SURVEILLANCE from 65,000 feet.

IN THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, a look at academia’s ongoing diversity problem. Is it a “hostile environment?”

RANDY BARNETT ON THE NINTH AMENDMENT: It Means What It Says.

He’ll never make it to the Supreme Court with an approach like that . . . .

DAVID DUKE ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL on the BBC.

JAMES PERON says the poor are getting richer, faster.

THE INSTAWIFE AND ANN ALTHOUSE are discussing Tom Delay’s advice to the blogosphere.

MORE KIDS’ BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS, from a children’s librarian who also happens to be my mom:
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Kids in the intermediate and middle school grades can be a hard sell for reading fiction. But fiction is pain-free way to vicarious experience, and experience is what these kids need to find, safely, outside their comfort zone.

In one way or another, most serious fiction for this age falls into the “coming of age” genre, not because authors set out to teach lessons, but because writers know that we’re all “coming of age” as long as we live. That is say, we all struggle to get a handle on managing the various choices and constraints we deal with daily. Here are a variety of novels whose characters deal seriously, and often humorously, with their own coming of age:

Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. Houghton Mifflin, 1995 (hardback); Simon Pulse (paperback), 1999.

Even the most reluctant reader will be hooked by Paulsen’s opening in which 13-year-old Brian takes off with a bush pilot to spend the summer with his estranged father in the North Woods. When the pilot dies at the controls, Brian survives a crash into a lake and manages to stay alive for 54 days and to bring about his own rescue. To do that, Brian has only a hatchet given by his mother, the untried strengths of his own character, and the words of a teacher who reminded him that all he’d ever learned would be there when he needed it. Brian learns that what he has is all he needs.

(Sequels: The River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, and Brian’s Hunt.. Outside this series but with the same theme are The Voyage of the Frog, Tracker, Dogsong, and many others by Paulsen).

Lest you think Paulsen is one of those rugged survivalists who ask no help from any quarter, the middle reader shouldn’t miss these nonfiction memoirs:

My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen. Yearling, 1999.

From Cookie, the sled dog who rescued him from the icy waters of the Arctic, to Caesar, the Great Dane who hid in terror of trick or treaters, the stories of Paulsen’s real-life pets make you laugh out loud or blink back a tear as he relates how much they had to give..

The Cookcamp by Gary Paulsen. Scholastic, 2003.

In this reminiscence with the dreamlike quality of early childhood memory, Paulsen tells how he (“the boy”) recalls being sent to live with his Norwegian grandmother, a camp cook for a World War II construction crew who are, in the boy’s mind, as mythic and mighty as tall tale heroes, yet more loving and protective than his own parents.

(Tie-ins from Paulsen’s autobiographical works for the persistent nonfiction reader: Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod, Harvest Paperbacks, 1995, in which he describes his two entries into this epic dogsled race; Dogteam, (illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen) Dragonfly, 1995, an evocative pictural description of the blending of human and dog in a wild night ride; and Guts, Laurel Leaf, 2002, in which he relates the personal experiences (including repeated encounters with Joe, the moose with a personal vendetta), that became parts
of the narrative of Hatchet.

Meanwhile back in suburbia, kids also have to deal with choices and constraints:

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, by Jack Gantos. Harper Collins, 1998.

Joey’s ADD means that he’s always “wired bad, or wired mad, or wired sad, or wired glad,” but Joey is a strong and sweet kid who survives in a situation in which, in the words of his dying, manic grandmother, “…you got better, and the rest of the world didn’t.” (Sequels: Joey Pigza Loses Control and What Would Joey Do?)

Lunch Money, by Andrew Clements. Simon and Schuster, 2005.

Money-loving Greg thinks he’s got a sure thing turning his artistic talents into Chunky Comics to sell at school. Then, aargh, his arch enemy Maura starts selling her sappy unicorn sagas and cuts into his profits, and then, whoa, the principal says no selling comics at school. But, wait, Maura really knows how to move product, and, wow, she points out that the school-sponsored book club is hawking paperbacks from a big publisher. It all comes to a conclusion at a heated school board meeting, and Greg learns a few things about navigating the pitfalls of business, education, and life. (See also by Andrew Clements: Frindle, The School Story, The Report Card, A Week in the Woods, The Last Holiday Concert, The Landry News, and more.)

For slightly older Clements fans:

Things Not Seen, by Andrew Clements. Puffin, 2004.

A lot of students feel like they are invisible to their peers, but Bobby really is! He wakes up one morning and–he’s not there in the mirror! Bobby seeks a sort of refuge in the library and finds the only person to whom he’s, like, real, a blind girl named Alicia. Bobby and Alicia pool their talents to hack the Sears corporate computer and get him back to the visual realm, and Bobby learns a bit about who he really is. (Semi-Sequel: Things Hoped For by Andrew Clements, Philomel, 2006.)

Even in the world of fantasy, there’s no escape for the plucky protagonist! For example:

Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine. HarperCollins, 1997, 2004.

Cursed by “that fool fairy Lucinda” with a spell that makes her always obedient to any command, Ella has to contend with an absent father, an evil stepmother, and abusive step-sisters, not to mention the handicap of always having to be, if not willing, at least compliant with any order. How she manages to fight her way through the usual fantasy foes and rescue her prince proves a girl’s gotta have game! Levine turns the Cinderella story on its head with humorous and page-turning results. (See also by Gail Carson Levine: all of the Princess Tales, (singly or boxed setsHarperCollins; The Wish, HarperCollins, 2002, and her newest, Gifted, HarperCollins, 20, 06.)

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I’m hoping to talk her into starting a children’s book-blog. Maybe the reaction to these recommendations will help!

MUD WRESTLING with Tom Delay and Arianna Huffington.

DON SURBER NOTES that Nancy Pelosi is making some progress on ethics. “Tom DeLay went around calling himself the Hammer. Talk is cheap. Nancy Pelosi has this ethics thing nailed.” Good!

BARACK OBAMA: More popular than Jesus?

MICHAEL FUMENTO CONTINUES TO blog from Ramadi.

WENT OUT TO SEE MY BROTHER’S BAND, COPPER, OPEN FOR SHINE DOWN at the Tennessee Theater last night.

It was a good show, and they played to a packed house, most of whom seemed to know the lyrics to their songs well enough to sing along.

Copper has been on the brink of record deals for a while, talking with a bunch of big labels.

I hope they’ll manage to bring one of them off. They’ve certainly paid their dues, touring all over the country and playing lots of places.

But I think that rock is a shrinking sector within a shrinking industry, which makes it pretty hard.

One of the popular stereotypes of musicians is that they’re lazy. The fact is that the average halfway decent guitarist or drummer or bass player has put in thousands and thousands of hours of work to get good enough to play live with some degree of ability. (Of course, by dedicating so much time to that, they sometimes let other things slip, which may be what gives them the reputation for laziness.)

It’s a hard life, and the source of lots of jokes — “What’s the difference between a musician and a large pepperoni pizza? The pizza can feed a family of four.” — but what’s amazing is how many people give it a go anyway. Most don’t get as close to making it big as my brother has, and yet even those who get signed by big record labels usually don’t make all that much money, really. A few get pretty rich, but most, even among those with record contracts, don’t make enough money to justify all the time and effort they put into it.

Is this because people are irrationally optimistic about their own prospects?

Or is it because they enjoy the process enough that it’s worthwhile even when the likely payoff is small?

I think the answer is both.

A CIVIL RIGHTS VICTORY IN OHIO — where the Republican Governor was opposed to civil rights, and Democrats supported them. “In practical effect, the Ohio bill is the most significant roll-back of gun control that has ever been enacted by a state.”

OVER AT CHICAGOBOYZ, a look at the Allende myth.

THIS FILM is likely to be interesting, but it’s hardly “unique.”

FLYING IMAMS UPDATE: A Muslim criticizes CAIR’s response.

I DON’T THINK WE’VE GOTTEN RID OF the culture of corruption.

MICHAEL BARONE: “Lobbying and the way the world works.”

THANKS TO ALLERGIES, we don’t have cats any more. But we had ’em long enough that when the Insta-Wife ran across the Litter Robot self-cleaning litter box I was pretty impressed. That’s nearly as cool as the robot lawn mower!

IN RESPONSE TO MY EARLIER POST ON OLDER SOLDIERS, Ed McNamara emails:

Thanks for the link to the WaPo article Glenn. I ship out to Fort Benning as an active duty Infantry rifleman on January 9th. I’ll be 41 in May. I’ve been trying to join since 9/11 but the army cutoff at the time was 35, and I was already past that. They finally raised it past my age and I signed up. I’m in the best shape of my life and looking forward to a most exciting adventure. The idea of serving in an institution that was once headed by Gen. George Washington is still sinking in.

I’ll be posting to my ‘blog as much as they let me, probably not much during basic training.

Probably not. Good luck, Ed!

WHAT’S MORE FUN THAN “ABUSIVE LAB TESTING?” Putting it on video! And wouldn’t you like the job title of “Product Abuser?”

HERE’S MORE FROM BILL ROGGIO, who’ll be staying in Fallujah a while longer.

Meanwhile, Michael Yon — currently writing on Cambodia — emails that he’s having problems with the embedding process. Bill Roggio reported that his went smoothly; I don’t know what’s holding things up for Michael, but I hope the Pentagon moves things along.

MORE ON ALTERNATIVE-FUEL CARS: Bring it on, I say, though I don’t think we’ll see massive progress soon. The latest AvWeek — I get it all the time, but this issue seems especially attuned to my interests — has a look at alternative fuels for jets, too. Jets really, really need the energy density of hydrocarbon fuels, which means that they should probably be the last to convert to something else (a hydrogen-fueled plane has to be big to hold enough fuel, and still won’t go as far on a tank).

I think that rich celebrities who crusade against global warming, though, should have to use synthetic kerosene made out of biofuels as they jetset around. Or at least extinguish a coal fire or two!

A LOOK AT libertarian voters in 2006: “In the past, our research shows, most libertarians voted Republican—72 percent for George W. Bush in 2000, for instance, with only 20 percent for Al Gore, and 70 percent for Republican congressional candidates in 2002. But in 2004, presumably turned off by war, wiretapping, and welfare-state spending sprees, they shifted sharply toward the Democrats. John F. Kerry got 38 percent of the libertarian vote. That was a dramatic swing that Republican strategists should have noticed. But somehow the libertarian vote has remained hidden in plain sight.”

PEOPLE ARE STILL RESPONDING to Charles Rangel’s dissing of the troops.