Sharani

When the public library I work for in Dartmouth, MA wanted a web site redesign, we decided to try using WordPress for the entire site – not just for blogging. The intention is to have something created in open source software that can be fairly easily taught to multiple staff members.

With a push off the diving board from Aaron Schmidt and David Lee King, I dove in and got expert help every step of the way from Kathy Lussier, the Technology expert at the SEMLS regional library organization serving libraries in Southeastern Massachusetts.

The site Dartmouth Public Libraries went live on July 2nd and uses the Triple K2 theme with plugins such as NAVT.

Kerim Friedman provides a good summary of the benefits in using the Triple K2 theme for CMS in his blog post WordPress CMS.

If you are considering switching your library’s website from software such as Dreamweaver to open source software such as WordPress, our site is testimony to the versatility of WordPress for use as an entire website that is more than just a blog. Knowledge of basic CSS is helpful for creation of the site when you wish to customize the theme’s look (something I did a fair amount of for the library site), but once it is established much of the ongoing editing is easily accomplished by staff with little knowledge of website design.

The Passion Quilt meme started with Miguel Guhlin, an educator in Texas who suggested that people take a photo (their own or one from creative commons license) and caption it with what they are most passionate for children to learn.

I first came across the meme when Karen Schneider, the Free Range Librarian Blogger, shared a photo of a child reading and penned an accompanying essay Reading Sets You Free. Hands down, this is one of the most powerful and beautiful treatises on the importance of reading that I have ever come across.

Although not tagged, I was inspired to caption a photo of what I passionately want children to learn in life. As a daily meditator since 1985, I find it to be a powerful tool for growth and learning. I feel it would be very empowering for children to learn how to meditate.

Meditation Teacher Sri Chinmoy answers a question asked of him,
“What is the greatest thing we can do for our children?”

If I know that the best thing for me to do early in the morning is to pray, I will encourage my child to do this. But if I say, “No, I have come to this realisation at the age of forty, so let my son also wait until he is ready,” then I am making a deplorable mistake…
from Sri Chinmoy Speaks, Part 1

The original meme:

1. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
2. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
3. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.”

Photos tagged Passion Quilt in Flickr

Photos tagged Passion Quilt 08 in Flickr

With confessed trepidation, I tag:
Pavitrata Taylor, Art Teacher and Photographer
John Gillespie, Web Designer
Kedar, Photographer and Videographer
Thomas Laupstad, Norwegian Photographer
Jessica Langlois, the Cool Librarian

When do you ever like a DVD set of a TV mini-series so much that you can unequivocally say that it is the best drama you have ever seen – despite me being only a third of the way through watching it and despite it being an English subtitle experience of a Korean program, a culture I must admit I know next to nothing about?

Such is the case with Dae Jang Geum/Jewel in the Palace, a historical drama depicting Korean court life in the early 1500’s. It originally aired as 54 one hour episodes on television in South Korea in 2003-2004. Telling the story of a young orphan girl who becomes an apprentice cook in the King’s palace, she eventually becomes the first recorded female royal physician to a King.

The drama is in part based on actual history. The Annals of Joseon Dynasty, a history of the kings who ruled in Korea for 400 years, tells of a female royal doctor. The drama extrapolated from this historical truth is a remarkable combination of palace intrigue and corruption, extraordinary scenes of remarkable cooking/cuisine, heroism, morality and love.

This YouTube video (one of the few YouTube selections using shots of the English subtitled version) features the protagonist, Jae Geum with her mentor Lady Han, one of the Court Ladies for the Royal Kitchen.

Although the above YouTube video sets the vignettes to a Celine Dion song, the actual soundtrack to the show is also haunting. I find myself hearing the music inside my head long after watching an episode. Here is the original soundtrack being performed by an orchestra.

I borrowed the first volume of the three volume set (18 one hour episodes) through inter-library loan because not many libraries in the U.S. own it. Since the lending period was short and my pals and I are totally hooked on it, vol. 2 is already on its way as a purchase from Amazon.

I highly recommend Dae Jang Geum. Already exported to 60 countries and taking country after country by storm after its airing, you truly must find out for yourself just how captivating this epic story is.

Dae Jang Geum Themepark in South Korea.

Korea Times article about the international popularity of this drama.

Internet Movie Database comments about worldwide cultural impact of the drama.

Plot Summary of the 54 episodes in English.