NYC NEWS FLASH!!!

SSHS Manta Ray Band won the Silver Award at the New York International Music Festival!

Just being selected as one of six(EDIT: the newspapers say five) schools to compete and perform at Carnegie Hall was a huge honor. Winning silver is incredible!

Congratulations Manta Ray Band and Mr. Will DeWitt. Thanks for all you've done and kudos for another amazing success!

Photo captured from Marianas Variety website.

50,000 words

Okay.

I've written 50,000 words during November 2009. I'm an official "winner" in the NaNoWriMo challenge!

I have a first draft novel and a complete story, although the last 20 pages are just outline. And I will have a lot of work to make this novel into a readable story, because it is very messy with lots of continuity issues.

On the other hand, like my other novels before it, it was great fun writing. My characters revealed surprising things about themselves that I didn't know. They insisted on doing things about which I have no knowledge (so research was required and more is needed). And I experienced the real thrill of writing when I uncovered motivations I didn't know existed, found bits of humor that played out in surprising ways, and even found a use for the timeline in the affirming resolution of the story.

Oh yeah.

I wrote a novel in November. So what did you do this month?

351. Sharing the Lime Light

So I'm not there. I wish I were. Friends of the Monument worked hard and deserve this national recognition. EPA Region 9 award. Wow! (And I'm honored to be the person who nominated FOM!)






BTW, You can see the full list of 2009 EPA Region 9 award winners here.




Photo and video courtesy of Angelo O. Villagomez.

342. BREAKING NEWS

I got a phone call this morning from Wendy Chavez of the Environmental Protection Agency.

FRIENDS OF THE MONUMENT has been selected as a winner for the region 9 awards this year! YAY! She said it was a "tight" competitive process, and that more than 200 nominations (in all categories) were received and 40 winners selected. Awards ceremony will be April 16, 2009.

I received the notice because I nominated the organization for the award. You can see my earlier post about the EPA award here.

Congrats to Friends of the Monument!


And follow up on Angelo's breaking news: a link re Jane Lubchenco confirmed as new NOAA chief.

125. International Photography Award--Antarctica and Global Warming

This is off the beaten track on my blog. It has nothing to do with Saipan, writing, or writing in Saipan--well, at least not directly. But it's beautiful. So here it is. A video brief from Sebastian Copeland--cousin to Orlando Bloom, and more importantly, the latest "book" winner of the International Photography Award. (Thanks to GalleyCat.)