Who is this mystery man?

Help us solve an art mystery! Be like Scooby-Doo, but at the circus.

Who IS this man? My mother bought this painting at a flea market in York, Pennsylvania, about ten years ago. The canvas was rolled up, and shows signs of wear and poor preservation. She's had it framed and keeps it out of direct light, but we are captivated by this man who appears to be a barker, an EmCee, or a ringmaster (note the hat and collar and 'stache.)

Perhaps this is a painting of an image from package design, which happens a lot with early and midcentury fruit crates (I'll tell you about my prized El Capitan painting some other time) or perhaps he was a personage around the ten in ones in central Pennsylvania/Ohio at one time?

Or someone's dashing uncle?

Clue me in. Pass it around. We are reallllly curious.

Pix from the Road

Collage images #1 & #2 from my collageathon with pal S., an author of note and reigning Cancer Bitch, whose advice to me, as I wielded scissors and glue in her attic, was "don't be afraid to let things touch." Good advice for extended metaphor, no?

Prior to the collageathon was a day and half at the gracious Hyde Park home of A., and her family, including a gobsmacking walk along the lake.


Iowa 80. Wind turbines. Freaked me OUT. Huge suckers. Looked like alien transport. Then I saw one on a flatbed truck, being transported. I was en route to and from a conference, the supine turbine, less so.

Phoebe Snow

Phoebe Snow cared for her brain injured daughter Valerie. Phoebe Snow did not pursue what was, at that time, a burgeoning career. Phoebe Snow died this morning. She was sixty. Her daughter predeceased her by several years.

Here's Phoebe Snow's voice.

The Examined Life...

Lucky me! I'll be speaking at The Examined Life conference in Iowa City on Friday. What about, you ask? (Or maybe you don't, I'm just pretending.)

Why, Writing the Survivor experience, of course.

In other news;

I am reading Elizabeth Stuckey-French's "The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady" and laughing my a** off, except it's about a very serious subject. But it's funny, in a devious, sunny way.

Did you know...

Did you know that Harry Nilsson did a version of "Many Rivers to Cross," and that John Lennon produced it? The Nilsson/Lennon thing is no surprise (lost weekend, anyone?) but I was unaware of this musical madness until I happened upon it on our excellently eclectic WMLB radio yesterday.

We know "Me and My Arrow," and as a college freshman, I relished in "You're Breaking My Heart, Tearing Me Apart, So F*** You!" (take that, Cee-Lo Green, Nilsson was there first.)

Here's Harry and John doing some Jimmy Cliff . (And if the arrangement sounds like "Mind Games" in parts, well, yes it does.) The slide show is weird - I don't know what on earth Abe Lincoln has to do with any of the above, so just close your eyes. Or stare at your dashboard in amazement, like I did.

Iowa Writers' Workshop Turns 70

Someone once told me that all the snow in Iowa City means you stay in and write a lot.

Excellent video about "the" workshop.

Thanks, RL for the link to this short PBS video!

Memoir and painting with Mike and Carole, or, my mentor es su mentor

If you don't know the writing and teaching of Michael Steinberg, it's time you did. Mike's an author, creative nonfiction leading light, all around interesting guy. His wife Carole is a talented painter and one of the warmest people to talk with.

I met Mike at the inaugural Writers In Paradise Conference, and he's been a world-changer for my writing ever since.

Here's Mike and Carole on Telling the Truth in Memoir .

"Memory," he says here, "is part invention."

Dang. Someone take this dog, please

LATE AFTERNOON UPDATE: Dog reunited with his owner, thanks to the efforts of 1) the owner! 2) Park Pet Supply in East Atlanta Village 3) Bow Wow Meow Pet sitting - our fabulous all things animal for about 15 years! 4) and the brave neighbor R., who let the dog wait at her place, since she has a fenced yard.




See what I get for going for a walk on April Fool's Day? This dog, fun and enthusiastic, follows me, a neighbor thinks it's mine and retrieves him, neither of us can keep him, we take him to A) the vet - no chip B) the local pet supply, can't take him in C) call everyone we know who fosters.

Can it be you, please? Please?

PS He's neutered!