Here in The Paper Garden I like to wear the cloak of “writer” with a modicum of pride. Someday sooner rather than later, I’d like to add the hat of a published “author” and strut around for an instant before my work dissipates into likely obscurity.

The pinnacle of success for an author is the Pulitzer Prize, the Oscar of literature. Last week the Pulitzer Prize winners for 2012 were announced, and for the first time since 1977 there was no Pulitzer prize awarded for fiction.
 

A real blog post is forthcoming, but meanwhile, here's a little literary humor to lighten the mood of this dark Monday. 

It is deeply disheartening to learn of the explosions in Boston, and my heart goes out to anyone directly impacted by this act of violence. 

March Madness in re college hoops be damned!! Here’s some April madness  for the reading/writing geek brought to us by Powell’s—the top goddess of all bookstores and the place I often dream of being locked in after hours. Powell’s is sponsoring the bracket of all bracketing with their April (the cruelest month) Poetry Madness. The categories are as follows: Living Poets, Dead Poets, Poets in Translation and Pacific Northwest Poets (what can one say, Portland and Powell’s are nearly synonymous).  The method  for their bracketing choices is explained here in an appropriately tongue-in-cheek manner.

I began my morning by seeking some specific information on the net which led to reading a riveting short story by a total stranger (and then wandering here and there learning about journals and submissions), perusing an article about how much Vitamin D is really in natural supplements and then cross-checking specific supplements in my cupboard, watching a friend’s dog performing in a YouTube obedience video (and writing a supportive comment below said video)--and by 1:30PM I become acutely aware that  we are subject to ubiquitous information that floats by us like glittering objects pleading for our thirsty grasp.

The amount of information sent daily to my in-box or copiously linked as I browse the web is phenomenal--almost incomprehensible, and also unmanageable. I believe it was Sir Francis Bacon who noted that knowledge is power, and I’m constantly trying to address my meager power quotient by increasing my levels of knowledge on anything from molecular gastronomy to sedation dentistry to how many times a pulsar rotates per minute to cognitive behavior rehabilitation in pure positive training for dogs!