The War & That Not so Fresh Feeling + Friday Literary Links + Heartbeats

Yesterday I has breakfast with my sweetheart at Jam, a restaurant that is consistently great for breakfast. While waiting for scrambled eggs, hash browns and a ricotta lemon pancake, I noticed on a wall a sign about a soldier from Portland currently in Iraq. His name is JD and in the picture next to a sign detailing his experiences at war I noticed he was quite handsome in his uniform and thought he seemed like he would probably make a good military officer. The poster sized sign described how cold it is in Iraq, how they rarely get letters for various reasons and that in order for these folks over there to even be able to talk on the phone to loved ones, they must have an AT&T calling card and wait in line for 2 hours. I felt heartbroken all over again for those in Iraq fighting and surviving and living & feeling and being in Iraq. It's been 5 years y'all! And quite frankly I'm getting that not-so-fresh-feeling!

It's been long e-fuckin'-nough. 5 years. 5 friggin' years! It's gone on too long. And what breaks my heart even more is that our troops when they do come home, are left without enough medical coverage, enough money or enough concern. If you have time next Saturday and are in Portland, please join me at a rally and action camp next weekend on March 15th. It's being called: March 15 World Without War: A Day of Resistance and Hope. I hope to see you there!

Okay I better switch topics before I go into a depression. So March, besides being Women's History Month is also Small Press Month. And none other than Walter Mosely is the poster dude for the celebration. For suggestions on titles to read for this go here. I'm happy to say I've read a number of the books listed but would also like to read Lonely Ware wolf Girl and also The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte.

Critical Mass the blog of the national book critics circle has the scoop the NBCC winners. I'm personally very excited to see that Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington won for general nonfiction. It's no surprise that The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz won for fiction because it's well...wonderful. Anyway congrats to the winners!

My pal Kevin Sampsell gave me an interesting book the other day titled: Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica. And it's a hoot. The very first story is a man's encounter with Dick Cheney in the back of a gun shop. Since were in election mode I think there is no better book to get us in the mood... for sex and politics. So check it out. Speaking of sex and writing there is a new award for sex positive journalism aptly called the Sexies. Submissions are being taken until the 23rd of this month so if you have done some sex positive journalism find out more here.

Well I need to go home and feed the animals now. I think I'll be getting a laptop soon cuz this blogging at work off the clock thing is starting to get really old. In the meantime here are two awesome videos of the same song. It's worth listening to them both because one is the studio version and the other is live & sometimes music can be great in the studio & suck live, the this group called The Knife, has done a great job in both genres! The song is called Heartbeats. Enjoy y'all. Much love!
~F