New Travel Writing

My first official piece of travel writing was just picked up by the fine folks at All Over Albany. Check out my words and images about taking the train from Albany (well, Rensselaer really...) to Montréal (to La Gare Centrale which, as its name suggests, is centrally located in downtown Montréal -- Imaginez ça!) here.

[Photo of Rue Saint-Jacques, circa 1910, from Wikipedia by way of The McCord Museum.]

Lorrie Moore Tonight at Page Hall

My friend, Kevin, told me to read her short-story collection, Birds of America, a few years back and I've been grateful for that recommendation ever since. Tonight Lorrie Moore read from her new novel, A Gate at the Stairs, and I nearly walked out of the auditorium as the scene she was describing slowly came into focus.

But I couldn't.

And I didn't.

Because I was too thrilled to be in an audience of fellow bibliophiles listening to Lorrie Moore read from her new book even if the passage she read was about adoption. (Sometimes I just really want a break from this subject matter, from my own story, from the scarlet 'A' (different, but related, to Hester Prynne's) that I've been saddled with for well over thirty years.)

So, I bristled, but didn't bolt and I'm glad. Lorrie Moore is wickedly brilliant and incredibly funny and, if you haven't read her yet, take Kevin's advice and do so as soon as possible.

[Photo of Lorrie Moore by Lisa Carpenter lifted from The Guardian.]

"In Jupiter's Shadow: A Memoir/Mystery"

My copy of In Jupiter's Shadow, by Gregory Gerard, arrived today from Amazon!

Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals, has this to say about the book: "Generous, bighearted, and filled with homespun wisdom, In Jupiter's Shadow is a mystery story of a different stripe!"

I had the opportunity to read a draft of Greg's new memoir and look forward to revisiting the story of "a religious, teenage detective confront[ing] Heaven and Hell as he struggles to solve the mysteries of sexuality and faith within a family full of secrets."

[Photo with the author (who hails from Rochester and teaches at Writers & Books) taken by Lynn Beaumont at Cheesecake Machismo this summer here in Albany.]

"Believer, Beware" Featured on The Writing Univeristy

The Writing University at The University of Iowa has a nice write up about Believer, Beware: First-Person Dispatches from the Margins of Faith, me, and fellow-contributor (and KtB Editor) Laurel Snyder, on the site right now.

Pan Am 103 Bomber Released Today

This saddens and angers me immensely. I can't imagine how the families of the men and women lost in this attack must be feeling tonight.

[Photo from an older ABC News blog posting.]

Review: "Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller"

I read Todd Hirsch’s review of this book on the train from Québec back in May and was floored by the excerpt that was included with it in the paper.

Why?

Because the author’s story is just as compelling as his subject matter.

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization, by Jeff Rubin, isn’t meant to cause panic, but rather to present a concise vision of a future (emphasis mine) without access to cheap imported oil in North America. Far from being overly apocalyptic, however, Rubin’s forecast sounds like a relief. After the price of oil functions to restrict (or eliminate completely) the movement of cheap goods and produce from overseas, North Americans will be forced to rely on things like local farmers and public transportation for food and for their daily commute. The way that he connects these dots is impressive (and strangely hopeful) and the way that he explains the interplay between the scarcity of oil, corn, and water in his more-local version of the not-too-distant future is fascinating, as well. While there are some highly technical points made in the text (particularly about following economic trends and how oil is extracted from various points on the planet) the voice and style are very accessible and easy to follow across the industries and the concepts that have converged on the world at the end of the age of cheap energy.

The fact that Rubin wrote the manuscript for Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller in four months and then promptly walked from his post as Chief Economist for CIBC World Markets in Toronto made me run out and grab this title as soon as I got back to Albany.

"With Liberty and Justice for [Some]"

Here are two articles from The Philadelphia Inquirer from before and after The Adoptee Rights Demonstration.