Bibliosphere

 Well, y'all, here we are, February. In addition to being National Cancer Prevention Month, February has two important awareness days: World Cancer Day (Feb 4) and International Childhood Cancer Day (Feb 15). Two other related awareness days are also in February: National Donor Day (Feb 14) and Rare Disease Day (Feb 28).  This February 15, International Childhood Cancer Day, I invite you to participate in the ICCD campaign here: https://www.iccd.care/participate-share-your-actions . You are invited to take action, whether you choose to share on social media, volunteer, or advocate. As a reminder, if you're local to the Wasatch, we have a hockey game benefiting CureSearch coming up. Check it out here: https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/CureSearchforChildrensCancer-2025 . Can't donate? Check out CureSearch's website and you can donate directly.

In high school, I took a number of semesters of poetry with Ellen Kort. She was a former poet laureate of Wisconsin, and she was a wonderful teacher. One of the most supportive teachers I've had. She passed a few years ago, but every so often, I remember this poem, and it gives me at least some hope. " Advice to Beginners " by Ellen Kort Begin. Keep on beginning. Nibble on everything. Take a hike. Teach yourself to whistle. Lie. The older you get the more they'll want your stories. Make them up. Talk to stones. Short-out electric fences. Swim with the sea turtle into the moon. Learn how to die. Eat moonshine pie. Drink wild geranium tea. Run naked in the rain. Everything that happens will happen and none of us will be safe from it. Pull up anchors. Sit close to the god of night. Lie still in a stream and breathe water. Climb to the top of the highest tree until you come to the branch where the blue heron sleeps. Eat poems for breakfast. Wear them on your f...