The first in what promises to be an infrequent at best contest give a way series!

As promised in my brief but sincere post of the 18th (see below), I am giving away two (2) copies of a locally produced (in the city of my birth, San Jose, Ca) arts magazine.

The publication in question is called Deeptapioca (web site hasn't been updated since 08/02 despite more recent paper and staple editions), first mentioned in this space just about one year ago upon my sending their their way a batch of poetry. They ended up publishing one of the pieces in that batch, eventually. The poem in question has not been posted here (as of this writing) but looooooooong time readers may remember one or two mentions regarding the creation of the piece.

Now is your chance to read the published poem. In the pages (with ink!) of Deeptapioca. I seem to recall one of the editors describing the magazine as a"grass roots effort". Indeed, this is not a glossy professional rag but a small magazine with a big heart, distributed free within the Bay Area. My poem, Satori (almost), illuminates page 10 of issue 4, Vol. I, 2003.

I have, as it seems I have intimated before, two copies of this edition to reward to any two bloggers who can answer some Notes From a Life in Progress trivia questions.

The rules are simple, few, completely arbitrary and, of course, made to be broken:

- I am requesting that all participants belong to that sub-species of humanity that has evolved slowly into being since the advent of Arpanet, homo blogus, or The Blogger. You gotta' have a blog to get a magazine. If I don't know you, please include your blog URL with your answer.

- Only one "prize" per participant. You can answer all the questions you want but only one magazine, not 2 nor yet none, will be given you.

- Any and all answers, in order to be considered, must be submitted via e-mail. Please click on the word communicate here or at the top of this page and send your best guesses away.

- All answers will be organized by date and time. First correct wins.

- You must answer, and correctly, one of the questions below. All answers are ripe for the finding in my archives over to the left and bottom of your screen (The Filing Cabinet). Or you can try your luck with a Google search.

The questions:

1. I have discovered two male poets/writers in the past year or so and have subsequently blogged about them and their respective works. What are their names?

2. In what year did Sarah and myself meet and how?

Okay, each question is a compound but the answers are out there. Those looooooooong time readers (you know who you are, I guess) may have an advantage over newcomers to this life in progress but only if they have been paying attention. I will, of course, require a mailing address if you win.

Have fun!