New Iron Man 2 Stills, Viral Mystery, and Interactive Content

Director Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 is poised to open in the US this week, but it has already taken in over a $100 million at foreign box offices, opening in advance of the US release to give it more screen time before the World Cup begins. Still, despite its strong international opening and generally positive early reviews, Paramount and Marvel Studios are making one last promotional push for the movie, releasing new stills, launching a viral marketing mystery and adding interactive content to the official Iron Man 2 web-site. Caution: Minor SPOILERS!

The recent set of new stills from the movie center around the Stark Expo, Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) tribute to his father and to World's Fairs of the past, and on Stark's rival, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). The first still shows Stark at the opening of the movie, when he first arrives at the kick-off of the Stark Expo, before all of his troubles begin. The second still also takes place at the Stark Expo, but later in the movie, when Hammer tries to upstage Stark by unveiling his line of "Mandroids." Hammer created the Mandroids with the assistance of the evil genius Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), and plans to mass produce them for the military. Hammer has specially outfitted four different classes of Mandroids, one for each of the different branches of the military: Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. A new still of James "Rhodey" Rhodes, aka War Machine (Don Cheadle), wearing Stark's Mark II armor has also been released.

Marvel Studios, in partnership with Reese's and MIT students, also launched a viral mystery last week that came to its conclusion yesterday. A locked Stark Industries safe was sent to ComicBookMovie with this message:

I'm in and up for the challenge. I have my eye on Tony Stark and I'm watching his every move. Now, I need your help. I found this box in the storage facilities at Stark Expo. It's locked and I don't know what's inside. But, I have an insider who's told me he's figured out the code. It's too hot right now to reveal in the open so he said he's going to reveal it on Twitter, of all places, since people post random stuff on there all of the time. Pay attention to MITIronMan over the next few days and you'll find what you're looking for. That's M-I-T-I-R-O-N-M-A-N. Thanks for your help. It was nice doing business with you.

Clues were released over the next several days that challenged followers to use their knowledge of the original Iron Man and the new movie to figure out the combination of the safe. When the safe code was cracked yesterday, it contained several promotional items, including Stark Expo VIP passes and three exclusive final concept design images of the latest Iron Man armor.

Finally, the official Iron Man 2 web-site was recently updated with new downloadable interactive content. The first download is an "Augmented Reality" program that installs a cool Iron Man HUD (head-up display) on your desktop, turning your computer monitor into a version of the HUD that Stark and Rhodey see while operating the Iron Man and War Machine suits of armor. The program can also put an Iron Man helmet on anyone using a web-cam to chat, which is kind of goofy, but fun. The second download is a free game based on the Monaco race track scene in Iron Man 2. Called "Slash and Burn," the game is a pretty simple first-person shooter (whipper?) where you get to wield Whiplash's laser whips against the race cars speeding towards you.

The mystery of humor

I am not a naturally funny person. Try as I might, I'm hopeless at telling jokes or coming up with a brilliant off-the-cuff quip. J.A. Konrath, I ain't.

But I do know how to laugh, and I certainly laughed when I came across this recent article:

Police: Woman bites man after being called fat

Police say a 24-year-old man is missing a chunk of his right ear that was bitten off by a woman who didn't like being called "fat." Police spokeswoman Katie Flood said officers were called to a Lincoln hospital around 3:25 a.m. Wednesday to talk to the injured man.

He told them that he'd been bitten at a party.

Flood said officers later learned that the injured man and two others had been arguing with other people at the birthday party. Flood says the man told 21-year-old Anna Godfrey that she was fat.

Officers said Godfrey then tackled the man (after chasing him for half a block) and took a bite.

Flood said the ear chunk was not found.

Godfrey was arrested on suspicion of felony assault and remained in custody Wednesday. Case records don't yet list her attorney's name.



Did you laugh? Why?

If you dissect the incident, the elements of what happened are not particularly funny:

-- A drunken man insults a woman and calls her fat. What a jerk.

-- A man is attacked and sustains permanent damage to a body part. That's tragic.

-- A woman is arrested and will probably be convicted of felony assault.

Yet add all those elements together, and suddenly you've got prime fodder for Dave Letterman. What makes a story about assault and mutilation funny? Is it funny to everyone -- or just to a few sick minds (like mine)?

First, let's consider a definition of humor, and for this I turn to Wikipedia: "Humor: The tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement... Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which an individual will find something humorous depends upon a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context."

What strikes some people as funny will not be funny to others. And I'm betting that there are some people who don't see any humor at all in the above woman-bites-man story. In fact, some may be outraged that I think it's funny and they'll accuse me of a double standard when it comes to violence. "What if this were a man mutilating a woman?" they'd ask me.

No, I would not find that funny.

So am I operating under a double standard where it's okay for women to abuse men, but it's not okay for men to abuse women?

I don't think the explanation is as simple as that. Nor do I think that I'm alone in finding humor in woman-bites-man stories. Think back to Lorena Bobbitt, who lopped off her philandering husband's you-know-what. Remember how all the comics (most of them male) went to town on that story? Obviously, they saw the humor in a story about spousal mutilation. But if it were a man who lopped off his wife's breast, no one would be cracking any jokes. Instead, there'd be outraged demands to put the jerk behind bars.

Let's go back to that Wikipedia article, which tries to explain what makes something humorous. One theory has to do with the "Incongruity Theory," where an expectation comes to nothing. Another is "the perspective twist," where there's an unexpected shift in perspective. Finally, the article mentions a theory proposed by Arthur Koestler, who argues "that humor results when two different frames of reference are set up and a collision is engineered between them."

Now, back to the woman who bit the guy. Analytically speaking, it's funny because it's incongruous as hell. You don't expect a woman to beat up on a man. You certainly don't expect her to chase him half a block and tackle him.

But the part that makes it truly hilarious? She's so angry about him calling her fat that she ... eats his ear. Which I suppose would be called a perspective twist: the guy's hurtful insult turns out to be absolutely accurate. She really will eat anything.

Being alert for the incongruities in humor helps us understand why a big dog attacking a kitten isn't funny, but a kitten attacking a big dog is. Why an adult spouting profanity isn't funny, but we'll laugh when a five year old does it.

Sometimes, though, we're better off not thinking too hard about why something's funny and just enjoy the laughter. Because, as E.B. White once warned, "Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process."

LeapFrog teases future mystery device, inadvertently spills beans in the past

"There's like a billion things you can do with this! Play games, read books, download apps, make your own animation," the child actors cry. "When is it coming out?" All should be revealed June 7th, according to teaser trailer at LeapFrog's website -- that's when the company will unveil its new mystery device. You won't need to wait nearly that long, though, because CEO Jeffrey Katz has already been more than forthcoming with the company's investors.

The new device is called the Leapster Explorer, and it's a Linux-based ARM-powered touchscreen computer that doubles as a gaming platform and e-book reader, integrated into both the company's Learning Path parent monitoring system and LeapWorld virtual world. We hear tell it will have a content marketplace for app and video downloads... and there's a digital camera and video accessories planned for the kid-friendly gadget's future. To spite LeapFrog marketers further, the Explorer is already available for preorder -- spotted at J&R this afternoon -- and both the online retailer and a sweepstakes running at the LeapFrog website confirm the Explorer will retail for $69.99. But when is it actually coming out? Katz just told investors they'd "see it in stores around the first of July."

Was the Boca mystery light a UFO?

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Was it a star, an airplane, a weather balloon, or perhaps a UFO?

The light in the sky late Monday night over the Camino Real neighborhood in Boca Raton prompted residents to call police and television stations between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

One person even recorded the light with his cellular phone camera.

An unidentified person at Boca Raton Police said he thinks it was a high-flying kite with a bicycle light attached.

No word yet on who sent the kite airborne, and created such a stir.

The mystery of Luke Scott

Wondering what's wrong with Luke Scott? So's Luke Scott. In fact, no offense, but he's probably a little more worried about this slump he's in than you are.

If you read Jeff Zrebiec's Orioles notebook in today's Baltimore Sun, you get a real sense of how frustrated Scott is and the desperate measures major league ballplayers go to claw their way out of slumps.

As Zrebiec points out, Scott, who's been a streaky hitter throughout his big-league career, is batting just .187 (14-for-25) with three homers and eight RBIs.

Equally disturbing is the fact he's batting just .203 since the All-Star break last year.

Yes, he led the team in homers last season with 25. But it's clear his production dropped off dramatically during the last two months of the season, with the slump continuing through this April.

It's not for lack of effort that Scott isn't producing.

At Camden Yards last weekend, as the Orioles were in the process of sweeping three games from the Red Sox with little help from their struggling DH, you could look at Scott's hands and see a mass of ugly calluses from all the extra hitting he's been doing in the cage and batting practice.

I've seen him watching video of his swing at all hours. I've seen him talking to hitting coach Terry Crowley before and after games, looking for answers.

The guy's trying everything he can to break out of this thing. And it's not working.

So now the question is: how long do the Orioles stick with him? Scott himself seems to sense the team's patience with him is running out.

When he's hot, Scott can go on a home run tear that practically carries the Orioles' offense. He's easily got the most pop in his bat of anyone else on the team -- his titanic clouts in batting practice often leave his teammates shaking their heads in awe.

But on a struggling team that lost 4-1 last night to start a three-game series with the Yankees, Scott may not have the luxury of time to dig himself out of this slump.

He wasn't in the lineup last night against the Yankees. But that was no upset, since their left-handed ace, CC Sabbathia, was on the mound -- not exactly the guy you want to face when you're clueless at the plate.

But if he keeps going as he is, Scott will be losing at-bats no matter who's pitching for the other team.

And that can only hurt the Orioles, who failed to sign a big slugger in the offseason, and now need every home-run bat they can cram in their batting order.

Tulare high schools will hold a "Mystery Masquerade"

More than 1,000 Tulare high school students will attend Saturday's "Mystery Masquerade"-themed prom at the Visalia Convention Center.

The American Red Cross

"We are going with a lot of masks this year," said George Vega, Tulare Western High School English teacher and prom coordinator.

The color scheme is red, gold and black. The event is from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Tickets are $50 before the event, $60 at the door.

"I think this is another successful prom," Vega said. "I am going in every year optimistic, and this is giving the opportunity for kids to have a great time and enjoy themselves."

Vega offered the following tips for a successful prom experience:

# Give yourself enough time to take pictures, have dinner and unwind.

"When you are in a rush and try and squeeze too much in at one time, it's not an enjoyable evening," he said.

# Don't forget your student ID, which is required for admission.

# Seniors should go to the prom, even if they don't have a date.

"Go with your friends and enjoy the evening," he said. "You've been going to school for so long together. This is [one of the last times] you will see each other before you go on with your life."

Staff members from each high school will supervise the prom, and students will be checked off a list as they arrive.

Parents may call the convention center to make sure their children arrived safely, Vega said.

Mystery Startup Gets Kleiner Perkins’s Backing

A stealth startup called Flipboard has raised funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, VentureBeat reported, citing multiple sources.

What is Flipboard? VentureBeat’s not sure. But it must be an exciting concept or team, if a brand-name firm like Kleiner is willing to back it prelaunch.

There’s nothing public at flipboard.com, and the Flipboard Twitter account has a single, not particularly revealing tweet. But whatever Flipboard is, it looks like the app or site posts messages to Twitter, judging from a couple examples floating around online.

It may also be relevant that when announcing the expansion of Kleiner’s iFund for iPhone and iPad apps, partner John Doerr said the iFund has two stealth iPad companies that were about to debut.

Homeless man’s death, final days a mystery

ANDERSON — The killing of Mark Napier Kirby has left investigators with a difficult task: trying to piece together the life and death of a man who, in many ways, had become invisible.

The discovery of Kirby’s body in Anderson County woods Friday didn’t come after an exhaustive search; no one even knew he was missing. Kirby was 45 years old and homeless.

Withdrawn from his family, Kirby was not a man who had a clear network of people ready to fill in the details of his life, who could tell anyone what he did last week, last month or last year.

Instead, he was a man who lay dead for at least two days before a hiker — a stranger — found him in the area of Homeland Park.

So the details of his life — and his death — come slow.

On Monday, Lt. Garland Major could reveal only two more things: that Kirby died of injuries to his head and his torso — and that, in their investigation, Anderson County deputies had no new leads.

“We’re still trying to go back and look at what he might have been doing, where he might have been before he died,” Major said. “We are canvassing the neighborhood, we are going door to door, and sometimes, talking to one person leads us to another person to talk to. But there are gaps that, obviously, still need to be filled in.”

Kirby’s movements, at least those that are known, leave little to draw on — except more gaps.

The last clear record that he was alive is from Monday, April 26; that’s when a deputy asked him to leave the Walmart on S.C. 28 — the store nearest his makeshift campsite home. Investigators have been able to determine that Kirby was alive after Monday, but they are not saying how they know that.

From there, the gaps only get bigger.

Kirby’s last known address — at a halfway house in Anderson — is at least four or five months old. Marty Walker, a former roommate of his at the April House, said Kirby was “a fine fellow,” a cancer survivor, who just couldn’t overcome his addictions. Some at the house said they thought drinking might kill him, but not that another person would.

Kirby had family members in Columbia, but had been estranged from them for quite a while.

Investigators are trying to fill the blanks in Kirby’s life, looking for pieces of the puzzle that may lead to his killer.

Many people may have seen Mark Napier Kirby and not even known it.

Noreen Smith is one of those people. Smith works with the Anderson ministry Clean Start, a nonprofit agency that gives the homeless a place to bathe and wash their clothes. But, Smith says, “you may not give your real name just to take a shower.”

“I’ve been trying to place him ever since we heard about a homeless man found dead in the woods,” Smith said. “But we have a lot of Marks. And we have a lot of people who may sign in as ‘Mark,’ but may really be John or Jim or Tim. Still, you hate to see this happen to another human being, whether you recognize his name or not.”

Brookline police chief fired, reason a mystery

BROOKLINE – Selectmen last night announced police Chief Thomas Goulden has been terminated, but the reason for his dismissal remains a mystery.

In a brief statement at the beginning of the regular selectmen's meeting yesterday, chairman Linda Saari said Goulden was "removed as chief," but gave no explanation.

Sgt. Michael Kurland, who has been with the department since 1998, has been appointed acting chief, Saari said.

Neither Goulden nor his attorney, Andru H. Volinksy, could be reached for comment.

Goulden met with selectmen in a non-public session April 22, with attorneys for both the chief and the selectmen present.

Goulden's relationship with selectmen has often been tense since he became chief in 1997. Shortly after he took the job, police arrested Selectman Clarence Farwell, his wife and five other residents over the ringing of a church bell on July 4, 1997, according to New Hampshire Union Leader reports.

Although the so-called "Bell Ringing" incident set the stage for a stormy relationship, Selectman Jack Flanagan said history had nothing to do with the present events.

"To say that it's a bell ringing issue every time we have to deal with the police chief is naive," said Flanagan. "That happened 13 years ago. This has nothing to do with bell ringing."

In 2004, the chief and the board again found themselves at odds over the police department's procedure for disseminating information to the public, a problem that stemmed from police releasing information on the arrest of a former selectman on forgery and identity fraud charges, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.

Goulden was also suspended for two weeks without pay in March 2005, and lost a court battle over the suspension, according to minutes from the selectmen's meetings.

Flanagan, who along with Selectman Clarence Farwell, was recused from the April 22 meeting, refused to say what had prompted the meeting or Goulden's subsequent firing, but said the board was following procedure in order to "maintain checks and balances."

The former chief could take the town to court for wrongful termination, as has happened in Lyndeborough and Litchfield in recent years, or he could accept the termination.

In the meantime, Kurland will manage day-to-day operations of the department.

Hired by Goulden in 1998, Kurland, 37, said that in his role as second-in-command, he knows the ropes of the department well and doesn't anticipate any problems with the transition.

"I'll do what I have to do to ensure the service to the people of Brookline isn't interrupted," Kurland told the board.

After the meeting, he said the seven full-time and four part-time officers on the department were informed of Goulden's termination on Saturday.

"I have their full support," said Kurland. "I want to make sure my officers know they have my support and the full support of the community."

More mystery as Lost nears end

Just five hours remain in Lost's (CTV, ABC, 9 p.m.) riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

There's more mystery where that came from, too. Tonight's instalment, The Candidate, promises an Easter egg of sorts, as Lost's resident scold, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), the so-called sixth and final "candidate," has to decide whether he can trust the mysterious man-who-looks-like-Locke-but-isn't-really-Locke (Terry O'Quinn).

"Un-Locke," as Lost fans call this mysterious figure, has handed Jack a difficult mission, see, and Jack is once again beset with existential angst.

Back in the real world, Lost writer-producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are doling out answers to important real-world questions on their twice-monthly podcast on iTunes. (The Official Lost Audio Podcast is downloadable, free of charge.)

The producers' morsels of information are actually useful to anyone who isn't a Lost obsessive, but may be curious enough to watch an episode or two before Lost ends for good on May 23.

- American Idol's (CTV, Fox, 8 p.m.) final five tackle the Frank Sinatra song book with mentor Harry Connick Jr. Here's hoping they don't come up with Somethin' Stupid but rather stay Young at Heart. Last week's evictee, Siobhan Magnus, said she wanted to perform My Way on the show at some point, if only to get on Simon Cowell's nerves. Sadly, she won't get that opportunity. Instead, we get ... Aaron Kelly.

- Glee's (Global, Fox, 9 p.m.) resident Cruella de Vil, Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), is mortified when a lewd video of her performing the Olivia Newton-John classic, Physical, starts making the rounds in the school hallway, prompting a witch hunt to find the culprit. Newton-John herself and Molly Shannon guest appear.

- Russell Crowe alert! Set your DVRs. The tabloid bad boy, Gladiator actor and reputed fan of hotel front-desk clerks is David Letterman's very special guest tonight on The Late Show (CBS, 11:35 p.m.). The musical guest is Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Mystery Rules At Edgar Awards

Winners at tonight's annual Edgar Awards, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, should relish the victory—the first Edgar is often the last.
[EDGAR]

The group has doled out awards to crime and mystery novelists since 1946, but few writers collect multiple awards in major categories during the course of their careers. A perusal of the group's online database found little overlap between debut authors who have won best first novel (including Patricia Cornwell, Michael Connelly, James Patterson and Richard North Patterson) and seasoned mystery writers who have won best novel (among them Dick Francis, Tony Hillerman, Elmore Leonard, John le Carre, Donald E. Westlake and Raymond Chandler).

Only one winner in the debut novelist category has gone on to win best novel. The late Ross Thomas won best first novel by an American for "The Cold War Swap" in 1967, and won best novel for "Briarpatch" in 1985. Entry rules may account in part for the low overlap: The debut novel prize is awarded only to American authors, while best novel is an international category. Few writers have won the best novel prize more than once (Dick Francis won three times, in 1970, 1981 and 1996; T. Jefferson Parker and James Lee Burke have both won twice).
[EDGARS]

Writers may have a better shot at multiple wins if their work takes a variety of forms. A few writers have bagged repeat awards in different categories, such as short stories, novels, TV and movies.

Television writer David Simon won for best fact crime in 1992 for his nonfiction book "Homicide," about a Baltimore homicide unit, and for best TV feature in 2007 for his HBO series "The Wire." Mr. Westlake won best novel in 1968 for "God Save the Mark," best short story in 1990 for "Too Many Crooks," and best motion picture in 1991 for "The Grifters," the movie made from his screenplay.

This year, women dominate among the finalists for best first novel by an American author, outnumbering men by four to two. The finalists are "A Bad Day for Sorry," by Sophie Littlefield; "In the Shadow of Gotham," by Stefanie Pintoff; "Black Water Rising," by Attica Locke; "The Weight of Silence," by Heather Gudenkauf; "The Girl She Used to Be," by David Cristofano; and "Starvation Lake," by Bryan Gruley, Chicago bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. (Journal pop critic Jim Fusilli is also up for an Edgar for best short story category).

In the best novel category, the finalists are "Nemesis," by Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbø; "The Odds," by Kathleen George; "The Missing," by Tim Gautreaux; "A Beautiful Place to Die," by Malla Nunn; "Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death," by Charlie Huston; and "The Last Child," by John Hart, who won in 2008 for "Down River."

UPDATE: And the winners are….

Best Novel: The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel By An American Author: In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

Best Paperback Original: Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press - Castle Street Mysteries)

Best Critical/Biographical: The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group - Little, Brown and Company)

Best Fact Crime: Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group - Twelve)

Best Short Story: "Amapola" - Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)

Best Young Adult: Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children's Books - HarperTeen)

Best Juvenile: Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Books)

Best Television Episode Teleplay: "Place of Execution," Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award: A Dreadful Day" - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines)

2010 Grand Master: Dorothy Gilman

Beth Kephart, Writer of the Heart's Mystery

Her very first book, A Slant of Sun: One Child's Courage, was short-listed for the National Book Award in 1998. Its subject was very close to home: her son, Jeremy, had been diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder when he was two.

She and her husband Bill refused to listen to doctors who said they should put Jeremy in special schools or environments for autistic children. "We were given terminology. The terminology was a dark room, a dead end, an imbroglio not an enlightenment."
Is Normal Possible? Can It Be Defined?

They decided that they did not want their son's life to consist of "holing up in the offices of therapists, in special classrooms, in isolated exercises, in simulating living, while everyday 'normal' happens casually on the other side of the wall."

Instead, they kept his life manageable, helping him to handle the intense capacities of his own mind, surrounding him with safe people and situations. If he could not handle leaving the house, they kept him at home. When he found a lime green fedora several sizes too big and insisted on wearing it everywhere, they let him have his hat.

"He marched to his own beat, one set by rituals and phases, all of which doctors attributed to PDD."


When he was in sixth grade, he started writing screenplays. His head was full of intricate plots and titles of movies, memorized in categories. That should not have surprised them. He had always preferred tales of medieval knights to Goodnight Moon.

Fast forward to December 2007, when Jeremy got the news that he had been accepted into "the college of his choice, a prestigious communications school" where he could study film-making, his lifelong love. .Kephart's readers get to share such moments on her blog, where she posts photographs, bits of poetry, muses on the world around her and her writing process, and regular updates on Jeremy's progress in the world.

Beth Kephart's original following, in the days before blogging, were readers who love memoir. They devoured her offerings about her child, her friendships, her in-laws in El Salvador, her beloved Schuylkill River, the Chanticleer Gardens outside Philadelphia where she taught young writers each summer, and her theories of creativity and business. What all her books have in common is beauty - of language, of process, of thought.

Into The Tangle of Friendship

A Memoir of the Things That Matter was written when Jeremy was pre-teen, finding his unique way into friendships and teaching his mother, even as she was teaching him.

Her first YAF book, Undercover, was one of those instances where "a story has been living inside of you for years and years, but it takes someone to pry it open."

She admits that Elisa, her protagonist in Undercover, shares some of her own traits as a teenager. She has a vivid imagination, a love of dance, and a writer's way of seeing the world.
The Way I Watch the Sky, The Way I Read the Sun, the Forty-two Flavors of Breeze

Kephart claims that Elisa is a far better writer than she herself was at that age. Elisa is so good at reading the world, at reading people, that she decides she's undercover. She sees things other people never notice.

"I know just by looking when someone's wavering with love or dreamy with longing or about to turn and flee."

Elisa's ability to see and write makes her the Cyrano de Bergerac of her school. She conjures words for lovestruck boys, sweet nectar that works every time they use her words as their own..

Beth Kephart's most recent YAF novel, The Heart Is Not A Size, is particularly relevant to what is happening at the border between Texas and Mexico, where she and Jeremy went on a church mission trip in 2005 to help build a community restroom in Anapra, a squatter's colony just over the border from El Paso. She wrote an essay about it which led to the book.

"Given the horrible news that greets us most days from Juárez, I want the world to know of the beauty that lives behind the headlines -- of the people who deserve our attention and concern," she told the El Paso Times recently in a telephone interview.
On Behalf of Those With Nothing

Kephart's home church, St. John's Presbyterian in Devon, Pennsylvania, sent a group of privileged teenagers from the Philadelphia suburbs into a community where "Mules stand in the shade of pallet houses, nuzzling a cardboard box, a dented pail."

Her description of her teenage characters is equally vivid, as she captures what a pastor calls "the interior journey that accompanies introducing youth from the United States to life in Mexico."

The two friends in the book learn about "Las muertas de Juárez (the dead women of Juárez)" and decide to do something for the children left behind. Their "interior journey" will take them places they have never been, within their friendship and within their own souls.

Like another popular author, Anne Lamott, Kephart is a woman of faith, but its presence is often more subtle in her work than in Lamott's. For example, in The Heart Is Not a Size, The Cristo del Rey - the big white limestone cross of Jesus on a hill above El Paso is always there, off in the distance.

Beth Kephart's faith in the human heart is always there, as well, just as is Jeremy, the little boy she and her husband nurtured and protected, who has grown up to be a sort of guardian angel, checking in to see how his Mom is doing. Readers should go back to A Slant of Sun to fully appreciate this writer.