02.28.10 CHARLOTTESVILLE CHINESE

What a heart-warming surprise to find our favorite local Chinese restaurant, Taste of China, and its chef, Peter Chang, written up in both New Yorker magazine and the Oxford American this week! We have looked forward to a regular Friday evening celebration with his food for several months now. My favorite is #44 Dried Fried Eggplant Szechuan Style with its mystery ingredient which alternately sparkles in your mouth like a carbonated candy, and then numbs your tongue, changing the flavor of the rest of the spices.

02.15.10 THE BOOK EVOLVES

It seems I have devoted my professional life to the design of books (and publications). It has given me the opportunity to spend a lot of time thinking about the idea of "the book" and what it means. Just now this is a topic of great interest in our culture. Who really knows what all of the technological innovations will bring, but one thing is certain, the book has made a huge evolutionary leap!

To participate in these recent changes and to allow me to easily access the masses of digital texts being made available on the web, I decided to create my own "digital book." I have not been comfortable with the size and interface of the digital books offered by Sony, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others. So I designed a format for my own ebook. It has several advantages; it is not locked into any one publisher's proprietary system - it actually accesses them ALL - and it already operates in color. Best of all, it fits comfortably in my hand, is a pleasure to hold, and easily fits in my shirt pocket! Now I can carry thousands of "books" around in this little device I have created from the ubiquitous IPod Touch.

03.11.08 BREAD OF LIFE

My son, Jasper, is 19 and wondering which way to go next in his life. Last night when we came home we found him in the kitchen preparing to bake challah. We had no idea where this inspiration came from, but definitely encouraged it. He had never baked bread before in his life! Using some of the eggs from our chickens in the garden and with some in depth instruction on kneading from his mother he set to work. When we woke this morning the house was filled with the wonderful aroma of baking bread. We came downstairs to find these two beautiful loaves and a sleeping son. I left him this note and a kiss upon his head.

02.28.08 REDUNDANT REMINDER

The US Postal Service current postmark:

"LET US DARE TO READ, THINK, SPEAK, AND WRITE." John Adams

Perhaps a crack in the stoney face of what has been a monolithic policy of the US Government that fear justifies extreme measures denying Americans these freedoms. Let us not be afraid to be citizens, to speak our minds, and to find the path ahead through civil debate.

02.26.08 EVIDENT HOPE

Encouraged by these spontaneous creations of young people, I join the campaign to bring a hopeful political change to America.

01.05.08 ETERNAL BAGHDAD

From a poem by Ibn al-Utri on the destruction of Baghdad in the early ninth century. Recited by bookseller Naim al-Satri on September 14, 2007 as a curfew was lifted on Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, six months after a car bombing that devastated Iraq's historic book market.

Hand set in Lydian types and printed on Pescia by Bonnie Bernstein at Woods Creek Press. Woodcut by Leigh Ann Beavers.

With thanks to New York Times reporter Damien Cave, Washington and Lee University Art Department, and the Virginia Arts of the Book Center.

12.28.07 PARADOXICAL POSTING

Someone has posted these flyers on power poles along the street outside my office. Admonitions to inspire resolve for the coming new year.