First, let's get this on the table right away. Throughout my blog I will be doing all I can to keep from screaming into the autumn wind about how much the new Facebook changes suck (from: "Scream Into the Autumn Wind, It'll Do Just About as Much Good" in the "So You Want to File a Facebook Complaint. LOL! Oh, Wait, You're Serious. Sorry. HA! No, Really, HA! We Care, We Really Do. Haaahaaaaha!" section of the new 736,000 page Facebook Users Guide to Understanding Why Facebook Hates Us). Wish me luck.

 

Ten months ago my oldest daughter, Hannah, a warm and loving young person, reached her 16th year and with it came all the highs, challenges, doubts, and anxieties turning 16 brings in this or any day and age. She doesn't want to live where she is and she doesn't want to leave. She is ready to finish high school and move on but it's just out of reach. She wants the freedom of being a grownup and she wants to stay a kid. Once when she was nine I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said, "I want to be a kid forever." Just like her dad.

 

And like most of us at that age, she's not really all that sure she knows what she wants to do when she does finish high school. College? Ok. Why? Not exactly sure, but people say that's what you're supposed to do. Major? No clue. My friend and the subject of a documentary I'm currently filming, Marion Ohlinger, like everyone that knows her, thinks very highly of Han and also like most marvels at how intelligent and mature she is. "Think of us at her age," he says. And I do. I remember if only through a mist of cloudy memories how incredibly messed up I was at 16. It was 1980. I'd dropped out of high school like I had done in junior high. Playing music. Hitchhiking around the country. Living in my grandparents garage. Pot, cocaine, Quaaludes, speed, mushrooms, acid everywhere. Discovering sex. Totaling my first three cars and losing a fourth. Still don't know what I did with that big green Gran Torino! Yeah, I remember about as much as I probably should. But Hannah is different. She is what you might call an old soul. I trust her explicitly--love and respect her unconditionally. It's easy to do, which is what I think Marion was doing his best to articulate. And I get it. I completely understand.

 

A few weeks ago Hannah was with her mother's family at a reunion at the beach in Santa Cruz, California. She noticed a young girl flailing around in the water. The poor thing had broken her knee. Han ran headlong into the water and scooped up the girl. She carried her to the shore as virtually everyone else just watched. In the time it took all the grownups to figure out what was going on, to shelve their own frozen panic and shock and finally react, Hannah had saved the young girl and was comforting her just out of reach of the shore break. She instructed the adults to call 911, and stayed with the scared and suffering young girl until the paramedics arrived. That's a hero in my book.

 

I know my baby is going to be OK. She's going to be great. I know it. I've always known it. Even though she's not quite sure, I am. This is one special kid. The breadth of her love and compassion for people has always astonished me since the first time she asked why that guy was asking people for money outside the supermarket when she was four. "Because he's down on his luck, Peewee, probably hungry or maybe just needs a drink. I don't know," I said. "Then we should give him some, Daddy. We can give him money. We have some. He can have mine." So shines a good deed in a weary world.

 

I'm probably going to get slammed for blathering on about my daughter in this blog. Probably by her, too. Yikes! But you know, sometimes it's important to take that risk. And tonight it seemed vital. Besides, it kept me from ranting endlessly about how much THE NEW FACEBOOK CHANGES SUCK!

 

Now, as is our tradition, let's kick this pig and see what it'll do!

Our Featured Artist of the Month for October is my friend, the brilliant Eric Barr. Eric is the multi-talented, award winning Director of the UC Riverside Theatre Department, and cowriter of the upcoming feature film A THOUSAND CUTS, starring Academy Award nominee Michael O'Keefe. Eric taught at the prestigious Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting in Los Angeles, and his weekly podcasts on Acting at ACTINGIS are legendary. This month Eric has a new Fiction piece for us, Without A Leg to Stand On, and editor Meg Tuite did a knockout job interviewing Eric. Welcome Eric, and thanks! And great job, Meg!!!!!!!!!! (I'm a graduate of the Meg Tuite School of Exclamation Point Usage. Woohoo! ;0)

 

A Poetry Congeries with John Hoppenthaler ghosts its way into October, or as John reminds us, the Halloween month. The column starts out with an expansive interview featuring Brian Turner & Ilyse Kusnetz. Then, both play their cards with a handful of great poems that set the tone for this month's column. Joining Brian, Ilyse, and John are Peter Campion, Mary Dalton, Jeffrey McDaniel, K. A. Hays, Jacqueline Osherow, Noelle Kocot, Kenneth Pobo, and Rachel Richardson. Another outstanding visit to who's who in contemporary poetry. Thanks, John!

 

From Plate to Palate with Amanda McGuire has a new name and a new format. We encourage you to watch the first episode of our new foodie show,  SPATULA, with Amanda McGuire Rzicznek & Sarah Lenz. And with that I get to check off one of the items on my sheet of goals to accomplish with Connotation Press. I've wanted Amanda to do a food serial since we started the magazine. It took us two years to get it up and running but we made it! Amanda & Sarah do a great job and we're excited to see the show grow and improve as time goes by. For now, enjoy the first episode of SPATULA. It's a lot of fun and we know you'll love it! Congrats to Amanda, Sarah, and the whole SPATULA crew!

 

And if launching our first internet TV show wasn't enough this month, we're also launching our first music show, INK ON THE TRACKS, a bi-weekly words & music column hosted by Anna March. Each month INK ON THE TRACKS will feature a theme for the post, an essay, a playlist of music to accompany the essay, guest contributors, and an embedded music player with all the songs listed on the playlist. This month the theme is What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and Anna's guest is author Roddy Doyle. We're all THRILLED to have Anna on staff and to have this wonderful multi-media offering for all of you. Enjoy! And welcome to Anna, the newest member of the Connotation Press editorial family.

 

For October, our new Drama editor Kathleen Sullivan brings us Blood Moon, the new play by the talented, award winning writer & director Susan Pratter. I LOVE this play, and the candid and interesting interview with Ms. Pratter conducted by Kathleen that preceeds it. Great to know our Drama column is in such capable hands. Thank you, Susan, and great job Kathleen!

 

Currently between trips to Paris & Trieste in Northern Italy, Travel editor Nicholas Baker sends in his newest offering, Colonia do Sacramento Discovered. "A magical town" in Uruguay, Colonia, as it's referred to by the locals, is a captivating place and the pictures in this month's Discovered column are gorgeous. For now escape with Nicholas & Freddy in this month's Discovered column and we'll have the Paris and the Trieste issues to you soon. Bon Voyage!

 

Not long ago I was invited to speak with students from Susan Straight and Charles Evered's class, The Writer's Life, at the University of California, Riverside. I did so because Susan and Chuck are my friends and I rarely, if ever, refuse an invitation from a friend, especially two who are currently teaching at my alma mater, and because I loved the idea of this class and wanted to see how it worked and how I could support it. During the class discussion with the brilliant and engaging students of UCR, MFA candidate Marcus Renner pitched me an idea for a series of pieces to run in our Essays on Art column. The gist of the pitch was a series of articles about various trends in publishing tied into various genres. Marcus explains it nicely in his introduction, and he did a great job as the point man for this project--gathering essays, bios, and pictures from his classmates. Thanks to Kamala, Rachelle, Clara, Jason, Tanya, and Marcus. And thank you to Susan & Chuck, who are out there fighting the good fight. Well done, everyone!

Our new Book Review from editor Stephanie Brown focuses on the talented Connotation Press contributor David Rigsbee's new book: The Pilot House from Black Lawrence Press. This is another on point interview by Book Review regular Marilyn McCabe. We really like the reviews by Marilyn. Great job Marilyn and Stephanie!

Finally, since I've already written about our Fiction teaser for the first of the month post, Eric Barr, who is doing double duty as our Featured Artist of the Month, our Creative Nonfiction teaser for the month is Phil Rice with his new, quite beautiful piece, Love Song for the Wind. And don't forget to come back on the 15th as we bring you all new Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Movie Review columns.  

That's about it. What, as if that's not enough? Jeepers! It's been a VERY busy month and we hope you love our October issue as much as we loved bringing it to you. Also, THE NEW FACEBOOK SUCKS.

And to Hannah, my love, everything will be alright. I promise. Trust your heart. It has never let you or us down before. We're all here for you, Peewee. We are all so proud. And you are loved. Just don't forget you are loved.

Connotation Press: Nothing Compares to You

This issue of Connotation Press: An Online Artifact is dedicated to my oldest daughter Hannah because this is my magazine and I'll dedicate it to whomever I please, thank you very much. Love you, Peewee!