7 October

Book Tour: My Perfect Day

by Jon Katz
My Perfect Day
My Perfect Day

My official one day book tour began Tuesday morning and ended Tuesday evening.  That was all the publisher scheduled, I am on my own now.  The Orphans Book Tour. The funny thing is, it was perfect, one of the best and sweetest book tours I have ever had, a combination of fans, friends, family, community, dog and donkey.

Connie Brooks has sold more than 600 copies of “Saving Simon” before publication Tuesday and has another 100 or so orders waiting on the computer to be filled.

I had two wonderful hours on two different NPR stations – Northeast Public Radio out of Albany, and Wisconsin Public Radio, broadcasting from Milwaukee, from the farm. Each of those networks reaches many good stations, Simon and his book raised about $11,000 for NPR. Both interviews were wonderful, heartfelt, comfortable.

Red came everywhere with me, and charmed the socks off of scores of readers. Maria sketched everywhere she went. People are mesmerized by Simon and by the story and history of donkeys.

And then, this wondrous talk and reading at Battenkill tonight, a full house, standing room only, great questions, I felt right on it. Before my surgery, I could  hardly stand up for an hour, I was on my feet all night loving every moment and could have gone hours more. It felt so good to have my energy and focus back, and then some. Several people said they came mostly to see how I looked after the surgery, I told them the truth: I felt great.

Scott Carrino brought some great cookies, George Forss talked about his new book “The Way We Were,” and signed and sold a bunch. He is very happy with his book, I am excited for him.

I talked about Simon, the book, my open heart surgery, my writing life, compassion, the New York Carriage Horses. It felt good, I feel strong and eager to talk about my book. Maria and I laughed, it was odd to have only one appearance for a book (I am scheduled to do readings at Northshire Books in Saratoga and Manchester in early December) I love talking about so much. But it felt nothing but good all day.

Then, some wonderful reviews, from Publisher’s Weekly, USA Today, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and the first five-star up on Amazon (a nasty one-star as well.) A score of people on the Creative Group at Bedlam Farm shared news and reviews about the book all over Facebook in a co-ordinated effort that began at 7 p.m., an innovative and potentially significant idea for book-selling. I love good reviews and good reviews online, but the truth is that they don’t really sell many books any more. People buy what they see and like and what is highly recommended by others.

Books have a life of their own, they either catch or they don’t. A month-long book tour costs many thousands of dollars but rarely makes up for it’s cost in book sales. In the meantime, Connie is taking orders for “Saving Simon.” I will sign and personalize each one (within limits, I reserve the right to edit windy inscriptions or those that don’t sound like me.) You can call the story at 518 677-2515. order the book through her page online. She takes Paypal and ships anywhere in the world.

I could not have had a nicer day, Maria drove me around and came with me, so did Red, saw good and loving friends and fans wherever I went, sold a lot of books today. I am working on my own book tour from here. I am going to Des Moines and Iowa City next May, and I have accepted invitations from libraries to talk about my book in New Canaan, Connecticut and the Petersburg Library in New York. Dates to come. I have had a bunch of inquiries from bookstores and libraries in different cities, but I can’t afford to pay to get to some of these places, and many don’t have any money either.

My blog will be the focus of my new book tour, and I will be able to continue work on my “Talking To Animals” book, under contract with Simon & Schuster, my new publisher. Tomorrow, Maria and I need to focus on the Open House, scheduled for this weekend. I’m selling three photographs, some notecards, Maria and her fellow artists are selling some great and affordable art. I will be doing sheepherding demos with Red, and conducting Simon visitation tours. I love Simon and am proud of him. Our little town is ready for our visitors and others – this is peak foliage season and all kinds of tag sales and local events are planned for this weekend.

I feel great about my book, I loved my book tour, brief and beautiful. Life truly is what you make of it.

 

7 October

Simon’s Ready. Simon’s Time. Good First Day Of Book Tour

by Jon Katz
Simon's Ready
Simon’s Ready

Simon’s ready, for the Open House, for the book about him. Simon is not shy, he relishes every bit of attention he can get, he is eager for the hugs, kisses, fussing and carrots headed his way this weekend and for his growing fame – I learned today in a series of interviews that he is quite popular, a donkey celebrity.

It was a good solid first day for the book, “Saving Simon.” The official part of my book tour continues and ends tonight with a reading at Battenkill Books, but I intend to make my own book tour and keep it going. I was on two NPR shows and Simon raised more than $10,000 in pledges to two NPR networks. I had a series of interviews with people who really loved the book and it’s message, and were eager for more information on donkeys.

A writer things every book may be a big one, I have kind of given up on that, but who knows? Simon has some good mojo going.  The book my publisher set up ends tonight – my first ever one-day book tour. That’s why I’m callling it the Orphans Book Tour, in honor of Simon and my books.

But I realize that in many ways, the tour is just getting started. This is what creativity is all about, getting creative instead of angry, I will always write my own story and am grateful to have written Simon’s. “You are going to have a great weekend, Buddy,” I explained to him this morning, before kissing him on his big soft nose. He knows it too.

7 October

Albany Mural: Between Interviews

by Jon Katz
Between Interviews
Between Interviews

I got to Albany early for my interview, it was just down the road from the hospital where I had open heart surgery in July, interesting to return. Took Red for a walk and looked, as always, for wall murals and found some. Albany is an eclectic place, lots of immigrants, many storefront churches. I think this was attached to one of them.

7 October

Book Tour Dog. Day One.

by Jon Katz
Book Tour Dog
Book Tour Dog

I publish most of my books in the Fall, and that means NPR station fund drives, rooms stuffed with volunteers, pleading anchors and journalists, in America the best news programs have the least money and the worst ones the most. We did two fund drive shows today, the first WAMC (Northeast Public Radio) out of Albany, the second, a wonderful hour-long phoner with Kathleen Dun of Wisconsin Public Radio, one of the best interviewers I ever encounter anywhere. Public radio stations have to beg, borrow and steal enough money to survive.

Random House generously devoted some “Saving Simon” books to both radio programs, and I appreciate the quality of the interviews and conversations. It was a good first day, my books is climbing onto the bestseller lists on Amazon, I don’t know about elsewhere, this is pub day and it should be available everywhere.

Tonight, another treasured book tour ritual, my pub day appearance and reading at Battenkill Books in Cambridge at 7 p.m..

Red is a sensation on the book tour, this morning, he worked the volunteer phone line room at WAMC, I am always a bit taken aback by how easily he adapts to strange environments – Red had never lived in a house until he came to me a couple of years ago – and touches the hearts of strangers. People love him, and he loves the attention. He’s coming to Battenkill tonight. A good solid first day for the book tour. Normally I would be getting on a plane tomorrow and heading out into the country, not this book tour. I will be heading for my blog. Fair enough, the role of the contemporary writer is to go where his or her readers go, and so I am.

7 October

The Carriage Horses: The Courage And Wisdom Of Rain Dove Dubilewski

by Jon Katz
The Courage Of Rain Dove Dubilewski
The Courage Of Rain Dove Dubilewski

I want to share with you an extraordinary piece of courage and journalism: “The Real Story Behind Central Park Horse Conditions,” by Rain Dove Dubilewski,which appeared recently on a website called the doost.com. Rain Dove Dubilewski reminds us what truth means, even when it subsumed by the mob.

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Winston Churchill said that courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, and courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.  Rain Dove Dubilewski, an self-described androgynous model in New York City was hired to work during Fashion Week in a runway show where the fashion designer decided that his models would ride in horse carriages to show off his new collection. Animal rights demonstrators booed the models and repeatedly attempted to disrupt the runway show. The police made little effort to control them, according to many  people present

. “The voices of hundreds of angry animal activists greeted me unexpectedly,” wrote Dubilewski, “to tell me that the minute I step into a carriage I am stepping into the life of an animal that is suffering. News crews, reporters, bloggers, photographers, swarmed me. I could not control them. The police could not control the crowd.”

Dubilewski said she was upset and frightened. She was told she was supporting animal abuse, she was shouted at, handed pamphlets and posters, told that the carriage horses were starved, dehydrated, worked to death. She listened, took notes. Most people would have left it there. She did not.  Here, she  wrote, is the list of the top ten concerns that the demonstrators, who described themselves as supporters of animal rights, had about the horses:

The food is of poor quality; there is pigeon excrement mixed with the feed, it is left out for rats to roll in in the stables; horses are left at the stables alone for days without water, and are not given water at their work site (Central Park), even in extreme heat; the barns are freezing cold in the wintertime and boiling hot in the summer because of poor ventilation; the horses are worked to death and never given a day off; when the horses are too old to work, they are sold to slaughterhouses; horses get hit by cars frequently and are subject to heavy traffic; drivers beat their horses and whip them; horses do not have free space to run or frolic in fields; many of the horses are lame because the asphalt is too hard on their hooves; the horses breathe pollution all day and have to breathe in automobile exhaust constantly.

These charges have been repeated for years, in speeches, demonstrations, press conferences, on blogs, websites, TV and radio and in countless newspaper accounts and in hundreds of thousands of pamphlets. The mayor of New York City has accepted and embraced these accusations, they are the cornerstone of his efforts to ban the carriage horses from New York City.  Veterinarians and horse associations repeatedly denied these charges, said they were false. But until recently, no journalist had ever gone to the stables to see the horses for themselves, very few citizens had, and the mayor never has, nor have any of the people who call themselves supporters of animal rights and defenders of the horses.

I went to the stables in January to see for myself, and the experience was profound, it altered my sense of truth, justice, journalism, the environment,  animal rights and fairness. I have been writing about it ever since. I am humbled by Rain Dove Dubilewski’s piece, she is a true journalist and a warrior for light.

Rain Dove Dubilewski – clearly frightened to even approach a subject she considered to be so sensitive and controversial – decided to go and see the horses for herself. “I love animals,” she wrote. “I love most people. And – I love education. Some might believe that as a model I don’t have the brain cells nor the knowledge to investigate this topic thoroughly but that is not true. I do have an entire childhood spend growing up on a farm, and a degree from UC Berkeley – one of the most activist driven schools in the country. PLUS – all people deserve the right to education and to be educated. EVERY person should be able to seek truth for themselves the way they know best – qualified or not in other people’s eyes.”

If Thomas Jefferson were alive, he would throw his arms around Rain Dove and praise her to the skies. This is the highest calling of a citizen in a free country – seeking the truth, speaking the truth, gathering the information needed to make up his or her mind, even in the face of a howling and angry mob.

So Rain Dove Dubilewski went to the Clinton Park stables and she investigated every single one of the animal rights complaints with thoroughness and an eye to detail – greater, I have to say, than mine or anyone else I have read or heard about. Here is her report, I commend it to anyone who cares about truth  or the welfare of the carriage horses and who wishes to understand the meaning both of courage and true citizenship. At the end of her report, she conceded that this truth was hers and hers only, she said she was eager to listen and learn and hear other points of view.

Rain Dove may feel that people may dismiss her ideas because she is a model, but my wish for her – for all of us – is that she come to understand that she put the journalists, the angry protestors and the mayor of the world’s greatest city to shame.

 

 

 

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