Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself — at the university’s 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005.
A new podcast for me this year, and for everyone, is Pod Save America, the podcast created by former speechwriters in President Obama’s administration. It acts as a tonic or a resistance in the Trump era. It seems to be a successful rallying cry so far for people who are disillusioned at the current government. It is one of the most popular podcasts now. They are even taking the show on the road. It is released twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, which is a little too much for me. I enjoy the Monday ones the best, probably because the hosts are Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor, in addition to Jon Favreau, who I think do a better job than for the Thursday show when it is just Favreau and Dan Pfieffer. Favreau is usually in the role of setting things up, kind of the straight man, so it is stronger when there are two people playing off him instead of one (and Pfeiffer does have a hesitating way of speaking that isn’t great for audio). Also, as the show develops further, they have to find a way of better integrating the guest interviews with the introductory news punditry round-up: too often they steal the thunder from their guests, and so why listen to their guests?
You can find the podcast here: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-america/
I guess it could seem silly, how fascism works—from the micro to the macro—that seven reasonable terms would become forbidden for the CDC to use. That’s the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The Atlanta-based federal agency that the U.S. turns to when during vulnerable times, when there’s a need for evidence-based and science-based research so that the diversity of the whole population can stay safe from things like Zika virus or an Ebola outbreak or zombies (see also: Season 1 of The Walking Dead; and Max Brooks’ World War Z).
These are the seven words, as reported by The Washington Post, that the Trump Administration is forbidding policy analysts at the CDC from using:
UPDATE: Change of date and time (see below)
The anthology “Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History,” which includes one of my short stories (“Angela and the Scar”), has a release date: May 9, 2014.
Where can you buy the book? Check out the publisher’s page, Crossed Genres. The trade paperback edition is $19.95, and it is 363 pages. In addition to my story, it includes stories by some big-name writers such as Tananarive Due, Sofia Samatar, Ken Liu, Victor LaValle, Nnedi Okorafor, and Sabrina Vourvoulias. For a complete list of authors, check out my earlier post.
And while you’re at it, you may also want to kick in some bucks for the Crossed Genres Magazine’s current Kickstarter Campaign.
But wait, there’s more!
A book release party will be held at 9 pm Saturday, May 10, at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E. 3rd St., New York, New York 4 pm Saturday, May 10, at Alice’s Arbor, 549 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Here’s the event page on Facebook. So if you’re in NYC, please go to the event and buy a copy. (Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend, as my day job is taking me to a conference at Yale.)
The Dallas Morning News has an interesting article, here, on Amy Stewart’s Flower Confidential:
The 306-page book is a journalistic behind-the-scenes account of the international floral industry – where flowers come from and insightful speculation, if you read between the lines, about where they are going.
Ms. Stewart traveled the world to learn about industry developments, to Amsterdam, Ecuador, Miami and up and down the coast of California, visiting flower factories as well as family farms established, in the case of California, by immigrants from Italy and Japan. There’s plenty of high-tech and history in her well-researched (and annotated) accounts. But embedded in the industry trends and headlines are the gems that make the book worth buying and reading.
Also of interest is the mention of Saratoga Springs resident Michele Owens, who blogs with Stewart on Garden Rant and who has her own blog here.
Check it out.
Michael Janairo 