My Gentle Plug for Others to Join Me on Next Month’s Quest.

I always introduce myself as a writer and sort-of musician, and now I add to that, a ramp agent. And as a writer, sort of musician, and ramp agent who writes about being a ramp agent, I am going to use my little forum to invite anyone interested to do something that I have been doing for the last 2 years.

The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an event that is now in its 12th year. It is a fun exercise in what founder Chris Baty calls “exuberant imperfection,” or in other words, writing a 50 thousand word novel in only 30 days--during the month of November. More info here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano

It’s hard, it’s messy, it seems impossible. But it is possible, and what’s more, it is so much fun that I can’t possibly imagine ever going a year without doing it.

November is already my favorite month of the year, with my birthday (the 19th!), football season, the leaves changing, Thanksgiving (along with the Fourth of July, my favorite holiday), and add to that the 30 day sprint to 50 thousand words. And I’m especially excited for this year, because my new job has introduced me to so many people and so many new situations (as my lovely wife said it would when she encouraged me to take this job!) that I think I have a whole new well of inspiration to draw from.

The first year I did it, I came up with the book I called The Best of Thunder Johnson, a story about a cable access employee who accidentally broadcasts a porno movie over the air and then becomes the focus of a disturbed mental patient’s rage. It was fun, it was inspired, and overall I am happy with the final result. It is a story that would never have been possible had I not put forth the effort to write so much in so little time, even if the original product was a complete mess.

I encourage anyone out there to try this with me. You say you don’t have time, that no one can possibly do a good job on a novel in such a short time? That’s half the point! It’s actually more fun to do things like this when you have less time. Because that way, the time you spend writing becomes sacred, and more meaningful, and dare I say, more meditative. It creates a break from the busy world you inhabit. And besides, sleep is overrated.
So do this with me: write a novel. Be my writing buddy! Writing starts November 1!

Update: request for new trial to fight unfairly high parking fine!

Still trying to fight the $102 parking fine, on the basis that it is unfairly high. They gave me a trial date that I couldn't make. I requested a new date. This is their letter in response:

They usually make it so that it is too difficult to even bother fighting. They assume that most people have day jobs and that they won't bother losing pay to fight the ticket. Not me: I plan to be a big pain in the ass to Baltimore City, who makes her residents put up with a lot of shit in this area. Is the penalty for parking ever worth $102 dollars? Does the punishment fit the crime?
I don't think so.

quick thought about writing...

I’m reading over my last year's somewhat forgotten NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) novel, which I tentatively titled “The Self-Affirmator.” And I think I have given it short shrift by not editing it. As I read over this raw manuscript, I’m finding myself loving it and hating it at the same time, but somewhere in there is a story that I like. I guess I’m thinking about it because the next NaNoWriMo is upcoming, and I’m excited about it.

I look at what I came up with last year as a really hard-fought victory which I rewarded myself by…failing to follow through. I know I’ve been busy and all that, with home improvements that have taken up my work space, with job changes that have kept me…well, working. And that, coupled with an ambivalence about my writing has let this sit on the shelf. And you know what? It shouldn’t. Writing is about committing to the work, believing in yourself and the power of your work.

On my wall hangs a great quote: “Those seeking success in their writing must, above all, be prepared for the long haul, with unflinching commitment to their work…as with a broken heart, there is no therapy but going forward.”*

I should look at my wall more often.




*from Writer's Journal--when I have time I'll make sure to credit this properly, 'k?

September 14, 2010.

September 14, 2010.

To : District Court of Maryland
CC: Baltimore City Parking Fines Section.


Enclosed is a copy of my notice to stand trial in the case of parking violation number 9******. I am requesting a new trial date because the trial date of September 17, for which I was notified by letter on September 13, is much too short notice to get off of work. Please grant me a new trial date so that I have time to arrange to have off. Thank you for your attention in this matter.

David Cookson
Baltimore, MD
21211

I'm fighting my $102 parking ticket...

Tuesday was a much needed day off where I took care of many of the ordinary things I used to take for granted. When it came time for dinner, I jumped in the car and headed down toward the stadium to Potbelly’s (a wonderful Chicago-based sandwich joint which utterly destroys the swill they serve at Subway). Usually when we are down that way for an O’s game, I park for free in a secret spot (okay: I used to live in that neighborhood, so it’s not really so secret.) But for whatever reason I got down there and parked somewhere else. Hell, I was only going to be picking up some sandwiches, it wasn’t like I was parking for the game…

I took the short walk down to the sandwich place, picked up our food, plus lunch for tomorrow, and when I returned no more than 20 minutes later, the three cars on the street were getting ticketed: including mine.

It’s been awhile, I thought. I guess I was due. I turned it over to see what the damage was: $102! For parking in a stadium zone!

I felt myself going through the six stages of grief, already firmly in stage 1: denial. How was this possible? I was away for 20 minutes! I’d been parking down here forever, on the other side of the street, and never had a problem. But now, because I was silly enough to put it on the “odd” side, I got a massive, unrealistically large sum of $102. The only good part about this was that I had made it back early enough to avoid the tow truck, which was already taking the other wayward parked cars on the street.

I’ve been going over in my head what $102 means to me: how many bags I have to stack to make that, how much overtime, how many hours that is for me...and it hurts. I just don’t see how what I did warrants that level of a ticket. I can accept the occasional $27 for an expired meter, maybe even a $42 for parking in a two hour zone for three hours. But $102 for 20 minutes? It really seems excessive. And that is why I am going to court to fight this.

Anytime I get a ticket, I always defiantly claim stuff like “I’m gonna fight this with every last ounce of strength left in my body!” only to give in to the eventual apathy and just pay the stupid fine. But now, I’m actually going to do it.

I’ve put in a request for a trial, if for no better reason than because I feel I have nothing to lose. My argument is simple: the fine is excessive. If I have to pay it then I have to pay it. But living in Baltimore City is painful enough: high crime, a crappy baseball team, awful traffic, bad public transportation, corruption at City Hall…I think it’s time to stand up and make someone justify this to me. The worst that can happen is the judge tells me to shut up and pay the stupid fine. But maybe, just maybe I will prevail...

Has anyone out there ever challenged a parking ticket? I want to hear from you!

Books: With Garlic and Victory

WIth Garlic and Victory by J. M. I. Kagan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Disclosure: Author is a long-time friend of mine, and I am familiar with many of the real-life characters upon which his material is drawn.

With Garlic and Victory is (to my knowledge) Josh’s second book, and it’s work would appear to have been written/collected in the last 8-10 years. It is an enjoyable read, with a mixture of stories and blank verse poems which read like stories, reminiscent of the work of Charles Bukowski. Josh is painfully honest about himself in his writing, and his depictions of his life as a poor, beer-drinking, coffee-swilling artist who has made a career out of working in kitchens, are tremendously entertaining and truthful.

“So why do you want to work here?” he stretched out on the seat, arms folded, his face betrayed the countenance of a man suffering with hot grease on his balls and a spatula broken off in his ass…
“Well, I’m new in town and times are hard, so…”
“Well, as an employer, it’s hard to hear I was your last resort…listen, I can take one look at you and see you won’t fit in here…”
“THAT’S IT? You called me all the way out here for a two minute interview hoping I’d tell you my dream in life, my true aspiration was to flip burgers? What kind of asshole are you?”
I walked out.

In many ways I consider Josh’s work a throwback--his work would be perfectly at home in Depression era fiction: the story of a factotum just trying to survive. The opening story about trying to get a job in a restaurant in Portland, only to fail because the boss didn’t think he would be a proper ass-kisser, and the story about donating plasma for money are sad reminders of a rough time for the both of us (something we both did when we lived in Portland) but it is very in-line with the rest of the themes running through With Garlic and Victory: Everything is bullshit--and work is just a means to an end to put food on the table and beer in the fridge while keeping your soul intact. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is a goddamn liar.

At 85 pages, this book that breezes right along. I’d have read the whole thing in one sitting if I could have. Great job!

View all my reviews >>

Books: Why Darwin Matters

Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design by Michael Shermer


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A breezy read through all the arguments you will ever need to argue with any proponent of Intelligent Design. This book, written by the head of the National Skeptics Society, pretty much lays bare all the arguments used against evolution in the name of equal time or “teaching the controversy” of (essentially) creationism vs. evolution. Science has a process: Intelligent Design has an agenda. As Shermer concludes, “Darwin Matters because evolution matters. Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the pre-eminent story of our age, an epic saga about who we are, where we came from and where we are going.” (P. 161) ‘Nuff said.

View all my reviews >>

DGK10 at the Sidebar this Saturday!!!

Are you up for a Davey G show?
Did you miss the last one?


This Saturday! On the eve of my new career outside of the food service industry, the Sidebar hosts the second
Davey G and the Keyboard 10th Anniversary Show!
We all had so much fun last month at the first DGK10 show, and many of you came out and had a great time. But maybe some of you couldn’t make it. And some of you really missed the presence of Man-Friend: the Davey G Tribute band. Well, here’s our chance to make it right, and celebrate ten years of Davey G and the Keyboard.





Saturday, June 12
The Sidebar
218 E. Lexington Street

Davey G and the Keyboard
The Mandroids
Rare Candy
Markitect
4th Grade Security Risk

…And the return of
Man-Friend (The Davey G tribute band)


Doors at 9 p.m. Hope to see you there!!!

--Davey G.

My “retirement” from the Food Service Industry

(The first post in what will soon be a blog that will be separate from this one)

Friday I gave my two weeks notice from a job I have held for the better part of 9 and a half years to embark upon something else, something entirely different than the jobs I have been doing since the time I was 18.
Food service, I say to you, it’s been fun…

In 1994 I moved to Maryland from my parents' home and started upon a long “career” of sorts in the food service industry. This was after spending 2 years at a fairly cushy high school job (the public library) but then needing the freedom and independence and even more desperately needing to get out of my hometown and find a better life.

And that led me to fall into the quick and easy gainful employment (whatever that means) of the service industry, with the jobs that are easy to get, but oh so painful and unrewarding.

But I was lucky. After a false start at a bakery at the tourist-y Inner Harbor in Baltimore (personal note: beware of any new occupation that requires you to buy tan pants) where I was asked, quite seriously, “Where’s your smile???”, I found a job at a deli downtown. (Okay, actually, the bakery let me go, which might technically be the one and only time I was ever “let go”--like a turd--from a job…I believe my manager’s exact words were “I think you might be better off looking for another job.” I can probably talk about this later. Anyway…)

I walked into a little deli and asked if they were looking for “counter help.” They were, and though it was a tough job with a fairly demanding boss and initially low pay, I survived an early push to sack me (I’m a slow learner and up to that point had very little food service experience.) I wound up thriving in an environment that turned out to be very nurturing and comfortable. The boss who wanted to fire me wound up looking at me as a surrogate son…admittedly, this is not a relationship I am entirely comfortable with, but it allowed her to be more forgiving of my shortcomings. I stayed there an astonishing 6 years before I jumped on an offer to work at my favorite drinking hole, the Irish Pub. After 6 years, I left the deli, free of what had at times been a very trying experience, but one that I was happy to have had. I said “I’m never going to do that again,” meaning I would never stay so long at a job like that.

9 and a half years later...

Oh, I love the pub. I have worked there through the entire Bush Administration. I was there on 9/11. I watched Super Bowls, worked St. Patty’s Days, made many friends, watched more than 40 servers come and go, cooked many hundreds of burgers, cleaned the toilets many hundreds of times, and washed countless dishes…but almost more importantly, The Pub has been a constant in my life. When I started, I was single. At the end, I am married. I went through girlfriends, rental properties, cars, friends, acquaintances, people I never want to see ever again, and all the while the Pub was still there, a constant presence in my life. It is an anomaly in a business that is by nature volatile and uncertain: a restaurant that has been open and under the same ownership for almost 30 years. It is not run by some crazy iron-fisted autocratic despot, like you are used to seeing on the Food Network or in big restaurants. It is instead run simply by Bill, who could never be called autocratic. Hard work and the luck of the Irish have been with Bill and his wonderful family, and he somehow makes it work. I have been there for the Pub, and it has been there for me.

And now, after all this time, almost 16 years in the food service industry (some jobs I have yet to mention that may have fallen through the cracks: Produce clerk, Pizza delivery man, I was a prep cook for three days at a job I was ill-suited for both in skills and mentally, I washed dishes at a crazy busy breakfast place) I am proud to yell from the mountaintops the one thing I have wanted to say for years:

I am retiring from the Food Service industry!

Oh, okay…don’t burn your bridges, never say never, yeah, I get it. But I’m 34 years old, and for various reasons I will explore shortly, I need this part of my life to end. And now, thanks to a fortuitous series of events, I am about to embark on a career change, one that takes me hopefully quite far from the reality of the kitchen/deli counter/dish room/what have you.

Meet the new me. Davey G: Ramp Agent for Southwest Airlines.
Stand by…

DGK10 show recap.

(Pictured: Me, Scott Alexander, Paperback Tragedy, and the Pfisters)
One of the best compliments I can ever get for a show I put on has almost nothing to do with my actual performance. It is something that I might overhear someone saying but that is never actually said to me: “Wow, this is a really weird crowd.” Weird, as in, the people you see at this show would most likely never be at the same place at the same time anywhere else but at a Davey G show. To me it is fun to get groups of people who may like pop-punk hanging out with hard-core fans or fans of comedy of just plain well-wishers, friends, girlfriends, wives, etc. There’s bands and people that I like who don’t all fit into the same mold, and that’s really what this show was about for me.

The Davey G and the Keyboard 10th Anniversary Show at the Windup was a very personal show for me. In addition to celebrating 10 years of something this monumental, it also coincides with a major change in my life: a new job in a completely non-food service related area (more on this in an upcoming blog). I can’t lie--getting up and announcing this to the crowd and getting such a wildly positive reaction made me more happy than I thought possible. My words were heartfelt, my thanks are real. As I said toward the end of my set, this was not a Davey G and the Keyboard retirement show, just the marking of an occasion.

For the record: I played 22 songs, plus an encore. 10 songs were from the “Generica” album. The songs “Lost in the misery,” “Bowl Games,” “Boppity Bop,” “You Just Made My List” and “Why Must We Wear Pants?” are songs that I probably haven’t played live since the very beginning, and “Nervous Breakdown” and “Theme From a Sci-Fi Discussion Show” are songs that I’ve never played live. I borrowed my closing line from the late Frank Zappa: “Good Night, Baltimore, wherever you are!”

Wild Bonerz opened, filling in for the late cancellation of Man-Friend. Scott Alexander, Paperback Tragedy, and the Pfisters all rocked with reckless abandon, and I thank them all for doing so.
Thanks to everyone who came out, and hope to see you at the next one!
--Davey G.

Rambling words about Davey G and the Keyboard a fortnight before the Davey G and the Keyboard 10 Year Anniversary Show (a short series) Part 2.

Part two of two. Read part one.

For my 10 year anniversary as Davey G and the Keyboard, initially I had pictured doing one big show with a dozen bands and maybe making it an all day thing. Quickly I realized that this would not be desirable for anyone. It’s very hard to expect people to stick around for 12 or so bands and then face the very real possibility of it all backfiring for me, the “headliner,” as all but the most dedicated fans run out of gas before I’ve even started.
Instead, I chose the two-date option, with bands or parts of bands that I have played with over the past 10 years.

Which now gets me to those bands…

Pfisters. I haven’t actually played with them, but Darren and all the Sidebar crew have been stalwart supporters of Davey G over the last several years and I really appreciate that. Ditto for Matty of the Mandroids, with whom I have played twice, both times at Free Comic Book Day at the Collector’s Corner.

Paperback Tragedy has been there pretty much since the beginning, when they were still known as Brat. Will West is kind of a personal hero--he’s a true musician who plugs away year after year, true to his craft and a great guy to boot. Him and Paperback Tragedy get nothing but respect from me.

Scott Alexander and I go back to 2005, when we met at the Talking Head Club Gong Show. Since then we have shared a stage or two or three, and he recently appeared on the People’s Court and won.

Man Friend, the Davey G tribute band…what can I say? Ken and Co. have put together a tribute band in my honor. I honestly can’t wait to hear what my songs will sound like coming from someone else.
http://www.maximumsciencefiction.com/
Rare Candy’s brand of video game music has been a great fit for any bill I have been on. Ditto for Markitect’s brand of solo indy rock. A friend of mine is convinced that 4th Grade Security Risk is the best band name ever. Can’t argue with that.

Common questions people tend to ask me:

So…where do you perform?

I have performed many times at the Sidebar and the Windup Space. In the past, I have played the Ottobar (back when it was on Davis Street), I frequently played The Talking Head (ditto), and Winchester’s Comedy Club. at Source of the Nile (Pittsfield, now defunct), Spotlighter’s Theatre, Metro Gallery, Lionheart Café (Albany), Schenectady Cable Access, Hampshire College, a couple shows at Once Twice Sound and at Free Comic Book Day in Parkville, and for a time back in ’01 I had the Davey G Variety Show at Winchester’s for a couple of shows.

Dave, I know your middle name doesn’t begin with a “G.” What gives?


“G” is a tribute to Warren G. Harding, one of the greatest President of our age. I have no idea, it’s just a name I chose long ago and it happens to rhyme with a lot of words.

What’s with the lotion?

You gotta stay smooth in this business…
Actually, I did it at the very first show, and it stuck. It just always gets a reaction. I used to use a fresh bottle for every show, then I started watering it down, which makes it much messier-looking and far more effective. And if you don’t have any idea of what I’m talking about…

Dave, you have so many great songs: what’s your favorite?

Great question! Very insightful! I love all my songs like they were my children. I’d like to believe that at any one time during the show, I am playing somebody’s favorite song. From a performance perspective, I like Wash the Dish. From a personal listening perspective, I’d go with either Milwaukee or I Wanna Be a Real Musician--I’m especially proud of that one because it’s one song that doesn’t use a pre-set and also I play drums on it.

Most popular song?

Man Friend, hands down. A lot of people tell me they like one song or another, but everyone seems to like Man Friend.

I like that flyer better than I like you: Who made it?


That flyer was made by Mr. Alex Fine. He does excellent work: this is the third flyer he has made for me. When I see he has done such great work for a show I’m doing, I feel a great need to raise my game and do the best show ever. Here’s his info. www.facebook.com/alexfineillustration

So it’s been 10 years: What’s next?

Difficult to say…I will keep performing and making new songs. I have been doing a lot of writing, with a book out in zine form and others in the works. I just want to create, perform and enjoy my life. Odds are, if you are in touch with me either personally or over various social media, you will know about what I will be doing next.

http://www.facebook.com/daveygandthekeyboard
http://twitter.com/daveygandthe

Anything else?

Come to the Davey G and the Keyboard 10th !!!
Saturday, May 22 at the Windup Space!
And
Saturday, June 12 at the Sidebar!

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you at the show!
--Davey G.

Rambling words about Davey G and the Keyboard a fortnight before the Davey G and the Keyboard 10 Year Anniversary Show (a short series) Part 1

10 Years…a career that started on the couch of a house on Maryland Avenue…yes, the Davey G and the Keyboard trajectory has taken many turns. From the time that my old band, Lampstand, (for which I was not a keyboardist but a drummer) had it’s final meeting (a reunion eight years after our breakup) on July 2, 2000 until now, it has been quite a trip. Little did I know that the reunion of my high school band would ignite a desire within me that would last for so long. I’ve written about a lot of this before, so I’ll try to be brief in recapping it all…

Read about Lampstand here then come back and read the rest…

After that last show, I became inspired to return to the stage. After a summer of writing songs and goofing around on an old Kawai X20 keyboard, I had a set, and then a show, my first. September 2, 2000. 23 people showed up, and an act was born.
http://davecookson.tripod.com/daveyghistory.html

A few months later, I had a “tour” with my old band mate, Kneil, who was at the time in a band called Bromp Treb. I played in front of a green screen at Schenectady Cable Access, then a house party in Pittsfield, and then a show at Hampshire College. It was then January of 2001, and in those 3 shows, I really felt like I was on to something, setting a course that neither of us could have been aware of at the time…
2001-2002 was a heavy period of performances. Davey G and the Keyboard, as I was now calling myself, was getting off the ground. I had a fairly important show at the old Ottobar, then got a series of shows at the now defunct Winchester’s Comedy Club. I played and I played, and then I stopped, in 2002, and did not return until 2005...

When I came back to the stage in 2005, it was to much fanfare, more shows, more focus. I put together Prepare to be Keyboarded, then two years later I worked on what I had hoped would be my masterwork, Chairman of the Keyboard. This album was an attempt at more “professionalism,” an attempt to compensate for some of the rush jobs of the past. It was nothing if not an exercise in anal-retentiveness, at least as much of that as I am capable…

2008/2009 were also busy years, playing at the Sidebar, my home away from home.
Which brings me up to now, 10 years after the release of “Generica,” and the Davey G and the Keyboard 10th Anniversary Show (s)...

Next: The DGK 10 lineup and comments….

The Davey G and the Keyboard 10th Anniversary Show (s)

Flyer courtesy of Alex Fine.

On the 10th anniversary of his landmark album, “Generica” Davey G celebrates with you …
In the year 2000, I released my very first album, “Generica,” in cassette form. It had 21 tracks, some of which were very good, some of which were not very good. But it was the start of something fantastic, and ten years later it is time to celebrate the “achievement” of that magical debut album which launched the career of Davey G and the Keyboard. Come see me, Davey G in 2 very special shows in which I will be drawing heavily from that first album…



Saturday, May 22
The Windup Space
12 W. North Avenue
Davey G and the Keyboard
Pfisters
Paperback Tragedy
Scott Alexander
Man-Friend (The Davey G tribute band)

Saturday, June 12
The Sidebar
218 E. Lexington Street

Davey G and the Keyboard
The Mandroids
Rare Candy
Markitect
4th Grade Security Risk








Doors at 9 p.m for Both Shows.

3 Quick book reviews

The last several books I’ve read have been kind of similar so I’m going to throw them into one blog post here.

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m probably short-changing this fairly brilliant book by simply saying that it is an excellent follow-up to Freakonomics, applying the same off-beat approach to human behavior based upon incentives. I would say that I’m a little annoyed that they opened the book with the whole bit about prostitutes, as it really prevents me from being able to recommend it to, say, somebody’s smart but uptight dad, because it is otherwise a hugely entertaining read and a great way to start thinking about the world around us.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
After reading both the Freakonomics books, Gladwell was an obvious follow-up. This is a brilliant examination of the forces at work which cause an idea to become an epidemic (like the Macarena or Hush Puppies or maybe Bill Clinton). For examples, he uses Paul Revere’s Ride, NYC Subway vigilante Bernard Getz, and a fascinating correlation between suicide and smoking. My only thought about this book is that it could very well be used in a cynical way in some evil marketing plan by say, the vile food of KFC or something.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a brilliant book about the power of “thin slicing,” or the ability to make decisions based upon a person’s reactions in the first few moments of any situation. It explores this phenomenon in the world of art, music, politics, and crime. I was a big fan of Gavin de Becker’s The Gift of Fear, and this book would probably make a great companion piece for that.

All three of these books are worth checking out for their off-beat thinking and fast-paced writing.



SF= 4 stars
TTP= 5 stars
Blink= 4 and a half stars


View all my reviews >>

236 or… Davey G and a dramatic attempt to lower his cholesterol Part 3.

The final part of a three part series...I was told I had high cholesterol and needed to bring it down or else have to go on medication. This is what I did to try to prevent that.

I’ve been reading so much these days, I actually find it comforting to have such an ordinary problem for which there is a whole wealth of literature out there addressing. A book by Dr. Janet Brill called Cholesterol Down has given me some semblance of a program with which to work, and I’ve adapted many of it into my current routine. Some of the advice I did not take: I wasn’t crazy about the suggestion that I take Metamucil, so I decided to skip that one. I had trouble incorporating Flax Seeds into the diet. But overall, it was a very powerful plan that helped me a great deal so if that sounds like an endorsement of this book, then go ahead and check it out of your local library.

Whole grain oats. Every day I eat Cheerios, which this book considers to be an acceptable substitute for cholesterol-lowering oatmeal (which I also eat). I have also substituted whole grain bread for all my sandwich needs
(I keep a stash at work). If there is only one thing of which I am sure about all this, it is that a diet of whole grains is absolutely necessary in any serious attempt to lower cholesterol. A side note: I also laid off the mayonnaise, but I’m sure it will find other work real soon. (sorry, bad pun).

Apples and nuts. An apple a day. Red delicious are supposed to be the best for my purpose, but fujis are right up there. I cut up an apple and eat it with a handful of almonds, which are good for your cholesterol but are also high in fat. Therefore, just a handful a day to get the benefit of this food.

Overall, I’ve found that the biggest changes in my diet are an increase in fruits and vegetables (for the necessary fiber) and the elimination of cheese, which is fatty and raises cholesterol--in fact, high cholesterol seems to be a result of consuming animal products, of which I must say I do consume a lot.

Soy. I probably didn’t follow this one religiously, but I tried. I ate boca burgers, I used soy milk in my coffee. If nothing else, soy milk in my coffee turned out to be a very yummy thing (vanilla flavor was my favorite.)

Exercise. Would you believe I joined a gym? Would you believe that I have been running 25 minutes at a time 4-5 days a week? Would you believe that I actually find myself liking it? There’s something about routine that I obviously must crave, and indeed I thrive under it. Writing every day helps me to write better, and running every day helps me to run better. Going to a gym and running on a treadmill, listening to music that I like and knowing that I am burning calories, to boot--well, it’s pretty great. I am at that point where I need to maintain my body or watch it fall apart, and while my generally active lifestyle keeps me from gaining weight, putting in that extra effort has helped me to lose weight. In 80 days I went from 160.2 pounds to 150.4, almost a whole 10 pounds. While it wasn’t the objective of this project, it certainly didn’t hurt it either.

So…how did I do?
After almost 2 months of this diet and routine, would all of these things really reduce my cholesterol? Even just a little bit? Or would I be forced to give in to the inevitable and take medication? I can only speak for myself on the issue of medication. I know that for some people, diet and exercise are not enough, and medication provides a solution. But I just really hoped that this would not be the case for me, and that is why I took so many steps to ensure that this wouldn’t happen.

April 17.
I went to the Dr. on Wednesday and got my blood drawn again. I had nothing to eat and then to be on the safe side, I didn’t even have a beer before bed. I called back today and asked for my results, and the Dr. said everything was good--and I asked him how good: What was the number?

“154. Good Job--keep doing what you are doing!”


154? Down from 236?
82 points??? In 82 days???
I did it!


It’s very empowering to know that simply by taking direct and positive action, I could affect a change in myself this profound.

I’ve changed, albeit, in a small way. But it is definitely something real. When I go to the store, I look in my basket and I see things I had never seen in it before: apples. Carrots. Salad mix. Skim Milk. Bananas.
And I think about how even that is a big switch, a small but important step away from a general apathy about my health I felt before.
It helps that I’m not really a food person. Or at least there is nothing previously in my diet so important that I couldn’t learn to live without it (I don’t like bacon THAT much.) That said…
I’ve got a gift card for Outback Steakhouse that we’ve been sitting on for months now. Now that I know my number is down, I think it’s time for a little indulgence (I’d say “Hello Bloomin’ Onion if I actually liked onions). And then we’re back on the good stuff Monday because I rather like my healthy, 10 pound lighter self.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to become an obnoxious health nut--this is not going to become “The Doctor G Health Blog.” I just wanted to let people know that I am a regular guy with a common problem that I believe I have conquered. Much like when you fall in love, you want to tell the world, I want to tell the world that I lowered my cholesterol. If any of this helps you, great. If not, great--thanks for reading anyway.

That’s it for now. Feel free to comment or ask questions, otherwise, I’m getting back to book reviews and Davey G shows and other Davey G related things, and tomorrow I going to enjoy my yummy steak.
--Davey “I lost 10 pounds and 82 points off my cholesterol and I’m not even selling anything to profit off of it” G.

236 or…Davey G and a dramatic attempt to lower his cholesterol Part 2.

In Part 1, I was told I needed to lower my cholesterol from the very high number of 236 (it should be under 200). It led me to think about some of my bad habits. Here were my thoughts.
(NOTE: I AM BY NO MEANS AN EXPERT IN HEALTH OR CHOLESTEROL MANAGEMENT--WHAT FOLLOWS IS MERELY MY OBSERVATIONS OF MY OWN STEPS I’VE TAKEN TO TRY TO LOWER MY CHOLESTEROL.)

I considered some of the things in my life that I was doing and was forced to admit that not all of it was very good. Some of this may seem harmless, but actually some of it was really hurting me:

Alcohol.

Oh, for me it’s tough to imagine a life without alcohol. I admit, it’s been a constant in my life for many, many years. I have never been a binge drinker (well---once in awhile, as some of my friends know)--usually I drink to relax. To this end, I drink every day, about 3 to 5 beers a night.
But tell a Doctor or a non-drinker that you have “3 to 5 beers a night” and it sure as hell sounds like a lot.

Because I am serious about lowering my cholesterol, I need to change this.

Because I do not feel that I want to completely cut alcohol out of my life, I must compromise.

What I changed:
“3 to 5 beers a day” gets reduced to 1-3 a day, usually no more than 2.
What this does, I realize, is it makes me look at alcohol from a different perspective. I start to notice that if I am aware of the fact that I am only “allowed” 1-3 a day, then I want those “1 to 3” to count. So I don’t want to waste one of my “1 to 3” by say, drinking one in the afternoon or drinking one when I don’t really want it, or say, drinking one after I’ve already had a few when I really won’t appreciate it. I’ve found that since I started rationing and thinking about it, I’m usually okay with just one a night, which as far as I can tell from any of the on-line sources I’ve read about cholesterol, is perfectly okay (2 a day for men, 1 a day for women because women metabolize alcohol less rapidly.) (A note on this: if you don’t drink, don’t start. And I may be rationalizing my rationing of alcohol by quoting possibly biased information.)

The point being, this is a big change for me. And the whole point is that I needed to do something.

Cheese.
The hardest part of this whole thing has been cheese. I truly believe it is the one area in which I have never considered as part of a problem, but when I think about it, I eat it every day. It is on every sandwich, it is on every pizza, and it is bad, bad, bad. And damn, it is so good. But I have to cut it out.

What I changed:
I gave up cheese. Or I looked for a low-fat cheese: under 3g of fat per serving--it was harder than I thought it would be. I learned that I could live without it. Or I learned that I could live with less of it. Still haven’t quite figured out the pizza thing…
If I were to completely dumb down any info or wisdom I have gained from this experience of changing my diet and habits, it is that no cheese and less beer and more exercise equals less weight and (hopefully) lower cholesterol.

Whole Milk.
Fatty and bad for me. I always used whole milk on my cereal, in my coffee…
What I changed:
I went from whole milk to 1% now to skim milk in my cereal. And you know what? I got used to it. I started putting soy milk in my coffee. Much less fat and it gets some soy into my diet, which is good for lowering cholesterol.

Bacon.
It’s just really bad for you, as are hot dogs, as is bologna, because it is all just processed crap (as Jamie Oliver would say in his Food Revolution). Bologna really is just one big hot dog, by the way. When I used to work at a deli and had to slice it, I could see that it really was just a giant hot dog put into slice-able form.
What I changed:
I just don’t eat it anymore. It’s just not worth it. Plus, I already had experience with giving up bacon.


Next up: Specifics. Things I added to my routine that helped me.

236 or…Davey G and a dramatic attempt to lower his cholesterol Part 1.

(Note: I’m splitting this up into multiple parts due to its length and due to the fact that part 2 still needs work. And to add dramatic tension. Hang in there.)

I’m going to write about something that may or may not interest anyone, but I write it out of the hope that maybe I can pass along a little of what I have learned in a relatively short period of time. I have found in the many years that I have been writing semi-publicly, I have been surprised at the positive reactions I receive when I simply write from the heart. Today, ironically, it is about the heart that I write.

Or more specifically, cholesterol.

I have always been in reasonably good health--no major diseases, I don’t get sick very often, and I am fairly active. I ride a bike to work, (and recreationally--read here) I walk frequently, and I work on my feet in a fairly un-sedentary life. I would consider my eating habits--well, not the best, but I have only ever had a vague sense of caution about what I eat. For example, I have always known that it is not a good idea to eat a lot of fried food, and that maybe red meat all the time is not always such a good idea. Once, back in high school, I was so freaked out by something the health teacher said about bacon that I didn’t eat it for 2 years. I don’t eat fast food, because I hate the way it tastes, I don’t eat potato chips---I could go on, but the point is that I have always believed that my lifestyle and eating habits were much better than the average American.

But overall, that has meant that I have gone under the assumption that because I was “active” and “ate well” that I didn’t really need to think about things like fat content or nutritional content because after all, I’m not fat and I take vitamins, and beyond that, I also don’t smoke.

So little did I suspect that I would have a problem with high cholesterol.

I hadn’t been to a Doctor’s office in over 12 years until I got insurance and began seeing one regularly. The first time I went I was holed up for 2 hours while I was given every conceivable test and questioned extensively about “family history” and my own personal habits. I was given kudos for not smoking, chided slightly for a 3 to 5 beers a day habit (only partly as a bi-product of working in a bar for so many years) and overall given a clean bill of health.

The next time I visited, I was told that my blood-work was “excellent” but that my cholesterol was just barely on the higher end of okay--just under 200. I figured that was fine, and I wasn’t told to change anything, so I didn’t.

On a later visit, I was told that my cholesterol had risen--up to about 214, and I was given the Fear of God speech, about how cholesterol builds up in your system and takes 15 years to get to your heart, which would put me right on schedule for a mid-life heart attack. The Doctor wasn’t worried, because there was no history of this in my family, but it was merely a friendly warning. I left the office with the thought that the one thing I was absolutely going to change right here and now was to go back to my boycott of bacon that had been so successful almost 15 years ago.

Then a few days later, I got a phone call from the Doctor’s office. “We need to see you. It’s about your test results.”

That’s never a good sign. But I went through all the possibilities, crossed out the more unlikely ones--if I had cancer or something, they wouldn’t tell me, they’d send me to a specialist first, right?--and tried not to worry about it until I could actually know what it was.

I made an appointment and saw my usual Doctor’s counterpart, a man with whom I was unfamiliar. He gave me the bad news: my cholesterol number had shot up to 236, and they wanted to put me on medication…

How did this happen? How could a healthy person like me have such a problem like this?

At the risk of being overdramatic, I have a lot to live for. In addition to a wife who loves me enough to keep me healthy and many animals who need me, I have so much I want to do. I have always planned on living to an old age and always being mentally and physically capable to write (speaking of which...) and make music and otherwise make the world at least marginally better for other people. I want to write many great books and travel to see wild polar bears and none of the things I want to do can be done if I die or become incapacitated when I’m 50. So I need to stay healthy and for the first time in my life, I need to care about what I eat and what I do to stay fit and avoid costly medication or future hospitalization.
**********************
I told the Doctor “Wait, hold up,” and then told him that I needed some time to work on this before they put me on medication. Up to this point I had taken no steps to fix this, because no one had ever really told me how dire a situation it was. It was only then, sitting in that office that I became convinced that now was the time to take this seriously, that I could no longer “take my health for granted.”

I had to completely re-examine my life, and what I could do differently. Avoiding bacon is a good first start, but where else was I going wrong?

Next up: Things I love, but might have to cut down on…

Books: Food Politics

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health by Marion Nestle


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Food is indeed political. At least this is a message that I’m being hit with a lot recently. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on TV, a show that takes on America’s bad eating habits and tries to change them, also documents an incredible amount of resistance to this change. “We don’t wanna sit around and eat lettuce all day!” says the local radio show host in Huntington, West Virginia (a city which, according to the Centers for Disease Control, is the unhealthiest city in America). It seems that people will eat their crap food, earnest and well-meaning English chef be damned.

So it goes. In the context of what is wrong with the food industry, corporate America, Government and human attitude, Marion Nestle’s Food politics is a must-read. Everyone must eat to survive, but there is a fundamental battle between the Eat Less and the Eat More camps. What we need, Nestle stresses, is an Eat Less mentality, but every day and on many fronts, we are encouraged to Eat More. While what is best for people is a rational diet (preferably full of non-processed food, as Jamie Oliver tirelessly advocates on the TV program) and exercise (Eat Less), the food industry, in collusion with marketers and Government do everything in their power to sell more product, and therefore encourage more consumption (Eat More).

If only it stopped there.
This book shows:

“How the food industry uses lobbying, lawsuits, financial contributions, public relations, advertising, partnerships and alliances, philanthropy, threats and biased information to convince Congress, federal agencies, nutrition and health professionals and the public that the science relating diet to health is so confusing that they need not worry about diets: when it comes to diets, anything goes.”
--p. 358.

As Food Politics shows, there is simply a broad range of issues with the food industry that affect every single one of us: dubious health claims for products, “food pyramids” that are skewed toward consuming meat than is good for us, and armies of lawyers and a shit-load of money for any corporation who needs to mow down opposition to their goals which are often in conflict with public health.

Your Libertarian self may sneer at these conclusions. We have free choice to eat what we want, you’d say. You’d be correct. But if Food Politics and Jamie Oliver shows nothing else, it is that options for eating healthy are much less plentiful than options for eating crap. It doesn’t matter if our poor diets and lack of exercise are literally killing us via heart disease and other avenues. No--to many, our diets are written off as “personal choice.” But the options for eating well are far overwhelmed by the options for eating poorly. If you don’t believe that, then you should count the number of fresh fruit stands on the interstate and then compare that to the number of fast food chains.

Food Politics is eye-opening, though not always fun to read--it takes less of a position than you might think, given the topic. Although its essential theme is about how the production and distribution of food is run by a scary consortium of people who do not have public interest at heart, it doesn’t have the “gotcha” moments that make reading, say Al Franken or Michael Moore so much fun. Food Politics is more textbook-like, presenting the information and letting the reader draw his own conclusions. It does not ask for our anger, but it certainly supplies a reason for it. This book belongs in the library of anyone who needs a reason to support locally grown food, or to have their eyes opened to the fact that when it comes to diet, food is very political indeed.

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Books: Freakonomics

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In Freakonomics, an economist asks questions you might not think to ask, and gets many surprising answers. It is billed as the “hidden side of everything,” and while it doesn’t exactly cover “everything” (a point they will make in the introduction to the sequel) it gets as much of it as it can. Economics, according to the authors, is all about incentives: what people are willing to do to get what they want, whether that means cheating, controlling the flow of information, or breaking the law to make a living.
Sometimes the sheer audacity of the questions is shocking (does giving a child a super-black sounding name give him/her a great disadvantage in life?) Sometimes, just the answers are shocking. (Q: why did the crime rate go down so much in the 1990’s, in spite of all the predictions to the contrary? A: in a word, abortion.) According to the authors, the legalization of abortion did more to affect the crime rate than any policing or law-making or gun owning ever could have. Sound crazy? Just read it!
These are the sort of questions probed and answered, or at least an interesting suggestion is offered. Every question challenges our assumptions (for example: children are 100 times more likely to die in a house with a swimming pool than in a house with a gun) and every question causes the reader to look at interesting correlations (how the KKK and realtors are both affected by the control of information, for one).

At first I thought this would just be a disjointed collection of anecdotes, but in spite of what the authors state in the intro about there being a lack of unifying theme, there does seem to be a contrarian and counter-intuitive theme building throughout the book. Once you get the hang of it, you start to understand how the conclusions will be reached.
This book is so much fun, I burned right through it. I would recommend it to anyone who is not down with the party line and is willing to embrace unconventional thinking.

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Books: A Working Stiff's Manifesto

A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Can't Remember by Iain Levison


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the story of how Levison, armed with a nearly-useless degree in English, worked 42 jobs in 10 years, quit 30, was fired by 9, and can’t remember the other 3. Throughout this endless journey (one that hits very close to home for many) he works as a cook, a fish cutter, a crab fisherman, and a truck driver, to name just a few. In every case he finds the absurdity of the job, and in a larger sense, he spots the absurdity of what passes for “work” in this country. He comes to notice that applying for jobs he’s not capable of doing is not his worst problem. Much worse is the way in which most employers are very much out for themselves, stepping on whomever doesn’t fit in with their plan. In every case he moves toward the inevitable conclusion that working for a living is nothing more than a way to keep a lot of people busy while making a very few at the top very rich.
Other than a bit of a downer ending and some less than stellar behavior in the middle, and a few dated observations of the internet (understandable as many of these events happened before things like e-mail became somewhat universal) this book is a hoot. I enjoyed every page. It’s like Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed meets Charles Bukowski’s Factotum, only for me this book was much more relatable and funnier than either of those two.
I can see where Levison’s fiction comes from, with all his characters who are trying to break free from monotonous and unbearable existences, albeit in a hilarious way. It was hard to find much about this book I didn’t like. I would highly recommend anyone interested in Levison’s work to start with this one before getting into the fiction. It is all pretty great and I count myself a fan.

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Books: Bait and Switch

Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
For fans of Barbara Ehrenreich, this book is essentially a continuation of what she did in Nickel and Dimed. This time, instead of investigating the lower rungs of the minimum wage worker, she explores the world of the middle-class white- collar unemployed. As it turns out, the educated middle-class is increasingly being pushed downward to “survival jobs,” as outlined in Nickel and Dimed. People were “baited” into the idea that if you went to college you’d get a good job: you’re “set.” The “switch” comes into play when you are downsized and you realize that it was all for naught.
Ehrenreich takes the same tactic she took in that earlier book--developing an alter-ego of sorts, and she attempts to get a job in Corporate America, where she soon finds the difficulty in getting a job when there are “gaps” in your resume, creating the catch-22 of how do you get a job when the fact that you don’t already have a job works against you? She employs all the weapons in the arsenal for the middle aged middle class job-seeker: seminars, job boards, career coaches, positive thinking, a “winning attitude,” and finds them all quite lacking in their ability to help her (or anyone else, for that matter) land a job.
Corporate America is a beast. It demands an adherence to the bottom line which often means laying off employees to increase that bottom line. This is not news. But the shocking part of this investigation is the apparent reliance it has on unscientific and irrational notions of “likability” and “positivity” in hiring decisions, often without regard for actual skills.
No question, this is a depressing topic. People who are driven to tears by their feelings of uselessness after a layoff are the casualties in an increasingly cold-blooded and cold-hearted economy. It is also short-sighted to adhere so strictly to the profit-based bottom line, effectively making it so that no one can afford to buy or use whatever service the company may be offering. Henry Ford knew that he had to pay his people a good wage or else they wouldn’t be able to buy his product. It’s a lesson that would seem to have been forgotten amongst the culture of layoffs.
This is a well-done book about a topic that deserves to be addressed, and like Ehrenreich’s other books, it is funny.
I had more to say about my general antipathy toward capitalism, but I’m going to leave it at that. Read Nickel and Dimed, and then read Bait and Switch as both can say more than I ever could about it.

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Since the Layoffs, by Iain Levison

Since the Layoffs by Iain Levison


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the second Levison book I’ve read (this is his first novel). Another thoroughly enjoyable book with some themes that I recognize as ones that will be recurring (in “How to Rob an Armored Car.”). These themes are: marginalized characters working crap jobs in dead end towns, just trying to get by, who get enlisted into doing some completely outrageous criminal scheme that winds up being completely sensible within the context of the story. This one is aptly titled. Every action taken by its main character, and all the people who inhabit this story, is propelled by a huge factory downsizing, leading many who were once having comfortable middle class existences to try to make ends meet however they can. In the case of the narrator, the profession he falls into in this economy is as a hired assassin.

It’s a hoot. A brief hoot at 177 pages, but a hoot nonetheless. If you take it to jury duty or something, maybe take along another of Levison’s books, in case it’s a long day and you are spending a lot of time sitting. That way, you won’t worry about running out of reading material.
For me, it’s on to the next book by my current favorite author. This book is funny in a laugh-out-loud sort of way, absurd without being annoyingly so. It’s kind of like Clerks 2 meets Goodfellas (although I have to admit, I’ve never actually seen Goodfellas), as ultimately our hero just wants to get out of the killing business to open a convenience store.
Without spoiling the ending--let’s just say that the tone remains gleeful and fun, making light of the serious business of unemployment. Great fun!




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Davey G’s Next Appearance at Gallery 1448

Hi,
This is a bit of an odd gig for me, but it sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I will be performing a few songs at a reading called “Wash Your Mouth,” in conjunction with their Annual Erotica Art Exhibit, which is called “Heart-On: A Light-Hearted Look at Erotica.” Finally, my show is being recognized for what it really is: an erotic adventure in pre-set keyboarding.

Saturday, February 13 from 8:00 - 10:00 PM.
Check out the Flyer below for details, and hope to see you there!

Gallery 1448 is at 1448 E. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201
This is a free event.

Books: The End is Now

The End Is Now by Rob Stennett


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was sold on this book from the comparison to Tom Perrotta, who is one of my favorite authors, and for the most part, this book lives up to that comparison. It takes the modern domestic situation and adds a theological spin: what if the rapture had a “test market,” say, in Goodland Kansas?

This story is about a boy, Will Henderson, who gets lost in a cornfield and then has a vision/dream/hallucination--it is never really clear which--that a face in the cornfield appears and tells him the three signs of the impending pre-rapture, which will take place in his town. When he relays his experience to the town, and the first of his prophecies comes true (that his school will be destroyed) the people begin to lose it. The town is already the home to a “Rapture Museum,” and all people really seem to need is a good push toward hysteria, dividing themselves into various camps of believers, doubters, and those who just want to be ready, just in case. The fact that it is Kansas and the school being destroyed by a tornado is not an unusual occurrence has no rational effect on the true believers. Caught in the middle of all this is Will’s family: Jeff, his father, who was obligated to marry his mother via shotgun wedding and now is doing his best to protect his family; Amy, his mother, for whom Will’s prophecies are no doubt the Word of God; and Emily, his sister, who wants nothing more than to become Homecoming Queen, and just wishes Will’s Prophecies would just go away.

The End is Now is thoroughly enjoyable. It takes fantastical leaps that are never quite explained, which would usually be a big detriment to me, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. It is a novel rooted in the ordinary, everyday domestic situation of a family held together by the reality of an early unplanned pregnancy, then strengthened by the bonds of responsibility and love, who are tested by supernatural circumstances. Seeing how Jeff struggles to save his family feels as real as anything, and Emily’s simple desire to be Homecoming Queen getting sidetracked by her brother, the Prophet, is believable within this context.
All in all, a great read that comes to close to being perfect, except for a minor disappointment of an ending: an epilogue that was somewhat confounding. Unofficially I’d give this 4 and a half but go ahead and call it a 5 star book.

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Books: Buffalo Lockjaw

Buffalo Lockjaw by Greg Ames


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the best book I’ve read all year. I kind of wish I’d read this in December so that this statement would carry more weight. Alas, it is only January, but I really think that this statement will hold up for the rest of the year. Yes, it’s that good.
There is such an obvious love for the hometown that comes out in the writing, coupled with the cold reality of facing a parent’s dementia. It is so well-done and observant (without being too cute or too clever) that it is a pleasure to read.
Buffalo Lockjaw’s main character and narrator is James Fitzroy, a near-30 year old who writes verses for a greeting card company in New York. His life, as it is, is probably not the success which all parent’s hope for, or sacrifice their own lives for. He is spending his Thanksgiving break visiting his parents in Buffalo.

His mother, Ellen, is 56 years old and is suffering from a crippling dementia: she does not even know who James is anymore. His father is Rodney, who is stern and strong while dealing with his wife’s mental disintegration, but James knows that it is killing him inside. This is a story that for many may hit close to home. James’ love of his hometown, the obvious love that the author has for it, struck a chord with me. I understand what it is like to love something even when it is completely fucked up and in many ways, hard to defend. The fact that James/Ames can find the beauty in Buffalo and its people is one of the most endearing qualities of this book. His parents are unavailable, and for James, seeing his mother, the woman he loves and respects who spent years helping people now in such a helpless position, fuels his desire to try to seek a way out for her.

None of this feels phony. Every step of this journey toward middle age, and adulthood feels real, and that is what makes this such a satisfying read. I think any adult with living parents could identify with the perils of trying to relate to them on an mature level, especially the children of this generation (28-35). There is no World War 2 or Great Depression to define what this generation is, but Buffalo Lockjaw seems to suggest that it is more defined by a sort of slouching response to everything. Our occupations are meaningless (Greeting Card writing being a wonderful metaphor and foil for the more serious work of nursing that James’ mother had done), and no one is counting on us to save the world. And if anyone is, God help them.
Buffalo Lockjaw is a love story for a hometown and I loved reading it. I look forward to whatever Greg Ames writes next.

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