Author Archives: Jo Hawke

12/365: A Penny Saved

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This afternoon, Kevin found a wheat penny in his little change thingy. It was from 1918, two years before his Grandpa was born. World War I was ending, and Daylight Savings Time was instituted.

It prompted me to go check the coin collections I’ve been working on for years and years but haven’t touched in quite some time. And it prompted Kevin to find the jar of wheat pennies his dad gave him a long time ago that we’ve always meant to sort through.

I have two Lincoln Cent collections: 1941 to 1974 and 1975 to 2000, both in Whitman-brand folders. I think I got the first one for Christmas way back when, and I must have gotten the latter in 2000 because the same era folders now are for 1974 to 2002.

The coins I still need to complete my first collection, the ’41 to ’75 one:

  • 1941-S
  • 1945-D
  • 1945-S
  • 1946-S
  • 1947-S
  • 1948-S
  • 1949-S
  • 1952-S
  • 1953-S
  • 1954
  • 1955-S
  • 1959
  • 1968-S
  • 1969-S
  • 1970-S
  • 1971-S
  • 1972-S
  • 1973-S
  • 1974-S

The “S” stands for San Francisco; the “D” stands for Detroit. These signify the particular mint that produced the coin. Years with no additional letter, in this era at least, were minted in Philadelphia. It makes sense that I would have more trouble finding San Franciso coins than Denver or Philadelphia coins since I’m in Virginia.

In addition to that 1918 wheat penny, we have some other pennies that don’t fit in my folders, some I’ve had and others I found sorting through the jar’s contents. I need the 1909-1940 folder for these, but it appears to be sold out at the company’s site.

  • 1919
  • 1929
  • 1930
  • 1935
  • 1935-D
  • 1936 (x2)
  • 1936-D
  • 1939
  • 1940 (x4)

There’s been a lot of talk about discontinuing the printing of pennies in recent years. According to a 2006 USA Today editorial by Wake Forest Economics professor Robert Whaples, it costs almost 1-1/2 cents to produce one penny.

Whether that’s the case or not, I’m holding onto my penny collection.

I took one more shot, of my signature on the earlier of the two Whitman folders because it shows (to me and people who know me well IRL) how long ago I must have gotten it.

It was definitely before 8th grade, I know regardless of the handwriting, because that was the year I decided my name would be “Jo.” I filled out all of my paperwork with an “A” for my middle initial, and I introduced myself that way to everyone new at junior high.

9/365: Redundant Street

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There must be a story behind this redundant street name.

The main road of a small housing development called Lumpkins Forest (no apostrophe), its sign reads, “FORESTRD DR.” Maps label it, “Forestroad Drive.”

I didn’t really pay attention to the name until we moved into our current house and now drive past the street to and from the city almost every day. When I noticed it, I thought it must be a typo. Or something. It aggravated me.

A little while later, my mom, who worked as a rural mail carrier until her retirement just over a year ago, told me that her coworkers at the post office used to joke about the street name.

Signs plus maps plus mail equals not a typo. Weird.

The neighborhood isn’t run-down and boarded-up like the house on the other side of the highway that’s shown here. It’s full of really nice houses that are well taken care of, from what I can see.

I wonder if I could live on a redundant street. I wonder if I would roll my eyes or sigh every time I had to type or write my address if I did. I wonder if I could resist the urge to complain and organize a protest.

I know for sure I’d at least get to the bottom of the backstory.

8/365: RIF (Reading IS Fun)

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I used to have a bookmark from way back in elementary school, probably, that said “RIF: Reading is fun!”

I probably got it from a Bookmobile (Remember those?!) or a book fair in the library or something. I thought it was a little weird that anyone would have to promote reading: DUH! Of course, reading is fun; tell me something I don’t know. I loved to read mysteries, especially, back then. (I read every Nancy Drew book in the Brosville Middle School library.) Today, I prefer the classics.

Since then, I’ve known a LOT of people (mostly students) who do not believe that reading is fun. On the contrary, some of them considered (I’m using the past tense in hopes that they’ve by now seen the light ๐Ÿ˜‰ the act of reading tantamount to serious torture. No whimsically decorated bookmark could convince them otherwise. And neither could an English teacher (namely moi).

When I met Kevin, he wasn’t that into reading either. He didn’t dread it, I don’t guess, but he didn’t think it was fun either. Now, he reads a lot. I don’t think he’d call it fun now, even. When I just asked him if he thinks reading is fun, he said, “Yes, if it’s something I want to read.” A convert!!

I don’t find time to read for fun much anymore (although I did sign up for a reading challenge this year), but I’m reading pretty much all the time.

A lot of my reading is on the Internet: Twitter and Facebook posts, blog posts, news articles. And a lot of it is for my job: tons and tons of essays (Multiply my 124 students by the 10 or so essays they have to write for their portfolios).

Today, I juggled comic books and narrative essays, and although neither is the kind of reading I exactly prefer, I could do much worse on a Saturday.

7/365: Basil and Cecilia

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These little guys call our van their home. We found Basil, the frog, at Walmart several years ago. Kevin’s always loved the name, and it reminds of The Great Mouse Detective. (I don’t know why that fits here, but it does somehow.) We adopted Cecilia, the seal, at the Virginia Beach Aquarium last summer. She’s named for the Simon and Garfunkel song. ๐Ÿ™‚

I took three shots of Basil and Cecilia this afternoon from an almost identical angle with Urbian’s Retro Camera app for Droid. You can see the difference in color, film, and case, not to mention kilter. From left: the Xolaroid 2000, made in San Francisco; the .1976 USSR’s Little Orange Box (also shown at top); and the ’50s-era German Bรคrbl.

4/365: Still Blue

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One of those ‘whoa’ moments.

Kevin said the eerie blue brilliance just before a big storm reminds him of the saying, “The darkest hour is just before the dawn.” Because it’s the opposite, the otherworldly beauty that sometimes fills the calm before the storm contrasted with the deepest dark that inks its way toward the soon-to-break dawn.

I took this picture with my DroidX through the windshield of our van as Kevin was driving up Highway 29 and, believe it or not, it hasn’t been altered a bit. ๐Ÿ™‚

3/365: It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

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Still up!

Today’s picture is a collage of pictures of our Christmas tree and a few of our ornaments, all of which still grace our living room.

But Christmas is over, you say.

Bite your tongue!

Don’t you know that Christmas doesn’t even begin until midnight Christmas Eve? Did you skip Advent altogether? Haven’t you heard about the Twelve Days of Christmas?

Well, don’t feel so bad. We didn’t know any of this until the last year or so either. ๐Ÿ˜‰

According to the Christian tradition, the Twelve Days of Christmas link the Nativity to the Epiphany on January 6th, when the Christmas season ends.

So why do we start putting our trees up and humming carols closer and closer to Halloween? I think we can blame advertisements for this.

Regardless of when we get our tree up (usually the second week of December), we won’t be taking it down until after January 6th.

I can just hear Topol’s Tevya (is there really another? ๐Ÿ˜‰ singing, “Tradition!”