Adios En Clave De Bolero. We Hardly Knew You.

The third CD from Miss B's most recent library excursion, a Spanish language collection called En Clave de Bolero, did not capture her attention. When I put it on for the first time, DJ B put her fingers in her ears. She was playing with a toy dollhouse and ignored the music entirely. I turned it down a bit since it seemed to be too loud for her and she continued to work on her project of removing address label stickers from her plastic dollhouse. Yet, after a few songs she pushed stop on the player, removed the CD and handed it to me wordlessly. When I asked her about it she said, "I don't like it. You told me I could watch a movie."

Obviously bored with the flurry of CD reviews that I was asking of her, Miss B reached her breaking point. I relented and let her watch a DVD that she picked up from the library.

Anita Mui's Fashion Show Soundtrack Delights DJ B

DJ B is often drawn to library CDs housed in big, DVD-style cases, so I wasn't too surprised when she picked up the Anita Mui "With" CD (accompanied by bonus video CD). The first time she listened to it she immediately asked me to join her, saying, "I wanna dance with you." After a quick turn on the dance floor she adjusted the volume and said, "gimme some snack and TV," before turning it off completely. The second time I attempted to play this, Miss B was in the other room and when she heard the music she screamed, "Be quiet!" and walked in to where I was to turn off the CD, yelling, "I want you to be quiet. I don't like the music on."

Things couldn't have been more different last week when DJ B asked to listen to this CD in her room. As the music began, she smiled and shook her hips. Doing her best "America's Next Top Model" imitation, she pranced across the "cat walk" in her room. She clapped along to the music, laughed, and placed her hands on her hips. She grabbed a skirt from her chair and put it on top of her head like a hat. She then put a ballet skirt over her hands and began flapping her arms with it on.

After her facial expression changed into a strange grin, she began shaking a skirt in the air before putting it in her teeth. She then started pulling clothing out of her bag of dirty laundry, including a nightgown which she held over her face while she danced towards me. She continued layering on various items of clothing and completed the look with sunglasses and ballet slippers. She threw an inflatable space shuttle into the air, tucked a jump rope into her ballet shoes and danced with conviction.

DJ B then propped her sunglasses atop her head and silently sang along to the music with her arms on her chest and a scarf around her neck.

Although I was happy to see that the music by this dearly departed Hong Kong actress inspired Miss B to new levels of performance, I breathed a sigh of relief when she grew bored of the Asian pop-fueled fashion show before she hit the stinkiest part of her dirty clothes pile.

Latin Pop in DJ B's Jail Garden

The library is about to come after us for overdue CDs, so it's about time to share DJ B's take on Paulina Rubio's album "Ananda," which she so carefully selected from the shelves of the San Francisco Public Library. Do you think it was the hot pink cover art that appealed?

The music elicited smiles from Miss B who began dancing immediately to the Spanish-language pop. She jumped up and down while wearing 2 leotards and ballet shoes and invited her father to join her. Father and daughter shared a dance and then Miss B did a quick solo spin. She danced on her tip toes and shrieked, "I like this one! I'll show you how I dance."

A giddy grin spread over DJ B's face as she enjoyed the music. As the second track began she approached me, patted my knee and said, "I'm gonna stop it for a minute because I like the other one." She stopped the CD, started it up again with the first track, and resumed her happy dancing as she sashayed across the room. She kept repeating track one and would not start dancing until she heard the music, saying, "I have to dance when the music hears my ear."

She treated us to an elaborate performance before propping up the CD, saying, "I want to see it while I'm dancing." She then asked us to set up a curtain over our entertainment center so that she could have her own stage from which to make a grand entrance. After we set up the curtain she asked, "Do you want to see my shadow? This is my garden." After inviting me behind the curtain, she said, "Pretend we're in jail. It's a jail garden."

From there the performance devolved, but it was clear that DJ B found much inspiration in Paulina's Latin pop.

eVonne Hsu Gets Miss B Dancing Again

Wouldn't you know it, DJ B selected yet another Asian pop release on one of our recent public library jaunts. eVonne Hsu's "Chosen One: '02-'05" is a double CD with a purple spine and no front label art. The back cover has a picture of Hsu, which perhaps caught Miss B's eye. Although she's a star in Taiwan, Evonne actually was born and grew up in Texas and that's where she was apparently discovered.

When we initially played the CD, operatic vocals started everything off, although the music itself was more pop and rock. Miss B said to me, "let's dance together!" before she became fixated on her purple pen and started to draw all over my notebook. Turning from the page she again implored me to dance and then said "dance slowly," while she demonstrated some running moves decked out in her Cinderella dress. She then held her hand up over her eye, as if she was surveying a landscape. The music got a bit more dancy with electronic elements and this caused Miss B to grab a scarf from her dress-up box. Eventually she wrapped up her Cinderella shoes in scarves before waving me off, saying, "go away."

The next time that I tried to play this CD, Miss B screamed, "I want a movie. Not music!" She then stomped to the CD player and turned it off.

Vietnamese Ballads are Baby's Favorite Music

Recently DJ B and I made our first visit to the remodeled main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. It was gorgeous, with a huge children's area and an enviable Audio-Visual room. When Miss B and I entered the AV Room to search for CDs it was like entering a musical mecca. It was a huge room, with CDs on shelves and in record store-like bins. It made the random nature of our CD selection process a bit more challenging, as the sections were divided by genre. Luckily, I didn't realize that until after I had steered Miss B down one particular row; so she selected something out of the first row that we hit. We'll have to go back and explore some more, because after picking one CD, DJ B transitioned into full-on meltdown mode.


So, what did she pick? Tuan Ngoc's "Nhung Tinh Khuc Yeu Cau" release from the Vietnamese section of the library. The first few times that I tried to play this at home, DJ B stopped the CD immediately. Today, however, I placed it in the CD player while she was happily making music with one of her instruments. As the music started, she continued to jump and dance around. She then began some dramatic slow dancing, with leg extensions, twirls, fancy footwork, and grand emotional sways with her eyes closed. The album, full of slow Vietnamese ballads with male vocals inspired her to do slow, measured dance moves.


As she listened, she grabbed her baby doll and rocked her in her arms before dancing while holding the baby. By the third song, DJ B said, "This is baby's favorite music," as she continued to dance. She'd stop occasionally to feed her baby milk. Then she said, "It's your turn to dance, mommy. I need to write about it." As I took my place on the "dance floor," Miss B sat down and asked for a piece of paper so that she could write notes. As she jotted down her observations, she asked, "What are these dances from? I think they're from New York." She then started to play with brightly colored tissue paper, placing it on the floor and then dancing while waving 2 hot pink pieces. Suddenly she stopped the CD, saying "no music" and removed it from the player. She handed the CD to me and said, "I didn't like it." She could have fooled me. Miss B then got on the floor, saying, "I have to snuggle in my little patch" and curled up on top of her tissue paper nest.

Despite what she said, I think DJ B dug this CD. How can you really go wrong with this suave Vietnamese superstar? I can hardly wait to return to the main branch of the library to find more Asian pop gems.

DJ B Says No to Taiwan TV

It's important to remember that DJ B hand-selected each of the items reviewed on this blog from the library, so she was initially intrigued by something that she saw on each and every CD that's been part of this project. Yet, what happens after we get home with the CD varies tremendously. As she's grown weary of this project, it's become more and more difficult to get her to allow me to play any of these CDs for her.

Sweet Relationship OST (a soundtrack CD for a Taiwan TV show of the same name) looks like a DVD, as it's housed in a long box. I think Miss B was disappointed that it wasn't actually a DVD because every time I put it in the CD player she takes it out immediately. Yesterday she said, "I don't want you to listen to music right now. It's not music time."

Well, OK.

Cantopop Mesmerizes DJ B and Me

Miss B selected yet another mysterious Cantopop album from the public library. As far as I can gather, the 2003 album (perhaps "Loving Knot") is by Hong Kong artist Priscilla Chan. It features two CDs, one of which (pictured above) contains a video of the song "Tomorrow is Another Day." As soon as DJ B realized there was a video on this CD, she became obsessed. We've watched it repeatedly and now I can't get it out of my head. It's actually quite beautiful, with a French flavor to it, portions in English, and a very nostalgic video featuring Priscilla wandering through a dusty, cobwebby room full of vintage furniture and an old phonograph. Her voice is captivating.

While watching the video, Miss B was very intrigued, asking, "What is she?" Later she said, "I love this video!" and asked, "Does she have a fancy dress?" It took a lot of coaxing to listen to the CD sans video, but when she did she was quite pleased. During one song featuring piano, she said, "I wanna dance to this one" and then started to dance on her tip toes. She gathered up her ballet slippers, saying, "These are my special shoes." She continued to dance, quickening the pace, before inviting me to join her and giddily requesting the video again, saying, "I wanna dance with the video and start a move." After watching the video a number of times, she actually started to re-enact scenes from it.

This was a gorgeous album that DJ B and I could both enjoy. Yet again I'm amazed at the obscurities available at the public library, as this release was impossible for me to find online. So, our enjoyment of it will be short, but sweet.

Cantopop Legend Too Loud for DJ B

Once again DJ B selected some Asian pop music from the public library, but this time around she showed little interest in the CD once we got it home. The first time I tried to play Leslie Cheung's Printemps album from 1998, Miss B said, "I don't want this one. I want something else." It wasn't that she necessarily singled out the Cantopop superstar for her critique, as she pretty much only wants to listen to the Nutcracker these days.

After giving Miss B her Nutcracker fix, I snuck this CD on. Focused on playing dress up, she didn't pay much attention to the music. She left the room and returned wearing a fairy skirt paired with a T-shirt adorned with a cat picture, gardening shoes with lady bugs on them, and pink polka dot sunglasses. While in this get-up, she pushed a few stuffed animals in her toy doll stroller. When I asked her what she thought of the music, she said, "too loud" and turned it down. The next day I tried to play the music again and Miss B yelled, "I don't want Chinese!" and removed the CD from the player. Oh well. This Mandarin-language release didn't do much for me either.

Cantopop Rules for Headbanging and Air Guitar

It's quite often that Miss B is drawn to Chinese CDs at the public library. I'm not sure if it's because there's a big selection, or if there's something in the aesthetics of the packaging that's appealing to her. Either way, Miss B is usually riveted by the majority of Chinese pop music that she hears. The hugely popular Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen's CD was no exception.

When we first put Kelly Chen's Grace into the CD player, Miss B was eager to listen to it. She quietly played during the first song, but then got a very serious look on her face when track 2 began. She rocked her feet, put her fingers in her mouth, and then began dancing wildly with a big smile. She asked, "Is this my music?" Suddenly her dance moves changed into a style new to her, but familiar to me in that junior high school dance sort of way. Miss B started to shake her hips and her arms with a scowl on her face. At this point I couldn't hold back my laughter, and she laughed back at me, realizing that I was amused by her.

By track 3 I heard hints of metal and Miss B kept up the energetic moves, kicking her feet and stopping to point at pictures in my CMJ magazine. She then started to talk nonsensically to a picture before she began singing into an imaginary microphone.

When her father got home, DJ B wanted to put the CD on again. As the music began, she ran around the room like she was in flight, with her arms in the air. She swooped, and ended a dance with a grand, dramatic pose. As the more rock-oriented track 2 began, she again sang into her imaginary microphone with a strange, serious expression on her face. She transitioned into a fast dance, shaking her shoulders before putting on a rock-star face. She held both hands in front of her like she was motioning for us to "Stop!" and asked us to dance with her. By the third track (kind of a disco/metal tune), she was waving her fingers over her chest as if playing an air guitar. She rocked out in true head-banger fashion, stood in place scowling, then screamed, "Go away everybody!"

Ali Farka Toure Brings out Miss B's Inner Ghoul

Miss B seems to be on a bit of a world music kick, at least in terms of the CDs that she's randomly grabbing from the public library. When she sat down to listen to Ali Farka Toure's African/blues album "Savane," she stayed true to form and focused on the booklet before anything else. When the music began, she bounced a bit to the beat, but then got distracted by a coupon with a pumpkin on it from the Sunday paper. She ignored the music and focused all of her attention on the coupons, staring for a long time at a picture of Mr. Clean. When she was done reading coupons, she picked up her Hello Kitty purse and started unloading its contents onto my lap. Out came a plastic scorpion ring, a drawing of Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba, a princess cell phone, a quarter, and a purple fly ring. As track 2 began, Miss B said, "I wanna turn this one off."

A few days later we listened again and Miss B cranked up the volume. She then grabbed her Halloween goodie bag and shook a variety of Halloween toys out of it. After picking up a ghoul, she asked, "This a skeleton, mama?" She continued to play with the monster action figure and then asked for my help putting his coffin back together. We played together for awhile and then she put a witch pez into the coffin. DJ B said, "sleeping in the coffin" and then did a little jig after putting the monster in it. She then brought all of the Halloween toys to the couch and did some imaginary play with a pumpkin pez, saying, "I sleep pumpkin dada...I sleeped" as she held the pumpkin pez in front of the open coffin with the monster in it.

This release from the "king of the desert blues singers" proved to be a great soundtrack in the days leading up to Halloween.

Thandiswa Makes Good Soccer Music

One of the latest CDs that DJ B selected from the public library was South African artist Thandiswa's debut album "Zabalaza." After putting the CD in the player, Miss B immediately turned up the volume and then turned to the booklet. When she heard the female vocals coming from the speakers, she began to sway and cracked a small smile. In spite of her vaguely positive response, she turned off the music and asked to try something else.

A few days later Miss B requested this CD again. After the music began, she climbed up into a chair next to me to snuggle. A short time later she got off the chair and began to dance about, wearing her ballet shoes. She shook her hair like a rock star, then did some wild dancing while saying, "ballet moves...like this!" She then lifted her head up and down and eventually rested her head on the chair arm dramatically. When she stopped, she demanded, "I want Cheerios in a cup!" and then wandered off into the kitchen.

When I asked her what the music sounded like, she said, "princesses." Then, she picked up her Dora the Explorer soccer ball and asked me to throw it to her. When I asked if she liked the music, she said, "yep," and continued to kick her soccer ball.

Nortec Collective Prompts Miss B to Play Accordion on a Slinky

The Latin-electronic hybrid music of Nortec Collective's "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3" was the latest CD that Miss B selected from the public library. She listened to this album on multiple occasions and didn't have too much reaction to it. As she typically does these days, she immediately pulled the booklet out of the case to check out all the pictures and liner notes. On first listen she asked for it to be turned off after less than a song. The next time she rocked a little bit and did a slight dance before asking for cheddar bunnies.

Finally, we listened as a whole family and Miss B eventually did some big, elaborate dance moves to track 8 ("Almada"). The next day she really got into "Tijuana Makes Me Happy," and marched around the room stretching a pink slinky open and closed like an accordion, probably not even realizing that she was listening to an accordion in the song. Unfortunately DJ B's dad had a much stronger reaction to the same track, saying, "This song was running through my head this morning and it was annoying me. I'd rather hear Celine Dion." Harsh!

Canto-Pop Whips Miss B into a Frenzy

It's the rare library CD that prompts an immediate, enthusiastic response from Miss B and once again, the culprit is Asian pop. As soon as we slipped "The Easy Ride," the CD from Eason Chan's 2001 concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, into the player, DJ B began dancing wildly. She closed her eyes, stretched her arms over her head and lifted her leg into the air. She then said, "Help me spin around, mama. Help me spin around fast."

She took a quick break from the dancing to read the enclosed booklet. After spotting the second CD, she asked to take a listen to that. While listening to the live concert recording, Miss B would pause to clap along when she heard applause. Her dancing continued, and she told me, "it's princess music." We continued to play this and dance as it grew closer to the time when Miss B's father would return home. As he walked in the door, he was a bit taken aback by the loud, dramatic Canto-pop and the sight of Miss B grooving to the tunes with closed eyes.

The next day we played this again and DJ B danced for a little while before turning off the CD and telling me, "For later. When dada comes back." Clearly this is music that deserves an audience and Miss B caught on to that instantly.

Miss B Enjoys the Wild Percussion of 12 Girls Band

Wrapping up DJ B's trio of Chinese music for the week, we now turn our attention to the 12 Girls Band release "Miracle Live 2003." Although Miss B found this on the CD shelf at the public library, it's classified by the library as a "video," since it's a video CD. For us that meant that we were only allocated a 1-week rental (vs. 3 weeks for CDs), so we had to act quickly.

When we first put this in the DVD player Miss B just stared at the screen, transfixed like she is when watching most TV programs. Disc 1 began with images of nature, then moved into concert footage of the 12 Girls Band. As soon as the musicians appeared on screen Miss B asked, "What are doing?"[sic] She then pointed out to me that, "It has colors on there...like blue" as she observed the different colored lights used to illuminate the band during the performance.

She then requested the second disc. As the music resumed, she said, "It's hard to see this music...because it's blue...because my eyes [sunglasses] are not on." I'm not exactly sure what she was getting at, but something about the stage lighting seemed to make it difficult for her to see something- either the musicians or the instruments. When I asked her what it sounded like she said "yogurt." When I asked what she liked most about the music, she said, "purple." She then turned her attention to the booklet, saying, "I want a dress on. Just like her. On the CD...I want a skirt on. A fancy skirt on just like her fancy skirt." She then lounged on me holding the CD case, saying, "I like it. I like it" while holding her foot and shaking it to the beat of the music.

Miss B then ran out of the room, put a fancy skirt on, and returned carrying drum sticks. She raced around the room waving her drum sticks, saying "ooo oooo." On the video we then saw some intense percussion, with band members banging drum sticks on metal cabinets. DJ B imitated what she saw for awhile, then picked up 2 maracas for some fast dancing, followed by a double tambourine dance, and finally she ended her recital by waving 2 shaker eggs.

DJ B Tortures Her Parents with Bad Chinese Pop Covers

So, on the same library trip in which Miss B selected the delightful album Qi Yuan, she also picked out a few other Chinese releases. She wasn't even watching the Olympics, so it's an odd coincidence that suddenly she was drawn to this music.

Her 2nd choice in Chinese music was categorized by the library as Ye Qianwen's "25 Zhou Nian," but emblazoned on each of the 2 CDs is the name Sally Yip. After a bit of research I learned that Sally Yip aka Sally Yeh is a Hong Kong pop singer and this album from 2004 translates to "25 Years of Sally Yeh."

After DJ B requested this album for play, she swayed a bit to the music before donning her silver glittery shoes for some dancing. She grabbed her favorite mouse pad/dance floor and grooved for a bit on it, before tossing it to the side so that she could do some more extensive ballet maneuvers. She pointed her toes, waved her arms in the air, posed in place, then asked her father to dance with her. During a break between songs she raced to her toy piano to play until the music resumed. As the pace of the music picked up, Miss B ran in circles going faster and faster and her dance moves grew increasingly dramatic. As a cover of the Madonna song "La Isla Bonita" began, Miss B smiled broadly, giggled and said, "I'm laughing at you guys." She then made robot faces, told me the music sounded like "stars," then twirled before rolling around on the floor.

While all this was going on, Miss B's father and I realized that we were hearing lots of Western pop covers---from Madonna to Celine Dion's Titanic theme song. Despite DJ B's manic glee upon being exposed to this hybrid of Chinese and Western pop, her parents were a little cheesed out.

Miss B Celebrates the Beijing Olympics with Chinese "Princess" Music

The next public library CD to catch DJ B's eye was a Chinese album called Qi Yuan. After hearing the opening notes, Miss B started to dance immediately then said, "I want my skirt" and ran to her room to find her silk fairy skirt. She put it on, danced some more, then was off to her room again for more treasures. She returned wearing silver glittery shoes.

Miss B then pointed to the CD booklet and asked, "Who is on that?" She opened up the booklet, which is completely in Chinese and put it close to her face for further examination. She asked again, "Who is that? Is it the princess?" She then started to dance again and said, "I want a wand. You get the wand sweetums." DJ B cranked up the volume and did some slow ballet moves, stretching her arms into the air and then behind her. She suddenly realized that her shoes were on the wrong feet, but continued with the ballet, doing some slow, exaggerated moves and lifting her leg into the air. She again asked for the wand. After I found it she waved it around while dancing, then started to clap while bending her knees.

Since that first listen, this CD has been on constant rotation and has become DJ B's new favorite. She's been dancing to it and sleeping to it. The ultimate compliment!

Today I finally found out what we've been listening to (thank you co-worker of Pam!). First of all, the princess lady on the cover is Grammy nominated Chinese singer Song Zuying, who was actually featured in the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics over the weekend performing a duet with Placido Domingo. Who knew that Miss B's selection was so timely!

According to my translator, the album is a collection of works by the songwriter Zhang Minghe performed by various artists including Song Zuying, Man Wenjun, Sun Yue and Sun Meina. Most of the songs are love songs or ballads and are certainly great for dancing.

Latin Music Enlivens DJ B

On our next library trip, DJ B carefully scanned the shelves in search of the perfect musical specimens. She kept grabbing more and more CDs until we had six in total. When we went to check them out, I learned that we'd maxed out on our CD limit for the library. What to do? After some creative distribution of our booty across both of our library cards we were good to go, so on to #1!

Miss B's first requested album was the collection "15 Cumbias" by 5 Super Grupos, including Tam y Tex, Sabiduria Nortena, Grupo Cauza Nortena, El Cartel de Nuevo Leon, and Los Nortenitos de Ojinaga. Her initial response was to bop a bit to the music while looking at the booklet. She then talked about the photos, saying, "that is another drum right there...green drum right there...this one is a red drum."

After giving me the lowdown on the liner notes she waved her arms, smiled and danced, saying "don't look at me!" She danced some more, turned down the volume, smiled, shrugged her shoulders, then turned her attention back to the booklet while she sat in a chair. When she wrapped the booklet around her foot, I took it as a sign that nap time was near. I asked if she wanted to listen to the cumbias for her nap and she politely declined. Since DJ B seems to be in charge of nap time these days, I gladly accepted her musical wishes.

Orchestra Baobab is Good for Quiet Time

In addition to NOFX, one of the other picks on Miss B's recent library jaunt was Orchestra Baobab's critically acclaimed CD "Pirates Choice." DJ B selected it from the shelf, even though there was no album art or booklet to lure her in. The first time we put this CD in she didn't pay too much attention to the music and instead put her Dora shin guards on and asked to blow bubbles.

We gave this another chance today and Miss B gave it her full attention. While we listened she sat quietly in a chair, swaying from side to side while munching on Cheddar bunnies. When some male vocals and saxophone burst from the speakers, DJ B said, "Baobab" and smiled. She repeated "Baobab. Baobab. Baobab" while tapping her hand on the CD case and then sidled up next to me and sat on my lap. She wiggled her toes, shrugged her shoulders to the beat, rocked herself and hummed while she nestled in my arms. Later we both got up to dance a bit to the tropical sounds. When I asked Miss B if she liked the music, she said, "Mmmm Hmmm." Before I knew it we had listened to Disc 1 in its entirety, which is a rarity for DJ B, what with her 2-year-old attention span.

Overall, DJ B found the Senegalese/Cuban/jazz-flavored sounds of Orchestra Baobab to be pleasant music for a lazy morning at home.

Algerian Folk Doesn't Draw in DJ B

A few weeks back DJ B picked up a new group of CDs from the public library. With all the live performances and promo CDs that we've been reviewing, it's been hard to keep up with our weekly random picks...but here we go.

The first of the three this time around was Souad Massi's "Honeysuckle." The French resident was born in Algeria and sings folk songs in Arabic.

Although I was quite interested to hear this album, Miss B didn't pay too much attention to it. Instead she wanted to play with her new Hello Kitty lunch bag, which she promptly filled with all three library CDs. She exclaimed "I love bugs," and then started to thumb through the liner notes. Her chatter then turned to the impending arrival of her beloved babysitter and Miss B informed me: "I don't want to go to bed."

I tried to play the CD again later, and again, I got no response other than the request to turn it off moments later.

World Music Makes Miss B Dizzy

Miss B's 4th pick from last week's trip to the library was Habib Koite & Bamada's "Ma Ya." Judging from the grimy CD case, tattered booklet, numerous "date due" stamps on the cover, and the old "7 day loan limit" sticker, this must be a public library visitor favorite. Practically as soon as we'd checked it out, there was a "hold request" placed on our copy by an eager fan dying to get his or her hands on this well-loved release.

Yet, within seconds of placing this in the CD player DJ B said, "I don't like this one," giving this album the lowest score of the week based on first impressions.

However, when Miss B sampled this again a few days later it was an entirely different story. She immediately started to dance, pointed her toe and played with her Michelin Man key chain. She smiled and twisted her body, saying "you dance" to her papa. They danced together to this lively world music and Miss B asked to be spun around until she exclaimed with glee, "I'm dizzy, daddy!" She then twirled around in circles making herself even dizzier as she embraced the thrill of childhood mind-alteration.