Writings, Reviews, Cultural Criticism
John Beckham offers a short essay in Granta, “A Vacation From Myself”, which I take as anecdotal evidence in support of a claim I’ve been making for some time: mental health therapies (Wellbutrin in Beckham’s case) often come with a cost — a loss of the self — and we need to be more circumspect in the way we value such therapies.
I set out on my morning walk with the dog—the same routine as always (what other kind of routine is there?)—pee on the front lawn by the road (the dog, not me), first by the granite boulder on the east side of the lot, then by the pole that supports the basketball hoop on the west side of the lot. Up went the hind leg, then out came a stream of deep yellow fluid.
The alarming thing about the so-called swine flu is the number of variant viruses it has produced.
I’ve always wanted to help a Canadian author hire a sex worker, and now you can help too.
Today’s big literary news is NOT the announcement of this year’s Pulitzer winners, but the fact that all the major winners were published by companies owned by media giant Bertelsmann.
In both Somalia and Sweden, piracy has been very much in the news. At first glance, these seem like radically different stories.
There’s something about TED. For a long time, I couldn’t place it. TED is “popular science” by smart people. I watch all those videos of upbeat optimistic speakers who can see on the horizon the vague outlines of a better future, like an EPCOT ride, and I get this feeling on the back of my neck, the same feeling I get when I hear somebody scraping fingernails across a blackboard.
I don’t know where to begin with this one. It’s an ad for American Spirit cigarettes made from 100% organic tobacco. How politically incorrect art thou; oh let me count the ways! I suppose I could start with colonialism and the “American Spirit.”
The Rev. Rick Warren claims that he’s not now nor has he ever been anti-gay or anti-gay marriage. It’s not enough that this contemptible little man should spearhead a campaign for California Proposition 8, but he turns on a dime and denies that he ever took such a stand.
I’ve finished writing a novel (tentatively titled Clouds On Wall) and expect to complete the editing/polishing/paring by the end of the month. The looming question is: what next?
A meme has been floating around on facebook and in blogs that refers to a list of 100 books compiled by the BBC. Presumably they are must-reads.
Excuse me, excuse me,may I have your attention please.I have an announcement to make,a declaration really.Oh my! I do declare!No mere extra! extra!blaring from the street corner,taped to a utility pole,stapled to a fence slat,but a full-bodied shout-it-from-the-mountaintopWittenberg-door-splitting theses nailingsteeple peeling moon howlingjudge pleading fever breakingshout for your attention.Could Gabriel have been more insistent?Him with…
The other day, in a friendly argument with my father, I took the position that there is a greater cultural divide between him and me than between me and my children. My father is 27 years older than me and I am 27 years older than my son, yet (as I contended) I have a…
Ostensibly, this poem is a response to the news that marine biologist, Nicholas Hughes, son of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, committed suicide on March 16th, 2009.
So ya, man. Name? Hughes. Ya. Ted. So ya, man, I worked on the GB20 design team. You owe me. You owe me big time. In fact, you guys should be on your knees kissing the ground we walk on. We hit a veracity factor—nine point seven—unheard of. Most people—even the pros—most of them couldn’t tell the difference.