Wednesday, April 29, 2009
A Human Eye: Essays on Art & Society, by Adrienne Rich
Reviewed by Michael Roth in the San Francisco Chronicle:
In an essay on the poet Muriel Rukeyser, Rich says that Rukeyser "was one of the great integrators, seeing the fragmentary world of modernity not as irretrievably broken, but in need of societal and emotional repair." And this, too, has been Rich's own perspective: a vision both unsparing and full of hope. Poetry has the power "to revive spirit, stimulate consciousness, restore a brutalized humanity."
Read the full review here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/24/RV6E174N6U.DTL
In an essay on the poet Muriel Rukeyser, Rich says that Rukeyser "was one of the great integrators, seeing the fragmentary world of modernity not as irretrievably broken, but in need of societal and emotional repair." And this, too, has been Rich's own perspective: a vision both unsparing and full of hope. Poetry has the power "to revive spirit, stimulate consciousness, restore a brutalized humanity."
Read the full review here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/24/RV6E174N6U.DTL
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Creativity Stimulus
Every moment of major social change requires a collective leap of imagination. Political transformation must be accompanied not just by spontaneous and organized expressions of unrest and risk but by an explosion of mass creativity. Little wonder that two of the most maligned jobs during the forty years after Richard Nixon's 1968 election sealed the backlash of the "silent majority" were community organizer and artist.
Obama was both. So why haven't community organizers and artists been offered a greater role in the national recovery?
Read the full article by Jeff Chang, a cover story in The Nation, here.
Is this blog blocked?
Blogger says I've been tagged as a possible spam blog and is reviewing the blog. Has anyone received spam that says it's from this blog? I assume this is just the equivalent of being hauled out of security at the airport and having your bags "randomly" checked - but how do I know?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Rain Inside, by Ibrahim Nasrallah, from Curbstone
An exciting note arrived from Sam Hamill today:I wanted you to know that Curbstone Press (under my Middlepoint Books imprint with them) has just published a selected poems of the important Palestinian poet & novelist, Ibrahim Nasrallah, Rain Inside.
Check it out and please spread the word. Here's the Curbstone page for more information and ordering: http://curbstone.org/bookdetail2.cfm?BookID=209&view=BL
Read a few sample poems here: http://littleredleaves.com/LRL3/nasrallah.html
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Sweet: A Literary Confection
I'm very pleased that the new online journal, Sweet: A Literary Confection, has accepted one of my poems, "Kissing Girls," from the Smart Girl Poems. I'll post again with a link when the poem comes out, but in the meantime I wanted to spread the word about this delicious new offering, two issues young. Dig in!Tuesday, April 21, 2009
In Memoriam: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950 - 2009)
Queer Studies has lost a founding figure. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick passed away April 12 in New York after a long battle with breast cancer. Many LGBT students and scholars benefited directly from the gifts of her teaching, mentorship, and friendship. It is almost impossible to imagine the incredibly rich, varied field we have today without Eve's brilliant work and her brave example.Eve's friend Cathy Davidson has a brief, moving blog post up announcing the news. Read more at Media Bistro's Galley Cat.
Monday, April 06, 2009
That "Glorious Bountiful Nightmare": musings on Christopher Nolan and "Milk"
Throughout his life, Nolan's mantra was "accept me for what I am and I'll accept you for what you're accepted as." When a Hollywood producer asked to make a movie of his life, Nolan declined his offer. "I want to highlight the creativity within the brain of a cripple," he told the producer, "and while not attempting to hide the crippledom I want instead to filter all sob-storied sentiment from his portrait and dwell upon his life, his laughter, his vision, and his nervous normality. Can we ever see eye-to-eye on that schemed scenario?"
Read Kathi Wolfe's essay on the uses of anger in art and in social change, with musings on Christopher Nolan and the film, "Milk," here: http://www.scene4.com/html/kathiwolfe0409.html
Read Kathi Wolfe's essay on the uses of anger in art and in social change, with musings on Christopher Nolan and the film, "Milk," here: http://www.scene4.com/html/kathiwolfe0409.html
Friday, April 03, 2009
Call for Proposals: Split This Rock Poetry Festival 2010
Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness invites poets, writers, activists, and all concerned citizens to Washington, DC, March 10-13, 2010 for four days of poetry, community building, and creative transformation as our country continues to grapple with two wars, a crippling economic crisis, and other social and environmental ills.
The festival will feature readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, film, activism -- opportunities to imagine a way forward, hone our community and activist skills, and celebrate the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for social change.
We invite you to send proposals for panel discussions, group readings, roundtable discussions, workshops, and small-scale performances on a range of topics at the intersection of poetry and social change. Possibilities are endless. Challenge us.
The deadline is May 30, 2009.
Details and guidelines are online at: www.splitthisrock.org/documents/2010_panel_proposals.doc
Discussion and community building are at the heart of Split This Rock. We value diversity, creativity, and new ideas. Check out last year's schedule for inspiration: www.splitthisrock.org/schedule.html.
Please join us!
Help Split This Rock Spread the Word
Forward this email, post it on your blog, send a message to all your Facebook friends. We are a grassroots movement and need your help to reach a wide variety of poets and poetry lovers. Thanks!
The festival will feature readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, film, activism -- opportunities to imagine a way forward, hone our community and activist skills, and celebrate the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for social change.
We invite you to send proposals for panel discussions, group readings, roundtable discussions, workshops, and small-scale performances on a range of topics at the intersection of poetry and social change. Possibilities are endless. Challenge us.
The deadline is May 30, 2009.
Details and guidelines are online at: www.splitthisrock.org/documents/2010_panel_proposals.doc
Discussion and community building are at the heart of Split This Rock. We value diversity, creativity, and new ideas. Check out last year's schedule for inspiration: www.splitthisrock.org/schedule.html.
Please join us!
Help Split This Rock Spread the Word
Forward this email, post it on your blog, send a message to all your Facebook friends. We are a grassroots movement and need your help to reach a wide variety of poets and poetry lovers. Thanks!
