stonesoup

Austin and Other Interviews

One of the nicest things to happen in any given week is for someone to request an interview. Who doesn't like to talk about themselves and the work they love?

Sarah Wagner, a PhD linguistics student at UT Austin and teacher in their Rhetoric Department, interviewed me for VIZ., a website devoted to visual culture. Sarah asked great questions... I really appreciate her interest in Stone Soup and the world of comic strips. To read her interview, go to:

http://viz.cwrl.utexas.edu/node/378

On a more surreal interview front...

I was recently interviewed by a local TV station regarding a donation I made to a book sale, which will benefit a food bank. The book sale is organized by an 11-year-old named Taylor, who first created the event when he was SEVEN, so I was inspired to participate in some way. 

(He's only 11 and he's already raised $29,000 for charity... that raises the bar for us adults, don't you think?) 

My donation was a box of autographed books, 44 copies of my second Stone Soup collection, titled "You Can't Say Boobs On Sunday". 

The title of this book comes from a rare moment of censorship. My syndicate editor rejected a Sunday strip I'd done, advising me that I could use the word "boobs" in my comic strip Monday through Saturday... but not on Sunday. The Sunday funnies being sort of... sacred, I suppose. No hard feelings, I got a great book title out of it.

But back to the TV piece, which was very nicely done I must say...

When they zoomed in on the book cover, they fuzzed out the word BOOBS. A visual "bleep" of the word. 

And it was only a Tuesday.

Nadya's House

In honor of Habitat for Humanity's Women Build Week, I worked for half the day on Saturday helping out at a Women Build site in Silverton, Oregon. This build is a project of the Mount Angel, Oregon chapter of Habitat for Humanity International. The new homeowner will be Nadya Sedekov, a mom with three kids, the oldest disabled. Her house will feature a roll-in shower to accommodate a wheelchair. 

It was a great day, and a great privilege.

OK, this next picture is VERY Oregon. Jeff, pictured here showing me what to cut and hammer next, is the crew supervisor for Nadya's build. A great teacher and kind soul, and a fan of the UtiliKilt. He lives "2 creeks over" from the build.

Women Build, Working Wonders

For the past couple of years I've had a relationship with Habitat for Humanity to promote their Women Build and Girls Build programs. It's a wonderful organization, building decent, affordable houses for families all over the world.

Women Build houses are constructed by almost all-female crews. Lowes sponsors Women Build and contributes skilled volunteers from their stores to help train inexperienced builders, run the really big machinery, and organize construction. Watching women learn to swing hammers with accurate vengeance, watching the house take form, watching the family receive their first set of keys... it's an amazing thing. I'm honored to have even a small part in it.

May 2-10 is National Women Build Week, and there is at least one Woman Build house going in each of the 50 states, 200 builds in all. I'll be helping out in Silverton, Oregon on Saturday, May 9th, on a house being built for Nadya Seledkov and her three children. One of her children is severely disabled, and amazingly, Nadya is living with all three children in a pole barn at the moment.

So, in these days leading up to Mother's Day, give a thought to women everywhere and the organizations dedicated to helping them. 

For more information visit www.habitat.org

2007 Suffolk County NY Women Build

P.S. That same day, May 9th, I'll be signing copies of This Might Not Be Pretty to help raise a little money and awareness, for the Silverton Women Build project... 

1:30 p.m.• Lunaria Gallery • Downtown Silverton, Oregon