I'm hoping it may even merit a place in our grandkids' school libraries.

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Thank you for taking the time to comment!