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My friend Steve Hyde’s short film, Shikashika, will be playing at the Red Vic this week as part of the San Francisco International Festival of Short Films. The film was a collaboration of many talented friends from Seattle, including Mark Clem, Stan Dunster and Jim Sykes. A shout-out to all of ‘em.

The film itself is a gem that somehow manages to be enchantingly sweet without ever becoming precious or cloying. No mean trick that.

The film fest looks cool too, so go have a look if you’re in town. For Shikashika screening times, go here.

Here’s a snippet from my latest (and last) Adventuring column for Universal Press. It’s about the Degree Confluence Project, “a website that encourages people to visit and document — in words and photos — places on Earth where whole-numbered lines of latitude and longitude intersect. No minutes, no seconds, just integers.”

… where geocaching is more of a lark, confluence hunting feels like real exploration. For one thing, it’s generally more challenging. You may have to climb, trespass or bushwhack your way to the confluence.

Then there is the element of the unknown: Who knows what you’ll find when you get there? And, like the explorers who conquered the poles, confluence hunters — particularly those who are the first to document a confluence — can revel in a sense of discovery.

Perhaps most of all, it has about it an air of inexplicable obsession. Asked why they do it, a confluence hunter might well respond: Because it’s there.

Only it isn’t, really.

Read the rest at The Denver Post.

I never know where my Universal Press column is going to end up. Around the time it’s supposed to come out, I generally do a Google search to see if I can track it down online. If I’m lucky, I might find it in a big paper like the Chicago Tribune, or in my old hometown paper, the Seattle Times. For a while, it was showing up fairly often in the Raleigh News & Observer. Then it had a good run at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. At various times, I was getting picked up steadily in Milwaukee and Sacramento and Kansas City. The Bergen County (NJ) Record has been a pretty loyal customer over the years. Lately, though, the one I can count on is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — in particular, the Northwest Arkansas edition. (Aux Arks!) Read the rest of this entry »

If you want to know what resources are growing scarce relative to demand, keep an eye on what the thieves are stealing. I got to thinking about this a few months back when a neighbor told me someone had crawled under his minivan and cut through his exhaust system. Turns out they stole his catalytic converter. I checked with my mechanic, who says he’s been seeing more and more of this, especially with high clearance cars like SUVs and vans. The perpetrators, using a sawzall, can make off with a converter in seconds. Read the rest of this entry »

The NCAA lost two more wrestling programs this year. The University of Oregon wrestled its final season as did Arizona State. At least the Oregon wrestlers saw it coming. The Sun Devils cut wrestling (along with men’s swimming and men’s tennis) after the season ended, no warning given. By my count, that leaves just two of the traditional Pac-10 schools fielding wrestling squads: Stanford and Oregon State.  And I’d guess their days are numbered as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good news! VQR won the National Magazine Award in the category of Best Single-Topic Issue for South America in the 21st Century. Congratulations to all the other contributors and especially the editors, Ted Genoways and Daniel Alarcon. The Peruvian magazine Etiqueta Negra also deserves special recognition, as many of the writers and artists who participated in the issue were drawn from EN’s stable of talent. Felicitaciones!

Lara-Karena Kellogg
May 7, 1968- April 23, 2007

Here’s my latest outdoor column for Universal Press, (via The Oakland Tribune) in which I recount the story of how my buddy Mac Test and I nearly got crushed one night in our tent.

Remember folks: Beach logs kill!

The Huffington Post links to the finalists for the 2008 National Magazine Awards. The Virginia Quaterly Review made the cut in 3 categories: General Excellence (sub-100K circ), Photojournalism, and Best Single-Topic Issue, for South America in the 21st Century, in which I had a role, however minor. Winners will be announced on May 1. Maybe VQR will snag another Ellie for the trophy shelf.

Ilona Bray of the excellent, Berkeley-based legal publisher Nolo Press interviewed me in my final weeks as a blogger at the Sierra Club. The larger subject was fundraising for non-profits (not something I pretend to know a lot about) with emphasis on how blogging can help organizations communicate with members (something which, after six years of doing it, I guess I kinda do). If that’s the sort of thing that interests you, you can hear a podcast of our conversation here. Ilona, herself a blogger, has also published a great resource called Effective Fundraising for Non-profits.