Essay by Tasha Fisher, Grade 11

I can remember as a child tossing and turning in bed for hours and hours praying to God I would fall asleep. "Please God, let me fall asleep, I have a big day at school tomorrow, and I need some sleep. I promise I'll be a good girl for mommy." Every minute I would check the clock and hope I would fall asleep that minute. Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into morning, and then it was time to get up.

In my family falling asleep was not an issue. My dad could fall asleep instantly; in a movie, in church, in a graduation ceremony, you name it, he's snored up a storm there. My mom well she's just exhausted by the end of the day. Once her head hits that off white temperpedic pillow she's asleep. Then my sister, she doesn't have any problem sleeping either. In fact in pre-school she would fall asleep on that uncomfortable hard as rock no support, pokey "carpet" during story time. Me, on the other hand, sleep has and will be a problem I battle my entire life.

If you happen to be anywhere near San Francisco this weekend, watch out! There's a lot of dummies in town! 150 dummies to be exact. And they're holding a conference!

They're the authors of the "For Dummies" books. You know the ones. If you haven't read one, you've definitely seen them in book stores. The series has sold more than 1,000,000 books around the world! 

Algebra For Dummies, Classical Music For Dummies, Soduku For Dummies, SAT I For Dummies (I used this one back in High School when I was freaking out about the SATs. It's extraordinary.), Knitting For Dummies, Piano For Dummies, even English Grammar For Dummies (I'm thinking of picking this one up for myself, for a refresher) are just a few titles in the Dummies series. I don't know how many books there are, but there's a lot. And they're a great tool to use for whatever specific hobby, trade, language, or life skill you're interested in! These books explain to you, in the simplest of terms, exactly how to get involved and/or be great at everything from football to freemasonry!

OK, enough about the books, Bry... what's up with the conference?!?

Well, the Dummies authors will be attending panels and lectures, learning how to better write and market their books. Imagine it, if you will: each author is an expert in his/her field. This weekend there will be a diabetes expert talking to a nutrition expert while, right next to that conversation there will be a puppies authority rubbing elbows with a equine virtuoso! Oh to be a fly on that wall.

The conference is being held at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel on O'Farrell Street between now and Sunday. Several sessions are open to the public and there will be author signings. Be sure to check it out if you're in the area, and let me know how it was!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

For those of you who have sent in your submissions for the Take Me Away Writing contest, thank you! They look great!

For those of you who are still working on your submissions for the Take Me Away Writing contest, keep on pluggin' along! But remember, the deadline is coming up soon. When? All entries must be postmarked by WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22. That's soon, my friend. That's super soon.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about. Click here to learn more about the specifics of the contest and to download the official submission form.

Best of luck to you all! ... Not that you need it though. You know you've got what it takes. You know there's an ace of a writer inside you. Of course, you also know that in order to win, you have to start writing something. SO WRITE SOMETHING!!! Come on! Wow me with your poetry or prose! And most importantly...

TAKE ME AWAYYYYYYYYY......

The following blog entry was written by Meredith Matthews, the editor of Current Health magazine.

Happy Halloween! 

Amid all the decorating, last-minute costume-planning, and candy gobbling, hopefully you got a chance to watch the classic TV special, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. (If not, you can always rent it!)

This year marks the 40th anniversary of this childhood favorite, and if your childhood was anything like mine, Halloween just wasn't complete without watching Linus waiting in his "sincere" pumpkin patch for the Santa Claus-like Great Pumpkin, and laughing at Charlie Brown as he bungled his costume. Good grief!

Truly devoted fans of the show need to own this book. It is about the making of the program. It includes the entire script, artwork, and interviews with some of the people who helped make The Great Pumpkin happen.

Too bad the publishers didn't package the book with a DVD of the special, though. Somewhere Charlie Brown is still saying, "I got a rock."