I recently appeared on New Orleans’s PBS affiliate station, WWNO, in order to have a chat with Susan Larson on her show The Reading Life. This program is my favorite thing to listen to each week, and Susan is a hero of the literary scene in South Louisiana. The entire episode is great, including Maria Semple, Philip Gould, and Herman Fuselier as well; you can listen here. I’m jabbering and reading from The Infinite in the last ten minutes of the show. The webpage also includes some lagniappe (extra) audio at the bottom.
91%
Hey, folks.
My friend John Richie is a local filmmaker, here in New Orleans. He’s a talented guy. His first film, Shell Shocked, is a powerful look at the victims of gun violence in our city. If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend watching it immediately. It’s won a slew of awards and has screened in dozens of cities.
He’s now working on his second film, called 91%, which I gather is going to be a more expansive look at gun culture in America, while also zeroing in on the question of background checks. From the film’s page: If 91% of the Americans polled post-Newtown favored background checks on all gun sales, then why did the U.S. House of Representatives fail to respond? Although the U.S. Senate tried to compromise with the gun lobby on legislation mandating background checks, that bill still fell short of the 60 “yea” votes necessary for passage. Why?
I’ve gone to the film’s Kickstarter page and backed the project, and I hope you’ll consider doing the same. This film seeks to answer some of the most pressing questions facing our society.
And while you’re at it, please check out Shell Shocked on Facebook and on Twitter.