Facebook Gives You Cancer & Other Notes

The UK's Daily Mail published an article today claiming Facebook increases your risk of cancer. No, this isn't a joke or an article from The Onion. That's an actual screenshot of the article I just took with my trusty MacBook. First Facebook steals all your shit and now it gives you cancer. Social networking is becoming hazardous to your health in more ways than one. The doctor (somebody check his papers!) said that social networking sites keep people indoors, decreases face-to-face interaction, lowers your immune system and a whole host of other ills. This is fear-mongering journalism at its best. Look, I'll admit I'm still a total Internet addict. We had thunderstorms moving through the city last night and I had to shut down the computer and I was total jonesing for my email, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I'm sure some folks have become shut-ins because of the Internet, but I'm not one of them. All this social networking has introduced me to more people than I could have ever imagined -- and I've met a good many of them in real life. There are so many other things to worry about right now, mainly the economy, so worrying about whether a website gives you cancer is just ridiculous. Use Facebook, meet new people, reconnect, promote, hook up, have fun...whatever turns you on. I wish the media would stop telling us how to feel and act. We had eight years of fearmongering from Bush & Co. Enough!

While there is a brief lull in the Conquering Venus publication process on my end, I'm turning back to poetry for a moment. I'm submitting new work to a couple of publications and an anthology that has asked to see some poems. I also just sent back my registration info for the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans this May. I'm on two panels and giving a reading. Looking forward to being back in NOLA again. 

Question out there for you authors and writers: Has anyone been to the West Hollywood Book Fair? Vanilla Heart wants me to come out for the festival in October, and I'm excited about going, but wanted to hear some stories, rumors, innuendo about the event.