Happy Halloween Regionalism?!

Some nostalgia today for our first year in the program. Tell me some good jokes, or your best Halloween costume, trick, memory. (I meant to post this this morning, but I've been busy. First trick or treaters just arrived at the new digs in NM.) I guess my best or funniest Halloween memories are my brother getting busted for taking a hatchet to some old guy's tree (my brother was Jason that year), or me going as Richard Nixon, wearing one of my dad's suits, at ten years old, and telling an Alzheimer's joke. Today I had a Chinese Emperor, crunk dancer and Samurai Warrior in my classes.

H20 update**So all these kids are coming to my door sticking their hands out, and I keep saying, "What?! What's your trick?" or, "Do you have a joke for me?" See, growing up in my neck of the suburban woods, you had to earn your candy. Apparently not so in the great Southwest. I stressed over my trick or treat joke every year, even the Alzheimer's one. We absolutely HAD to tell a joke before we got our piece of candy. I need to know if this is/was regional, suburban, old, pagan, whatever. I'm totally pissed that I can't even laugh tonight but instead have to make kids cry even though I'm giving them candy.

Story

The Two of You is up at Barrelhouse.

Dinner

My story "Dinner" is live at Shelf Life Magazine.

In The News

I just logged on to salon.com, and guess what's in the top stories on the 24/7 Wire?

Gardner-Webb Beats Presbyterian!

Growl!

Purple Novel

They're fierce political opponents, but it turns out that the presidential candidates do agree on a literary matter: Each man picks Ernest Hemingway's 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls as a favorite.
Read on for comments from Robert Stone.

You are not required to read this

My story formerly known as "pretty girls" made the notable list for the best american nonrequired reading 2008.

I miss you.

To Build A Fire With A Glass of Water

For those of you who teach power and privilege, race, civil rights, economic hardship, etc, here's a great site (I sure could have used it back in the 1310 days) with some interesting lesson plans: understanding prejudice .

It wants to be a single word

Keep praising Jack below. I just found a couple of links and haven't posted in quite some time. On the unapologetic, crazy ambition of the short story; and a story by Dago in last month's Harpers.

Exclamation Marks!

I got a piece of flash into barrelhouse online!

And guess what? It's not about gender.

Future Serial Killer

www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/03/australia.zoo.carnage.ap/index.html

I think we all have to write a story about this.

I can't help it; I really wanted the article to end with "and then the crocodile ate the boy."

Ouch

"The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," Engdahl said. "That ignorance is restraining."

Endahl=permanent secretary, voting member, spokesman for the secretive panel that selects the winners of the nobel prize in literature.

This article was, I think, originally posted in the nytimes. It is kind of fun to read the comments pile up on the nytimes book blog, papercuts.

Also, guess who's birthday it is, today?