Well lookee here! The finalists for the Night Train 50/50 Firebox Fiction Competition have been listed and I’m absolutely delighted to see that I am one of them along with my truly deserving writerly pals, Kathy Fish, Steven Gullion, and Roy Kesey. How cool! Congratulations to all of the finalists.

We follow Ann Ransom, the beguiling, brilliant, and loveable heroine of Elizabeth McKenzie’s novel in stories, Stop That Girl, from her early childhood alone with her mother to her adulthood, where we leave her alone with her son, which for Ann is the perfect way to be: If our tribe had been driven off the earth, if Will and I were the only ones … Read More

New at Pindeldyboz–a story by one of my favorite, favorite writers: Monks by Joseph Young. I command you: read it!

It was a perfect day when we traveled to Acadia. I had never been before, so it was a real treat. Here is: Rocks and the ocean at Thunder Hole. Bar Harbor from the top of Cadillac Mountain. More lichen on the rocks atop Cadillac Mountain.

Acadia

Was up in Maine this weekend and took a trip to Acadia National Park. Here are some snaps of me and my dog at Thunder Hole and then some lichen on a rock atop Cadillac Mountain. More photos to follow.

I’m out of town for the next few days. These flowers are from my garden. They are among the last few lingering as the leaves begin to fall and the nights get longer and chillier.

That’s what I’m talking about–George Bush, David Caruso, and Katrina: Why Now Is Precisely the Time for Finger-Pointing: And make no mistake, what we saw go down — and not go down — in New Orleans was definitely a crime… a crime that is in many ways still in progress. Sixty percent of the city remains underwater; up to 160,000 homes in the state … Read More

You will NOT want to miss this–4 H H O Presents: 11 Nosy Questions– Featuring Storyteller-Extraordinaire, Alicia Gifford. Go on and read this great interview!

Lisa Glatt’s A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That hit me unexpectedly close to home as I followed the lives of these girls and women–particularly, Rachel Spark and her mother–and was left utterly breathless. Rachel, a college lecturer, moves back in with her mother, who is dying of breast cancer. And their relationship stands as a symbol for all the other mother/daughter relationships in … Read More

LOVE NOTE TO NEW ORLEANS, By Andrei Codrescu: So here we are, sinking into the water around us, drowning in our own waste, poverty, incompetence, and the greed of those who came before us. This is the time for straight reporting, of heartbreaking stories, of heroic rescues and superhuman efforts by good-hearted individuals and the weary but always-ready charities. It’s not a time for … Read More

Blame

Do not tell me it is not time for blame. I’m so sick of politicians on the news saying that they are not blaming. It is fucking well time for blame. It is TIME. It is beyond time. Tragedy, disaster, it will not wait. If we do not start to say who fucked up and why and who did not do what he was … Read More Blame

One of three siblings, all girls, my friend Holly took over the family dairy farm. She had always worked on the farm, side-by-side with her dad and so when the time came, she did what she had to do. She ran the farm by herself for many years before she eventually sold it. You might think, “So what?” Well, farming, along with fishing, is … Read More