The BBC reported yesterday that Yemeni editor Muhammad al-Asadi could be facing the death penalty for running the infamous Danish political cartoons in his newspaper. I've been wondering lately how the cartoonists feel about all of this - it's one thing to strike a blow for freedom of speech but how do you feel when so many people are killed or threatened or lose their livelihood because of your political statement? It has to be miserable for everyone involved, although their feelings are nothing compared to al-Asadi's. And I wonder why I have to find this sort of news item out from the BBC. It seems American journalists are only interested in showing tape of rioters, and don't spend much time looking for deeper stories. Everyday I get more frustrated about this democracy I call home, and everyday I try to find some small way to change it. (Link found via Moorishgirl.)

Kris Kristofferson has a new CD out and I am pretty much certain I'm going to buy it. He has always been one of my favorite songwriters, and even though the gravelly voice takes a bit to get used to, I'm so fascinated by him and the choices he made in his life that I find his work hard to resist. No Depression has an excellent interview with him this month and his life is certainly a testatment in being free to follow your dream, and believing in yourself when the future looks bleak. (It's also more proof as to how cool Johnny and June Carter Cash were.)

I keep wondering about this dream business, about sticking to your guns, about hanging in there, because so much of my life is changing lately that it seems like my head might spin off from all the sudden activity. Chin Music Press is looking to go into a second printing of Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans, something we never expected so fast but the response to the book has been so great that we can hardly believe it. My short story "Our Missing Airman" is going to be up soon at failbetter (and is now advertised in a teaser on their site - I'm a teaser!!) and I have a reputable agent from a reputable agency who is telling me she believes she can sell my book. What really blows my mind on all this is that I got here from writing for people who were willing to give me a chance, by writing for Eclectica and Bookslut and Booklist and now the Voices of New Orleans - by writing and writing and writing for the internet.

It's not the way that the books tell you this will happen, it's not the way anyone I know has told me it will happen and it's certainly not what I learned in school. I am not doing a 9-5 job, I am not wearing a dress or high heels, I am not kissing anybody's ass. And still - I'm succeeding at my dream.

Amazing.