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In Paperback
Now! Thursday July 28th/Friday 29th: Tracy on BBC-5's Up All Night 9:30 pm Eastern USA/2:30 am GMT with Dr. Petra and Dotun Read an excerpt |
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| Saturday, April 24, 2004 I was hoping to read Catherine Deneuve's new book right away... It seems like perfect reading for the mood I'm in and I've been looking for an English translation... but it seems we may have to wait a bit. Or try it in the original: A l'ombre de moi-même. Perhaps I can even find it at one of the French bookstores around town. East Meets West I just found out that a lawyer I know, Bob Fogelnest, is in Kabul and writing about it on Live Journal. I'm not sure why he's calling himself "Mullah Bob" but that's Bob. I'm hoping he continues to update his journal. If you live in New York, you might know Bob from ... coverage of the Subway Bomber. Sound familiar? Bob also represented Andrew Crispo. Here's what else you need to know about Bob: http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=mullabob Speaking of friends who have initiated blogs: Lisa Napoli started hers when she moved to LA from New York to be a reporter on Marketplace. (I'm convinced she is just in total denial about the trauma of moving to California.) I can't think of two more dissimilar blogs, but I'm blessed with very diverse friends. Lisa, if you're reading this, say hello to Bob. And Bob vice versa. I feel a bit self-conscious about the lack of raw scary detail in my own blog. But I'm actually quite shy in this medium... Glad my friends are not! The D Word No, not Diary. Darling. I was amazed to see in Simon Hoggart's Diary today that employees of the English National Opera are now forbidden to call each other "darling". I, too, think it's a special word but I'm not sure it needs banning to make it so... Monday, April 19, 2004 A Taste for Existence What a charming expression! I look forward to reading Catherine Deneuve's diary though I find the title almost silly: "In the Shadow of Myself." Let's hope it's a good translation. It seems to echo Philip Larkin's "pretending to be myself." Herself: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040419/1/3jkyr.html Quote of the Day Heather Mallick has some advice for Americans who migrate north. "Don't refer to breasts as hooters, headlights or a great rack. Just call them breasts." And who could this be: "A Chihuahua chewing the pant leg of history." She's also not impressed with Bill Clinton's human rights record. Check it out here: Northward: http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040417/MALLICK17/TPColumnists/ Today's Email Research for Sex Work is seeking photographs, pictures and cartoons for its seventh issue. The theme of this issue is research ethics. Scenes from health clinics, on the streets or inside work places, prostitution scenes, sex workers demonstrating, socialising, and so on are welcome. Sex workers in photographs can be unrecognizable, or, if permission has been granted, recognizable. Educational materials and artwork are also welcome. Earlier issues of Research for Sex Work can be seen online at www.med.vu.nl/hcc/rfsw.htm. Please send all submitted materials to: rfsw@wanadoo.nl The deadline for these materials to be considered for Issue 7 is May 5. Research: http://www.med.vu.nl/hcc/rfsw.htm Saturday, April 17, 2004 In My Mailbox Today This announcement from PONY: Save the Date! Sex Workers' Benefit Concert Thursday April 29th @ The Pussycat Lounge, 96 Greenwich St. at Rector Street Doors open 8pm. $10, $5 for sex workers. 1 (212) 713 5678 Subway: N, R, W, 1, 9 to Rector Street "Mingle with sex workers and their supporters at this fundraising benefit for PONY, a New York Sex Workers' advocacy and support organization. Entertainment includes performances by bands such as the Chickletts and Subterrain, as well as sex worker stories and art. A sexy raffle sponsored by Toys in Babeland..." (I am donating some copies of my book to the raffle, as well.) And some news from Sonia Arrison who is an expert on g-mail, spam and other matters. When I saw her in SF, this past November, she was about to publish a paper addressing the practical and philosophical headaches posed by Spam. Sonia is on this panel at Computers, Freedom & Privacy in Berkeley, Friday April 23, 8:45 am - 10:15: sonething about "Privacy, & Server-Side Filtering." Other notable moments include: Mike Godwin teaching "Constitutional Law in Cyberspace" and Jennifer Granick on "Wardriving, Wireless Networks and the Law." Plus, a special discussion on the future of the Patriot Act. And this one looks very intriguing: "investigating how the mobile phone functions as a tracking device, through which our movements can be monitored 24 hours a day." MobiloPhobia: http://www.cfp2004.org/program/#bof7 CFP: http://www.cfp2004.org Canned Spam a la Sonia: http://www.pacificresearch.org/pub/sab/techno/2004/spam01-26-04.pdf Friday, April 16, 2004 Department of Northern Affairs Nancy Chan's Canadian godfather, Doug Pepper, is leaving New York to become president and publisher of McClelland & Stewart!! A talented Canadian returneth. Salient Facts: McClelland first published Anne of Green Gables in 1911. Almost a century later, the covert cultural imperialism continues... Canada's favorite orphan continues to colonize the American imagination. Actually, it's a world-domme thing. Anne is huge in JAPAN! ... Today, the hardcover Anne is published in Canada by Tundra books which became an imprint of McClelland. Actually, there was a dark brutal aspect to her story which makes Anne of G.G. appealing and relevant to the intelligent reader. Anne's adoption was no hearts-and-flowers affair -- the adoptive parents want to send her back to the orphanage because they are looking for a male child to work the farm! The whole sordid business of treating adoptive children like commodities or cheap/slave labor is right there, and I think every affluent child should be informed about it. Thanks to Alison from Calgary, I recently discovered that my book is popular at Banff Book & Art Den which is right next to the Royal Canadian Legion on Banff Avenue. You can't see the RCL sign in this pic for technical reasons but I assure you it's there. I was really delighted to hear about this unexpected fit. Alison also has a touch of latent Trudeaumania and that's a good thing. Monday, April 12, 2004 Agony Ann Aunt Widdicombe's doing a pretty good job in my view. Maybe this is actually the best role for a 21st c. Tory, personal advisor to the agonized masses. This week, she offers some canny wisdom to a Northern lass who bemoans the harshness of life in the fast lane. "London is a rat race, but wasn't it a career move that brought you here in the first place?" But last week she totally missed the point of Where There's Smoke. What sort of wimpish parent allows her 14-year-old to put a lock on his door while continuing to clean up his room as if he were a helpless toddler?? I find it incredible this was not addressed! If he is old enough to negotiate privacy, he is old enough to pick up after himself. I'm not in the business of commenting on cannabis consumption but I think I'm onto something huge: doormat-parenting is endemic among the baby boomers. We're all going to experience the side effects when their kiddies enter the job market. For that matter, if this woman's son is old enough to smoke dope, he should be able to do his own cleaning. I find Widdicombe's oversight amazing. Instead, she gets all caught up in the war on drugs which doesn't address the real issues... How will such infantilized people ever evolve into functioning adults if they spend their teen years smoking dope and being waited on hand and foot by their own parents? http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1185739,00.html Sunday, April 11, 2004 Easter Sunday, The Notorious Countdown... Toussaint's Overture How is it that I, never a sports fan, can sometimes enjoy reading about cricket -- a game I know nothing of?? I can't read a word about baseball, football or hockey. Eyes glaze over whenever team sports are even mentioned in conversation. That includes baseball which is supposed to appeal to bookish types but zzzz, I never developed a taste for any spectator sport. BUT I have been reading the odd cricket column lately. Odd indeed. And really enjoying it! Is cricket inherently more interesting? Or is it because the cricket writers are more interesting? I happened across this delightful coverage of Brian Lara's recent efforts and found myself deeply amused. It's by Terry Joseph who is not shy about working an Easter theme. http://www.trinicenter.com/Terryj/2004/Mar/262004.htm He also has this to say about another holiday, Hosay, a Shiite Muslim festival, quite big in Trinidad. http://www.trinicenter.com/Terryj/2004/Mar/042004.htm There's more about Hosay on this site, where you will learn that "Hosay has taken on the celebratory, almost frolicsome feel of street theater and grand showmanship. Onlookers, many of whom are nonobservant or non-Muslims, dance, drink rum, and enjoy the feast." I quite enjoyed this review which also addresses (briefly) the Trinidadian approach to Easter, referring to Carnival as "Trinidad's most notorious cultural festival... marking the beginning of Lent and, hence, the countdown to Christ's crucifixion and martyrdom." http://www.der.org/films/hosay-trinadad-review.html There's a pile of news in this apartment -- I read both web and paper version of the NY Times to see what I'm missing, and I can tell you that the Times is better in paper format. Sorry but that's how I see it. I think I was missing half the news when I read the paper online. In LAST week's City section, a really succinct rebuke from Roger Toussaint, criticizing their special issue on the centennial of the New York subway system: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E6DA1039F937A35757C0A9629C8B63 I had in fact enjoyed that special issue -- for one thing, there was a nice piece by a pal, Jason Gordon. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20B14FE3B540C7B8EDDAA0894DC404482 But Mr. Toussaint strikes a chord. The subway's a dangerous place to work and it shouldn't be glossed over. In case you don't know, Toussaint has been president of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, since the fall of 2000 --a man with politics in his veins, as far as I can tell. And you can read about the origins of those politics here. http://www.sputnick.com/angela/roger_toussaint.htm My dear friend, Miss M., who annually celebrates the Greek Orthodox Easter dropped off a delicious gift: A baby lamb's head, cut in half and roasted. Not in that order. You roast first, divide later. What a great tradition -- many thanks to Miss M. for honoring it! |