Smell Menagerie: ‘Aromatica Poetica’ Winter Newsletter

The AP Winter Newsletter features: Open submissions, talks and travel, exploring barnyards by nose, chocolates by touch, a soap/burgers story, and more… Dear friends and family, The new year always launches me into a gratifying state of cautious optimism. Thanks to a small burst of speaking invitations, I’m looking forward to connecting with some of you in person over the… Read more

The Brain-Smashing, Pity-Bashing Art of Blind Punks

“You must sing like an angel,” a woman said to me as I prepared to go onstage with my “Avant Accordion Brain Smash” act in a Brooklyn warehouse performance space. She either did not notice my hand-sewn black bustier, or decided that my white cane rendered all the badassery surrounding it null. When I began bellowing about some murderous renaissance… Read more

“LEE GOODIN, SAN FRANCISCO” Dad’s Letters to the Editor, 2007

On the first anniversary of my father’s death, I’m grateful to my stepmother for sending me three of his letters to the editor, clipped from the San Francisco Chronicle. One of them—from August 19 , was published eleven years to the day before his death. It’s humor apparently hit the mark, as the editors used his words “erector set” to… Read more

A Personal Obituary for My Dad, Lee A. Goodin, February 5, 1940-August 19, 2018

My dad, Lee A. Goodin, passed away into other realms on Sunday. He’d been fighting so many illnesses for several years, and yet I hadn’t seen the cardiac arrest coming. Somehow, I thought I’d have warning. Yet he had given me warning. Earlier this summer, he told me he’d decided to stop aggressive care for the infections that riddled his… Read more

My Pitch Video and Application for the Holman Prize for Blind Ambition 2018

I learned about the Holman Prize from my Friend Laurie Rubin last year, but did not have the time, nor a clear project to pitch, but this year I was ready and waiting! I managed to talk Alabaster into being my videographer, and we learned so much in the filming and editing of this little video, that I’m pleased to… Read more