Web Watch

Bookshelf Porn. The site is “Porn for book lovers. A photo blog collection of all the best bookshelf photos from around the world for people who ‘heart’ bookshelves.”

It was created by Anthony Dever. Dever says of himself: “I'm Anthony. I really like robots. I work at Whybin\TBWA\Tequila as a Interactive Strategist. I love creating cool stuff that matters. Current Personal Projects: Bookshelf Porn, Analogue Sundays, Rocktober and Brisneyland.”

Web Bits

Sunday Conversation with ... Mel Steely, retired University of West Georgia professor, by Bill Torpy

Mel Steely, a retired professor from University of West Georgia who specializes in politics, has had an active and unusual role in documenting and studying his craft. Steely was on the committee that hired current presidential candidate Newt Gingrich to then-West Georgia College in 1970. He watched Gingrich blossom as a teacher, helped out in his political campaigns, debated and advised the future speaker of the House, and wrote a biography, called “The Gentleman From Georgia,” on his old friend. Read more ...

Young U.S. Citizens in Mexico Brave Risks for American Schools, by Patricia Leigh Brown

Tijuana, Mexico — Weekday mornings at 5, when the lights on distant hillsides across the border still twinkle in the blackness, Martha, a high school senior, begins her arduous three-hour commute to school. She groggily unlocks the security gate guarded by the family Doberman and waits in the glare of the Pemex filling station for the bus to the border. Her fellow passengers, grown men with their arms folded, jostle her in their sleep. Read more ...

Navajo Nation confronts HIV and AIDS, by Stephen Ceasar

Reporting from Gallup, N.M.— Five years ago, the man Elsie Smith loved told her calmly from his hospital bed that it was time for him to go. He died with a hushed goodbye and a squeeze of her hand.

Smith herself had been feeling ill for a while. Her bones ached and she vomited often. She soon mourned him from her own hospital bed. Read more ...

Puerto Rico Traces Baseball’s Slide to the Draft, by Jorge Castillo

San Juan, P.R. — This used to be the climax of baseball’s peak season in Puerto Rico. The storied winter league lured many of Major League Baseball’s biggest Puerto Rican stars back to the island — from Roberto Clemente and Orlando Cepeda to Roberto Alomar and Bernie Williams — and they would regularly play before tens of thousands of fans during what was otherwise their off-season. Read more ...