Last night at the Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education meeting, teachers who completed their 25th year in the district were honored, including me! That’s a long time to spend on one job. When I started teaching in Parsippany Jimmy Carter was president, disco still reigned, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were both in college, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods were pre-schoolchildren, and cyberpunk was still in the future of science fiction.

Recently bought books: Ian MacLeod’s acclaimed alternate history novel THE LIGHT AGES. Although it was published by a major publisher, Ace Books, Barnes & Noble’s supposed superstore did not have any copies of the recently released trade paperback, so I had to order it through them. I’m anxious to read it, but I’ll probably put it off for another month until I’m on summer vacation and can read it with less distractions.

I do most of my Science Fiction Book Club buying when they have their periodic Buy One Get One Free sale, which happens once or twice a year. I received such an offer online recently, so I immediately ordered Jonathan Strahan’s first volume of BEST SHORT NOVELS OF THE YEAR (and, yes, I am one of those people who believe the novella is the best length for science fiction), and Guy Gavriel Kay’s new alternate history novel THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN. All three joined my list of books I hope to read this summer, along with Neal Stephenson’s CRYPTONOMICON, Ursula K Le Guin’s THE BIRTHDAY OF THE WORLD, Joseph O’Connor’s STAR OF THE SEA, and Ross King’s MICHELANGELO AND THE POPE'S CEILING. Should be a good reading summer!

Music Talk: I listen to a lot of music when I’m on the computer, when I’m driving, when I’m in the kitchen cooking, or when I’m at my desk at school. Mostly it’s rock music of various sub-genres, my favorites being progressive rock (Yes, Pink Floyd, The Strawbs, Rush, Dream Theater) and folk rock (Dylan, Richard Thompson, Fairport Convention). One of my favorite musicians of the latter type, and a sadly-underappreciated singer songwriter, is Steve Forbert. He has released a steady stream of outstanding albums, starting with ALIVE ON ARRIVAL twenty-some years ago, and peaking with STREETS OF THIS TOWN and THE AMERICAN IN ME. But he has not slid off that peak much in the dozen years since, so I am anxiously anticipating his newly-released JUST LIKE THERE'S NOTHING TO IT. Obviously I’ll let you know about it as soon as I buy it.