Little Brother

Four years ago I wrote this story for a contest that challenged writers to come up with a tale about the newly elected president.  The winning story was terrific, an interior monologue the President had while smoking a cigarette bummed from a Secret Service Agent. I dug up this story after watching a night full of great speeches given by women at the DNC. Such amazing diversity--and I don't mean  ethnicity and race and creed. Sister Simone Campbell and Cecile Richards. (I remember Governor Ann Richards and think she would be very proud of her daughter.) And I thought of the women who broke the ground for the women who were at the podium tonight. The narrator in this story is one of those women who came before--a woman who once gave a keynote speech at the DNC herself.
This is the only piece of political fiction I've ever written. 

Little Brother

 

President Barack Obama came to Austin today.  Austin loves him.  When he and Joe Biden came through on the Obama-Rama campaign stop last year, the whole town went crazy.  This year the welcome is a bit more subdued, but still enthusiastic. 

He is here to make a speech and as he passed through the main terminal of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, there were some who expected he would stop for a photo opportunity and maybe mention me.  Instead he joked with reporters about football and kept moving.  Well he was preaching to the choir there.  The reporters were all local boys and Texas is football country after all.  We’re known for it.  That and birthing beauty queens. 

I don’t begrudge the slight. He’s a man in a hurry, that Obama and if talking foolishness with a couple of good ol’ boys is what it takes to play the game, then so be it.  The game was different in my time but I still played to win, even when I knew the odds were stacked against me.  When I was mentioned as a possible running mate for Jimmy Carter in 1976, I knew that was never going to happen and just accepted it.  Although it would have been nice to be asked.

I didn’t go to Harvard Law school like the President, although Harvard started accepting my kind back in 1950.  Instead I got my degree from Boston University Law School and then went home to Texas before getting involved in politics.  John Connally was governor then.  He was a man I could work with.  Not like Dolph Briscoe who was a Democrat too but acted more like a Republican sometimes. 

We butted heads over the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  You remember, that was the one that extended the rights of language minorities.  Dolph didn’t really see the point.  Well, he wouldn’t, would he?  I didn’t find much to admire about the second president from Texas but I’ll say this.  He spoke Spanish like a native and could communicate with all his constituents back when he was governor.

This is for all the word snoots out there

It's 2012 not 1812

Brilliant Marketing Ploy--The Mug Shots from Copper

I am a sucker for great marketing ploys--yes, I'm the person who would have sent in box tops to get a decoder ring, and Copper has come up with a dandy. I've been tracking BBC America's show Copper since it was first announced and I'm liking it more and more with each episode. I know the era and the setting pretty well from my own research and I love that the writers are taking the time to use period slang that's accurate and bring up events from the time that aren't completely obvious.
The gimmick?  You can upload your photo to their website and turn a photo of yourself into a vintage mug shot.

I had two thoughts when I saw the results. One, I really look like my brother in drag; and two, this must be what it's like to be a face transplant patient.
Check it out.  On the left is  the original vintage mug shot.
Below left  is the color photo I used. Note, we have nearly identical noses. And the final result is to the right. I find it...strangely fascinating. 
There weren't enough letters to spell out Kat the Blade, which is an inside joke among my geekier friends. (Like I can point geeky fingers at anyone.)  If you want to see what you'd look like as a 19th century felon, check out Mugshot Yourself on the Copper site.

Sunday Sample Story: Death of a Dancer

This story appears in my new collection The Poisoned Teat, which is still not up at Amazon, although it is available from Smashwords. It's  an urban fantasy/noir about a working class vampire in love. It is sparkle-free.

DEATH OF A DANCER

Most of what people think they know about vampires is a lot like what people think they know about American history—a skein of lies tangled up with half-truth and wishful thinking and fanciful notions.

Not every vampire is handsome.

Not every vampire is rich.

Not every vampire is ancient.

In 2008 I was 19 years old and stocking shelves in a 24-hour convenience store when a vampire strolled in for a midnight snack and left me permanently working the night shift.

And I did have to work. Even with groceries taken out of my monthly budget, I still had to cover rent and cable and my WoW subscription, and my cell phone bill.

All vampires are rich? That’s a laugh.

I’ve maybe saved a hundred a month since my blood-birthday and even after four years, that isn’t exactly serious money.

There isn’t much chance I’m going to be making bank any time soon, either. Having to work at night severely limits my employment options. And then there’s the vampire sensitivity to garlic—I can’t even work as a pizza delivery guy.

One Night at the Peacock Hotel

Back in 2000, I co-produced a movie called Retiring Tatiana. Shot on the cheap, the movie was written by the star, Tony Winters. Shot in L.A. and in Tony's home town of Detroit, the film got both a video and DVD release and was featured in that year's Pan-African Film Festival where it took home the "Audience Award." (That was a pretty big deal because the film was in competition with movies like Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog, starring Forest Whitaker.)
Tony has since written a number of other scripts (including a fantastic bio-pic about Sam Cooke) and several plays. He's now looking to raise money for a production of his most recent project, One Night at the Peacock Hotel. Check it out on KickStarter here.

Fun with Shakespeare

I am a big fan of anything that makes Shakespeare fun and Shakespeare the Bard Game looks like a lot of geeky fun. In it, you play an Elizabethan-era theatrical impresario collecting manuscripts.  The product description says a game lasts about an hour and can be played by gamers 12 and up. It's not cheap ($40), so replay-ability would have to be a factor.
The Bard Game is also called Shakespeare the Board Game,
If you fancy card games more than board games, for $8, you can buy Shakespeare's Insult Playing Cards. For two dollars more, you can get Shakespeare's Quotes Playing Cards.
If you like playing with words, there's a Shakespeare edition of Magnetic Words to create your own epic poetry. For less than $10, your refrigerator can be the most erudite appliance in town.
Another great silly Shakespeare thing is a stuffed Shakespeare doll from Little Thinkers. Priced at $16.10, it's a little expensive for something so whimsical, but it's pretty great. 

My all-time favorite frivolous frippery of a Shakespeare toy has to be this Shakespeare action figure (with removable quill pen!!!)