http://www.diprisco.com www.diprisco.com Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:19:42 +0000 http://www.diprisco.com en http://diprisco.com/Recluse-About-Town http://diprisco.com/following/diprisco.com/Recluse-About-Town Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:19:42 +0000 www.diprisco.com 2623879 He has spoken frequently to schools and other groups on matters pertaining to parenting and education, and he has given literary readings around the country. He is often consulted by the media on family matters and been a featured guest on national radio. MEDIA APPEARANCE: • Readings in Austin, Berkeley, and New York City fundraising for Dean Young • Our Children, National PTA Magazine • Finance, San Francisco Chronicle • Books of Our Times, Massachusetts School of Law Television • Sunday Chronicle Magazine • Family Talk with Doctor Mike, Icicle Network • Susan Page, USA Today, Diane Rehm Show, WAMU, NPR • Chicago Tribune, Susan Trestrail, Sunday Family Feature • Susan Wiencek, Windy City Weekly Radio, WNND-FM, Chicago • Parents Magazine • Parents Perspective, Sandra Burt and Linda Perlis, International radio syndication • USA Weekend, Drew Pinsky • Booklist • The Exchange, News 12, Connecticut • Working Assets, NPR • Boston Globe, Barbara Meltz, "Children Need to Know Cheating is Wrong" • United Parenting Publications, Judy Molland, national syndication • Parent to Parent, United Parenting Publication, Betsy Flagler, "Buying Off Kids," national syndication • KCET-TV, Life and Times, Los Angeles • WCCO-AM, Minneapolis, Tim Russell and Patty Peterson Show • WBZ-AM, Boston, Parents' Report • WGY-AM, Albany, NY • USA RADIO NETWORK, Daybreak USA • WKDR-AM/WDEV-AM/FM, Burlington, VT • Richmond Times Dispatch • Buffalo News • WFAN-AM, New York • WHO-AM, Des Moines, IA • WBSM-AM, Providence, RI • WKY-AM, Morning Business Report, Philadelphia • WZLX-FM, Common Ground, Boston • WHAT-AM, Phladelphia • Cable Radio Network • NPR—West Coast Live with Sedge Thomson • Daybreak USA, USA Radio Network • KGO Radio, San Francisco, Ronn Owens • WMAL-AM, Washington DC, Charlie Warren Show • KBHK TV, San Francisco, Susan Sakora Show • Diane Rehm, National Public Radio • HealthA toZ.com • Diane Jordan Book Page, KXL, Portland, Oregon • KOMO-TV, Seattle • Windy City Weekly, Chicago • New England Cable News Network • WGN, Steve Cochran Show, Chicago • Smokey Bacon TV Show, Boston • Exchange TV, Connecticut • Parent to Parent, Betsy Flagler (syndication) • Cleveland Plain Dealer • Time Magazine, Eugenie Allan • Cincinnati Enquirer • KFGO, Fargo, North Dakota • WGY, Albany, New York • KMTT, Seattle • Wisdom Radio Network • KVEL, Salt Lake City • WXXI, Rochester, New York • KCBS, Burlington, Iowa • Family News and Focus, Peter Winn • San Francisco Chronicle • WWSW, Pittsburgh • KFRU, Columbia, Missouri • WCCO, Minneapolis • KSOR Jefferson Public Radio, Oregon • KPFA, Berkeley • KVON, Napa, California • Working Mother Magazine • Washington Post • San Francisco Chronicle, Joan Ryan • Oakland Tribune • San Mateo Times • Alameda Times Star • Portland Oregonian • The News-Times • The Detroit Free Press • The Chicago Tribune • The Detroit News • Florida Times-Union • Childsbookclub.com • WKSU, Akron, Ohio • The Baltimore Sun, Sunday feature • The Baltimore Sun, Susan Reimer • WABC, Phil Shuman Show • The Boston Globe • Greensboro News & Record • Colorado Springs Gazette • Newsday • Courier-Express, Du Bois, PA • East Bay Express • Akron Beacon Journal • Orlando Sentinel • Boston Globe, Barbara Meltz PRESENTATIONS: • The Booksmith in San Francisco • The Ann Martin Center • California Association of Independent Schools • The Athenian School • "Flourishing Through Conflict," Keynote Speaker, Marin County • San Francisco B.A.Y. Fund • Francis Parker School, Chicago • Collegiate School, New York • Lincoln School, Brookline, MA • Cody's on 4th, Parenting Series, Berkeley • Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA • Archer School, Los Angeles • Black Pine Circle, Berkeley • Ross School, Ross, CA • Poetry Readings, Syracuse University • On Poetry and Religion, talk at the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Seattle • Poetry Readings, U.C. Berkeley • Poetry Reading, Bread Loaf • Poetry Readings, Cody's Bookstore • Poetry Reading, U.H.S. • "On Teaching Creative Writing," speaker with Martin Cruz Smith, California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) • Presenter, Seminar Leader, The Curriculum Wars, UHS Alumni Council • "Head Fakes in Ho Chi Minh City," talk on contemporary Vietnam, the war, and the continuing place of Vietnam in the American imagination; sponsored by Culpepper • Foundation, San Francisco • Commencement Speaker, elected by graduating class of U.H.S. • "Teaching Shakespeare," speaker, CAIS Regional Conference • "Teaching Vietnam," speaker and conference coordinator, CAIS Regional • Conference • Commencement Speaker, elected by graduating class of U.H.S. • Keynote Speaker, on Interdisciplinarity and Collaboration between High Schools and the • University of California; Plenary Conference of Crossing Boundaries, Planning Committee of • Bay Area Secondary Schools in Collaboration with U.C. Berkeley, The College Preparatory School • Speaker, Discussion Leader, Deans Retreat, Deans of • Students of Bay Area Independent • Schools, on Teaching, Learning, Parenting • The Young Presidents' Organization, San Francisco • Parents' Coalition of Bay Area High Schools, San Francisco • Cody's Books, Berkeley • Borders, Pleasanton, California • Caitlin Gable School, Portland, Oregon • Borders, Portland, Oregon • Borders, Geneva, Illinois • Nathan Hale High School, Seattle, Washington • Borders, North Attleborough, MA • Borders, Danbury, CT • Borders, Sterling, Virginia • Poetry Reading, Chico State University • Featured Poet, Marin Academy Literary Festival • San Francisco Town and Country Club • Stacey's Books, San Francisco READINGS: Video of Di Prisco reading at a Zyzzyva event at The Booksmith in San Francisco. If you have eleven minutes to spare in your life, this video is from a recent reading he did for Zyzzyva. (Warning: He looks like an old Muppet.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=xrtDmQ80seY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRjW-i0_RtU&feature=related http://diprisco.com/NEW-RELEASE http://diprisco.com/following/diprisco.com/NEW-RELEASE Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:53:22 +0000 www.diprisco.com 2623887 <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2623887/betterfly_sunset.jpg" width="318" height="476" width_o="318" height_o="476" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2623887/betterfly_sunset_o.jpg" data-mid="13389713" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2623887/synopsis.jpg" width="318" height="476" width_o="318" height_o="476" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2623887/synopsis_o.jpg" data-mid="13389735" border="0" align="left"/> ABOUT THE BOOK: Brother Stephen dies suddenly. That’s when things get complicated. Is Stephen’s death his wake-up call? That’s a possibility that slowly dawns on him. Soon he is behind the wheel of a Prius, driving through his afterlife, listening to himself being interviewed on NPR. His afterlife feels a lot like high school, he tells Terry, and she questions him about those lawsuits filed by students who claimed to have been molested by pedophile Brothers. As an administrator of his Roman Catholic religious order, he was caught in the middle of all these heartbreaking cases. In fact, the lawsuit he was dealing with the moment he died is one that strikes especially close to his heart. He once knew the plaintiff. He once knew her very well. He also knew very well the Brother who is named in the lawsuit. Now that he is dead, Brother Stephen is more determined than ever to get to the truth. He spends his afterlife solving a terrible mystery or two—about the survivor and about the accused. The biggest mystery he faces, however, is the one about himself. EARLY PRAISE FOR ALL FOR NOW: Di Prisco (Sun City) takes a bold and unexpectedly amusing look at the unfortunately joined subjects of religion and pedophilia. When Brother Stephen, an administrator of a Roman Catholic religious teaching order dealing with lawsuits from former students who claimed to have been molested by his brothers, suddenly dies, he finds himself in the afterlife—driving a Prius in Northern California as an NPR interview of himself plays on the radio. Needless to say, he’s shocked and confused, but he discovers that this is only the beginning of the oddities he will soon encounter. He returns to an amorphous afterlife version of his former high school, where, in a nod to Orwell, all doors lead to “Room 101,” and one of them holds his old girlfriend Shannon, now a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits. The dreamlike events that ensue with not only Shannon but also former mentor Brother Charlie and a student Brother Stephen taught 30 years ago forces Stephen to confront truths that he would rather have left unexamined. Though Di Prisco takes a heartbreaking look at the scars left by pedophilia, and some readers will surely feel anger at the sins, the tale unfolds, bravely, with much humor thanks to Brother Stephen’s bemused narration – Publishers Weekly “What makes Joseph Di Prisco’s novel work is its narrative voice— poignant, rueful, and wise-crackingly sardonic. This voice belongs to a just-deceased Catholic Brother, lingering in the afterlife to sort out his life’s meanings and errors, confronting friends and enemies. This is a novel about posthumous discoveries, reunions and revenge. Readers of J.F. Powers’ Morte d’Urban and Alice McDermott’s Charming Billy should find their way to All For Now.” – P.F. Kluge, author of  A Call From Jersey, Gone Tomorrow, and Eddie and the Cruisers “What will the afterlife be like? If we’re lucky, it would be something like the humorous and humane version Joseph Di Prisco imagines in All for Now, a smart, sparkling tale about faith, religion and devotion under less than ideal circumstances—that is, the average existence.” – Oscar Villalon, Managing Editor Zyzzyva Magazine “Joseph DiPrisco has crafted a completely original thriller. What happens AFTER we die? It’s the question Brother Stephen asks in DiPrisco’s All for Now. Can Brother Stephen solve the case he was working on when he died or can he discover how he got where he is and why he’s still here? The quick pace and sharp writing make All for Now a book you can’t bear to put down.” – Kathleen Caldwell, Owner, A Great Good Place for Books It is especially moving to read a book that looks so broadly at the ubiquitous issue of Roman Catholicism and pedophilia. Brother Stephen, the novel's narrator and protagonist, dies suddenly in the midst of managing a lawsuit dealing with the alleged abuse of a former student by his former mentor - Brother Charlie. Shannon, the plaintiff, is also a former "friend" of Stephen's. The distance that the afterlife affords Stephen gives the book its psychological charge. Suddenly, it is simultaneously the late 1960's and the present moment, and our culturally shifting views of this ever-existing problem collide. Joseph Di Prisco has given us a brave, bumbling, soul-searching hero whose wry humor only enhances his honesty. – Jan Weissmiller, Owner, Prairie Lights Books Brother Stephen drops dead while in the middle of dealing with a string of lawsuits brought against his order by former pupils claiming they were sexually abused. He then finds himself piloting a Prius to various destinations in the afterlife, all of which represent important turning points in his earthly life and lead him closer to resolving the central mystery behind the latest lawsuit. That one was particularly meaningful for him, since it involved the great love of his life, Shannon, and the role his mentor, the popular Brother Charlie, played in the sordid ordeal. His journey also gives Brother Stephen the courage to face his own traumatic adolescence and the defining moment that convinced him to enter religious life and to leave behind the girl he loved Di Prisco opens each chapter with a question and answer from the bible of Catholic childhood, the Baltimore Catechism, wickedly laying out the contrast between dogma and behavior. The novel’s surreal tone, Brother Stephen’s drily acidic worldview, and the enigmatic portrait of a pedophile all combine to deepen this thoughtful look at the heartbreak left in the wake of child sexual abuse. – Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist Eventually we discover a portrait of a man for whom death offers a second chance to address the life he lived, even offering him the prospect of something like redemption, that most Catholic of concepts — yet this is a very personal sort of redemption. God figures little into the equation. Rather it is Stephen discovering for himself that he always had the power to live to the fullest, had he chosen to do so. He wonders, aloud to Shannon sometimes, if there is a meaning to life. Of course, he never finds a satisfactory answer. But he does find a way to become satisfied with his own, and through this, he achieves a sort of peace. It is sad and poignant and beautiful. If all deaths occurred in the same manner, I think we would all have a little less reason to fear it. -- Antal Polony, Seven Ponds At first glance, All for Now sounds like it could be a tough read because it deals with clergy sexual abuse and death. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Deploying intelligence and humor, author Joseph Di Prisco examines his subject in an engaging and entertaining way, and the end result is anything but morbid…Brother Stephen is a sympathetic character with a wry sense of humor, which ironically infuses the story of his death with liveliness. As he careens through his afterlife, which most closely resembles a dream with its fanciful aspects, he hears himself interviewed on NPR, and visits jumbled scenes from his life, most prominently high school. Puzzled, Stephen tries to figure out what is going on. What's going on is that he must finally face the truth of his life. Brother Stephen tackles his death experience with an aplomb he apparently never managed in life, and we root for him the whole way through his afterlife adventures…Catholic or not, religious or not, All for Now is accessible to everyone because mistakes and forgiveness are universal. A novel about a serious topic that is no downer, both All for Now and its protagonist come to a satisfying end. Read Full Review -- Nancy Fontaine, Seattle Post Intelligencer Order from A Great Good Place for Books / Indiebound Order from Amazon.com http://diprisco.com/Pinboard http://diprisco.com/following/diprisco.com/Pinboard Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:53:15 +0000 www.diprisco.com 2622842 <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Di Prisco’s publisher is MacAdam/Cage. David Poindexter is his brilliant and loyal publisher. Sonny Brewer, the excellent editor-in-chief. Dorothy Carico Smith, the inspired and inspiring book designer. http://www.macadamcage.com/catalog <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Di Prisco is Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Redwood Day School, the K-8 independent school in Oakland. RDS’s motto is: Engaged. Prepared. Inspired. http://www.rdschool.com <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Playworks. Di Prisco sits on the East Bay Board of Directors. Alison Townley is the charismatic champion of an Executive Director. http://www.playworks.org/make-recess-count/play/playworks-oakland/about <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Di Prisco is on the Board of Directors of the California Shakespeare Theater. Jon Moscone is the outstanding Artistic Director; Susie Falk, the accomplished Managing Director. http://www.calshakes.org/ <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Di Prisco is a member of the Advisory Board of Girls Incorporated®, whose mission is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold. http://www.girlsinc-alameda.org <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Di Prisco’s beloved literary agent is Liz Trupin-Pulli: http://jetliterary.com <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/whippetThumbnail.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/whippetThumbnail_o.jpg" data-mid="13558605" border="0" align="left"/>Once his constant companion and his best dog ever: Eddie, the whippet (1998-2010). <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Bear Star Press is his poetry publisher. Beth Spencer is the fabulous presiding spirit and trusty editor. http://www.bearstarpress.com <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Josephine Courant is the delightful, wonderful designer of this website for this author and for many other fortunate artists. http://www.novellamedia.com <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Here is where Di Prisco squirreled away his huge poetry advances. Though he can personally vouch for the expert management of the funds, the author cannot guarantee investment returns. http://www.dodgeandcox.com <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Zyzzyva. A beautiful literary magazine revitalized by the amazing team of Laura Cogan, editor, and Oscar Villalon, managing editor. http://www.zyzzyva.org/ <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Di Prisco’s grandparents emigrated in the 1920s from Fontanarosa, a hill town outside of Avelino, Italy. His grandfather was a stonecutter. http://www.facebook.com/fontanarosa.av.it <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Dean Young, the terrific poet, received a heart transplant in 2011. Di Prisco was the national chair of the fundraising efforts. http://www.transplants.org/donate/deanyoung <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF). Sustaining the world, led by the most impressive Executive Director Diane Del Signore. http://caff.org/ <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>The East Bay Community Foundation. Enhancing life in the Bay Area. http://www.eastbaycf.org/ <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>A Great Good Place for Books is the author’s favorite bookstore. Kathleen Caldwell is the incandescent owner. http://greatgoodplace.indiebound.com/ <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>A man who secretly roots for the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors has to have either a very active fantasy life or an inexhaustible supply of optimism. <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp?c_id=sf <img src="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm.jpg" width="40" height="40" width_o="40" height_o="40" src_o="http://payload16.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2622842/postit_sm_o.jpg" data-mid="13456000" border="0" align="left"/>http://www.nba.com/warriors http://diprisco.com/Out-There http://diprisco.com/following/diprisco.com/Out-There Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:43:08 +0000 www.diprisco.com 2618831 Di Prisco has published essays, poems, and book reviews in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, The San Francisco Review of Books, The Threepenny Review, 88, The Berkeley Poetry Review, Blue Unicorn, Epoch, Fine Madness, Italian Americana, Kayak, Midwest Quarterly, Pebble, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, The Remington Review, Sycamore Review, Syracuse Poems, Third Coast, March Hares (Best Poems of Fine Madness 1982-2002), Zyzzyva, and other journals. PUBLISHERS MacAdam/Cage Bear Star Press SELECTED ARTICLES/REVIEWS <img src="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/SF_Gate_LOGO.JPG" width="176" height="85" width_o="176" height_o="85" src_o="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/SF_Gate_LOGO_o.JPG" data-mid="13391889" border="0" align="left"/> Do Not Call at all December 16, 2007 The National Do Not Call Registry has been a boon to someone like me who treasures domestic tranquility. I can honestly say my world has lately become much more civil, now that those telemarketers who targeted my number are on the run and my dinner hours are liberated from once-in-a-lifetime offers of prime vacation real estate in the Everglades. Read Article 'Songs for the Missing,' by Stewart O'Nan November 16, 2008 Psychologists argue about the existence of a happiness set point, a stable measure of our natural temperament. Read Article Forbidden love in the time of Vichy March 19, 2006 Set in Nazi-occupied France, that banal world of evil and repression, "The Mercy Room" by Gilles Rozier is a spare novel of sexual obsession and boundless desire. It is a story filled with pain. Read Article A computer programmer's secret life of dark eroticism January 06, 2008 "Diablerie" is the lean, new novel by the prolific, much-admired Walter Mosley. Here, an unprepossessing 47-year-old computer programmer in New York City, Ben Dibbuk, tells his own very dark story centered on murder, sex and betrayal. Read Article Book review: 'Black Market Truth' November 10, 2008 If you haven't recently thought much about the lost writings of Aristotle, and even if you find the philosophical dialogue a soporific literary genre, you may well find yourself inclined otherwise while devouring "Black Market Truth," a "philosophical suspense thriller" and page-turner by Sharon Kaye. Read Article Fluent in Pashto and U2 November 13, 2005 Who has the heart to tell the story that is Afghanistan? Who can capture the violence, the tribal intrigue and treachery, the absurdity, the devastation, the heroism and hypocrisy, the desperation and aspiration? Who can grasp the complexities of the war with the Russians, the Taliban, the American military intervention and the post-Sept. 11 world? A new book suggests it isn't Thomas L. Friedman. Read Article Fiction review: 'Gone Tomorrow' December 3, 2008 A hot young writer named George Canaris sails from Santa Monica for a small Ohio college where they give him a prestigious chair and a criminally light teaching load. (Go with it. Canaris finds the scenario implausible, too.) Read Article Three women on the edge, but together July 03, 2005 "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" it ain't. Like the young women of that young-adult fantasy, the members of "The Bitch Posse" also bond. Only they bond with an irrevocable, terrifying difference in Martha O'Connor's unforgettable, dark first novel. " Read Article How nuns helped tame a nation January 19, 2003 If you were taught by Catholic nuns, perhaps you still tuck your legs under your desk, raise your hand before speaking and can never forget when Sister Eustacia warned: "Don't do anything you wouldn't do before the Blessed Virgin Mary." Then again, if you never found yourself inside a Catholic classroom or hospital, you may think nuns can fly. Read Article Blood by the bay / The city's the main character in a hard-boiled anthology October 02, 2005 This is one book that should come with a scrip for Valium. If you do not feel jumpy or paranoid after reading "San Francisco Noir," an entertaining anthology of overheated short stories by local writers -- you did not read it. Read Article The scandal, the coverup, the aftereffects March 14, 2004 Zhou Enlai, premier of China until 1976, was asked his opinion about the effect of the French Revolution. His verdict: "Too soon to tell." If a cold- blooded tyrant cannot enjoy the long view, who can? Read Article 'Broken home' is still home June 20, 2004 Before John Milton was the towering author of "Paradise Lost," he was a 17th century pamphleteering newlywed in his 30s. When his blushing bride (age 17) left him after a few weeks of presumably not conjugal bliss, he penned his famous divorce tracts. Read Article Mighty Mark Twain, and all his tributaries November 27, 2005 Show of hands: Who needs another book about Mark Twain? A new 627-page biography? With an additional nearly 100 pages of notes and bibliography? Well, Ron Powers has written "Mark Twain: A Life" anyway, and here is the news: This is a book we can use. It is an impressive achievement. Read Article Loyal opposition Garry Wills, historian and papal critic, explains why he stays Catholic July 21, 2002 If you like Tony Soprano, there are popes you will love. Of course, this was old news in the 14th century, when the Catholic poet Dante put in his Inferno "Popes and prelates butt[ing] their tonsured pates." Nobody will confuse the Badda Bing Club with the Vatican, but one pope did die in the arms of his married lover, and more than a few popes were as dapper as John Gotti and as loyal as Sonny "The Bull" Gravano. Read Article A morality war over sex ed June 4, 2006 On the heels of prom and other rites of spring comes Kristin Luker's new book about sex education in America. "When Sex Goes to School: Warring Views on Sex -- and Sex Education -- Since the Sixties" should tempt just about anybody who has an interest in sex -- along with anybody who has a child, was a child, has a family, remembers being in a family, went to high school, grew up in the '60s or any other decade, is an atheist or a believer, pays taxes, votes or registers a pulse. Read Article <img src="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/nytlogo379x64.gif" width="379" height="64" width_o="379" height_o="64" src_o="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/nytlogo379x64_o.gif" data-mid="13393436" border="0" align="left"/> Shakespeare With Tears November 06, 1988 Most English teachers are familiar with the Shakespeare of legend and tradition: the Stratford boy who may have poached deer and rabbit, the ambitious playwright vilified by a rival as an ''upstart Crow,'' the man who willed, curiously, his ''second-best bed'' to his wife. Read Article <img src="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/logoNAIS.gif" width="150" height="36" width_o="150" height_o="36" src_o="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/logoNAIS_o.gif" data-mid="13393262" border="0" align="left"/> Reflections in the Rearview Mirror of a Departing Board Chair Summer 2010 This is my seventh year as board chair of Redwood Day School (California). This is also my ninth year on the board, and it will be (my decision) my last. I am told seven years is a long time to be board chair. No board chair at Redwood Day School had ever gone more than three. Maybe I am a slow learner, but it’s taken me seven years to figure out a few things that might be worth sharing. Read Article <img src="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/logo_zyzzyva.gif" width="134" height="85" width_o="134" height_o="85" src_o="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/logo_zyzzyva_o.gif" data-mid="13572120" border="0" align="left"/> My Mission Statement My mission is to be a unique driving experience. My mission is to be putty in your hands. My mission is to be your favorite pair of jeans. My mission is to whisper in your ear in Several pre-selected Romance languages. To star In a movie that takes Sundance by storm..... More Elements of Style “Hopefully” is an adverb meaning “full of hope.” You may write, “You hopefully received the thousand red roses” If you’re dating the New Year’s Day Parade in Pasadena.... Download Poems <img src="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/logo_calshakes.jpg" width="220" height="54" width_o="220" height_o="54" src_o="http://payload15.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2618831/logo_calshakes_o.jpg" data-mid="14136431" border="0" align="left"/> Why Teach Will Thanks for taking time in your day jammed with helicopter parenting and multitasking, Tweeting and e-mailing, Kindling and Blackberrying, Facebooking and iPhoning, Skyping and Googling, to read these words, and, congrats, you’ve reached the end of the first sentence. Download Article http://diprisco.com/Books http://diprisco.com/following/diprisco.com/Books Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:28:39 +0000 www.diprisco.com 2580305 <img src="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/betterfly_sunset_thumb.jpg" width="150" height="222" width_o="150" height_o="222" src_o="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/betterfly_sunset_thumb_o.jpg" data-mid="13254547" border="0" align="left"/>EARLY PRAISE FOR ALL FOR NOW: Di Prisco (Sun City) takes a bold and unexpectedly amusing look at the unfortunately joined subjects of religion and pedophilia. When Brother Stephen, an administrator of a Roman Catholic religious teaching order dealing with lawsuits from former students who claimed to have been molested by his brothers, suddenly dies, he finds himself in the afterlife—driving a Prius in Northern California as an NPR interview of himself plays on the radio. Needless to say, he’s shocked and confused, but he discovers that this is only the beginning of the oddities he will soon encounter. He returns to an amorphous afterlife version of his former high school, where, in a nod to Orwell, all doors lead to “Room 101,” and one of them holds his old girlfriend Shannon, now a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits. The dreamlike events that ensue with not only Shannon but also former mentor Brother Charlie and a student Brother Stephen taught 30 years ago forces Stephen to confront truths that he would rather have left unexamined. Though Di Prisco takes a heartbreaking look at the scars left by pedophilia, and some readers will surely feel anger at the sins, the tale unfolds, bravely, with much humor thanks to Brother Stephen’s bemused narration – Publishers Weekly “What makes Joseph Di Prisco’s novel work is its narrative voice— poignant, rueful, and wise-crackingly sardonic. This voice belongs to a just-deceased Catholic Brother, lingering in the afterlife to sort out his life’s meanings and errors, confronting friends and enemies. This is a novel about posthumous discoveries, reunions and revenge. Readers of J.F. Powers’ Morte d’Urban and Alice McDermott’s Charming Billy should find their way to All For Now.” – P.F. Kluge, author of  A Call From Jersey, Gone Tomorrow, and Eddie and the Cruisers “What will the afterlife be like? If we’re lucky, it would be something like the humorous and humane version Joseph Di Prisco imagines in All for Now, a smart, sparkling tale about faith, religion and devotion under less than ideal circumstances—that is, the average existence.” – Oscar Villalon, Managing Editor Zyzzyva Magazine “Joseph DiPrisco has crafted a completely original thriller. What happens AFTER we die? It’s the question Brother Stephen asks in DiPrisco’s All for Now. Can Brother Stephen solve the case he was working on when he died or can he discover how he got where he is and why he’s still here? The quick pace and sharp writing make All for Now a book you can’t bear to put down.” – Kathleen Caldwell, Owner, A Great Good Place for Books It is especially moving to read a book that looks so broadly at the ubiquitous issue of Roman Catholicism and pedophilia. Brother Stephen, the novel's narrator and protagonist, dies suddenly in the midst of managing a lawsuit dealing with the alleged abuse of a former student by his former mentor - Brother Charlie. Shannon, the plaintiff, is also a former "friend" of Stephen's. The distance that the afterlife affords Stephen gives the book its psychological charge. Suddenly, it is simultaneously the late 1960's and the present moment, and our culturally shifting views of this ever-existing problem collide. Joseph Di Prisco has given us a brave, bumbling, soul-searching hero whose wry humor only enhances his honesty. – Jan Weissmiller, Owner, Prairie Lights Books Brother Stephen drops dead while in the middle of dealing with a string of lawsuits brought against his order by former pupils claiming they were sexually abused. He then finds himself piloting a Prius to various destinations in the afterlife, all of which represent important turning points in his earthly life and lead him closer to resolving the central mystery behind the latest lawsuit. That one was particularly meaningful for him, since it involved the great love of his life, Shannon, and the role his mentor, the popular Brother Charlie, played in the sordid ordeal. His journey also gives Brother Stephen the courage to face his own traumatic adolescence and the defining moment that convinced him to enter religious life and to leave behind the girl he loved Di Prisco opens each chapter with a question and answer from the bible of Catholic childhood, the Baltimore Catechism, wickedly laying out the contrast between dogma and behavior. The novel’s surreal tone, Brother Stephen’s drily acidic worldview, and the enigmatic portrait of a pedophile all combine to deepen this thoughtful look at the heartbreak left in the wake of child sexual abuse. – Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist Eventually we discover a portrait of a man for whom death offers a second chance to address the life he lived, even offering him the prospect of something like redemption, that most Catholic of concepts — yet this is a very personal sort of redemption. God figures little into the equation. Rather it is Stephen discovering for himself that he always had the power to live to the fullest, had he chosen to do so. He wonders, aloud to Shannon sometimes, if there is a meaning to life. Of course, he never finds a satisfactory answer. But he does find a way to become satisfied with his own, and through this, he achieves a sort of peace. It is sad and poignant and beautiful. If all deaths occurred in the same manner, I think we would all have a little less reason to fear it. -- Antal Polony, Seven Ponds At first glance, All for Now sounds like it could be a tough read because it deals with clergy sexual abuse and death. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Deploying intelligence and humor, author Joseph Di Prisco examines his subject in an engaging and entertaining way, and the end result is anything but morbid…Brother Stephen is a sympathetic character with a wry sense of humor, which ironically infuses the story of his death with liveliness. As he careens through his afterlife, which most closely resembles a dream with its fanciful aspects, he hears himself interviewed on NPR, and visits jumbled scenes from his life, most prominently high school. Puzzled, Stephen tries to figure out what is going on. What's going on is that he must finally face the truth of his life. Brother Stephen tackles his death experience with an aplomb he apparently never managed in life, and we root for him the whole way through his afterlife adventures…Catholic or not, religious or not, All for Now is accessible to everyone because mistakes and forgiveness are universal. A novel about a serious topic that is no downer, both All for Now and its protagonist come to a satisfying end. Read Full Review -- Nancy Fontaine, Seattle Post Intelligencer Order from A Great Good Place for Books / Indiebound <img src="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/eli_thumb.jpg" width="150" height="221" width_o="150" height_o="221" src_o="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/eli_thumb_o.jpg" data-mid="13272598" border="0" align="left"/> "First-time novelist Joseph Di Prisco must be a very funny guy. Confessions of Brother Eli fairly sparkles with humor that ranges from sophisticated to slapstick, in what some believe to be the most difficult writing to carry off. And yet, it's not only that. This is a novel that draws the readers in and becomes a serious meditation almost before you can put it down.... "The last third ...shifts course and tone. The comedy of Eli's life takes second place to his overwhelming sense of loss. Di Prisco steers the story on an entirely different path, as the novel becomes an elegant elegy for opportunities lost. "[Confessions of Brother Eli] takes risks and succeeds on many levels. Di Prisco offers an engaging sensibility and an opportunity to delve into the thalweg of a lonely soul." – J. Uschuk, Tucson Weekly "With dry, sardonic wit, Brother Eli questions his faith and vocation, while recounting adventures that tale place at his school.... The writing and narrative voice in this book is some of the best I've come across lately, and it's very funny." – Vincent Duffy, Akron Beacon Journal <img src="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/fieldcover.jpg" width="150" height="227" width_o="150" height_o="227" src_o="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/fieldcover_o.jpg" data-mid="13364741" border="0" align="left"/>2000 Editors' Choice: Top-ten Parenting & Families Book of the Year. – Amazon.com Best Parenting and Family Books of 2000 – Barnes & Noble.com "Smart and sensitive." – TIME Magazine "This excellent work is to be thoroughly read, reread, and thought about." – Library Journal "A lively, wise, and user-friendly translation of bewildering teenaged behavior.. The authors avoid smug formulae and write in a colloquial, jargon-free style." – Kirkus Reviews "Readers will find intelligent observations about teens; the authors have a solid grasp on what makes adolescents tick.... The appendixes, which break down teen behavior into developmental characteristics, are particularly useful. The authors' overriding themes--that parents should influence, not control their teen's life; that teens need to be trusted, guided, and loved--are invaluable for parents facing this challenging time in their child's life." – Publishers Weekly <img src="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/rightwrong.jpg" width="150" height="225" width_o="150" height_o="225" src_o="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/rightwrong_o.jpg" data-mid="13364745" border="0" align="left"/>"Never preachy and always practical, Right from Wrong is an important and inspiring book about raising children with a conscience... This book is simply a gem—and a must-read for parents and teachers of young children alike." Read the full review at Amazon.com. "We're living at a time when issues of character and integrity have achieved a new level of importance, especially given what's happened in our national political theater. I've noticed a shift in people's attitudes. They don't just want to raise happy kids; they want to raise good kids. The new book Right From Wrong: Instilling a Sense of Integrity in Your Child, by Michael Riera and Joseph Di Prisco, couldn't be more timely." – Dr. Drew "How to instill values in our children when they are bombarded with so many conflicting and confusing cultural messages? We live in complicated times of fleeting prosperity and catastrophic tragedy. So we are looking—now more than ever—for a moral compass that will help direct our children, a light to illuminate their path. In Right From Wrong, Mike Riera and Joe DiPrisco, tapping once again their gift for seeing the world through our children's eyes, provide both the compass and the light." –Joan Ryan, San Francisco Chronicle <img src="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/suncity.jpg" width="150" height="223" width_o="150" height_o="223" src_o="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/suncity_o.jpg" data-mid="13364746" border="0" align="left"/>"Smart . . . noirish confection... Red-hot at the start..." – Kirkus Reviews It's 1996 and Dolly Leone the gambler owes his bookmaker. What can he do to get Greenie's crazy goons off his back: Twitchy, who suffers from Reverse Tourette's Syndrome, and Billy, who is big and wide as a piano and who loves to sing show tunes as he breaks down doors. Luckily, Dolly stumbles across a manuscript called Pasquale's Wager, written in 1982 by Valentino Comfort, aka The Schoolboy. Dolly and Val were part of a blackjack team financed by Pasquale, the big money restaurateur who took a group of misfits and turned them into high-stakes professional card players--though still misfits. Back then, Dolly came up with a plan for Val to write a best-seller about the team's adventure: Casinos, big money, danger and risk. He figured it was a can't-miss proposition. <img src="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/poemscover.jpg" width="150" height="234" width_o="150" height_o="234" src_o="http://payload14.cargocollective.com/1/5/187042/2580305/poemscover_o.jpg" data-mid="13364744" border="0" align="left"/> "Somehow the speaker in Joseph Di Prisco's new poems manages to install himself in the kitchenware of contemporary culture without becoming a part of it. With a wit that questions as it embraces, Poems in Which provides us with a strong, original voice." – Carl Dennis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize "This is a joyous book. Even addressing unquenchable longing and the shadows of death and failure, the lyric engines of these poems propel us with vital combustions. Operatic, in that suffering and sadness are sung with the same gusto and octave-expanse as triumph and discovery, this work is proof of the presence of a large, funny and indefatigable spirit." – Dean Young "Di Prisco mixes the immiscible: an authentic lyric voice and a sense of the self (and world) as dispersed and constructed. His poems are funny, smart, and moving; they quiz the options they exercise but are never coy." – Guy Rotella