Boomerang! Blog

2008-07-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Most Incredible Woman You've Never Heard Of

"What do you say about a woman who earned a first class degree at Oxford University, who, during the 1900s was one of the top mountain climbers in the Alps, who wrote poetry, spoke several different languages, made important archaelogical finds, led expeditions across the unforgiving Arabian deserts for months at a time… and was key in shaping a new nation known as Iraq. Gertrude Bell did all of this at a time when women weren’t even allowed to vote in the United States. But whats even more amazing is that before I started reading about Ms Bell, I had never even heard of her."

This is how our next Turning Point story starts out. As a writer/researcher it was incredibly inspiring. I bet you listeners will agree. Funny how some inspiration comes right over the top at you -- while another form creeps in through your pores. After a visit this summer to my Dad's old stomping grounds in southern Illinois farmland, I got a good dose of the stuff through the pores. The result is the new Schmave story: about loss, the clashing of cultures, and shared heritage.

Yup... good stuff coming up in issue 10-11.

Zip it brother!

2008-06-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Ahhh yes, the links to related stories below should have a .zip after them:

http://www.boomkids.com/transfers/olympics.zip

http://www.boomkids.com/transfers/tibet.zip

http://www.boomkids.com/transfers/china.zip

Politics & The Olympics

2008-06-05T12:52:00.001-07:00

That's the focus of the Big Idea on our new issue. In the course of the story, we interview elite archer Joy Fahrenkrog, and touch on three peripheral subjects covered in earlier Big Ideas: The history of the Olympics (Issue 4-9); an overview of the magical kingdom of Tibet (Issue 6-12) ; and a detailed look at "New China." (Issue 9-3) For a buck apiece, you can download these segments by pasting the URL into your browser.

http://www.boomkids.com/transfers/olympics.zip
http://www.boomkids.com/transfers/tibet.zip
http://www.boomkids.com/transfers/china.zip

Payment? Just pop the dollar bill (s) into the mail. Boomerang, Box 261, La Honda, CA 94020
Just like you're ordering magic beans from the back of a comic book.

Bullies

2008-04-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

That's the subject matter of the new Schmave story. As with most Schmave episodes, this one is a combination of fact and fiction. As you will discover, the underlying music figures into the story. And it was threading that music with the storyline that took me on a little detour...
Music, too, shapes the second water piece. Copeland's feel for the American West made that work. This segment is the unusual story of how America's war against 3 mammals has undermined our water supply for the centuries ahead.

"Is This All You Do?"

2008-04-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

That's probably my FAVORITE question when people talk to me about BOOMERANG. I should prepare myself with list of clever answers ("No, I run a dry cleaning business on the side) but each time the question strikes me as very funny.

Why? Because 10-9 is dropping into the United States Postal Service tomorrow and posting up on our site within 48 hours for download. And I'm still a bit clueless about what it was about these stories that took me so long to thread together. I guess the answer will come out in the wash.

"It's good though..."

If you don't know that joke, ask around. It's a dandy

Will He Go for 3?

2008-02-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

My East coast content advisor says there's no way we're going to get "water" done in 3 parts and she may be right... We've got dams, and beaver hats and irrigation and prairie dogs and wetlands to cover. It's a wonder I sleep at night. And through some cosmic whisper Jacques Cousteau is our Turning Point interview this next issue. As a kid he was always this old guy with a heavy accent going off boats backwards. But research reveals him to be a true explorer and rabid environmentalist.
Oh yea amd Dave Schmave bares his loathing of bullies on the elevator ride -- by seeing the bully in himself. Third person works so well here...

10-8 Whew!

2008-01-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

Hey there hi there ho there... yes, a new issue enters the world smiling and cooing like you know what. Water is on the agenda in THE BIG IDEA. In journ school they taught us that brevity was the mark of a good writer, so Im a wee bit concerned.
That translates to a 2 parter. Im trying not to look at this as lack of discipline, but as a fear of shallow blubbering. SO... this issue, a technical look. Next issue, what we wonderful humans are doing to muck up a good deal AND what we can all do to help out. We've got a pyramid scheme in Tucker Jones and a cool interview with Margaret Bourke-White, one of 4 photographers hired when they created Life Magazine. All readers long in the tooth will appreciate what this said about her ability. If nothing else guys you have to learn to count to ten in Latin. Why? You know why...

Faces Behind the Family

2007-12-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

The Boys.
The Girls.
The Spoon

2007-12-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

2007-12-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

2007-12-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

Mind My Own Business

2007-11-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

DEAL 1
OK, first off, you all get to send a free BOOMERANG! download to a friend. Right. Just for being you. Actually, since I probably missed your birthday as well, let’s make it 5 friends. It’s a special issue with Nikola Tesla, the new Schmave, Widg & Whack and a few other tasty bites. I will not contact them again or do anything else with their email. To DO this: 1. Send me an email (boomerang@boomkids.com). 2. Put FREEBIE as the subject. 3. Put your friend(s)’ email in the text. I will send them a short explanation and a URL. By clicking on the URL, the free issue will automatically download onto their computer. This of course means you have to revise that adage about a free lunch. And it probably wouldn’t hurt to let them know what’s coming their way..

DEAL 2
If I can herd all you guys into the download camp, I can spend less time (and money I don’t have) on getting you the real goods. Downloads are mo better all around.
A) You choose the exact programs you want – new OR old. Volume 5 & 6 will be up in November.
B) You get them WHEN you want them… in minutes
C) You can load them in an ipod OR burn a regular CD.
So, if you are currently a CD subscriber, send me an email about changing over and I’ll translate the rest of your subscription into downloads AND toss in two freebies as a thank you.

DEAL 3
If you want to buy a friend a 12-issue CD subscription ($71.40) or 9 issue download ($49.95), YOU get a new Schmave anthology with 4 of the Elevator Man’s downhome morsels.

Finally, a couple miscellaneous floaters. Some people prefer to pay monthly for CDs. Now you can. Just send me an email with shipping instructions and call with a CC#, $7.95 (including shipping) will be deducted from your account monthly... A handful of you have received cracked CDs. Sorry… I had to get out of the plastic business. If this happens to you let me know and I’ll get a cased replacement out first class the same day.

Your assignment for tomorrow?
Read to your kids – even the big ones…
stand up and be counted… tell a friend…
keep the faith. All the best,
David Strohm & Clan

Wind in the Woods

2007-11-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

It’s 3 am… again. The bravado I’d worked up by the end of the previous day has fled into the darkness. Like a car radio on auto-scan, my mind spins through the Wildwood of deadlines and headlines where even brave Ratty doesn’t venture without a cudgel or two. Then, finally, a warm fuzzy image comes in…. it’s my daughter, dressed for Halloween as a spoon in a set of silverware. That’s better. I bring up the friendly caw of a crow perched high atop a fir… Dire Straits singing “Romeo and Juliet”… yesterday’s 6:30 am reading session with Bo next to a woodstove... throwing Hayley a perfect TD spiral on the beach. This is how we will reclaim America from the pretenders, BOOMERS. Not by maximizing our yields, or watching reality TV, or winking at the latest boardroom crimes… but by raising our kids to be human beings who make positive choices.

Racing in the Trees

2007-11-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Saw Bruce the other evening. It's definitely hard for artist and audience to communicate in stadium setting. Remember BOOMERS, BOOMERANG!'s venue is akin to the little corner general store. When Bruce Springsteen was a teen, his focus was “racing in the streets.” Singing that song he seemed to recognize just how much he and his songs had changed. Just like Bruce was first delivered into this culture as a street musician spouting poetry, BOOMERANG!'s original raison d’etre was simply the creative presentation of ideas. Content took care of itself. I mean history, geography, current events, science – cut and dry, right? It sure seemed like that when I was growing up. But when a writer digs deep into material on John Brown and Corinth, Mississippi, and trade, and Sitting Bull, and the Civil War, the “cut and dry” becomes more like our everyday lives – rich… textured…murky.

Just add gravitas

2007-11-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

I think they were dinosaurs. Well, they didn’t start OUT that way. They started out as these flat little spongy wafers. You put them in water and they magically transformed into multi-dimensional creatures. Formal education may be a bit like those wafers. You sprinkle a little BOOMERANG dust on it and the simple, one-explanation narrative morphs into a complex story with depth and multi perspectives. Do kids need the whole story? Yes… I think they do.

Surrender!

2007-10-03T09:48:00.001-07:00

When a friend of mine suggested I do a Schmave story
on surrender, I kind of rolled my eyes. Schmave is
more of a cavalry charge guy, than the white flag
variety. But, the more I thought about it, I
realized it would make a great story for that very
reason. All these years later I STILL resist the
concept and that conflict usually yields interesting
results. I guess you folks will be the judge.

Our Turning Points interview is another curve-ball. Carl
Sagan was ridiculed by some of his scientific
colleagues as more of a showman than scientist. He
DID specialize in “broad” rather than “deep”, but his
ability to communicate complex ideas brought science
and the stars much closer to the public. And we’re not
even talking Big Ideas yet…

In that neck of the woods we are focusing on what
drives the human spirit. We talk to one man who once
ran 50 marathons in 50 different states on 50
consecutive days. (Right... I know…) and an incredible 15-year-old
boy who just finished his first 100 mile race. Yes
this is RUNNING folks… And just another typical issue
of BOOMERANG!

Silence is like a grilled-cheese...

2007-07-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

...it's different everywhere you go."

So begins the new Tucker Jones mystery. And it's a doozie. Along with Tuck, we have the Big Bambino (Babe Ruth) stepping up to the interview plate. As a role model he left something to be desired, but listeners will detect the sensibilities of a 10-year-old in his words. Babe's early years are hidden under conflicting stories, but they weren't easy by any account. The final part of our story on trade is a hopeful one... with lots of examples of what people are doing all over the globe to focus on a more neighborly model.

So when is a story TOO long?

2007-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

That's a question a writer better ask -- or at least know the answer. A story is too long when the listener isn't on the edge of the seat. The new issue, shipped Friday, June 22nd, has a world-record length Schmave story. Each time I went back into it, I figured there was detail or character development that made it a better story. But you'll be the ultimate judge of this. Not only do you get to be the judge, you get to count to ten in Bulgarian. I mean that's the price of admission right there... because you just... never... know.

A Leg Up

2007-05-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

That's what we have on this next issue. (BTW MY understanding of this term is when you get a teensy bit ahead of life.) One of the reasons 10-4 was so late was I outlined the last 2 sections of the globalization piece. It's a world record 4-parter, with this next issue highlighting some of the hidden ways other countries -- and people right here at home -- are getting left behind in this so called "free trade" policy.
And the new Schmave story is down on paper. It seems big sister Cheryl has discovered her little bro has a superhero quality. (Actually I have a number of them...)

Curve your fingers Mr Strohm

2007-03-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

When I'm contemplating ideas for a new mystery I go back to grade school and bring up the stuff that made an impression on me. Piano lessons -- now there is an impression. How that 1/2 hour seemed to crawl. And hence... the upcoming Tucker Jones mystery. The Big Idea (Globalization) is morphing into a 3 parter. Yow!. But it's too important (and yes, too complicated) to do briefly.
And Lady Bird Johnson is the Turning Point focus. Not exactly a powerhouse figure? Well, certainly not in the macho sense. But she was a presence...

Excuses

2007-02-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

For longtime BOOMERANG subscribers, the spacing between BOOMERANG issues may seem mysterious. It's usually one of two things that causes a delay in publication: 1) Life, or 2) A particularly perplexing topic. Issue 10-3 owed its tardiness to the latter -- which in this case was the Big Idea topic of globalization. I was prepared to start burning a master when I was alerted to a recently released book on the subject by author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. It wasnt so much the information Friedman's book added, as a discovery that -- after marrying into money -- the author's net worth was over $2 billion. It's one thing for a fella to downplay the importance of job "outsourcing" ... but when that journalist turns out to be worth that kind of money, his professional pedigree takes a back seat to his pedigree of class and privilege.

2007-02-19T15:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome

2007-02-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Boomerang! Blog. Check this space for the latest Boomerang! news and updates.