Christina Meldrum and Melicious tonight on Realgoodwords!!

It's the WE THE PEOPLE 91.7KAXE Spring Fundraiser and we're celebrating the community of Northern Community Radio. That means listeners, readers,or roller derby teams who make up the wide variety of people who support and believe in independent radio for northern Minnesota.

I'm super psyched right now - not just because I'm sitting at my desk in a derby skirt and leopard print tights with my rollerskates on. But because the night ahead is going to be great.

I'm talking to 2 authors on Realgoodwords tonight: Christina Meldrum and Melicious.

Christina Meldrum is an award winning novelist whose latest book is called "Amaryllis in Blueberry". It's the story told from the point of view of an entire family. Not only that, but the novel begins at the ending when the mother, Seena, is on trial for the murder of her husband. "Amaryllis in Blueberry" has been described as being in the tradition of novels like "The Secret Life of Bees" and "The Poisonwood Bible".

At 6:30 some of my teammates from the Iron Range Maidens will be joining me to talk to Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan about her memoir "Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track.". Melicious is a roller girl from Austin, Texas that was instrumental in the resurgence of roller derby. It's hot in northern Minnesota with the Bemidji team Babe City Rollers, the Duluth teams Harbor City Roller Dames and Duluth Derby Divas as well as my very own team, the Iron Range Maidens. Tune in for Melicious!

My teammates will be here to talk with Melicious and answering phones throughout the night On the River. Pledge for community radio! We're independent and we're on wheels! The only reason we get to bring you great programs like Realgoodwords is because you support it with your membership. 800-662-5799/218-326-1234 or pledge online, www.kaxe.org.

Copies of "Amaryllis in Blueberry" and "Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track" are available as a thank you gift for your membership of $60/year or above. Just let us know you'd like one when you call and pledge!!!

P.S. check out Doug MacRostie's documentary on the women of roller derby here.!

Do It Yourself Reading!

It's the KAXE Do-It-Yourself Fall Fundraiser at KAXE. What's more DIY than reading? And might I add, what's more FANTASTIC than reading?

My answer? almost nothing (okay, maybe my hubby, family, friends, kaxe)

As you may have guessed, I love to read. Since I was a a little kid I've always carried books with me. I came from a fishing-obsessed family and though I wasn't let off the hook from fishing, my dad was always kind enough to let me bring a book for when the fishing got slow. I remember climbing up into the cubby hole in the front of the boat and cracking open my latest Boxcar Children mystery or Beverly Cleary novel.

How would that bespectacled quiet girl have known that she would actually grow up to talk to authors. ON THE RADIO! On KAXE nonetheless! The only thing that could be better would be if I could talk to authors in a boat, on the lake, with my dad driving!

I know there are readers and writers out there who appreciate KAXE and Realgoodwords...appreciate conversations like you'll hear tonight - with Rachel Simon. Rachel's written a great book, a self-help manual really for all the wives out there. As I can attest, getting through a self-help project (like tiling the floors perhaps) and still wanting to speak to your spouse is no easy feat. The book is called "Building a Home With My Husband - A Journey Through the Renovation of Love" and what I like most is that Rachel owns up to what she's NOT good at. And like me, she's not much of a painter.

Also DIY on Realgoodwords this week: cooking and food! Pim Techamuanvivit and "The Foodie Handbook - The Almost Definitive Guide to Gastronomy". Pim has toured the world and can give you advice on how to look good ordering wine to trying something new in a restaurant to making your own food that you and others will love. It's all about reclaiming our relationship to food Pim writes, getting over that quickie food, covert snacking mentality and remembering when a simple taste could take you away. She writes about a food memory,

"Perhaps that summer when you were eight, standing near an ice cream vendor in the park on a hot afternoon, a cone in your hand. Most of the yummy chocolate ice cream had probably melted, dripping halfway down to your elbow, but you hardly cared. Back when your love of food was, simply, pure joy, all your attention was focused on the sweet, creamy, chocolaty deliciousness you were savoring. This was back before you even knew what the word savoring meant, but you savored it anyway."

Support Realgoodwords on KAXE by being a member. It's easy to do...look at works in your budget and support something you believe in. Like reading. And community radio!!!

Thanks to everyone who supports KAXE!

It's the Stay Warm fundraiser, and I'm writing this from a hot tub. Is that legal? Is that safe? These are the questions. Tonight I talked with author Hallie Ephron about her new mystery "Never Tell a Lie". The sleuth in this book is not a sleuth at all; it's a 9 month pregnant woman who suddenly finds out her husband has been lying to her. Or is he? If you want to pledge to KAXE call us - we'll get you an autographed copy of Hallie Ephron's "Never Tell a Lie" for your pledge of support. 800-662-5799. Or online!

Final week of the Fall Fundraiser at KAXE!

It's the Northern Observer Fall Fundraiser at KAXE and what better way to observe the world than to read? On this week's episode you'll get to hear the conversation that John Bauer and I had with Vicky Myron about her life as a librarian with a library cat. Her book is "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat That Touched the World". We've got copies available if you pledge your support to KAXE at $10/month - $120/year or above. You'll get "Dewey" along with your regular thank you gift of a KAXE totebag or t-shirt.

Call us 218-326-1234/1-800-662-5799 or pledge online!

You'll also hear an essay by our contributor Aaron Brown. Aaron's book, "Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range" is also available as your thank-you gift for supporting independent community radio in Northern Minnesota.

What are you reading lately? In honor of Dewey Readmore Books the library cat - here's what I'm reading:

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak (for the KAXE bookclub discussion on 11/11/08 at 5:30pm)
"Sugar Plum Ballerinas - Plum Fantastic" by Whoopi Goldberg (I'll be talking with Whoopi later today!)
"The Windows of Brimnes: An American in Iceland" by Bill Holm
"The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry" by Kathleen Flinn