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Love Is In The Air. And So Is The Year of The Dragon.

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Love Is In The Air. And So Is The Year of The Dragon.

Time to Write Some Poetry and Give Out /Receive Money Bags!   Righty-ho, Pulp Aficionados, here’s a question for you. Which came first? Chinese New Year or Valentine's Day?  Here’s more than a clue:  Have you ever heard of the Shang Dynasty? No? Well, this dynasty from 16000 BCE held sacrificial (gulp!) ceremonies to appease the gods at the start of every new year to ensure what lies ahead would be trouble-free and prosperous. Must keep those celestial beings feeling jocular!  Also, the Shangs developed the first “fully developed writing system” in the form of The Oracle Bone Script. Shabby, that...

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Here’s a pencil story for you:

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Here’s a pencil story for you:

“I am a little pencil, and my name is H and B, I lie upon the mantelpiece for everyone to see; I’m handled forty times a day, it is a weary life, And when my wits are rather dull, I’m sharpened with a knife!” Florence May Hoatson was a poet in the 1900s. Above is the first section of her poem “The Pencil’s Story”, which beautifully describes the little life of a hardworking pencil and it’s journey from the shelf to the hands of the writer/illustrator. Houston’s verse is a figure of speech about life and it’s meaning.  Seemingly, pencils...

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