Summer Reading Winners, and a Big Yellow Spider!

I donated ten classroom visits to the Stillwater public library, which they awarded to ten of their top readers this past summer. So this week I've been visiting a few classrooms here in Stillwater. 

Here I am with Mrs. Colburn's third grade class at Sangre Ridge!

Look what I saw out the kitchen window the other day! Lisa took this awesome photo of our new friend. Against the kitchen blinds in the background you can kind of get an idea how big she is - she's big! If you look closely you can see that she's missing one leg. Evalyn named her "Zig Zag" - can you see why? We call her "Ziggy" for short. We know she's a "she" and not a "he" because I googled "black yellow spider zig zag web" and found out all about her kind. Try it!

My first "Born to Do Science" cafe was a big success! You can read more about that and view photos on my science blog.

Born to Do Science Café

This is Dr. Jeffrey Byrnes, volcanologist. He will be the first guest speaker in a series of events I'm hosting called the "Born to Do Science" cafe. There will be four cafes during the Fall semester. All are free and open to the public. These are for adults and kids grades 2 and up.

My goal is to give kids a chance to talk to real working scientists about their research. I want kids to come away feeling that 1. they talked to a scientist who's doing important work, 2. they can understand that work on some level, and 3. they can picture themselves doing similar work in their own lives.

If my first four events go well, I will extend the series into the Spring semester.

"What does this have to do with my music career?" you may well ask. If I can find the time, I may write some new songs to perform at these events. But in any case, this is part of a larger plan that will include science-type songs at some point. For now, I'm having a blast talking to scientists!

Below is the Fall schedule.

You can find out more at www.BornToDoScience.com

Volcanoes of Venus!
How Volcanism Shapes the Planets
Talk with Dr. Jeffrey Byrnes, Volcanologist, about his research into the formation of volcanic land forms on Venus, Mars, and Earth.
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 6:30 PM, hastings coffee shop, Stillwater, OK

The Molecular Eye!
How Bacteria See and React to Light
Talk with Dr. Wouter Hoff, Microbiologist, about his research into how life interacts with light through shape-changing proteins.
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 6:30 PM, hastings coffee shop, Stillwater, OK

The Microbe Hunter!
How to Identify New Life Forms on Earth
Talk with Dr. Mostafa Elshahed, Microbiologist, about his research into finding and identifying previously unknown types of microbes.
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 6:30 PM, hastings coffee shop, Stillwater, OK

Stop Stressing Me Out!
How Your Friendships May Cause Stress
Talk with Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven, Developmental Psychologist, about her research on the social stress hormone cortisol and why it stresses us out.
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 6:30 PM, hastings coffee shop, Stillwater, OK

SeptemberFest

Here I am working on a new song called "1907." I'll bet you can guess what it's about, especially if you live in Oklahoma. That's right, I'm still writing songs for our centennial! I hope to be able to share this one with you soon.

"What happened to 'Born to Do Science'?" you ask. Well, it has always been my great weakness that I have difficulty in choosing a focus. I guess I don't have to be quite so dramatic about it. I can just say my current window of opportunity to work on the science project has closed. I need to focus on my Oklahoma program right now. I'll get back to the other when I can.

Come see me at SeptemberFest at the governor's mansion in OKC on Saturday (9/1/07)! I perform at 1:30, and I'll be singing some of my Oklahoma songs. The event lasts from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with all kinds of cool stuff going on to celebrate our statehood!

Working

Here's a photo of the Korg Electribe SX. This is the sampler/sequencer I used to record "I Go Bananas" and "Gimme Vegetables" from the Paws Claws Scales & Tales CD. I've been working up a new song on it, "Born to Do Science," and was hoping to have it ready for you to hear by now, but as per usual, I'm behind!

This weekend Oklahoma was hit by a tropical storm that nearly became a hurricane. That's right, in landlocked Oklahoma! It came in the middle of the night, early Sunday morning. We were awakened by thunder, so Lisa and I turned on the TV. For a couple of hours the eye of the storm seemed to be heading straight for Stillwater, but then it turned eastward and passed south of us. We escaped with nothing worse than a bit of rain.

However much of the state is flooded now, including many of the towns we visited this summer for our library tour. Our thoughts are with all those folks who have been displaced and are now dealing with the aftermath.

On a lighter note, tomorrow is my birthday! How old will I be? Tune in tomorrow and maybe I'll reveal the answer.

Dog Books

The Lovely Mrs. Davis, who blogs about children's music and popular culture, listed one of my songs, "Dog Books," in her top ten back-to-school songs. I thought the list was a cool idea, so I made an iMix of it on iTunes. It would be a great collection of songs to load into your ipod or burn on a CD for listening to while getting ready for or driving to school, whenever your first day is, or any day for that matter. Enjoy!

Speaking of which, Evalyn's first two days have gone really well. She is happy to be in first grade!

Meanwhile I have been working on a recording of "Born to Do Science," a new song which I'll tell you more about soon. The best moment in the making of any recording (when working alone) is when the parts begin to come together and you can actually start to hear what's been playing in your head, and it sounds good. That happened today. But there's still a long way to go before it's ready for prime time.