Mike, Bob, Imogen, Mo’ne and more
No rhyme or reason, just odds and ends . . .
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As a Luddite who continues to embrace e-books as I would a bouquet of poison oak, I love what my friend Drew Daywalt, author of the mega-award-winning-best-seller children’s book “The Day the Crayons Quit,” said in an interview with thecaliforniamom.com:
“As for books, I think they’ll always be necessary as long as humans are curious, even though their form might change over the ages – our current trend obviously being toward e-books.
“One thing I can say about my own kids is that they like picture books in traditional paper form. Even though they love the iPad for its games and videos and interactive qualities, they still prefer good old-fashioned paper and page turning for reading.
“I’m not sure what it is, but if they’re anything like me, they get that rush from the tactile sense of a real book; the feel of the paper, the rustle of the pages, the smell of the ink, the reveal that comes from the turn of the page.
“And even though books are competing with other new media, I don’t think the form is in trouble, even if the format may be. Theater didn’t kill books, radio didn’t kill theater, TV didn’t kill radio and the Internet didn’t kill TV, music or books. Things are changing, but the fundamentals will always remain.”
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Here’s hoping the Internet doesn’t kill newspapers.
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In a terrific “Life in Pictures” profile this week in New York Magazine, I like how the humor of 36-year-old identical twins Mike and Bob Bryan – currently gunning for their 100th career doubles title at the U.S. Open – came through, such as:
Mike: “Bob would say he is the better driver. We shared a Mercedes and I totaled it.
Bob: “I am the better driver.”
And Bob again: “We have to warm up our bodies a little more than we used to. A couple of years ago, I went gluten-free, like Mike. But after we won a tournament, I had a huge waffle.”
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If you are reading this while waiting for a fetal ultrasound, here are the most popular baby names of 2014 (so far) from the website Nameberry.com:
Girls – Imogen, Charlotte, Isla, Cora, Penelope, Violet, Amelia, Eleanor, Harper and Claire.
Reaction XX: Oh-em-gee! Imogen is No. 1? Who knew so many young parents were such big fans of Shakespeare’s play “Cymbeline” and specifically the king’s daughter?
Boys – Asher, Declan, Atticus, Finn, Oliver, Henry, Silas, Jasper, Milo, and Jude.
Reaction XY: It’s nice to see literature playing a role here, too, with “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Atticus), “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and, of course, “The Vampire Diaries” (Silas).
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There are some people (pronounced “fuddy-duddys”) who scoff at today’s trending baby names and miss the old days of Robert, David, Jennifer and Mary.
I just wish today’s kids, by any name, were not 10 percent less healthy and fit – according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – than they were just 10 years ago.
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On the topic of children, the Ventura County Human Services Agency is hiring 36 additional social workers in the next few months to keep up with the growth in child abuse complaints.
The historic local expansion should be applauded, although far better news would be if the agency could make record layoffs due to a lack of child abuse cases.
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Add kids’ names. I predict a new challenger to overtake Imogen: Mo’ne.
Mo’ne Davis is the charismatic, hard-throwing 13-year-old GIRL wunderkind pitcher from Philadelphia who has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated for not only pitching a shutout in the Little League World Series but for striking out gender stereotypes.
Heck, Mo’ne might overtake Atticus, Silas and Finn, too.
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One mo’re name. The NFL fined Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel $12,000 for flipping off the Washington Redskins’ bench during a preseason game.
It is just the latest punk move by the Heisman Trophy winner whose nickname should be changed from “Johnny Football” to “Football’s Justin Bieber.”
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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.
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