Hutchinson Island Rocks

Writer's Conference with Dennis Lehane and Other Stars

Here's Kimberly Standiford trying to herd cats, ie writers. Debra Dean, Peter Meinke, Cindy Chinelly Dan Wakefield, Dennis Lehane, Les Standiford, and Tristan Dufresne (John and Cindy's son). Campbell McGrath (our fine poet) walks up at the last moment. Yours truly was filming the moment, so I'm not in this one. We're all about to go in to hear Dennis give a funny no-nonsense talk on fiction writing.

Dennis was our student in the long long ago. I, for one, can take no credit for his success. He was an excellent writer when he arrived in our program back in the early 90's and he went on to develop into a very fine writer indeed.





And here's a still photo of the same group. There I am at the end of the line. (you can always click the photo for a larger view)



It was a fine five days in Hutchinson Island. About 50 participants came to the conference and heard some very fine readings, and classes on a whole range of subjects.

Though it rained most of the time and was windy and dark, (we Floridians call this atmospheric), I didn't hear anybody complain.

Great food, and some funny evenings spent in excellent company.

Checking Out

This is where I'll be for a few days. Doubt I'll be doing a lot of blogging.

Darwin Lives!

Darwin Lives!

Heads Must Roll--Capitalism at Work and Play

Paling around with plunderers.


Or maybe just let them loose in the woods, and let us hunt them down.

My Fellow Citizens

This is called cognitive dissonance. Drinking the Kool-Aid.

The people in this line yelling out hateful things toward some Obama supporters are very likely some of the very people most injured by the policies of the last eight years.



During the Bush Administration, the national debt, now approaching ten trillion dollars, has nearly doubled. Next year’s federal budget is projected to run a half-trillion-dollar deficit, a precipitous fall from the seven-hundred-billion-dollar surplus that was projected when Bill Clinton left office. Private-sector job creation has been a sixth of what it was under President Clinton. Five million people have fallen into poverty. The number of Americans without health insurance has grown by seven million, while average premiums have nearly doubled. Meanwhile, the principal domestic achievement of the Bush Administration has been to shift the relative burden of taxation from the rich to the rest. For the top one per cent of us, the Bush tax cuts are worth, on average, about a thousand dollars a week; for the bottom fifth, about a dollar and a half.

Three Funny Videos

Palin Comes Out Swinging and Obama Dances Away

Wow

Just when you thought it couldn't go any lower, it does.

From a GOP mailer in Virginia:

Elitist

"He’s neither-nor. He’s other. It’s in the Bible. Come as one. Don’t create other breeds.” RICKY THOMPSON, in Mobile, Ala., speaking about Barack Obama.

And from the same article (yes, in the NY Times: “He’s going to tear up the rose bushes and plant a watermelon patch,” said James Halsey, chuckling, while standing in the Wal-Mart parking lot with fellow workers in the environmental cleanup business. “I just don’t think we’ll ever have a black president.”



Am I an elitist because I find this offensive and stupid? I guess so.

Damn, I wish I'd never gone off to the city and gotten all uppity. I wish I was still a good old boy from the hills of Kentucky.