Cigar Blast from the Past

In 1996 I was the Democratic Student Coordinator on the campus of my college in Rindge, NH, Franklin Pierce College. I got an opportunity to meet President Clinton during his run for a second term. I volunteered to drive a van in his motorcade which held part of the press corps (I believe I had CBS news reporters). The moment was fairly unremarkable, but it was something my father was very proud of and he related the story of a young Clinton meeting President Kennedy when he was just a few years younger than I was and how such encounters inspire youth to grow up to be the men they admire most. I was pretty cynical at the time, still am, and the moment was not one that inspired me to great political aspirations, but from then on I did declare my future candidacy to anyone and everyone (after I turned 35) and I even voted for myself as a write-in candidate for president that year. I was 18 and it was my first national election and I voted for myself.

Chuck Palahniuk Responds

Inventory of items sent by cool-ass writer Chuck Palahniuk (generous guy, knows how important his fans are; all due respect to Chuck, stand up fucking guy):

letter (personal)
carrot
chocolate-scented stickers
birthday candles
harmonica
swiss army knife
temporary tattoo
name badge, signed
photo, rooster and Chuck with cigarette butts, signed
folding pocket comb
pirate coloring book
magic cards
3D cheetah
million dollar bill
severed finger
valentine's day pencil
herb garden seeds
forget-me-not seeds
fake poop (I always wanted fake poop.)
sugar-free peppermint mints
valentine grow kit
candy cigarettes
it's a boy candy cigar
pop rocks
star-shaped hole-puncher
mini xmas crayons

The Dilemma Satisfied

I received some good ideas, but decided to go with a donation.

Hooray for the FCC Guard Dogs

My Drink

This is DP24. Dr. Pepper claims 23 whatever. DP24 is Dr. Pepper plus one, lemonade. Mix these two. About 2/3 parts DP, and 1/3 part Lemonade. And you have DP24. You can also add rum. Ummmmm, rum.

Baltimore. Fleet and Caroline Streets.

The General Has Arrived!

twentythreebooks is proud to announce the arrival of Omar Shapli's The General Is asked His Opinion and other sad songs 2002-2005. Check out the website for ordering information:

http://www.twentythreebooks.com/

The Dilemma

Hello folks. I have a dilemma. Perhaps you can help me out.

I found this cup at a Royal Farms gas station on Boston Street in Baltimore. I was pumping gas, looked down, and there was this cup one-fourth full of change. I stared at it for a while; looked around to see if anyone was looking at me, looking at the cup. I wondered for a minute or so if I should take it with me. I grabbed the cup, held it, sat down in my truck, door open, sat there with the cup in my hand, wondering if I should leave it, perhaps for someone less fortunate than me, or if I should just take it and toss it in with the rest of my change in the water cooler change deposit bank I have in my closet. Needless to say, I took it (and considering the 'less fortunate' angle, I recalled the countless times I have given those "less fortunate" folks money when they've accosted me on American streets) and I brought it home and counted it:

7 dimes
1 nickel
1 button
87 pennies

The button isn't worth much, but the coins add up to be $1.62, a fine amount if you want to start resurrecting those dreams of world travel and owning your own business, but I digress:

Now what?

I cannot bring myself to pour the change into my water cooler bank, so now the cup just sits on my desk, mocking me, echoing the ghosts of all the homeless persons that could have used the money on these cold and frigid Baltimore winter nights.

So what do I do with the dollar sixty-two?

What ever do I do?

Other Boston Pics

The Prudential Building, Boston, MA

View from Prudential Building, Boston, MA (cont. 2)

View from Prudential Building, Boston, MA (cont.)

View from Prudential Building, Boston, MA

Trinity Church, Boston, MA

Leaving Colorado

View from Lost Gulch Overlook (Boulder, CO)

My Old Apartment, Boulder, CO

My Favorite Used Books Store, Boulder, CO

More Colorado Pics

Long's Peak

Long's Peak stands 14, 255 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park here in Colorado (just outside of Estes Park, where I spent some time today).

I climbed (hiked is the more appropriate term; I bore no equipment for scaling rock faces) this mountain in 1999 with my then-supervisor and friend Silas.

I had lunch with Silas and his three-year-old son today at Mountain Sun on Pearl Street in Boulder. Good to see how well he is doing. He is a bona fide 100 percent milkman; you know, like delivering bottles to your doorstop milkman. NO shit. It's a good living and I wish him and his family all the best.

When I was nearing the end of my Bachelor's degree in Baltimore (2000) at Towson University, I walked into the new Barnes and Nobles and spent some time scanning the titles in the poetry section. One title stood out: Long's Peak by Chester Wickwire. The cover had a picture of Long's Peak. Applying the logic that I once hiked this verysame mountain, I purchased the book. After I fininshed reading, I noticed that it was published by a Baltimore press, BrickHouse Books. The publisher of BHB was listed on the title page: Clarinda Harriss. The name was familiar; I had an inkling she worked at Towson University. So I looked her up in the TU directory, sent her an e-mail inquiring about any internhip possibilities, heard back from her soon thereafter, and thus began my on-again off-again tenure as an Assistant Editor with BrickHouse Books.

This past year, I was reading manuscripts for BHB and came across a unique and lively book of poetry: The General Is Asked His Opinion by Omar Shapli. I wrote up a brief review of the book and told Clarinda that she should publish this title next. Her reply was the she didn't have the funds to do so. My reply: What if I published it? With her blessing, I wrote Omar a letter offering to publish his book, and thus was born twentythreebooks. The General Is Asked His Opinion will be available for online purchase in the next few weeks.