Elephant Girl

“We’ve got two lives — one we’re given and the other one we make.” ― Mary Chapin Carpenter Jane Devin doesn’t agree with Mary Chapin Carpenter, she has a more deterministic view of the universe. Jane sees her life as a river flowing beyond her control, going places she doesn’t want to go, and forcing her to be something she doesn’t want to be. All memoirs like to find one note and continue to strike it over and over again.  Memoirs by chefs and restaurant critics tell how food rules their lives.  Memoirs of artists talk about art, musicians talk about music,…

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Keep The Change

Steve Dublanica wrote one of my favorite blogger-makes-good books called Waiter Rant, in which he tells the world what he thinks about restuarants and the dinning public at large.  He lived and died by how much he was tipped-and he hated people who didn’t tip, much as an Assembly Line Portrait Photographer hates people who don’t buy. In Keep The Change, Steve ventures into the universe of tipping.  Being a poor schmuck myself, my own tipping activities are limited to restuarants with wait staff and my semi-annual haircut.  And I’ll be honest, I’d rather not tip the random woman at…

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