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DTWOF: Miami

March 14th, 2007

One upside of blogging is that it’s a curious kind of anchor, a way of locating myself. Since I’ve been traveling so much, I barely know where I am when I wake up. But the blog is always right here where it always is–everywhere and nowhere. Here I am right now in Miami, of all places. I’m getting ready to go to some classes at Miami Dade College today. And tonight I speak at the Broward County Library.

I only managed to get one comic strip done during my brief time at home last weekend. I guess I’ll do the next one when I get home next weekend.

Whole mess of things

March 9th, 2007

1. I didn’t win a National Book Critics Circle Award last night. Daniel Mendesohn won in the autobiography category for his memoir about his relatives who were killed in the Holocaust, The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million. Awards are funny things. I hate getting sucked into caring about them, but it’s hard not to on some level. Still, I don’t really mind losing so much. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true: it was a great honor just to be nominated. Any lingering disappointment was dissipated at dinner later, when I shook hands with the very august Taylor Branch, who also didn’t win. The third book in his trilogy about Martin Luther King, At Canaan’s Edge, had been nominated in the biography category. The high point of the evening for me was John Leonard’s lovely insights into the art of criticism as he accepted a lifetime achievement award. I won’t go on an on about who won what. If you care, you can look here.

2. I don’t mean to be tiresome, but speaking of awards, I just found out Fun Home has been nominated for a Lambda Book Award.

3. Here’s an interview I did with Bookslut, while I was at the Comic Con last week.

4. Here’s a picture of me at the NBCC reading on Wednesday night. Thanks to Lori McFadden of the Strand Bookstore for sending it to me. Oh, and thanks to cybercita for coming to the reading! Isn’t it cool seeing that giant drawing of my dad looming behind me?

5. I missed Town Meeting Day in Vermont because I’ve been away from home for a long time. But I just learned that nearly thirty towns passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for misleading the country into war.

6. In the past two weeks I attended four panels at the New York Comic Con, visited Franklin and Marshall College to talk about my work, spent a week with my mom, then returned to NYC for this awards hoopla. Monday I go to Middlebury College, and Tuesday I fly to Florida for three days to do a bunch of classes and things at Miami Dade College. Somehow between this morning and Sunday night I have to drive home to VT, do my laundry, pack it up again, and, oh–produce two comic strips. I wonder how that’s going to happen.

National Book Critics Circle Awards

March 6th, 2007

I’m gonna be in NYC Wednesday March 7 and Thursday March 8 because Fun Home is nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. There’s a reading of all the finalists Wednesday evening at 6pm at The New School University, Tishman Auditorium, 66 W. 12th St. There’ll be some pretty fancy people there. A real literary smorgasbord. You should come! It’s free and open to the public.

Then on Thursday the 8th, the award ceremony happens. That also appears to be free and open to the public, and also happens at 6pm at Tishman Auditorium. Though it probably won’t be as interesting as the reading.

DTWOF episode #505

March 5th, 2007

Sorry I haven’t been posting. I’ve been really crazed.

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ComicCon Review

March 4th, 2007

Katie here. 

Here’s a short take on one of the panels Alison participated in at NY ComicCon from blogger Ron Hogan.  For the record, DTWOF does not endorse any particular blogger or received kickbacks in exchange for blogger publicity. For the purposes of this forum, it’s a piece that gives some background about conferences like NYCC while briefly addressing comics and the publishing industry as well as the potential removal of Fun Home from a Missouri library. 

Folks in Florida and thereabouts will be interested to know that Alison will appear in Ft. Lauderdale on March 13th.  Details on the Appearances page.

NY Comic Con decompression digression

February 26th, 2007

Look. I was on a panel with Aline Crumb! That’s her on the left, and Miriam Katin on the right. Miriam wrote a memoir about escaping the Nazis during her childhood in Hungary during World War II. It’s called We Are On Our Own. I haven’t read it yet, but will do so immediately. I really liked her. Aline was talking about her new book, Need More Love, which I also must get. We were on a panel called “Mothers and Daughters,” talking about Read the rest of this entry »

AB on Air America

February 23rd, 2007

Hey, I’m in New York. And I just met the awesome Rachel Maddow, of the eponymous Rachel Maddow Show on Air America. She interviewed me because I’m in town for the big Comic Con and it’s gonna air on her show later tonight.

Here’s a photo of me right now in the Barnes & Noble cafe where I’m posting this. The guy next to me just pointed out that this mural depicts great writers who are watching over us as we sit here slurping lattes, inspiring us to do something more productive with our time. That’s James Joyce in the middle but I’m not sure who those other people are.

DTWOF episode #504

February 22nd, 2007

Sorry. I should’ve put this up yesterday.

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Barbara Gittings, 1932-2007

February 20th, 2007

Barbara Gittings died of breast cancer Sunday. She was a lesbian activist since olden times. I’ve always been very moved by photographs of her at a demonstration in Philadelphia in 1965. Everyone decided to dress very conservatively, to help make their point that they were just like everyone else and deserved equal treatment. What impressed me, I guess, is not just the bravery of these pre-Stonewall activists for putting themselves out there like that, but their willingness to look kinda dorky while they did it.

Thank you, Barbara. Here’s a link to a proper obituary.

Three Items

February 20th, 2007

Katie here. 

I’ll start with the items most pertinent to this blog, followed by the digression

The appearances page is updated with a few more details about Alison’s upcoming appearances…hopefully, we’ll hear more soon about other locales where she will appear.

Today, the spamfilter deleted the 20,000th piece of spam. I guess this is momentous to me because I play with it so often, but it seems to be picking up fewer and fewer of your comments, so that’s good news.

And finally, Read the rest of this entry »