A WORK OF PERPETUAL MOURNING In Alexander Nevsky, the vision of brute strength required in battle; lifting and swinging of all that metal sharp or blunt. Banging the pot- headed Germans on their pots. Take that, you papists! In my dreaming a … [Read more...]

Skimmed some Beckett. The genius of petulant penis-bearing beings shattered by the fact that shit doesn’t smell like ice cream and death is the end of life. Yes, a kind of greatness if you like that sort of thing. Seventeen copies sold, of which eleven at trade … [Read more...]

1. Saw a new film, "A Little Bit of So Much Truth/Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad," about the 2006 uprising in Oaxaca. Spending an hour and a half with images of poor people, teachers, indigenous citizens confronting armed police with moral suasion, women taking over a … [Read more...]

By coincidence, my DVD viewing in the past week--let us admit it, the recently purchased DVD player, aka television set but I have purposely left it sans antenna for broadcast reception, has become the opium of this household--encompassed two strikingly similar … [Read more...]

No new post since June, October now heading out. so I haven’t been very good at the glance at teetering on the edge of definitive perception in words. couldn’t get into the spirit of blog, didn’t appear to be blessed with the gift of blog. had to stop because I … [Read more...]

I have just re-read Grace Paley’s Collected Stories, a wonderful literary indulgence and massive time commitment I justified under the pretext of preparing for my role on a "literary committee" charged with introducing Grace as the guest of honor at a June 7 … [Read more...]

As I reflected on my jury duty, I noted the weird assumptions of the law. I had sneered at the ignorance of a prospective juror who declared stoutly during voir dire that he would want to know the backgrounds of accused and accusers, e.g. whether they’d been … [Read more...]

1. In the Central Jury Room, they show a video about the ascent of Justice from the age of medieval superstition to its present exalted state: Trial by Jury. The video depicts a suspect in brown robes being subjected to Trial by Ordeal—dunking in a pond or some … [Read more...]

My students believe that travel is broadening. More and more frequently I encounter students who want to be “travel writers.” Or they write about travel as a sign of a fictional character’s sensitivity and maturity. Someone sets a story in the Midwest, then has her … [Read more...]

I'm still playing catch-up so I won't go into detail about Danielle Dutton's excellent reading yesterday from her new book Attempts at a Life. It was amusing to arrive at the Four-Faced Liar on West 4th St., site of the Tarpaulin Sky reading series, a few minutes … [Read more...]