Just a quick note to wish a very happy birthday to our Web Host DreamHost which turns sweet 16… This KinderBard website is the second one I made hosted by DreamHost, and I haven’t used anyone else for two subsequent websites people have asked me to set up for them, not only because of some incredible deals I’ve been able to take advantage of, but because their customer service is totally amazing… I’m not the most tech-savvy guy around, but any embarrassingly newbie question I have has always been promptly and clearly answered by their team… Thank you for your amazing service, DreamHost, and here’s to another sixteen years!
KinderBard featured in L.A. Parent magazine!
Very cool that we’re in the Back to School issue of L.A. Parent! You can pick up a free issue all over Los Angeles county – there’s even a San Fernando Valley edition – or you can browse or download the online edition here.
Why Shakespeare? from The Mousetrap
I hope you already know and love The Mousetrap podcast, especially their hilarious Shakespeare Madness. It’s a site that’s long been one of our favorite bookmarks. So we are unbelievably thrilled and honored to be featured on their latest podcast, entitled Why Shakespeare? Thank you Dori!
Shakespeare Star Wars
If there’s one thing I love probably as much as Shakespeare, it’s probably Star Wars, which kind of makes me a double geek. So you can understand why I love this book so much. And trust me, it’s not just any old transliteration of George Lucas’ screenplay using Shakespeare’s diction – this is the real thing, with layers of meaning, with references and in-jokes, and with serious scholarship (and artistry).
I wrote a fawning fan letter to Ian Doescher and names-dropped my recent participation at the Folger and my fellow presenter Ken Ludwig, and was honoured to receive a wonderful and generous personal response, where Mr. Doescher told me that one of his hopes was to introduce young people to Shakespeare through his work. Bravo!
You’ll really have to read the book for yourself to appreciate its brilliance, but if I may, I’d like to share with you this excerpt from its afterword, from just after the paragraph where the author talks about the parallels between the main characters in the Star Wars movies and Shakespeare’s archetypal characters:
Shakespeare’s plays and Star Wars also feature a host of colorful supporting players. C-3PO and R2-D2 observe and comment on the action like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Chewbacca is as untamable as Caliban. Lando is as smooth and self-interested (at first) as Brutus. Obi-Wan Kenobi is like a wise Prospero (before death) or a haunting King Hamlet (after). Jabba the Hutt enjoys a diet worthy of Falstaff. Boba Fett is like Richard III‘s murderers 1, 2, and 3, but with a jetpack and blaster instead of a knife. Yoda’s speech is as backward as Dogberry’s but as wise as Polonius’s.
“Igniting a Flame” by Samantha Smith
During my three days in Washington, DC, I met Samantha Smith, an intern at the Folger Shakespeare Library who had previously spent a summer studying at St. John’s College, Oxford, and who talked about her hopes of one day going to England again for postgraduate studies. I met two dozen similarly interesting, passionate, and wonderful people, and reading Samantha’s article about the Conference on Teaching Shakespeare in the Elementary Classroom brought back memories of all the inspiring presentations and fun activities we took part in. Thanks for the write-up!
Author of the Week
Thank you to Infinity Publishing for featuring our book this week!
Shakespeare in Elementary Education Conference 2013
Thank you to everyone at the Folger Shakespeare Library and all those who attended the conference, for giving me the opportunity to share with you our KinderBard project, and for being such enthusiastic supporters of Shakespeare in the elementary classroom. Also, the book is officially sold out everywhere, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, at even at the Folger gift shop! We’ll try to get copies back in circulation as soon as possible!
Following in Footsteps
Sherman’s begun composing! She was reading a book by Julia Donaldson she’d borrowed from the library, and in it there were words to a song without music. Naturally, she began setting those words to her own melody. You can watch the video HERE.
Shakespeare Geek on KinderBard
Let me just start off by saying that the Shakespeare Geek is an actual personal hero of mine. I’ve read and commented on his intelligent, learned, playful and inspiring blog posts at his site which he’s maintained since 2005, he’s a man truly dedicated to his passion, and not one to go for a quick buck either – his iPhone app ShakeShare is another of his labours of love – a fantastically entertaining little treasure trove of quotes and jokes and puns and one-liners by and about our favourite playwright.
So when I discovered that he had written about us – and begun his post with the words,
I think that Daeshin Kim would be fun to hang out with
well, I was thrilled! In fact that first sentence was the only thing in the entire blog post that he was wrong about – everything else is pure gold! Thank you so much, sir, for taking the time to look at our work and to write about it!
Beach Bound Books loves Shakespeare
Stacie Theis tells me she had no idea today was Shakespeare’s birthday, but I think she knew, subconsciously. How else would you explain the fact that after emailing and tweeting each other for a few months about her wish to publish an interview with me on her wonderful book review site, Beach Bound Books, she went ahead and published it today?
By the way, Stacie and Sohyun have so much in common – not only did Sohyun go to university in San Diego, where Stacie lives, but they are both art teachers and both wives, moms and illustrators. We are so thrilled an honored to have received Stacie’s support!
You can read our interview here.