Wednesday, June 29, 2005

The air now is so clean and sweet. The days are cool, so far, for summer, around 70F., give or take. This is the first cloudless morning I've seen in a while. The colors in the sky at twilight seem unreal, they are so vivid, luminous, transparent--like progressively overlain sheets of sugar glass. I went outside late last night to fetch something from the car and the stars in the moonless black sky slapped me upside the head with their brilliance, so numerous I felt like covering my ears to mute their deafening chorale. What wonders exist alongside us where we go. I'm reading a memoir by Nasdijj titled The Boy and His Dog are Sleeping. It relates with bitter, delirious, post-traumatic, grief-crazed intensity the half-Navajo author's time traveling with and caring for his adopted Navajo son suffering the last throes of AIDs. It reads like a blank-verse nightmare so beautiful you don't want to wake up. I wonder often how it could be true, but then I don't care because it should be. The boy is 11 when he is thrust into Nasdijj's life. Something about it all seems like purest metaphor--sung, screamed, dreamed. (Left: Nasdijj and canine friend; book jacket photo) 8:51:06 AM    comment []

I'm a magazine nut, with fantasies of making and distributing my own periodical someday. For the third year in a row, the Chicago Tribune has compiled its own list of best magazines--"our personal favorites, drawn from the titles that clutter our cubicles, litter our nightstands or just, frankly, fire us up. The ranking is deeply subjective." Here's the list (* = I like it, too; ** = I subscribe or have in the past; # = sounds intriguing but I've never seen a copy and will have to look for it now): #1. Blender **2. National Geographic Traveler (YES, some of the best writing around if you can ignore the rather desperately hip design) **3. Vanity Fair **4. Wired *5. Cook's Illustrated 6. New York 7. People 8. Vogue 9. People en Espanol 10. Metropolis 11. Shop Etc *12. Make 13. Newsweek/Time 14. Top Gear 15. National Geographic **16. Fine Gardening **17. The Atlantic Monthly 18. Entertainment Weekly **19. Esquire **20. The New Yorker # 21. Paste 22. Country Living 23. Consumer Reports **24. GQ 25. Armchair General 26. The Economist # 27. Mojo (British) 28. Robb Report **29. Shambhala Sun 30. Outside 31. Organic Style 32. Traditional Home 33. Chronicle of Higher Education 34. US Weekly 35. Washington Monthly *36. Fine Homebuilding 37. Birds & Blooms 38. Twins 39. Essence 40. Photo District News **41. The Week #42. Film Comment 43. Mad 44. Chicago 45. HELLO! (British) 46. Money 47. Lincoln Lore #48. Whole Dog Journal #49. Absolute 50. Lake Superior Magazine I find it interesting that the frankly anemic and cheesy Birds and Blooms made the list, and Harper's is altogether (and even pointedly) absent. 7:51:10 AM    comment []