"Living Water" Gets Rave Reviews

Obery Hendricks, with whom I shared a writing class, has written a new novel, Living Water, that's knocking folks out.

Celebrity Reading of "A Love No Less"

Doubleday Books and New York University's Institute of African-American Affairs and Africana Studies invite you to celebrate the publication of:

A Love No Less: More Than Two Centuries of African American Love Letters by Pamela Newkirk


With readings by:

Ossie Davis

Phylicia Rashad

Cast members of HBO's "Oz" and "The Wire," and others


Monday, Feb. 24

6 p.m. sharp

Hemmerdinger Hall @ Silver Center

100 Washington Square East.

Virtual March on Washington

From MoveOn.org:

The NYTimes reported that "global anti-war protests have put the White House on the defensive." On February 26th, you can join a massive march on DC without leaving your living room. Just go to: http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar/. You commit to calling your senators and the White House, with the goal of having an entire day of calls light up the Washington switchboards.

Google Acquires Blogger

Unquestionably the best search engine in the world, Google has acquired Blogger, unquestionably the highest traffic Blog hosting engine.

Peaceful Regime Change In Iraq

Supporting dissidents in Iraq could force Saddam to his knees, says writer Mary Kaldor. But the U.S. government has a spotty record. We told Iraqi Kurds we'd back their rebellion, then backed out...and thousands were killed.

Peace Rallies Worldwide Today

Check out Gore Vidal's take on the massive scale.

Upcoming NYC Book Readings

Wednesday, February 12, 7pm

Barnes and Noble

675 6th Ave at 22nd St

Danyel Smith reads from her debut novel

"More Like Wrestling"

Thursday, February 13, 7pm

The Brooklyn Brewery

#1 Brewers Row, 79 North 11th St., Brooklyn

718-486-7422

Danny Goldberg, editor, and David Rees, cartoonist "Get Your War On"

discuss the assult on civil liberties and their book

"It's A Free Country: Personal Freedom in America After September 11"

Tuesday, February 18, 7pm

Barnes and Noble

86th St. between 2nd and 3rd Avenues

Pamela Newkirk reads from

"A Love No Less: More than Two Centuries of African-American Love Letters"

Thursday February 20, 7pm

Soft Skull Shortwave

71 Bond St., corner of State, Brooklyn

A, C, or G to Hoyt/Schermerhorn

Readings by Akashic Books authors T Cooper, Yongsoo Park and Michael Richardson

Zimbabwe Elections Rigged

One of my relatives forwarded me an analysis which reveals that the Zimbabwean elections were rigged. No duh, right? Well, the inflation of the voter rolls was so bad that not only did dead people vote, people who weren't even born yet voted too. Let's hope it doesn't get that bad in the United States.

Women of Saudi Arabia

This provides interesting personal insights into the lives of women in Saudi Arabia. Though the nation is one of our military allies, individuals in Saudi Arabia provide most of the funding to Osama Bin Laden, who is a Saudi national.

New Sweeping Anti-Terrorism Act

According to leaked documents, the Bush Administration is preparing to expand the Patriot Act, which has already been challenged by several cities and municipalities as unconstitutional.

Downloading...Not Just The Music Industry's Problem

So Wired is covering the downfall of the music industry, and my friends who work in it are bemoaning downloading (I still think we have a little problem with crappy artists). But the news business has been hit hard as well. Why read when you can surf for free? That question now has mainstream newspapers launching faux-alterntive weeklies.

Media Biz Blues

The media business is so bad right now. I just came across this litany of doom on JournalismJobs.com. I have worked for so many of these places and it breaks my heart.

The Other Phantom Menace

Photoshop political commentary ruuulz... to wit this Gulf Wars poster.

State of the Union

Don't forget tonight President Bush delivers his State of the Union address. In a reminder, Cynthia Samuels sent this link to a briefing on Homeland Security.