ONE MONTH GONE

On February 11 we were here for exactly a month, and Bea has already forgotten me -- mind you, she does have a hundred children, and she’s scriptwriting, so I’m not blaming her. And Miriam forgot my birthday, which even Nandi and Sam Bauer-Cope remembered; however, in their case they most probably sparked because they couldn’t believe that anyone could be as old as I am and still have teeth to chew with.

Top of the recap list is that February 12 saw the publication of Sizwe’s Test. The New York Times Book Review did a double-page spread on it, used two of Gideon Mendel’s photographs, and got Adam Hochschild (King Leopold’s Ghost) to review it. (I’ll add the text of the review to our website.) Yesterday’s edition of Time Out says: “Not since Abraham Verghese’s haunting 1994 book about eastern Tennessee, My Own Country, has the AIDS epidemic been described so deeply and humanely, and from so many angles. … Steinberg has ended up with a big, brave, poignant look into the heart of his country…”

Just one pic of the book on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, and then I’ll stop being so full of bursting pride.