Archive for January, 2011
Winter Light, Perfect Day
New York Harbor / Battery Park City / Laura Howell / January 2011
Concettina Died, a book by Marco Zaza
Years ago, when I started this blog, I asked my dad to contribute by writing down some family stories to be posted in his own section of the site. He came through in a major way — writing two dozen stories that told of his growing-up days on the East Side of Youngstown, Ohio and of our family’s development from immigration through today. His blog is called Concettina Died and Other Stories of the East Side because he had always said if he were to write a book, that would be the title.
So this year, after Dad updated the site with two new stories, I started to think it was time to compile them into an actual book, and to flesh them out a bit with illustrative photos that would help bring to life all the wonderful characters in these tales. With the help of friends and family who sent me the images and helped out with various bits of fact-checking, I pulled it together in time for Christmas. Dad was surprised and delighted to see his work take this new form, and my family had a wonderful time over the holiday enjoying the book and reminiscing about the events in the stories.
The book was produced using print-on-demand technology from Blurb.com. It was edited and designed by yours truly. And it’s available for purchase by anyone who wants one. Concettina Died is an 80-page, fully-illustrated 8-by-10-inch volume. It is available in both hardcover and softcover. Here is an online preview of the book.
If you’d like to order one for yourself, you may do so here:
Hardcover edition
Softcover edition
Enjoy!
Haiti: One Year Later
I had a call yesterday from Doctors Without Borders. I made a donation to them a year ago immediately after the earthquake, and they were following up to ask me to give again. I did, and urge you to do the same. Click below…
UPDATE:
After I posted this I saw this report at GiveWell.org naming Doctors Without Borders among the best places to give. In discussing various organizations to which people might make donations, they say:
With the information we’ve collected so far we feel that Doctors Without Borders, Partners In Health, and Direct Relief International stand out from the rest of the organizations we’ve reviewed, in that they have discussed their activities with unusual clarity (even if not what we consider strong clarity).
