Well, my publisher - Kids Can Press - has set out to make video book promos for their books in the Citizen Kid series. I am very lucky that both my books; One Well: the Story of Water on Earth - and - Tree of Life: the Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth; are a part of this great series. To that end, One Well is the first of my books to receive the video treatment. So naturally, I thought I would share with you the video. Check it out!
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Thursday, November 4, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Odd Files
Be sure to check out this month's Boy's Life (Boy Scouts of America, Oct 2010) for my newest article "The Odd Files" about some of the stranger species that are listed as at risk on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List.
Discover a creature whose name literally means "god of ugly things" - the wetapunga. Learn about the blind amphibians that can go 10 years without eating - the olm. And don't let a sweet innocent name like pink velvet worm fool you...this is one nasty predator. These inverts can spray a poisonous saliva at their pray that immediately hardens and traps their victim.
We all know about the big, furry cute things that are endangered or at risk, but these weirder, uglier and odder creatures are of no less concern!! They are all part of the Tree of Life and vital for the health and well being of our planet!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A Year of Reading: CitizenKid: Tree of Life
A great blog with references to Tree of Life. Check it out...
A Year of Reading: CitizenKid: Tree of Life
A Year of Reading: CitizenKid: Tree of Life
Friday, January 8, 2010
The Green Phone Booth: How do you green up your kids?
This just came across the Google alert wire. Thought I'd share...
R
The Green Phone Booth: How do you green up your kids?
R
The Green Phone Booth: How do you green up your kids?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Playing with technolgy
This is me experimenting with software, pictures and learning how to tell visual stories online. I am very lost, my brain is melting, but I am about to copy and paste something. You will either see my photo story or a bunch of gooblity guck. I am hoping for the best, but expecting the worst...
LOL
R
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
LOL
R
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Go stand in the toilet - or - the irony of losing your nouns while teaching a 5 year old how to read and write.
A few years back, I saw a great show by comedian Sandra Shamas. I think it was called At Wit’s End. In part of the show, she discussed hitting her 40’s and the phenomena of noun loss. Suddenly, this very articulate woman found herself literally at a loss of words and not just words in general, nouns in particular. She would find herself mid sentence about to name something and be completely at a loss for what that something was. “Can you pass me that...that...that...silver thing, with the curly metal end? You know that thing we use to open wine? ” Or she would just simply call something by a totally different name...totally randomly and with no conscious realization.
I laughed and laughed...and thought; that could NEVER happen to me. I am relatively smart, well-read and a writer for god’s sake – how could I ever possibly lose my nouns?
Well...it’s happened! So often now I find myself asking for something or just simply telling a story or sharing an anecdote when suddenly the noun is simply not there. Gone. Lost. Stolen. I look at the object in complete bewilderment. I know what the thing does, what its purpose is. I’ve used it on many occasions but now, I am suddenly drawing a blank as to what it is called. I can’t tell you how often I have resorted to simply calling these noun-less objects “thingamajigs.”
And while I find it extraordinarily alarming, it does provide endless hours of amusement to my 5 year old. For example, the other day, I looked at him with all sincerity and asked him to “go upstairs when he finished dinner to brush his calendar.” And by dinner I meant breakfast and by calendar, I of course meant teeth. He just looked at me like I was from another planet.
Then last night I was going to give him a sponge bath (because he just got a new temporary airbrush tattoo and didn’t want it to get wet). So I asked him to “go stand in the toilet.” He didn’t know whether to laugh or question my sanity. And I had no idea why he was balking at my request until I slowly replayed the sentence in my head and realized how absurd it was. All I could do was laugh...which immediately gave him permission to laugh with me. (And of course I meant bathtub. I am not some lunatic who bathes her child in the toilet!)
Happening in everyday conversation is one thing, but it’s also happening when I am reading him books or trying to teach him the definition of new words. The nouns, they just randomly disappear. How am I supposed to teach my child to be literate, when I am slowly sinking into my own personal world of illiteracy?
For the most part it is absurd and does cause much laughter to him...and to my friends, who are also suffering the same fate...and to me as well. But as a writer, I worry that one day, I am going to stare at a blank computer screen and not be able to find a single noun, or adjective or adverb or...a...a...wait...wait a second...damn it. What is that word again...the one that usually describes an action?
I laughed and laughed...and thought; that could NEVER happen to me. I am relatively smart, well-read and a writer for god’s sake – how could I ever possibly lose my nouns?
Well...it’s happened! So often now I find myself asking for something or just simply telling a story or sharing an anecdote when suddenly the noun is simply not there. Gone. Lost. Stolen. I look at the object in complete bewilderment. I know what the thing does, what its purpose is. I’ve used it on many occasions but now, I am suddenly drawing a blank as to what it is called. I can’t tell you how often I have resorted to simply calling these noun-less objects “thingamajigs.”
And while I find it extraordinarily alarming, it does provide endless hours of amusement to my 5 year old. For example, the other day, I looked at him with all sincerity and asked him to “go upstairs when he finished dinner to brush his calendar.” And by dinner I meant breakfast and by calendar, I of course meant teeth. He just looked at me like I was from another planet.
Then last night I was going to give him a sponge bath (because he just got a new temporary airbrush tattoo and didn’t want it to get wet). So I asked him to “go stand in the toilet.” He didn’t know whether to laugh or question my sanity. And I had no idea why he was balking at my request until I slowly replayed the sentence in my head and realized how absurd it was. All I could do was laugh...which immediately gave him permission to laugh with me. (And of course I meant bathtub. I am not some lunatic who bathes her child in the toilet!)
Happening in everyday conversation is one thing, but it’s also happening when I am reading him books or trying to teach him the definition of new words. The nouns, they just randomly disappear. How am I supposed to teach my child to be literate, when I am slowly sinking into my own personal world of illiteracy?
For the most part it is absurd and does cause much laughter to him...and to my friends, who are also suffering the same fate...and to me as well. But as a writer, I worry that one day, I am going to stare at a blank computer screen and not be able to find a single noun, or adjective or adverb or...a...a...wait...wait a second...damn it. What is that word again...the one that usually describes an action?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Toilet Replacement Program Rant
For those of you who know me, you know I wrote a kid’s book about water called One Well: the Story of Water on Earth. Well, after over a year of touring Canada and the US preaching about water conservation, this past January, I finally replaced my own toilet tank. I am now the proud owner of a 4.5L/flush tank.
After the toilet was successfully installed, I dutifully applied for the City of Toronto’s Residential Toilet Rebate offer. Through this offer, residents are given an incentive for switching City approved toilets – essentially 60-75 dollars cash back to offset the cost of purchasing a new low flush toilet. The toilet I selected was indeed one of the “approved” models so I applied for the rebate. I was going to switch anyway – but a rebate is a rebate!
Now here’s the twist. I only replaced the tank, not the bowl...because, in my mind, since I have a two piece toilet and my toilet bowl was in perfect form, there was no need to replace the bowl. Replacing the toilet bowl would only mean unnecessarily throwing out something that still worked well and adding it to landfill. With the new tank, the toilet flushed beautifully and I now only use 4.5L of water/flush, saving about 8.5 L of water with every flush. And the toilet has never required the dreaded double flush.
About a week ago, my application for a rebate came back to me and was DENIED. Why? You guessed it, because I didn’t replace both parts of my toilet. I decided to call the city, because frankly, I don’t see the logic in encouraging people to replace a part of their toilet that does not need replacing! Seems rather wasteful and counter-intuitive to me, wouldn’t you agree?
It took over two weeks to finally speak to a real live person...at which point they just confirmed what was mailed to me. The rebate only applies if you replace both the toilet bowl and toilet tank. I argued that while replacing the tank helps conserve water, replacing a perfectly good toilet bowl only further adds to landfill issues, which leach toxins and chemicals into groundwater, thus polluting water and therefore negating any positive effects of switching to low flow toilets.
The city’s water woman’s response was “(paraphrased)...Our purpose is first to conserve water – it’s not that we don’t care about landfills, but that is not our concern. We are looking at conserving water.” Can you believe the short-sightedness of this?
She further went on to explain that they test bowls and tanks together and cannot verify that a tank with a mismatched bowl won’t be double flushed. Well frankly, once an approved toilet (tank and bowl) are in a person’s house, the city can’t verify our flushing habits (can they?? Big Brother, perhaps?). Nor can they verify any modifications anyone might make to their so-called approved toilet tanks and bowls once they are installed.
This City’s program seems flawed. While encouraging people to replace toilets and mandating that both the tank AND bowl must be replaced to qualify for the rebate, they are actively trying to solve one problem – water conservation – but just as actively exacerbating another – landfill.
I wonder – how many toilet bowls have unnecessarily made their way into landfill sites since Toronto’s Residential Toilet Replacement Program came into being? I wonder – how many people have replaced both parts of their toilets, just to qualify for the rebate? Do the numbers of toilet bowls now in landfills justify the amount of water conserved?
Perhaps one solution is to modify the program so that the City encourages simply replacing the toilet tank where possible...because after all, it’s the tanks that are the real culprits here. Maybe a two pronged incentive program is more environmentally sound? It sure might keep a lot of toilet bowls from unnecessarily going down the drain...
After the toilet was successfully installed, I dutifully applied for the City of Toronto’s Residential Toilet Rebate offer. Through this offer, residents are given an incentive for switching City approved toilets – essentially 60-75 dollars cash back to offset the cost of purchasing a new low flush toilet. The toilet I selected was indeed one of the “approved” models so I applied for the rebate. I was going to switch anyway – but a rebate is a rebate!
Now here’s the twist. I only replaced the tank, not the bowl...because, in my mind, since I have a two piece toilet and my toilet bowl was in perfect form, there was no need to replace the bowl. Replacing the toilet bowl would only mean unnecessarily throwing out something that still worked well and adding it to landfill. With the new tank, the toilet flushed beautifully and I now only use 4.5L of water/flush, saving about 8.5 L of water with every flush. And the toilet has never required the dreaded double flush.
About a week ago, my application for a rebate came back to me and was DENIED. Why? You guessed it, because I didn’t replace both parts of my toilet. I decided to call the city, because frankly, I don’t see the logic in encouraging people to replace a part of their toilet that does not need replacing! Seems rather wasteful and counter-intuitive to me, wouldn’t you agree?
It took over two weeks to finally speak to a real live person...at which point they just confirmed what was mailed to me. The rebate only applies if you replace both the toilet bowl and toilet tank. I argued that while replacing the tank helps conserve water, replacing a perfectly good toilet bowl only further adds to landfill issues, which leach toxins and chemicals into groundwater, thus polluting water and therefore negating any positive effects of switching to low flow toilets.
The city’s water woman’s response was “(paraphrased)...Our purpose is first to conserve water – it’s not that we don’t care about landfills, but that is not our concern. We are looking at conserving water.” Can you believe the short-sightedness of this?
She further went on to explain that they test bowls and tanks together and cannot verify that a tank with a mismatched bowl won’t be double flushed. Well frankly, once an approved toilet (tank and bowl) are in a person’s house, the city can’t verify our flushing habits (can they?? Big Brother, perhaps?). Nor can they verify any modifications anyone might make to their so-called approved toilet tanks and bowls once they are installed.
This City’s program seems flawed. While encouraging people to replace toilets and mandating that both the tank AND bowl must be replaced to qualify for the rebate, they are actively trying to solve one problem – water conservation – but just as actively exacerbating another – landfill.
I wonder – how many toilet bowls have unnecessarily made their way into landfill sites since Toronto’s Residential Toilet Replacement Program came into being? I wonder – how many people have replaced both parts of their toilets, just to qualify for the rebate? Do the numbers of toilet bowls now in landfills justify the amount of water conserved?
Perhaps one solution is to modify the program so that the City encourages simply replacing the toilet tank where possible...because after all, it’s the tanks that are the real culprits here. Maybe a two pronged incentive program is more environmentally sound? It sure might keep a lot of toilet bowls from unnecessarily going down the drain...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Heading West - Vancouver & Haida Gwaii
I just wanted to let you know that I will be heading to Vancouver to attend Serendipity 2009 (http://www.library.ubc.ca/edlib/table/index.htm), to receive my Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award. I am very excited to attend the conference and meet Children’s Literature Roundtable participants from across the country! I am also thrilled to be returning to Vancouver and hope to reconnect with some friends while there.
I will also be offering my student workshop program while I am in Vancouver. So, if you are an educator or librarian and are interested in booking me for a school or library visit, or know any teachers who might be, I have some time on Thurs February 26 and Friday February 27. Please contact me at rochelle@rochellestrauss.com to discuss bookings.
Haida Gwaii – A Dream Come True
Also - after over a year and a half of planning, I am heading to Haida Gwaii after the Vancouver leg of this trip. I am touring and doing workshops there from Monday March 2 to Saturday March 7. Haida Gwaii has always been one of my “top 10 places to see in my lifetime” – so I am very excited that this trip has come together! If you have any travel tips or suggestions about what to see and do while I am there, please do not hestitate to send them to me!!
I will also be offering my student workshop program while I am in Vancouver. So, if you are an educator or librarian and are interested in booking me for a school or library visit, or know any teachers who might be, I have some time on Thurs February 26 and Friday February 27. Please contact me at rochelle@rochellestrauss.com to discuss bookings.
Haida Gwaii – A Dream Come True
Also - after over a year and a half of planning, I am heading to Haida Gwaii after the Vancouver leg of this trip. I am touring and doing workshops there from Monday March 2 to Saturday March 7. Haida Gwaii has always been one of my “top 10 places to see in my lifetime” – so I am very excited that this trip has come together! If you have any travel tips or suggestions about what to see and do while I am there, please do not hestitate to send them to me!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Dictionary dumps nature words
Last week I stopped at the local coffee joint for a latte and a little down time. I grabbed a couple of papers and began to peruse the news. The heading of an article “Dictionary dumps nature words” immediately caught my eye and I began to read.
It seems as though the Oxford Junior Dictionary has made the decision to DROP what they call nature words from the dictionary. UNBELIEVABLE! I wonder what Rachel Carson, Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson would think of this??!! They are probably rolling over in their graves.
It would seem that words such as heron, magpie, dandelion, beaver, ivy, willow, otter, acorn, clover and sycamore are no longer required. What is even more shocking is that the word blackberry – as in the fruit – has been removed, but ironically the word BlackBerry – as in the phone – has been added.
Vineeta Gupta was quoted in the article as saying “When you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots of examples of flowers, for instance...That was because many children lived in semi-rural environments and saw the seasons. Nowadays, the environment has changed”.
This statement is unbelievable and frankly reflects the exact kind of mentality that is at the root of our environmental crisis. The environment has changed, therefore we no longer need our children to know about otters and beavers and ivy. Yet this change, the change we have created, is the cause of our environmental problems. And eliminating the words will only exacerbate the issues.
We live in a world where children are becoming more and more physically separated from nature. They are lacking a true physical, emotional and spiritual connection to the natural world. Richard Louv calls this disconnect Nature Deficit Disorder. He and Cheryl Charles have started an organization called the Children and Nature Network. Children’s Nature Network is striving to reconnect children to nature. In Richard’s own words “Nature-deficit disorder is not an official diagnosis but a way of viewing the problem, and describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses.”
The costs of our children’s disconnect from nature are huge. And environmental educators and writers from around the globe, including yours truly, are struggling valiantly to reconnect children with nature. Getting kids excited about nature, interested about plants and animals and ecosystems...and getting them OUTSIDE, is the basis of our work. We have enough roadblocks and hurdles to get past – but now the WORDS THEMSELVES are being omitted? Not only are we physically cutting down nature, but now we are cutting the words from our language too?
Case in point...today’s paper had a wonderful article about the fact that 1,000 new species, such as insects and spiders, that have been recently discovered. But of course, if these words have been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, this article will have no impact on children who might not know what a millipede or spider is. And that would be a shame, because the newly discovered Dragon Millipede, with its vast array of legs and hot pink colour, is exactly the kind of species that could capture a child’s imagination and get them curious enough about nature to get outside and discover more!
I realize that the Oxford Junior Dictionary only has 10,000 or so words to play with...but it would seem to me that some of the most important words in the world today are the nature words. How will we get kids outside, much less interested and invested in nature, when these words are deemed as not important enough to be included in a children’s dictionary?
For more information:
1. Article from Toronto Star, Wed. Dec. 10 regarding the words being removed: http://www.thestar.com/article/551330
2. Article regarding newly discovered species (Toronto Star, Dec 15):
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/553127
3. Children and Nature Network http://www.childrenandnature.org/research/Intro
It seems as though the Oxford Junior Dictionary has made the decision to DROP what they call nature words from the dictionary. UNBELIEVABLE! I wonder what Rachel Carson, Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson would think of this??!! They are probably rolling over in their graves.
It would seem that words such as heron, magpie, dandelion, beaver, ivy, willow, otter, acorn, clover and sycamore are no longer required. What is even more shocking is that the word blackberry – as in the fruit – has been removed, but ironically the word BlackBerry – as in the phone – has been added.
Vineeta Gupta was quoted in the article as saying “When you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots of examples of flowers, for instance...That was because many children lived in semi-rural environments and saw the seasons. Nowadays, the environment has changed”.
This statement is unbelievable and frankly reflects the exact kind of mentality that is at the root of our environmental crisis. The environment has changed, therefore we no longer need our children to know about otters and beavers and ivy. Yet this change, the change we have created, is the cause of our environmental problems. And eliminating the words will only exacerbate the issues.
We live in a world where children are becoming more and more physically separated from nature. They are lacking a true physical, emotional and spiritual connection to the natural world. Richard Louv calls this disconnect Nature Deficit Disorder. He and Cheryl Charles have started an organization called the Children and Nature Network. Children’s Nature Network is striving to reconnect children to nature. In Richard’s own words “Nature-deficit disorder is not an official diagnosis but a way of viewing the problem, and describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses.”
The costs of our children’s disconnect from nature are huge. And environmental educators and writers from around the globe, including yours truly, are struggling valiantly to reconnect children with nature. Getting kids excited about nature, interested about plants and animals and ecosystems...and getting them OUTSIDE, is the basis of our work. We have enough roadblocks and hurdles to get past – but now the WORDS THEMSELVES are being omitted? Not only are we physically cutting down nature, but now we are cutting the words from our language too?
Case in point...today’s paper had a wonderful article about the fact that 1,000 new species, such as insects and spiders, that have been recently discovered. But of course, if these words have been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, this article will have no impact on children who might not know what a millipede or spider is. And that would be a shame, because the newly discovered Dragon Millipede, with its vast array of legs and hot pink colour, is exactly the kind of species that could capture a child’s imagination and get them curious enough about nature to get outside and discover more!
I realize that the Oxford Junior Dictionary only has 10,000 or so words to play with...but it would seem to me that some of the most important words in the world today are the nature words. How will we get kids outside, much less interested and invested in nature, when these words are deemed as not important enough to be included in a children’s dictionary?
For more information:
1. Article from Toronto Star, Wed. Dec. 10 regarding the words being removed: http://www.thestar.com/article/551330
2. Article regarding newly discovered species (Toronto Star, Dec 15):
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/553127
3. Children and Nature Network http://www.childrenandnature.org/research/Intro
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Beauty in the grey
Well...it’s a snowy Tues morning having some trouble getting going today. This time of year always plays tricks on my moods...and it has little to do with the upcoming holidays. December is an odd month for me. It’s my bday month, my son’s bday month, the end of the year, etc. It has always been a time of endings and new beginnings. A time of reflection and assessment. I am a year older – did I accomplish what I wanted? Did I get to where I was going? Where did I get derailed along the way?
And this year’s birthday will mark another year of transition. So much change is anticipated for this year. Perhaps a new job? Perhaps a new book? Hopefully many new contracts. My house will go on the market. I will be moving and creating a new home for my son and I. There will be new adventures, new friendships and new journeys. Sometimes I get excited by the prospect of it all. And sometimes it scares, as my son would say, the tuna salad outta me.
And despite my soon to be 41 years of wisdom, it is my sweet 5-year old son that is sometimes the wiser of the two of us. Just last week we were driving across the Bloor Viaduct, along the Danforth. It was a cold, wet, snowy, rainy, miserable day. There was bad news story after bad news story on the radio. I was growing anxious and a little frantic, trying to get somewhere for an appointment. The traffic was bad and I was starting to think that taking him on my errands, though it sounded like a fun adventure, might have been a mistake.
Then it happened. From the back seat of the car, I hear “Mommy, it’s so beautiful”. I looked outside. All I saw was grey and cold and damp and traffic. I craned my neck to see what he was looking at over the bridge. I didn’t see anything beautiful. So I asked him what he saw that was so beautiful. He looked at me with the sweetest expression and said – “The world mommy. The world is so beautiful.” And it was. In that moment there was no where he’d rather be than in that car with me – so the world was beautiful. My mood flipped in a second. Despite all the madness and uncertainty in my life and in the world, I saw the beautiful world that he saw, because in that one moment there was no place I would rather be either.
My 5-year old boy taught me such an important lesson. He showed me how to find beauty despite the greyness that might face my day. The upcoming year might bring many grey days for me - I am going to have to dig deep sometimes to see the beauty past the grey. But I know his willingess to see it will be a constant reminder to me that it is there.
And this year’s birthday will mark another year of transition. So much change is anticipated for this year. Perhaps a new job? Perhaps a new book? Hopefully many new contracts. My house will go on the market. I will be moving and creating a new home for my son and I. There will be new adventures, new friendships and new journeys. Sometimes I get excited by the prospect of it all. And sometimes it scares, as my son would say, the tuna salad outta me.
And despite my soon to be 41 years of wisdom, it is my sweet 5-year old son that is sometimes the wiser of the two of us. Just last week we were driving across the Bloor Viaduct, along the Danforth. It was a cold, wet, snowy, rainy, miserable day. There was bad news story after bad news story on the radio. I was growing anxious and a little frantic, trying to get somewhere for an appointment. The traffic was bad and I was starting to think that taking him on my errands, though it sounded like a fun adventure, might have been a mistake.
Then it happened. From the back seat of the car, I hear “Mommy, it’s so beautiful”. I looked outside. All I saw was grey and cold and damp and traffic. I craned my neck to see what he was looking at over the bridge. I didn’t see anything beautiful. So I asked him what he saw that was so beautiful. He looked at me with the sweetest expression and said – “The world mommy. The world is so beautiful.” And it was. In that moment there was no where he’d rather be than in that car with me – so the world was beautiful. My mood flipped in a second. Despite all the madness and uncertainty in my life and in the world, I saw the beautiful world that he saw, because in that one moment there was no place I would rather be either.
My 5-year old boy taught me such an important lesson. He showed me how to find beauty despite the greyness that might face my day. The upcoming year might bring many grey days for me - I am going to have to dig deep sometimes to see the beauty past the grey. But I know his willingess to see it will be a constant reminder to me that it is there.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Once upon a time...
Once upon a time, there was a young woman from Toronto who decided it was finally time to create a website. Her idea was to have a site, with just a few pages, to promote her books. The site soon grew and grew and grew, until suddenly there was page after page after page, link after link after link...and most surprisingly, a blog! A blog? What on earth could she possibly have to blog about? And so begins her adventure...
Chapter 1
If you are reading this, chances are that you've popped in from my newly launched website www.rochellestrauss.com. Or perhaps you've found me by accident. However you got here, welcome!
So – who am I? Well, I am a lot of things. Professionally, I am an Education & Communications Specialist, as well as an award-winning Children’s Author. I am passionate about nature, the environment and education, particularly non-formal/informal education (in other words, the learning that happens beyond just school!). Through my work, I hope to educate people about the wonders of natural wonder...and awaken them to the incredible stories in nature. In doing so, maybe I can help shift the way we see and act in this world...perhaps even become part of a greater environmental mind shift.
Personally – I am a mother to a wonderfully sweet, if somewhat precocious, 5-year old boy. To him, I am a boo-boo healer, comedian, master chef, toy finder, knower of all things, playmate, person that fixes stuff, and taker carer of things. These are, without question, my favourite roles!
As a blogger – well, that’s still to be defined. I see this blog as an opportunity to write...something that for me needs to be more constant in my life. This blog will give me the chance to write regularly...and will allow me to bounce my ideas off you...an attentive and supportive audience. And what will become of these ideas? Who knows! Maybe a new children’s book, perhaps a new education program or maybe even a new career path. Wherever this goes, I look forward to exploring and exchanging ideas with you.
Hopefully you will join me on the journey! Please come back and visit my blog regularly...and pop in to check out my website when you get a chance!
Oh...and before I sign off, I must really thank my friend Kanchan for all her wonderful work on my website. Kanchan worked so patiently with me – and all my obsessive little changes – to create a site that I am really proud of. So thanks Kanchan!! And please be sure to check out her site at In Her Eyes Photography (http://inhereye.ca/).
Thanks for visiting!
Rochelle
...to be continued.
Chapter 1
If you are reading this, chances are that you've popped in from my newly launched website www.rochellestrauss.com. Or perhaps you've found me by accident. However you got here, welcome!
So – who am I? Well, I am a lot of things. Professionally, I am an Education & Communications Specialist, as well as an award-winning Children’s Author. I am passionate about nature, the environment and education, particularly non-formal/informal education (in other words, the learning that happens beyond just school!). Through my work, I hope to educate people about the wonders of natural wonder...and awaken them to the incredible stories in nature. In doing so, maybe I can help shift the way we see and act in this world...perhaps even become part of a greater environmental mind shift.
Personally – I am a mother to a wonderfully sweet, if somewhat precocious, 5-year old boy. To him, I am a boo-boo healer, comedian, master chef, toy finder, knower of all things, playmate, person that fixes stuff, and taker carer of things. These are, without question, my favourite roles!
As a blogger – well, that’s still to be defined. I see this blog as an opportunity to write...something that for me needs to be more constant in my life. This blog will give me the chance to write regularly...and will allow me to bounce my ideas off you...an attentive and supportive audience. And what will become of these ideas? Who knows! Maybe a new children’s book, perhaps a new education program or maybe even a new career path. Wherever this goes, I look forward to exploring and exchanging ideas with you.
Hopefully you will join me on the journey! Please come back and visit my blog regularly...and pop in to check out my website when you get a chance!
Oh...and before I sign off, I must really thank my friend Kanchan for all her wonderful work on my website. Kanchan worked so patiently with me – and all my obsessive little changes – to create a site that I am really proud of. So thanks Kanchan!! And please be sure to check out her site at In Her Eyes Photography (http://inhereye.ca/).
Thanks for visiting!
Rochelle
...to be continued.
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