Be $ensible Again

The Be $ensible legislative wrap up is tomorrow, Saturday March 26th from 4 - 6 p.m. Join us as we host Ross Romero, Kraig Powell and perhaps some friends from the media to sensibly discuss the outcomes of the 2011 legislative session. There's so so much to talk about. Please join us.

Be $ensible Canceled until a Later Date

Tomorrow's event, Be $ensible: A Post-Session Gathering, is canceled. We will reschedule for a later day in the month to hold our discussion of the legislative session and announce the new date in the next few days. We thank you for your patience, and we are sorry for any inconvenience the cancellation may have caused.

The Sweetest Valentine

Last week I got some of the best valentines I'd ever received. They were from Bennion Elementary students. Mrs. Hartman, Bennion's librarian, and her students made valentines to thank me for the book donations I delivered to their school in late January. Each valentine tells of each child's love of books and reading. They still bring tears to my eyes.

Really, they should have been sent to all of you who bought books from our holiday Angel Tree and at the January Be $ensible gathering. I donated a couple of titles I loved. But mostly I was the courier for the titles you bought for the school.

Thank you generous customers for allowing me to deliver books to kids who love and need them. You really came through.

Catherine

Be $ensible: An Update

If you missed the first Be $ensible event on January 22nd, you missed two hours (it seemed shorter!) of intelligent, non-inflammatory political discussion courtesy of Pat Shea, Rod Decker, and Paul Rolly. You also missed some dynamite bagels courtesy of Black Market Bagels and coffee courtesy of Sam Weller's and the Coffee Garden.

I'm also pleased to report that many books were bought for the Bennion Elementary School library. In fact, it looked like a plague of locusts had swept over the table displaying the books that Bennion needed. The best kind of locusts of course: the reading, giving kind. Delivering the books was the highlight of my week. The librarian went through the box ooohing and aaahing over every title. She's already got plans for many of the books. Thank you all.

Don't feel bad, dear readers, if you missed January's Be $ensible event. There are still ways to get involved. First of all, visit the Be $ensible web site and nominate your favorite legislative actions for the most sensible, least sensible, and the best alternative to legislative actions this Session. You can also nominate the Pat Bagley cartoon that best captures the 2011 Legislative Session. We will award prizes—books of course!—to the nominees whose suggestions win in their respective categories. Awards will be given at the Session wrap up.

Yes, we'll be meeting again. On Saturday, March 12th at 4:00 p.m. we'll review the General Session of the 59th Utah State Legislature with the same wonderful panelists. Come prepared to discuss, celebrate, commiserate, and do whatever it takes to put the Leg to bed. As previously mentioned, we'll award the Be $ensible prizes at that time. We'll also have another table of books for donation to the Bennion Elementary School library.

Oh and don't forget to wear your Be $ensible button to the store during the time the Legislature meets. If you do, you'll get a 10% discount when you buy a book.

Be $ensible!

On Saturday, January 22nd at 4 PM, Sam Weller's Bookstore will be hosting a gathering of sensible citizens to discuss the upcoming Utah state legislative session. Our discussion will be led by Paul Rolly of the Salt Lake Tribune and Rod Decker of KUTV and moderated by Patrick A. Shea. We'll hear an overview of the likely topics for legislation, and we'll highlight the importance of sensibility in political discourse and in governance.

We'll have free Be $ensible buttons (like the picture at the top of this post). When you wear this button in the store during the legislative session, Sam Weller's will give you 10% off new, used, and rare books (with just a few exceptions). That's our reward to you for helping to spread the message of sensibility.

Because sensibility begins with educational opportunity, we will be taking donations for Bennion Elementary School's library during our gathering. Bennion has given us a list of books that their library needs, and we'll be giving 20% off books from the list that are purchased for donation– and we'll deliver them.

Bennion is a Title 1 School in which 86% of the students are economically disadvantaged, but that’s not the whole story: Students at Bennion speak over 19 languages and represent cultures around the globe, and their teachers have an average of 20 years experience accompanied by a deep commitment to the academic and personal progress of each child.

Be $ensible will be conducting a contest throughout the 2011 Legislative session. Citizens will be asked to submit nominations to www.besensible.org for the most sensible and the least sensible legislative acts and statements, the best alternative, and for the best Pat Bagley cartoon which captures the 2011 session. Be $ensible will gather for a post-session review on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at Sam Weller's, when awards will be presented for the winning nominations.

So come to Weller's tomorrow and help promote sensible governance and a bright future!