BIG OTHER

It’s often said that the blank page can be intimidating, overwhelming, unkind, etc. And then there is the writerly belief that at some point, the work finds its stride, its shape, and the agony of creation gives way to a sort of euphoria. Afterward, minutes or hours or days later, there is the ending to [...]

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…to submit writing to be considered for Annalemma’s “Holiday in Cambodia” anthology. The deadline is tomorrow, January 15th. This anthology will support the work of Anne Elizabeth Moore, an author/activist working on zine-making project with young women in Cambodia. Got a story about familial conflict taking place around the holiday? Instead of sending it to [...]

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Yesterday I was thinking about how smart I used to feel. When I was young. Okay, I’m not so old yet or anything. But the older I’ve gotten the less I have realized I know. I’m not too concerned about it. In fact I feel a lot less pressure. The real trick has been pinpointing [...]

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I’m with Mr. Yagoda on this one. My readers, too, are silly to think they have something to say worthy of my attention! Wanna reach out to someone? Call your mother. You claim you’re not complaining, Ben, but why hide your disdain? With readers like ours, who needs stalkers? Maybe instead of writing books, it [...]

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I sing the bio electric; The credits of poems I’ve published engirth me, and I engirth them; They will not let me forget till I publish more, enlengthen them, And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the Soul. Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bios conceal themselves; And [...]

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I love it when a literary journal that prides itself on publishing innovative fiction rejects my work by pointing out as problematic exactly that element which most departs from convention.

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Anyone who has even looked at a page or two of Black Hole understands that if someone has earned the right to flip the bird at the comics gods and get away with it, it’s Charles Burns. The guy’s thick black lines never back down and he is about as deft and apparently facile in [...]

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What was it like? What was said? More than you expected, less? What was taken away, if anything? Meeting James Salter (for a nice Charlie Rose interview scroll down) was my best experience. I was in the booksigning line but had no book (had no money to buy the new book, not really into the signature thing). I [...]

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Villains in literature we love! For the first time in four years I now live in an apartment with cable. I spent a solid hour perusing the channels and came across some kind of Tori Spelling related documentary. I am fascinated with rich people and thus left it on while the cat stared at me [...]

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I go glam for all my readings. For my first, I wore pink, gold and green eye makeup, painted my nails magenta and ironed my hair into a giantly high faux hawk-ish structure. This week, I’m planning to spray myself with glitter, wear a gold lame zip-up and draw a giant teal star around one [...]

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Abbas Kiarostami, the Iranian director. Here’s the beginning of Under the Olive Trees which has a striking long shot from about 4:00 – 7:00. And here is a scene from Taste of Cherry. There are a few long takes inside. The man driving wants to kill himself and asks his passenger to come and bury [...]

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