Let’s go to the Old Dominion for today’s photo, Minister’s Office, Pembroke VA “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” ― Søren Kierkegaard Kind words of the week on Vista Del Mar from Kirkus Review: “An English teacher’s debut memoir about how a…
Old South Redondoans surely recognized last post’s photo as the playground steps of South School, PCH and Avenue A. Remember the big tree there? Went down in the late 80s-early 90s. This time around, Avenue H guard station. Today’s kind words from distinguished poet Maurya Simon, author of The Raindrop’s Gospel and many other…
TWO BOOK LAUNCH PARTIES!! IN CHICO, AT 1078 GALLERY, THURSDAY JUNE 2, 7PM IN REDONDO BEACH, AT COFFEE CARTEL, SUNDAY JUNE 19, Time TBA (late afternoon) So pleased to announce a second book get-together, this one in the “heart of the hood” – Riviera Village, Redondo Beach, very near the intersection of Catalina and…
BOOK LAUNCH! 1078 Gallery, June 2, time TBA (early evening) Thrilled to announce the launch of Vista Del Mar in Chico – hope you all can come! Today’s post – kind words from Mark Jarman of Vanderbilt University, author of many books of poetry including Bone Fires: New and Selected Poems: “Those of us…
“A fascinating combination of memoir and photo essay centering on the beautiful banality of everyday spaces….” Christian Kiefer, author of The Animals Thanks to Christian for such kind and discerning words. Vista Del Mar, a memoir of the ordinary Due out June 1 Today’s photo: tattoo artist’s hearse detail, Pembroke, Virginia, March 2000. image from…
It’s a wonderful pleasure to announce the coming publication of Vista Del Mar in late May, 2016 on Counterpoint Press. Besides the story, the book will contain almost 100 images both from the photo project that inspired the writing, as well as family snapshots spanning many years and locales. As we approach the release date, I’ll…
the slightly mysterious grandparents, one century ago… In January of 1913, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Nell’s father died, age 63. The children, said the funeral notice, were “privileged to be with their father and administer to his comfort during his last illness.” Was this departure a signal, a permission, or an enabling? The young people of…
Thanks to Sarah Pape and the folks at 1078 Gallery in Chico for inviting me to participate in their summer reading series last week. It was great fun and a real pleasure to hear such fine writers. This post and the two to follow are an expanded version of my selection for the evening. Father…
For Audrey Totter, 1917-2013 For the west side and the Hollywood hills, the northern boundary of this sense of region, I came to rely on films like In a Lonely Place, The Big Sleep, Mickey Rooney in The Strip, Tension with Audrey Totter, and later Night Moves and The Long Goodbye – enclaves of wealth…
I’d have a rental car and drive through places seeing what would catch my eye, park, jump out, set up the tripod, and take the picture. In Redondo, a sense of being on home ground and the proprietary feel that accompanied it shielded me from paralyzing self-consciousness, but in other locales the long-seeming ritual of…