Dave Maass

… to be alive. Especially if you’re death-row inmate Kenneth Foster. Governor Perry commuted his sentence this afternoon, holy fucking wow, after the Board of Pardons voted 6-1 to recommend mercy.

For me, that’s the greatest note possible to leave Texas on. The news was fed to me by Tricia by phone and Chuck R. by text message as Dad and I were Penske-truckin our way out of San Antonio. Thanks guys. And thank you Keli for writing the tv stations, and Hooman for organizing, and Scott Cobb for lobbying, and Rep Villarreal for signing on, and of course, thank you, Governor Rick Perry. If I can find your “Proud of Texas” cap in the back of the Penske, I’ll wear it tomorrow.

Courtesy of Louis and Deanne

But my name’s spelled wrong.

P.S. This is a live blog from my going away get together at The Mix.

Don’t click this. Really, don’t!

Hey y’all … Archive.org has featured on their blog the raw interviews I conducted with Texas death-row inmates John Amador and Kenneth Foster, both of whom are scheduled for execution at the end of the month.
Click John for the link:

Marlowe, captured by Deanne while she and Louis were dog-sitting and I was in Santa Fe.

Hey folks, if you’ve got two minutes, why not listen to this recording of a poem by Kenneth Foster, a Texas inmate scheduled for execution on August 30, 2007.

And if you’ve still got time, why not write the governor or your members of the legislature. Time’s running out for Foster.

So, I’ll be the new staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter. I’m stoked. They’ve got a legislature, a governor running for president, Wilson & Plame, and the country’s most endangered river. Plus, the town’s got good coffee shops.

I should be moving next week or at the end of the month. It looks like I’ve got a place sorted out (where Marlowe will have a friend), and now it’s just when my dad can fly out.

Hey folks … I’m moving to Santa Fe at the end of the month. More later.