Kim Packard's Blog
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May.21.2013
Sleep quality seems to be linked to alertness, depression, Alzheimer's, and other interesting facts of life (obesity, hypertension, etc.) that concern sleep-deprived adolescents, electronic-device-dependent college students, graveyard shift workers, the aging population, and spaceship crew members...
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May.13.2013
After going through various national and international news (some good, some bad) related to Mother's Day (celebrated on the second Sunday of May in the U.S. and in Japan but on the last Sunday of May in France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day ,) I decided on the issue of mothers...
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May.10.2013
My Japanese brother-in-law (a cultural anthropologist and a linguist who studied Swahili and Kikuyu) once pointed out to me when I was in high school that I should be reading biographies. I took him seriously given his academic credentials but only read three works, Diary of a Genius by Salvador...
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May.09.2013
Nellie Bly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly was born on May 5th, 1864 so I would have liked to post this blog four days ago which would have been more timely. Anyway, May 5th is Children's Day (traditionally for boys) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Day_%28Japan%29 in Japan...
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May.08.2013
I've written about 100 blog posts (excluding the eight book reviews I had written for a university course on YAL and three promotional Kindle e-book announcements) in the past six months and have gotten 24,018 views so far. I wonder if I can feel good about that. :-) I guess I had a lot on my...
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May.06.2013
Peace Corps sounds like it has a lot to offer http://www.peacecorps.gov/learn/ but what worries me is the safety of the volunteers.
http://www.peacecorps.gov/learn/safety/
Of course, crimes can strike an innocent bystander anywhere but many volunteers travelling to underdeveloped countries...
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May.02.2013
The story I wish I had written is Brave, brought to the screen by four Pixar writers, Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman (who developed the original storyline) and Irene Mecchi.
As a fan of George MacDonald (The Light Princess, The Day Boy and the Night Girl,) James Thurber (Many Moons)...
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Apr.22.2013
I was asked a rhetorical question recently while visiting a photography exhibit how I would like to be represented in a portrait, which got me thinking as I envisioned Pinkie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkie_%28Lawrence_painting%29 by Thomas Lawrence and The Blue Boy http://en.wikipedia.org/...
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Apr.03.2013
In my view, "back to nature" means respecting the rhythm of nature and appreciating what nature has to offer.
Personally, I try to avoid out-of-season fruits and vegetables http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-388149/Fooled-fruit-thats-seas... and manufactured products made of...
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Apr.02.2013
My blog from March 22nd http://redroom.com/member/kim-packard/blog/world-poetry-day-national-poe... mentions that April is National Poetry Month. http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/47
I'm surprised that there is very little visible activity from the National Poet Laureate for this special...
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Apr.02.2013
Today is International Children's Book Day http://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=269 so I've made two of my e-books available for free through the Kindle Select Program for the day (until midnight Pacific Standard Time.) http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Uguisse%20Packard&page=1&...
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Mar.31.2013
A good film to watch during Easter may be Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev http://mubi.com/films/andrei-rublev for the obvious reason that it pursues the themes of sacral dimensions in art, the artist's relationship to religion and his/her role in sublimating human suffering, contributing towards...
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Mar.29.2013
Bermuda, the islands in the Atlantic Ocean known for Easter lilies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilium_longiflorum and the oldest continuously inhabited English town http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George%27s,_Bermuda in the New World, sounds like a good place to be on Good Friday....
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Mar.28.2013
About fifteen years ago, I attended a free basic Hebrew class taught by an elderly Ashkenazi cantor at a conservative synagogue. The course objective was to teach adults how to recognize Hebrew letters and my personal goal was to learn to identify the letters and pick up some basic vocabulary in...
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Mar.27.2013
As a child who was regularly exposed to both western and Asian foods, I was never afraid to taste something new and different and, by the time I was a teenager, my parents had introduced me to a wide range of authentic national and regional cuisines of the world such as the classical French,...
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"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children." Madeleine L'Engle”
About Kim
Kim Packard has self-published four distinct works, three books in English and a translation of one of her own books into Japanese, writing under the pen name of Uguïsse, derived from the songbird 'uguisu', known in English-speaking countries as Japanese bush...
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Kim’s Favorite Books
"Autobiography" by John Cowper Powys, "The Ten Foot Square Hut" by Kamo no Chomei,
"Kusamakura" by Natsume Soseki, "The Plague" by Albert Camus, "The Bridge...
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