I have published fiction before but never in truly competitive venues. Last year I sent pieces of my novel to various toney reviews. I have received several standard rejections, and now also this: Dear Mictlantecuhtli, Thank you for letting us see “[story manuscript].” We very much enjoyed reading it. Despite its many fine qualities, in … More Analyze This
My limping laptop broke definitively and was donated to the computer recyclers yesterday. My cheap one is limping and is now my designated media computer (I have no television or stereo system, so I can justify a designated media computer). I am typing now on the netbook. I have a desktop at work. On the … More Laptops
This is the search term that most recently led someone to my blog: رقص جدید پشتو. I cannot read it but I think it is Persian or Pashto, not Urdu or Arabic. I can tell that it has to do with Khattak dance. Can you read it? Axé.
It seems that Mac McClelland, a journalist who wrote this and more for Mother Jones on Haiti, had a breakdown. This is about the breakdown and how she cured it. A writer at Slate had a serious problem with her having felt as she did and dealt with it as she did. Ms. interviewed her. … More Mac McClelland
Axé.
I have a few hundred dollars to spend on library materials, related to courses and also to be part of our university library’s permanent collection. Some of the materials are books from university presses, and some of these are available as examination and desk copies for faculty using them in courses. I am being told … More An Ethical Question
I’d like to go to this. In the meantime I have turned my compost heap, and it had created a great deal of fresh soil. Then I deleted many of the links on this blog. I have so many that I tend not to see any, and the space feels cluttered. I have created a … More Postcards from Houston
Am I the only one who has a hard time watching Berlin Alexanderplatz — so interesting, but so scary, rough, and sad — and would rather read the book? Watching the film is very good for my German, but I really want to look away. Key words and resources: Ernest Pawel on Döblin, NYT 1983; … More Berlin Alexanderplatz
I saw this van in the parking lot of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Its front license plate says “Texas Turn-On.” I am multiplying it by five to create an art installation right here. At the state welcome center on the Sabine River I had seen a granite megalith erected in 1962 by … More Period Piece(s)
I have wondered about all these posts put up by people who did not get or have not yet gotten tenure track jobs and are disappointed because they were told they surely would. We, of course, were told we surely wouldn’t and I have wondered who is now telling people they surely will. It occurs … More An Idea
coldhearted scientist وداد 