Glass Shallot by Adam Baer

back from baja

"It can't all be wedding cake."--Spoon, "The Underdog"

shallot marries

And we celebrate.

(A Shallot-subscriber-only chance for a brief excerpt from my vows:
"As a writer, I know that language can only go so far. No rhetorical form or attempt at 'content'  can explain what Lina means to me and how sincerely gifted I feel to be with her every day. And I'm so thankful for that.")

On "Spa-ing" the desert

Yes, it's a word. At least within earshot of one of the mineral-schmearing practitioners at Palm Springs's best spas. Well, one lucky writer got to try some of them out. Read the essay about what prompted this hard-labor assignment, and then take a look at the story in its printed form. (If your computer hates PDFs, here's the online version.)

Why Glass Shallot?
Because we try to take care of ourselves. You know, with vodka gimlets by a saline pool.

ladybug and the lion

So a new colleague has entered the blogosphere, and it's my duty to tell you about her intriguing virtual effort. Lara Loewenstein's The Ladybug and the Lion has just gotten off the ground, and in her first few posts, the endlessly curious writer--with current assignments charting neurological mysteries as well as plant cycles from the Jurassic era, to say nothing of social mores--explains her unlikely role as UCLA's former college sex columnist and how Playboy magazine assigned her an article and then "creatively" edited her quotes into a college-sex-columnist roundtable. She links to the article as a PDF. But my favorite Loewenstein comment (was it hers or an editor's? ask her!) will run here as an appetizer: "Slut is still an insult. But then so is virgin. Sex can be empowering, but it can also be demeaning. It's all about context." Sounds like the mag world, no?

private mr. clooney

How nice that it takes George Clooney's motorcycle accident and subsequent hospitalization to remind the world that no one at hospitals or doctors' offices honors the HIPAA privacy laws--I can't tell you how many times I see doctors and medical workers saying patient names and diagnoses out loud in elevators, cafeterias, clinic hallways, etc. The challenge now, I guess, is just to get someone other than your mom to care about what you got!

positively dylan

After spending some recent time with some very lovely Canadians, I recently took on an assignment from Toronto-based Sir magazine (available with your Globe and Mail). It was to discuss in brief Bob Dylan's impact on style and attitude in celebration of the forthcoming November biopic, "I'm Not There." I like writing for the back pages of magazines. While this is by far not anyone's last word on Dylan, it's mine, at least for November.

Positively Dylan, Sir, November 2007.

Why Glass Shallot?

Because if the times didn't change, we'd go rotten.