Monthly Archives: February 2012

Long Goodbyes (Update on my Dad)

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Hi All..

This past weekend I got to talk to my dad on the phone. When I say I got to talk to him by that I mean he couldn’t talk back. Unfortunately, his Alzheimer’s has taken him to the stage where forming words is impossible. From what my stepbrother tells me my dad can understand me but I can’t understand him and that’s when it hit me. He can never again tell me that he loves me. I know he does from my last visit but I’ll never hear him say it. That’s ok. It will have to be. I got to tell him how much I loved him over the phone.

My dad left when I was seven so for the most part I grew up without him. He tended to be a little harsh on us when we were around him on weekends and summers but now I wonder if it was because I wasn’t used to having a dad as an authority figure. I wonder if the anger I felt towards him was all wrongly conceived in my mind. Or perhaps not. He did leave us. In fact, during one stay over the summer, he mocked my faith and that was hard to take. None of that matters anymore. I love him with all of my heart so I’m choosing to remember the time he was around and he taught me how to ride a bike. He did what all dads do…he ran beside my bike until I could get it going on my own.

And boy did I get it going.

My dad also gave me a really strong work ethic. “Lazy people work twice as hard,” he used to say. That meant that if you don’t do the job right the first time you’ll have to come back around and do it again. He owned and ran a restaurant where we worked six days a week from morning to night. Every morning he’d wake me up by placing a pine cone on my chest. Oh that was upsetting. Especially at 4am. Then we’d stop by the bakery for supplies (I can still smell the fresh bread) and then head over to the restaurant where I had to sweep the entire parking lot every morning. Yes, the entire parking lot…..with a broom. Oy.

He also taught me how to drive….in a stick shift van on the side of a mountain in Puerto Rico. Yeah, there was no falling off of that cliff. What was he thinking?

This weekend I was leaning on the couch when it hit me. He’ll probably leave us this year. I must prepare my heart for that. Out of the blue, my daughter asked me if we would all go to the funeral if he did pass away soon. I was honest and told her that financially we probably all wouldn’t be able to go and she understood. I also explained that it wouldn’t be much of a funeral because he wants to be cremated. Then I had to go into an explanation as to what that was. Fortunately I had one of my favorite movies recorded so I showed her the last scene in Family Business when they throw Sean Connery’s ashes over a Brooklyn rooftop.

“It’ll be a lot like that,” I told her. She asked me if she could hold the urn with me. I don’t think that’s the only memory I want her to have of him.

A comforting thought is that the one thing that I had always wanted I got last year. All I ever needed was for him to look me in the eye and tell me that he was proud of me. Last year, with glossy eyes he uttered those words and then some as he shook from excitement.

“You’re more son than I could have ever hoped for,” he said. “I am so proud of who you are and I love you very much.”

I got what I needed.

Now I have a beautiful and loving wife and a gorgeous, fun daughter.

I have everything I’ve ever wanted.

Don’t mess with them, Jack.

Chat soon,

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy books for all ages. For more info, please visit http://leonardoverse.com and sign up for the blog.

It’s Read Across America Week!

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Hi All!

In honor of Read Across America week I thought I’d focus on Seuss himself and share some of my favorite quotes from the good doctor.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go. 

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

I think this has to be my favorite one.

I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.

Theodor Seuss Geisel – (1904 – 1991) 

This Friday I’ll be out in some of our local schools reading Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems.

If all goes well next year I’ll be reading Jupiter Chronicles.

Chat soon,

 

 

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy books for all ages. For more info, please visit http://leonardoverse.com and sign up for the blog.

Update on Jupiter Chronicles

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Hi All!

Hope you’re doing well. It’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog and I apologize for that but there’s been quite a bit going on lately. After spending the wee hours of the night plugging away I completed a business plan for a publishing entity. I’ve learned a lot from that process and it’s given me some direction which I can share in another post. After finishing that up, I started work on a new website. I hated that I had to send my friends to one place for my blog and another for a website that contained much of the same information so I’ve built a new one which is live now. In the midst of that my daughter got sick and then I caught bronchitis and was down for the count for a couple of weeks.

Despite all of that I had a wonderful birthday with my girls. They blindfolded me and took me to Dave & Busters last Sunday night where we had a blast. My daughter had a tough time pulling me away from a WWII flying combat game.

Anywho, things have leveled out some. The website is up (please be sure to take a look around) and I’m back to chatting with friends on the blog. As far as Jupiter Chronicles goes, Ronan finished the last prop a couple of weeks ago so his part is done and the Coil Eruptor looks fantastic as does the steam rifle.

We’re shooting for doing the cover shots sometime in April which will be fun. What we’ll do is take pictures of my daughter and a friend of ours dressed in Steampunk garb and use that coupled with art work to do the cover of the book. It should be a fun process.

I also wanted to let folks know that I’ve created what is called a “Kickstarter” project for Jupiter Chronicles and I hope that I don’t come across as to imposing in doing this. If you’ve never heard of Kickstarter, it’s a way for kind folks to help fund a project for production. If you’d like to know more about Kickstarter you can visit their website at http://www.kickstarter.com. I would strongly suggest writers wanting to get their work out to take a look at this site. They help fund all kinds of projects and given the editing and production costs for Jupiter Chronicles I thought it might be worth the try.

I’ll be posting more information on that soon as well as what I’ve learned from creating a business plan so stay tuned. On a sad note, I spoke to my father who has Alzheimer’s this weekend and I’ll share more on that later.

In the meantime, thanks so much as always for your kind support.

It really means a lot.

Chat soon,

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy books for all ages. For more info, please visit http://leonardoverse.com and sign up for the blog.

New Website!

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Hi All!

Welcome to the new website which I’m very excited about. The first reason being that I can direct friends to one web address where everything is centrally located… especially the blog. If you visited my old site then there are some familiar things but along with the integrated blog there are some new things as well as others in store.

Q&A

I’ve added a Q&A on the interview page where folks can ask questions and if there is a demand for it, I’ll add those questions to the ones already posted. There’s a comment line at the bottom of the interviews page where you can add yours.

Guest Blogs

From award-winning publicist Denise Dorman of WriteBrain Media who represents a very talented Dave Dorman (Aliens, Batman, Star Wars) to another close ally, Mick Ross (Mickster) who will stop by with movie and book reviews and maybe even drop off a recipe now and then.

More Stuff for Educators

Fun facts such as the “Are you Callie or Ian?” questionnaire and Fun Facts About Jupiter in anticipation of the release of coming Jupiter Chronicles steampunk series. Kristen Ramirez (who happens to be my bride) is an educator with a degree in Early Childhood Education and a Masters in Library Science and she’ll be popping in from time to time. We will also have some guest historians pop in for some which I’ll announce later.

So all that to say welcome! And thanks so much for stopping by. Please be sure to look around and feel free to let me know what you like or don’t like so much. Personally, I love the cleaner look. Because I’ve imported from a previous blog some of the settings in individual posts will be off. Please be patient as I fix that.

Chat soon!

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy books for all ages. For more info, please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com and sign up for the blog.

The Disconnect of Increasing Class Size

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If you’ve not heard, Senator Norris of District 32 has proposed Senate Bill 2210 to coincide with TN House Bill 2348.

In essence, this bill proposes that the teacher/student ratio be adjusted in the following manner:

 1 position per 25 students in grades K-3

1 position per 30 students in grades 4-6;

1 position per 30 students in grades 7-8;

1 position per 25 students in grade 9; and

1 position per 22.08 students in grades 10-12

Not to be disparaging towards Senator Norris but after looking up his bio I found no experience in education on the senator’s part that would warrant the drive towards a larger classroom size and I’d be curious as to what 3rd party studies he is basing this bill on. I’m not an educator either but then again I’m not proposing this bill.

In doing my own research it seems to me that what this boils down to is saving money and sometimes that’s just not a good enough to subscribe to a notion like this one.

I’m fiscally conservative (all that means is that I don’t like to waste money because well….I don’t have any) and as such I see now the grave disconnect between those of us who are for saving our economy and some educators who are pushed away from supporting those who are trying to save it.

Bills like this hurt both student and teachers for logistical reasons and what the bill obviously fails to address are the adverse effects of increasing class size will have.

So for those who have proposed this bill I would say this; don’t drive away your constituents by pretending to be something you’re not….an educator. We have had enough politicians pretending to be something they are not. Even Bill Gates misquoted a study underwritten by his own foundation when he expressed favoring an increase in class size.

Stick to Windows, Bill. It’s what you’re good at (except for Vista which stunk). But as much as I’d like to learn to juggle grapefruit I’ve never been able to do it so I quit trying. Now that doesn’t mean that just because we’re not educators that we are not allowed to speak our convictions. Quite the contrary.


But guys, you need to stop trying to treat education like a business. It is not and the sooner you learn to respect the education sector and work with them instead of against so that both can benefit the better things will be for all involved.As a side note, I’m not saying take every aspect of business out of education. I’m simply saying that the two need to learn to mutually co-exist (and benefit) from each other and they can’t with folks like Norris proposing dysfunctional bills like this one.The website www.greatschools.org lists the reasons below as to why this bill (if passed) would be a great detriment to our students.

  • Gains associated with small classes generally appear when the class size is reduced to less than 20 students.
  • Gains associated with small classes are stronger for the early grades.
  • Gains from class size reduction in the early grades continue for students in the upper grades. Students are less likely to be retained, more likely to stay in school and more likely to earn better grades.
  • Academic gains are not the only benefit of lowering class size. A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health revealed that reducing class sizes in elementary schools may be more cost-effective than most public health and medical interventions. This is because students in smaller classes are more likely to graduate from high school, and high school graduates earn more and also enjoy significantly better health than high school dropouts.

There are more listed and I would encourage you to visit here to see them.

Finally, we can’t even keep up with the growth that we are currently experiencing in our schools. This does nothing to help that.

So what’s my motivation for writing this article? I had always wanted to marry a teacher (the Van Halen song may have had something to do with that). My wife is an educator/school librarian. I love her very much. Every now and then when I see her I do get to tell her. Yes, she adores her job and I’m very proud of her and what she does.

I just don’t want her to be taken away from me. You think teachers are busy now? Wait until this legislation passes, if it does.

I encourage you to let your voice be heard in opposition to this bill if you agree with the statements above. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “to not speak is to speak…to not act is to act”.

Send Governor Haslam at bill.haslam@tn.gov and let him know how you feel.

To Senator Norris I would say this: I’m sure there are other ways to save money for our state.

Find them.

Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.

Want to follow this blog? Visit http://www.leonardoverse.com and sign up!

Four People I Want to Be with in Heaven

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I woke up this morning feeling a little down about our finances and like so many other folks who work hard (some even two or three jobs) we’re all finding it difficult just to make it to the next pay period. For those who don’t even have a paycheck its sheer hell right now. As my wife and I got ready for the day I commented to her that since we’ve been married we’ve been slammed from the outside incessantly from left to right. Our marriage itself is fantastic.

We don’t regret the hard times and in fact, they have made us stronger. But my comment to her was that I surely hoped that the rest of our years together wouldn’t necessarily be so full of trial. That’s when I have to keep reminding myself that we have to treasure our family outside of these trials and to focus on the good that we have which is each other and our brown-eyed girl. I couldn’t help but wonder if the only time we were going to be able to rest was when we got to heaven.

In our talk I told her that I wanted to restfully enjoy life with her before then so with that said here’s the list of folks I’d like to see when I get to heaven.

Think of this as a list of things that in my feeble mind would make heaven…heaven.

My wife. And yes, I want to be married to her when I get to heaven. I know what some may believe about marriage in heaven but I’m asking for this anyway.

My wife and I got married late in life (we were in our 30’s) and although we’ve been very happy we’ve been lambasted by outside forces ever since. I’d like a thousand-year honeymoon please and I want it without scrambling to make the car payment. After the thousand-year honeymoon I want a hundred years of cruising at sea with all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets.

This spread must include pancakes. French toast I can live without but not pancakes.


My daughter. I want to be a father to my daughter forever. We have way too much fun to pack into however long we are on Earth so when we get to heaven I want to build her the longest water log ride ever built in the history of mankind and ride it with her.

Then we’d build a starship cooler than the Enterprise and go exploring the universe. After that, I’d want to take her to a hundred-year seafood buffet and chow down on shrimp until well….we move on to something else.


As a side note, my daughter has been saving her pennies for a year or so to buy herself a kindle. Last night I found her savings in my chair with a note telling me that she wanted me to use it to go see my dad.

I broke down for a little bit and after I composed myself I went in and told her how proud of her I was.

My grandfather, Benjamin. He was an inspiration in the sense that nothing bothered him. My grandmother could be fussing at the top of her lungs at him about how he never lets him get a word in (it was actually the other way around) and he’d turn to me and wink as he giggled. Then he’d take me out to his shed where he kept spare parts of anything he could find and try to build something out of it.

My dad. My childhood wasn’t the greatest and my birthdays brought me great sadness until I got married (my wife knew this and showed up at my doorstep at 4am and took me out to breakfast when we were dating). My dad now has Alzheimer’s and the person he was is slipping away so in essence I never got to be the son I wanted to be. I want more time with him. He was amazing at basketball especially for a guy who is only 5’8”.

My wife says that even if I don’t get my wish that heaven will be so amazing that it won’t matter.

I just can’t imagine heaven without them…..or blueberry pancakes.

;o)

Chat soon,

Lenny

Leonardo Ramirez is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy for all ages.

For more information please visit http://www.leonardoverse.com.