Not a complete failure

So the charity thing was sort of a mixed bag. I sold very little, but the books I gave for door prizes were one of the first things to be chosen (winners got to choose what prizes they wanted). Besides that, I got to see Star Wars re-enactors (is that the word for this?) wearing bowling shoes and throwing a few down the lane. By the way, Darth Vader bowled very few strikes, but he was picking up spares willy-nilly. I got to hang out with some very nice artist types and got a funny caricature of myself in the bargain. With the voluminous free time I had today, I made real headway on the Dalton proposal. And then to top it all off, I got to come home and have Oscar fall asleep on my shoulder. Good day.

Town and Country

I meant to write about this, but I forgot because I'm a big jerk.

I am taking part in a fund-raiser for the Marion/Polk counties Foster Parent Association. It's taking pace at Town and Country Lanes in Keizer, Oregon. The bowling and shoe rentals are cheap, there will be some other comics folks on hand, and A. C. Gilbert's Discovery Village is going to have some vintage comics artwork on display. It should be a hoot. If you're in the area, come by and say hi. And bowl.

Sunday, June 29
4 - 8 p.m.
Town and Country Lanes
3500 River Rd N
Keizer, OR 97303
(503) 390-2221

American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle

This is, to me, very exciting news. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) has announced that it is commissioning a cycle of 37 plays which will explore various moments of American history. There are some major playwrights involved including David Henry Hwang, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Naomi Wallace. The first play will be staged at OSF's 75th anniversary season in 2010.

The number 37 is, as some of you may know, the agreed-upon number of plays in Shakespeare's canon -- it's a nod to the importance of his plays and especially his history plays. I hope, like Shakespeare, that the modern playwrights focus on characters rather than events, and don't feel they have to be slavish to "true" history.

Here's the press release about the program from OSF.

I thought my finding this news was interesting timing for me personally. I had been considering to reread all of the Shakespeare plays (something that took me years to accomplish the first time). This news and it's tenuous connection to Shakespeare was all it took me to decide to do it.

The return of bullet points

It has been many, many days since last I wrote about the doings in Oscar's life. Let's roll:

•The boy now weighs in at 11 lbs., 13 oz. This measurement is several days old and I suspect he will shatter this number at his next weigh-in on Tuesday.

•We've had visitors a-plenty: Devon came and had dinner with us; Stephanie and Alex brought us some more baby clothes; Sean came by and made us brunch and spent the day' Michelle and Delaney Cheney got to meet the Sprout; Beth, Tess and Colm came in from La Grande; Oscar's great-aunt Barb visited from Reno; Lani flew in from San Francisco (by way of Portland); and, winning the distance traveled award: Kaly Soto came to us all the way from New York. Man, that's a lot of people who want a peek at the little one.

•We figured out that Oscar is allergic, slightly, to milk protein in Melissa's diet. Melissa is now completely diary-free. In a related topic: Ice cream made from rice is not so good.

•We've (or I've) successfully fed Oscar from a bottle several times. It's important that we master this before Melissa returns to work as she cannot leave her boobs behind when she leaves for the day. Believe me, I've asked.

•I celebrated my first Father's Day. Melissa and Oscar took me out to breakfast. And then they let me go to the movies. Fantastic.

•Oscar and I were interviewed for a radio show.


•We continue to be the social animals we were before Oscar's arrival,and he seems to enjoy, or at least not mind, all of our outings. The places we've been includes: Fox Blueprint, Sonic Burger, Ranch Records, the comics shop, the Wednesday and Saturday farmers markets, a birthday party, and various coffee shops. This is on top of our daily walks around the neighborhood. Oscar is extremely portable.

•On top of all of this, Oscar is still giving me time to write.

Stay tuned for further bulleted bulletins.

Mother and child

More new photos on our flickr page.

And, honest, an update will be forthcoming.

Studio 360

The piece for which I was interviewed is now up on the Studio 360 website. Oscar and I are at the very end, but listen to the whole thing.

In case you don't want to go to the site, what the heck, here's the audio for you:



Through radio trickery, I come off sounding halfway intelligent. I see another journalism award in someone's future.

An award-winning blast from the past

Back in November, I wrote about Jake Tenpas's feature article about me which he wrote for the Corvallis Gazette-Times. Well, Jake wrote to me this evening to let me know that that article garnered him an award from the Society of Professional Journalists in the art/art criticism category. Congratulations, Jake!

Any other journalists out there looking to win prestigious awards -- please form an orderly line and remember to have your wallets out as you approach.

Note: There's audio that goes along with this article. I'll post here as soon as I figure out how.