Year: 2011

OK, sharp-eyed Cactuseaters readers. Let’s see if you can guess the identity of the mustache-wearing guy in the photo projected on the big screen behind Dr. Abraham Verghese. If you think you’ve got the right answer, send me an email, and if you’re the first one that comes in, I’ll put your name in my blog. The original version of the story included a dead giveaway, but I removed it just to make it more challenging for you…) Anyhow, here is the link to my story on Dr. Abraham Verghese. I have an alternate and much longer version that goes into (much) more detail. If you’d like me to post that longer version as well, send me an email. Otherwise, you know I’ll forget to do it. By the way, I should point out that he broke down barriers between himself and the audience by making his presentation as informal…

How many people do you know who can remove a human appendix, and then rush home and crank out a bunch of really good sestinas? How many people do you know who can write smoothly paced novellas while waiting to be called up to perform brain surgery? Not many, I would guess. The successful doctor/successful writer hybrid is one of life’s enduring mysteries. You’d think it would take a lifetime to reach eminence in just one of those professions. But that hasn’t stopped such physician/authors as Anton Chekhov, Oliver Sacks, Richard Selzer, Ethan Canin, or, for that matter, Abraham Verghese, who is visiting Santa Cruz today to give a lecture and visit students. The title of tonight’s sold-out lecture: The Art of Medicine In The Era of Homo Technologicus. I always want to know: how on earth does anyone have time to be a writer/physician, or even have time to…

Will need a few days to recharge my slug-depleted batteries. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Here are some scenes from the Slug fete that took place on Tuesday. The first two photos are by Carolyn Lagatutta, and the one on the bottom was taken by Lisa Nielsen. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

It looks like sales of the upcoming 36 Hours anthology, which includes two of my New York Times columns, are going well, even though the book isn’t even out yet. Pre-order yours right here. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Check this out, especially paragraph four, which I encourage you to read in public, preferably in an obnoxiously loud and braying voice. How about them bananas? http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Hey everybody, at long last, here are my slug cookies, produced (with my home-made banana slug cookie cutter and cartoon design) by the Buttery. We handed a bunch out today and they went fast, and we hear there are only three left at the Buttery itself. Some people ate a whole fistful at once. They’re going to sugar-crash so hard! Long live Sammy the Slug. When I first saw these I flipped out. It’s like seeing one of my cartoons or doodles transformed into a food item. And then you start seeing people biting off their heads and nibbling on their little antennae and you feel like saying, “No, no, no, hey you, stop, that’s mine!” Artful cookie photo by Carolyn Lagatutta http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I’ll upload full-color photos as soon as I am able. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

So, here’s my schedule This morning, after I drink a cup of you-know-what, I’m going on KSCO a.m. radio right around 715 or so. You’ll never, in a million years, guess what I’ll be talking about on the radio. Must I say it out loud??? (It ryhmes with ‘shmug.’) If you want to listen in, feel free. At 745 am, sharp, I have an appointment at you-know-where, to pick up a bunch of baked shortbreads shaped and decorated to look like you-know-what. Right around 1045, I will be going up to you-know-where to set up a booth dedicated to you-know-what. Close to 230, I will head to downtown Santa Cruz to discuss you-know-what with you-know-who. See you all later on. You know where. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Just wanted to make sure that lots of you folks show up for both these things tomorrow. I’d write more, but right now, I’m on my way to retrieve a gigantic yellow furry Slug outfit. Not making this up. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default