If you read nothing else today, please take a few minutes to read this haunting flash by my friend Kathy Crosett: Black Keys
Some great stuff I’ve read online recently:
As far as the whole “happy holidays” shopping debate (I had no idea it was such an issue, but apparently the creepy “American Family Association” is freaking out over it) goes, I like what the editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has to say–MERRY, MERRY … WHATEVER:
Perhaps the oddest thing about this cultural imbroglio is the insistence by some Christian purists that stores — palaces of consumerism — should observe the season with declarations of “Merry Christmas!” The weeks-long orgy of buying that begins around Thanksgiving and ends, mercifully, with the new year celebrates consumption, selfishness and excess — a time when Christians turn the other check. This is probably not what Jesus would do.
There is nothing in the Gospels about battling other parents for the last Xbox 360 or knocking down other shoppers to get to discounted personal computers. There are no Christmas sales in the New Testament, nor is there instruction on returning the items you didn’t like. There are no guidelines on the dubious practice of “re-gifting.” (If you look closely, however, you can probably find admonitions against cursing out the motorist who got to that one empty parking space before you.)
The AFA’s boycott on Target makes me want to shop there exclusively (oh, wait. I already do!). As for their boycott on Wal-Mart–I already do boycott Wal-Mart but it is for sins I find truly egregious (like treating their employees like crap and refusing to sell certain forms of birth control to women).
What is wrong with a country (where the right to free speech is a cornerstone) that people would boycott businesses over what they say as opposed to what they do? I’m baffled.
We have the most beautiful sunset today (yes, it is 4:30 and the sun is setting). 
Here’s a very cool new blog you’ll want to bookmark–Artists and Encores. Jim Geezil, the blog owner, offers this description:
I’m very interested in many forms of art. So, I’ll be putting together a showcase of many types: music, visual arts, writing, films, etc., by drawing connections of their similarities. I might also add anything else I find interesting regarding the arts.
It is snowing like crazy today and I am glad to be home and not flying. Well, actually, there are more reasons than the snow that I am glad not to be flying.
So over the past week, I read the latest issue of The Missouri Review from cover to cover. I enjoyed it all but most of all I was taken with the essays “Song of Hypothermia” by Jason Anthony and “Home is Where the Heart Aches” by E.J. Levy. Both were wonderfully written and covered a similar sort of territory, stranger in a strange land, reflecting on past and present connections. Finding a balance between missing what is left behind and being in the moment.
I also read Liz Jones’s Diary, a Christmas present from my best friend, which is a funny, sad, often agonizing account of modern relationships. Jones is brutally honest in the examination of her relationship, pointing the lens on the couple’s peccadillos and petty arguments, and coming to the conclusion that despite the fact that she and her husband can both at times be annoying, they love each other and remain together. It’s a great, fast read.
I finished up reading Holiday Reinhorn’s short story collection Big Cats (which I got from my lovely friend, Kat. Thank you, friend!). On the whole, this is a wonderful, fresh, and funny collection. My favorite story is the title story in which two teenage girls fight for dominance in their tenuous and often sexually charged relationship.
Other than that I indulged myself by reading some trashy magazines on the plane–and loved every second of it.
Miami (what I’ve seen of it, which is minimal) seems quite nice, if not bit a Hurricane Wilma battered. The hotel I’m staying in is absolutely lovely and the folks who work here beyond reproach. I’ve done loads of business travel and these people are the top of the list of good service–and I take good service (having grown up in a restaurant) very seriously.
Okay. So, at the risk of making this the most boring post EVER, let me just say, sorry. I’ve been out straight and not had a chance to post about anything lately, let alone to post about what I’ve read.
The most important thing for you to know right now is that I just ate a Kit-Kat that cost about $10.
And I loved every second of it.
Heading out of town for work. Going to Miami, which will be nice (especially as it is snowing here right now and supposed to be veeeeery cold all week). I’ll likely post from my hotel room but if not, have a swell week. I’ll bring you back a palm frond or something.
Word by Word is featuring a special show next week in place of their usual programming. The “Best Books of the Year” show, a live call-in episode of Word by Word. Call them to discuss a book you’ve read in the last year that you loved, that inspired you, wowed you or absorbed you, and tell them why you’d like to recommend it to others. FICTION ONLY. The show will be live on Wednesday December 7th from 7-8 pm (Pacific).
The number is: 707-585-6284
You can also email your ideas to: wordbyword@krcb.org
A site for you to visit today: 1,000 Executions, from here you will find a link to A Declaration of Life, which you may choose to print out and sign.
Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day. This year’s theme is Accountability:
Thursday is World AIDS Day, and organizers are marking the event by encouraging governments and the international community to meet their commitments in fighting the disease.
I first encountered Jeffrey Yamaguchi through his website bookmouth.com (which is a treasure trove of information about promoting your work). He is a man with an inspiring mission and now a new book (one which I am excited about). Here’s what he has to say about it:
52 Projects — Random Acts of Everyday Creativity is a collection of offbeat, exploratory, artistic projects. There are writing projects, photo projects, mail art projects, one that involves key lime pie, and many more. The idea of the book is not for the reader to re-create these projects exactly, because following something to the letter is never fun. There are no step 1, step 2, step 3 instructions, no pictures of finished projects. My hope for the book is that it inspires the impulse to create and share, in each person’s own, unique way
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myfanwy collins 