Five minutes into the Today Show this morning, the substitute co-host provided a stunning example of how not to interview a victim.

Karen Hernandez had just lost her home and virtually everything she had in the California mudslides. The Today host began a live interview, and at first Karen appeared OK…

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I stepped into a NYC department store yesterday.

I've visited the city maybe a dozen times, and lived here six months, but yeah, that was my first. I don't enjoy shopping.

But damn, we spent most of the afternoon. 

It was maybe not the best day for it. Way too many people, kind…

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I've been putting together an ebook suggestion list, and will wrap it up tonight, and post tomorrow.

Have fun with all those Kindles, Nooks and iPads. I'm a little jealous.

And if you're still shopping, this is the last Christmas Columbine will be 20% off in physical Barnes & Noble stores nationwid…

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Penn Station, about an hour ago (9 p.m., Tuesday Dec. 21).

Everybody trying to get home.

I was just passing through on my way home from the gym.

I love that. I would have taken a field trip to see glimpses of humanity like that. Now I see it/… Read full post »

Thanks for all the links to my Columbine intro video. It just passed 25,000 views since the relaunch.

You have made all the difference in getting the word out on Columbine. (Despite 13 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, most people still don't know a book on Columbine exists.)

The… Read full post »

Yesterday I was ecstatic. And busy. My tivo can only record two networks at once, so it was tricky to bop between three networks as the two big Senate votes went down on burying the despicable Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I wanted to watch the full vote on CSPAN-2, catch the mainstream… Read full post »

She slid the needle out of my forearm and pressed a cotton ball in firmly. A tiny red bubble leaked out before she reached it. The cotton slurped it up.

"It's inside you now," she said.

I shuddered. I had not expected a remark like that, or the fleeting panic it set… Read full post »

"Why did he snap?" Meredith Vieira asked.

That was her opening sentence of the #2 story on The Today Show this morning—about Clay Duke, the gunman who fired at a Panama City school board meeting and killed himself last night. In case we missed the point, "Why did he snap?" was emblazoned… Read full post »

The completely overhauled Columbine Instructor/Teacher's Guide is now up. It's free, and designed for college and high school Humanities courses. (Also see Columbine Student Guide, beta Columbine research site, Columbine intro video and Columbine book.)

The instructor guide started last year as a 3-pa… Read full post »

It's puzzling, actually. People ask how me how Columbine is selling, and I don't think they believe me when I say I don't really know. Publishers tell authors almost nothing. It's so dumb it's hard to believe.

Yesterday, that changed. No, my publisher didn't come through with a huge trove of Co… Read full post »

I've been meaning to post one of these pix for over a week.

It seemed like such a long holiday, I figured I had lots of time. And then, whoosh.

Like the rest of my life.

Happy late Hanukkah to everyone out there celebrating it. The plastic menorah is still lighting up my lobby,/…

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Tomorrow, The Autry National Center in LA is hosting a staged performance of passages from the book Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film, which was created by members of my website, The Ultimate Brokeback Forum.

The pic to the left is the story that LA Magazine ran about the event in/…

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I've officially decided it's too cloudy in New York City. Denver spoiled me with sunshine.

I'm not leaving—not even close—but it is time to get one of those full-spectrum happiness lights to ward off SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

Has anyone tried them? Any particular brands or specs or whateve…

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This weekend, I got a last-minute invitation to tonight's live performance and taping of The Moth.

Damn. I love Kristin Chenoweth. And Mos Def, Simon Doonan, Wes Moore, Aimee Mullins and Sirdeaner Walker. Any of these people would be cool to see read/perform. All of them at once. Too nice.

I get asked…

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Matt Smith of ABC's affiliate WBAY in northern Wisconsin read my Slate XX Factor piece on the Marinette tragedy, and asked me to discuss it on-air.

We spoke yesterday afternoon by Skype. Matt did a really nice job, and you can watch the 2-minute segment or read the transcript. (The video segment…

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First time gazing at the George Washington Bridge after driving over it.

Changes everything.

First time on it was Monday before Thanksgiving, coming back from my first trip to the Catskills. Second and third times were the trip back, starting two days later.

First gaze was/… Read full post »

I have a guest piece again today on Slate's XX Factor: 

Understanding Sam Hengel, the Gunman at Marinette High School

Did a hostage standoff actually take place in Wisconsin Monday night, when Marinette High School sophomore Sam Hengel held 24 students and a teacher for six hours? FBI doctrine sug/… Read full post »

The Pentagon report on gays is out. Secretary Gates is on TV backing repeal by the Senate this month.

From New York Times:

At a news conference on Tuesday announcing the release of the report, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said that repeal “would not be the wrenching, traumatic change that many h… Read full post »

From USA Today's site, running a report by the Green Bay Press Gazette:

MARINETTE, Wis. — The 15-year-old Marinette (Wis.) High School student who held 23 students and a teacher hostage on Monday has died.

The gunman, identified by Marinette Police Chief Jeff Skorik as Samuel Hengel of Porterfield, d/… Read full post »

I'll keep adding updates to the bottom, as the story progresses.

The hostage situation in Wisconsin has ended peacefully. Within the past hour, AP and others confirmed it is over. Local TV station WFRV had the most complete report I've seen:

MARINETTE, Wis. (WFRV) -- The hostage situation at Marinet… Read full post »

Any students, moms, teachers, cops, librarians or therapists on your list?

They have really embraced Columbine. Also: dads, lawyers, EMTs, firemen, detectives, profs, and school administrators. Or anyone who loves an absorbing read.

The paperback, with new material, is just under $10 at Ama… Read full post »

I believe my agent warned me not to post things this personal on my blog. Hopefully she won't read it. Haha. Or my mother.

Tonight, I'm headed to the Catskills for Thanksgiving. Here's how that happened . . .

I met a nice guy at the gym last Thursday (David Barton Gym,… Read full post »

I'm happy to be a guest poster today on Slate's excellent XX Factor blog, with Columbine's Lost Lesson. 

(If you haven't read XX Factor, you're missing out. It's subtitled What women really think, and describes itself as "a conversation among Slate’s women writers and friends about politics, cu/…

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I'm still giddy over Patti Smith winning the National Book Award for Just Kids, and want to share a few cool things sent to me afterward.

WQED, the great NPR station in San Francisco, wrote to share this recent episode where Patti read from Just Kids for their weekly reading series, The… Read full post »

The Columbine Student Guide is now complete. It's online and free. (The Columbine Teacher's Guide and Columbine Online are in beta, coming soon.)

The idea came this spring, over weeks touring colleges and high schools, meeting thousands of students who had embraced the book. You guys really in/…

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