Recently in General Photography Category

I bring this up because we just found a link to a blog post from the World's Fair in which the author takes a break from his academic pursuits to examine the male-female breakdown of Shouts and Murmurs authors. (The post is arguably more amusing than most S&M columns.) His conclusion: "Out of the 133 authors of features under the Shouts and Murmurs banner (in the modern, post-1992 era), 17 have been women. That's 12.782%." To put it another way, men are represented in the section at a rate 8 times that of women.

What's more, there has not been a woman author of Shouts and Murmurs for over three years. The last one was in 2004.

The rest is over at Salon (get a free pass to the site for watching a short ad), as well as the original source, The World's Fair.   As an MFA student, I have to say I'm amazed. Our program is majority female. Most of the writers I've met are female.  But then again, I have never been to New York, the city for which, we assume, the New Yorker was named. Perhaps New York is different. Perhaps in the borders of New York are somehow toxic to women and their carefully mailed submissions to Shouts and Murmurs. Salon's writer has an excellent point, that being the gigantic number of patently desperate writers flinging their submissions (in utter futility) toward the New Yorker on a regular basis, agent or no.  It is impossible to believe that the ratio of submissions or inquiries is anywhere close to only 13% female.

Heh. That's sort of cute. For a moment I made it sound like they actually read submissions.

Time for a photo...at least in Minnesota I see evidence of women with books. This statue has been at the Minnesota State Fair since the 1950's, and is an homage to the women of the state.

Aaaaah...two weeks in Minnesota. So far, I have been treated to a solid week of 95 degree days with 70% or more humidity. Just cooled down in time for me not to fall over dead.

Over the weekend I attempted to drive up to Taylor's Falls on the St. Croix River for some sightseeing, but on the way was kidnapped and forced to adopt an exceptionally cute furry little beast from the North Woods Humane Society. The point of this was to provide daytime company to my large, grumpy ball of fur known as Harry the Cat. Well, he may not appreciate it, but he sure has company...

It was a sinister operation all around. I was driving innocently along highway 8 through a thickly forested area, and suddenly a sign appeared, advertising "adoptions today!". What kind of sick monster would put up a sign like that I may never know. Nevertheless, in I went, against the very core of my better judgement.

Up at Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park this weekend, an idyllic ridge-top pastoral scene 1600 feet above sea level, I played paparazzi to some cows. This fellow stared me down until I moved away.

There at several historic working dairy farms on the Pt. Reyes seashore. This lovely lady is a resident of "A" Ranch, the one closest to the end of the peninsula and the lighthouse. She wasn't much for conversation, but she has an extensive earring collection.

The ladies of the Sunol Homeowners Association are still impatiently awaiting their cable tv, and insist that they be hooked up before Constantine gets kicked off of American Idol. Thank you for your attention.

Click below to see Sunol's tiny version of Yosemite...

The ladies of th Sunol, California, homeowners' association would like to express their concern over the lack of cable television access in the Sunol Regional Wilderness park. The ladies would very much like to catch up on past episodes of CSI and Desperate Housewives. They also have some shopping to do on HSN. The ladies hereby warn the public that if they do not get what they want, they may spend even more time sleeping that would be considered prudent. Thank you for your attention.