text:
Bruce Peterson Focuses On Traceability
Jim Prevor's Perishable Pundit, June 8, 2007
Since Bruce Peterson resigned from Wal-Mart, people have waited with baited breath to find out what his next step would be. So when the press release arrived advising that Bruce had entered into a collaboration with Michael McCartney, Principal of QLM Consulting, to promote a traceback effort for the produce industry, we wanted to find out more.
We asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor, Mira Slott, to speak with Bruce.
Bruce Peterson
President, Peterson Insights and
former Senior VP Perishables, Wal-Mart
Q: In our discussions going back several years, you were predicting food safety would be a paramount issue in the produce industry, long before the spinach E. coli crisis jolted the industry into a new sense of urgency. What triggered your foresight?
A: The way the industry has responded to food safety is by trying to improve how stuff is grown. It has focused on Good Agricultural Practices. That's fine, a nice thing to do. Growers have been improving how they grow produce for the 30 years I've been in this business. The evolution of agriculture continues to improve from a food safety perspective. It always has, and it always will.
The spinach outbreak centered on the growing of spinach, and as a consequence the perception was that if the industry fixed how it grows spinach the problem would be solved.
Q: Where should the focus be? Growers say more responsibility should be placed on the processors, others say retailers and foodservice operators should be more discerning on who they buy from, and still others argue that without a kill step like in cooked products and processed goods, irradiation is the best alternative to alleviate food safety risks in fresh produce. Is the industry missing the big picture?
A: As Senior VP Perishables at Wal-Mart, a day didn't go by… ok, maybe not every day, but some 250 times a year… where we had a product recall because of a wrong label, wrong code, a date-quality issue, it didn't taste good, to more serious problems of E. coli, salmonella or lysteria, and most of these recalls were with products you'd know and trust.
Why aren't these consumer products companies going out of business? There's a really simple answer: What CPG companies like Proctor & Gamble, Sara Lee, and Kraft have that the produce industry doesn't have is effective recall.
A CPG company says, "We have a problem with this lot of lunch meat," then separates it and communicates that to the public in two ways. The company issues a statement, and secondarily FDA issues a statement. All these three things happen within hours, sometimes days, but usually within 24 hours.
Q: Contrast this to the spinach outbreak's chain of events?
A: In the spinach crisis, it was weeks before the industry figured out they had a problem. To this day no one knows the source of the problem. In my mind, this is the key issue. You can have all the GAPs in place. No one can tell you that if the California Marketing Agreement were followed, another outbreak wouldn't occur. What happens to consumer confidence the next time a food safety incident occurs in California and it becomes linked to a signatory of the Marketing Agreement?
I'm not suggesting that focusing on GAP is a bad idea. I will say it's not the retailers' job to tell growers how to grow stuff, but that's another issue. What the industry needs to do is redirect its efforts to traceability and recalls in a monumental way, which it is not doing now. There is an urgency to establish a global network to improve supply chain traceability.
In the CPG industry, for manufactured goods, companies have the benefit of being able to implement HACCP and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), but they still have food safety problems. Bottom line, if they didn't have effective traceability, their businesses would be doomed.
Q: Is it really fair to compare P&G's or Kraft's prowess in tracking and recalling packaged products with the complexities and unique challenges the fresh produce industry must overcome? What are the biggest issues you see?
A: I think basically four issues are paramount that the industry gets focused on. Traceability and recall is number one. I suppose you're going to ask me the other three: immigration, transportation and water utilization. Those are the four issues most important in the produce industry.
The produce industry is very different in a lot of ways from manufactured products. There is a seasonality component, a geographical factor, and you can't easily apply HACCP-like practices to agriculture. It's an open environment.
Q: Also, on the technology side, aren't there obstacles to applying RFID technology to fresh produce that a CPG company would avoid? Couldn't RFID be a powerful catalyst in building a seamless supply chain tracking information system?
A: When you get down to the item level, RFID is a problem, but at the case level it's manageable. RFID plays a role but is not the whole picture. RSS (Reduced Space Symbology, now called GS1 DataBar) will open this area as well. RSS doesn't provide unlimited information; it has its boundaries, but it is not as narrow as PLUs or barcodes. RSS can be used in conjunction with RFID and as an interim solution during the transition to RFID.
Here's the other problem. The produce industry is fragmented. There's a wide gamut of people that produce fruits and vegetables, from large corporations down to an individual corn grower in Florida. We have to come up with a process that includes the entire supply chain. This is difficult, yes, but impossible, no. There has to be a minimum set of standards. If a company is going to produce fresh fruits and vegetables, the FDA has to mandate these standards. It can't be a voluntary system.
Q: How does one start the process?
A: It requires an industry initiative. There has to be an effort put toward traceability in the way a lot of people wanted to focus on the spinach crisis. The same way airlines think about flying safely. Years ago, the airlines got together and said they would never let air safety become a marketing issue.
Q: What are the pitfalls to marketing food safety?
A: Already in the produce industry food safety is becoming a marketing issue. If we say Texas spinach is ok and California spinach is not, the consumer isn't going to only buy Texas spinach, the consumer just won't buy spinach period. Marketing food safety is also irrational. It's a complicated business, due to seasonality, weather, and products come from all over the U.S. and globally.
Q: During the spinach crisis, when retailers were allowed to sell spinach again, they carried spinach with signage that product was grown outside California, far away from Salinas, sometimes with inaccurate signage or merchandising that created consumer confusion. Are you finding incidents where marketing food safety is continuing?
A: Canada has put restrictions on California leafy vegetables. You have to be a signatory of the California Marketing Agreement. That only applies to California. You could have a California farmer growing in the same way as a New Jersey farmer, and Canada will accept the New Jersey product and not the California product. It has become a marketing issue.
produce statistically is one of the safest things you can eat. And this includes not just U.S. product, but product from Mexico and Canada and countries around the globe. Outbreaks are very rare in the big scheme of things. The way CDC keeps data on this, if someone gets sick from lettuce, that is what it reports. That lettuce could have been stored under hamburger that was tainted. The fact remains that fresh produce is one of the safest things you can eat.
Q: How does the industry's safety record get so distorted?
A: Focusing on GAP becomes an issue because no one can tell if the product is safer because of a marketing agreement and to what degree. There will always be a risk. It might not have anything to do with the fields or production. It could be handlers or retailers or what the consumer does with the product at home.
That is why the industry has to have effective recall, the ability to isolate product and communicate to the public, and make it happen quickly. The longer the problem goes on, the bigger the problem it becomes.
Q: So lack of an integrated supply chain traceability system contributed to the spinach crisis escalating out of control?
A: Produce has become the poster child for unsafe food, which is ridiculous. It's absurd. If the spinach crisis teaches us anything, it teaches us how vulnerable we are. This was an industry wake-up call that all the Good Agricultural Practices in the world won't help.
Think of the millions and millions of dollars it affected with spinach. It can bring an industry to its knees. This industry was really rocked by the spinach crisis. Can you imagine if this was potatoes or tomatoes, billions of dollars instead of tens of millions?
All the efforts that are put into GAP now don't address the traceability issue. There has to be a mobilized effort of this industry to get behind this and figure this out. It's a monumental undertaking to cause this to happen.
Q: How will your new collaborative venture with Michael McCartney, Principal at QLM Consulting, help drive the process? Michael told me a couple of years ago he's always seen RFID as the Holy Grail of the supply chain. Do you have benchmarks, an estimated timeframe of how a project of this scope could unfold?
A: In terms of a timeframe, a lot will depend on if the industry believes as I do that this is the biggest issue. If I can persuade enough influential people, then we can get some critical mass. It's necessary to have global collaboration to get the job done. You can't have Kroger, Safeway, and Markon doing separate programs. This has to be a shared industry effort. The key would be to get the buyer coalition for food safety to focus on the process of traceability and communication. Since our press release came out about our mission, I've gotten a lot of calls.
Significant retailers and significant growers/shippers have expressed great interest in this project. One advantage Mike and I have is the time to get involved. This will take a lot of coordination. Much of the groundwork has been set. It's important to create a lot of energy behind this.
When I was at Wal-Mart and first started going on the road of RFID, I had coffee with Mike at FMI in Chicago. He was working heavy on the RFID side, and we were talking about the importance of traceability and the need to get the produce industry off the dime on this. What Mike brings to this is an in-depth understanding of what the supply chain can look like. We both bring different areas of expertise to a discussion.
Q: What steps are you facilitating near-term and further out?
A: I'd like to see the leadership group we pull together meet in July to drive this forward. The whole thing will depend on people believing this is the urgent issue I believe it is. It's a monumental effort, but not insurmountable. People questioned whether the industry could agree on PLUs and standardized pallets.
Mike and I are spearheading several steps to get this done. In my mind the first thing we have to do is bring a large number of growers together. We have to get growers to agree on what records have to be kept in case of a food safety crisis, preferably electronically and readily accessible.
The second thing that has to happen is the process of connecting the dots. Find out the consumer bought tainted product at one end of the supply chain and connect the dots to the other end. RFID and RSS can help but there has to be a process.
Third is communication, precise and prompt and in connection with the FDA. Suppose Bruce Peterson's broccoli has a problem. We need FDA to validate the industry claim — that's critically important, plus that's their job. The industry has to work with regulators to reassure customers. That's what happens with other products, not produce.
We have to get food safety away from being a marketing issue. If we approach food safety like the airlines approach air safety we'll be in business. It never enters the mind of airline executives to say American is safer than Delta.
What is nice about this interview is to learn that Bruce, after having left Wal-Mart, still continues to focus on industry-wide initiatives. What is important is that Bruce is suggesting a different type of solution to the food safety crisis that has beset the produce industry.
While supporting efforts to get both growers and processors to do things more safely, Bruce argues that since none of these initiatives can ever guarantee 100% effectiveness, there will still be future outbreaks.
His focus thus is on an industry initiative to constrain the effect or reduce the consequences of the next outbreak. To accomplish this, he is focusing on traceability and has formed a collaboration with Michael McCartney, who has long been active in traceability, RFID and related items.
Bruce's initiative is important and a needed direction for the trade. In the heat of the spinach crisis, industry leaders had to basically run around to legislators, regulators and the media, promising massive efforts to make sure nothing like this ever would happen again.
Now, as we have more perspective, we can see that though this is a goal to be worked toward, we just don't have the knowledge to offer such assurance.
What we do have the knowledge to do, however, is to limit the scope of any outbreak with effective traceback.
If the California Marketing Agreement had been in place last year and we still had the spinach outbreak, there is no particular reason to think that the FDA would have behaved any differently.
Yet, if, at the first sign of a problem, we could have instantly tracked all the product that could have been affected, recalled it all and thus assured the FDA that no further damage was going to be done, that almost certainly would have changed the FDA's actions.
Now accomplishing all this is possible but not easy and involves more than just technology.
For example, one of the key things is that processors have to batch-process and then sanitize. In other words, if a processor just keeps processing, then identifying the time and date of a contamination does no good since the contaminated product may have contaminated the line and we can't draw a stopping point.
If processors create discrete batches, then stop and sanitize the equipment, we can limit the scope of recalls.
It also remains problematic to trace back product when the supply chain includes spot buying. In other words, the path is pretty clear if a grower/shipper grows and packs produce and sells it to a retail chain. It gets much harder if you look at horizontal trading, say as is common in Nogales, or fill-ins from terminal markets. This strikes us a major gap because the FDA might not be satisfied with a system that can't be inclusive of the whole trade.
Of course if it was easy, it would have already happened. Hopefully we will see the trade associations and others step up to the plate to try to make this happen for the trade. And we all owe thanks to Michael and Bruce for their efforts to move this along.
It is worth making a point about marketing. It seems to us inevitable that if safety is relative — that is if different programs will produce different levels of assurance of safety — and if buyers — trade or consumer — are focused on safety as an attribute they look for in produce, some sort of marketing is inevitable around this issue.
The key is to make sure it is done appropriately and in full recognition that it can come back to haunt the marketer.
Bruce's reference to the airline industry is telling. As the jet plane came into use, bringing air travel to many more consumers, many of whom were afraid of flying and feared for their safety, Pan Am, then America's flag carrier to the world, introduced a slogan: The World's Most Experienced Airline.
This was a discreet but clear reference to the safety a consumer would seek in flying with a carrier that had safely transported so many people.
Of course, in light of Pan Am's bankruptcy and dissolution, we suppose it is worth noting that its marketing didn't do it much good.


upward and others losing ground.
stock exchanges, closing up 0.28% at 5,825.81 points.
Frankfurt's DAX index rose 0.22%.
a "bad bank" that will take on toxic loans from Spanish banks.
on Wednesday, where he met with a Spanish counterpart.
closed at 436 basis points.
The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds was 5.81%.


On April 19, 2017, about 1910 mountain daylight time, an Cessna 210 airplane, N9589T, impacted a fence and irrigation equipment during an off airport forced landing while on a visual approach to the Harriet Alexander Field Airport (ANK), Salida, Colorado. The private pilot was not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was being operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 business flight. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the airport at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from Page Municipal Airport (PGA), Page, Arizona, about 1700.
The pilot was delivering the airplane to a new owner in Denver and was landing at ANK for fuel. She stated she flew the first hour and thirty minutes with the left fuel tank selected then she switched to the right fuel tank for the remainder of the flight. The en route portion of the flight was uneventful. She stated the fuel mixture was leaned during the flight and increased to full rich as she descended. She stated that she entered the ANK traffic pattern, turned onto base leg, and after leveling the wings, noticed "everything went quiet." She attempted to restart the engine with no success. Unable to make it to the runway, she chose a field in which to land. The airplane landed hard and contacted a fence and irrigation equipment during the landing roll resulting in substantial damage to the right wing.
The ANK airport manager who assisted in removing the airplane from the field reported they drained 14 to 15 gallons of fuel from the right wing and about 1 gallon of fuel from the left wing prior to moving the airplane.
An examination of the airframe and engine were conducted on May 5, 2017 at ANK. The upper engine cowling had been removed from the airplane. A visual inspection of the engine was conducted, and no impact damage was noted. The wings had been removed from the airplane during the wreckage retrieval. The airplane was moved from a hangar to an open ramp and secured.
An examination of the engine was conducted during which the top spark plugs were removed and appeared to have normal color and wear signatures. The cylinders were examined with a lighted boroscope. The cylinder valves were intact with normal combustion signatures. Thumb compression was achieved when the propeller was rotated by hand. Both magnetos produced spark at the ignition leads and the impulse couplers released normally. A temporary fuel supply was connected to the right-wing fuel supply port and a bucket was placed under the right tank fuel return port. The fuel inlet b-nut was removed from the fuel manifold and the boost pump was turned on. Fuel flow was verified at the fuel delivery hose. The fuel inlet hose was reinstalled on the fuel manifold. Cylinder No. 5 fuel line was removed from the injector. The fuel boost pump was turned on and fuel flow was verified through the line which was subsequently reinstalled.
The fuel system was primed, and an attempt was made to start the engine. This was performed twice and both times the engine did not start. The No.6 injector nozzle was removed, the boost pump turned on and it was verified that fuel was flowing to the injector nozzle. A third attempt to start the engine was successful and the engine was run at idle for several minutes to warm up. The throttle was then advanced, and the engine rpm responded accordingly. The fuel mixture was leaned to account for the high elevation. The rpm increased by 150 rpm and the engine began to run more smoothly. A magneto check was performed at 1,700 rpm and a 100-rpm drop was noted with each magneto. Engine power was increased, and the engine ran smoothly until the mixture was enriched at which time it began to run rough, although it continued to run. The engine power was then decreased to idle, the mixture control was moved to the cutoff position, and the engine stopped.
It was noted that the exhaust gas temperature gauge was inoperative, and the cylinder head temperature gauge indicated a single cylinder value. The fuel gauge operated normally. The manifold gauge indicated atmospheric pressure prior to the engine start but did not operate during the engine run.
The examination did not reveal any preimpact failures/malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation of the engine.
On April 19, 2017, about 1918 mountain daylight time, an Cessna 210 airplane, N9589T, impacted a fence and irrigation equipment during an off airport forced landing while on approach to the Harriet Alexander Field Airport (ANK), Salida, Colorado. The private pilot was not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was being operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 business flight. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the airport at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from Page Municipal Airport (PGA), Page, Arizona.
The pilot stated she was delivering the airplane to a new owner in Denver and was landing at ANK for fuel. While turning from base to final for runway 24, the engine lost power. The pilot made a forced landing in field where the airplane contacted a fence and irrigation equipment.
Field elevation above 7500'. I learned to fly at 200'. My first time venture into high elevation airports was very interesting. After landing at Rock Springs, the engine quit running after touchdown. I was lucky. In order to get it to restart and idle, I had to lean in much more that I thought necessary. I have never forgot learning that.


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Church Street (Manhattan)
Coordinates: 40°42′57″N 74°00′26″W / 40.7157°N 74.0073°W / 40.7157; -74.0073
Church Street Station post office
AT&T Long Lines Building
Church Street is a short, but heavily travelled, north-south street in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its southern end is at Trinity Place, of which it is a continuation, and its northern end is at Canal Street.
Trinity Place branches off Greenwich Street at Morris Street, running uptown to the northeast, passing west of Trinity Church, the Trinity and United States Realty Buildings and Zuccotti Park. At Liberty Street it becomes Church Street, which forms the eastern boundary of the World Trade Center to Vesey Street. At Franklin Street, a few blocks south of Canal Street, Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) branches off. Trinity Place, Church Street, and Avenue of the Americas form a continuous northbound through-route from Lower Manhattan to Central Park.[1]
Church Street is named after Trinity Church, a historic Gothic-style parish church on Broadway at Wall Street. Extended in 1784, Church Street was in existence as early as 1761. Part of the street was owned by the church, but was given to the city in 1804.[2]:39 Trinity Place is also a namesake of the church, being named so in 1834, prior to which it was known at various times as "Lumber Street" and "Lombard Street".[2]:101
Before 1869, the south end of Church Street was at Fulton Street, three blocks north of Trinity Place.[3] Then, over several years, an 80-foot wide connection was cut through the intervening blocks and Trinity Place was widened to 80 feet and extended south to Morris Street; Church Street north of Fulton Street was left 40 feet wide at the time. The work, plagued by delays and allegedly corruption, was completed by the end of 1872.[4]
In June 1878 an elevated railway line, the IRT Sixth Avenue Line, opened. It ran on Trinity Place and Church Street to Murray Street, where it turned west and then north on West Broadway. It closed in 1938 and was razed the following year.[5]
As part of the construction of the Eighth Avenue subway line, from 1929 to 1932 Church Street was widened between Fulton Street and Franklin Street from 40 feet including 10-foot sidewalks, to 90 feet including 15-foot sidewalks. Only the west property line was moved; the east side of the street was left intact.[6]
The Church Street Station post office at 90 Church Street serves the 10048 ZIP code as well as the surrounding area, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), as is the Canal Street Station post office at the north end of Church Street.[7] Just south of the latter is the former Long Distance Building of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, at 32 Avenue of the Americas, also known as 310–322 Church Street, a New York City designated landmark.[8] The Cary Building and St. Peter's Church are both New York City landmarks[9] also listed on the NRHP.[7] Church Street borders the rear of the 1765 St. Paul's Chapel, another NYC landmark[10] on the NRHP[7] as well as a U.S. National Historic Landmark (NHL).[11] Also notable are the residential towers at 30 Park Place and 56 Leonard Street, and the former AT&T Long Lines Building at 33 Thomas Street.
Near Rector Street, Trinity Place passes under the Trinity Place bridge. Designed by LHP Architects[12] and completed in 1989,[13] the bridge is a private elevated walkway which formerly connected the rear side of Trinity Church to its offices and preschool in the Trinity Court Building across Trinity Place. That building has been demolished, and its replacement is currently under construction, with the opening expected in 2020. The bridge has been preserved and will return to use at that time.[14]
Directly north of that site is the American Stock Exchange Building, listed on the NRHP and an NHL. Next to that are the Leadership & Public Service High School and High School of Economics and Finance, both New York City public high schools.
The IND Eighth Avenue Line (A, C, and E trains) of the New York City Subway runs below Church Street north of Fulton Street to Sixth Avenue. A portion of the BMT Broadway Line (N, R, and W trains) runs under Church Street and Trinity Place from Greenwich Street to Fulton Street. Its Cortlandt Street station, damaged in the September 11 attacks, is adjacent to the World Trade Center.[1]
56 Leonard Street
Canal Street Station post office
Cary Building
Rear of St. Paul's Chapel in 1937
Lobby of 32 Avenue of the Americas
^ a b "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Lower Manhattan" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York State. September 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
^ a b Moscow, Henry (1978), The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan's Street Names and Their Origins, New York: Hagstrom Company, ISBN 0823212750
^ Perris, William. Maps of the City of New-York. Third Edition. Volume 1. Title page and volume key (New York: Perris & Browne, 1857)
^ See:
Insurance Maps of the City of New York Surveyed and Published by Sanborn–Perris Map Co., Limited. Volume 1. (New York: 1894). Volume key and Plate 7.
"The Church Street Extension" (PDF). The New York Times. May 6, 1869.
"Church Street Extension" (PDF). The New York Times. August 13, 1870.
"Cholera Seeds" (PDF). The New York Times. August 19, 1871.
"New York and Suburban News: New York" (PDF). The New York Times. December 15, 1872. paragraph 5.
Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. (1995), The Encyclopedia of New York City, New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 0300055366 , "Elevated railways", paragraphs 2 and 7.
G. W. Bromley & Co. (1879). Plate 1 (Map). Atlas of the Entire City of New York. Complete in One Volume. New York: Geo. W. Bromley & E. Robinson.
"Days of Yore Recalled as 'L' Line Goes". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. December 5, 1938. p. 9. Retrieved June 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com .
^ "$9,631,760 Awarded on Church Street". The New York Times. January 6, 1929. "Transit Board Land Ceded To Boroughs". The New York Times. January 28, 1932.
^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
^ "Long Distance Building of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. October 1, 1991. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"Cary Building" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. August 24, 1982. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
"St. Peter's Church" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. December 21, 1965. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
^ "Saint Paul's Chapel and Graveyard" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. August 16, 1966. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
^ "St. Paul's Chapel". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 11, 2007. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014.
^ "Trinity Church Bridge". LHP Architects. Archived from the original on December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
^ Louie, Elaine (April 27, 1989). "Currents: A Footbridge From Another Era". The New York Times. Section C, p. 3. CS1 maint: location (link)
^ "Trinity Commons". Trinity Church Wall Street. Archived from the original on October 26, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
Young, Michael (October 22, 2019). "Work At 74 Trinity Place Nears Completion In The Financial District". New York Yimby. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
(Image captured August 2013) Google (December 4, 2019). "Church Street (Manhattan)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
(Image captured June 2019) Google (December 4, 2019). "Church Street (Manhattan)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
Media related to Church Street (Manhattan) at Wikimedia Commons

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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ParcelPal Technology Inc. ("ParcelPal" or the "Company"), (CSE: PKG) (FSE: PT0) (OTC: PTNYF) is pleased to announce that it has formed a partnership with MADD Canada to aid in the continuous fight to prevent impaired driving. MADD Canada has endorsed ParcelPal as their official delivery service in Canada.
MADD Canada has over 100 Chapters and Community Leaders in Canada and provides education and awareness programs to educate the public on the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol, cannabis and/or other drugs. As part of the ParcelPal´s national rollout campaign, advertising for ParcelPal´s service will be seen across the country in various educational forms. Together, MADD Canada and ParcelPal will launch a national awareness campaign focused on educating Canadians on the dangers of impaired driving and the options they have for getting items they want or need without leaving the party. This awareness campaign, which will be launched through social media and live television, will appeal to party-goers to not leave for cannabis, alcohol or other items if they don´t have to - "Don´t drive impaired; ParcelPal it".
President and CEO Kelly Abbott States, "As ParcelPal dives deeper into cannabis and alcohol delivery, we are very aware of the inherent risks associated with consumption. We take every precaution to ensure the product is not only delivered safely but will be consumed responsibly as well. Our driver training programs and our technology are designed to ensure they do not deliver to a highly intoxicated or underage person." Abbott continues, "Most of our orders are later weekend nights, where people are already at a party or are at home with friends. With ParcelPal, why leave? We take the risk away from people leaving the party to ´re-up´ on their booze, cannabis, or snacks among many other use-cases. If this awareness campaign can change the lives of just one family - it is totally worth it."
Customers who order cannabis or alcohol through the ParcelPal platform will be required to upload and verify their identities. Users that are under the age within their jurisdictions will not be allowed into this vertical on the application. The identity verification system ensures that the person is of age and that the identity is in fact real, and it is checked twice - once before and once upon delivery. Consumers who order product will have to be the person to receive the order. ParcelPal´s technology complies with all local, provincial and federal laws.


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Maryland's Congressional Redistricting: Let's Make it Transparent and Accountable
Posted by J.H. Snider | Aug 10, 2011
Should voters pick their reps or vice versa? Since reps get to do the picking, Snider calls on the Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee to make its process more transparent and accountable.
On Aug. 30, 2011, I testified in Annapolis before the 2011 Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee. The Committee is charged with the redrawing of Congressional districts, which the U.S. Constitution mandates that each state does every ten years after the Census. The Committee is holding 12 public hearings throughout Maryland during this redistricting cycle. The Annapolis hearing was the only one scheduled for Anne Arundel County.
The five member Committee is appointed by the Governor. The two most prominent members are Mike Miller, President of the Maryland Senate, and Mike Busch, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates. Four of the members are recognized Democrats; one is a recognized Republican. The Republican, James King, is a former delegate from Anne Arundel County.
Perhaps because of its location at the State House, the hearing attracted a large fraction of the Anne Arundel County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly. Despite the prominent political pedigree of the audience members, relatively few elected leaders spoke and the few that did, if I recall correctly, were all Republicans. Perhaps the most common request of audience members was to have a single member of Congress for Anne Arundel County. Anne Arundel County is currently divided among four members of Congress. This was sometimes linked to a complaint about Anne Arundel County's highly gerrymandered Congressional districts.
Of the two types of gerrymanders, partisan and pro-incumbent, Maryland politics dictate the primacy of the partisan gerrymander. Whenever one party is predominant in a state, whether it be Democrats or Republicans, partisan gerrymanders predominate.
Due to a lack of speakers, the meeting ended early. Nevertheless, at least ten people spoke, including myself. Whereas the other speakers focused on the substance of Congressional redistricting lines, I focused on the transparency of the process. As with many local public hearings, this one was a one way affair, with the Committee members listening but not asking questions or otherwise engaging in conversation, except to occasionally interject a fact to correct what they believed to be a misperception.
My written comments submitted online to the Committee after the hearing, are pasted below:
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 11:46 AM
To: 'Redistricting2011@mdp.state.md.us'
Subject: written comments submitted to the 2011 Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee concerning the transparency of the Committee's work
Dear Maryland Redistricting Advisory Committee Members:
At your public hearing in Annapolis on August 30, 2011, I spoke before your Committee about the need to modernize the Committee's transparency technologies and policies. At the hearing, "Guidelines for Public Hearings" were handed out that requested written comments. Here are my ten written suggestions:
Provide via the Committee's public website email signups for notification of Committee meetings, including changes to dates and locations of Committee meetings, so that the Committee's hearings are not dominated by insiders.
Provide on the Committee's public website in a well-structured, downloadable format all the redistricting related data used by the Committee in devising its redistricting map.
Use only open source redistricting software, such as that provided by the Public Mapping Project, to do the redistricting.
Provide on the Committee's public website the open source redistricting software in such a way that members of the public have the same access to the redistricting data and software as members of the Committee.
Provide on the Committee's public website a copy of all written comments submitted to the Committee so that members of the public do not have to file a Public Information Act request (a very unreliable process in Maryland) to access the comments.
Provide on the Committee's public website a copy of the redistricting plan submitted to the Governor 30 days before the General Assembly must adopt the plan.
Provide an authoritative time stamp next to all documents, including different versions of the same document, concerning when a document was placed on the Committee's public website.
Provide on the Committee's public website the website's editorial policies concerning material information both placed and not placed on the website.
Maintain the Committee's public website for at least ten years after the completion of the Committee's work (that is, through the next redistricting cycle) and have the Maryland State Archives immediately archive the Committee's work after its work has been completed.
Acknowledge on the Committee's public website all its violations, if any, of Maryland's Open Meetings Act and Public Information Act, including delays in fulfilling Public Information Act requests.
Additional, albeit minimal, ideas for transparency may be found in the Redistricting Transparency Act of 2011, H.R. 419, introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives on January 25, 2011. The Committee should be applauded for incorporating several of the ideas included in this bill, including maintaining a public website for the state redistricting entity. A noteworthy recommendation that the Committee has not followed is: "The State redistricting entity shall ensure that any comment submitted by a member of the public to the site established under this section, including a comment on any plan proposed by the entity or any other person, and any other comment relating to Congressional redistricting in the State, is posted on the site not later than 72 hours after submission."
As the Public Mapping Project observes, "The drawing of electoral districts is among the least transparent processes in democratic governance." Since transparency is a foundation for democratic accountability, this is a problem. But fortunately, new technology has made it possible to easily address it. The public should demand that the Committee does so.
J.H. Snider, President
iSolon.org
Source: J.H. Snider's presentation before the 2011 Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee
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Our Naked Lives: Essays from Gay Italian American Men – Joseph LoGiudice and Michael Carosone, eds. (Bordighera Press)
"Anything that is not tradition is the plague." So reads an inscription in an old European church, referenced in one of the fifteen remarkably intimate essays that make up Our Naked Lives. With a message of dogma so precisely articulated, and its teaching variously manifested through Italian American tradition, it is easy to empathize with the complex challenges faced by the writers of these essays. The problems of belonging, and the conformity traditional belonging demands are themes every gay man can relate to.
In a rich spectrum of emotional and intellectual perspectives, these fifteen essays explore the multi-layered forces of what it means to be gay and Italian American — or, as some of the writers specify, Italian American and gay. This is not a frivolous distinction.
As Frank Anthony Polito in his essay "Italian-American Reconciliation" concludes, "I hate to think of [my grandfather] leaving this world without knowing who I truly am. And yet, I can't bring myself to broach the subject. Is it because I'm ashamed of being gay? I don't think so. I think it's because I'm proud of being Italian American."
The recurring themes of cultural insularity, family obligation, and religious paradigms serve as landmarks in the individual journey recounted in each man's words, from declaring they never had any influence at all, to cautious confrontation and all the way to successful integration.
Understandably, the authors often rail against stereotypes (which every ethnic group existing in a different culture as strangers in a strange land must experience), while their stories recount personal struggles with the very forces that feed the stereotypes: Catholicism, culture of southern Italy, food, Sunday dinner, the roles of father, mother, and extended family, the neighborhoods of eastern cities like New York and Philadelphia.
The essays are educational in the way education often comes best — through first-hand stories, acquired knowledge imparted by one to another. I'd never heard of the sovversivi, activists of the late 1800's, mentioned by Tommi Avicolli Mecca as heroes, part of his radical lineage. In a brief online search, the only English language entries I found were about the 1967 film of the same name.
The difference between the cultural template as articulated in these essays and the essentially western American paradigm that I grew up in was illuminated in a passage in LoGiudice's essay, "My Identity Is Lavender, So Am I Italian American?" when he addressed a core premise of American individuality: while the range of acceptable individuation within any society has distinct limits, within a strong ethnic community those limits are narrower by far than outside one:
"A man would work for his father's business, get married, purchase a house in the neighborhood, have children, and behave according to the religious and cultural beliefs […] Object Relations theorists posit that separation and individuation are vital for healthy development, but for Italian Americans, no such a theory of development existed for them. To separate from their family, create their own value system, and generate new norms and behaviors was unconscionable."
And yet cultural evolution is inevitable. When George De Stefano visited Italy to reconnect with his cultural homeland, he found insight into differences between Italian-American gay men and Italian gay men. In his essay an Italian man's framed picture of Pope Benedict symbolized his host's apparent ability to hold certain cultural paradoxes that Stefano was not willing to accommodate.
In spite of the differences, after several readings of these highly personal and compelling pieces I came away with a sense not of difference, but of our commonality, of the unique challenge being gay poses to any traditional community that offers no place of honor for it. When a godfather-uncle never speaks again to his nephew because he's gay, that's a profound loss. Sadly, risking such loss is still woven into the fabric of LGBT experience in most tightly-knit communities.
I strongly recommend this collection, a nourishing, thought-provoking, and deeply emotional exploration of exclusion and inclusion, structure and obligation, love, fear of losing love, the withholding of love — the nourishment and danger of extended family relationships seen through a gay and uniquely Italian-American lens.
That lens is in clear focus at the conclusion of Frank Spinelli's essay "Sunday Dinners," when his mother informs his partner Chad that having reparative surgery is not negotiable: "You think my son and I intend to live each day worrying you might have another stroke? Not on your life. That's it. End of discussion. Now let's eat."
Spinelli whispers to Chad, "That's how Italians say welcome to the family."
Reviewed by Lloyd A. Meeker
Tagged as Bogidhera Press, Frank Anthony Polito, Frank Spinelli, gay Italian americans, George DeStefano, Italian American, Italy, Joseph Logiudice, Michael Carosone, non-fiction, queer essays, queer italian americans, United States
A Conversation with 'Nathan Burgoine by Gavin Atlas
'Nathan Burgoine grew up a reader and studied literature in university while making a living as a bookseller – a job he still does, and still loves. His first published short story was "Heart" in the collection, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction. Since then, he has had over two dozen short stories published, including Bold Strokes titles Men of the Mean Streets, Boys of Summer, and Night Shadows as well as I Do Two, Saints and Sinners 2011: New Fiction from the Festival, The Touch of the Sea, Saints and Sinners 2013: New Fiction from the Festival, and This is How You Die (the second Machine of Death anthology).
His first novel, Light, has just been released by Bold Strokes Books.
Gavin: Hi, 'Nathan! Thanks for talking to Out in Print!
'Nathan: It's great to be here. I love what you've done with the new place.
G: To start, I'll guess that psychic abilities are important to you since you place telepathy and extra-sensory healing or empathic abilities in your writing, even beyond Light. What do you think makes those meaningful themes to you?
'N: Well, I have a knack for just plucking odd things out of the air, so I'm biased. It's not exactly useful – the most consistent thing is accidentally referring to people I don't know by their first name before I've been introduced to them – but it definitely fed a curiosity on the outside of normal. I'm pretty good at finding things, too. Sometimes when someone tells me they've lost something, I just blurt out where it is. I'd love to be able to do that more often, but, like the name thing, it seems to be stuck on "random and rarely."
Then again, that's probably for the better.
I'm also an unrepentant pagan, so elemental and magical themes often pop up quite a bit, but my love of magic or the paranormal in any form is just something I've always had. I guess I never outgrew "make-believe." Like Kieran's mother says to him, "I'd like there to be magic in the world." I happen to think there's already magic there, but in fiction you can draw it out and play with it.
As a theme, I think anything beyond the normal physics of the world is an easy marriage with queer writing. We live outside the norm already, so magic or telepathy or ghosts can be an extension of that feeling of not-quite-belonging, or help create that sense of community that isn't the usual. I loved the X-Men because they were different and born to parents who weren't. That made them a perfect read for me as a young gay kid. They found each other – thanks to Charles Xavier's telepathy and empathy – and made their own way, together. In a way, Gaydar is a different version of that same empathy that helps us find each other. Assuming you have it, because frankly my Gaydar was always hopelessly out of synch with my Wishdar.
A character who can see or sense things that others don't – and interacting with those things – invokes that same feeling of being in (and coming out) of the closet. I guess for me, there's nothing quite as queer as the idea of magic or telepathy or healing or any other ability based in "otherness."
G: I just read above that you grew up a reader. Can you tell us if there was anyone who inspired you to read and about your favorite books from childhood? When did you decide to be a writer and were there any people in your life help lead you there?
'N: Part of growing up a reader was imposed upon me by my parents. They believed that for every hour of mindless activity (read: watching television) I needed to have "paid up" with two hours of reading. There were times that was a frustration for me, but looking back it really did shape me into a reader. I also moved a lot when I was younger, so the reality was books were a constant companion where other kids were not.
The first book I can remember reading all by myself – and understanding – was "Danny the Champion of the World," by Roald Dahl. There is a scene in the book where a large baby carriage is being used to smuggle unconscious pheasants (listen, it makes sense in the book, okay?) and they start to wake up, but there's a baby in the carriage, too, so all these pheasants are bursting out from under the baby and flying away and I just lost it. I cried I was laughing so hard. That was the book, and the very scene, where I realized how much I loved reading. My love affair with all things Dahl – and any book that would make me laugh – began after that.
Writing sprung from my love of reading. I did a lot of it in high school, where I was lucky enough in two different high schools to have two amazing teachers work with me and offer guidance. I wrote almost non-stop while I was in high school, and then, when I came out (which was a familial disaster) and was on my own, it sort of dropped to the wayside while I managed to figure out rent and a job and part-time university.
I tried to get into a creative writing course in University, and the prof of the course said my sample writing was "trite and common." By this point, I was working part-time at the bookstore, and I was very alone, young, and angry enough about pretty much everything to have a snarky comeback on the tip of my tongue at all times. I told him his criticism was very comforting, since I knew how well trite and common books sold. He wasn't amused. I didn't get into the course.
I kept reading though. Partly because of my bookstore job, and partly just because I knew from being a bookseller how hard it is to get the word out about a good book, I also became a very prolific book reviewer. When e-tail really took off (did I just date myself?) and reviews online became a "thing" I transferred them there, and wrote new ones as I read books. I also discovered fun gay books (something I'd never known existed from my earlier readings of queer stories) when I stumbled onto The Night We Met by Rob Byrnes.
I wrote a review of The Night We Met and sent him a gushing e-mail at some ungodly hour (I'd been reading the book long into the night) – and he replied! I was stunned, since that hadn't happened before. I asked him if he had other books, and he told me he was working on another book, but if I liked his book, I should try Timothy James Beck.
When I read, and adored, and reviewed, and then e-mailed Timothy James Beck, I got four replies (since it turned out Timothy James Beck was four people). That started a dialog that made everything I've ever done in the writing world happen. Half of Timothy James Beck (Becky Cochrane and Timothy J. Lambert) were putting together a book (originally called "Moonlight and Roses," though it eventually became Fool for Love.) They asked if I'd like to give it a shot. I gave it a shot. And they liked "Heart."
That's when I decided to actively try and be a writer. So if anyone is looking for the person to blame, it's Rob Byrnes.
G: I know Light is more of a how-done-it or, actually, how-will-he-do-it instead of a who-done-it, but I'm having trouble thinking of other mysteries possessing such high stakes or pacing without a murder. How much of that was a clear goal and how difficult did you find it?
'N: I knew I wanted to frame the book in the sense of a countdown, and I also knew I wanted Kieran to be running most of the time. The poor guy wasn't really going to ever catch a moment's breath. It's the potential for a really bad event – in this case, a whole lot of bloodshed and death – that keeps him motivated to do whatever he can to try and stop it from happening. That was always the plan. The reality of some of my initial versions of the story was that having only that one major issue (though it's a pretty major issue) made it hard to maintain the pressure on him. So I sat back and wondered what would make his life even more complicated, made a list, and decided to do most of them. The end result was almost every level of Kieran's life becoming complicated all at once – his best friend and his family intersect in a way that makes him very uncomfortable, he meets a fellow he'd potentially like to date and starts to screw it up from almost the first step, the police are interested in him, and there's still that big problem looming up ahead that he knows isn't going to get solved by anyone else.
Once I had so much on the plate for him, the actual plotting and writing fell much more in line, and the draft went much smoother. I still screwed up a couple of things – have I mentioned how everyone should hug their editors yet? – but ultimately making his life more complicated than anyone should ever have to deal with was kind of fun.
G: Could you tell us about the process you used to develop your hero, Kieran?
'N: When I was at Saints and Sinners this year, I got to hear the amazing Jess Wells talk about theme. It's not the first time I've heard her speak on the topic – I've been lucky enough to go to a couple of her master classes and panels over the years, and it's something I've heard her mention before. I wanted Kieran to be a fun and enjoyable character in a fun and enjoyable book, but I also wanted him to be independent and capable and more-or-less together. Everything about Kieran was put through the filter of his personal philosophies: Every problem has a solution, and everything can be handled. He can be a bit dense, and he's definitely not flawless, but writing Kieran was a bit liberating since his life was really nothing like mine. I'm pretty sure it was Greg Herren who gave me this advice about character building: you start with the kind of character you want – the core strengths and weaknesses of who this person is – and then you imagine the history that would be needed to create that character. How did Kieran learn to be the way he is? Well, it occurred to me that Kieran needed a great (if overprotective) family dynamic, a job he enjoys (most of the time) and a life that he'd made for himself on what he probably thinks is entirely his own merit, not realizing how much the support of a strong group of people has helped him.
I built Kieran backwards using Greg's method. Whenever I wanted Kieran to make a choice, I tried to come up with at least one situation in his past that would have coloured his thoughts on the decision ahead of him. I ended up with more backstory to Kieran than I could ever use in the novel, but everything shaped him. I was incredibly comfortable coming up with his reactions to whatever was thrown his way. It might have been a lot more work to do it, but it's a fantastic way to end up "knowing" your character, and ultimately I feel like Kieran "makes sense" because of it.
G: The dog in Light, Pilot, is a loving, energetic giant, and a hero on his own. Easter the cat also adds a lot of personality to the book. It's internationally known, however, that you're a cat person and your husband, Daniel, is a dog person. Subsequently, there appears to be an international movement to make you a dog parent. Pretend the gossip journalists have their microphones in your face, the cameras are flashing, and you're on the spot: "How do you feel about this situation, Mr. Burgoine?"
'N: "I have been advised by my lawyers not to speculate at this time. However, I would like to take this opportunity to ask all sides in this conflict to please consider being rational adults and reaching some sort of compromise before any of this gets further out of control. Also, get off my lawn."
But seriously, the "Dan and 'Nathan Need a Dog" movement is incredibly organized, and – yes – international. The movement is also very good at emotional warfare. Ottawa dog-owners "drop by" with cute puppies. I come home from work and learn we're "dog-sitting" for friends. The neighborhood walks my husband and I take most nights often seem to end up with dog-owners asking us when we'll be adding a puppy to the family. Even the dogs of Houston are in on it. But Pilot came from a very real place. Friends of ours adopted a Russian terrier named Pilot and he's freaking adorable. He's huge, but definitely a gentle giant. I have a picture. For reference, I'm six foot three.
Easter is modeled after a cat I grew up with – a Turkish angora rescue who had such a rough start she never quite recovered from being afraid of people. She would, however, snuggle with you in the dark. I'd go to bed early some nights just so she'd crawl up onto the bed and purr in the crook of my arm. She was really loving, but she was incredibly timid. I love cats, and am definitely a cat-person, but I'd say I'm more of a dog-person than my husband is a cat-person.
Damn. That sounded like capitulation. Then again, I'm pretty sure the final scene with Pilot in Light is going to lose me the war for good.
G: You mentioned you've been a bookseller for a long time. Can you tell us about any obscure novels you can't believe weren't huge breakout hits and deserve to be?
'N: That's such a hard question. I've worked in the store long enough to know that there's an elusive "something" that happens to launch a book to be a breakout hit – sometimes it's as simple as the right celebrity endorsement, sometimes it's a movie, sometimes it's just a word-of-mouth that works. If a book is wonderfully written and tells an amazing story, it's still no guarantee that it will do well, and that always makes me sad. But some books in specific? From a selfish point of view, it kills me that Rob Byrnes' Lambert and La Marca capers aren't HBO or Showcase's next big television series. They're clever, they're fun, and they're so damned sharp. Ocean's 11 with a New York cast of characters who aren't quite as capable and whose plans go south a lot. They're GLBT capers, but they're not a story only GLBT people would enjoy. My in-laws, for example, adored them. Most importantly, if they were breakaway hits, Byrnes would write more of them and I'd get to read them. We'd all win. (If you haven't read them yet, they're Straight Lies, Holy Rollers and Strange Bedfellows.)
I also think Anjali Banerjee deserves some major props. I love her stories – they're my favourite blend of magical and romantic and she has a lovely turn of phrase. Haunting Jasmine and Enchanting Lily should have been the next Mistress of Spices or Practical Magic.
Can I also talk poetry? I recently read Jeff Mann's A Romantic Mann, and someone needs to hand that man his Lammy already. Also the Griffin Prize – they hand that out internationally as well as to a Canadian, right? Poetry is amazing to me, but usually it's also damned hard work to interpret. When someone can show that level of lyric mastery and still let the reader in without making him feel like a dullard? Magic.
And if I'm tossing my opinion around anyway, I'm going to finish off with Bookweird by Paul Glennon. It's the first in a kids series about a boy who manages to offend a book spirit by nibbling on the corner of a book while he's reading, and the spirit punishes him by throwing him into the books his family is reading. The boy ends up in a fantasy book, his little sister's pony series, and his mother's rather dark murder mysteries – and then the stories start to get all messed up and mixed together and he has to work his way out without ruining everything. They're fantastic, and they never seemed to get as much notice as I wished they would.
None of those are "obscure" exactly, but they're not where they belong on the top of bestseller lists or on the winner's list of major awards.
G: You've written dozens of short stories. Which do you feel proudest of?
'N: Every single time I get an acceptance I'm a happy guy. There's nothing like getting a "yes" to send me over the moon. It doesn't get old.
I'm quite proud of "Filth," from Night Shadows because it was a horror piece, and I really had to struggle to write horror. I nearly didn't try, but I'm glad I did. It didn't come easily, it definitely isn't a headspace I find comfortable, and – with a lot of help from the editors – it turned out well. On the flipside, I just had "Struck" accepted for Foolish Hearts (releasing next year) where I tried – and hopefully succeeded – to be actively funny.
I'm also really proud of "Elsewhen," from Riding the Rails, edited by Jerry Wheeler, because I let myself write the rough draft in one core dump from the moment the idea clicked into my head until I was done. It's the story where the initial emotional cue remained exactly what I wanted it to be – thanks to Jerry, who got what I was going for right away.
But I think the short story that I'm proudest of right now has to be "Old Age, Surrounded By Loved Ones" for This is How You Die. I'm proud of that one because it was the first – and only – thing I've attempted to write for a non-gay anthology, and for a publisher and editors I'd never met or spoken with. There were thousands of submissions, and I made it through. The launch and release weeks were almost surreal. I had complete strangers calling me "bastard!" for days.
G: You are officially at the point where you can give writing advice. What were the most important tips you were given? What advice would you give writers starting out now?
'N: I'm at what point now? Oh man. Okay. Sure. Tips.
Best tip I was given was this: Treat the Call for Submissions as a job interview. Put even more simply? Obey. Don't whinge, just do as you're told. Times New Roman 12 point font might not be your favorite. You know what? That doesn't matter. "No Reprints" means "no reprints." This isn't rocket science. And if you have a question you want clarified, phrase it as a question, not a demand or a complaint.
Second best tip I was given was this: Write what you want to write. Zombies are hot right now (I think. It's been an hour since I was at the bookstore, so for all I know, now it's unicorns.) but if you don't want to write a zombie story, don't write zombies. Writing to the market for its own sake is just not worth it. Also, the market changes. A lot. Without warning, even. If you've got a story about a gay telepathic/telekinetic massage therapist inside you… Well, keep it there, because that's mine right now. At least wait six months, okay? But say you've got something else just as odd in your head, then let it out. Some of the best books I've read have been the best books because they were so unique, or took something I'd seen before and did something fresh with it.
Those are probably the two best tips I was given.
As for advice, I'd say the single greatest piece of advice I would give new authors is this: find a good editor. I'd be nowhere without my editors. I know in this day and age of "do it all yourself!" fame that is happening to a (very) few people, it seems like you can skip steps, but editors are the unsung rock-stars of the publishing world. And if you find a great editor (for a handy list of great editors, look at any anthology in which I've been lucky enough to be included) let go of your baby. I'm not saying you don't stand up for things that are important to you, but when it comes to – oh, let's give a completely random example – your blatant codependence on commas? Be graceful. Editors know their stuff. I can count on one hand the number of times I've pushed back about an editor's suggested change, and I think most of those were because of Canadianisms that needed more clarification – which meant I hadn't done my job right as an writer, not that the editor wasn't "getting" my story. When an editor suggests a change, I am 99% likely to accept it after reading their version. It's almost always better.
G: The genie question – one wish with the standard fine print about no wishing for more wishes or world peace. What would you choose?
'N: The danger of wishes has always made me wary, but if I was sure I was dealing with an up-and-up genie, and not one of those "you've wished for rain so now the whole planet will flood!" types, then I'd probably go with some form of instantaneous travel. I'd love to be able to open a door, and have it connect to any other door. Then I could pop by and visit my vastly scattered friends around the world whenever I felt like it.
Also, I'm pretty sure there's a door on Chris Hemsworth's shower.
G: Last, what are you working on, what achievements are you looking to "unlock" next, and what are you looking forward to?
'N: I've started working on a novel featuring the three fellows from my Triad stories. Luc, Curtis and Anders (especially Anders) garnered the most feedback from any of my short stories apart from "Heart" and I have a three-part idea for them. So I think the next achievement might be "trilogy" which is terrifying, but it's nice to have goals.
I'm also diving happily back into short fiction, which is where I think I will always be most comfortable, and definitely the kind of writing I look forward to. I adore short fiction, and would love to see it grow more mainstream and get more noise – I think the world of the e-reader can help, here. I have an idea for a novella or two, as well as a series of connected short stories. We'll see. Mostly, I'm just going to watch the calls and enjoy the inspiration that sparks. If I had the skill set for editing (which I don't) I think I'd really enjoy coming up with anthology themes, but that's a goal quite a way off as of yet.
Oh, and I'm probably going to give in and get a dog.
G: Thanks, 'Nathan!
'N: Thank you, Gavin! It was great to be here.
Keep up with 'Nathan on the web at redroom.com/member/nathan-burgoine.
©, 2013, Gavin Atlas
Sensual Travels – Michael Luongo, ed. (Bruno Gmunder)
Buy from Bruno Gmunder
For me, one of the most basic enjoyments of the travel experience is the sampling of the sexual landscape. It ranks right up there with food, architecture, and natural wonders. At times, it's all three rolled into one. And like good sex (or sex of any kind, really), travel is ephemeral. It's only alive for the moment you're there. Once you're gone, it's gone; the pictures and journals can only bring back an echo of the experience. But thankfully, Michael Luongo has brought together some of the finest gay and bi writers to echo their journeys for you in Sensual Travels.
As Luongo states in his introduction, the sex in this book is almost "Clintonian," not as much about the old in and out as it is ancillary acts–nuance and possibility–which is only fitting given the sexually repressive atmospheres some of these stories take place in. But no matter the quotient of sexual heat, these tales manage to convey the excitement and sense of discovery that accompanies playing away from home.
That quotient is high in Lawrence Schimel's "Water Taxi," which sees a voyeuristic Spanish encounter taking place on the a dock in front of a gaggle of men gathered for Gay Pride and also pretty hot in Jeff Mann's "Bondage Tape in Budapest," which has appeared in another collection of Mann's essays. These two stories are also related by the fact that the protagonists' partners are also along for the ride. Schimel's experience is more positive, but Mann's carries a hint of problem, thereby increasing the danger and, perhaps, the allure of his interlude with Tibor. Simon Sheppard's Ecuadorian romp, "The Last Bus to Riobamba" also features his long term partner, but this sex is all fantasy and no reality. Still, Sheppard both educates and titillates while retaining that air of mystery.
The aforementioned danger is not far behind in many other entries here. Trebor Healey's brilliant "The Cervantino Baby," featuring an affair with a Mexican boy that gets Healey tossed out of the household he's staying at to improve his Spanish. His frankness about desire, reprisal, and consequence is personal and universal, and his musings are wholly in line with the expectations raised by Healey's other work. This was one of my favorite pieces here, as was Felice Picano's "A Gaijin in Gay Japan," where Picano and his traveling companion, Dr. Charles Silverstein, undertake a publicity tour of Japan. Insightful in terms of Japanese culture as well as its sexual mores, this is Picano at his finest.
Any sex travel book worth its salt has to feature a trip to Thailand, and Alan Hahn does the honors here in "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show: How Not to be a Sex Tourist in Bangkok," which is not only witty and engaging, but also deals–however tangentially–with the aftermath of vacation and facing one's daily routine. Asian culture is also central to David C. Muller's "You Want, I Come," which contains a missing ATM card and a very willing guide to the city.
But no matter if it's the Croatian men in Dominic Ambrose's "Croatian Heat," the Aussie beach escapade of Dallas Angguish's "Sleep," or Jim Nawrocki's Parisian escapade in "The City of a Thousand Steeples," you'll find something in this collection that will send you scurrying to Travelocity.com to plan your next vacation. Or rescheduling the one currently on the horizon.
Happy traveling!
Tagged as Alan Hahn, Asian culture, Bangkok, Charles Silverstein, Croatian men, Dallas Angguish, David C. Muller, Dominic Ambrose, Felice Picano, gay anthology, gay lit, Gay Pride, gay travel, Jeff Mann, Jim Nawrocki, Lawrence Schimel, Michael Luongo, queer anthology, queer lit, Simon Sheppard, travel, Trebor Healey
Anything for a Dollar – Todd Gregory, ed. (Bold Strokes Books)
As Todd Gregory also admits in his introduction to this volume of erotica about men paid for sex, I have been paid for my body as well. These days, however, the only way I could make any substantial money is if I charged by the pound. Still, there was a time when I was younger, cuter, and braver and my rent needed to be paid. I'm not ashamed of it. As I first heard from Modern English, it's all part of "life's rich tapestry." And that tapestry has many threads, as evidenced by the variety of stories in Anything for a Dollar.
The collection starts off strong with Max Thomas's atmospheric, "In the Studio," about a college student who starts off modeling to make a bit of cash (sounds familiar to me) but soon becomes engaged in both the situation and the sex. A longish story, it's the perfect introduction as it really encapsulates what the book is about. But then we veer off into some rather unexpected territory.
Aaron Travis's "The Adventure of the Rugged Youth" is a neat piece of Sherlock Holmes fanfic that wouldn't have been out of place in Lethe Press's recent A Study in Lavender as Holmes encounters a boy paid to seduce and kill Holmes in his sleep. Yet another reason not to let tricks stay over. Jay Starre takes to South America with his stripper story, "Private Dance in Rio," one of two Starre entries here. More domestic but far stranger is Jeffrey Ricker's "The Last Good-Bye," which features a psychic sexual surrogate helping a man work through his grief for his late partner in a rather startling way.
Jeff Mann enters the fray with his hot tale of a country boy's paid lust for a blond businessman named Bjorn in "Penthouse," which also (true to Mann's form) contains some irresistable descriptions of several New Orelans feasts. Oh, and people get tied up as well. Davem Verne takes back to the subject of modeling with his story of Eurotrash posers, "Paris Euros Giles," but Rob Rosen prevents things from becoming too Eurocentric with "Revenge of the 97-Pound Weakling," his delightful tale of a gymrat contest judge. Nathan Sims has a more supernatural take on the subject in "Haven's Rest," which sees a boy helping rid a backwoods ex-gay ministry of a particularly evil spirit.
Haley Walsh's "Marked" takes me closer to familiar territory as he focuses in on the carnival life with a story of a tattooed man and an itinerant stud he calls Pink Boy, but as visitors to New York City know, the urban environment has its own charms. One of those is the subway, but Luke Oliver takes that rather prosaic setting and turns it into something…well, super with a capital "S" on its chest in "The Conductor." William Holden gives us a historical perspective in "Debtors' Prison," and the inimitable Dale Chase rouses us once more with a tale of a Western rent boy with "A Few Dollars More." We've all seen ugly hustlers and wondered how they were able to make a buck, and Lawrence Schimel enlightens us with his "Pity Fuck." And then there's Todd Gregory's title story to wrap things up.
A word about availability. This title isn't out until October 1st. Being a reviewer, I often receive advance copies of books. I try as much as possible to review them close to their release dates, but I was so anxious to dive into this collection that I paid no attention to the date and, thus, am reviewing it a bit early. But either of the above links will allow you to pre-order this terrific compendium of erotica, so feel free to do so.
It's delayed gratification of the best kind.
Tagged as Aaron Travis, anthologies, Bold Strokes Books, Dale Chase. Jay Starre, fanfic, gay erotica, gay prostitution, Jeff Mann, Lawrence Schimel, Luke Oliver, Max Thomas, New York City, queer literature, Rob Rosen, sex for hire, sex stories, Sherlock Holmes, Shopping, Todd Gregory, William Holden
The Lavender Menace: Tales of Queer Villainy! – Tom Cardamone, ed. (Northwest Press)
Buy from Northwest Press
Everyone loves the hero, right? Especially those with superpowers, colorful costumes, sidekicks, and witty banter. Personally, however, I've always found those tortured villains more interesting: Lex Luthor or Mr. Myxzptlk over Superman, Doc Ock over Spiderman, the Joker or Penguin over Batman (except you were never sure about Batman–he's my favorite). That's why I was so excited when I heard about this book. Then I saw Tom Cardamone was editing, and my expectations tripled. Thankfully, nobody disappoints here, so no one dies at the hands of this arch-villain-critic.
Much has been made of the "outsider" kinship queer men and women share with superheroes, but where many would concentrate on the heroic aspects, most of the heroes in these stories are members of Leagues or Organizations, loosely knit governing bodies that put heroes with heat vision or super strength or flight or any number of super-attributes clearly on the inside. Thus, to get back to the outside, Cardamone has chosen to concentrate on villains.
A look at the cover and a cursory glance at the title would indicate these stories are overdrawn and over the top. While some of them are, a number retain a surprising subtlety. The telepath in 'Nathan Burgoine's brilliant "Lesser Evil," tips his way into a love affair with Aleph, implanting a suggestion that Aleph loves him. Burgoine's portrayal of Psilence's delicious guilt is both heartening and heartbreaking. And just when you think you have the ending figured out, he takes you another way which is simultaneously characteristic, yet uncharacteristic of his lovelorn villain.
Less subtle, but still effective, is the betrayal in Steven Berenzai's "The Web," which sees Daytripper falling in love with Arachnid, a fellow possible inductee into yet another Superhero League. At a pivotal moment, however, Arachnid tricks Daytripper and reveals himself as a villain, provoking a wonderful final battle that is satisfying on a number of levels. Jamie Freeman also turns in a wonderful performance with "The Meek Shall Inherit," a cautionary tale that takes place in the futuristic Christian States of America as the Inheritor incinerates the religious bigots. Although this would seem to put him in the superhero side, revelations at the end put him squarely in the villain camp, no matter how much the reader would wish it otherwise. In doing so, Freeman asks some tough questions about the nature of good and evil as well as the grey area between the two.
But as I said earlier, everyone acquits themselves well in this collection. Marshall Moore goes all high fashion with "After Balenciaga," which has the evil Couture bringing back designers from the grave, pitting Chanel against Dior to wickedly tongue-in-cheek effect. Lee Thomas is his usual brilliant self in "The Third Estate," incorporating some leftist sentiment into the villain Legion, who destroys corporations and executives, much to the dismay and ultimate betrayal of his partner, Curtis. The title character of Cardamone's own "The Ice King," first seen in Steve Berman's criminally underrated queer spec-fic magazine Icarus, takes time out from freezing back-of-the-bar sex tableaux to reunite with an old college roommate he once loved. Also worth mentioning is Jeffrey Ricker's "Scorned," featuring Megawatt, a Hannibal Lechter-type desperate to regain his power and escape from his prison cell.
As if all this wasn't enough, Rod M. Santos takes us clear over the top with "The Knights Nefarious." This outrageous tale has a henchman named Muse trying to win the love of his master, Dr. Schadenfreude, by scheming to capture the good doctor's arch-enemy, Captain Strategem, and presenting the hero to him on his birthday. He does so with the help of a rather motley crew of amateur villains: El Fantasma que Sangra (The Ghost Who Bleeds), a robotphobe named Armored Suit Man, a trenchcoat-wearing Flash Forward who opens his coat to expose a hypnotic psychedelic tattoo, Robigus, a Roman god who protects corn from blight, and Chocolate Bunny Boy, who can shoot chocolate rabbits from his palms. In an absolutely inspired moment that had me snorting ginger ale up my nose during the climactic battle, Stratagem puts an arm up to ward off Chocolate Bunny Boy's attack, exclaiming incredulously, "You're assaulting me with Easter candy?" Even my dogs were laughing.
You'll find no better book of queer supervillainy anywhere. I can hardly wait for the next volume. Please, Tom, tell me there's another in the works!
Tagged as Batman, gay comics, Jamie Freeman, Jeffrey Ricker, Lee Thomas, Lex Luthor, Marshall Moore, Megawatt, Nathan Burgoine, queer lit, queer superheroes, queer villains, Rod Santos, Roman, Steve Berman, Tom Cardamone
This Assignment is So Gay – Megan Volpert, ed. (Sibling Rivalry Press)
Buy from Sibling Rivalry Press
Having been a closeted queer high school teacher at one point in my life, I'm familiar with the impotence of hearing epithets and observing bullies without being able to take action for fear of revealing my own secrets. It's a miserable, sad experience not exactly conducive to learning anything except frustration. But, thankfully, it's only one experience among many in the astonishing array available from Megan Volpert's This Assignment is So Gay.
Seventy-five poets contributed to this brilliantly successful and important anthology, providing a broad range and deep breadth of experiences. They instill hope, not only for queer students and/or teachers, but anyone whose interests are beyond the curve. Sadly, the ones who need to read it most won't, and those whose very existence depends on the affirmation found within these pages may not have access to it. That's a real shame, because the work within opens doors on both the student and teacher halves of the equation so that each may understand the other more clearly.
Of the many variations of this equation, observations from teachers about students are among the most poignant, whether we're talking about students at the collegiate level (Jeff Mann's well-0bserved and magnificently articulated "Country Kids" and "Gallery, Virginia Tech") or the secondary and elementary tiers. Many times out teachers are the only ones who understand life in the high school closet and become unofficial counselors as in Joseph Ross's simple yet deadly "Conversations After Class 1," Douglas Ray's hopeful "Chaperoning," or Scott Wiggerman's powerful "Advocate," but perhaps that emotional line is most clearly drawn in Donald Perryman's "Was Melville Also Gay?" which sees a male student telling his teacher about his rape:
"It was, I assured him, a cruel crime,/but wondered if some of that pain/was the chronic, haunting thought/that sex between two males was wrong?/He said no (maybe only guessing the answer I hoped he'd give)/that it wasn't because it was gay,/but just the awful fact that it was rape."
And then there are the students we identify early as kindred souls in either sexual orientation or personal philosophy, doing our best with whatever limited resources we can to open up their minds and their hearts as in Terry Martin's "The Third Wrestler Cries," and Sophia Starmack's "Earth Sciences":
"Holding up his project, Jonah announces,/"There are billions of tiny orgasms living in the soil."/He's serene, studios, with blond ringlets/and a hand-drawn diagram of bedrock and roots./I'm torn, but in the end I just can't correct an 11 year old/Week after week Jonah's parents ask me, Is our son gay?/Has he mastered his times tables yet?"
We also see queerness from the teacher's side of the desk as in Stephen Mills's brilliant "After We Watch The History Boys in Class, My Students Fear I Want to Fondle Them" and Hadar Ma'ayan's "On Being a Queer Middle School Teacher," which begins with the middle school teacher in question being called a lesbian during class, provoking this reaction:
"In that moment of choice, I could have said, 'She's right'/Or 'Let's Discuss'/Or 'Does anybody have any questions?'/But instead the fear rose in me/And I shrouded myself in a cloak of silence and said,/'Let's all get back to work'"
Among these emotionally packed pieces are scattered other observations: about faculty meetings (Garth Greenwell's oddly lyrical "Faculty Meeting with Fly"), non-gay classroom activities (Camden Kimura's "My Mother Teaches Her Students About Hearing Loss") and some feelings of intimidation that all teachers face in their first few years (notably, Molly Sutton Keifer's wonderful "Student Teaching" and Sarah-Jean Krahn's "Symptomatology of an Impostor"). But perhaps my favorite in this realm is Roma Raye's "Big Fat Faker":
"I barely know what I'm doing most of the time,/and the rest of the time?/I'm making things up. It is not unheard of/for me to be reading the text selection for the first time/with my first period students feeling like a jackass/for assuming the lesson I got off the internet that morning/would actualize into something decent."
Anyone who's ever been in front of a classroom knows that feeling. And if you teach or you're a student, this volume will speak to you in ways both familiar and unfamiliar. You might get an opportunity to consider things from the other side of the desk, no matter which one you're on. Kudos to Megan Volpert for putting together such a varied and interesting collection, and kudos to Sibling Rivalry for seeing its worth.
We all still have so much to learn.
Tagged as Camden Kimura, Donald Perryman, Douglas Ray, Education, Faker, Garth Greenwell, gay education, gay poetry, gay students, gay teachers, Haday Ma-ayan, Jeff Mann, Joseph Ross, Megan Volpert, Molly Sutton Keifer, queering the classroom, Roma Raye, Sarah-Jean Krahn, Scott Wiggerman, Sibling Rivalry Press, Sophia Starmack, Stephen Mills, Student Teaching, Teacher, Terry Martin, Virginia Tech
Dirty Power – Ashley Bartlett (Bold Strokes Books)
This is a first for me. I've never posted reviews of all three books of a trilogy before, partly because I don't see many worthy of doing that and partly because I don't like giving space to the same author for the same characters and the same storyline. It gets boring. But "boring" is not a word I'd ever use to describe Ashley Bartlett's "Dirty Trilogy," and the final book, Dirty Power, upholds that standard.
Like Dirty Sex and Dirty Money before it, Dirty Power explores the relationship between Vivian Cooper ("Coop," if you please) and Reese DiGiovanni, the daughter of a mob boss. Along with Coop's best friend (and Reese's brother) Ryan, they do mob business, fuck up mob business, steal gold, kidnap, murder, hold hostages, and flee the Feds both together and separately in a variety of domestic and international locales. And these adventures are related by Coop in a voice that leaves you breathless with its immediacy and veracity.
Bartlett's talents are many. She knows her way around an action scene, she writes memorably hot sex (this coming from a gay man whose last experience with a vagina was at least thirty-five years ago), her plots are seamless, and her characters are true and deep. And if that wasn't enough, Coop's voice is so genuine, so world-weary, jaded, and outrageously sarcastic that if Bartlett had none of the aforementioned attributes, the read would still be entertaining enough to stretch over three books.
Coop's eternal pursuit of Reese is interesting and heartfelt, and it's not too much of a spoiler to say that it resolves itself beautifully in Dirty Power, giving the reader the happy ending anticipated throughout the trilogy. But this eventuality comes at a price, as neither of the girls has a shred of innocence left after what they've seen, done, and experienced.
Is this a standalone book? No. Not at this point in the narrative, though Bartlett lets enough of the past plot drop in that you won't be totally lost if you choose to start at the end. But why do that when you can start at the beginning and read all three? That's what you should do, you know.
And you can thank me later.
Review of Dirty Sex by D. Jackson Leigh
Review of Dirty Money
©, 2013, Jerry Wheeler
Conjure: A Book of Spells – Peter Dube (Rebel Satori Press)
Nobody writes grimoires anymore. I guess there's really no call for them what with technological advances and everything. Google, Microsoft, Apple, and social media have taken all the creativity out of taking revenge, raising spirits, and mastering and summoning. Still, nothing beats the old ways. Call me a purist if you like, but it's hard to beat a book of spells hand-inscribed on vellum and bound in something exotic, like human skin. Now there's a book you can sink your teeth into. Failing that, we have Rebel Satori's resident mad genius, Peter Dube, and his take on grimoires, Conjure: A Book of Spells.
If I'm being honest–and I'm rarely anything but–I was a bit intimidated by forty-plus prose poems with titles like: "To Make Ready a Consecrating Fire," "To Become Invisible," and "To Strike Obstacles From Your Path and Unlock Doors." And to be fair, first starting these was like feeling my way over dark red velvet curtains, unable to find an opening. With "To Undo an Error Past," however, the curtains parted, and I was able to see the structure they had hidden. From then on, my experience was nothing but rewarding.
There is, to be sure, a formula for writing these–begin with an action, make certain the ingredients of the spell are symbolic, include numbers and directions, speak in terms of absolutes, and ensure that the psychic bond with the symbolic not be broken. If this sounds deep and obscure…well, it is. It's supposed to be. Conjurations are not for those disinclined to follow symbolic actions or words. But Dube invests these spells with such beauty and economy of language that once you reach the root of one of the poems, you're both proud of the attempt and pleased with the result. And the next one becomes easier to fathom, and the next and the next and the next until you're riding a wave of eloquent metaphor that doesn't stop until you're washed back up on the shore of reality, breathless from what you've learned.
Don't want to work that hard? More's the pity, because you will miss a truly unique poetic experience. A prime example is "To Calm a Storm," which begins:
"Make a moment. Build a place. Prepare a glass of wine. Still, undisturbed, clean and uncrowded, enjoy it; stop thinking, even briefly. Take a sheet of paper in your hand. Appreciate it; this is key. Here is the place your thought may stop: right angled, resolute, and white; no mark upon it, no stain, no word, no story yet unfolded before crowds…" The spell requires you take this paper and draw upon it the faces of those seen in dreams. Then, "Take one page corner and fold it in upon the other, bend one edge up and turn the page again. Shape it carefully. At length, complete a tiny, paper ship which you set down; a vessel burdened with your faces, your images, your life. All rich with promised freedom, adrift in the tempestuous world. Let it course upon the tabletop beneath your eye, and drain your cup and fondly, finally, turn your emptied glass upon that vessel and depart. Captured, covered, trapped and sealed from everything, you turn your back and leave the ship of tumult: lovely and becalmed for now."
Elegant and stately, Dube's prose poems are truly things of beauty. But are they queer enough for inclusion on this blog? I think they are, perhaps more than Dube believes. Gay men and women have, for centuries, been looked upon as different and otherwordly–especially important to tribal rites because we have the ability to walk between the realms of reality and the spirit worlds. We have been perceived as having access to knowledge arcane enough to be set down in grimoires. Certainly, that knowledge is not ours alone, but our very "otherness" enables us to understand and interpret it. And in order to survive in the real world, we have, in the past, shrouded ourselves in mystery and symbolic ritual. These spells are important to both our history and our world vision, and in some ways carry the very essence of our duality. Queer enough? Yes, I think so. And I hope you do as well.
But talking about these wonderful pieces is no substitute for reading them. Start with a couple and be persistent. Soon, they will reveal themselves to you and their richness will fill your senses with heady magic.
So say I.
Tagged as Book of Spells, Esoteric and Occult, magick, Peter Dube, prose poetry, queer lit, Rebel Satori Press, spells
Who the Hell is Rachel Wells? – J.R. Greenwell (Chelsea Station Editions)
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From the blurb on the back of J.R. Greenwell's Who the Hell is Rachel Wells?, you might assume the eleven short stories inside consist of a bunch of Southern stereotypes thrown together for largely comic effect, overdrawn and overbroad. Though there is some of that, the wonderful cover is more of an indication of the subtlety inside. With its muted tones and mysterious figure in the process of either donning or removing his drag gear, it speaks to the beautiful contradiction of Southern life.
The oversize caricatures definitely make their appearance in the title story, which leads off the book. We never get to find out exactly who Rachel Wells is, but we see the strife her makeup and wig case causes as it's picked up by a suburban mom and her little gay son, who hand it off to a straight trucker and his wife who, in turn, throw it out of the window after using part of the drag to hold up a convenience store, where it's caught by two gay boys just learning the art of drag. Winning, witty, and wise, it's a great start.
Drag is, of course, a feature in many of these stories, but nowhere is it funnier and more up front than "Silver Pumps and a Loose Nut," which sees Daphne opening for her hero and mentor Stella during a run in Daytona. Daphne desperately wants to mimic Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in a string bikini as in "Dr. No," a goal she actually achieves despite several episodes of mistaken identity, one aborted date with a closet case named Chuck, and the theft of Stella's prosthetic leg. You 'll have to read it to believe it.
And that goes for the two straight suburban couples Greg and Erica and Dave and Joan in "Out of the Closet," starring Paul Lynde's chair. Really. It's a red velvet chair given to Erica by an uncle who swore it was once owned by Paul Lynde. What happens when you sit in it? Well, let's just say that watching the football game is a very different experience when Dave tries it. And when Joan does, she finds herself wearing the pants in the family as opposed to the apron.
"The Scent of Honeysuckle," "A Colony of Barbies," and "Spaghetti Kisses" don't bear the same stamp of humor, but they're just as deft in handling character as the other stories, as is "Learning to Sashay Like Rupaul," and my particular favorite, "Watch Me Walk," about Hal and Robert, two older men who find each other and the courage to express themselves at the assisted living facility they're in.
Greenwell has a talent for creating immediately recognizable yet slightly weird around the edges characters, and he puts them through some wonderfully silly paces as well as some heartbreaking ones. His prose is admirably restrained, conveying a great deal yet never sounding overwritten. But it's his characters that shine and sparkle like sequins in the spotlight. If you're looking for a light read that has some substance behind its humor, you'll hardly go wrong with this collection.
Dolly Parton wig optional.
Tagged as Chelsea Station Editions, drag queens, drag shows, gay literature, gay southern gothic, J.R. Greenwell, Paul Lynde, short stories, Ursula Andress


text:
Then a renewed resolve exhilarated her and she found herself among a group of Triangle women organizing a "sister march" in Raleigh on Jan. 21 to coincide with the Women's March on Washington.
"I think I just felt like I don't have a choice, we have to do this," Mirza said.
When several hundred thousand people are expected to gather in Washington, D.C., the morning after Trump's inauguration, more than 2,100 plan to gather in downtown Raleigh instead of joining others in the nation's capital.
Anna Grant, another organizer of the Women's March on Raleigh, wanted to do something in her home state after the elections and encouraged Mizra and others to channel their energy into a local event. That, they concluded, could help set up a network for people, groups and organizations interested in women's issues.
Their desire to move forward and organize one of several "sister marches" scheduled in North Carolina has a backstory with some of the same threads that led to the national rally inspired by Teresa Shook's Nov. 8 Facebook post and Bob Bland's post with a similar idea.
Triangle women heard about a meeting being held at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh on Dec. 13. Fifty people filled the church auditorium that first day. They've come together every Tuesday since then to further develop the Raleigh event.
"We wanted to commiserate but also to look forward and move people forward," said Gailya Paliga, president of the NC NOW chapter and a chief organizer.
Like the planners of the national march, the Raleigh organizers pay homage to the many women who have been on the front lines of some of the country's reform efforts – voting rights, civil rights, equal pay, reproductive rights and more.
This effort, North Carolina organizers say, aspires to be more intersectional with a more sweeping platform.
Women, they point out, are not monolithic and like-minded, defined solely by gender. For that reason, the organizers hope to convey their desire for any social justice movement to show how a wide range of issues – affecting immigrants, working families, Muslims, African-Americans, the LGBT community – ultimately are "women's issues."
They plan to rally for living wages, affordable and accessible health care, paid family leave, paid sick leave, child care for all workers and "fully funded public education that respects our teachers and the future of our children."
The march organizers hope to show how racially-biased policing and mass incarceration affect North Carolina families, as well as the impact of health care initiatives designed to exclude transgender residents.
Even though the event is called the Women's March on Raleigh, organizers want to make it clear: Men are invited. So are children. Many people who were interested in showing support for the national event wanted to do something locally that would make it easier for families to attend.
They also want to keep the focus on some of the state legislative agenda items where they think women can add an influential voice.
"From the get-go, we want people plugged in," said Grant, 28, who in addition to being an organizer works part-time as a Bilingual Parent Liaison for Durham Public Schools and at Carolina Jews For Justice. "We have big fights ahead in our state."
Though some might hold up signs protesting Trump at the march, organizers say the president-elect is not their focus.
"We're not focusing on Trump at all," said Paliga, a mother of a high school-aged daughter. "Our theme is women mobilize North Carolina."
Anne Blythe: 919-836-4948, @AnneBlythe1
When: 10 a.m. Jan. 21
Where: Gather at City Plaza on Fayetteville Street in Raleigh in front of the Marriott Hotel.
March: Begins at 10:30 a.m.
Rally: Moore Square in Raleigh at 11:30 a.m.
Details: https://womensmarchonraleigh.org/
By T. Keung Hui
The North Carolina House has a bill to reduce student testing and tried to merge its plan with a Senate bill. But the Senate rejected the changes. They say students have too many tests to take.
MORE STATE POLITICS
New head of NC low-performing schools district named, but more DPI departures coming


Can Norway's Karl Ove Knausgård Boost Reading in Korea?
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Hangilsa Publishing has published the first volume of the Korean translation of Karl Ove Knausgård's autobiographical novel My Struggle.
At a press conference in Seoul, the company's president, Kim Eoun-ho, said, "We not only hope to introduce this new book from Norway to Koreans, but also to introduce Norway's literary world, a country where its people read about 17 books on an average year.
"The findings are from the ministry's survey of 5,000 adults and 3,000 elementary, middle and high school students from October 2014 to September 2015. According to the survey, the average yearly reading rate among adults was 65.3 percent, a 6.1-percent drop from 2013.
The Korean Herald report indicates that by contrast, Koreans watch some two hours of television daily.
Prof. Kim said that My Struggle can help to "raise and throw" questions both at the reader and at society as a whole.
"It can help us philosophically explore our existence and take control of our life," he told the paper, adding that he hopes that the book would revive Korean readers' interest and trust in novels–important given recent plagiarism controversies.
It is expected that Knausgård will visit South Korea as part of his Asian book tour in March.
The second volume of My Struggle is expected to be released in Korean by the end of the year.