Nancy Rommelmann

My Tattoo, at SF MoMA

"Parts Per Trillion" by Ed Ruscha, accompanied by the lovely Hillary Johnson

New York friends: Please be on the lookout for Chris Fallows

From Geoff Fallows, a childhood friend, whose brother Chris, who is bi-polar, has not been seen since Monday, April 23. Keep your eyes out, folks. Chris was last seen in Lower Manhattan. Feel free to contact Geoff on Facebook, or me. Thank you.

URGENT!! My brother Chris Fallows has been missing since Monday. Please help me to find him by re-posting this no matter where you live. Chris was last seen at 4:00pm on Monday in lower Manhattan. He could be anywhere at this point. Chris is Bi-Polar and has not taken his medication in about 2 weeks, he is probably very sick at this point. He is 6'4" 230lbs and stands out in a crowd. He was last seen wearing a yellow shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. Please have as many people re-post this as possible. It may only take one contact or small bit of information to find him. Thank you everyone!!

Considering Being a (Food) Writer? I Agree with Amanda Hesser: "Don't Do It."

I agree, with all of it. Like Hesser, I am often asked by young writers how to go about getting work, and whether they should go to journalism school. To the latter, I always say no. Of the several hundred journalists I know, only two that went to J school. While I am sure there are others, my measure is of all the crack and successful people who did not. And with traditional journalism as a paying career having contracted about 90%, the idea of paying $70,000 or whatever journalism school costs, strikes me as both foolish and a waste of time, time you could be writing for free.

Which is what nearly every writer will do anyway, and should want to do. This is good; it gives you time to create things your way, not fit into a mold that no longer exists, or exists only for the few, whose jobs are more and more tenuous. Hesser's numbers are spot on. In 2003, I made $58,000 as a freelancer and was sent, on various publications' dimes, to the Bahamas, San Francisco and North Carolina on stories, stories that paid between $1 and $2 a word, and ran between 3,500 and 8,000 words. Every editor of the above stories has lost his or her job in the past three years. In January of 2009, five of my editors -- at Bon Appetit, the LA Weekly and Wired -- lost their jobs in the same month.

Lest you think I am walking point for the doom patrol, I am not. I have had spectacular things happen because old journalism is dying. I am part of Dymaxicon, a new and nimble publishing house. Because of the speed with which work travels, I was able to post The Queens of Montague Street on New Year's Day, at home, while the rest of my household nursed hangovers, and the following day, have my publisher slap together a cover and have it for sale on Amazon by the evening of January 2nd. From there, and with the help of some tweeting from Sam Sifton at the New York Times, about 10,000 read it, Longreads named it their #1 read of the week, and the NY Times Magazine asked me to excerpt it as a Lives column. This would not have happened back in the 90s. As Hesser writes, "This new era is actually better. Everyone who can write well is now welcome to." 

I love what's happening in publishing, and expect to continue the love affair. But that love has to be of one's own devising. There can be no mewling for what has passed; what's the point? Start a blog, write a book and serialize it, lurk or shout online, do it. Try it. You'll see.

Hesser's tips are at the end of her post. With twists, they apply to any sort of writing. Now go!

Din, Ristretto Roasters in Oregon Business Magazine

A gorgeous profile with gorgeous photos. I cried when I read it.
Yay!
http://www.oregonbusiness.com/articles/114-may-2012/7169-ristretto-roasters-m...

In Conversation with Julia Alvarez, Tonight at Powell's Burnside

Tonight at 7:30, Julia Alvarez in conversation, with me, about her new book, A Wedding in Haiti. It's my first time doing this onstage for Powell's. Come see me shine/bomb. (No tomatoes, please!)

I'm on OPB's "The Culture Club", today at 9:40am

Topics include whether ugly restaurant patrons make for better food, whether Facebook makes you lonely or if it's you, and HBO's "Girls": brilliant and self-aware, or, if I have to spend four more minutes with these people I will punch them each in the face?

Join Mike Russell, Karol Collymore and me, in conversation with Dave "the hardest working man in radio" Miller, at 9:40 this morning, 91.5 FM in Portland. Tune in.

Food Dude on Ristretto

@pdxFoodDude on @RistrettoRoast http://www.portlandfoodanddrink.com/coffee-guide-ristretto-roasters/ Awesome! #SCAA2012

Ristretto Roasters: Hot People Hot Coffee

Jenn Louis Named Best New Chef by Food & Wine Magazine

Yay! Yay! Yay! Our good friend (and fellow 3808 N. Williams building partner) Jenn Louis is Food & Wine's Best New Chef. As well she should be! We have been eating at Lincoln since they opened, and it just gets better and better. The gal is a pro, she's cool, she funny; we are thrilled for her and David Welch, husband and co-proprieter xxx

To All the Wars I've Loved Before

Nice piece over on Zocolo Public Square by longtime war correspondant George Lewis, who's been covering conflict since Saigon. A clip:

In spite of all the changes in our business, one thing has remained constant for the war correspondent: the obligation to bear witness. There is no good way to describe the combat experience from a distance, so journalists must see the action up close. Even that isn’t fully adequate, though. Neither print nor television can capture what it’s like to cower in a ditch under heavy shelling, with ear-splitting explosions shaking the ground. Self-censorship also enters in. Grislier scenes get edited out of footage, because networks feel they must tone down the gore when they’re broadcasting into people’s homes. And, perhaps because I believed the story wasn’t about me, I seldom wrote about the fear I felt.

Here's the whole thing.