Holly the Hedgehog and Other Amazing Stories

One of the amazing things about being an author is you run into amazing people.

I met sound recordist Jon Owen when I recorded the sound for my story for the Story Cloud initiative. Jon is a musician who also works in education - he does stuff like running music programmes for autistic kids.

Teetering on My High Wire

Just read teen author Keren David's post about her daughter's glitzy school ball for leavers. The headmaster gave some advice to the young ones that resonated in my old head:
Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it. Go read Keren's post
You see, I'm slightly overwhelmed by this coming weekend.

Thinking about Diaspora at the Jewish Museum

An interactive display at the Jewish Museum 
I met my first Jewish person during the political turmoil of the 1980s when the Philippines was suddenly inundated by scores of foreign correspondents.

I wouldn't have known that my American friend, Steve, was Jewish if it hadn't been for him constantly  referring to his shoes as 'jews' and joking that his mother was checking up on whether he was 'going to temple' in Manila.