By now you've probably heard elsewhere that the YALSA Board changed the proposal to eliminate the Best Books for Young Adults list to a discussion item. In-coming YALSA President Linda Braun posted the following on the
YALSA blog last Wednesday: “Using feedback from the Board and members, the Executive Committee will work to develop a new strategy for BBYA that will be ready for consideration for Board at Midwinter 2010.”
Deep breath of relief for now and we'll see what happens in 2010!

Meanwhile, it's summer, but not a very warm one for the Greater Toronto Area. Those of you outside of Ontario may not be aware that Toronto is in the midst of a strike by municipal workers. This means many Toronto services have been cancelled including city-run daycares and camps, parks and recreation programs (no pools!), and garbage pick-up. The current issue of
Maclean's magazine sports a cover declaring “Toronto stinks.”
Having been downtown several times recently, though, I can report that areas tourists frequent don't look anywhere near as nasty as you'd imagine. It's the residents who are getting hit the worst as they're forced to lug trash to transfer stations (try to envision completing this task without a car!) and put up with the
rancid smell that accompanies these dumps if they're unlucky enough to live in the vicinity of one.
Living outside the city, I'm fortunate enough not to have to deal with any of this and we've been doing our best to enjoy the weather (such as it is) and the lake, in particular. I can't imagine not living near a major body of water, and hope I never have to, because this is what I'd be missing:
Before I sign off I also wanted to mention that I hope all the
Paul McCartney fans out there were able to catch him on David Letterman last week but if not you can watch the interview
here. Extremely cool to see him in the Ed Sullivan Theater 45 years after his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Even if you did see the interview and watched McCartney sing
Get Back and his new single
Sing the Changes on top of the Ed Sullivan Theater, you may not be aware that he performed a special mini concert up there which you can
view on the Late Show website.
Helter Skelter, baby! Paul still knows how to rock out.