Hurrah for Hans! & Listserv Mania

Because I am a bad cousin and have not yet sent a graduation card, a quick hurrah here for my cousin Hans, who graduated from Iowa State University on Saturday with a degree in Landscape Architecture. Rumor has it he will shortly be bound for this coast to work in preservation, so watch out, Eastern Seaboard: The blond Kleins are taking over. Yay Hans!

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This has nothing whatsoever to do with Hans, but I am subscribed to six listservs (between work and home) that give me a daily dose of news, beauty, insight, and humor, and might be of interest to others:

• A.Word.A.Day -- the original and best; a word and quotation per day.
• The Writer's Almanac -- from Minnesota Public Radio, a daily poem (usually contemporary, which has introduced me to wonderful poets like Stephen Dunn and William Stafford) and "this day in literary history." May 9 was J. M. Barrie's birthday, for the record.
• Weeknight Kitchen from The Splendid Table -- also from MPR, a weekly e-mail with great recipes. Some of them are more complicated than others (the Balthazar macaroni and cheese requires four different types of cheese, for example), but they always sound delicious, and those I've actually made have unfailingly proven to be so.
• child_lit -- for anyone interested in contemporary children's literature and related topics, which in the recent past have included book banning, religious conservatism, libraries, theatre, the Gates, sports mascots, and stamp collecting. Philip Pullman is a member, and it's always a pleasure and shock when he posts: like having God suddenly speak in the middle of a church service (inappropriate as that simile may be for him).
• Unshelved -- I get weekly digests of these cartoons about life in a public library. So-so art, but terrific writing and a very funny cast.
• FoxTrot -- Bill Amend may be only the second-most-brilliant comic-strip creator named Bill, but *he's* still around, and no one's better at parodying present pop culture (especially geekwise).