america in color

Young African American boy. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1942 or 1943. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Boy building a model airplane as girl watches. Robstown, Texas, January 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Arthur Rothstein. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

On the main street of Cascade. Cascade, Idaho, July 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Distributing surplus commodities. St. Johns, Arizona, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

School children singing. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Children asleep on bed during square dance. McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939 or 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Orchestra at square dance. McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939 or 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Couples at square dance. McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939 or 1940, Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

At the Vermont state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Backstage at the "girlie" show at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Barker at the grounds at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Going to town on Saturday afternoon. Greene County, Georgia, May 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Headlines posted in street-corner window of newspaper office (Brockton Enterprise). Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Trucks outside of a starch factory. Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Faro and Doris Caudill, homesteaders. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress


These photos from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color photographs taken of the Depressions toll on America’s rural and tiny town populations. The photographs are owned by the Library of Congress and were featured in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color.

Yes, I can't stop posting them. They just get better and better and better.

saul leiter - early color

My favorites...

shiri lee webb

Brendan posted this photo by Shiri Lee Webb (From her collection, Growing Pains) on his tumblr and I am obsessed. This is being added to my novel's visual underpinning cork board and has replaced my screensaver. So, Webb has managed to trump Eggleston in this instance.

bought at the thrift store - williams, arizona

On the road trip to Los Angeles, we stopped in Williams, Texas by the Grand Canyon. Mark found this old cash drawer under a table. We love that it still has a spring and we plan on mounting the cover separately. We think the drawer will be perfect on our desk all filled up with sharpened pencils! I honestly have less than awesome associations with Dayton, Ohio but decided to not let that get me down as this was just too amazing to pass by.

I've been looking for a ship painting for some time and this was only fifteen bucks. I need to take a better shot of it but it's securely wrapped and will stay that way till it meets our new apartment.

the $200 debate

A scene from one of my favorite films, Paper Moon.

excerpts from "the picture press"

When Mark and I were in Mystic, Connecticut over Valentine's Day, you may recall we bought a truckload of books. Many of these were exhibition catalogues from the MoMA, most of which date to the sixties and seventies. The photos above refer to "The Picture Press." This show appeared in 1973 as a study of the advancement of photography in the world of journalism. So, there is a good deal of attention to development and printing techniques but also the eye of the journalist. The photographs take a turn over the years and become more openly comical or disturbing which is so interesting to follow in the catalogue. I spared you the more graphic shots be it a suicide pact, people running from a bomb, or a child petting his puppy after it was run over. I'm not kidding. If New Yorker's didn't walk into this exhibit and cry, I would be amazed.

I'm going to share more of these but here are some initial favorites I was able to scan today.

1. Flood - Photographer Unknown, Associated Press, January 27, 1969
"Flood waters cascade through door in Mandeville Canyon, near Los Angeles."
Scary, I know. This one got me thinking about the oil spill and all those nasty people who say New Orleans isn't worth the money and needs to be shut down. To that I say, California gets crazy weather from earthquakes, forest fires, and flooding to name a few. So it has Hollywood but New Orleans has jazz, the bayou, and voodoo. I'm just saying to the nasty people let's keep all of our states please!

2. This Is What Crazy Looks Like (my title) by Bill Quinn, New York Daily News, September 21, 1964
"Mrs. Nikki Shuttleworth holds Shawnee Trade Mark, adjudged best-in-show, and also holds blue ribbons won by her other entry, Shawnee White Wash, a long-haired Persian, who was runner-up at the annual International Cat Show in the Garden." One, where does this lady come up with these pet names? Two, why didn't White Wash get to be in the photo instead of those four ribbons? Lastly, this woman scares me.

3. Photographer Unknown, Photoworld, December 1948
This is the ultimate disturbing photo. Here's the caption: "Jack Riddle, 107, and his wife Josey, 86, were surprised just before Christmas by the Ku Klux Klan, complete with Klan Santa Claus, who presented them with a radio, for which the ex-slave had expressed a wish, saying he "wanted to hear the preachers." The Klan publicized the "good will" visit ten days after it occurred." Yeah, I don't think a radio is going to make him like or forgive you all that much.

4. Pint Sized Pin-Ups by Ed Clarity, New York Daily News, August 5, 1956
The caption is just the girls names and that they look "coy." I find this creepy.

5. Rupert (Rhino) by Chris Mills, Photoworld, date unknown
Accompanying news caption: "The days of "bliss" for Rhodesia's most famous orphan--Rupert the rhio--are gradually drawing to an end. The first experiment, to rear the six-week-old Kariba flood victim, began last May when Rupert's human foster parents took him into their home near Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. Shortly the second big experiment in the life of this 400-lb. black rhino begins when he is returned to his wild life in the Matopos National Park, near Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia. Here, with the company of another Kariba survivor, the semi-grown female, Sal, it is hoped that Rupert will forget his days of domesticity. Only time will tell whether in fact he will forget the gallons of skimmed milk and bunches of bananas that quieted his hungry sequels or the sound of childish laughter when the fun-loving Rupert played with his foster brother and series." What devastating journalism. I like that this family treats him as one of their humans.

lightning bugs

Lately, I've been crafting a non-fiction essay about bugs in the south to submit to southern magazines. Even if it just gives them an idea of my voice, it seems that bugs are rarely talked about and I needed a story idea. I understand the insect distaste as just recently watching the horrible Shutter Island (in the dark), something big and crunchy took a walk on my clavicle. In low light, the mind wanders and a shriek sounds. I'm not sure what it was but the imagination conjures a cockroach every time no matter where I am.

The south has all kind of weird bugs but lightning bugs are really pretty. Many a summer, I ran barefoot through the grass spitting watermelon seeds and catching the glow bugs in mason jars. In case you are wondering, lightning bugs and fireflies are no different and not all of them can produce light. This is a bummer as the male flashes light patterns to get the ladies attention and they flash back if they are into it or bored, who knows. The non-flashers are quite lonely. Summer is their time and during winter they burrow into trees or the soil. They feed on nectar and pollen. I am so grateful for the latter. The less pollen there is the better for me.

If you want to see some flash in unison and love sleepy towns, head to Elkmont, Tennessee in the Great Smokies or Congaree National Park in South Carolina. In the first weeks of June, they speed date in the woods. You can see hundreds flashing their colors. Funny, June is also the most popular month to get married for us human folk.

So, now that I've been learning about these guys, I kinda feel bad about bottling them in jars, even for an hour or two. I was seriously cutting in on their date night!

I'll let you know if any other critters have interesting stories to tell. I have a similar "snakes have no reason to live" approach as I do to flying cockroaches. Maybe, ladybugs are next...

quoteworthy

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

- Martin Luther King

Ain't that the truth MLK.

Nancy Drew's Guide to Life

If the ceiling collapses, breathe through a handkerchief to avoid inhaling dust.
-- The Hidden Staircase

Moxie and a good sense of balance are essential when crawling on a roof.
-- The Hidden Staircase

Never sleuth on an empty stomach.
-- The Hidden Staircase

Don't force your date to go to a ballet or another activity that may not be to his liking if he was knocked unconscious earlier in the day.
-- The Double Jinx Mystery

After receiving electrical shock to the system, find as many men as possible to vigorously massage you.
--Mystery of the Glowing Eye

Making thugs turn on each other is always a delicious thing to watch.
-- The Whispering Statue

When trying to investigate a property that's off limits, consider putting your flying lessons to good use and fly over the area.
--The Clue in the Crumbling Wall


When forging a letter to nab a perp, be sure to use grammar and spelling appropriate to the education level of the person you're impersonating.
-- The Ghost of Blackwood Hall

Convertibles are swell but they sure do call attention to your comings and goings.
-- The Haunted Showboat

Don't say "well" all the time. It's far from well.
-- Nancy's Mysterious Letter

Beware the stranger on the plane who grills you for personal information.
-- The Message in the Hollow Oak


it's okay to accept free trips from your friends parents, but only if they are exceedingly rich.
-- The Clue in the Crossword Cipher

If grilling a salesperson or shop owner for information, it's only proper to buy a few articles from the establishment.
-- The Strange Message in the Parchment

If you see something resembling a shark in the river, don't fret. It's more likely to be a small submarine operated by thieves.
-- The Mystery of Lilac Inn


When the lights suddenly go out, hold onto your diamonds for dear life.
-- The Mystery of Lilac Inn

If you can at all prevent it, do not chase after thieves when you are clad only in a leotard. It's unseemly.
-- The Scarlet Slipper Mystery

I am a huge Nancy Drew fan. How wonderful it is to be reminded of words like moxie!

Growing up, I had the entire collection in hardback. Sadly, my mom donated them to Goodwill when I went off to college. I'm still trying to recover from that. It wasn't in malice though as she did save my rock collection which I hold onto these days. At any rate, these are funny, sometimes useful, and always good fun. It makes me want to revisit one of them some thundery afternoon this summer. While I keep a running tab of ND advice, these are from a darling little book of quotes and excerpts from the books called, "Nancy Drew's Guide to Life." I found this years ago but was thrilled to see it yesterday when birthday shopping for friend(s).

ross mcelwee - sherman's march

Brendan @ City Planning introduced me to this filmmaker. I believe Sherman's March remains my favorite but Time InDefinite is also quite wonderful. McElwee set out with the aspiration of literally trailing Sherman's march. His girlfriend breaks up with him at the films onset and this changes everything. Suddenly, the material is enlarged by self-reflection and his own reflexes to everyone who crosses his path. This documentary is funny, devastating, and moving because the artist is never in the foreground really. This trait makes it not for everyone but I find it honest and intriguing to adventure on with McElwee. One of my favorite scenes is when he sees a local band sing "Respect" in the parking lot of a Sears. Of course, the singer ends up a brief love interest. The women he meets are so evocative from Pam (in the video) to Charlene, a longtime friend.

snakes have fangs and people have pitchforks

I don't know if any of you actually mourn the lack of snakes in New York. I DON'T.

Either way, it's because of this:

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/YOU'D%20NEVER%20BELIEVE/Rattlesnake%20Creek/rattle.html

hidden new york cemeteries

This is for the goth that remains pumping in some of you, certainly me.

Want to see a photo of who you are standing over? Look out for Leonard Nimoy's schtick and go here: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/CEMETERIES/mtzion/mtzion.html

Want to pay respects and see sunken ships: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/CEMETERIES/blazingstar/deadpool.html

At the NY Marble Cemetery, some graves are marked by lawn chairs. And people think the south is weird: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/CEMETERIES/Hidden%20cemeteries/hidcem.html

And if you just need to finish that mystery story or book somewhere spooky: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SLICES/s.r.smith/smith.html

cafe gitane @ the jane hotel - nyc

quoteworthy

I just reread Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (whom I miss so) recently and thought I'd share these favorites:

"Also I designed a pretty fascinating bracelet, where you put a rubber band around your favorite book of poems for a year, and then you take it off and wear it."

"I couldn't keep my hands to myself, the pastels in long boxes, the palette knives, the handmade papers hanging on rolls, I tested every sample, I wrote my name in blue pen and in green oil stick, in orange crayon and in charcoal, it felt like I was signing the contract of my life."

When the father is missing... "It makes me sick. Physical things Forty years of loving someone becomes staple and tape."

r.e.m. - nightswimming

If you are feeling nostalgic for REM or just all things beautiful, this video for "Nightswimming" makes me drool. The frames are so interesting from a slurpee machine, closed dry cleaners, sticking a hand in a ceiling fan, broom pushing, and swimming (at night). I used to sing this ditty for the grown ups at childhood pool parties.

rem & soul food - weaver d's

SoLost: Automatic! (A Day at Weaver D's) from Oxford American on Vimeo.

Lucky for me, I just ate some blueberry pancakes so this video does not make me want to fry something. I still have my cassette tape of Automatic for the People in my old room in Bama (that is, if my brother hasn't pawned it). I had no idea the title was derived from an Athen's soul food joint but it makes sense as the boys started out there. This video is amazing and yes, I'm going to have to go visit once I'm in Georgia. I love the cling wrap that's been tossed on the ice tea dispenser. I love that the owner has a cookbook named Automatic Y'all. I also love how big they pile those plates. In the south, if you are skinny everyone thinks you're poor. This video comes from a post by the fresh and exciting journal Oxford American. I just got hooked to it and now I have a big ole crush. I cruise this website about as much as I check on houses in Savannah. I recommend subscribing, web stalking etc. Their recent food issue has a photo by my friend Eric Ogden and it has amazing essays on the lore behind making cakes and eating dirt. Yes. I want to write for them.

jordana zeldin - best neighbor & shutterbug

Jordana is the best neighbor I've ever had and a brilliant photographer. Her photographs are so moving and channel that spirit you see in Eggleston's work. Once you explore her website, the collection up now (Open 7 Days) will confirm this as they are stunning shots of the seemingly mundane--grocery carts, a hose, and the housekeeping touch at a Motel 6 (above). Her website is right here: http://www.jordanazeldin.com/

The image of the clothes in plastic remains my favorite. It is a bit like a memory body bag. I've always felt a story there and when it's on an exhibition wall you can really see all of the different price tags, handwriting, and the coloring is just so seductive. One day I will buy it!

This double panel shot is really lovely and reminds me of work David Hilliard does although the eye remains totally Jordana Zeldin.

Lastly, we are collaborating as I was asked to do a postcard issue for Abe's Penny. The editor was at my KGB reading. I will let you know what we decide but it's a micro-story by me accompanying four images by Jordana to make a postcard book. If you start crushing on Jordana's snaps, you can follow her blog as I do: http://hereismytoday.blogspot.com/

william eggleston on shooting

I watched an awful documentary about William Eggleston recently called William Eggleston in the Real World. Apparently in the "real" world, you can't hear William talk! That element is just embarrassing for a documentary. In the more traditional route of complaints, It was poorly edited and shot but there were some moments that held me till the end like this one...

When asked by the documentary filmmaker why William only takes a shot or two per image instead of doing more coverage he says,

"Why would I take more than two? Any more than that just gets confusing."

malls of america

I have a new blog find that will make you want to find an old copy of the board game Mall Madness or just go to the sleepiest mega-store-complex in need of a fixer-upper and shoot till your camera's battery dies.

I don't even like malls all that much. I'm a big fan of outdoor shopping malls where you can park and leave. It's not lazy. I just don't want to have to pass all the other BS! And there's more--the wobbly-eyed dolls across from the piercing pagoda and wondering if it's safe to put your purse on the ground when you can see another person's feet three-hands away. Or, the fact that "Drops of Jupiter" will be in my head for lord knows how long thanks to a visit to Dillard's. I do like old arcade games particularly Skee-Ball.

Back on target though, I do weirdly enjoy the real folks of America people watching. There is something terribly beautiful and depressing watching elderly women in wind-suits power walk with their hair perfectly curled and blush dripping from sweat into the look of a skin-meringue. There is the opportunity to wonder if the Carousel is any fun at all or just exquisitely designed. What happened to those mannequin's dressed to the nines or even better live models pretending to be mannequins? I suppose the partial nudity at your local Abercombie & Fitch is the answer to that. Back in the day, we kids would bike to the food court to hang out. If you liked someone or they liked you, they were the last person you talked to. We practiced intense stares we mistook as sexy and none of us ever got anywhere. This was probably for the best. I stopped hanging out at malls when I was fourteen. I took up theatre instead.

So, at long last, here is a blog by Keith Milford that curates ghost town malls, closed malls, and on-their-way-out malls across America: http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

quoteworthy

"The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness."

- Andre Malraux

the great gatsby - perfect?

Selections from the novel in support of my case:

"I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others - poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner - young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life."

"One thing's sure and nothing's surer
The rich get richer and the poor get - children."

"Her voice is full of money."

"I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone's away. There's something very sensuous about it - overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands."

"It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy - it increased her value in his eyes."

"In two weeks it'll be the longest day in the year....Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it."

"For a moment, the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened--then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk."

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

quoteworthy

"My subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory largely held by the devil."

- Flannery O'Connor

john updike, bless him

I have so many posts to upload my friends, but couldn't resist an Updike teaser.

This is the link to a fantastic interview with the man in The Paris Review:
http://www.parisreview.com/viewinterview.php/prmMID/4219

Here's my favorite bit, especially since I have just left New York for an indefinite amount of time:

INTERVIEWER

You seem to shun literary society. Why?

UPDIKE

I don’t, do I? Here I am, talking to you. In leaving New York
in 1957, I did leave without regret the literary demimonde of
agents and would-be’s and with-it nonparticipants; this world
seemed unnutritious and interfering. Hemingway described liter-
ary New York as a bottle full of tapeworms trying to feed on each
other. When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but
toward a vague spot a little to the east of Kansas. I think of the
books on library shelves, without their jackets, years old, and a
countryish teenaged boy finding them, and having them speak to
him.

zadie smith's rules for writers

1 - When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.

2 - When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.

3 - Don't romanticise your "vocation". You can either write good sentences or you can't. There is no "writer's lifestyle". All that matters is what you leave on the page.

4 - Avoid your weaknesses. But do this without telling yourself that the things you can't do aren't worth doing. Don't mask self-doubt with contempt.

5 - Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.

6 - Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won't make your writing any better than it is.

7 - Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.

8 - Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.

9 - Don't confuse honours with achievement.

10 - Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.

See it officially here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/22/zadie-smith-rules-for-writers

the corrections

Why I love The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen:

“Chip sat on a freezing guardrail and smoked and took comfort in the sturdy mediocrity of American commerce, the unpretending metal and plastic roadside hardware. The thunk of a gas-pump nozzle halting when a tank was filled, the humility and promptness of its service. And a 99-cent Big Gulp banner swelling with wind and sailing nowhere, its nylon ropes whipping and pinging on a galvanized standard. And the black sanserif numerals of gasoline prices, the company of so many 9s. And American sedans moving down the access road at nearly stationary speeds like thirty. And orange and yellow plastic pennants shivering overhead on guys.”

“He realized why, on Monday night, Aaron had come and unilaterally apologized for having called him “horrible,” and why Caleb on Tuesday, for the first time in a month, had invited him to play foosball, and why Jonah, on Wednesday, had brought him, unbidden, on a cork-lined tray, a second martini that Caroline had poured. He saw why his children had turned agreeable and solicitous: because Caroline had told them that their father was struggling with clinical depression.”

“There’s bacon, you like bacon,” Enid sang. This was a cynical, expedient fraud, one of her hundred daily conscious failures as a mother.

“Brian had moved through the world like a golden retriever.”

This book is hysterical (pyramids of shrimp, mixed grill, salmon in pants) and Franzen writes better fights than I've read elsewhere. It is also incredibly brave knocking at stereotypes and taboo.

great openings

I've been paying a load of attention to how openings work and here are some favorites:

"Early in the morning, late in the century, Cricklewood Broadway. At 0627 hours on January 1, 1975, Alfred Archibald Jones was dressed in corduroy and sat in a fume-filled Cavalier Muskateer Estate facedown on the steering wheel, hoping the judgment would not be too heavy on him."

White Teeth, by Zadie Smith

"The final dying sounds of their dress rehearsal left the Laurel Players with nothing to do but stand there, silent and helpless, blinking out over the footlights of an empty auditorium."

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

"In accordance with the law the death sentence was announced to Cincinnatus C. in a whisper."

Invitation to a Beheading, by Vladimir Nabakov

"My friend Levine had only a few months to go on his doctoral dissertation, but when, one Sunday afternoon at Acres of Books, he came upon the little black paperback by Dr. Frank J. Kemp, he decided almost immediately to plagiarize it."

Title Story in "A Model World," a collection of stories by Michael Chabon

"Though I haven't ever been on the screen I was brought up in pictures. Rudolf Valentino came to my fifth birthday party--or so I was told. I put this down only to indicate that even before the age of reason I was in a position to watch the wheels go round."

Opening paragraph of "The Last Tycoon" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The talk was that a new face had appeared on the embankment: a lady with a little dog."

First line of the story "The Lady with the Little Dog" by Anton Chekhov

mystic, connecticut

As a Valentine's gift to each other, Mark and I took the train to Mystic and passed along the seashore for nearly two hours. We decided to go to this sleepy seafaring village because there is so little to do there. We figured we'd read and write and not go shopping. Well, we bought 21 books at Annette's Antique & Treasure Shop.

Some highlights: The Jackson Pollock is a 1967 exhibition catalogue from the MoMA. The show was supposed to be directed by Frank O'Hara (love him) but he passed away and was replaced by William S. Lieberman. It cost me $2 and is a chronology of his life and work. The Eureka book is an amazing book from the 70's all about inventions. From The Picture Press is another MoMA catalogue from 1973 with amazing photo journalism.

The food was really the highlight. I am a new burning hearted adorer of the lobster roll. Such a simple idea, such deliciousness! As for Mystic Pizza, yes, we did. It's far cheesier than you can even imagine and I'm not talking about the pizza. They play the movie on three different screens, sell merch, and there are little head shots of horse-laugh Julia everywhere. I may be ribbing her a bit thick but I once played a drinking game in Portland, Oregon with friends where we watched My Best Friend's Wedding and took a shot of tequila every time she did that laugh of hers. We got drunk fast.

Lastly, throughout my weekend I had to read Native Son by Richard Wright for my class with E.L. Doctorow. It's really not a blast to read about two grotesque murders before getting pretty for dinner but it is for the most part a good book as it's chilly voice is so frightening I couldn't put it down. I'd say more specifically but I'd be giving it all away. It is profound that the main character Bigger actually admires Hitler's ability to control others. He is so oppressed he does not consider that Hitler is just another white man as a threat but rather finds him a strange hero. It's disgusting and says so much of the confusion surrounding civil rights which is my blood, sweat, and tears with my book. I'm writing a book that I hope reexamines those issues through a family and it's chilling to think how little civil rights has progressed. So many assume it has but even the health care team in D.C. is facing abuse similar to the sixties; that means bricks flying through windows and hate signs. Civil rights is devastating territory as we just can't govern morality.

flannery o'connor - childhood home

Flannery O'Connor's childhood home in Savannah on Lafayette Square. It neighbors the Hamilton Turner Inn and from the upstairs window there is a terrific view of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

Flannery's Crib. I'm sure you are curious. The screen was to keep the baby from contact with insects, yellow fever, and obviously from falling out. It's like an airy coffin or a display case for curiosities which Flannery of course was.