Both/And
Joe Brainard, I Remember I read Joe Brainard’s classic in 2002 as I was finishing up a draft of what was published as The Book of Mev in 2005. In many writing classes I’ve facilitated…
Beautiful and Toxic Multitudes
Jewish because reading Dostoyevsky at 13 I write poems at restaurant tables Lower East Side, perfect delicatessen intellectual –Allen Ginsberg, Yiddishe Kopf Prompted by a recent tragedy, I turned again to the conclusion of Fyodor…
Since You’ll Never Hear This on Fox or NPR Programs, Allow Me to Remark…
The Palestinians have the right to defend themselves The Palestinians have the right to defend themselves The Palestinians have the right to defend themselves The Palestinians have the right to defend themselves The Palestinians have…
“Life Must Be Serious or It Can Go to the Devil”
Naguib Mahfouz, Mirrors [Al-Maraya] Illustrated by Seif Wanli Translated by Roger Allen —March 2005 What an odd book! It can be a goad to do something experimental in the future. It is a series of…
Share the Wealth with Xavier Vincent and Wendy Lee
Wendy is a Saint Louis University alum, and Xavier is a French native. They met in Shanghai, where their lives were established. Last summer, they uprooted from their comfortable life to pursue their long-term travel…
Sometime, Somewhere, Someone’s Saying…
Dear Bella Balaban “That higher-up in the Vietnamese Politburo who died of cancer—what a decent guy!” “I miss—I really do—our last dictator. He was so intelligent and really tried to make la Guardia more diverse.”…
Is Murdered Journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s “A Russian Diary” Only Relevant to Russians?
Anna Politkovskaya, A Russian Diary: A Journalist’s Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin’s Russia Random House, 2007 … the Russian people gave its consent. Nobody stood up. There were no demonstrations, mass…
Share the Wealth with Maggie Needham: From Treating Harry Potter as Sacred to Treating Each Other as Sacred
Last January, I started a discussion group based on one of my favorite podcasts, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. This January, I was hired on by the podcast to help manage dozens of local…
We, Unsubsidized and Unbridled
And it is my firm conviction that a man can learn more about poetry by really knowing and examining a few of the best poems than by meandering about among a great many. Language is…
Assange by Andrew Wimmer
There are several journalists worth reading in order to understand what is happening with Julian Assange and what is at stake. I’d suggest, too, that you avoid all media coverage, at least until you have…