Copyrights can last long after a book is no longer in print. In most cases, copyright doesn't expire until 70 years after the death of the author. When a book goes out of print, printing rights may revert back to the author, who can then sell those rights to another publisher or not. Other times, the publisher retains reprint rights, but can decide when/if to avail themselves of the opportunity. Meanwhile, the book is still copyrighted, as the creation of the original work has nothing to do with its availability in print.

I'm Jewish, but no longer Orthodox (although I was in the past). I have Orthodox friends, and they wouldn't allow such a book into their home. It's not a matter of being rude or offended, it's a religious thing. Just as some Christians won't allow books that go against their faith, many Orthodox Jews will not bring books about Jesus into their homes. Many would no longer consider their home "Kosher." FYI, this is also why they refused your offer to take their child to church. It's not necessarily that they worried about you proselytizing (although that might be a concern). Halachic law states that Jews should not enter the sanctuary of a church (where the prayers are held) because it could be misinterpreted as identification with the philosophy of that church. Because Christians believe in the Trinity rather than "the one-and-only" G-d, it's off limits to Jews. An Orthodox Jew can attend a non-religious event in another room of a church, but they're not supposed to enter the sanctuary. Which puts weddings and such off-limits. Keep in mind, this is generally only observed by Orthodox Jews. My family used to attend a Reform congregation that rented space from a church, so we used their sanctuary every Shabbat and other holiday for services, staring at the huge cross in front while reciting our Hebrew prayers. Many, many members of the congregation refused to allow their children to hold their b'nai mitzvah there, however, as it just didn't feel right and would have meant Orthodox family members could not attend.

My kids and I are gluten-free, so I cook almost every night. Not every one of those nights is a three-course extravaganza, of course...but some are. Last week, my son and I made a four-course Japanese dinner from scratch. By comparison, tonight was just roasted chicken, spinach, and mashed potatoes (I'm under deadline and didn't have time for anything special). And tomorrow will be leftovers because I'm pulling an all-niter tonight and will probably collapse by dinnertime tomorrow. DH likes to cook occasionally, so I do get a break. He made turkey chili yesterday -- yum! But we don't do restaurants too often, both because of the gluten issue and because it's so crazily expensive for food I can prepare better at home.

I third (fourth, fifth?) Love Actually. It's one of my absolute favorite movies and provides a decent dose of Alan Rickman as a bonus. I just watched No Reservations (Catherine Zeta-Jones, with Aaron Eckhart bringing the cute), and it was good enough. How about Notting Hill?

I'm not as active as I'd like to be, but I do what I can. The kids and I volunteer for the local Dem committee. The kids stuff envelopes and help out with office tasks. I do everything from writing letters to answering the phones to helping with web design, depending on what's needed. I try to avoid phone banks and door-to-door stuff because I'm an introverted hermit, but if they're really short-handed, I let myself get roped in. The kids and I have also met on several occasions with members of our state legislature. We've discussed gifted education, maintaining the separation of church and state, and homeschooling laws, among other issues. Sometimes we go with a group, but we've also made appointments and gone on our own. Our local Assemblyman likes to quiz the kids, which we'd ordinarily find incredibly annoying but have come to realize that it shows homeschooling in a good light (he's never been able to stump them). I think it's important for my kids to see us getting involved in the change we want in this world instead of just asking it to be done for us. Aside from political activities, we try to do volunteer work at the library, food drives, and senior centers. My daughter is especially interested in politics and government, so this is all right up her alley.

I'm not saying that I don't think a woman should be in office. I'd love to see a female president, and if that woman can juggle office and family, more power to her. What I'm saying is that this particular woman in this particular situation should have thought about whether this was the right time. A special needs child requires more care and attention than most, and so do the other children in a household with a special needs child. And while Bristol might not need mom to hold her hand, there's a whole lot of options between holding her hand and feeding her to the media wolves.

For those who are saying that the liberals are going overboard in digging up dirt, might I note that I've received no fewer than 20 copies of the e-mail sent out by conservatives claiming that Obama is a Muslim. My mother was asked just last week by her hairdresser if she wasn't worried about a Muslim being so close to getting into the White House. There is absolutely not a shred of truth about the rumor, but it sure served its purpose in getting people scared.

I don't dislike Sarah Palin because her daughter got pregnant. That would be ridiculous. I dislike Sarah Palin for her own admitted shortcomings. By her own admission, she was eight months pregnant with Trig, already known to have Downs, and she chose to fly over eight hours to Texas for a speech. Her water broke, yet she gave her speech, went to the airport, hopped a commercial flight to Seattle, changed planes and continued to Anchorage, bypassed the hospitals there, and continued on to a small, regional hospital in Wasilla. This was her fifth pregnancy, which often progresses much faster than a first. This was a high-risk delivery; many Downs children are born with heart and other problems, some of them requiring immediate intervention. To me, this showed poor judgment. When Sarah Palin was running for governor, much fuss was made that her husband had given up his job to stay home with the kids. After she took office, he was back at work full-time within a month. They said at the time that they hadn't intended for him to stay home her entire term as governor (although that was implied during the election). I'm a feminist, so I'm certainly not saying that a mother shouldn't work, but this isn't just any job. Running for the second highest office in the land means campaigning hard for the next two months, living on the road and making appearances 12-16 hours a day. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has five children, including an infant with significant special needs. Kids require a large commitment, too. I'm not saying she should be home for Bristol, but she should be home at least a BIT for young Trig. Was this really the right time for her to run for this office? Maybe waiting four years -- when Trig would be out of infancy and bonded, when Bristol's early pregnancy/marriage would be well in the past -- would have been the better thing to do for her family? Again, I have to question her judgment. Her 17yo daughter is pregnant. As I said, I don't hold Sarah Palin responsible for this, of course. But she did choose to put herself and her entire family under an international spotlight at this difficult time. I've seen posters here say what a great thing Bristol's done by choosing to keep the baby, yet then saying she's made her mistake and now has to deal with the negative attention of it. To my mind, there should be more to being pro-life than just being anti-abortion. Being pro-life should mean showing care and concern for people, including those who get pregnant too young. Bristol would have to deal with the consequences of her actions no matter what, of course, but there's a big difference between facing family, friends, and neighbors versus being the lead story on CNN. I think Sarah Palin choosing to accept the nomination showed a lack of concern for the emotional needs of her daughter. Again, this shows poor judgment. So why does all of this matter? I hate petty gossip. I hate the fact that people are studying the belly bump on a 17-year-old girl. I hate anything that takes this election away from the real issues and turns to mudslinging. So why is any of what I mentioned above important? Because this person could be next in line for the presidency. Because even as VP, Sarah Palin would be making decisions that affect us all. Whether any of the above decisions were made out of stupidity, lack of concern, lying, ego, self-gain at all costs, just plain lack of forethought, or any other possibility, the end result is questionable judgment. And that should most definitely be a consideration in the voting booth. Just my not-so humble opinion.

My mother was bitten by a dog a couple years ago. She was just on her morning walk, and the dog came tearing out of a neighbor's garage and bit her on the thigh. The wound left a knot that lasted for months. The neighbor blew it off as a "that's never happened before" thing, but the doctor my mother saw reported it to animal control. Turns out, this was the dog's third offense, and animal control put him down. I know this might not be the best thing for neighborly relations, but you really should report the incident to animal control. It's possible the dog's bitten others, and two biting incidents in one day is already two strikes, with more sure to come. It's not only your daughters at risk but also the children in that house. Also, please get your girls checked out by the doctor as those wounds can easily get infected because of the dog's saliva. I hope your girls aren't so traumatized by the incidents that they're now afraid of dogs, and I especially hope they're feeling better today.

We'll be going on our annual apple-picking adventure in a few weeks. We'll come home to spend the rest of the day making applesauce and apple butter for canning. We'll also make apple crisp for dessert that night, and I'll make apple topping for ice cream later in the week. I'm thinking of canning spaghetti sauce this week if I can dig myself out from under a writing deadline and find time.

We're getting off cheap this year. My daughter plays violin, but she's decided not to do orchestra this year so she can concentrate on her last year of MathCounts competition. She'll continue to take lessons ($125/month plus music and so forth), but it'll be a "fun" year for her. DS plays electric guitar. Lessons for him are about $100/month plus music and such. If he and his friends decide to form a group this year, I'll have to drive him to his friend's house to practice (almost an hour each way), so that'll add a good bit in gas.

My kids take tae kwon do. Classes cost $100/month for each of them. Spare uniforms (they often take 4 or more classes a week, so they're necessary) run about $60-80 each, depending on material and style. Rank advancement is $20 each, every three months. Competitions are several times a year and cost anywhere from $40 for the local ones to a couple hundred dollars if we travel down to NYC. Weapons cost about $30 or so, depending on the weapon. Sparring gear costs $300 per child, including the bag to carry it all, and gear needs to be replaced as the kids outgrow it. This is nothing compared to figure skating. My daughter skated for a few years, and it was a pit into which one threw money. Coaching, ice time, ballet class, stroking class, jump class, strength training, a personal trainer, theater on ice, and physical therapy. Then there's the skates (custom-made to incorporate orthotics because she pronates on her ankles -- 2-3 pairs per year as her feet grew), practice dresses and tights, competition dresses and nicer tights (and the crystals that need to be individually glued onto said dresses while watching TV at night), skate bag, blade covers, gel pads for blister spots, and so forth. And THEN there's the blade sharpening, competition fees, travel, music, and competition videos. One of the happiest days of my life was when my daughter decided to quit. Not just for the money, although that was huge, but also because we no longer had to be at the rink by 4am for coaching.

I'm published and have an agent. Yes, a lot is done by word-of-mouth, but not necessarily in the sense that a published author "sells" their agent on another author. Rather, knowing other authors lets you know who to query. The work has to sell itself. My suggestion would be to get involved in writing communities, both online and offline. You'll make contacts, learn as much about the craft and business of writing as possible, and have an outlet of other people who hear "voices" in their heads. Many of them will know who's currently accepting your type of book or know about an agency with a new agent who's trying to build a stable of writers.

The son of a close friend is in a block scheduled high school in Arizona. They take four classes every day per semester. He says it's tough getting a full year's worth of math compressed into one semester, and then you don't have math again until next year, by which time you've forgotten half of what you've learned. It's also harder to take AP courses because there's not enough time to pack a full year's worth of work at that level into a semester, and unless you're fortunate enough to take the course during the spring term, you have to put in a lot of extra time to self-review a class you took in the fall in order to prepare for the May exams. He hates it. Because the teachers are trying to pack so much into such a short time, the amount of homework is overwhelming. He says it's basically like a series of self-study courses with chunks of inadequate tutoring during the day.

I think unschooling has been given a bad connotation because most of the trainwrecks people know use the term unschooling as an excuse for not guiding and parenting their children. They're not unschooling any more than they're homeschooling. It's just legalized truancy. I know several real unschoolers who have done amazing things with their children, and those kids have gone on to top colleges and excelled there. We knew a trainwreck family. The mother openly admitted that she was homeschooling because it just seemed like such a hassle to have to get the kid up every morning to go to school. They filled every day with park days and play dates, with no time to go to the library or stay home and work. The child didn't know how to read and couldn't do even basic math. Making a bad situation worse, he was an absolutely obnoxious kid and none of the other kids wanted to be around him. He'd bully the other kids, sometimes physically, and the mother would refuse to take action. They just kept showing up at a group until someone would finally get the courage to kick them out, then they'd be on to the next group. As bad as he was, I always felt sorry for the kid. He desperately needed parenting and an education, and those would have curbed most of the behavioral problems. But because the mother was homeschooling simply to avoid having to make any effort whatsoever, he wasn't getting those. And yes, she called herself an unschooler. But she could've also called herself Nicolas Sarkozy and that wouldn't have made her the leader of France.