Category: Uncategorized

  • How to Escape from a Leper Colony

    Tiphanie Yanique won the Boston Review’s Short Fiction Award with her fabulous story “How to Escape from a Leper Colony” and (lucky) you can read it on-line here.

  • Interview with Laila Lalami

    You can listen to an interview with novelist Laila Lalami at the Wisconsin Public Radio website. If you are pressed for time and want to skip to her portion of the interview (mind you, all the interviews are good and worth listening to) hers begins at about 39:30.

  • Mountain Voices

    If you like southern short stories (and who doesn’t?) stop by Ginger Hamilton Caudill’s blog and read about the anthology Mountain Voices, then click on the link to buy the book and benefit West Virginia’s hard working authors.

  • My answers…

    …to Stephanie’s interview questions. 1. Describe your religious upbringing or lack thereof? How does this affect you today? A: Well, my childhood experience would be closer (on the religious spectrum) to lack thereof. My father considered himself a moralist and a thinker but I don’t remember him ever attending church, and my mother was an…

  • A Carnivore’s Conscience

    There’s a great article about the ethics of eating meat (and other alternatives) here. Here is an excerpt: “With all the problems facing humanity — war, terrorism, poverty, tyranny — you probably don’t worry much about whether it’s right or wrong to eat meat. That’s understandable. Every society lives with two kinds of moral problems:…

  • "Slotty" thinking

    Check out Joshilyn Jackson’s blog Faster Than Kudzu for a great entry on “slotty” thinking.

  • The Facelift

    This is an awesome, must-read personal essay by friend and fellow writer Tracy Crow.

  • Hope for Coral

    This article from the BBC gives hope that corals can survive rising ocean temperatures. The world’s coral reefs are largely ignored by most, but they are as important to the ocean (and the overall health of the planet) as the rainforests are to land. The diversity of aquatic life (both flora and fauna–in the case…

  • Ashamed to die?

    “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” -Horace Mann, educational reformer (1796-1859) My son turned ten years old about two weeks ago. He’s always been a very interesting fellow, definitely a thinker. And for most of his childhood he has said that when he grows up he wants to design…

  • One week

    What a difference a week makes. I have been reading a book about the laws of attraction. I find it fascinating. Although I’m not very good at describing it, the book is basically about consciously putting out good vibes / feelings as a way to attract them back. It makes sense to me. You feel…