I, like you probably, watched the coverage in 2005 of Hurricane Katrina on CNN. And later, yes, I also lamented how the Bush Administration seemed to fail the victims. However, I had no insight — actually, I had no idea of –the injustice suffered by some of the citizens of New Orleans. Dave Eggers’s book Zeitoun gives us a riveting look at that. It follows the Zeitoun family, mainly Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born American citizen, father and owner of an extremely successful painting and contracting business in the heart of New Orleans. We quickly learn that Zeitoun (everyone calls him by his last name) is a stand-up guy. He built his business from nothing, owns several properties in the city and, basically, works like a dog. His family members adore him, though wish he’d take a vacation with them once in a while; Many neighbors and clients gladly give over their house keys to him because he is the guy they trust implicitly.

At his urging, Zeitoun’s family (wife and four children) flees New Orleans before Katrina hits. Zeitoun, however, decides to foolishly stay on to do what he can to save their properties. The hurricane ends up being much, much worse than he anticipated. Still, he survives and is able to help some stranded victims, pets and properties. He eventually adopts a canoe and even takes off on a course of daily patrols of his neighborhood. During one of these patrols, he is brutally apprehended by the police and military forces that — sorry for the pun — have flooded into New Orleans. The rest of the story you must get from reading Dave Eggers awesome book Zeitoun. Anyone who questions whether serious injustice and human rights violations could happen right here under our noses, won’t after reading this fascinating book. If you have males in your house who generally go for books like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, etc. I think they’ll also really love Zeitoun. Further encouragement: all the author proceeds from Zeitoun go to the Zeitoun Foundation, an organization formed in 2009 to aid in the rebuilding of New Orleans and to promote respect for human rights in the U.S. and abroad. Like Zeitoun, it seems Eggers is also a stand-up guy!

If you ever want to learn about something that’s a bit complicated or technical, a great place to start is in the children’s section. Children’s book authors usually do a brilliant job of conveying basic essentials on very complicated tops.  I spotted this book, Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns, in the kids section of our library a few months ago.

Tracking Trash is about ocean currents and all the crap that’s floating in our oceans. Burns follows Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an amiable and respected oceanographer who has developed a second career as a trash tracker. In 1990, his mother told him about a curious happening: Nike sneakers kept washing up on Seattle beaches. That started Ebbesmeyer on his trash tracking journey. He eventually found the source of the sneakers (21 containers had been tossed from a cargo ship full of Nikes in a Pacific Ocean storm). From there, Ebbesmeyer began tracking all sorts of trash – from shoes to bath tubs toys to boxing gloves to Legos. In fact, he and his beachcomber friends worldwide have tracked an amazing amount of ocean trash from cargo ships. And, along with his scientist friends, he’s tracked plastic, nets and other debris. Much of what we learn in Tracking Trash is how ocean currents work, how stuff gets into the ocean and how scientists can predict where it will wash up. Boy, there is a lot of stuff — mainly plastic — in our oceans.

In fact, Chapter Four, The Garbage Patch, is pretty disheartening. We learn that there’s a huge floating garbage patch partway between California and Hawaii. It’s called the Eastern Garbage Patch and there’s so much debris that it’s impractical even to think we could go out there and clean it up. Ebbesmeyer says it would be like mowing the state of Texas twice. And, upon visiting the Hawaiian island of Tern, where researchers have collected and stored beach debris for 10 years, Ebbesmeyer says, “If you turned off the plastic switch somehow…you would still have plastic washing ashore here for thirty or forty years. That’s how much plastic is out there. I think in our family of creatures we are misbehaving badly.”

I found the info on ocean currents fascinating but was, of course, drawn to the plastic message. It makes me wish there was a ban on using plastic in nonessential products. I’ve switched many products but there still seems to be a lot of plastic coming into this house. There are biodegradable plastics now and, locally, a few restaurants use them (I know of Sea Casa and East Coast Bagel in Westlake Village, as well as Pizza Salad in Thousand Oaks – there are probably others too.) However, the main message in the “What You Can Do” section is the same as what most environmentalists say: REDUCE. Don’t first think of buying something, think of not buying something. Good point.

So, if you’re going to read Tracking Trash, or share it with your kids (could it possibly make them want fewer toys??), hit the library first. Though, yes, I’ve included an Amazon link below just in case you really want to own a copy.

It’s not often that I’ll write about a magazine to which I contribute, but this is a unique case. The other day, I downloaded the March/April issue of VIV magazine. I wanted to check out a story I’d written on barefoot running. In case you haven’t heard of the barefoot running phenom, see below for a link to Chris McDougall’s fabulous book Born to Run. Even better, check out VIV.

VIV is a digital delivery mag (hence, you must download it). It was launched by a group of former Shape magazine editors. Calling it a magazine, though, is a bit deceiving. Yesterday while I was “flipping” through it using some of the interactive features, it really struck me how revolutionary it is. Indeed, it’s not “What I’m Reading Now” but, rather, “What I’m Experiencing Now.”  A fashion layout included a talking stylist with pithy instructions on how to make certain outfits “mild” or “wild,” how to mix florals, etc. Another impressive story centered on sex fears, but it wasn’t just a story…I guess I’d call it an interactive film noir watching/reading treatment. For the barefoot running piece, which also featured info on new minimalist running shoes, gone were the charts you might find in a regular magazine. With VIV, you click on a shoe and info just pops up.

Of course, you have to get used to navigating this experience. The basics: to read an entire article, you click on a red or white V at the bottom of the page. To move on to the next article, you click on an arrow. With that much info, you can navigate. With a little more messing around, you will quickly be able to use some of the more advanced features. VIV costs $36 for an annual subscription. That’s slightly pricier than most print mags, but you can feel good about saving paper. Plus — and I’m saying this as someone who only occasionally contributes words and has very little to do with the whole package — it’s the experience you’re paying for. It strikes me as the kind of thing that’s so cool you may want everyone to gather round your desk to check out the latest issue…sort of like how it must’ve been to be the first family on the block to own a television set.

If you go to the subscription part of  VIV‘s website, you can preview the current issue. Let me know what you think!

Jimmy Gownley started drawing and writing at an early age (he’ll tell us how early in this interview). His passion for cartooning has turned into a career for himself, and his wife! The team produces Amelia Rules! Jimmy is the creative one on the team, Karen, the strength and the organizer (she may giggle at this, but somehow I think she fits this superhero role perfectly).

Amelia Rules! is a comic book series originally self-produced by the Gownley duo. Last year, the series was picked up by Simon & Shuster, including re producing the first four books in the series, with an additional four to come. The fourth in the series The Tweenage Guide To Not Being Unpopular will be out April 6th. You can see a trailer for the book here .(you may have seen it at the theatre if you took your tween to Diary of A Wimpy Kid this month.)

These two don’t just have Amelia as their baby, bread and butter…they have twin daughters, Stella and Anna, who are six this year. Keeping their daughters and Amelia at the top of their priorities makes their marriage and their careers a juggle. They seem to do it with gusto and smiles. Check out what they have to say about life, Amelia, superheroes and talking to kids…
EXURB: Where did you go to school? Did you major in art?
JG: I have a degree in commercial art/illustration from Millersville University, which is a Pennsylvania state school.

I started out as a communication/broadcast major, because everyone told me I’d never make a living in the art field. (Karen is the one who convinced me to switch, asking why on earth I wasn’t an art major when, clearly, it’s what I loved to do.)

Incidentally, I really love that graphic design and web design are currently two of the fastest growing/highest paying careers. I wonder what all the people who thought art wasn’t a legitimate career option think now…

EXURB: How did you get started in cartooning?

JG: I blame my mother.

She started reading Peanuts comic strips to me when I was very young – it’s how I learned to read, actually. She also made flash cards to teach me how to read. Things like “car” boy” and “house.”

One day she came home and I was taping those cards to the wall, but I was doing it in a particular order to tell a story: The “boy” got in his “car” and went to his “house.” I was about three years old, and that was my first comic. I’ve been making them ever since.

EXURB: Where did the character Amelia come from? Did any one person actually inspire her conception?

JG: I came up with Amelia while I was working on another book, Shades of Gray. I just flipped over a page and drew this little girl. I held up the page and asked Karen, who happened to be sitting there “What do you think of her?” She said, “She’s cute.” I said, “What should I call her?” and we both said, at the same time, “Amelia.”

I thought that was pretty weird, and had to mean something.

EXURB: You both seemed to agree on Amelia right away…was it that easy for the two of you to name your daughters?

KG: Actually yes, it was pretty easy to name our daughters! I had been in love with the name Stella for quite a while – well before I was pregnant. But I thought it was too unusual and Jim wouldn’t go for it, so I never mentioned it. After I got pregnant, Jim was paging through a baby name book and saw the name and said, “Stella! What a great name!” I couldn’t believe it!

Anna is a family name on Jim’s side. He suggested it once and I fell in love with it – I would always picture having a little girl named Anna who, funny enough, looks EXACTLY like the Anna we ended up having. Very sweet.

EXURB: How long has Amelia been in your lives?

JG: I created Amelia in 1997, but didn’t publish anything with her until 2001. I self-published the Amelia Rules! comics until 2009, then the rights for the graphic novels were licensed by Simon & Schuster. I’m now working on book 6 of an 8-book deal with them.

EXURB: With two young daughter’s, you probably get lots of inspiration to write messages for girls…what are some of those messages you want to send?

JG: My idea for writing Amelia Rules! was to think of the saddest little girl in the world and imagine – if she was sitting in front of me right now – what would I tell her? I like the idea of Amelia being a real kid. She’s tough, but also very sensitive. She doesn’t have all the answers, she makes mistakes sometimes, but she has a good heart.

My goal with writing Amelia is to talk TO kids, not DOWN to them. I remember, maybe too vividly at times, what it’s like to be a kid and all of the baggage that comes with it sometimes. Too many writers are creating books they believe kids should like. I want to create something that really speaks to them and is very honest.

EXURB: Creativity tends to ebb and flow. How do you reconcile that with making a living at it?

JG: The thing with cartooning is that there are two elements – the writing and the art. So on days when the writing isn’t happening, I’ll try to draw. If I can’t draw, I get out my notebook and write.

The downside of this, of course, is that there is twice as much to do, and twice as much creativity that ultimately needs to flow.

When it’s not happening, I just have to fight through it. I often tell people that my mortgage is my biggest motivator.

EXURB: Is there anything special you do to start creating? Rituals? Environment? Quirks?

JG: I’m so happy that I have a nice studio now – it gets a lot of sun and a nice cross-breeze, so that’s great. I usually have music playing.

But oddly, I get an incredible amount of writing done on airplanes. In fact, my three favorite Amelia Rules! stories were created on planes.

EXURB: Amelia is a true exurbanite…moving from NYC to PA. Are you an exurbanite? or have you been a suburban dweller most of your life?

JG: I actually grew up in a tiny coal town in Pennsylvania – which is as far from urban as you can get, and also not a suburb.

I moved to Harrisburg, PA in 1996 but never actually lived in the city…which I do regret, and give Karen grief for (she’s a life-long suburbanite and wanted to continue that). I love big cities, especially NYC, which is one reason Amelia is from there.

EXURB: Tell us about Harrisburg. What does your town offer an up and coming artist and his family?

JG/KG: Harrisburg is a really cool place. It’s a small city, but the State’s capital, so there is definitely a city “vibe” and culture. But you can walk out of the capital steps, drive for 30 minutes, and be in Amish country…or a coal mining town…or in historic Gettysburg. So there are a lot of different experiences for our kids to enjoy, and for an artist to get inspiration from.

EXURB: When did it become clear that Karen help manage the business end of things?
JG/KG: Pretty much from the beginning! As I mentioned before, I began by self-publishing, which requires a whole different skill set than just creating comics. It was overwhelming and Karen was more than happy to help out with the odds & ends, especially the travel arrangements.

Once we went to Simon & Schuster, my schedule became a lot tighter – I produce two 160-page color graphic novels every year – and so she’s really had to step in to take care of a lot of different things so that I can logistically make the deadlines.

This year we also began producing educational videos for the professorgarfield.org website. Karen & I co-wrote and produced them, and she did all of the video editing. Her career before all of this was tv production and editing, so that worked out perfectly.

EXURB: How DO you manage, Karen…with twin girls? You must be a multitasker!
KG: Yes, I definitely am. I just try to pace myself. And it sounds strange, but sometimes housework is my “break.” If I need to step away from what I’m doing, I’ll throw some laundry in the washer or whatever… Of course that being said, housework is usually the first thing that suffers around here! Because once the kids are home from school, I make time to hang out with them. I’d rather do that than clean – it’s much more important.

EXURB: The new book is coming out soon. Tell me what that means to your work vs. home life…does Jimmy go on “tour”? How do you make that work for your family?

KG: Yes! The Tweenage Guide To Not Being Unpopular comes out April 6^th, and we’re really excited! Jimmy will go on a coast to coast nation-wide tour for most of April, speaking to school and library groups and doing book signings of course.

This tour was a great opportunity and we were thrilled that Simon & Schuster arranged it for him. The PR person there asked me how I felt about it and I said, hey, this is his national book tour. This is a huge deal. We’ll make it work.

One great thing about it is that he’s scheduled to make a stop in Philadelphia, so we’ll be able to go and stay with him that weekend. And with cell phones, email, and webcams, it’s easy to stay in touch.

I went to the nearest comic book store this week to buy some Amelia Rules! graphic novels. Needless to say, our exurbs are lacking on the comic book genre of stores, so I had to drive into the (gasp) Valley. But I was treated well at Collector’s Paradise on Winnetka, and scored two Amelia Rules! books. I’ve preordered the newest one directly from Simon & Shuster. My almost 10 year old son is loving the series (so am I…I like to pretend I’m Tanner, the hip ex-rock star aunt that Amelia and her mom live with). Check out the series…you and your kids will think it’s great.

I get Discover Magazine because my son is interested in science. He’s still too young to read Discover, but I figure with his growing interest in science it’s wise for me to start brushing up. I’m happy to report that the magazine is always fascinating. Even so, I sometimes get behind in my reading. Fortunately, I didn’t recycle the December 2009 issue without taking a look. I recently picked it up and became engrossed in The Dawn of Civilization: Writing, Urban Life, and Warfare by Andrew Lawler (the article is now available online if you want to read it– see below). Archeologist Joan Oates has discovered amazing finds in a place called Brak in Syria. It looks like the discovery of Brak, which dates to about 3,800 B.C., will rewrite history. Oates’s team has evidence that Brak is the location of the first known cities. According to the article, conventional wisdom had it that urban life began a 1,000 years later in today’s Iraq. Here’s the kicker: Oates’s team even discovered that Brak had suburbs! That’s right, folks. Don’t let anyone tell you that it began with Levittown. The ‘burbs are quite literally as old as the dawn of civilization!

If you’re interested in the article, it’s now available online at discovermagazine.com