LOVE is chosen as the 2015 Let's Discuss It book by Upper Dublin and Wissahickon Valley Public Libraries

... and we're going to have a lot of fun talking about Philadelphia as an artistic canvas on November 5 at the Ambler Theater. We've invited Temple University student filmmakers to join us, and we're inviting the community (you) to share your memories of Philadelphia, which we'll stitch together in a virtual storytelling quilt. (Enlarge the poster above, and you'll see how you can share your stories.) I'll be reading as well from Love: A Philadelphia Affair.

I hope you'll join us. I've heard only good things about last year's event, which featured Matthew Quick.

Deep thanks to Lauren Smyth and Cheri Fiory, who reached out to me with this extraordinary invitation, and to Kristine Weatherston of Temple University's Department of Media Studies and Production, who gamely responded to my request for work from her students. Kristine and some of her students have also agreed to join us that evening.

Finally, thank you to the Kiwanis Club of Ambler.

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Unschooled, unknown, I

sent my literary work out into the world two decades ago.  Would anyone listen?  Would anyone care?  I didn't know.  I needed to find out.  I waited for word.

Among those who sent word all those years ago was Susan Balee, who was the editor of a literary magazine called Northeast Corridor.  Yes, she said, to a piece I wrote.  It was one more lodging in.

Today—so many years gone by in the interim—I meet Susan down on the Penn campus.  She is an associate professor at Temple now.  I am what I am still trying to be.  We will close the gap on nearly two decades and look forward at the work that moves us today.

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