Art Show and Birthdays

bed bugs

Check out the giant bug fossil that scientists found. A US-based biotech homeland-security company is working on engineering the mammoth sea scorpion for (para)military use.

Talkin' Proud

The other day I was talking to friend from Mexico who's studying at B.C. Knowing where I'm from, he starts telling me how he recently passed through Buffalo on his way to Toronto. "I've got to show you the pictures of me in the cop car." Possible stories are running through my head, none of them ending horribly wrong (after all my friend's recounting the story in the quiet of Chestnut Hill, not in a letter from Albion or Attica), but none of them real pleasant. He goes on about how he flew to Bflo, and rented a car to drive to Canada. On the way back, he drops off the rental downtown Bflo and then needs to catch a bus out to the airport. Not sure where the stop's located, he asks a cop he sees walking by. The guy offers to show him where to get the bus, then hangs around chatting for a while. After about 30 minutes of standing around, he radios in to the station and discovers that the bus isn't coming for a long time, so the Lieutenant drives from the police station and escorts my friend out to the airport. The cops call ahead to the airport to find out the security line is jam packed (I know, that's crazy, right? At the Buffalo airport?) and the Lieutenant gets my friend through security in time for his flight.
That's right. We are the City of Good Neighbors.
I can't wait to get back there, and hang out with some cops.

Pyeng Threadgill

Went to NYC this past weekend to present at NCTE on the potential and the problems in conducting research with immigrant teens. Good time. Even better, was reconnecting with Tyler Wood, who played a show at NuBlu in a band he recently hooked up with. I got some clips and tossed a few together in video shorts. The image quality isn't great cause I was just using my little digital Cannon under low light, but it ain't terrible. However, whatever I did or did not capture couldn't contaminate the righteous sounds of the Pyeng Threadgill band.

Mailer Dies at 84

The prolific writer, rhetorical master, womanizer, Norman Mailer, died last week.

I still remember the day he emailed me and told me he had seen the blog and wanted me to know what utter crap I wasted my time with. He suggested I smoke a joint and rethink my writing.

Oh Norm, you crazy devil.