Melanie Henderson and the Folks on Langston Way

At the Poesis reading, I had the pleasure of following Melanie Henderson, a D.C.-based poet. Check out her blog -- and a wonderful shot on her site, "The Folks on Langston Way."

Sitting Next to Lord Byron

A photo by Regan Armstrong at my reading at the Pentagon City Border's Books "Poesis" series, 10.21.2009. A really fun night -- a great audience, other wonderful readings, and a night with a few old friends. I admit to feeling very cozy next to Byron and wish I could stay longer. Alas, the book sold out after the reading!

"I Love You, But ..." -- From the Best Letter Ever

From S, age 7:

October 14, 2009

Dear Mommy,

When are you going to get me a prize? I've been wondering for a long time. What time is swimming and soccer? When is A's soccer practice when we are at the park? May I please have your computer soon? I love you a lot but how did Martin Luther King Juner get the whites to free the blacks? If you don't know does Donn or people that work with him? When can I have a playdate with A, M and E? I know that I have a lot of stuff to ask. I bet you know that I have a lot of to ask you also. Can you help me with wrighting my books that I am making at our house?

Love,
S


+ + + +

That just might be my favorite "I love you, but ..." ever.

A Weakness in the English Language

Question: Why doesn't the English language have a word that means "and/or"?

It's such an unattractive phrase, although sometimes one that cannot be deleted nor changed.

Oh, future with "andor" as a word: hurry, hurry.

NYT Review of "The Anthologist"

"Novels about poetry are a dodgy proposition. After all, novelists already have a near monopoly on narrative and discursive fiction — turf once claimed by poetry — and it seems almost impolite for our prose writers, havi ng triumphed so thoroughly over their sister art, to set themselves up as tour guides to poetry’s dwindling estate. And let’s face it, stories involving poets tend to be hokey or, worse, excruciatingly literary ..."

Check out the full review of Nicholson Baker's The Anthologist on NYT, by David Orr

State Street's Official Release

Thanks to Bull City Press, State Street has been released. Woohoo! Listen to a recent interview on WUNC's "The State of Things" with Frank Stasio.

The Case for Science Writing

Yesterday, I read "Unpopular Science" by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum in the Aug. 17 issue of The Nation. Mooney and Kirshenbaum analyze the space given to the beat of science writing, providing a history of the specialty: how it matured following World War II; became a mainstay in journalism by 1957, when the Soviet launched Sputnik; then reached a popular culture level in the '70s and '80s when Carl Sagan's Cosmos had an audience of more than 500 million. They question why specialty science sections in newspapers are a breed dying faster than the newspapers themselves, and why only 1 of every 300 cable news minutes is about science and technology. They pose important questions about the future of journalism. Among those questions, they ask, "How did the US media--serving a country that leads the world in virtually every aspect of science--reach this point?"