Death of a Mentor!

I learned today that last week, David Cassady, former Director of Education for The Children's Museum of Indianapolis was found murdered in his home, apparently the victim of a murder-suicide involving his wife Ruth.

Rather than go into details, which at this point is extremely difficult for me to do, I post the link to this most awful story.

"Police investigate apparent murder-suicide"

This thing bothers me horribly as I worked with David Cassady for nearly 4 years while I served as Planetarium Educator for SpaceQuest Planetarium at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. For me, David was a mentor and someone for whom I greatly admired and struggled to emulate.

In my early days as Planetarium Educator, it was David Cassady who took me under his wing, so to speak, and guided my learning process, taking me from a scientist/astronomer to one of educator. This was a difficult process which was made much easier thanks exclusively to David Cassady.

When I wanted to build a 1/3 scale replica of Stonehenge for teaching simple machines and Physics; when I wanted to host a public event about astronomy called Celestial Celebration; when I wanted to do outreach for Riley Children's Hospital; when I wanted to create a costumed character named Dr. What? for interacting with kids; when I wanted to change the planetarium logo; when I wanted to expand the museum's web presence with Cosmic Quest, Build-A-Space Station, NASA TV, Liberty Bell 7 Memorial; when I wanted to write & produce any planetarium program about anything; when I wanted to bring in Moon Rocks; when I wanted to do an adaptation of War of the Worlds using only MAP(Museum Apprentice Program) youth; it was David Cassady who said... How much? How long? How can we make it happen?

Never once did he deny me my ideas, no matter how unusual. He embraced my vision and permitted me to not only succeed in many cases, but to even fail once or twice.
He never criticized my efforts but would instruct me gently when things went awry and taught me how to succeed.

From him I learned how to inspire children. From him I learned how to mentor youth. From him I learned how to see past the brick walls of defeatism and reach for the lofty goals. From him I learned that we learn as much from failure as we do from success. From him I learned the value of a childs perspective.

Nearly everyone who worked with David Cassady felt as I do about this amazing individual. I would have gladly set myself on fire and crawled through a mile of broken glass while listening to an endless loop of "Elvira" had he only requested it. Such was my admiration and devotion to someone for whom I consider a critical mentor in my life.

I would not be the educator I am today were it not for David Cassady.

I won't pretend or claim to understand what happened that night; what drove Ruth to do what she did; how they came to be so desperate that this seemed their only option.

I only know that someone I cared about, someone I admired, someone I respected is no longer a member of this mortal coil.

I will miss his laugh...

James C. Wallace II

55,937 Words plus 505 Books Equals a Stunning November!

During the course of the month of November, Magician of Oz was involved in a project/competition known as Nanowrimo. An odd anachronism to say the least. To be precise, Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. To quote the Nanowrimo website:

"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

I decided to participate in this unique endeavor and sought to complete volume three; Family of Oz as my writing project. After a rough start the first week, it was apparent that Princess Ozma would have nothing of it. Seems she will not allow the muse to be forced. As such, I must work by her schedule, not mine.

After some serious thinking and such, I wound up going off in an odd direction and wound up writing a story about a green-handled rolling pin and its life in a Hoosier kitchen. It soon found itself adrift in an auction barn awaiting its fate after its owner passes on. Each ensuing chapter tells the story of a different person or couple and how he/she/they end up at the auction. By story's end, the final chapter tells of the furious bidding and the winning bidder, who takes the green-handled rolling pin to its new life.

It's strange where these stories come from...

I'm pleased to say that with some dedication to the goal, I was able to reach a final word count of 55,937 words. I'm told that's impressive by most standards, but for me, that's pretty standard. I tend to write at a very furious pace when the muse strikes and generally write by chapters instead of just by word count. It's my way...

In addition, I just completed one of my final book signings for the year and found that combining both Amazon.com sales, Lulu.com sales, book signing sales and Kindle sales, I achieved the 505 total book sales mark.
I am humbled by the support of Oz fans across the country and offer my sincere gratitude to all who have purchased Magician of Oz.
During my trip to Book Expo America 2009 in New York City last May, I kept hearing the number 500 as the benchmark against which all self-publishers measured their success. It seems that only 1% of all self-publishers reach that goal. Having done so, I now deem my work a success and consider my goal of fulfilling Princess Ozma's Royal Command well on its way to completion.

As Shadow Demon of Oz awaits its publication date of the Vernal Equinox of 2010, Princess Ozma willing of course, I look forward to the upcoming holidays and offer my sincere gratitude to Her Royal Highness, Princess Ozma for her continued faith in her most humble servant.

Par Ardua Ad Alta!!! ~ The Wizard of Oz

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

Another Auction Victory for The Wizard of Oz!

Once again, I found myself at our local auction barn purchasing odd stuff and nonsense, and once again, The Wizard of Oz pops up when I least expect it.

For those of you who are too young to remember, there was a time when music was played on albums. Large black (usually) discs of vinyl which were place on a turntable, rotated at 33 1/3rpms and a diamond needle placed on the rotating disc which would vibrate as the needle traveled through small grooves etched in the disc. This is how we listened to music back in the days of old, when I was young... You kids get off of my lawn!!!!

Archaic, ain't it?

And yet, there are some albums which I own that I would not trade for a cd at any cost.
I happen to own every Beatles album my parents ever bought and although the sound quality is nowhere near as good as a compact disc recording, they still have a feel to them that no cd could ever capture. The pops, scratches are hisses are all part of the listening experience and I still listen to them on a weekly basis.

Anyway, while sitting at our local auction barn, I happened across a box of albums, including some by Queen, KISS and others. After a couple of bids, I found myself the proud owner of this box of history and carried it out to the car for the trip home. Browsing through it briefly before returning to the sale, I found Princess Ozma's odd sense of humor at work once again.



The album is "Eldorado" and it was produced by ELO; a.k.a., Electric Light Orchestra. It contains some incredible songs and wonderful memories. One particular song, which received little radio play but which I happened to like a lot was Laredo Tornado.

I had the pleasure of seeing this band in 1977 and was blown away by the music and stage show. It was the first time I ever saw lasers in a concert. They played this song and it was amazing. Oddly enough though, this is the only reference to The Wizard of Oz whatsoever. I never have figured out why they chose the cover image shown above. Magician of Oz is perplexed!

Nonetheless, Princess Ozma has had her laugh and surprised me with a wonderful gift from the past of my youth.

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma

Magician of Oz and the Cybil Awards!

Recently, I received notice from the Cybil Awards that my new children's book, Magician of Oz was nominated for a Cybil Award in the category of Fantasy/Science Fiction for Middle School Children.

http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2009-nominations-fantasyscience-fiction.html

For those who are unaware or unknowing, the Cybil Awards are devoted to authors who write exclusively for children and young adults. There are 9 categories ranging from picture-books to young adult fiction and everything in between. This is a very prestigious award, especially given that nearly all the books nominated were done so by the very children reading them.

To say I am excited would be a major understatement. It never even occurred to me that Magician of Oz would be nominated for a literary award. I was happy just to get it out there for children to enjoy.

It seems they enjoy it very much, despite what some nitpicky Oz folks (and that is only a very select few... say 2-3) have to say.

Par Ardua Ad Alta!

James C. Wallace II
http://magicianofoz.blogspot.com/

LCROSS and Magician of Oz... A Lunatic Prize!

For those who do not know me, I am many things. A father, husband, grandfather, scientist, educator, magician, author and Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma of Oz!

In addition, I am an astronomer. I have been for over 40 years. Mind you, not the backyard, once-a-year, only when its warm and only early in the evening type.

No....

I've paid my dues with over 2700 hours of eyepiece time, numerous published articles and observations, as well as a dedicated and proven track record in public astronomy and astrophotography.

I've ran observatories, planetariums, day-camps, single-day events, conferences and the like. Over the years, I've garnered a number of awards, honors, recognitions and other such trivia.

Now comes a unique honor that please me greatly.

The Lunar and Planetary Institute is an educational institution sponsored by NASA that promotes space education through outreach.
Their latest venture is a website dedicated to lunar stuff and such and is called MyMoon. It is a very impressive site.

The most recent project MyMoon decided to promote NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) program, which was intended to impact the Moon with both a significant mass object and a follow-up sensing satellite that would also impact the Moon, creating twin impacts sites on the Moon’s surface at the south pole. This was done in an attempt to detect traces of water vapor liberated from the impact.

Despite media disappointment at no visible plume from impacts, which came as no surprise to anyone who understands vector physics and lunar soil composition, much data was obtained and now undergoes detailed analysis.

Now my part comes into view...

MyMoon sponsored a contest to name the last words of LCROSS and my submission was voted number one (The Winner!) by public poll.

... and the winning phrase was: "I went to the Moon and all I got was this lousy crater!"

... and the crowd goes wild!!!!!

I was awarded a Moon Mini-globe for my efforts, which always pleases the lunatic in me.

Carpe Luna!!!!

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma