Mike Jung's Blog, page 18
November 26, 2014
Imperfection
I saw Anne Lamott and Jack Kornfield at San Francisco’s Nourse Theater last night, and they were wonderful. I didn’t know anything about Jack Kornfield before last night, but the rapport between them was palpable, and I was deeply moved by the thoughts and stories they shared about the permanence of imperfection, the lifelong need to try, fail, and try again, and our overaching need for love above all things. They broached the topic of Ferguson almost immediately, which I was grat...
November 23, 2014
I believe I'll write some poetry
I’m not known for an aversion to hyperbole, and the danger of such a proclivity is, of course, the potential disempowerment of my words. It’s not my tendency alone, but it is unquestionably mine, and maybe that takes the edge off of my current state of emotional upheaval. So be it. It’s been a psychologically turbulent few days. I am learning much about the world and about myself, which is rarely an easy process for me, and often a heinously uncomfortable one, and I’ve...
November 22, 2014
Today in Kindness
This morning as I was taking the crowded F train into the city, a man leaned over to me and tapped my arm. I was wearing my headphones, listening to music, as is my wont. He was doing the same.
"Excuse me," he said, smiling. "I used to have those same headphones and I couldn’t help noticing that…
November 21, 2014
#CelebrateJackie
Writing the Story of Us All.
For the 24 hour period ending at 5:00AM Pacific time tomorrow, Daniel Handler will match all donations to#SupportWNDBup to $100,000, and in the first 5 of those hours we’ve raised FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. This is not a celebration of Mr. Handler, to be clear. I accept his apology for his enraging comments at the National Book Awards ceremony, I’m glad his money will be put to good use, and I believe in the value of making an effort to atone for...
November 19, 2014
A small act of kindness
During my first year of college I remember meeting someone at a party, an older guy, taller than me, frizzy-haired, something of a Deadhead, whose name escapes me. I only vaguely remember the details of that meeting - my strongest impression is still just a feeling of overwhelming anxiety and paralysis, partly because of the party itself, partly because of the enormity of being in college.
What I remember more clearly is walking to class (or maybe from class) a couple of days later, seeing thi...
November 15, 2014
Blurbs for All the Rage... & a giveaway!
ALL THE RAGE has received some amazing blurbs from amazing authors, and I’m so excited to share them with you:
“I’m always amazed by the powerful risk of a Courtney Summers’ novel, and in All the Rage she’s reset her own extraordinarily high bar. With a plot that will leave you breathless and…
November 11, 2014
Snakebite!
On today’s episode of Adventures in Amateur Herpetology, it was rather an exciting morning with Slither the Ball Python. He’s grown significantly during his first four months with us, and when I fed him on Friday I realized we need to start feeding him bigger rats - he was horking down the “juvenile” size like cocktail peanuts, GULP and done. So we got him a ten-pack of the “medium” size rats, which are waaaaay bigger - they’re literally four times th...
November 10, 2014
This Morning I Went to the New Laurel Bookstore
Sometimes you go to a bookstore, make a purchase, and leave, and it’s an unremarkable experience, albeit enjoyable because it’s a bookstore. Other times you go to the new and improved Laurel Bookstorein downtown Oakland, gape at the spiffy new environs, grab a copy of Matt Kirby’s THE LOST KINGDOM simply because it pleases you that it was on the shelf so close to your book, have store owner Luan Stauss call out “Oh, you’re just looking for your own book, aren’t...
November 6, 2014
What? Me Worry?
Like many editors I have a predilection for order, efficiency, and systems. That’s the polite way of putting it. Significant others and family members have at times used descriptors such as anal retentive or obsessive. Point taken. Whatever your word choice, these qualities have served me well in my profession. But beneath these types of endearing quirks (again, the polite label) often lurks a root cause: anxiety.
I come by my anxiety in the most honest way possible—genetics. Go u...
November 5, 2014
Statement on the Murder of London McCabe | Autistic Self Advocacy Network
On Tuesday, November 4th, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network issued a statement regarding the murder of London McCabe.
Last night, six-year-old London McCabe was thrown from a bridge by his mother. His body was found hours later. London was autistic.
Our community mourns someone we lost before he had lived long enough for us to meet.
As this story develops, we implore the news media to remember that London, and not his mo...
