writer, photographer, web person from Washington, DC.
I came of age in the corrupt and violent DC of Marion Barry. Plagued by open-air drug markets, it was the murder capital of the country. It was a place where a mayor could be caught smoking crack on tape – and still get reelected.
In 2011, the city has changed to the point where the past is unrecognizable. I wrote about these changes in my novel, Murder in Ocean Hall.
But even I never imagined that people would one day proudly wave the DC flag in the middle of Dupont Circle.
Flying, especially on USAIR, is hellish. Sometimes, however, you get lucky and end up in seat 5F when your flight returns to DCA via the winding western route along the Potomac. It’s like a roller-coaster ride as you turn and bank along the river in the approach to the airport. The plane made a banking right turn, allowing me to capture this shot of Rosslyn from above. I shot this with an iPhone 4 on the HDR setting, then used the “punch” preset in Adobe Lightroom to make it more contrasty.
New Smyrna Beach, FL. It’s a beautiful wide beach, with sand hard enough that you can ride a bike on.
I wrote a short article for the Pink Line Project on the DCist Exposed Photography Show. It’s a really neat event. DC photogs submit their photos and then the best are selected for a show at Long View Gallery. I had a photo in the first year of the show. It was awesome seeing one of my pics hanging on a gallery wall and I got to meet some great photographers who I’m still friends with.
It’s so popular that this year there are two opening nights, March 15 and 16. Get your tickets now – it will sell out.
The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World by Chris Guillebeau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Perhaps because I’m an avid reader of Chris Guillebeau’s blog, I didn’t get as much out of this book as I thought I would. It’s still a good book, however, for people who want to live differently and pursue non-traditional goals. However, a lot of it is very familiar to regular readers of his blog.
I was interviewed by a reporter from U.S. News on the enticing concept of the mini-retirement.
Check out my short story, Don’t Mess Up My Block which was recently published in Thirty First Bird Review.
The editor of Thirty First Bird Review called my story an “unholy marriage of New Age fluff and international diplomacy.” That’s about right – it’s a dark satire about a management consultant who tries to apply his misbegotten theories to an already screwed-up country.
Thirty First Bird Review is a new literary journal published by Edward Simon, an adjunct instructor of English literature and composition at Point Park University and Duquesne University. The journal is a web site but also intends to publish a print journal and be an integral part of Pittsburgh’s literary scene.
After what seems like the longest winter ever, signs of spring along the Potomac.