My head feels like it’s the size of a small planet. I keep getting dizzy and there’s no real accounting as to the whys and whats of this. Every time the phone rings while I’m conscious, I silence it because I’m tired of having the same conversation. Perfect. I’m becoming a misanthrope. “Becoming,” like …

Everyone’s excited about Colombia these days. I am too. Colombian film (‘Paraiso Travel’) plays at Tribeca. John Leguizamo is in it; hopefully he’ll do a better job than his last Colombian adventure. Author of Lonely Planet Colombia admits he never went there. His girlfriend, an “intern at the Colombian consulate,” filled him in. Reminds me [...]

Yesterday, Daily Kos posted what may be the greatest “conservative initiative” ever regarding the environment: rebranding. Oh, I know it sounds simple. Except that by “simple,”I of course mean “brilliant.” So take the endangered spotted owl and rename it “The Reagan Owl.” Suddenly all sorts of people will give a damn! My favorite part: And [...]

My grandfather’s grandfather, Benito Rueda, founded a small town in the mountains of Santander, Colombia. A small town that has, by the way, a website. A wonderful little website with old pictures and a virtual tour of the church that forces you to read prayers! Everytime I sit down to work on the book, I [...]

The BBC wastes a lot of money sending some asshat to Colombia to say… nothing. He offers no new insight. Nothing. Wait! The station guard did not come to work on the day Gabriel Garcia Marquez came back to his hometown? Don’t worry, London will come a-calling. Both Lovett College at Rice University and Posvar [...]

At the reading I gave last Thursday, I read a short piece on how people on my mother’s side of the family can’t sing. My father on the other hand, had a wonderful singing voice, and my mom boasted of this despite my father’s permanent absence from all Colombian vacations. Vernally fatherless, I had to [...]

I am reading a the Fuel & Fuddle tonight. Selections from the manuscript in progress. If you’re in Pittsburgh and you’ve got nothing to do in two hours, come on out. I’m reading with Sam MacDonald (who happens to be hilarious). My manuscript, for those of you that don’t know, is a family’s narratives of [...]