Kristin Lems: Links

my glorious mom, Carol Lems-Dworkin: She performs, she writes, she publishes, she teaches - look at this amazing and also gorgeous mother of mine!
Graeme Rudd greeting cards: A new friend met in Sydney, by day a humble ESL teacher, in his free time, a stunning photographer. His friends finally convinced him to put these images out on cards. Take a look.
Kristin Lems myspace page: Brand new and still evolving...please visit.

Advocacy and Service

Read to Feed - the Heifer Project: This thoughtful multi-purpose project is a reading incentive program for kids that also has a community service piece and lots of curricular tie-ins. The children raise funds while reading about the Heifer Project, which donates a live animal and agricultural training to a poor family in the developing world. The children are part of the process of planning the gift, and along the way, learn about stewardship of the earth, nutrition, gender equity, budgets, and more. There are videos that Heifer can send the class. This is a beauty.
My Good Deed: This was formed to encourage Americans to observe a day of service on 9-11, but it is quickly becoming a year-round, global clearinghouse for sharing selfless and philanthropic initiatives. Great idea!
Books to Prisoners: This site helps prison libraries so that prisoners can get their GEDs and go on for higher education - and just read recreationally.
Book Rescue: an effort to save books from the landfill - check this out
The Story of Stuff, a cartoon lecture with Annie Leonard: Get a cup of tea and sit down. Watch this in its entirety. 20 minutes long. Worth every second.
Bead for Life: paper beads rolled by Ugandan AIDS widows and genocide survivers....and the beads are really beautiful. Please think about it for your next gift to others or to self.
Free Rice: a Commercial sponsor donates grains of rice to Myanmar and other areas for every definition of a word you can match. They are *really* hard words - many old English known more to Brits than Americans - but I did manage to donate several 1000 grains before the game shut me down. Try it!!
NLU Service Learning Trip to New Orleans, summer 2008: I was on this trip with 17 others from National-Louis, and we kept a blog. We worked on getting a school ready for opening day, and helped at two preschools as well. It was a great experience!
Collective Good - cellphone recycling: If you want to recycle a cell phone and some other stuff, this site allows you to click on a number of not for profit recipients.
Second Strings Project: This wonderful advocacy project sends "gently used" guitar strings of musicians in North America to musicians in developing countries. I have donated strings (full sets only) and urge any musicians reading this to do the same. Another modest but effective "reduce, reuse, recylce" initiative.
Buying Green Energy: Many areas now allow consumers to designate their energy source, and we can choose clean energy to produce our power. This in turn boosts the market value of clean energy initiatives. Look at this website to see what's available in your state!
Donors Choose: This website puts teachers and donors together. The teacher puts up a description of the project. Donors browse and donate money to whatever project seems especially worthwhile to them. Elegant and simple, and it's funded hundreds of great projects!

Great Live Music Videos

"Go with me to that Land" on You Tube: sung by Bernice Reagan, Pete Seeger, and Jean Ritchie. I found this at Jim McGuin's website and loved it.
Come and Go with Me to the Land: This version of the song is sung live by Peter Paul and Mary - there are other live concert videos of theirs on You Tube, too. FANTASTIC music.

folk and world music

Anne Feeney: alone or with performing partner Chris Chandler, this folksinger and songwriter has enlivened and inspired audiences live and on CD, on union women's issues especially. Our own "Union Maid."
Peggy Seeger: Peggy is funny, eclectic, honest, and so talented in her many activities and performances. I'm so glad she and I have become friends lately!
Suni Paz: Amazing musician who has produced hundreds of Spanish language songs for children and adults, and respects and role of culture and of music in education. Great for any bilingual Spanish teacher or teacher of ESL!!
Utah Phillips podcasts: a most remarkable poet/musician, in his own voice, just like a phone call between friends.....

Children

The Children's Music Network: Here's a group I belong to and whose members are among the most creative and dynamic of all. If you sing music for kids, you should be in this group!

Links to Buy CDs, tapes, books by Kristin Lems

Kristin's complete catalog on CD Baby: A quick link to the whole catalog on CD baby.
Best of Broadside at Smithsonian Folkways: Here is information about the 5 CD project, The Best of Broadside (Magazine), which won 2 Grammy nominations. Kristin is in the collection, singing her "Ballad of the ERA" (in a different recording from the one on Carolsdatter). Browse the whole astonishing anthology - Janis Ian, Bob Dylan, many others appeared in Broadside for the first time.
Fluency Instruction: Research Based Best Practices: The publisher site of the book Kristin co-edited on reading fluency. It was a nominee for the Fry Book Award of the National Reading Conference.
Sharing CD and Book: Here's a direct link to buying the children's CD and book, Sharing.
Oh Mama - Plus! link: Here's where to buy the Oh Mama! - Plus CD or cassette.
Imagine That! CD/Book link: This takes you to the ordering info for Imagine That!

articles authored by Kristin

Booklinks - a Journal of the American Library Association: This annotated bibliography of books for children about Arabs, the Muslim world, and Arab Americans, was published in Nov. 99 and has been widely referenced since.
An American Poetry Project for Low Intermediate ESL Adults: English Teaching Forum magazine, Oct. 2001 edition
Book Review of "The Education of Hyman Kaplan": The Fourth Estate - Texas TESOL Newsletter, 1997
Disney's Dead Mother's Club: This won a writing contest in the Chicago area. If you think about the Disney movies you've seen, I bet you'll agree!
Sing Out! archive: Here's an article Kristin wrote about Peggy Lipschutz published in the Sing Out of Fall 2006
review of Fluency Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices: An online review of the book on reading fluency Kristin co-authored and co-edited with Rasinski and Blachowicz.
Using Music in the Adult ESL Classroom: Free and fully downloadable, this is widely distributed and much enjoyed by ESL teachers around the world.
Fall 2007 Illinois TESOL/BE Newsletter: "ELLs in the Era of NCLB" by Kristin Lems and Leah D. Miller is the cover article in this issue. Go to V35 n3

recommended musicians!

Carol Lems-Dworkin: This is my mother's website. If "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," look at the mighty oak from which I come! She is a great writer, musician, and scholar...and refuses to be only one thing!
Lynn Keller: Lynn is a living legend -- a world famous bass player who tours with Rita Coolidge, Diana Ross....and once played in a band with me, called Ms. Conception! I love that girl and I'm blown away by her talent and drive. Go see!
Stuart Stotts: an amazing songwriter and performer who plays all over Wisconsin at different schools. Stuart wrote "Music in My Mother's House" and many other classics....
Holly Near: an astonishing multitalented woman, a virtual "factory" of songs, performances, recordings, books on many topics. How does she do it??
Tom Pease: What a high energy and talented singer and songwriter....a big kid with a sweet voice and a mean set of guitar licks. Wisconsin is so lucky to have him there, doing ecology, kid's music....
Nelson Gill: Chicago's favorite island singer....Belize's national treasure, Nelson sings oh so gently for children and brings a Caribbean breeze with him....
Susan Salidor: my friend and inspiration....Susan sings for kids in ways that build self-esteem and multiculturalism while having lots of fun. She plays autoharp, does benefits for peace, and now has a songbook in addition to fantastic recordings. Meet her!
Jeanne Mackey: Jeannie and I are friends for keeps! With two others, we once did a national tour carrying a whole p.a. system on a Greyhound bus, getting off at each stop with all the speakers and amps, and stuffing them into waiting vehicles! Besides all her other talents and spirituality she is also hilariously funny and has a knack for finding irresistible songs....
Barb Tilsen: Alone and with photography partner Gayla Ellis, Barb does wonderful songs and workshops about creative conflict resolution and honoring unsung warriors for peace.
Two of a Kind: Every single CD this talented performing duo has released is in my "favorites." If you teach and want to use music, their clever, conscious, appealing children's songs are a must for any age group!

peace and justice resources

American Friends Service Committee: Whether it's their frugally spent and effective aid to struggling people around the world, their efforts at public education for peace, or their esteemed history, this group cannot be surpassed for its contribution to peace.
Truth Out digest of articles: They do a lot of reading and find articles I'm very interested in on many social topics. Lately, their photo choices are also outstanding, including amazing photos of people trying to rebuild after the tsunami.
Friends Committee on National Legislation: The state of the art peace advocacy website. This is so good, you learn about other "under the radar" issues besides the one you went to speak up about.
North Suburban Peace Initiative: Think globally act locally - this dynamic group operates in the area in which I live. I'm proud to be a part of it.
Yes! Magzine: This eco-conscious, upbeat, "think global, act local" magazine offers a FREE one year subscription, no strings attached, for any teacher. I have taken the subscription, and love this magazine. It's very positive while never goody-goody - just conscious of our planetary crisis and helping us all move in a positive direction.
Body of War: a documentary about the Iraq War with moving music by Eddie Vetter. Stop the war now!!

interesting reads

Limits of Romantic Love in Utne Reader online: My good friend, Rev. Rebecca Armstrong, wrote this stimulating musing just in time for Valentine's Day. Fascinating stuff. It also leads you to her website.
"Mortality Salience" by John Judis in the New Republic: The big idea is that experiments support the hypothesis that awareness of mortality results in "worldview defense." Very interesting and could help explain a lot of things.
Dancing in the Seats - article in NYT: Love this article, which reminds us that music and dance arose inseparably in human evolution, and that it's natural to move to music....

feminist resources

The Chicago Women's Liberation Union: This is the finest website for information about the women's movement in the Chicago area and beyond during the 60's and 70's. You have got to browse this elegant, funny, and clever site.
The Feminist Majority: Walk through this wonderful website and learn about American womankind and our sisters around the world. Inspiring!
National Women's History Project: These folks publish a catalog of resources about women's history that no educator should be without. They also have a great website. Write women into history!
National Women's Music Festival: yes! They're moving to Madison Wisconsin - a new venue in a new state, and this is for "keeps" - it looks great. I'm so very very proud to have birthed this very big and beautiful baby!