More Kind Words about My Winter Festivals Show

I know, I know. I started blogging in 2006 (12 years ago!). But then stopped for almost 2 full years. Now, suddenly, I'm back at it, and I'm posting like every other day. But when you are self-employed life is like a roller coaster when it comes to time and money. Some months I'm so busy I can't think, and other months I don't have enough work to buy a cup of coffee.

So, I've decided to use my free time to get back into writing more. More blogging, I'm also going to do more video, since that seems to be a popular medium. And this blog post will be using both. Here's a short clip of a teacher who saw the very last Texas school assembly show I did this year. It was a show I do called "Arctic Express" and it's about all the holidays people celebrate during the winter time.

For more videos, testimonials, funny clips of my shows, etc. be sure to visit my YouTube channel.

Kind Words about "Arctic Express" (my show about winter festivals)

Because of the way the holidays fell this year, the last day of school assembly shows for me was just 2 days before Christmas Eve. So our family was feeling a little rushed to get everything settled, bought, wrapped, etc. before our scheduled trips to see all the family.

Now, here I am, AFTER Christmas and things have settled down a little bit, so I had time to edit and post a few videos of some things clients this year had to say about my show, The Arctic Express. The show is a multicultural exploration of all the winter holidays people celebrate around the world.

Kids Say the Funniest Things!

Texas author Julian Franklin performing as a train engineer.

One of the educational school assemblies I do is a show about all the winter festivals the people celebrate around the world: Diwali, Thanksgiving, Ramadan (not always in the winter but I include it), Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, New Year and, of course, Christmas.

At one point in the show I talk about Chris VanAllsburg's book, The Polar Express. I say, "The boy knows he can have any gift he wants. But all he wants...is a bell."

A girl on the second row yelps out "I know Isabel!"

I've been doing this show for 14 seasons now and I have to admit, this one caught me off guard. It took me until that moment in the NEXT show before I even realized what she was talking about. I totally heard it as it came out of my mouth, and now I can't NOT hear it. But I've been doing this show for so long, it is hard for me to change the script in my head.

Earliest Snow Ever!

So it's snowing now, like it has been all day. Several districts cancelled classes and even more had early release in an attempt to get the kids home before the streets got icy.

Library Rat productions was at two schools today (we have four performers so this is not impossible to be in two places at once). Both of our schools decided on an unscheduled early dismissal due to the snow. In Wharton ISD we were able to group everyone into 3 shows and finished up in the nick of time. In Spring ISD we were not so lucky and so one of us will be going back next Friday to finish up for the students who missed the show today.

But I feel partially responsible for this whole thing.

Back in 2004 I debuted a show called "Arctic Express" and that year it snowed on Christmas Day from Dallas all the way down to the Rio Grande Valley. It happened again the year before last with some snow down south and now it has happened again with the earliest snow ever recorded in this area.

I wrote a blog entry about this back in 2006 but it deserves being re-addressed.

As the world gathers this week to discuss global warming I'm actually out there DOING something about it! You can help by doing your part. While it is probably too late to book us for this winter season, it is definitely NOT to early to start booking for NEXT winter.

Contact the Library Rat for all your school assembly needs.

And let your PTA know about us. They have money to spend and need to know good places to invest it.

Snow in Houston Again!

For the past three days I've had Geoff Akins, the Bubble Juggler down here from Chicago doing Texas School Assembly Programs for our company. He does an amazing show with soap bubbles. The message is one of hope, belief, persistance, and of course a good deal of science.

But the irony is that he left Chicago, in part to enjoy some of our mild weather and tonight it is warmer up north in New York City than it is here in Houston. The ground is covered in snow.

It snowed here in 2004, too. I remember because it snowed on Christmas day, which has never happened in the history of recorded weather in Houston. I also remember because that was the year I introduced my show "The Arctic Express", a school assembly program about winter festivals celebrated by various cultures around the world.

The theme of the show is about making magic snow, and then, it actually snowed in Texas the year I did that program. Now it's snowing again.

It's just coincidence, but you got to respect that it's a pretty cool coincidence!