i love tomie depaola

so today i was supposed to run a race. i get out of the subway at 103rd st, and see t called me. we're chatting as i'm walking to central park. i notice there's no other runners. (usually, when i exit the subway station, i meet and walk with runners.) i don't pay this mind, continue listening to t bitch abt his job's craziness. and then i pull out my little race thing--and see it's tomorrow, when i'll be in dc. wtf?! so i registered for and paid for a race that is taking place tomorrow. DUH! i catch the 6 back downtown and head for LI to see my parents.

we go to my mom's school, where we pore over children's books for my class in literature in children & adolescence. i am revisiting my childhood. i LOVE peter spier. i LOVE toad and frog. i LOVE millions of cats. i LOVE these books. and of course, tomie depaola--i LOVE him.

now you probably remember him of strega nona--which i love, and of course, dopey big anthony. but if you haven't ever read oliver button is a sissy, well, you need to read it.

oliver button is a cute little boy who likes to draw, paint, dance, act--and his father always wants him to play ball (which he's bad at). bullies at school taunt him, writing "oliver button is a sissy" on the wall at their school. he performs in the school talent show, a tap dance, and gets the recognition he deserves. SO happy!

for boys, it's so negative if they are artists or not very masculine. i never have dated very masculine boys--the boys i dated always were presumed to be gay (by my mother) or were the closest thing to gay i could get. (i prefer gay men to straight men any day of the week. and girls are great too, but in my life, i have few straight male friends. what's always good is the ones who are mysterious abt their sexuality, and you are constantly wondering--not like it's any of your business, just to see if yr gaydar is working properly.) i like the sensitive type, like oliver button.

anyway, so i would date oliver button if he wasn't, like, 7 years old or something. but he's great. you should read him if you haven't. go to yr local library (yay!) or even a bookstore and read it--it won't take you five minutes, but is totally worth reading. so cute.