29. October 2013 · Comments Off on Book covers · Categories: Math Shiva News

My editor asked me to give her book cover ideas for the book production meeting this week. She wanted to know my favorite covers. Here is my absolute all-time favorite. OK, it’s not for a book, but for a lit mag. Still, I like lots of white. I like things uncluttered. We’ll see what Penguin cooks up for me.
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24. October 2013 · Comments Off on The Yungas Road is in today’s Slate · Categories: Olio

This road. Many years ago, I rode in the back of a Toyota pickup from Llipi to La Paz. The edge of the road was littered with crosses, memorials to people who had driven over the cliffs. In the middle of the trip, I realized we were all suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning (I was the only one not completely conked out) and tore the tarp off the back of the truck (better wet from the rain than dead). At the end of the 15 hour trip, I was caked in dust. We checked into a hotel. They didn’t have any rooms with a private bath and only rooms with private baths came with towels. I said to the clerk that I’d pay the three Bolivianos extra and pretend to be in a room with a private bath if he would let me have a towel. He looked at me like I was a criminal for suggesting such a thing.

14. October 2013 · Comments Off on Topaz’s 16th birthday pâté cake · Categories: Uncategorized

She wanted a Ferrari. She had a little trouble blowing out the candle. Ah, these life events. There was her Cat Mitzvah. Now her sweet sixteen.
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08. October 2013 · Comments Off on The end of the New York City Opera · Categories: Olio

means the end of Opera Vox, which means no live performance excerpt of our opera-in-progress, Fordlandia, next year. More importantly, it means the loss of a major cultural institution in NYC. Tend to your arts groups, my friends. They need support, love, and cold hard cash.