# 158 - Front page 1.12.12

This is the front page of my paper this week. (Click on it for a larger image.) I'm pretty jazzed about how this came out. The photo is particularly effective, I think, because first you see the guy with the gun, then, in lesser focus, you notice the other guy with the ketchup. I think this might be the best front I've done. The story's about a local filmmaker who returns to shoot in his home town.

#157 - A piece I just finished about finishing a piece I just finished

http://truestorieswelltold.wordpress.com. That link will take you to Sarah White's very fine blog about memoir writing. There you can read my memoir about finishing my memoir.

#156 - O's Birthday Dinner

I can still crank it up. Oliver's birthday menu:

Roast duck w/giant raisin challah croutons in duck fat with lemon peel
Peas & carrots

#155 - Book on Fire, Second Edition

My book bro Keith, owner of an awesome beard, husband to an awesome wife and father of two exciting kids has just announced the second printing of his magical volume Book on Fire. It has a new cover, and includes a long bonus story, City of Bones, about a sojourner in a post-apocalyptic Alexandria. It is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as select brick-and-mortar bookstores.

I just bought a nookbook copy for myself, I suggest that if you're into real magic, you do the same. For more on Keith: http://millerworlds.com/

#154 - A Roll of Film from September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001, after ascertaining that our father hadn't been murdered in the World Trade Center attack, my brother and I joined up in midtown Manhattan and walked back to Brooklyn. For much of the morning the island was sealed off, so we went from blood bank to blood bank looking to help out in whatever tiny way we could; they were all full.

I had my camera with me that day and shot a roll of film. I couldn't bear to develop my pictures until 2005 when I took one look and then sealed them away. For the 10th anniversary of the worst day of my life I made myself review the images and write about the experience for my newspaper's special section on 911. You can read the story on our website.