Tag: blogs

Six Words

I took this from Shawn Lea, who got the idea from Caterina.

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to compose a complete story in six words. His answer was, “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”

Here’s mine, as posted in both bloggers’ comments:

“She refused to sign the prenup.”

Feel free to write your own six-word story and post it in my comments or on your blog or online journal.

Joe.My.God.

One of the blogs I like to read, Joe.My.God., has long been linked from Tim’s Live Journal. Among the reasons I’ve recommended the book FROM BOYS TO MEN is because Joe contributed to it. I love it when he writes about days gone by with his friends, even when he makes me cry (often). I enjoy the little views he provides of Manhattan, including photos of Manhattan buildings.

Today I was catching up on his last few blog entries and came to one called “Morning View–Food For Thought.” Like many people who deal with never-enough-space problems in NYC apartments, Joe uses his oven for storage. In this entry’s photo, we find out he’s storing books there. I maximized the photo, expecting to see the usual suspects–David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs–and this is what I found. You can’t imagine how it lifted my spirits and put a shit-eating grin on my face…


Nothing says lovin’ like SOMEONE LIKE YOU in the oven…

Photo used with permission of Joe.My.God.

A dog’s life

Those who know me know at least two things: I love my dogs and I love reading dooce. The best of all worlds is when Heather talks about her dog Chuck on her blog, and of course, Chuck Friday, when I know there’ll be a photo of Chuck.

I won’t go into all the reasons why I like Heather’s blog. She’s got a zillion readers, and probably all of us think we “know” her (I think we only know what she wants us to know, and that’s just good writing).

Let sleeping blogs lie

I just checked my list of bloggers. I have 28 blogs on the list (these are separate from my LJ friends). There are another five or so nationally known blogs (usually on politics or popular culture) that I check from time to time to keep up with what’s being talked about. Then there are around ten that are linked on some of my favorite blogs that I also read occasionally.

When I first got online in 1997, I was all about my chat room. Actually, there were two chat rooms–the one where I met my writing partners and made some other good friends, and one that was for authors that I visited from time to time but where I rarely talked and made no friends. About four years later, my main “room” had changed a lot, and my focus shifted to message boards. There were four of those that interested me and where I made an entirely different group of online friends based on shared interests.

About 18 months ago, my interest shifted to blogs, and around that time, I followed Tim to Live Journal. I don’t consider myself to be a blogger. I like what I’m doing because it’s no pressure and random. It’s not a problem, but reading all those blogs can be. As a person who’s always shunned TV as a time thief, it’s deplorable how much of my time and energy I’ve given to this computer monitor. So I’ve cut back on blogs–and cut back again. I may go a couple of weeks and read only my top two or three favorite blogs, then rapidly skim some of the others for anything of interest.

So I was doing well with my online time management. I’m not an e-bay, craigslist, myspace, or online games person (although the games thing was a passing interest for a while), so except for keeping up with Live Journal, I’ve been using my Internet time for research.

And then… in the middle of that research–I swear!–another blog sneaked into my online world. I’m not going to link to it. I’m not going to promote it. Not because it’s anything that’s weirdly out of character for me. It’s not porn. It’s not Republican. It’s not dogmatic. Far from all of that. This blogger seems to be a regular person. A working man. A very articulate working man with a distinctive voice and an unapologetic attitude that is so not politically correct that it’s… refreshing. And I’m so jaded by liars and posers that I can’t believe he’s real. I keep waiting for the “Gotcha,” and until I’m certain it’s not coming, I guess I plan to keep him my reading secret.

It’s murky, this online world.

The beauty of trees

In spring of 2004, when James found out that Tim and I were making a research trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for THREE FORTUNES, among the things he told us to do was visit the Friendship Oak on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast in Long Beach. Legend has it that friends who stand together under the oak will remain friends for life.

The live oaks of the coast, including Friendship, became part of the story in our novel, and after Katrina, I knew some of them must have sustained terrible damage and others would be gone. In attempting to get photographic details of the coastal towns, I found Shawn Lea’s blog, Everything and Nothing. (Shawn’s family’s homes in Gulfport and Waveland were among those destroyed.)

This “bliendship,” as bloggers call the friends they make through their blogs, has progressed beyond just getting my Mississippi updates. I enjoy Shawn’s selections of poetry, photos, cultural events, T-shirts, family news, travel accounts, recipes, and oh, the many cool gadgets and products she finds.

Yesterday, she linked to a Sun Herald article on “Before and After,” which includes the paper’s photos of specific sites, buildings, and homes before and after Katrina. The paper has compiled them into a book that can be purchased, but they are also available to see individually online.

Of course, the photos are heartbreaking, but many of the articles that accompany them present the stoic attitude of coastal residents and their determination to rebuild what has been lost.

But you can’t rebuild a tree, and when I saw an “after” photo of Counselor, a famous Biloxi oak, my heart sank. I had very little hope for Friendship, because I knew the college campus was badly damaged.

Then, down the list of photos, I saw Friendship Oak in Long Beach. According to the article, calls asking about Friendship are the first they get after any hurricane.

Here are photos from the trip I took with Tim. I read that although the tree has been damaged, it still stands. I dream of the day when Friendship’s limbs will once again be hidden by a rich profusion of leaves; its acorns sent into the world to replenish the tree population; and beneath its branches, friends will whisper secrets and vow their lifelong loyalty.
see photos

Stephen McCauley

I’ve been impatiently awaiting the arrival of the new Stephen McCauley book that I ordered. If you’re not familiar with this author, he’s written several novels. His debut title, which you might recognize, was The Object of My Affection, a delightfully amusing book about a gay man and the people in his life. Of course, if you saw the movie, you probably think it’s about a sweet/sassy woman negotiating love and single motherhood who–oh, yeah, happens to have a gay friend/roommate. In other words, a vehicle for Jennifer Aniston.

I always enjoy his books, and I’m sure Alternatives to Sex will be good. Meanwhile, I was mighty amused by his blogs about his booksignings. Oh, the glamour. At least in his case, he gets to regret that his book has so far only gone into its third printing.

Excuse me, I have to scream now.