The Diagram Prize

The The New York Times on Feb. 25, 2008 published a brief article about the Diagram Prize, awarded annually by the British trade magazine, The Bookseller, for the oddest book title of the year. It is gratifying that I am carrying on the proud literary tradition of nude mice with my story, "Josephine." The winner of the first Diagram Prize in 1978 was “Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice.”

Pimping

Back in 2006, I submitted a piece entitled "Pimping" to Verbatim, The Language Quarterly. The article concerns medical education and the perversion of the Socratic method of teaching known to its victims as pimping, wherein the teacher asks the student a question not so much to increase the knowledge of the student as to put him in his place--to establish the pecking order. My article was accepted, but has been significantly delayed in publication. In fact, the just-released edition where "Pimping" appears is the Autumn 2006 issue of the quarterly. You see, even though the publication schedule is quite mired down, the editor, Erin McKean, maintains the chronologic dating of issues, regardless of when the journal actually goes to press. The Autumn and Winter 2006 issues have just been released. Erin states she is raising the subscription rates, so will she will be able to hire staff and accelerate the rate of publication. Check out the web site and consider subscribing to Verbatim!

The Person People Call Neal Cory

My father liked to read, but wasn't a writer, as far as I can tell. Other than a post card he sent back to his parents on a trip to the 1939 New York World's Fair, this school essay he wrote in 1931, at the age of twelve, is the only example of his writing I have. The first page is typed, with corrections from the teacher. The second page is handwritten, for reasons unknown to me. I believe I inherited from him a midwestern anabaptist tendency to self-deprecation. If you click on the pages below, they should enlarge for easier reading.

Entering the blogosphere

After blogging in obscurity for some time, Cuban Pete may be my entree into the greater blogosphere. I received a nice review from Nelson Guirado at his Cubanocast blog for my posting on the history of Jose Norman and his song "Cuban Pete." The post was also cited at the Meevee.com site.