2011

Oddly apt for 2011. How did I get here is a really good question. It's not a question frequently asked by ostriches. Or emus. But enough of the ornithological digression.

Welcome to The Dream Antilles for 2011. This is the 900th post on this blog.

We could try to improve things here this year. We might fix the broken links on the right margin, or the parts over there that won't light up any more. We might even make it easier for non-Spanish speakers to leave comments. But who are we kidding? It's not likely. What's more probable is that our many idiosyncrasies will continue. And become more pronounced. I guess if you're reading this you probably expect that. That's what will have to pass for charm in 2011.

May you have a wonderful 2011, one in which all of your dreams come true.

Happy New Year And An Update From The Dream Antilles

A special thank you for visiting The Dream Antilles in 2008. I hope you'll come back often in 2009. Here's an update on what's going on here:

I have really enjoyed writing this blog this past year. And I've frequently cross-posted items at larger sites (really? what site isn't larger?) including docuDharma and DailyKos. Occasionally, I've also posted at two other, excellent, smaller sites, The Wild Wild Left and Never In Our Names. I'm delighted with the range of issues I've researched and written about, and I'm pleased that so very many people have been able to read and comment about what I've written. I'm honored that so much of what I've written in 2008 has been posted on the front page at docuDharma or recommended or rescued at the Great Orange Satan, and that I've had such a large readership. Thanks.

My anti-death penalty newsletter, something I've been writing for more than six years, seems to have fallen in 2008 from a separate, creative venture into a means of distribution of pieces about death penalty abolition posted on this blog. I suppose the change was inevitable. I spare you the list of wonderful writers who started writing only about state killing and have since burned out and/or faded away. I'm committed to abolition, and I'll keep writing about it. Just not as regularly.

My 2005 first novel, The Dream Antilles, for which this blog is named, is still available at booksellers across the Internet. It has sold very few volumes, something entirely predictable, but is still a fun read, one highly recommended for the beach of your choice. It received a wonderful review just a year ago.

I remain hopeful that before the end of 2009 I will complete my second novel. It has the working title "Tulum", but I won't say anything else about it until it is finished. I've been "working" on it for two or three years, but I haven't really given it the sustained attention it deserves if it is ever to be completed.

And so, you've come to the end of a thankfully very rare meta essay. I'll be back with something substantive in a while. Thanks for reading. And have a happy, creative, fulfilling, prosperous, healthy, joyful 2009.