From China (or Just Home), With Love

This is what my bed looks like this week:

You wouldn't be able to tell from the picture, but the bears, chicks, and leaves are actually embroidered felt patches. It's like I'm sleeping in a cocoon made of children's television shows and Sanrio-filled dreams. (I'm guessing that my mother bought the bedcovers/pillowcase in China.) Adorable, but makes me feel like I'm five again.

A Dispatch from the Garret (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo 2012)

As most of you know -- and if you didn't before, you probably noticed the widget in the sidebar here -- I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year.

This is my first time really doing NaNoWriMo in New York. My first two years of it were during high school, which I attended here in the City, but this is the first year in which I'm really participating in the community and its range of social activities (mostly meeting other writers and pounding away at our laptops in coffeeshops, which is actually social in a weird way). It's been a lot of fun -- I hope the community doesn't dissolve after November, which I'm told often happens. I hope to make some friends by the end of this.

I'm also quite excited about my novel. I'm trying something new this year. I've done a lot of fantasy novels of various stripes; this year's is historical fiction, which entails a lot of research. I didn't do nearly enough before the month started, as I realized by the second week or so; I expect to spend quite a bit of time the next few months reading up on the construction of early Gothic cathedrals, and British evacuees during the Blitzkrieg, and the inner workings of art museums. I can't wait! I've got this lovely old textbook on medieval English sculpture waiting on my desk.

And so, back to writing. (I'm already behind!)

President Obama Thanks Campaign Volunteers

This is our president.



To borrow a phrase from his 2008 victory speech, if there's any question that he cares -- that he has genuine compassion for the people who work for him, the next generation, Americans of all stripes -- this is your answer. I, and I'm sure many of my peers, would be proud to be part of the future that he sees for this country and for us.

(Also, I'm thinking, Malia and Sasha have an awesome dad.)

Vote Today!

It's Election Day. Please vote. No matter who you vote for or whether you live in a swing state, your vote matters.

That is all.

NYTimes: Bloomberg Endorses Obama, Cites Climate Change and Sandy

This. Climate change has been given such short shrift this campaign even though, as this recent disaster has shown, it is of utmost importance. Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg, for reaching out to Democrats to point this out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/nyregion/bloomberg-endorses-obama-saying-hurricane-sandy-affected-decision.html?smid=tw-nytmetro

This is not just an environmental issue. Climate change is a national security issue, an economic issue, a health issue. There's been a War on Terrorism, a War on Poverty -- how about a War on Global Warming?

We need a leader with longterm vision, who understands that his policies affect more than just the here and now, that his children and his children's children -- future generations and the whole planet -- are at stake. It's hard, sometimes, for system of a four-year election cycles to deliver such a leader. We might have one in a second-term Obama; we know we don't in Romney.

Seeing is believing. Let's hope there are more believers now.

Escaping Baby Pandas!

Something cute and fluffy (literally!) to cheer you up after the hurricane:

Aren't they adorable?