Remembering Helen Hill

It was a year ago, on January 4th, when Helen Hill lost her life. You can read my posts from then here, or as part of the German essay, "Why We Stay," in English here.

Next Friday, on January 11th, we'll return to city hall, where we marched last year.

Brando's New Years Message of Hope

Brando's Happy New Year, originally uploaded by kfoz.

We're a little late on this, I admit. But when I first suggested it to Brando, he thought I was talking about some type of live broadcast, like the Queen of England or something. And, well, his still working on his message. Here are some of his notes:

Yes indeedy!

Peanut butter biscuits!!

Obama!!!

Ruff Wear!!!!

The empty lot next door!!!!

What it means to have and lose a home

Please watch this beautiful and heartbreaking film by Matt Faust. I don't know much about the process, but it seems to have been created by animating old family photos against a background of their flooded, gutted, home. The house was ultimately torn down without their permission.

The film is here.

If you live in Denver or Boulder...

Tune into KGNU radio on Friday between noon and 1pm--they will be broadcasting an interview I taped last week. We were supposed to be talking about the new book, Dogs I Have Met, but as usual we got a little sidetracked talking about pit bulls and Denver's idiotic ban, which has resulted in absolutely no change in the number of people injured by dogs in the city. The interview will also be available online.

Endangered historic homes in New Orleans

1574-76 N.Dorgenois, originally uploaded by Karen Apricot New Orleans.

This is such a blah headline, but I didn't want to start the New Year with sarcasm. Here's a house that is in relatively fine condition but is scheduled for demolition by the city of New Orleans. Just for fun. Ooops, there goes the sarcasm.

For more information on this and other endangered houses, go to www.squanderedheritage.com.

Meanwhile, Happy New Year everyone. It is very very cold in New Orleans today, so the dogs and I will be doing our best to keep warm and recover from the trauma of fireworks.

The Times-Picayne's year end book list

Yesterday the Times-Picayune picked the books of the year, and featured Dogs I Have Met, along with Life in the Wake (to which I contributed a short story), and Brad Benischek's Revacuation which was published by Press Street. More important, the paper also announced expanded books coverage beginning Friday January 11th. Books will move from the back of the Living section on Sundays to the front of the section on Friday, with more coverage of local literary events, festivals, etc. The is absolutely the opposite of what most newspapers are doing, so I'll be posting some email addresses for everyone to send a note of thanks.

And just to balance things out, here's a woman in Georgia who thinks The Dogs Who Found Me was the worst book she read all year.