Caveat walker

The US is a country that does not value the pedestrian. There. I have said it. Evidence of such: Today as I was walking my dog–after at least an inch of rain last night–this woman chose to go THROUGH the pothole on the dirt road and drench us in water as opposed to avoiding it. Yes, she did stop and over a meek apology … Read More Caveat walker

Mississippi Review‘s new issue–The New America–is live and it features work by such people as: Bill Moyers, Howard Zinn, and Noam Chomsky.

Hooray!

This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time: Dear Myfanwy, This is just a quick “thank you” note, in case you haven’t already seen the good news. Late last night, the House of Representatives dropped plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. TrueMajority members sent 40,000 messages to Congress over the weekend, insisting that at least this … Read More Hooray!

Read this:

Ms. Lori reviews Jarhead (and makes me laugh because she is very funny).

The Surviving the Workday blog has a new feature: Ask the Theologian. And what should you ask? Questions that are workplace and spirituality related.

Laila’s reading last night was, as expected, superb. She read two excerpts from Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, focusing on the character Aziz. The audience was captivated. And so was I, but I was also the dufus who shut off her cellphone just as the reading was beginning but who hadn’t changed it so it didn’t make noise as it shut down. So there … Read More

Have you ever seen or had an experience with an endangered species? Did the experience move you? Would you be different for not having had it? If so, help save the endangered species act and tell you story here.

Laila Lalami at the Harvard Bookstore Tonight.

Laila Lalami will be reading from her debut book Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits at the Harvard Bookstore tonight at 6:30. For complete details, click here. Be there or be square. I’ll be there and I’ll be square because that’s just how I am.

A Day of Unfortunate Smells

Okay, waking up to the smell of burning plastic was bad. Living with it all day was worse. But the worst was when I mistakenly tried to put the Diesel nozzle in my gas tank (“Why won’t this FIT?!?!?”) and then after I realized it was already too late because I had stinky, gassy, truck driver hands for the rest of the afternoon (before … Read More A Day of Unfortunate Smells

Hey, have you bought your copy of Jim Geezil’s Sold the Home for the Tackle Box yet? You better hurry up and get one because if you don’t now then you can’t line up with me and say, “Hey, I listened to him back in the day before all of you people thought he was so great.” Seriously, I’ve been listening to my copy … Read More

Woke up to the smell of burning plastic. Not good. Had run the dishwasher over night and the lid from one of my Nalgene bottles had somehow lodged itself on the bottom and gotten chewed off by the heat of the dry. Some of it is now puddled on the bottom of the dishwasher. The house reeks. When I let Darby out to pee … Read More

More great stuff to read: Margaret and Beak Discuss Jazz for the Last Time, by Kathy Fish Genuis, by Terri Brown-Davidson Rawhide, by Kim Chinquee The Star, by Bob Arter All of these and more in Hobart Firsts and Lasts guest edited by Claudia Smith