True Kin

My good friend Ric Jahna is out on the roads of Central Florida touring to promote his new book, True Kin. Were it not for rising fuel prices, my living in Peru, and--I think he'd agree with me on this one--his not being very adept at planning, we might well be touring America together in a converted van. As much as I love it here, I would gladly count myself among his merry literary band.

Ric is a writer of prodigious talent and commitment. He's a man who eats, sleeps, and breathes literature, a man for whom writing is everything, something that has always awed me as long as we have been friends. Before I knew him well, I got to read a few of his stories in my first workshop at Arizona. His are the stories that make you laugh and make you think. He writes about ordinary, sturggling people, does so with remarkable empathy and economy. Ric was one of the stars of our MFA program, a winner of the Associated Writers Press Prize. I was so fascinated by Ric's decision to work as a night clerk at a local hotel following his graduation (to supplement his teaching income, it must be noted), I began documenting him in my spare time. In honor of his book tour and to join with him in spirit, I've put together a short sequence from a few clips I have with me on my laptop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN7cdDA24ic

Enjoy!