Four minutes spent listening to just about any 86-yr-old speak on what s/he's seen is worth my time. Via BoingBoing, the April 09 testimony of an 86-yr-old WWII vet and lifelong Republican at a hearing on gay marriage in Maine:
10.21.2009
9.23.2009
MacArthur poets
After learning yesterday that Heather McHugh is one of the 2009 recipients of a MacArthur Fellowship (better known as MacArthur Genius Award/Grant), I got curious as to how many poets (and which poets) had previously been named fellows.
The answers?
40 poets, including McHugh, have received MacArthur Fellowships since the MacArthur Foundation began offering them in 1981.
Here they are, from least recent to most recent recipient:
A.R. Ammons
Joseph Brodsky
Derek Walcott
Robert Penn Warren
Brad Leithauser
A.K. Ramanujan
Robert Hass
Charles Simic
Galway Kinnell
John Ashbery
Daryl Hine
Jay Wright
Douglas Crase
Richard Kenney
Mark Strand
May Swenson
Allen Grossman
Jorie Graham
John Hollander
Alice Fulton
Eleanor Wilner
Amy Clampitt
Irving Feldman
Thom Gunn
Ann Lauterbach
Jim Powell
Adrienne Rich
Sandra Cisneros
Richard Howard
Thylias Moss
Susan Stewart
Linda Bierds
Edward Hirsch
Ishmael Reed
Campbell McGrath
Anne Carson
Lucia Perillo
C.D. Wright
Peter Cole
Heather McHugh
The answers?
40 poets, including McHugh, have received MacArthur Fellowships since the MacArthur Foundation began offering them in 1981.
Here they are, from least recent to most recent recipient:
A.R. Ammons
Joseph Brodsky
Derek Walcott
Robert Penn Warren
Brad Leithauser
A.K. Ramanujan
Robert Hass
Charles Simic
Galway Kinnell
John Ashbery
Daryl Hine
Jay Wright
Douglas Crase
Richard Kenney
Mark Strand
May Swenson
Allen Grossman
Jorie Graham
John Hollander
Alice Fulton
Eleanor Wilner
Amy Clampitt
Irving Feldman
Thom Gunn
Ann Lauterbach
Jim Powell
Adrienne Rich
Sandra Cisneros
Richard Howard
Thylias Moss
Susan Stewart
Linda Bierds
Edward Hirsch
Ishmael Reed
Campbell McGrath
Anne Carson
Lucia Perillo
C.D. Wright
Peter Cole
Heather McHugh
9.03.2009
9.02.2009
I haven't quit blogging...I've just been blogging on the inside.
A few things I've been meaning to post:
*Prolific author Terry Pratchett, diagnosed two years ago with early-onset Alzheimer's, has spoken in favor of the right to die (which I heartily support): "I believe that if the burden gets too great, those who wish should be allowed to be shown the door. In my case, in the fullness of time, I hope it will be in the garden under an English sky. Or, if wet, the library."
*After finishing Dave Eggers's Zeitoun (good), I found myself revisiting images of the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. weBranding's Project Katrina photo set is very strong.
*I enjoyed this short interview with George Takei, best known for his role as Sulu on Star Trek, but more recently known as a gay activist who married his partner of 22 years in San Francisco. Takei mentions asking Gene Roddenberry in the 80s why there weren't any queer crew members on the Enterprise: "“He gave me the stock answer that [being gay] doesn’t matter [in the 24th century],” Takei says. “I said, ‘Well, if it doesn’t matter, why don’t we see them?”" (Roddenberry did, Takei credits, tackle other political issues of the time on the show--TV's first interracial kiss was between Capt. Kirk and Uhura). Takei also speaks of having been imprisoned, as a very young boy, in a Japanese internment camp during WWII.
*If, like me, your mind seems to gawp helplessly when trying to imagine where we'll be in twenty--or even ten--years, you might appreciate the What's Next? Top Trends blog's posts on "The Future of Libraries" (scenario one, scenario two, scenario three, scenario four). They're well-written, thoughtful, and not at all just about libraries. An excellent read.
*Rachel Dacus has compiled a list of "Quick Turnaround Journals"--print and online journals that respond quickly to poetry submissions.
*"In the future, a famous person will die every fifteen minutes." -- Joanne McNeil (from article here)
*Hubby Hubby
*Prolific author Terry Pratchett, diagnosed two years ago with early-onset Alzheimer's, has spoken in favor of the right to die (which I heartily support): "I believe that if the burden gets too great, those who wish should be allowed to be shown the door. In my case, in the fullness of time, I hope it will be in the garden under an English sky. Or, if wet, the library."
*After finishing Dave Eggers's Zeitoun (good), I found myself revisiting images of the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. weBranding's Project Katrina photo set is very strong.
*I enjoyed this short interview with George Takei, best known for his role as Sulu on Star Trek, but more recently known as a gay activist who married his partner of 22 years in San Francisco. Takei mentions asking Gene Roddenberry in the 80s why there weren't any queer crew members on the Enterprise: "“He gave me the stock answer that [being gay] doesn’t matter [in the 24th century],” Takei says. “I said, ‘Well, if it doesn’t matter, why don’t we see them?”" (Roddenberry did, Takei credits, tackle other political issues of the time on the show--TV's first interracial kiss was between Capt. Kirk and Uhura). Takei also speaks of having been imprisoned, as a very young boy, in a Japanese internment camp during WWII.
*If, like me, your mind seems to gawp helplessly when trying to imagine where we'll be in twenty--or even ten--years, you might appreciate the What's Next? Top Trends blog's posts on "The Future of Libraries" (scenario one, scenario two, scenario three, scenario four). They're well-written, thoughtful, and not at all just about libraries. An excellent read.
*Rachel Dacus has compiled a list of "Quick Turnaround Journals"--print and online journals that respond quickly to poetry submissions.
*"In the future, a famous person will die every fifteen minutes." -- Joanne McNeil (from article here)
*Hubby Hubby
8.20.2009
7.06.2009
The Flag of Equal Marriage
This would've been just in time for the 4th of July if I'd read my feeds this weekend. The flag of equal marriage is "an evolving protest flag for equal marriage rights in the United States." Stars on the US flag were added in the order of each state's admission to the union; those stars that stand for states that actively perform same-sex marriages will be added as more states decide in favor of equality for GLBTQ couples. Above, the January 2010 flag, with stars for Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
7.02.2009
"Persepolis 2.0"
Payman and Sina have taken images from Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and remixed them with new captions and dialogue to illustrate the day before and the first few days after the election in Iran. Much attention is paid to social media's role in organizing and supporting protesters:
Persepolis 2.0
Persepolis 2.0
6.24.2009
Can't help but think this would make a good subject
...for a great YA historical novel (or bad poem).
Via BoingBoing, an article in the July 2009 issue of The Psychologist on "dancing plagues" (and other forms of mass hysteria):
The year was 1374. In dozens of medieval towns scattered along the valley of the River Rhine hundreds of people were seized by an agonising compulsion to dance. Scarcely pausing to rest or eat, they danced for hours or even days in succession. They were victims of one of the strangest afflictions in Western history. Within weeks the mania had engulfed large areas of north-eastern France and the Netherlands, and only after several months did the epidemic subside. In the following century there were only a few isolated outbreaks of compulsive dancing. Then it reappeared, explosively, in the city of Strasbourg in 1518. Chronicles indicate that it then consumed about 400 men, women and children, causing dozens of deaths…
[click to read more of "Looking Back: Dancing Plagues and Mass Hysteria" by John Waller]
Via BoingBoing, an article in the July 2009 issue of The Psychologist on "dancing plagues" (and other forms of mass hysteria):
The year was 1374. In dozens of medieval towns scattered along the valley of the River Rhine hundreds of people were seized by an agonising compulsion to dance. Scarcely pausing to rest or eat, they danced for hours or even days in succession. They were victims of one of the strangest afflictions in Western history. Within weeks the mania had engulfed large areas of north-eastern France and the Netherlands, and only after several months did the epidemic subside. In the following century there were only a few isolated outbreaks of compulsive dancing. Then it reappeared, explosively, in the city of Strasbourg in 1518. Chronicles indicate that it then consumed about 400 men, women and children, causing dozens of deaths…
[click to read more of "Looking Back: Dancing Plagues and Mass Hysteria" by John Waller]
6.23.2009
Godwin's Law, etc.
In looking for the definition of "teme" yesterday, I came across "Meme, Counter-meme", a great, short, older Wired article by Mike Godwin on the "Nazi-comparison meme" (and countering it):
It was back in 1990 that I set out on a project in memetic engineering. The Nazi-comparison meme, I'd decided, had gotten out of hand--in countless Usenet newsgroups, in many conferences on the Well, and on every BBS that I frequented, the labeling of posters or their ideas as "similar to the Nazis" or "Hitler-like" was a recurrent and often predictable event. It was the kind of thing that made you wonder how debates had ever occurred without having that handy rhetorical hammer...I developed Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one... (read whole article)
---
Oprah.com's got a list of "Five Books Everyone Should Read at Least Once". Her choices (or Oprah.com writer Vince Passaro's choices?): Lolita, T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century, Waiting For Godot, and Things Fall Apart. Huh. I've tried to think of five books I think everyone should read and can't seem to do it. Everyone? Everyone? One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish floats to mind, or maybe Buber's I and Thou. You?
---
A list of the top 100 classical hits based on their exposure in "today's pop culture". Also, on Metafilter, What is that song they always use when…?--a list of musical cliches.
---
Brilliant idea, so-so execution until the last minute or so (which is worth waiting for): Buffy V. [the creepy] Edward Cullen, a video remix by Rebellious Pixels
It was back in 1990 that I set out on a project in memetic engineering. The Nazi-comparison meme, I'd decided, had gotten out of hand--in countless Usenet newsgroups, in many conferences on the Well, and on every BBS that I frequented, the labeling of posters or their ideas as "similar to the Nazis" or "Hitler-like" was a recurrent and often predictable event. It was the kind of thing that made you wonder how debates had ever occurred without having that handy rhetorical hammer...I developed Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one... (read whole article)
---
Oprah.com's got a list of "Five Books Everyone Should Read at Least Once". Her choices (or Oprah.com writer Vince Passaro's choices?): Lolita, T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century, Waiting For Godot, and Things Fall Apart. Huh. I've tried to think of five books I think everyone should read and can't seem to do it. Everyone? Everyone? One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish floats to mind, or maybe Buber's I and Thou. You?
---
A list of the top 100 classical hits based on their exposure in "today's pop culture". Also, on Metafilter, What is that song they always use when…?--a list of musical cliches.
---
Brilliant idea, so-so execution until the last minute or so (which is worth waiting for): Buffy V. [the creepy] Edward Cullen, a video remix by Rebellious Pixels
6.04.2009
My Little Zombie Pony
Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes, yes:
Zombie Ponies by Flickr user dbx1 (via BoingBoing). We have ponies that could use a good makeover.
Zombie Ponies by Flickr user dbx1 (via BoingBoing). We have ponies that could use a good makeover.
6.02.2009
Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version
Yes, there have been other literal music videos (click link below to see them), but this one outdoes the rest. At least treat yourself to the first 2 1/2 minutes:
--literal version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by dascottjr
--more literal music videos
--literal version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by dascottjr
--more literal music videos
6.01.2009
Sex With Ducks
Riki "Garfunkel" Lindhome and Kate "Oates" Micucci sing a song in response to a Pat Robertson quote that legalizing gay marriage would lead to legalizing sex with ducks. Below or click to view.
See also: Garfunkel and Oates's "Pregnant Women Are Smug"
See also: Garfunkel and Oates's "Pregnant Women Are Smug"
5.28.2009
Thank you, Ann Hodgman,
for your book club discussion questions in this week's New Yorker, the most hysterical piece of book-related writing I've read since John Crace's digested read of Jodi Picoult's Handle with Care.
Letting the hoe handle suck
Last weekend I found a copy of Jeffrey Kacirk's Informal English: Curious Words & Phrases of North America for 2 bucks. Here are some highlights:
booklegger -- 1. a person who deals in forbidden books 2. a book dealer who follows unfair practices
get the mitten -- to be rejected or discarded by one's sweetheart [you reach for the hand...and get the mitten]
gosling patch -- the period in which a boy's voice is changing. Also: in the goslings: in the period of changing voice
hat of woods -- a low growth of trees on the top of a small hill
leg drama -- a ballet
let the hoe handle suck -- to loaf and talk while one is supposed to be working
long sugar/long sweetness -- molasses
sposh -- a mixture of mud and snow or water
strawberry friend -- a moocher ("Many city people visit their backwoods cousins only when strawberries are ripe to get enough free berries for a year's supply of jam. Ozarks")
tetnit -- a child born of elderly parents
booklegger -- 1. a person who deals in forbidden books 2. a book dealer who follows unfair practices
get the mitten -- to be rejected or discarded by one's sweetheart [you reach for the hand...and get the mitten]
gosling patch -- the period in which a boy's voice is changing. Also: in the goslings: in the period of changing voice
hat of woods -- a low growth of trees on the top of a small hill
leg drama -- a ballet
let the hoe handle suck -- to loaf and talk while one is supposed to be working
long sugar/long sweetness -- molasses
sposh -- a mixture of mud and snow or water
strawberry friend -- a moocher ("Many city people visit their backwoods cousins only when strawberries are ripe to get enough free berries for a year's supply of jam. Ozarks")
tetnit -- a child born of elderly parents
Board Books for Babies of GLBTQ Parents
Though some of us might prefer to do it in wedlock, there's no law stopping queers from having babies. Looking for a good baby shower gift for GLBTQ parents-to-be, but want something a little more literary than the camp classic Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner onesie?Tricycle Press recently released Daddy, Papa, and Me and Mommy, Mama, and Me, both board books by Lesléa Newman. Lucía Moreno Velo's Manu series books--published in Spain but available through a US distributor--are bilingual board books about a toddler with two moms.
Now, if only Fiona Watt of (also great board-books-as-gifts for babies/toddlers, whoever their parents love) That's Not My Dinosaur [Puppy/Truck/etc] fame would put out a That's Not My Mama title (That's not my mama...her dress is too frilly. That's not my mama...her lipstick is too shiny. THAT'S my mama...her mohawk is so spiky).
5.27.2009
"And then I die. Because we all have to die."
They've been out for a while, but I only recently clicked through to view Isabella Rossellini's "Green Porno" short films hosted by the Sundance Channel. If you haven't seen them yet, I can report that oh, my, they are worth the click. Here's "Limpet":
See more from the Green Porno series here.
See more from the Green Porno series here.
5.26.2009
Three more lines
to add to my long-ago 7/10 of the 10 Lines Meme:
Urge and urge and urge,/Always the procreant urge of the world. (Whitman)
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. (Shakespeare)
The first gaming system was the domesticated flame. (Lerner)
--
I wish there were (more?) poetry audiobooks. Not recordings of poetry readings. Not audio anthologies of 50 poets' 2 greatest hits, or 2 poets' 50 greatest hits. Books, in full, read aloud by readers who read aloud well. Harmonium. 77 Dream Songs. I've got The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets in audio, read by Ossie Davis, Kathleen Turner, Ruby Dee, etc., but that's it.
Urge and urge and urge,/Always the procreant urge of the world. (Whitman)
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. (Shakespeare)
The first gaming system was the domesticated flame. (Lerner)
--
I wish there were (more?) poetry audiobooks. Not recordings of poetry readings. Not audio anthologies of 50 poets' 2 greatest hits, or 2 poets' 50 greatest hits. Books, in full, read aloud by readers who read aloud well. Harmonium. 77 Dream Songs. I've got The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets in audio, read by Ossie Davis, Kathleen Turner, Ruby Dee, etc., but that's it.
5.24.2009
Bernard Pras: Portraits from Everyday Objects
French artist Bernard Pras (scroll for biography) arranges everyday objects, then photographs them at such an angle as to recreate iconic portraits and artworks.
Stuff...
...is Mao:
Great short video "tour" of a Pras assemblage:
links to more Pras works on the web
Stuff...
...is Mao:
Great short video "tour" of a Pras assemblage:
links to more Pras works on the web
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