In the latest edition of its alumni magazine, my undergraduate alma mater gives me a nod. It’s in the print edition of the magazine, but if you don’t happen to be a member of Varsity Blues Nation, you can read it online here.

Yesterday in midtown Manhattan a soon-to-be first time author trudged out of a large office building. He had spent much of the day doing “media training” — learning about and awkwardly practicing possible interviews, including simulations of both major media interviews and local call-in shows complete with odd callers. He had answered the same questions for hours, and at some point had forgotten that these were not real interviews.

Wearily crossing 2nd Avenue, he had to stop suddenly because a line of about a dozen police cars, their sirens screaming, were flying down the street. Somebody nearby said it was because Barack Obama was doing an event downtown.

To avoid the chaos, the fledgling author took an unplanned turn, and continued walking. Not quite realizing where he was, he soon found himself standing in front of the United Nations, where the flags of the world were arrayed beside one another, flapping in a reassuringly spring-like breeze. The flag directly in front of him just happened to be the familiar Israeli one, and he stopped walking, amused at this coincidence. That’s how all this started, he thought.

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Image by Flickr user zedwards used under a Creative Commons License.

Take a look at Daniel Levy’s new piece about “The Next President and the Middle East” in The American Prospect. I highly recommend it, as I do everything Daniel writes. I just think his surname is a bit off.

I hear that advance copies of my book are actually in existence. My agent saw some today. So did my editor. Even my wife did.

But I’m on the road, so I haven’t — which is a shame, since I really want to know how it ends. 

Back in 2007 I marched proudly into 2003 and joined Facebook, and now my book has done the same. As of yesterday, Shut Up, I’m Talking has its own Facebook page, and it’s where the cool kids on Facebook are hanging out. Also the uncool kids. And some people who really aren’t kids at all anymore and probably shouldn’t be on Facebook in the first place. To be perfectly honest, it’s mostly just people I forced to join. But anyway, you should become a Facebook “Fan” of the book. Right now.

I think this article in Salon about animal cruelty in China is really interesting, and really depressing. With the obvious example of the Tibet stuff going on, and more problems sure to come (Taiwan? Falun Gong? Human Rights?), the Beijing Olympics is sure going to be complicated.

I’m sure most of you saw this ages ago, but since it’s a Friday and since this might very well be the single greatest thing the internet has ever given us, I’m going to put it out there anyway:

Have a good weekend.

A new poll suggests that 84% of Palestinians support the recent murderous attack on a Jerusalem seminary. At first blush, it’s the kind of news — like “Bad Idea Number Four” — that makes you want to just throw up your hands and give up on the situation. But since a majority of Palestinians support a two-state solution and don’t support continuing violence in general, I want to believe that the wording or context of this particular poll question was somehow flawed. In all likelihood, they support the attack itself out of a sense of vengeance and spite — not good things, of course — but I can’t imagine they support the likely consequences if such things continue. But maybe I’m wrong.

My book is heading to London next month for the London Book Fair, a big industry event where, among other things, foreign rights for U.S. books are sold.

Publishers Weekly has even been kind enough to mention Shut Up, I’m Talking in its reporting about the upcoming fair. Take a look — especially if you happen to be a non-U.S. publishing bigwig. I’d really love to see my book in Tagalog or Icelandic.

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