Kanlaon

(Gone: “Poetry Contest, Eugene Gloria to Judge”)

Ah, so many things to blog about, so little time! After perusing blog stats for the weekend, have reluctantly decided to banish some of self’s more recent posts. Self thinks nothing is worth saving unless it is being read. She is similarly ruthless with her rejected manuscripts, taking them apart almost as soon as she gets to a certain number of rejections. See, it’s all a game. Nothing, and most particularly nothing self writes, is sacred, and — there you go again, self! Digressing, as usual!

Anyhoo, it is Monday morning. Most definitely, the weekend is over. You fell asleep at 2:30 and were awakened by pitiable whinings of Gracie (hungry). You stumbled blearily into the kitchen. You wondered if you would be up to discussing Lorrie Moore today. The latest issue of the Stanford Magazine is by your bed, you pick up where you left off reading last night: the “Alumni Showcase” section. And here is what you discover:

Kathleen Chalfant, ‘66, co-starred with Mary Louise Parker in “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” at New York’s Playwrights Horizons.

The Distant Land of My Father, a novel by Bo Caldwell, ‘77, is “the communitywide reading selection for Silicon Valley after having been the choice of Pasadena last year.”

“Celebrating Women,” an exhibit by Paola Gianturco, ‘61, is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. Photojournalist Gianturco’s new book is Women Who Light the Dark (powerhouse, $45); sales from the book benefit the Global Fund for Women.

And, here is the list of books self is interested in reading after perusing the magazine’s “Shelf Life” section:

Tobias Wolff’s Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories

Eric Alterman’s Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for the Post-Bush America

History professor Wayne S. Vucinich’s post-humously published memoir, Memoirs of My Childhood in Yugoslavia

Doug Fine’s Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living (Book description: “With a pair of goats he found on Craigslist and a resolve to use as little fossil fuel as possible, journalist Fine conducts a yearlong makeover of his 41-acre Funky Butte Ranch in southern New Mexico.”)

Jeanne Fleming and Leonard Schwarz’s Isn’t it Their Turn to Pick Up the Check? (Book description: “Partners who write an advice column in Money magazine, Fleming and Schwarz know that the intersection of personal finance and personal relationships has more hazards than Interstate 880 in an earthquake. Their book offers practical and ethical wisdom for dealing with all the trickiest money problems between family and friends — from serial borrowers to serious cheapskates.”)

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.