I loved Brenda Starr when I was growing up. I sought out her comic strip. She was the kind of woman I wanted to be, independent and fearless. I am saddened today at the news of the death of the woman who created the fiery redhead. Rest in peace, Dale Messick. From reading your obituaries it sounds like you had a great life. One … Read More

It’s wonderful to have some good news for a change–Salinas libraries to remain open: The libraries in John Steinbeck’s hometown will stay open at least through the rest of the year after a grass-roots campaign raised $500,000. Three Salinas libraries were set to close because of budget cuts before the fund-raising gave residents a reprieve, keeping the libraries open for 26 hours a week.

This is one of those baffling, stranger than fiction stories–Mother Held by Fugitive Back With Family: Her husband at her side, her children just hours away, Bobbi Parker headed home to Oklahoma on Wednesday for the first time since she vanished along with an inmate after a prison break 11 years ago. Parker, the wife of an assistant warden, disappeared with fugitive killer Randolph … Read More

RIP Frank Conroy: Frank Conroy, who directed the University of Iowa’s celebrated Writers’ Workshop for nearly two decades and wrote a memoir chronicling his troubled, nomadic childhood, has died. Conroy died Wednesday at his home in Iowa City of colon cancer, said James Alan McPherson, acting co-director of the workshop. He was 69.

poem for 4.6.05: The Trunk of the Olive Tree (an excerpt)by Homer Translated by Robert Fitzgerald

The new Gator Springs Gazette is BURSTING with talented writers: Moira by Kathy FishBildungsroman by Joe YoungLeaving Town, by Phil JonesWalking Nostalgic by Jonathan Redhorse

I’m impatient, so I think I may have to get one of these Bonsai Potato-Zen without the wait. I’ll keep it next to my pet rock.

Carpe Diem

RIP Saul Bellow: The son of Russian immigrants, he was born Solomon Bellows in Lachine, Quebec, outside Montreal. He dropped the final “s” from his last name and changed his first name to Saul when he began publishing his writing in the 1940s. The classic Bellow narrator was a self-absorbed intellectual with ideals the author himself seemed to form during the Depression. While he … Read More Carpe Diem

Mississippi Review holiday fiction issue is live and is it ever good. There are stories by such talents as: Bob Arter, Pia Z. Ehrhardt, Roy Kesey, and Calvin Liu to name just a few. Go on an read it!

It seems that Salinas, California the birthplace of John Steinbeck, may be closing its three public libraries due to budget constraints. I heard about this on the news a few months ago but didn’t believe it would really happen. And yet it is. It’s sad news but the hopeful part of the story is that many of the good people of Salinas are fighting … Read More

Announcing Susan DiPlacido’s 24/7–Las Vegas Vacation Giveaway Contest!

Below are the details of a once in a lifetime contest offered by the one and only Susan Diplacido: Now is the perfect time to pick up a hot summer read — Susan DiPlacido’s debut novel, 24/7. When you purchase a copy from now until October 30, 2005, you can be entered into a contest for a $1,000 Vegas vacation package! This fabulous prize … Read More Announcing Susan DiPlacido’s 24/7–Las Vegas Vacation Giveaway Contest!

Watched three (two and a half, really) movies this weekend: One that I loved (Being Julia), one that I liked (Closer) and one that I had to turn off because it was too depressing (Love Liza). Don’t get me wrong, I like depressing, the more depressing the better. BRING it! But this one (about a guy avoiding grieving for his wife—she committed suicide—by becoming … Read More