Faith is about action, Professor Wiesel said that day. Faith is about what you do with that faith. Belief in God is to do, not to accept. So always the question: what can we do? ...more
Every time I leap there is a chance I will fall, and every time I fall there is a chance I will finally crack my head open like a Faberge egg and luminous black spiders will crawl out to mark the outline of my body with blinking stars and black thread....more
I think back and then here, where I can only think of beasts with stains: oil and blood. They have become as familiar as an oil-stained cloth in a garage, or the things we ignore, just there in the light....more
This election is critical. We are code-red. We might elect our first woman president, or we might elect a man who is at best dangerous and unqualified and at worst the end of democracy as we know it today....more
The thing about Paradise is this—yours can’t be mine, and mine can’t be yours. Paradise exists in the imagination, and imagination is our only privacy....more
He only knew that the Blazer, like the green card, was something he wanted my brother and me to have, so that we knew we deserved things, things like America....more
Esmé Weijun Wang discusses her first novel, The Border of Paradise, about a multi-generational new American family, creative expression through writing and photography, and interracial relationships. ...more
“You haven’t even begun,” she admonishes the younger version of ourselves. “You must pause first, the way one must always pause before a great spirit, if only to take a good breath.”...more
What if I said: while people still believe they are white in America, that delusion, and the dream upon which it is founded, needs to be seriously examined....more
Now everything finally made sense. I had practically died and woken up, resurrected. That’s why everyone was looking at me funny. Like its cousin Death, Near-Death leaves a stench that makes people uncomfortable....more
I don’t consider myself a political person. To me, there are no “wrong” political beliefs. I believe that democracy means respecting everyone’s right to her opinion. And if I were forced to declare my own political views, I would have to reluctantly admit that, out of cynicism and self-interest, I find myself increasingly leaning towards the right. I almost can’t help it as I see more and more of my paycheck go toward paying taxes instead of paying back my (sizable) student loans.
But, what is happening to our country now goes well beyond politics. Trump’s victory feels very personal to me. It troubles me deeply because it challenges the very root of the American Dream.
When our family came to this country illegally (by crossing Lake Erie from Canada in darkness), America was a place worth risking our lives for. (more…)
Then, in the Saturday Essay, Melissa Kingbird recounts her experience at Standing Rock, on the outskirts of a Native American reservation. Kingbird’s participation in the Native occupation of disputed land is punctuated by apocalyptic descriptions of unchecked midnight fires on the dry plains and the helicopter blades of the National Guard. A boy almost drowns in the cold river, and bystanders are forced to dive in and pull him out when police fail to appear.
Finally, in the Sunday Essay, L.M. Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas shares an excerpt from her forthcoming collection of essays, Don’t Come Back. In “Tinfoil Astronaut,” Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas recalls her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, growing up in Colombia, and the first dog to travel into space on Sputnik II.
Monday 11/14: Local author Dylan Hicks will read excerpts from his new novel Amateurs (Coffee House Press) and then talk with visual artist Carolyn Swiszcz about art and collaboration in the Twin Cities. Highpoint Center Printmaking, 7 p.m., free.
Tuesday 11/15: In memory of the poet and community-builder Tom McGrath, this month’s Carol Connolly reading series features Mark Vinz, Freya Manfred, Mike Hazard, Jim Lenfestey, Patricia Kirkpatrick, J.P. White, Richard Robbins, and Dale Jacobson. McGrath died in 1990, and this event marks what would be his 100th birthday. A special memorial broadside of McGrath’s poetry will be for sale. The University Club of Saint Paul, 7 p.m., free.
Friday 11/11: 2015 National Book Award finalist Ross Gay reads from his collection of poems, Catalog of UnabashedGratitude, as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. Blanc Gallery, 6 p.m., ticket prices vary.
At the Seminary Co-op Bookstore, Tom Fate, Marc Nieson, and Joe Peterson will each read from and discuss their newest books. 6 p.m., free.
Visit City Lit Books for the launch party of Michael Lenhan’s new book Much Ado: A Summer with a Repertory Theatre Company. Michael will be in conversation with Mark Larson. 6:30 p.m., free.
Over at the North American Review, Heid E. Erdrich writes about the forthcoming New Poets of Native Nations. The collection, which will be published by Graywolf Press in 2018, will feature works from “21 poets whose first books were published in the 21st century and who are members/citizen or descendants with status of indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native nations.”
It can be hard to describe a Jesse Ball novel. They’re willfully strange, dark and puzzling, but the pieces aren’t always designed to fit together. Instead, each of his books, which are always written in the first person, have a tendency to take the reader into the heads of the lead characters, which is often more treacherous than the physical landscape. This is certainly true in his newest novel, How To Set a Fire and Why, which I argue is possibly his best yet. The story follows Lucia, whose father is dead and mother is in a mental hospital. She’s incredibly smart but troubled. She lives with her aunt in a converted garage. Lucia creates a code of conduct for herself but when she discovers that her new school has an arson club, she wants to join. The book is unsettling, full of odd ideas and creepy vignettes. It also features a complicated protagonist, a smart, angry outsider dealing with issues of class, her own rage, and discovering a way to live in the world.
How to Set a Fire and Why follows on the heels of Ball’s A Cure for Suicide, which was on the longlist for the 2015 National Book Award, and comes out just before The Deaths of Henry King, a new graphic novel he co-authored with Brian Evenson and Lilli Carre, which is published by Uncivilized Press. We spoke recently by e-mail about humor, design, poverty, and how Ball writes. (more…)
“I hurt myself today,” Johnny Cash sings in one of the last recordings he made, his poignant cover of the Nine Inch Nails song, “Hurt.” The song couldn’t be more appropriate now, during this week of confusion and heartache and regret. Cash chose to release it towards the end of his life, perhaps as a kind of capstone statement. His tremulous, aged voice takes on a well-deserved dignity that is only fitting for the song’s message. We can only hope that listening to the pain provides a modicum of redemption. Cash sings:
You could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt
Thursday 11/10: The Reed College Visiting Writers Series welcomes Nathaniel Mackey to read from his poetry, including his latest collection, Blue Fasa. Eliot Chapel, 6:30 p.m., free.
Enjoy a night of the bawdy, the indecent, the delightful, and the total opposite of sexy at Hussy Tales and Whore’r Stories: A Night of Live Sex Worker Storytelling. Learn the truth about some of the oldest careers on the planet. Mother Foucault’s Bookshop, 6:30 p.m., free.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker read from their new book, All The Real Indians Died Off: And 20 Other Myths about Native Americans. Powell’s City of Books, 7:30 p.m., free.
Electric Literature, in partnership with the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, is offering full scholarships to workshops and classes that they’ll be co-presenting with Catapult. The scholarships are open to people of all ages and levels of experience, with the only requirement being that writers are New York City-based. The application process will open on November 15th.
Electric Literature’s Executive Direction Halimah Marcus said, “Most writers struggle to fit a regular writing practice into their busy lives, especially in New York City, where time comes at a high cost.” She added, “We’re thrilled to be able to offer financial support in addition to the incredible community and instruction these classes provide.”