If Mr. T Had a Choice ... He would have picked his Bee Team

Are you grateful for spell check on your emails? YES (Me too!)

Do you enjoy happy hours and fabulous prizes? YES (Who doesn't)

Then you will LOVE this .... 

If you were a fan of the Coalition's Happy Bee and have been sad to see it go as the Belmont closed ... I have great news for you! We have a brand new format that is BIGGER AND BETTER! We have combined the fun of the spelling bee, with your favorite trivia night and are now doing it in teams! Teams of up to four will compete in the most unique trivia challenge in Austin once a month at the COOLEST new bar, the Yellow Jacket Social Club!

So you are probably wondering how this works, so let me give you the low down. In the new Bee Team Trivia Challenge teams (up to four) compete for just $10 (per team)! So you might be wondering how spelling and bees relate to trivia? Do you know how to spell? Can you use those words in a sentence? Do you know where words and phrases come from? Have you ever read a book? Well you have a head start on some of us ... and we made the questions! Here are a couple of examples from the first two rounds in the Bee from October that will give you a better idea of what to expect:

Spelling Example:This word, meaning "steady persistence in a course of action" is often mispronounced, leading to incorrect spellings.

• persaverance
• perseverance
• perseverence
• perserverance

Trivia Example:
What Hogwarts House did Harry call home?

• Gryffindor
• Slitherin
• Hufflepuff
• Ravenclaw

The October teams had a GREAT time and the feedback was really positive - people loved the game, working in teams & the location!  The next Bee Team Challenge is next week ... Tuesday November 1, 2011 @ 6:00pm!  I hope to see more new faces there, and would be happy to field any questions you might have about the event. Please feel free to email Shannon or call the office!

Is blogging worth our time?

This post may seem a little unorthodox, but hell, I need to know! Is blogging really worth our time? Are people out there reading this, and if so, what are you getting from it?

As most of you know, in the non-profit world there is never enough time to do everything we want to do. So here I am...7:30PM and I'm trying to catch up on list of "overdue" items on my ToodleDo.com (a great tool but can get frustrating when you have a list of 10+ things that are bolded with the label "overdue") and sure enough, in red type, bolded, is the word, "BLOG!". Written just like that. Except there may even be two exclamation marks added to it.

I know my colleagues are in the same boat. I mean, I hope they at least have it on their calendars! But really, I understand if they don't. Blogging can seem futile. Unlike Facebook, where everyone and their mom "likes" your status that took three seconds to write, a blog post takes thought. Am I being engaging? Do people actually care about what I'm saying? Getting a comment on a blog post seems harder than winning a Grammy.

Here at the Literacy Coalition, we started this blog to "put a face" to our organization. As an organization that doesn't provide direct support, you won't see us out in the community feeding the homeless and you can't come to our office to watch an ESL class in action, we thought a blog would be a good way for the community to get to know us a little bit. We wanted to provide a little window into the everyday work of the Literacy Coalition. A novel idea, if you ask me.

But as noted above, blogging seems to take a backseat. And now I'm asking you, readers, to inspire us. Should we keep writing? If so, what do you want to hear about? Scroll down through some of our older posts and tell us what you think.

Thanks y'all,

-Peter