Bobby Sneakers turns the big 5.0 today! Big day. And he's also the hottest leather corgi in Hell's Kitchen for Halloween. (Good for research for my gay soldiers book. haha.) Here he is on 9th Ave, in the heart of Hell's Kitchen: At TMPL gym: I STILL need to post Part 2 of the videos from last week, but here is Part 1.
I still owe you guys Part 2 of the Bobby Sneakers pix from last week's visit, but he is back waaaaay early! I usually get him about once a month, but four days later, I got to bring him back for a week. Here we are in the Uber Wednesday night. We're both pretty happy. (He swears he's going to help me with Columbine follow-up coverage and my gay soldiers book. At least he'll be great company.)
Why do I adore the amazing lush, vivid prose of this book, yet I’m inching along, struggling every evening to make myself pick it up, and then setting it down again after a page or two? Oh I know: almost no plot! Sucks the life out of a novel for me. I'm only on page 54, but at this rate, I'll never get to the end. How I pray he'll move this story along. :) Maybe. Update: I have slowed down even more. I think the act of writing the post told me it's not worth it.
I just spent 8 glorious days with my little buddy Bobby Sneakers. I'm pretty sure he's the world's best corgi, and my official nephew. (And no distraction at all from my gay soldiers book. He brightens my days, and that improves my writing. And my cardio!) I look a lot of videos. I'm still uploading more, but here's the first installment, in 15-second bursts. Part 2 tomorrow. (update: delayed, but coming soon.)
Krisin is my new hero. Along with three active transgender service members I interviewed the past five days. I'm late in posting this, b
My book trailer and Columbine intro video, "The Depressive & The Psychopath" just hit 700,000 views. Thanks for the all the links! They are enabling the video, and the Columbine book to continue reaching new audiences. (If possible, use the word Columbine as anchor text — i.e., the word you're highlighting that they click on. That makes a huge difference for Google.) The video is just 3 minutes long, and gives a thumbnail introduction to the topic and the book. You can watch it here: I have also collected a wealth of Columbine info at my Columbine Guide, also free. (And preview my gay soldiers book.)
I signed ten copies of the expanded edition of Columbine today, at Barnes & Noble Union Square. They will ship worldwide. Order info here. Or just call 212-253-0810. (I need to get back to The Strand and McNally Jackson soon. I'm working on it.)
The Poynter Institute is the leading journalistic think tank. After the Las Vegas shooting, a Poynter professor asked me to do an in-depth Q&A for their site about covering trauma, Columbine, and reporting in general. They titled it: "After Las Vegas shooting, a Columbine expert offers heartfelt advice about the why of it all." The professor opened with a really generous intro: If I made a list of books that all journalists should read, Columbine by Dave Cullen would be near the top. Cullen was at the Colorado high school on the day of the shooting, and he has covered the aftermath for more than 15 years. That experience has lent him a special type of insight on crimes of mass murder, the pe
It's National Coming Out Day, which gave me a quick, misguided chuckle. Coming out is still an ordeal some places. HRC's map where supporters pinned themselves today graphically illustrates where: Look at the Interior West! It’s more barren than the Deep South. When I ran beer and liquor sales for Denver Pridefest, I would help out carding and wrist-banding during the initial crush after the parade. Half the licenses were out of state, drawing all those lonely boys and girls from every one of sparse states toward the left side of the map. And if you know The South, the Gulf Coast is far different from inland. You can see the Bible Belt in that map, too. But it’s also bleak in places I don’
Fort Hood, Aurora, Orlando, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and now Las Vegas: after yet another record-breaking shooting in the United States, a
Jeremy Scahill interviewed me for this week’s “Intercepted” podcast at The Intercept titled GUNS BEFORE COUNTRY. I lay out the 3 main types of mass murderers and discuss where we are into the investigation of the Las Vegas shooter at this point, compared to Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc. (I was stunned to learn, in 2012, that there are just three. I wrote an in-depth piece about the three types for Newsweek: What Does A Killer Think?) I won't mention the killer's name, BTW. I explain why in the new Columbine epilogue, and my BuzzFeed piece on disappearing killers. I’m the first guest on this week's podcast, starting about 14:00, after Jeremy’s fiery intro monologue. Jeremy is a brilliant g
I was so glad to hear Criminology professor James Alan Fox on CNN beseeching the networks to stop score-keeping spectacle murderers. (Awarding biggest, deadliest, etc.) I wrote about this in my Columbine epilogue last year. Most spectacle murders get minor coverage, and a few get massive. (Our media has only 2 gears.) It's clear there are 2 ways to get instant infamy: 1) Kill in creative/unique/shocking way, or 2) Break some records. This is disgusting, obviously, but the media plays right into it by awarding and trumpeting records. Please mention it if you have to, but downplay it, and for God's sake, stop jamming it into graphics and banner headlines.
The Las Vegas shooter (I won't say his name) was 64, which is an outlier. Last time I updated in 2015, only 2 of the 70 shooters were over age 60 (aged 64 &66), near the bottom in terms of victims. This is all based on Mother Jones data on: "US Mass Shootings, 1982-2017," which I analyzed various ways. They no longer seem to list age, but I kept their data from when they did. I was shocked to find 2 distinct age clusters: 1) post adolescent (as expected), but 2) LARGEST group, 40% "40ish" (ages 39-51). Few over 51.
