A few weeks ago LA Times book critic David L. Ulin gave a talk at San Diego Writers, Ink (at their venue, that is– The Ink Spot) and he was fantastic. He was in conversation with San Diego’s Arthur Salm, who is also pretty great. (by the by, Mr. Ulin is also quite the Silver [...]

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Did you happen to read the piece in the January 3rd NewYorker on Joan Crawford? It was called “Escape Artist: The Case for Joan Crawford” and was written by David Denby. I like how the subtitle in the table of contents said: The Joan Crawford Problem. The piece is mostly a review of Donald Spoto’s [...]

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Did you watch the Golden Globes last night? I’m a sucker for awards shows, though I don’t watch all of them, mostly, of course, the Oscars, the Emmys, Golden Globes, and Grammys (and sometimes MTV Music Awards). I thought that Ricky Gervais started sort of slow but then he picked up momentum with some REALLY [...]

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I was thinking that putting a picture from The Poseidon Adventure on my New Year’s blog entry might be too foreboding but what the hell! I love the movie– you know, massive tidal wave flips over a cruise ship and survivors, including Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, and Pamela Sue Martin, have to climb their way [...]

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So I’ve decided to read Cleopatra: A Life, a biography of the queen of eyeliner (of the Nile, I mean) by Stacy Schiff before I read the other book.  Ted’s aunt gave it to me for Christmas and I’m very excited about it. I was obsessed with Egypt as a kid. This was during the [...]

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Christmas Eve: My Mother Dressing by Toi Derricotte My mother was not impressed with her beauty; once a year she put it on like a costume, plaited her black hair, slick as cornsilk, down past her hips, in one rope-thick braid, turned it, carefully, hand over hand, and fixed it at the nape of her [...]

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I’m off for about three and a half weeks, which means writing and reading and being creative. I’m almost finished reading the book I spoke about in my previous post (The Prince, The Showgirl, and Me) and I’m eying a stack of books by my bed. Which one next? The Pure Lover by David Plante? [...]

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The end of my semester. How it flew by– but doesn’t it always? I taught at a new school this semester and enjoyed it immensely. There’s a full-time position opening up that i’m applying for… cross fingers for me. I can’t believe it’s my winter break (and Christmas!). Cannot wait to get to some serious [...]

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I don’t know how I came across this– oh yes I do, I was procrastinating doing my work– but I love that someone is hawking Hemingway Shoes. Not his actual shoes, unfortunately, but shoes ‘inspired’(?) by Ernest Hemingway. The Ernest Hemingway Collection is made up mostly of loafers… Then of course I looked online for [...]

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I’m always interested in the writing spaces of other writers. The Guardian UK has been doing a series called Writer’s Rooms for a while now. Entertainment Weekly infrequently features writer’s spaces. And this month, Poets & Writers magazine online has writer John Casey‘s workspace–annotated! Not as fancy, and probably messier, here is a picture, taken [...]

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