Home is Not a Place - Proximity Mag, Readers Write

I wrote this short essay on home for a writing blog started by several of my fellow Goucher College graduate students.  Go to their website to check it out:

Home is Not a Place, Proximity Mag, Readers Write Section

My friend Ed Bean on his farm, Vienna, Maine, summer 2008

“Teopisca Boys,” 1st Runner-Up, National Geographic Traveler Travel Writing Contest

I don't enter a lot of writing contests, mostly because many charge a fee to enter and since I am truly a down-on-my-luck writer, I can't afford to. But I entered this one, both because there was no fee and it was sponsored by a legitimate organization - National Geographic Traveler magazine. I was pleased to be named First Runner-Up, even though it comes with no financial award.

You can find my essay on the contest Web site at:

http://www.travelwritercontest.com/essays2.html

I have also posted it here, along with the photo I took of Rico.

“Teopisca Boys”

First Runner-Up: Christine Steele
Goucher College

A boy with a leather messenger bag slung over his shoulders rode into town on a too-big, black bicycle. He eyed me as he climbed off and leaned it up against an iron fence. I was standing in the zócalo of a village in southern Mexico. Rico strode over full of eleven-year-old curiosity and asked where I was from.

An outline of Che is spray painted on the leg of his jeans. I ask about him. Revolucioniario, he says. Héroe. Do I know him? Yes, I nod.

Rico politely tries to sell me a bag of tortillas and when I decline, seems just as content to ask me questions. How many brothers and sisters do I have? Do I have a husband? Niños? My Spanish is enough to carry me, so we chat as his friends look on. Before I know it I am surrounded by a circle of boys. Each has a bag of something to sell. Rico has tortillas, a dozen to bag, made fresh that morning by his mother. The others have cookies, candies, sweets, all homemade. I start asking their names, how old they are, why they are not in school, where is their mama and papa, where am I, what is the name of this village? Rico takes my notebook and pen and writes in neat letters: Ciudad Teopisca chiapas. Ricardo, 11, Jovani, 12, Daniel, 11, and Jorge, 6, tell me they go to school from 2:00 to 6:30 p.m. Mornings they sell food in the square to help their familias. Rico let me take his picture standing stoic but proud, holding his bag of tortillas. A solemn, dark-eyed boy, who has had to work too hard and grow up too fast. The same for all the Teopisca boys. I wonder what Che would say.

Books and Independent (read: Punk Rock) Culture....

Look who was making an appearance at the The New York Center for Independent Publishing's Book Fair:

2:00pm-2:50pm
Ian MacKaye on Independent Culture: Q&A with an Introduction by Ian Svenonius

A Q&A with Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens and co-founder of Dischord Records). Bring your questions regarding the parallels between the worlds of independent music and book publishing, sustainable models for truly independent companies, and anything else that’s on your mind.

3:00pm-3:50pm
Keep Your Eyes Open: Ian Svenonius Interviews Photographer Glen E. Friedman, with Slide Show Presentation

Glen E. Friedman, considered one of the most important photographers of his generation, became well known for working with such rebellious artists as Black Flag, Ice-T, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Misfits, Bad Brains, Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C., KRS-1, and Public Enemy. Many of his photographs are recognized as the subjects’ definitive portraits. His most recent book, centered around the band Fugazi, is titled Keep Your Eyes Open (2007). Ian Svenonius has been the singer and spokesman for various music groups, including Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, and currently Weird War. Svenonius is also the author of The Psychic Soviet.

Games People (Hate To) Play....

Because I hate rules....and most games....I haven't posted this one yet but I'll stop dragging my feet and just do it dammit...

So, I’ve been tagged. And as much as I hate games of most types (excepting baseball, of course) I decided to play because:

a.) I’m new to the blogging game so it is something to get me started, though I find I have no
shortage of things to talk about – even if I exclude myself – just a shortage of listeners.

b.) I was tagged by the lovely, talented and creative dogfaceboy, and I wouldn’t dare dis her.

So here they are, the rules, so to speak. And if you know me, you know I pretty much believe that rules were made to be broken, so do as you like and feel free to break or make them however it suits you.

1. Write your meme (described below).
2. Include your rules or lack thereof.
3. Link to the person who tagged you, then link to the seven (7) random people you have tagged.
4. Let those seven (7) random people know they've been tagged by commenting in their blog. Also say something nice about their post, unless of course, you can’t think of anything nice to say to about them or their post. In that case, tag someone else.

And now the meme:
Share seven (7) random and/or weird things about yourself.

* * * * * * *

Seven (7) Random and/or Weird Things About Moi...

1. I have lived in five different states, in two different time zones, over the past ten years.

2. I have written for five different newspapers in three of those states in those two different
time zones in the past five years.

(Still with me? Good. Numerologists, is there some sequence of lottery numbers I should be playing here?)

3. I am naturally shy, but curious. Journalism has given me a good excuse to pick up the phone and call strangers to satisfy that curiosity.

4. It is unlikely that anyone who has ever met me would use the word “shy” to describe me.
I guess you could say I’ve done a good job of overcoming that. Or something like that.

5. I can not imagine a scenario that would ever cause me to develop either the interest or desire to watch football. No matter what he looks like.

6. I have actually received hate (e)mail in response to a personal ad I posted on Craigslist.

And lastly,

7. I swear I saw Philly Leotardo (of Sopranos fame) getting coffee in the bagel shop this morning. (oh, hell it was the other day okay? Can you tell I’m a procrastinator?)

Last month it was Junior Soprano I swear I thought I saw. He was crossing Colfax Ave. near the Ogden Theater wearing a Rockies hat and carrying a cane.

You're it. Now you play too, dammit.

Here are the folks I’ve tagged:

http://elsewhere.typepad.com

http://www.memrymotel.blogspot.com

http://arizonawriter.blogspot.com

http://downandout.wordpress.com

http://www.notitles.com

http://www.adoggyslife.blogspot.com

Yes, I know there are only five (six if I include the person who tagged me). It’s a sad state of affairs that I don’t have seven friends to play tag with in the blogging world.

A dressing down.....

What do

From Slate, this great medley of moments from "When Rock Show Banter Goes Wrong."

In support of freedom of speech.....

From my Media Bistro Daily Newsfeed, I found this headline in my inbox:

Post Music Critic Apologizes for 'Crack Addict' Email Remarks to Barry Aide (WaPo)

A Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for the Washington Post has apologized to D.C. Council member Marion Barry for sending an intemperate email to his spokesman. "It's the stupidest thing I've done in 30 years in journalism," music critic Tim Page said yesterday. "I hope people won't judge me on this one explosion."

The story is, after receiving an unsolicited press release from a Barry aide touting Barry's views on a D.C. area hospital revitalization project, Page apparently could not restrain himself, and let loose with this scathing response:

"Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new -- and typically half-witted -- political grandstanding? I'd be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose."

The Post was all over Page. They did their necessary damage control. They issued statements and apologies and doled out punishments – and I'm still asking myself why.

A simple statement to the effect of: Page shouldn't have used his Washington Post email account to send such a diatribe – would have sufficed. But if said press releases were coming in to his Post inbox, then it made sense that he used that one to attempt to "unsubscribe."

But perhaps the most ironic response of all was Barry's "outrage" and his declaration that Page's vitriolic response was akin to "character assassination."

That might actually be true, IF Barry weren't actually a convicted crack addict felon.

This "outrage" from a man that claimed all laws are racist, including the law of gravity.

But Barry's not the only former Mayor our forgiving American public has pardoned. New England's own hometown crook politician, Buddy Cianci, is out of the clink and on the air, doing talk radio.