Friday, April 2, 2010

Radio Interview & Dollhouse Essay Contest Winner

A couple of things have happened this week which may be of interest to those who have followed the 40 Days of Giving project.

First, on Monday, I was on the Baltimore radio show Midday with Dan Rodrickswith Baltimore Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen and Joyce Davis, an author focusing on Islamic culture. The three of us were on to give different cultural perspectives on the act of charity, and it was a fascinating discussion. You can listen to the whole interview by following the above link and scrolling down to the Monday, March 29 entry, the 1:00 - 2:00 hour, and clicking on the entry ... or you can just click here.

Second, my essay "The Redemption of Topher Brink" was a winner in the Smart Pop Books Dollhouse essay contest for essays about the relatively short-lived Joss Whedon television series Dollhouse. This means it will be in the upcoming anthology Inside Joss' Dollhouse. This is especially rewarding because, in a breakdown of the submissions, it was revealed that nearly 20% of the essays were based on the character of Topher Brink, so I knew that editorial concerns would mean that no more than two or three of them (four tops) could be chosen. So it seemed that I was likely in sort of a contest-within-a-contest. Given the clear popularity of the character, I'm looking forward to seeing what fans think of the essay.


And, finally, I just now got an e-mail announcing that I am officially on the Be the Match registry, so if someone needs my bone marrow, we'll find out about it. Signing up for the registry is completely painless, and any pain from actually donating (if you're ever needed) will be for the specific sake of saving someone's life.