1987

In their own words: Kathryn Selig Brown reports, "I finally received my doctorate in Tibetan art history from the University of Michigan (it took me nine years, but I did get to interview the Dalai Lama about the topic) and on September 13,2001,1 gave birth to Dustin Rader Brown. That's two babies in less than two years. I'm now teaching Asian art history part-time at NYU and am managing editor of the Asia Society Museums Web site, www.asiasocietymuseum.org."

Dan Gisser: "We made two trips to Vietnam over the past three months, and brought back a daughter—our first child. She's extremely healthy, very cute and adapting very well to her new life. We're having lots of fun. Amazingly and wonderfully, we got to meet Tommi's birth mother, a highly unusual experience for Asian adoptions." On the country itself, Dan reports: "Vietnam is a fascinating place. We spent most of our time in Hanoi, but spent a few days each in Lang Son, a small city on the China border, where Tommi is from, and a few days in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon). It's extremely poor, but not totally destitute (they export rice), and there are some encouraging signs that the country could get its act together during the next 20 years."

We also have another author: David G. Havlick has published No Place Distant: Roads and Motorized Recreation on America's Public Lands. Advance praise for the book from Reed F. Noss, a conservationist: "David Havlick's well-written book does a splendid job of illuminating the many challenges that roads and motorized recreation pose to our society." I plan to read this, as it coincides with a few of my interests, and will report in a future column.

Speaking of books and writing and all that: I've come up with a few choices for a possible book group (I'm still hearing crickets, but I figure if I keep plugging away, perhaps this will get off the ground). How about either: Edith Wharton's House of Mirth, Ernest Lesson Before Dying, Michael Chabon's The AmazingAdventures of Cavalier and Klay or my own suggestion, Rohinton Mistry, A fine Balance. E-mail me if you have an opinion.

And though the news slowly trickles in, I want more. How about two questions that stem from my own status as a single reader/listener: How did you meet your significant other and what single book or album has influenced you the most (and why)? Or for that matter, which book have you enjoyed the most? Responses to me:

2814 Kensington Ave. #16,Richmond VA 23221; jtsnyk@yahoo.com