Fill in the blank. You’ll never guess the word that Studs Terkel used.

Have you ever bought a book because Oprah picked it?

Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: in the Amazone

questions for John Edwards

By Vick Mickunas | Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 11:46 AM

John Edwards has done a lot of things in his life. John and his wife, Elizabeth have raised a family. They have had a good marriage. He has supported Elizabeth spiritually and psychologically as she has fought her battle with breast cancer.

Edwards earned millions of dollars practicing the law. He has written books. He served in the U.S. Senate representing the state of North Carolina. He ran for president once and he is doing it again.

John Edwards faces many questions these days. The recent news that Elizabeth has had a recurrence of cancer and that it is spreading has precipitated a deluge of opinions about John Edwards.

When John and Elizabeth announced that her cancer is back they also stated that he would continue his attempt to gain the Democratic presidential nomination.

While he has gained some support since the announcement some Americans are expressing outrage that he hasn’t stopped campaigning to spend more time with Elizabeth as she fights for her life. Some voters actually think that Edwards is using Elizabeth to gain sympathy and support for his campaign.

What do you think?

Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: politicked

blurbing all over myself

By Vick Mickunas | Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 02:37 PM

Publishers send me books. When I open my mail I’ll make up two stacks. One stack is made up of books that look interesting. The other stack is, well, not so interesting. Later, I’ll look at them all more closely and usually I’ll shift some books from one pile to the other.

Today I was opening mail. You never know what book will pop out of the package. It was a small parcel, probably a paperback? I looked at the cover and my heart skipped a beat. This wasn’t your average book.

It was my favorite novel of 2006. Here it was in paperback: ABSURDISTAN by Gary Shteyngart. This is his second book. His first, THE RUSSIAN DEBUTANTE’S HANDBOOK was a clever little novel.

Sometimes, a writer’s sophomore effort falls flat. That first book taps out the mine and the writer didn’t seem to grow or have anything left. Shteyngart defied the odds. ABSURDISTAN is a towering achievement.

It made me laugh.

With trembling hands I opened the paperback and began to scan the blurbs.

“Marvelous….sharp insights into the absurdity of the modern world.” -The Washington Post Book World

“A complex and enthralling commentary on the world we live in….Hilarious and highbrow all at once, [this book] is a brilliant read.” -Austinist

And then I saw it:

“ABSURDLY FUNNY….The Promise of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook is fulfilled.-DAYTON DAILY NEWS

I had been blurbed!

(When you’re driving home tonight and you see a guy out in a cornfield capering amidst the stubble, don’t worry. He’s not crazy. It’s only me).

Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: laughable

things I learned in school today

By Vick Mickunas | Monday, March 26, 2007, 08:29 PM

It was a lovely, sunny afternoon in Yellow Springs. On the campus of Antioch College a small class was listening to a guest speaker. He was sharing some tips about interviewing techniques.

That guest speaker was me. I always loved school. It’s wonderful to revisit the atmosphere that so inspired me in my younger days.

Hairstyles and clothing styles change daily but kids are still kids. These young people were a receptive audience. They are taking a course where they are learning different techniques and theories of audio production.

They are in the phase of the course where they need to go out and conduct interviews. That’s a daunting prospect for some and I tried to give them encouragement and a little advice. Mostly, I told my war stories.

Naturally, I had to mention my infamous interview with the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent. Ted was promoting his book “God, Guns, and Rock and Roll.” It was a crazy, confrontational conversation. Ted’s like that.

Then there was the interview with Donald Trump for his book “Trump: the Art of the Comeback.” I mentioned it to demonstrate the power of persistence. It took 30 phone calls before I was able to talk the Donald’s publicist into allowing an interview. I kept reminding her; “hey, he talks to Howard Stern.”

We went over some techniques. How to prepare. How to pose questions. How to listen. When to remain silent. How to develop a rapport with the interview subject.

I told the class how Ted Nugent’s people had called me the day after the interview to try to schedule a rematch. I declined. When Ted’s next book came out they tried to set up another interview.

I passed on it. I simply didn’t have the stomach for it. I can still remember the name of that book by Ted Nugent.The title was “Kill’em then Grill’em.” It was a cookbook.

It was fun to be back in school today. I did miss one thing, however. Nobody called me “bookworm.”

Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: clearing the cobwebs

What’s blocking the sun? Oh, it’s Al Gore

By Vick Mickunas | Sunday, March 25, 2007, 03:42 PM

Authors seem to get a lot of pleasure out of writing book reviews. I think that after they have been on the receiving end for a while that they really enjoy dishing out some literary criticism of their own.

Martin Murie retired from the faculty of Antioch College in Yellow Springs so that he could focus on his writing. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit over the years. I’ve interviewed him. I like the way that he writes.

He doesn’t beat around the bush. Murie recently reviewed Al Gore’s AN INCONVENIENT TRUTHfor MR Zine. While Murie applauds Gore’s attempt to bring attention to the crisis we face with global warming he also has some bones to pick with the former Veep.

Murie’s got problems with the presentation: “I won’t dwell too much on the irritating photos and text about Tipper and Al … Tipper always passive and smiling, in one case attending to children and meal prep while Al stands by, and Al giving her the usual run-of-the-mill male praises. The book is suffocatingly self- and family- centered. Once a politician, always a politician.”

He’s just getting warmed up. He thinks that Gore is taking it too easy on corporations: “Notice that in all of this long list the burden is shifted to us “consumers” and includes ordinary appeals to politicians and corporate powers. Al tips his mainstream political hand when he quotes, approvingly, the CEO of General Electric: ‘We think green means green. This is a time period when improvement is going to lead toward profitability.’”

Murie is an environmentalist and Al Gore has ruffled his feathers: “If the struggle to temper global warming is dependent on corporate profitability, we might as well give up before we start. The pursuit of perpetual expansion, of greater and greater profit margins, and of worldwide empire building for the sake of profit has to be pulled down from its pedestal. We and Earth can’t have the money-laden tail wagging the lean dog much longer. We the people will have the pleasure and hard work of figuring out how to do that. Politicians dependent on corporate welfare will not do it; they are simply not up to the job. It’s up to us. We have to face the job, study it, boldly pursue it. We the people. That is not mere sentiment; that is a historical fact: fundamental changes have always depended on action from below, collective action arising from thought as well as anger.”

He’s not done yet. “Al, your big book, treating us as recipients of corporate waste and plunder, leans down to tell us ordinary folks what we can do about it. That list of yours is well inside standard bounds that encircle advice to consumers, aka voters, many of whom love the book. But the vast American majority are harassed by corporate dishonesty, underpaid jobs, unemployment, worry about what awaits our children as we endure a shameless war, a war that prepares the way for more war, endless slaughter of soldiers and innocents. To top it off, we are treated condescendingly by presidents, politicians, pundits, plunderers… . Al, go back to the drawing board. Next time give us the whole truth, the big picture, that huge elephant in the room.”

Ah, the elephant. That must be what is blocking the sun? A review of a review is still a review. I liked it.

Permalink | | Categories: politicked

is this the end of the political memoir?

By Vick Mickunas | Saturday, March 24, 2007, 08:41 PM

I was struck by something today. A thought, a random thought. As we watch United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales slowly sinking beneath the waves of the scandal surrounding the removal of 8 U.S. attorneys we are witnessing another case of institutional amnesia.

This doesn’t bode well for the political memoir. Now Mr. Gonzales claims that he doesn’t remember “deliberations over which U.S. attorneys should or should not be replaced.”

He seems like a young, healthy fellow. He was there at the meeting when they discussed it and now he doesn’t remember? How can a politician write his memoirs if he can’t remember important stuff like that?

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow has tried to make the case that these were “hazy memories.” Come on. In the recent trial of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, we had Libby’s attorneys trying to bring a “memory expert” in to explain how Scooter perjured himself and kept flipflopping on the facts involved in the outing of the former CIA operative Valerie Plame. He claimed that he had a faulty memory so he forgot stuff. Really important stuff.

These are the people that have been running our government. How can we expect them to do good jobs when they can’t seem to remember from one minute to the next what they are doing?

Is the political memoir of the future doomed because these potential authors can’t remember anything? Scooter Libby is the author of one bad novel already. Seriously. He wrote one a few years ago.

I guess we can expect them to write their memoirs anyway. Too much money is involved to pass that up. Expect memoirs like the one James Frey pawned off on Oprah. They will try to reconstruct their recollections which at the moment are in “A Million Little Pieces.”

So, as I was saying, I was struck by something, a thought. Now, what was it? Oh, now I remember. It was IMPORTANT. The political memoir could be finished. Done. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

We will never be that lucky.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: politicked

Have you seen the Hillary Clinton video?

By Vick Mickunas | Friday, March 23, 2007, 04:11 PM

Have you seen it yet? THE VIDEO, everybody’s talking about it. Since it showed up on YouTube 18 days ago it has been viewed almost 2 and 1/2 million times.

It’s an amazingly high quality parody of an Apple computer commercial and a brilliant political dirty trick. It appears to be a clever attack on Hillary Clinton by Barack Obama. Their battle for the Democratic presidential nomination promises to develop into a real brawl. With Hillary’s tag team partner, Bill Clinton just waiting to put his Slick Willie sleeper hold on Obama this could get wild.

The Obama campaign denies any connection with the video but it was created by someone with ties to Senator Obama so we must draw our own conclusions.

If the nomination was decided by book sales Barry Obama would be pinning Hillary Clinton to the mat. His recent memoir, “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” is currently ranked #53 in sales on Amazon.com. His first memoir, “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” is #975 on Amazon.

Senator Clinton’s most recent book, “Living History” is buried way down the charts on Amazon at #11,644. But nominations are not decided by book sales. Dirty tricks are much more effective.

Did you watch the video? What did you think? Who has the advantage right now if the nomination was being decided today, Senator Clinton or Senator Obama?

Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: politicked

Will Ann Coulter apologize to John Edwards now?

By Vick Mickunas | Thursday, March 22, 2007, 02:56 PM

With the recent revelation that Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of the Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, has suffered a recurrence of cancer in an incurable form, do you think that we can expect an apology from Ann Coulter for her recent reference to John Edwards?

You might recall that Coulter called Edwards a “faggot.” Coulter, the darling of some conservatives has never expressed any remorse for her “quip.” Do you think that this sad news about Elizabeth might convince Coulter that her slur was out of line?

Elizabeth Edwards published a memoir last September, “Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers.” The news that her cancer has recurred sent sales of the book soaring. It has risen to #24 on Amazon. com in less than 24 hours since the announcement.

The most recent book by John Edwards, “Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives,” which came out last November has not shown an appreciable increase in sales.

Clearly, this a tragedy for the Edwards family. When the announcement was made today it was also stated that Edwards plans to continue his campaign for the highest office in the land.

What do you think? Will Ann Coulter apologize? Should she?

Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: politicked

talkin’ baseball

By Vick Mickunas | Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 08:02 PM

Ah, spring! Welcome back. The red-winged blackbirds are trilling a concerto from the leafless canopy above. A brave crocus blooms in the middle of the yard.

The dogs are barking for the sheer joy of it. Spring beauties wobble in the breeze. The calendar says that my wait is almost over. Ten days until another baseball season begins.

For true baseball fans there is only one season; baseball season. The time between the final out of the World Series and the first pitch on opening day is a dark and desolate agony that we endure.

Thankfully, I have some more baseball books to check out. Here are the latest:

HIDEKI MATSUI- Sportsmanship, Modesty, and the Art of the Home Run by Shizuka Ijuin (Ballantine Books). I know, he’s Godzilla, and he plays for the Yankees and I must admit that I wasn’t heartbroken when he broke his wrist diving to try to make a catch last year against the Red Sox. Still, you have to admire him. A true clutch hitter.

WATCHING BASEBALL SMARTER- a Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-Experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks By Zack Hample (Vintage Books). I admit it. I’m a geek. I’m an American League fan who plays in National Fantasy leagues because they are what’s around. (Reds fans, mostly) I used to wait until games ended on the west coast at 1am to update my stats. I know, I’m sick.

THE CHEATER’s GUIDE TO BASEBALL by Derek Zumsteg (Houghton Mifflin). Throw spitballs. Cork bats. Steal the other team’s signals. My team doesn’t do that but I like to know what to expect from the Yankees, right? (wait, I misread the title, I thought this was DEREK JETER’s GUIDE?).

BUILT TO WIN-Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball’s Winningest GM by John Schuerholz (Warner Books). Kinda sad, really. The Braves failed to win their division last season for the first time in a decade. All those league championships and not a lot to show for it. The Braves GM probably wishes he wrote this book sooner.(This is the paperback). Go Cleveland!

OK. I promise I won’t write about baseball again until the season begins. I have some reading to do.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: secret passions

interviews with authors

By Vick Mickunas | Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 06:56 PM

Conversing with authors about their work is one of my great pleasures. Over the years I have spoken to quite a few, almost 1300 so far.

The majority of my interviews were broadcast live on radio. I continue to talk to authors frequently. I interviewed one today. These interviews that I do in conjunction with book reviews are different from the ones that I did for radio.

Here’s the difference:

RADIO vs. PRINT On the radio you cannot conduct a private conversation so authors tend to be reluctant to give up the good stuff. When it is just the two of you talking, you get to go deeper.

Today’s interview provided an example of what I mean. This author has written several books. I interviewed her before she got famous. Then, she wrote THE BOOK. Yep, the one that sold millions and was made into a movie.

I asked her how the huge success of that one book had changed the way that she approaches her craft. She admitted that it had and that it bothers her when critics always compare new work to THE BOOK.

I told her that I had interviewed other authors who had written THEir BOOK and how some of them are now embittered as THat BOOK fades away in the rear-view mirror, never to be matched again by that writer.

She was clearly intrigued by the subject. At that point she said: “off the record?” Then, I told her some of the big name authors who I meant. I think she liked it.

So, OFF THE RECORD, is when you know you’ll be getting the good stuff. In this situation, I offered it to her but usually the author will say, OFF THE RECORD, when they are about give up the juicy details of how they loathe their publisher or what really happened in that famous incident, etc.

I will be reviewing this author’s book on Sunday in my column.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: that's what they say

I’m superstitious

By Vick Mickunas | Monday, March 19, 2007, 03:26 PM

I really am. I try not to think about some things because the mind is powerful. It rarely fails. Think about getting a flat tire and suddenly you have one.

Yesterday I posted an entry about a book called HOW DOCTORS THINK. Last night, in the middle of the night I became violently ill. I admit that I made dinner last night but this was one nasty little bug. I can barely type this.

So, be careful what you think about. I thought about doctors and WHAMmo.

At least I have the luxury of reading a good book. I’m reading NAUSEA by Sartre.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: clearing the cobwebs

do you know how to talk to your doctor?

By Vick Mickunas | Sunday, March 18, 2007, 04:43 PM

Most of us don’t. Our doctors sometimes have problems communicating with us. These kinds of communication barriers can, in some instances, be fatal.

A new book examines these issues and offers doctors (and their patients) advice on how to communicate better. HOW DOCTORS THINK by Jerome Groopman, M.D. (Houghton Mifflin) might be the most valuable book that you ever read.

Groopman provides readers with insights into the ways that doctors think and make decisions. Why is that so important? Well, most of us labor under the misconception that medical errors and misdiagnoses occur because of technical errors; they gave us the wrong medicine by mistake, they misread the chart, blood samples got mixed up. WRONG!

Groopman asserts that 80% of medical errors are the result of doctor’s errors in judgement. OUCH! I’ll never forget the time that my mother’s physician put eardrops in her eyes. My mother thought he had made a simple mistake. This man no longer practices medicine.

So, how can we learn to improve our communication with our doctors? Groopman says that our first conversations with our physicians are crucial. He claims that our personalities and mannerisms influence the way that our doctors make decisions.

Doctors tend to assume things. They take mental shortcuts. Groopman says that these behaviors on the part of doctors can lead to misdiagnoses. That can be a life and death situation.

Sadly, money and marketing can influence the decisions that are made according to the author. Finally, he offers advice on how we can communicate with our doctors and help them to think better so that we can get the best treatment available.

It’s your life. Have you had experiences where doctors have made the wrong decisions? What happened?

Also, if any doctors are reading this, how can we as patients improve our communication with you? We need help.

Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: that's what they say

“go ask Alice, when you’re ten feet tall”

By Vick Mickunas | Saturday, March 17, 2007, 05:07 PM

A while back I polled readers about several books that I was thinking about reading. Your responses indicated that the book that piqued the most interest was SHROOM-a Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom by Andy Letcher (Ecco Books).

So, I read it. It was quite entertaining. The author is not some egghead who wrote a book from a vantage point in an ivory tower. While Letcher has earned a pair of doctorates (in ecology and religious/cultural studies) the knowledge he brings to bear on this esoteric subject in this, his first book, is deep and somewhat personal.

He plays the mandolin and English bagpipes in his own acid folk group, TELLING THE BEES. He has toured with various psychedelic bands on the British concert circuit. This guy spent 3 months in a treehouse as a protest against a highway bypass project. Quite the credentials!

High points: Some researchers believe that the origins of religion can be found in ancient magic mushroom cults.

There are estimated to be 209 different types of hallucinogenic mushrooms in the world.

The author did his research in England where for several years until a legal loophole was closed in July of 2005, “shrooms” were legally obtainable.

Mushrooms have been popular subjects in literature since the days of Shakespeare. The book is filled with references from Robert Graves to Dylan Thomas. “Shrooms” are quite the bookish fungi.

(“Go ask Alice” was shamelessly appropriated from “White Rabbit” by The Jefferson Airplane)

Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: secret passions

notorious former Daytonian defends Ann Coulter

By Vick Mickunas | Friday, March 16, 2007, 01:58 PM

Dayton native Ted Rall, the noted political cartoonist, author, and pundit has weighed in on Ann Coulter’s latest verbal faux pas, her reference to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. She called Edwards a “faggot” and a number of newspapers have responded by dropping her syndicated column.

If you missed my earlier posts about the Coulter brouhaha they were: a Letter to Ann Coulter and Ann Coulter Versus Bill Maher.

Rall wrote a letter that defends Ann Coulter’s right to free speech. Rall might not agree with her but he thinks that Coulter should be allowed to say the things that she says. Rall knows what it feels like to be attacked for expressing a viewpoint. It happened to Ted Rall after 9/11.

Rall, who grew up in Kettering, is the author of numerous books. His most recent literary efforts include AMERICA GONE WILD-Cartoons by Ted Rall(Andrews McMeel Publishing) and SILK ROAD TO RUIN-Is Central Asia the New Middle East?(NBM Publishing).

I have interviewed Ted on a number of occasions. The last time I spoke to him was last summer when he boldly predicted that Republicans would lose control of Congress.

Ted recounted one of my favorite restaurant anecdotes in SILK ROAD. Ted and his buddy were hungry and they stopped someplace to eat. They were in Central Asia.They noticed a pack of starving dogs milling about near where they were seated. The waiter brought their food and they didn’t know what to make of it. Something about it just did not look right.

So, Ted tossed his food to the starving dogs. The alpha pack leader took a bite of the food, yelped, and ran off.

The moral of the story? You are what you eat.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: politicked

is Laura Bush a chain smoker?

By Vick Mickunas | Friday, March 16, 2007, 01:09 PM

Well, she could be. That’s the rumor. Presidents (and their spouses) are entitled to some measure of privacy, right? That’s why you never saw a photo of FDR in his wheelchair. That’s why JFK’s hound dog ways were virtually unknown until years after his death. And Bill Clinton ? Well, he put it best when he said that he did not have sex with that woman.

Besides, smoking isn’t that cool anymore. Lots of people still do it but it is a dirty little secret for many. Even in tobacco growing states like Tennessee the popularity of the stinky weed is in decline.

I try to avoid cigarettes and pretzels. I don’t enjoy choking (or smoking) but I am fascinated with tobacco. My dad smoked. Winston’s. A pack a day. He blamed the Marine Corps. It seems that the tobacco lobby was so powerful when my dad served during WWII that every soldier’s rations included cigarettes. Most young guys who entered the service didn’t even smoke. Many picked up the habit during those moments of boredom when the guns were quiet.

A lovely new book has provided me with lots of info about this noxious but completely legal product.THE CIGARETTE CENTURY- The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America by by Allan M. Brandt (Basic Books) is a veritable humidor of material.

Brandt, a professor at Harvard gives readers all the scuttlebutt on this amazing product. No product has ever been so heavily advertised. It was portrayed as sexy and glamourous. Athletes and movie stars endorsed what is essentially a useless, dangerous product. For years the hazards were concealed from the public.

Those sexy ad campaigns are here as well as the strategies the tobacco companies employed to sell their products. Then, there are the lies. Lots of them, that were perpetrated to protect those profits while they were killing their customers.

It’s good stuff. When I finished the book I almost wanted a cigarette. Almost.

Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: politicked

putting a hard tackle on OJ Simpson

By Vick Mickunas | Thursday, March 15, 2007, 05:11 PM

OJ Simpson, the former star football player who once leaped flying tacklers (and juries) with a single bound has found his efforts to profit from a lucrative book deal brought crashing to earth.

A judge ruled that any profits derived from OJ’s “If I Did It” book scam would go to the Goldman family who had won a civil suit against Simpson for the wrongful death of their son Ron who was murdered along with Nicole Simpson on that dark night in Los Angeles.

The judge’s ruling represented a small victory for the Goldman family who have gotten next to nothing in compensation from Simpson up until now.

For believers in truth, justice, and the American way, OJ’s continued freedom has been particularly galling.

Did OJ get away with murder? We may never know. At least the Goldman family has gotten some slight consolation in quashing the greed of this seemingly shameless man.

You be the jury. Do you think that OJ got away with murder?

Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: laughable

Reality TV meets the Book Nook

By Vick Mickunas | Thursday, March 15, 2007, 10:32 AM

Laura Dempsey has a piece in the paper today about a guy named Rupert Boneham.

Apparently, Rupert starred on the reality television series SURVIVOR: Pearl Islands,a few years ago.

I confess that I’m drawing a blank here. I never saw the program. I must have been reading a book?

According to Laura, Rupert will be in town tonight at Borders Books and Music promoting his memoir, “Rupert: Just Being Me.” I confess, I have not read his book. I must have been watching the SIMPSONS?

If you want to know about Rupert’s experiences on SURVIVOR you are out of luck. It seems that he isn’t allowed to talk about it. Laura says that there are four pages in the book that were left blank. The implication being that they represent all that juicy SURVIVOR stuff that Rupert is not allowed to share.

I can see it now. Someday when that SURVIVOR ban has lapsed those hardcore fans will be parked outside their bookstores waving their worn and yellowed copies of Rupert’s memoir.

They’ll be shouting; HEY, what happened? Print these pages for us!

So much for drawing a blank. Ah, publishing hype. Isn’t it wonderful?

Permalink | | Categories: laughable

church signs across America

By Vick Mickunas | Wednesday, March 14, 2007, 08:50 PM

Some churches have good signs. They use puns and plays on words to get our attention. While the hope is that you might attend a service for most of us these signs give us a moment of mirth or inspiration in the flash along the highway.

Steve and Pam Paulson have put together a book of photographs, “Church Signs Across America” (The Overlook Press) that bears witness to this phenomenen.

Sometimes it’s fun to just look at the pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

TO EMBRACE DIVERSITY IS TO EMBRACE GOD

BE YOURSELF - EVERYONE ELSE IS TAKEN

BE AS GOOD A PERSON AS YOUR PET BELIEVES YOU ARE

JUDGING OTHERS LEAVES NO TIME TO LOVE THEM

FIND A PLACE IN YOUR HEART FOR THE LONELY

BEST WAY TO HAVE THE LAST WORD: APOLOGIZE

I took it as a sign.

Vick Mickunas

Permalink | | Categories: that's what they say

the N word

By Vick Mickunas | Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 08:35 PM

It was a beautiful day. Everything was going so well. Then I opened my mail. There it was, that book.

It was The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why by Jabari Asim (Houghton Mifflin).

Asim is the deputy editor of the Washington Post Book World. More importantly, Asim is a black man who remembers the first time that he heard that word.

He tells us who can say it and get away with it; guys like the author Mark Twain and the comedian Dave Chappelle. He says that it is OK for journalists to use it when they are clarifying a situation; Officer Mark Fuhrmann, the guy who compromised the OJ Simpson murder trial used the word 41 times in recorded conversations. It was the public’s right to know that fact, according to Asim.

Historians can use the word. Otherwise, how could they describe all those communities of the past that included the word as a part of a name, the N-Towns and N-Hills of the not too distant past.

But mostly he says, it should not be used. White people should not use it in casual conversation. Black people should not use it in casual conversation. He says that nobody should ever use the N word in public.

I can’t disagree with that. The N word is weighted with cultural dynamite. It is so overcharged with negativity that I cannot even say it here. I don’t use the word. Do you?

Is there ever a time when that word is OK? I don’t think so. What do you think?

Sticks and stones.

Vick Mickunas

Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: that's what they say

do you ever shop online?

By Vick Mickunas | Monday, March 12, 2007, 06:58 PM

I live in a small town and it’s important to me to support my local merchants.But there are a lot of things that I can’t buy here so I’m glad to know the joys of online shopping. What a pleasure it is to have the things that I want delivered right to my doorstep.

My online shopping hobby just might become a full blown addiction. Here’s why. I just got a copy of “the purple book”“the definitive guide to exceptional online shopping” by Hillary Mendelsohn (Warner Books). It’s the 2007 edition (be careful what you wish for).

The author winnowed out 1600 websites from over 40,000 to extract the creme de la creme for online shopping. Now, the next time I’m in the market for a new robot I can click on RobotStore.com.

If I need comic books I can check out NewKadia.com. I was looking for some really fine olive oil to give as a gift and I found an excellent bottle at AGFerrari.com. I’m a cheese fanatic so I went to ArtisinalCheese.com. Oh. Stop me.

I must have died and gone to INTERNET HEAVEN? Chocolate freak? Check out DeanAndDeluca.com. Wine nut? Pour yourself a goblet over at FinestWine.com. Can we even buy wine online in Ohio? I guess I’d better check with our wine blogger extraordinaire, Mark Fisher, over at Uncorked.

You can buy virtually anything online; cigars, tea, antiques, motorboats, you name it. Feeling paranoid? You can digitally mask your voice or detect surveillance devices by shopping at places like SpyTechAgency.com and Spyville.com. (Their websites are eerily similar).

So, when I need a gallon of organic milk from Kalona, Iowa I’ll head downtown to the grocery store. When I’m looking to rent a villa on a private island in the Pacific I’ll log on to VillaOfTheWorld.com to see what they have available. How convenient.

Do you shop online? What’s the last thing that you purchased online? Do you find that you are doing it more often these days? The last thing I bought online arrived today. It’s a new toner cartridge for my printer.

What’s the most unusual thing that you have ever purchased online? I once had the winning bid on a round trip airline ticket to Lithuania in an online auction.

I’m feeling kinda lazy. I think I’ll just point, and click. Oh my, I certainly didn’t need that.

What’s your policy on returns?

Vick Mickunas

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Can a Christian be a Fascist?

By Vick Mickunas | Sunday, March 11, 2007, 11:49 AM

This week I interviewed Chris Hedges, the author of AMERICAN FASCISTS: the Christian Right and the War on America (The Free Press).

Hedges, a former reporter for the New York Times, is a senior fellow at the Nation Institute. He teaches at Princeton University in the Program for American Studies and he is the author of the groundbreaking book, WAR IS A FORCE THAT GIVES US MEANING.

If you read the column (click here) you’ll see that I quote Hedges extensively. There were some other statements that he made that could not be included in the column.

Fortunately, this blog provides a receptacle to capture some of that verbal spillover.

Hedges did some of the research for the book in the Dayton area. He named the local church and the pastor that he studied. He told me that “Ohio has a lot of activity that illustrates” the points he makes about the “dominionists” in his book.

Hedges: “I’m Biblically literate. I’m acutely aware of how they misuse and misinterpret the Bible to promote a message that is about bigotry, intolerance, and chauvinism.”

This book has touched a nerve. If you peruse the reader reviews on Amazon.com you will find some very strong feelings are being stirred up, both pro and con. Some of the nastiest comments come from those who describe themselves as devout Christians, true believers.

Hedges: “What has happened is that tens of millions of Americans have been locked in hermetically sealed systems of indoctrination through so-called Christian radio and television.”

Hedges sees something dangerous happening. “I think people on the outside of the movement don’t understand that this is a new phenomena. This is not like any other religious revival we’ve seen in American history. This is something different.”

Hedges: “The problem is that we are tolerating a movement that in essence preaches neighbor to hate neighbor. It preaches civil war. It preaches that there are people, so-called Christian Americans who live on a moral plane that is above everyone else and have a right to dominion; to dictate how others should live. This binary worldview that they advocate where one is either completely subservient to these figures within their belief system or one is a force of Satan; one is essentially demonic- is really dangerous because when someone is demonic, when somebody is satanic not only do they have no moral legitimacy but ultimately, to create this Christian utopia they must either be converted or destroyed. And that kind of message is really dangerous.”

He sees these “dominionists” taking advantage of the current situation in America. Hedges: “Unfortunately, we are building an oligarchic, corporate state. When the top 1% of Americans have amassed more wealth than the bottom 90% combined, democracies cannot sustain that kind of an assault; those kinds of disparities destroy a democracy. That is something that writers on democratic systems have understood all the way back to the Greeks, including Plutarch and Thucydides.”

“The great writers and philosophers on totalitarianism; Hannah Arendt, Karl Popper, Fritz Stern; they all understood that the engine of these movements is despair, is a loss of hope.”

“What has happened is there’s been a kind of Weimarization of the American working class and Ohio is sort of the poster child for that. Until we do something as a society to ensure that these people have stability, a life with dignity, and a future, we’re not going to stop this movement.”

“What will happen, especially if we enter a period of instability is a kind of populist revolt but it will be a right wing populist revolt, with people, in the final irony, appealing to those who raped the society, to save them.”

Hedges says that this small group of “dominionists” is waiting for an opportunity. “They manipulate fear and they know how to do it, and then we’re all in big trouble.”

He feels that the time is ripe for them to try to make their move. “The rise of the corporate state, the absolute failure to actually confront global warming, the way we have become international pariahs, which I think means inevitably we will have another catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil- this mismanagement of the American economy, a period of instability or crisis could really empower these people in frightening ways.”

We live in interesting times.

Vick Mickunas

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what book are you reading?

By Vick Mickunas | Saturday, March 10, 2007, 10:32 AM

Blogging about books is really fun. One of the things that I’m enjoying most about it is the comments that you have posted.

The interactive aspect of it is amazing. It’s a good thing, a function of our democratic system that you, the reader, can participate by sharing your thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

Your comments are one of the highlights of my day. I hope to hear from you soon. Instant feedback is stimulating. The other day I was walking down the street and a woman smiled at me and said “the song that annoys me the most is..” I agreed. It is an annoying song and I suggested that she post a comment about it. Still waiting on that one.

At the moment I’m reading an incredible novel, The Rebels by Sandor Marai (Knopf).

What are you reading right now? Is it good? If you are between books then what was the last book that you read ? Or, what book do you plan to read next? Let me get on a read on you.

Paging away.

Vick Mickunas

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I cannot believe that you ate that

By Vick Mickunas | Friday, March 9, 2007, 07:38 PM

Do you know any vegetarians? Have you ever wanted to convert one to the carnivorous joys? Steve Rinella did. His girlfriend, Diana, was a veggie lover and he secretly plotted to bring her over to the dark side; the world of meat.

Rinella tells his tawdry tale in “The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine” (Miramax Books) which just came out in paperback. Rinella, another one of those prolific writers for magazines, had a challenging notion, to obtain all the ingredients for a forty-five-course meal himself.

He needed things like snapping turtle and mountain goats to fulfill the menu of wild game recipes that he envisioned. He met some strange people along the way. He is a really weird guy and his quest for the ingredients of this miraculous meal provide a mute testimony that we truly are what we eat. In his case, somewhat twisted.

What is the strangest thing that you ever ate? I want to know. This is strictly for research purposes.

Bon appetit!

Vick Mickunas

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for baseball lovers only

By Vick Mickunas | Thursday, March 8, 2007, 09:18 PM

I’m not a big sports fan but I love baseball. Sure, I’ve played golf and tennis and I used to be a league bowler but when it comes to spectator sports there is only one for me; baseball.

I’ll admit that I enjoy the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I have been known to roll the bocce and fling the horseshoe but for my money there is just one sport. You guessed it. There is nothing sweeter than the sound of that horsehide connecting with solid ash. Kaboom. Out of the park.

I always look for the reliable signs that baseball season is nigh. My buddy in Cleveland who has season tickets asks me if I can come up for a game. My pal in St. Paul starts his usual pathetic whining about how his Yankees are finally gonna do it this year. Right. (The Cubs have a better chance, eh?)

For me the surest sign that baseball is right around the corner, waiting like a sneaky curveball to spin me out of my spikes, is the arrival of new books about baseball.

These books arrived today:

ONCE UPON A GAME: Baseball’s Greatest Memories (Houghton Mifflin)

INDIANS ESSENTIAL: Everything You Need to Be a Real Fan by Mary Schmitt Boyer (Triumph Books)

BASEBALL BETWEEN THE NUMBERS: Why Everything You Know About The Game is Wrong by the Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts (Basic Books)

THE GASHOUSE GANG: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin and Their Colorful, Come-From-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series and America’s Heart During The Great Depression by John Heidenry (Public Affairs)

Ah, baseball books. Can REAL baseball be far away?

So, who will win it all this season? Any predictions for the World Series Champions come October? Psst…I say the Red Sox.

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name the song that annoys you the most

By Vick Mickunas | Wednesday, March 7, 2007, 08:36 PM

I just read an amusing memoir, “Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life” (Simon&Schuster) by John Sellers.

Sellers has written for numerous magazines but his main claim to fame is that he used to write some of the questions that were used on the program “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

If you were an indie rock fan in the 80’s and 90’s you will probably enjoy this book. Sellers describes those magical moments when he discovered the music of bands like U2, New Order, and The Smiths.

He reserved his ultimate obsession for Dayton’s own Guided By Voices. He tells what it was like to hang out with Bob Pollard and the boys. He even joined them on stage during their final tour.

He also makes great lists, like the TOP NINE WORST NAMES OF INDIE BANDS I USED TO SORT OF LIKE (Tears for Fears is #1) and the TOP FIVE SONGS THAT I AM MOST ANNOYED BY IN ALL THE WORLD (American Pie by Don McLean took that honor).

It will take you back to simpler days when music was so important to so many of us.

So, what song annoys you the most?

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Ann Coulter versus Bill Maher

By Vick Mickunas | Tuesday, March 6, 2007, 10:33 AM

My letter to Ann Coulter which ran Sunday in this blog has stirred up some strong opinions. Some readers have come to the defense of Ms. Coulter for her recent unkind word describing the Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. That word doesn’t bear repeating here.

Some Coulter defenders want to make the case that the humorist/pundit/author Bill Maher was as culpable of spewing hate speech as Ms. Coulter with a recent comment he purportedly made about Vice President Dick Cheney. Maher’s most recent book is New Rules: “Polite Musings from a Timid Observer.”

Some of you will recall that after 9/11 Maher essentially had his TV program, “Politically Incorrect” cancelled as the result of a politically incorrect comment that he made about the 9/11 hijackers.

I searched YouTube for film footage of Coulter and Maher. Coulter’s was easy to find. She made her comment on C-Span. I also found a clip from Maher’s program where he denied making the statement about Dick Cheney and said that he was quoting somebody else.

So, did Bill Maher say what these readers claim he said? Or, was he quoting somebody? That seems to be an essential fact to clarify.

Ann Coulter’s Edwards remark was immediately repudiated by several Republican presidential candidates. They might be trying to distance themselves from their unpredictable blonde artillery barrage.

When is free speech hate speech? And if somebody can come up with a better link to prove that Bill Maher said what these readers claim I would love to see it?

Readers have weighed in on Coulter and the majority (so far) seem to feel that she crossed the line. She said those words and she wasn’t quoting anybody. The response that Bill Maher was just as nasty in his comments about the Veep is unproved in my mind (so far).

Are Coulter’s defenders merely using Maher as their Words of Mass Distraction here?

I did learn one thing from the YouTube clips. Apparently, when Vice President Cheney flew to Afghanistan he was on a plane called “The Spirit of Strom Thurmond.” I’m not kidding.

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is nothing sacred?

By Vick Mickunas | Monday, March 5, 2007, 08:28 PM

One of the last enclaves of civility and learning in Iraq blew up today. The Mutanabi Street book market in Baghdad was attacked by a suicide bomber.

History is filled with such attacks on knowledge. The most famous being the burning of the Great Library in Alexandria, Egypt.

More recently, there was the destruction of the Library in Sarajevo, Bosnia, destroyed by the Bosnian Serbs as they besieged the Bosnian Muslims during that horrific war of a decade ago.

The attack today on the ancient Mutanabi Street Market seems to be one of the final indications that life in Baghdad isn’t safe anyplace, except perhaps in the Green Zone.

I have fond memories of browsing for books among the little bookstands along the Left Bank in Paris. In Kaunas, Lithuania I perused the odd literary selections being sold by pensioners on street corners. Then there was that first edition Mark Twain I found in a little shop in a small Iowa town. The places where our books reside should be sanctuaries.

The glue that holds those pages together in the books that record our history as a people is the glue that holds together the fabric of our lives, our dreams, and our aspirations.

That suicide bomber in the Baghdad Book Market has left all of us just a little bit poorer.

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a letter to Ann Coulter

By Vick Mickunas | Sunday, March 4, 2007, 08:56 PM

Dear Ann,

You probably won’t remember me. I interviewed you a few years ago on my radio show. We spoke for about an hour on the telephone about your book “Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right.”

I have been following your career. You have gotten rich selling your books and playing the political pundit on TV. I’m really worried about you, Ann.

During our conversation I couldn’t help but notice how defensive you are. When I asked you about your statement that you only wished that Timothy McVeigh had parked his deadly Ryder truck outside of the New York Times building you kept interrrupting me. You wouldn’t answer the question.

I feel sorry for you, Ann. When you mocked those 9/11 widows I didn’t know what to make of it? Now, you went and did it again. Last Friday when you addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference you used a hateful term, “faggot” to refer to the Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

Ann, are you OK? You’re acting like a frightened little girl who has lost her way in the dark forest of politics.

Ann, we don’t talk about other people that way. I know that you come from a “good family.” You got a wonderful education. I hear that you are pretty?

What’s wrong, Ann? If there is anything that I can do to help just let me know. Don’t be afraid to ask.

I’m reaching out to you Ann because I can see that you need a helping hand. Maybe you need to talk about the things that trouble you. I’m here to help, Ann.

It seems like the Christian thing to do.

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Anna Nicole Seeks Ghost Writer

By Vick Mickunas | Saturday, March 3, 2007, 01:02 PM

That’s how they do it.

We have all experienced it. You’re standing in the checkout line at the grocery store and the tabloid headlines blare their siren song from racks beside the cash register.

IS THE DONALD AN ALIEN? DOES TRUMP COMBOVER CONCEAL SOMETHING SINISTER?

BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE! BRITNEY and BRANGELINA …and so on.

We know that these headlines are absurd. Utterly ridiculous. Yet they still pique our interest. They are designed to do that. We’re curious. Tabloid publishers count on it. Case in point; how many of you clicked on this blog because the headline got your attention?

Some book publishers employ the sleaze factor to improve their bottom lines. We need to look no further than the recent brouhaha about the OJ Simpson/if I did it book project to see just how low some can go to try to publicize and sell books.

The Simpson project was quashed as the result of public outrage over it. (I confess. I tried to get a copy. Hey, I’m curious, too. It works!)

That book was slated to be published by the now defunct Regan Books imprint, a division of Harper Collins. The media magnate Rupert Murdoch owns Harper Collins and he personally pulled the plug on the whole OJ mess. Publisher Judith Regan lost her job shortly thereafter. It’s up to the lawyers now.

It should be noted that Rupert Murdoch knows a bit about tabloid journals. He owns some. Let it also be noted that Harper Collins prints some superb books.

Most of you probably knew these tabloid factoids. Our media is saturated with the stuff.

I’m pleased to report that there is an opposite end to the spectrum. There are publishing projects that are classy and deserving of our attention and support. You might have never heard of them.

At the top of the list in my estimation is The Library of America

This non-profit organization is preserving some of our greatest American literature in a series of gorgeous volumes. They just published John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley and Later Novels 1947-1962.

The range of work that the Library of America is releasing is impressive. Some upcoming releases include William Faulkner’s Novels 1926-1929, and Philip K. Dick’s Four Novels of the 1960’s,(which includes DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP, the basis for the film BLADE RUNNER).

The Library of America goes back to the very beginning of American letters, before the United States even existed. In April they will publish Writings and Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement in America by Captain John Smith.Yes, that John Smith.

In May they will publish American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes, edited by Molly O’Neill.

These books are treasures. You probably won’t find copies on the book rack at your grocery store. It’s our heritage, preserved lovingly, it’s The Library of America

Oh, and that thing about Anna Nicole seeking a ghost writer? Sorry about that. I made the whole thing up. Kind of a moot point. Made you look!

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the power of words

By Vick Mickunas | Friday, March 2, 2007, 05:44 PM

Alan Greenspan retired last year from his long-time gig as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. For 18 years he lorded over the U.S. economy with the power of his words. The man moved markets and his slightest utterance could send shock waves across time zones and industries.

Apparently, he misses the action. Greenspan now earns major dollars in the speechifying biz. His fee for a lecture is a sweet 150k. Then there’s the book deal. Greenspan was offered mega-greenbacks to write his memoirs.

The other day he said it. A very bad word. A scary word. The markets trembled. Stocks dropped like rocks. What was the word? You know it. RECESSION.

Obviously, there were other factors that caused stock markets around the world to quiver and plunge. Mr. Greenspan’s comment in a speech the other day that the U.S. economy seems on the verge of RECESSION certainly didn’t help matters.

So, why did he say it? Surely, he knows the power of his words? Some cynics speculate that he was merely powering up for the publication of his memoirs in September. That’s right, they say he just wanted to create some buzz for his book.

What are your thoughts on this? Did Alan Greenspan say that word to attract attention for his book? Or, is someone else more deserving of the blame?

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are we feeling a spring in our steps?

By Vick Mickunas | Thursday, March 1, 2007, 08:22 PM

I have a touch of the March madness. The rain is pouring down. The snow is melting. Can springtime be far away?

One of my favorite things about this coming season is National Poetry Month during April. Do you like poetry? Do you read it? When is the last time that you read some poetry aloud? It’s been too long, hasn’t it?

A few years ago I found a wonderful way to discover new poetry every day during April. It’s a Poem a Day.

When you sign up you will find a new poem each day in your e-mailbox. Surprise that special someone by signing them up.

This poetry will bring you a ray of sunshine every day in April. Enjoy!

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