(Reblogged from my post at Citizen Wayne)

The This American Life episode from this week is about guns, and is maybe my favorite episode from the year so far (granted, that’s only 4 episodes so far). The first story, in particular is awesome. Sarah Vowell’s story, “NRA vs. NEA” is about reconciling the culture gap between the pro-gun people and the anti-guns. If you listen to just part of the episode, check that one out. It’s the first act.

It reminds me a little bit of a column I wrote in 2006 for a Progress Indiana, a local LGBT magazine a friend of mine created. I had a regular column called “Confessions of a Metrosexual”. Below is that column.

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I’ve always considered myself to be a pacifist. When I was young, I would defer arguments to the more aggressive kids, even though I knew I was right. It was easier that way—not as much conflict. Even today, I am primarily non-confrontational. I’m a lover, not a fighter.

Sunday, December 11, I did something I’ve never done before, and never thought I would do. My fearless editor Dave, fellow staff writer Tom and I trekked to the far land of Wabash, Indiana to shoot guns. Tom wanted to experience firing a gun for his story (in this issue!) and I thought it would be interesting to tag along.

(Click through to read the rest)

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Hello interwebz! I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you the books I hope to read over the summer. Although I am not in school, and summer is not any less busy for me, it’s still a great opportunity to slog my way though the ever-increasing list of books I hope to read. Let’s see if I can highlight some of my favorite below.

1. The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business by Tara Hunt. Link.

It sounds like a real page-turner, doesn’t it? I’m interested mostly because it refers to Whuffie, a concept created by one of my favorite authors and personal heroes, Cory Doctorow in his book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. It refers to a reputation-based currency — in a world where everything is provided and is free for the taking, whuffie is an incentive to do creative and useful things. In turn, the higher your whuffie levels, the better the parties you are invited to, the cooler your friends are, etc. Outside of Doctorow’s novels, it has taken on a general meaning of building your reputation.

There are many organizations now that are on Facebook, or have Twitter to communicate with their constituents. I maintain the Facebook page for my organization, and hopefully can learn some strategies to make the networking more effective.

2. Spunk and Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style by Arthur Plotnik. Link.

The media has been talking a lot about Strunk & White’s Elements of Style lately, a popular book that contain all sorts of outdate writing tips. Don’t get me wrong, I have a copy of Strunk & White’s book — I think it is fun to read, and it really does have some good advice. The writing style is that of an old stodgy retired professor uncle. The pages are rife with droll witticisms that amuse me. A lot of what it teaches (use nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs; never use passive voice) are truisms that aren’t really all that effective. Spunk and Bite appears to be a direct response to that. Here’s part of an Amazon review:

What is unique about this book is Plotnik’s witty and irreverent remarks about the wisdom of taking calculated risks. Try using an original “one-off” phrase if it suits your purpose and don’t be afraid to experiment with lively tropes or figures of speech. Will you occasionally make dreadful mistakes? Absolutely. However, you have a great deal more to lose (especially your audience) by playing it too safe.

Good advice! I’m looking forward to this book.

3. Down from Moonshine by Mary Ann Cain.

Mary Ann Cain is a creative writing professor at IPFW. I took a couple classes with her, and now after graduation, I consider her a friend and sort of a colleague, as she has been involved in the organization She’s published several novels, and this is her most recent work. Click here to read an excerpt. Mary Ann is skilled in writing magical realism stories, and while I am not sure yet if this is going to fit in that category, I know she’s worked long and hard on this novel. You can pick one up, I believe, at Borders or Hyde Brothers.

4. Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink Edited by David Remnik. Link. Every autumn when the New Yorker comes out with their food issue, I always make sure to read it up, even when I am not currently subscribing. Although I love most everything written in the New Yorker, the articles about food are the best. Although I wouldn’t want to eat the vast majority of the things they write about, I love to read about it. That’s why I like books like The Year of Eating Dangerously (Tom Parker Bowles is such a badass), and television shows like Good Eats and Bizarre Foods.

Highlights from the book:

A particularly wonderful profile introduces a wild-foods forager capable of making a ten course meal from ingredients in the field near his house; he and the author dine on cattails and watercress while canoeing through an icy November river. Another winning profile explores the life and times of a cheese-making nun with a Ph.D. in microbiology. But perhaps the greatest pleasure here is the gorgeous prose of masters like M.F.K. Fisher and A.J. Liebling. Liebling, in particular, knows how to turn meals into stories; though he wrote of Paris before the war, his descriptions are so immediate and enticing a reader wants to run out and buy the first plane ticket to France.

I’m psyched about this book — it’s 582 pages of New Yorker Food Issue content! However, due to the awesome but thick New Yorker-style writing, this one might take me all summer. Maybe I’ll read it in parts. Wow — this is the first book list I’ve made that isn’t primarily fiction. That’s all I used to read. I’m sure there will be the occasional science-fiction novel I’ll pick up. And I’ll try to blog about those when I find them. What books do you want to read this summer?