1000 Black Lines

1000 Black Lines as moved...

2009-08-28T17:02:00.001-04:00

... to Coffeehouse Junkie Blog beginning September 1, 2009.

"a chance to start over"

2008-01-24T23:49:00.004-05:00

Written by M. Mulder
Illustrated by James E. Lyle

"expendable"

2008-01-24T23:08:00.003-05:00

Written by M. Mulder
Illustrated by James E. Lyle

narrative non-fiction comic

2008-01-24T16:52:00.003-05:00

A couple years ago I began writing and illustrating a narrative non-fiction comic. I chronicled the process here: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

The comic series, Strange Familiar Place, was published in a few issues of The Indie. Several things prevented me from returning to the drawing table. So I asked a local comic book artist to help out. I'll post two sample comic strips later tonight.

"what it is that burns," part two

2008-01-24T16:10:00.003-05:00

After cutting a quesadilla in eight pie-shaped portions, he sits down at the kitchen table and places a few spoons of her homemade salsa into a bowl.

"How was work?" she asks.

"Still don't have a manuscript," he says placing the quesadilla slices on a plate beside the bowl of salsa. "It's been five months. I can't start production on the book and it's costing them seven to ten thousand dollars in potential book sales for every month the book is late to the market."

He pauses with a quesadilla slice in my hand. "That's thirty-five to fifty thousand that won't make it to the budget's revenue line."

She doesn't say anything and he matches her silence by consuming the quesadilla.

He knows his wife supports his passion to draw, paint and pursue other creative interests. Before children, they often ventured to a downtown café called Coffee Underground. They talked as he drew people or scenes in the café. She would ask him who he was drawing and he would tell her with his sketchbook open and a Sharpie marker hovering above a blank page. Like the flurry of leaves before a summer thunderstorm releases its rain, his pen weaved in the air above the page before it composed the lines of a sketch. Every drawing or painting begins with a line. The first line is the most difficult to draw and often the most invisible.

He remembers that during those days they would spend afternoons at the city park where they would spread a blanket upon grass. His wife would read a mystery novel while he drew landscapes into one of the many black clothed sketchbooks he possessed. But those were different times, and his drawings and paintings never lead to a career.

In general, people appreciate a person who draws or composes images with graphite, ink and pigment, but do not have the fortitude to support high art--let alone commercial art. "All that university training to be a professional plus a dozen years of agency and in-house graphic design experience means I work for $7.50 an hour?" he said from time to time regarding the difficulty he has securing freelance graphic design work. "I could flip burgers for that rate."

In part, that is what lead to his drawing table assuming residency on the top floor of an old barn with a sagging roof--the de-appreciation of arts and culture. But also it was his child's birth and growth that banned the drawing table and art supplies to the yellow barn. The room where he illustrated a comic book and painted a series of four paintings for an art show became a bedroom for the baby, and the art supplies and table were relocated to the living room. When the child could walk the art studio was dismantled and relegated to an avocational afterthought.

"Maybe we should paint a bookshelf," he tells his wife as he finishes the quesadilla. For him, his creative ambitions seem like they are in a state of suspension--slow motion even. Maybe it’s a non-linear place of meditation or an intellectual and spiritual place of examination. Americans move at such a pace that the simple task of eating a quesadilla is rushed for the purpose of moving to the next task--the business mantra of "getting things done." Art is appreciated if it can be reduced to a poster--or smaller yet a postcard--while the art object is ignored. Wonder of conjuring lines from paper or pulling poetry from the atmosphere disappears in the vapid space of time and money. People remain hungry hollow creatures needing space to stretch their spirits. But here they reside between work and rest in an economy of wants. The need for contentment seems a strange creature.

Painting a bookshelf is a starting point--line upon line, brush stroke upon brush stroke that covers an entire surface. A surface that holds books, dreams, possibilities of stretching one’s mind and spirit.

He finds the last bottle of Yuengling Black & Tan in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator when he puts the cheese away. He helps his wife finish cleaning and drying the dishes.

"I think he'll like painting a bookshelf," she says.

"what it is that burns," part one

2008-01-24T02:10:00.003-05:00

"In the barn?" the child asks. "Daddy has a drawing table in the barn?" This discovery intrigues him. Inevitably the question "why" emerges from the child's five-year old mind. The child's mother shares this dialogue with him upon his return from a disappointing day at the office. She shares this conversation with him in the kitchen while she washes dishes and while the children sleep in their beds. He examines the refrigerator for signs of something he thought was there but is no longer.

"Are we out of Yuengling?" he asks with his hand on the handle of the closed refrigerator door.

"He really takes after you," the mother says.

"Who?"

"Your son."

"Right," he says turning his attention to the old stereo on the kitchen counter. The stereo was a gift when he was in high school--when compact disc players were a new feature for a home stereo system. The stereo rested on a bookshelf next to an old wooden drawing table. That too was a gift--a drawing table. His parents had high hopes for his creative interests and endeavors. He spent hours drawing images of old barns, flowers, Native American crafts, and Victorian houses while listening to music. Steel crow quill nibs nestled in balanced wooden Koh-I-Noor holders were his tool of choice. Dr. Martin’s Bombay India Ink performed the duty of translating his imaginations into lines that grew into drawings and paintings. This adolescent desire grew into a college career. However, on the university application he did not understand the difference between a fine arts major and commercial arts major. All he wanted to do was find a major where he could learn to draw and paint better. Little thought was given to a post-graduate vocation. According to the student information package, the amount of credits to graduate with a major in commercial arts required fewer hours to complete than a major in fine arts. So, he applied as a commercial arts student and was accepted. He packed his father’s college footlocker with his belongings and headed to South Carolina to study art.

He turns on the stereo’s radio. He missed tonight’s installment of World Café, and turns it off. His wife says something about how he should schedule time to paint something with his son this weekend.

"Are we out of Yuengling?" he asks again.

"I'm sorry. I don't even have your food ready," she says as she crosses the kitchen to retrieve items from the refrigerator. "You didn't call."

"Oh, yeah, sorry... forgot."

"I made quesadillas earlier. I thought you'd be back by seven," she says turning the front burner of the stove to "4" and placing a quesadilla in the middle of a frying pan. "Now it's eight."

"Sorry, it took longer than I thought to finish the proposal."

They don't say anything for a few moments. The sound of the kitchen fan and sizzle from cheese on the hot pan fills the silence between them.

"You want me to finish that?" he asks--though in reality it is a statement.

"That's fine," she says. "The salsa I made for lunch is in the fridge."

"Right," he says taking up a position in front of the stove. She returns to washing dishes.

"Your son and I spent some time reading through that art catalog while the baby was taking a nap. Maybe you should paint something with him this weekend."

"What art catalog?"

"It arrived in the mail today."

He hates and loves that his wife tells him that his oldest child is interested in the drawing table, and the art catalog. The thought of coming home from the office to find him sitting at the drawing table working on a new creation fills the father with joy and melancholy at the same moment. Deep within him the feel of a pencil or marker between finger and thumb as it conjures and image from tree pulp ignites a dormant flame. "Find what it is that burns in your heart and do it," Kent Nerburn writes in his book Simple Truth. But he has no time for drawing. His neglected sketch books have been replaced with a laptop and an executive desk diary in order to work, track time and money and other business matters. Instead of drawing and painting, he now hires people to do that which he longs to rekindle.

"Anything else?" he asks.

"Some bills."

Workaholic or passionate?

2008-01-23T13:10:00.003-05:00

From Seth Godin:

A workaholic lives on fear. It's fear that drives him to show up all the time. The best defense, apparently, is a good attendance record.... The passionate worker doesn't show up because she's afraid of getting in trouble, she shows up because it's a hobby that pays.

Link.

"the elegant lie"

2008-01-22T17:09:00.004-05:00

Sunday, I had the opportunity to sit in the WPVM studios during a broadcast of WordPlay. Katherine Min read from Secondhand World; a lyrical novel of sorts. Sebastian Matthews discussed the autobiographical elements of the novel. Katherine Min responded, "Fiction is the elegant lie that leads to the truth." And I wrote it down in my notebook along with other jewels I gathered from observing the recording of WPVM's WordPlay.

Letting go

2008-01-22T17:00:00.003-05:00

Two things happen when you let go of something; you feel the pain of its absence more acutely or you feel the freedom from the weight it once possessed in your life.

To build a lean-to

2008-01-22T15:40:00.003-05:00

I built a backyard lean-to that survived rain, wind, snow and freezing temperatures.
With the rising housing costs and manufactured mortgage crisis, it is very affordable housing. However, there's no heating, toilet or running water. But the clear night skies are amazing--and that's priceless.

Thanks for NOT READING

2008-01-22T11:09:00.003-05:00

Did I write that I was going to "shut down" 1000 Black Lines? I posted that one of my blog goals was to attain 1000 blog posts. Further, the countdown to the last post does not equate to shutting down. But thank you for making it appear like I am bleeding out of the blogosphere and providing voyeuristic entertainment for those who do not regularly read 1000 Black Lines but would like to witness the apoptosis of a blog. To shut down implies deleting--i.e. ceases to exist; i.e. terminate.

Did I write that I was deleting 1000 Black Lines? For crying out loud, read and comprehend before you post! Better yet, don't blog at all and go read a book with lengthy sentences and complex words. And I thought I had ADHD. Now that my blood pressure is experiencing a correction, I'd like to point out that the countdown was to share how many posts remain until the goal is attained.

What editors do

2008-01-20T11:20:00.003-05:00

From The New Yorker:

Editing takes a variety of forms. It includes the discovery of talent.... It can be a matter of financial and emotional support in difficult times.... an editor ordinarily tries to facilitate a writer’s vision, to recommend changes... that best serve the work.... editorial work is relatively subtle, but there are famous instances of heroic assistance: Ezra Pound cutting T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” in half when the poem was still called “He Do the Police in Different Voices”; Maxwell Perkins finding a structure in Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Homeward, Angel” and cutting it by sixty-five thousand words.

Link.

7 habits of a customer-oriented company

2008-01-20T11:12:00.003-05:00

From CRM Media:

Store Experience
Convenience
Range and Assortment
Quality
Customer Service
Multichannel
Product Availability

(via Community Guy) Link.

Paparazzi for hire

2008-01-19T22:45:00.003-05:00

From AdPulp:

people paying faux paparazzi up to $1500 to follow them around town with cameras

Link.

The secret lives and desires of poets & writers

2008-01-19T22:29:00.003-05:00

From The New Yorker:

Part of the reason there were no real biographies is that little was known about Gibran’s life, and the reason for that is that he didn’t want it known.

Link.

And from Slate:

...one of the most troubling dilemmas in contemporary literary culture.... the question of whether the last unpublished work of Vladimir Nabokov, which is now reposing unread in a Swiss bank vault, should be destroyed--as Nabokov explicitly requested before he died.

Link.

From 1000 Black Lines:

Jessica Smith, Burn it. Poetry burns well. And it is a fitting end for poetry, esp. anything from that angsty juvenile period...
1000 Black Lines, Thanks for the advice. I'll burn it along with all the friendship bracelets, florescent T-shirts.... Who needs to worry about the high cost of heating fuel when burning poetry is such an affordable alternative?

Link.

"a terrible idea to suppress"

2008-01-19T22:24:00.003-05:00

From TNR, an interview excerpt of Ian McEwan:

I think it is ineradicable, and I think it is a terrible idea to suppress it, too. We have tried that and it joins the list of political oppression. It seems to be fairly deeply stitched into human nature. It seems to be part of all cultures, so I don't expect it to vanish. And yet at the same time, if it is built into human nature, why are there so many people who don't believe in it?

Link.

Are you Starbucked?

2008-01-19T22:14:00.003-05:00

From Washington Monthly, regarding Taylor Clark's Starbucked:

In his closing section, Clark addresses the question of cultural homogenization--the idea that, by being everywhere, Starbucks is killing the individual character of far-flung communities.... "Starbucks diminishes the world's diversity every time it builds a new cafe," Clark writes. "The company, by its very nature, endangers cultural uniqueness, and this is why I am not a Starbucks customer."

This brings me back... to my own experience reading Starbucked in Starbucks.... here is what I saw in those two Starbucks locations: People buying coffee. People drinking coffee. People waiting for the restroom. People working on laptops. And, on one occasion, a barista giving a tourist directions to a nearby cafe.

Link.

Your community gathering spot

2008-01-19T21:58:00.003-05:00

From AdPulp:

The web is social. Coffee is social.

Link.

Sponsor this blog

2008-01-18T17:59:00.003-05:00

If I planned to continue this blog beyond the 1000-post limit, I might consider contacting these potential sponsors:

Cafe Du Monde

The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery

Gauyaki

Tazo

Primaries, blimps & football

2008-01-18T16:55:00.004-05:00

WARNING: this contains overt political content and may offend some readers; specifically those readers (mostly well-meaning friends who will probably not speak to me again after reading this post or if they are still speaking to me will inundate my inbox with Ron Paul propaganda) who think I should support Ron Paul for President. It wasn't long ago some well-meaning friends were saying the same thing about Howard Dean.

The NC Primaries aren't until May. Yey, can't wait to participate.

Next door, the SC primaries are in progress. Yes, it is the season for American politics at its best (or worst). An old Larry Norman song seems to capture the mood: "nothing really changes/everything remains the same..."

Remember this floating object? (via Expats4Dean) Link.
All that blimp and he still lost.

And now this floating obscenity. (via Bostonist) Link.
Need I predict another lost campaign?

You'd think a political campaign marketing group would be more creative than to use a blimp. A blimp is the kiss of death... unless it is floating over an American football stadium.

GQ had a good idea... use a ~~bimbo~~ ~~blonde~~ ~~babe~~ attractive intelligent youthful female to promote patriotism... or support for the troops... or something to do with red, white and blue nationalism.

But the cliche red, white and blue is so passe. Presidential candidates need to be bold: how about green and gold?

I think I'll write in Brett Favre for President.

Writing tips from published authors

2008-01-18T14:45:00.003-05:00

Kurt Vonnegut's eight rules for writing fiction Link.

Stephen King's seven tips for becoming a better writer Link.

Under the covers

2008-01-18T10:46:00.003-05:00

For those who take book covers for granted.
(via Ministry of Type) Link.

Books that "Take Your Breath Away"

2008-01-18T10:15:00.003-05:00

It is all about packaging, whether one likes it or not. The British design/publishing company knew that when they released their catalog of books produced in cigarette packaging.

When browsing bookstore shelves the standard trade paperback size becomes overwhelmingly boring. Packaging matters. Cover design matters. Page layout matters.

Anyone who has ever been in a bookstore knows that you’re not browsing books; you’re browsing covers. To have a chance in a sea of covers, you’ve got to have a compelling visual that grabs people.

(via Andre Brocatus) Link.

If a designer can make a book's packaging and cover attract a reader, the page layout and text should create a literary (and art) experience with an archaic technological device--a book.

“Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.”

2008-01-18T10:05:00.003-05:00

From 43 Folders:

[Chuck] Close talks about evolving his method of working to overcome his own personality.

"I’m a nervous wreck. I’m a slob. I have no patience. And I’m rather lazy. All those things would seem to guarantee that I would not make work like I make. But I didn’t want to just go with my nature."

So instead of painting overwrought, expressive things when the mood struck, he committed to making his epic, close-up portraits by breaking the work into tiny pieces and hewing to a grid. Not only did the grid make technical sense, it forced a lifehack on Close that would help him deal with his own tendencies. It helped get the work done...

Link.

How to sing in French

2008-01-18T08:57:00.003-05:00

Remember grammar class?

2008-01-17T14:52:00.003-05:00

Of course you don't. Based on the blogosphere, it must not be taught in schools anymore.

If you are one who remembers grammar class, this is great: Diagramming the Preamble to the US Constitution. (via Boing Boing)

If not, visit Grammar Girl: Link.

When the coffee runs out (or, where did all the books go?)

2008-01-17T14:40:00.003-05:00

There's a difference between greatest or best and most beneficial books. But if no one is going to visit the library to discover them, will they truly be great, best or beneficial? Some people must be reading those odd artifacts called books. Otherwise a self-published novelist with a great book deal would have remained in the shadows of the literary landscape.

Oh, bother... maybe I need to switch from coffee to chai.

Writers at Home Series reading this weekend

2008-01-17T10:46:00.003-05:00

From Elaine Fox (fox@unca.edu):

UNC Asheville's Writers at Home Series Continues January 20

UNC Asheville's Writers at Home Series continues with readings by local authors Roy Andrews and Gary Lilley at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at Malaprop's Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St. Writers at Home is part of the Great Smokies Writing Program, a consortium of Western North Carolina writers and UNC Asheville. The event is free and open to the public.

Roy Andrews, a native of New Hampshire, has published short stories in "New Orleans Review," "The Adirondack Review" and "New Hampshire College Review." He has also read one of his short stories on New Hampshire Public Radio. Previously, Andrews directed a university writing center and taught writing about modern art.

Gary Lilley has published four books of poetry, including "The Subsequent Blues," "The Reprehensibles," "Black Poem (The Hollyridge Press Chapbook Series)" and "Alpha Zulu." He received the D.C. Commission on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry in 1996 and has been a poet-in-residence at WritersCorps, Young Chicago Authors and The Poetry Center of Chicago. Lilley teaches undergraduate writing at Warren Wilson College.

For more information, call Tommy Hays, Great Smokies Writing Program Director, at 828/254-1389

Link. . . . .

Coffee, gotstahavit

2008-01-16T21:02:00.007-05:00

From Unclutterer:

Coffee beans you aren’t going to grind and brew within two weeks can be kept in the freezer, but they should not be stored in the refrigerator. Moisture isn’t good for coffee, well, unless you’re actually in the process of brewing. Don’t believe me? Here are a few insights from people much more informed than I...

Link.

And loosely related, from The Point:

...it's not surprising that studies have shown caffeine is an effective aid.... For caffeine to be most effective, however, regular users need to minimize their caffeine use so that when they need it, caffeine will give them a boost.

Link.

How to write a marketing poem

2008-01-16T09:19:00.003-05:00

Step One:
Read anything and everything Seth Godin writes.

From Seth Godin:

used bookstores hate Amazon
And so do independent bookstores

Link.

Who vs. how many.

Link.

More marketing links than you can read...

Link.

Step Two:
Write a 31-syllable waka.

Step Three:
Publish the waka on your own blog, because no prestigious literary journal would waste the time to print it.

Used bookstore owners
hate Amazon. But why? The
staff and owners of
used bookstores know the hands and
faces of bibliophiles.

Recently listened tracks

2008-01-15T16:03:00.004-05:00

The countdown to 1000 posts is winding down.

After this post, there will be 29 more posts until the end.

An afternoon diversion

2008-01-15T15:22:00.003-05:00

Are you part of the Facebook-hating mob?

2008-01-15T15:21:00.002-05:00

Read this from AdPulp:

Hugh Macleod is not part of the Facebook-hating mob... but he does like this critical Guardian piece on the politics behind the company.

Investigative journalist, Tom Hodgkinson, says he hates Facebook in his lead. He then delves into a deep background check on the money men behind the soc net.

Link.

An interesting report regarding Facebook. But the journalism is questionable. When a journalist expresses bias before "objectively" reporting the story two things occur. One, the integrity of the investigation is compromised due to the predetermined objective of the journalist. Two, by framing the story as an anti-Facebook article, the journalist sets the reader up for biased propaganda that is supposed to convince the reader to hate Facebook. And that is not journalism. It is a well researched essay at best or simply an op-ed piece.

"Starbucks' enemy is Starbucks"

2008-01-15T15:16:00.002-05:00

From Tom Peters:

... your problem... lies near at hand. Don't necessarily change your strategy--why waste your energy... Worry instead about Execution and Operational Excellence.... Worry about policy manuals laden with blubber and ... too many meetings attended by too many people viewing too many PowerPoint presentations.... and... about offices for executives that are bigger than they were 10 years ago--and employee turnover that has grown in tandem with executive office-size creep.

Link.

And I might add: worry about consultants that increase the employee turnover and worry about cheapening the product for immediate gains instead of investing in a sustainable product with long-term, consistent gains and worry about "dedicated" employees that work around the clock only because they fear their job maybe subcontracted to an off-shore company that the consultant works with.

How does this apply to poets and writers? Only Hemingway can beat Hemingway. Only Kerouac can beat Kerouac. Only Pound can beat Pound. Only you can best yourself. No one else can do that job for you. You may have a great community of poets and writers that support you, but you still have to do the work.

A man's home is a . . . Victorian RV?

2008-01-15T13:33:00.002-05:00

Link.

When I was in high school, my dream was to trick out a VW van. But this guy is amazing. Check out what he did to a bus.

Monday night diversion

2008-01-14T22:23:00.003-05:00

What do graphic designers do?

2008-01-13T23:54:00.002-05:00

For those graphic designers who have family or friends that continually ask you, "What do graphic designers do?" Show them this video and watch their pie hole hit the floor.

And yes, it's late and I'm madly trying to write ad copy and design an ad for Monday morning and I hit a creative wall and this video seemed to be a nice diversion.

Go Packers!

2008-01-13T13:42:00.003-05:00

Now that is what I call a great American football game!

you've got to be kiddin'

2008-01-12T21:25:00.002-05:00

Gapingvoid:

the business world tends to kill creativity

Link.

The naming of books

2008-01-12T20:34:00.002-05:00

From Seth Godin:

I was talking to someone yesterday about naming books, and I realized that there are three useful schools of thought here.

Link.

Break my heart into pieces, please

2008-01-12T19:28:00.002-05:00

From The American Scholar:

Novelists and poets, those interpreters of our troubled experience of the world, are often drawn to philosophical systems, theories of history, mythologies. Long works, in particular, require considerable formal organization, and so Dante relies on Aquinas and Catholic theology to structure his vision of the afterlife, just as Victor Hugo and Tolstoy embed powerful discourses about history in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and War and Peace. Similarly, Yeats’s late poetry turns on the detailed cosmology he elaborates in A Vision while Robert Graves’s best love poems celebrate the somber mythos of The White Goddess: “There is one story and one story only.” Sometimes the writers truly believe in these various systems, sometimes the systems merely serve as useful architectural blueprints to produce original and coherent works of art. Of course, what matters most is that the resulting novel or poem, through its use of such theoretical struts and joists, can somehow do an even better job than usual of, say, breaking our hearts.

Link.

So much for the foreign exchange student program

2008-01-12T19:17:00.002-05:00

From Foreign Policy:

Millions of children are being raised on prejudice and disinformation. Educated in schools that teach a skewed ideology, they are exposed to a dogma that runs counter to core beliefs shared by many other Western countries. They study from textbooks filled with a doctrine of dissent, which they learn to recite as they prepare to attend many of the better universities in the world. Extracting these children from the jaws of bias could mean the difference between world prosperity and menacing global rifts. And doing so will not be easy. But not because these children are found in the madrasas of Pakistan or the state-controlled schools of Saudi Arabia. They are not. Rather, they live in two of the world’s great democracies—France and Germany.

Link.

Writing screenplays

2008-01-12T19:10:00.003-05:00

Link.

Modern art is interesting

2008-01-12T19:08:00.003-05:00

Link.

"Google yourself"

2008-01-12T18:36:00.002-05:00

Advice for the new year, from Seth Godin:

The first thing to do this year
Google yourself.

Link.

Who needs a therapist when there is Google.

Anyone out there planning to attend the Warren Wilson College's MFA readings tonight?

2008-01-11T15:51:00.002-05:00

Here's the remaining, free MFA events:

Events last approximately one hour. Admission is free. For more information, call the MFA Office: (828) 771-3715.

READINGS
Readings will begin at 8:15pm in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel unless indicated otherwise.

by MFA graduating students
Friday, January 11 : Graduating student readings: Sara Bauer, Kande Culver, J.J. Penna, Tom McHenry, Mark Prudowsky
Saturday, January 12 – 4:30pm, followed by Graduation Ceremony
Graduating student readings: Allison Paige, Justin Bigos, Sunil Rao, Scott Challener

Faculty Lectures
All lectures will be held in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel.
Saturday, January 12 – 9:30am: HEATHER McHUGH: Matters of Letters
Saturday, January 12 – 10:45am: C.J. HRIBAL: Vision and (Re)vision

I plan to attend tonight's reading and tomorrow's lectures. See ya'll there.

Friday blues men

2008-01-11T15:01:00.002-05:00

Don't marry your mistress

2008-01-11T15:00:00.002-05:00

From Gapingvoid:

Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.
It sounds great, but there is a downside.

The late billionaire, James Goldsmith once quipped, "When a man marries his mistress, he immediately creates a vacancy."

What's true in philanderers, is also true in life.

Link.

Sounds advice for practicing poets and writers and artists and gardeners, but not sound advice for managers, art directors, publishers, marketeers, and business owners.

"Music is social"

2008-01-11T14:55:00.003-05:00

From Seth Godin:

Few businesses can successfully sell subscriptions (magazines being the very best example), but when you can, the whole world changes. HBO, for example, is able to spend its money making shows for its viewers rather than working to find viewers for every show.

Link.

I'm confused...

2008-01-11T13:36:00.003-05:00

I don't have a television. So in order to catch up on the political debates last night I scan various web sites. Esplain dis; is Hucka-who on the wrong platform? Hucka-what sounds like a Southern Democrat. So now I have to chose between Clinton, Obama and Hucka-nut (and that's because Richardson dropped out to wait in the wings for a VP position) in the May 6 primaries. I suppose there's always an option to write in Bono for President, or better yet, Christ for President (via Woody Guthrie as sung by Billy Bragg & Wilco). AW-right... no more politics on dis blog... I'm Coffeehouse Junkie and I supplant this message.

TGIF, photoshop for dummies

2008-01-11T01:06:00.003-05:00

Creativity in action

2008-01-10T16:05:00.003-05:00

From Gapingvoid:

'Tis more blessed to make than to consume etc.

Link.

An absolute bloody nightmare

2008-01-10T15:45:00.002-05:00

From AdPulp:

If you work in the creative department of an advertising agency in 2008 you will be hard pushed to find either a member of your team who can remember the old process or somebody who can handle a pencil and can draw - but I bet everyone is pretty savvy with a Mac, Photoshop, Quark and InDesign. Suddenly everyone with a computer, a mouse and a piece of software could do “creative” stuff, which is morally superb - but has proven to be, functionally and qualitatively speaking, an absolute bloody...

Link.

My thoughts exactly. If you can not draw with pen and ink don't call yourself a graphic designer. Relying on technology too heavily weakens the essence of visual communications.

Maybe that is why Moleskine Sketchbooks are becoming widely embraced... the need for analog art and letters.

This is me talking about you talking about you

2008-01-10T15:32:00.002-05:00

From Seth Godin:

The truism of the web: people talking about you is far more effective than talking about yourself.

Link.

Open your mind and let your brains fall out.

2008-01-09T16:45:00.002-05:00

Welcome to a post-literate world.

So, maybe reading is an archaic form of communication.

Graphic novels and reader literacy

2008-01-09T16:42:00.002-05:00

Will increased interest and consumption of graphic novels increasing reading among America's youths? From The Kansas City Star:

The school’s Graphic Novels Club more than doubled its members in less than four years.

Link.

I remember when comic books were considered adolescent porn. For all I know they may still be perceived that way. I wonder if the increased interest in graphic novels includes the old Illustrated Classics?

When I was in grade school, my father occasionally bought copies of of the Illustrated Classics. My favorite books were Sherlock Holmes and the case of the hound Of the Baskervilles, Ivanhoe, and The Last of the Mohicans. During high school I started reading an collecting comic books, but not graphic novels. As I recall, graphic novels began appearing with more regularity in the 1990s as a way of propping up poor comic book sales. The first graphic novels I read were collected comic book serials like Frank Miller's Ronin and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes. Reading comic books did not deter me from reading novels, poetry or literature in general. So, again, I wonder if graphic novels will increase reading among America's youth.

Wanna be a groupie?

2008-01-09T13:13:00.002-05:00

This fits/agrees with the post about audio quality of MP3 files.

From Seth Godin:

The thing is, when you dumb stuff down, you know what you get?

Dumb customers.

And (I'm generalizing here) dumb customers don't spend as much, don't talk as much, don't blog as much, don't vote as much and don't evangelize as much. In other words, they're the worst ones to end up with.

Link.

You want quality customers/fans/groupies, give them quality schtuff. For example, the books I design are carefully crafted. A book is a book is a book, you may say. But in this info age, a book needs to be packaged as a souvenir in much the same way an album is packaged as a CD. Why is this important? Regarding the books I design, they are lifestyle objects. When people buy a copy of one of the books I design I want them to emotionally and intellectually connect with the book as one might connect with a new friend. My desire is that these book buyers invite/introduce other people to the experience. This translates to quality customers/fans/groupies.

How do you write?

2008-01-09T13:03:00.002-05:00

Instead of the romanticized "how do you write?" maybe the question should be what do you write? Or, maybe, how well do you write?

I suspect, that a publisher doesn't give a flying flip how one writes as long as it is well written and it moves (i.e. sells) magazines, books, or what ever tool is used provide literary content of merit.

Chicago Manual of Styles & coffee

2008-01-09T09:54:00.002-05:00

I would rather be here:

Faculty Lecture: Wednesday, January 9 – 9:15am: DEBRA ALLBERY: ‘When Light Went Forth Looking for the Eye’: A Meditation on the Contemporary Ekphrastic Poem

But no. I have to be a responsible adult, making corrections to a manuscript that is due to the printer next week, searching the The Chicago Manual of Style for the correct way to display endnotes, and slurping coffee like a... like a... ah, what's a good simile I could use here?

Hi-fi, lo-fi, and the death of good vibes

2008-01-08T20:45:00.002-05:00

I've been dubious for years at the proliferation of iPod/MP3 music. I find this article, "The Death of High Fidelity," delicious. Maybe it's the former radio guy or just plain audiophile geek in me that screams, "Rawk on!."

It's not just new music that's too loud. Many remastered recordings suffer the same problem as engineers apply compression to bring them into line with modern tastes.... MP3 and other digital-music formats are quickly replacing CDs as the most popular way to listen to music. That means more convenience but worse sound.... MP3s don't reproduce reverb well, and the lack of high-end detail makes them sound brittle. Without enough low end... "you don't get the punch anymore. It decreases the punch of the kick drum and how the speaker gets pushed when the guitarist plays a power chord."

Link.

And further (this is great):

Still, "it's like going to the Louvre and instead of the Mona Lisa there's a 10-megapixel image of it... I wouldn't look at a Kandinsky painting with sunglasses on."

Now, I am not advocating abandoning iPods and other MP3 players.

It is just the fact that art, literature and music have been so diminished in the last couple decades that most people in our culture couldn't tell quality art, literature or music if it was served them on a silver platter with a cue card reading "applause."

For my generation, Gen-X, the touchstone song is Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Robert Levine, writer of the article, illustrates -- with graphics -- the difference in audio architecture of Nirvana's anthem and Arctic Monkey's hit "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor."

Suddenly I feel old.

The constant tug of blog promotion

2008-01-08T15:15:00.003-05:00

I couldn't agree more. From 43 Folders:

My problem, and I suspect this will resonate with many of you, is that I felt like I needed to do many of these things to keep up with the techno-jonses. “All the cool kids have a blog, and I want to be a cool online guy, so I should too. I don’t know anyone on Twitter personally, but everyone says it’s fun, so I should try it too. Hey, what’s your IM handle? Did you see that link I put up on del.icio.us?” As a self-styled writer, I also felt this constant tug to promote myself, to put my work out there for everyone to see, to network and make connections and hope I could stumble into a break (nevermind that my best opportunities have always come from good old fashioned resume passing and phone calls).

Link.

For those of you wondering why you read numbers in the "label" underneath each post, it is the countdown to the last post you'll ever read on 1000 Black Lines.

Drawing every day

2008-01-08T14:32:00.003-05:00

Originally uploaded by W.L.M.II

I used to draw like this -- almost daily. Some of you who know me remember I was seldom found without a sketch book and Sharpie marker. Dozens of sketchbooks are filled with sketches of people, places and objects of life.

Over the past couple of years I stopped. It was slow. First, I disassembled the art table that occupied a place in the living room -- I never had a "drawing room." Then I began leaving the house without a sketchbook or marker in my hand. Then I buried the sketchbooks in one of the cabinets in the house. Currently, they are in a box somewhere in storage.

Now, I look at other people's sketches and pine...

"seven reasons for running paid advertising on blogs"

2008-01-08T14:25:00.003-05:00

AdPulp offers 7 reasons to feature paid ads on blogs. Link.

Question: how many of you bloggers and blog readers actually buy something based on an ad you read on someone's blog?

"another conversation in our occasional series on poets..."

2008-01-08T14:21:00.002-05:00

John Ashbery on PBS. Link.

Lost in translation

2008-01-08T14:17:00.004-05:00

From The Times:

The Prince of Wales has watercolours, it's true, but it's hard to imagine him getting to grips with the waka, with its 31 syllables, strictly arranged into five lines in the 5-7-5-7-7 structure. Akihito and Empress Michiko knock out four waka apiece for New Year's Eve as well, reflecting on the year just gone by, and this year's offerings were helpfully put out in English by the Imperial Household Agency last week. Translating poetry is notoriously difficult and the waka usually come out sounding as poetic as the instruction manual for a vacuum cleaner. Link.

Maybe if I translate my grocery list into Japanese it will sound poetic.

Dull-prose hell

2008-01-07T16:59:00.002-05:00

So, it looks like I'll miss tonights Warren Wilson College MFA faculty reading... child care canceled at the last minute. But after reading the following article, maybe MFA's are horribly overrated. From the Toronto Star:

...when it comes to teaching creative writing, good intentions are nothing but paving material for the route to dull-prose hell. Link.

This week's Warren Willson College MFA lectures and readings

2008-01-07T09:28:00.003-05:00

From Warren Wilson College's website:

Events last approximately one hour. Admission is free. For more information, call the MFA Office: (828) 771-3715.

READINGS
Readings will begin at 8:15pm in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel unless indicated otherwise.

by MFA faculty and graduating students
Monday, January 7 : Wilton Barnhardt, Jennifer Grotz, Maud Casey, Maurice Manning
Wednesday, January 9 : Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Megan Staffel, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Peter Turchi
Thursday, January 10 : Graduating student readings: Amy Cloud, Kira Obolensky, Henry Kearney, Matthew Simmons, Maeve Kinkead
Friday, January 11 : Graduating student readings: Sara Bauer, Kande Culver, J.J. Penna, Tom McHenry, Mark Prudowsky
Saturday, January 12 – 4:30pm, followed by Graduation Ceremony
Graduating student readings: Allison Paige, Justin Bigos, Sunil Rao, Scott Challener

Faculty Lectures
All lectures will be held in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel.
Wednesday, January 9 – 9:15am: DEBRA ALLBERY: ‘When Light Went Forth Looking for the Eye’: A Meditation on the Contemporary Ekphrastic Poem
Thursday, January 10 – 9:15am: JENNIFER GROTZ : The Pathetic Fallacy
Friday, January 11 – 9:15am: DEBRA SPARK: New Wave Fabulism
Saturday, January 12 – 9:30am: HEATHER McHUGH: Matters of Letters
Saturday, January 12 – 10:45am: C.J. HRIBAL: Vision and (Re)vision

I missed the Saturday and Sunday readings. Did anyone reading this attend? Did Steve Orlen read his Dolly Parton poem?

Warren Wilson College reading -- review

2008-01-05T13:47:00.002-05:00

Brief review of last night's Warren Wilson College MFA faculty reading.

Marianne Boruch read first and from her new book that she didn't know had been published and available at the book store. Always a delight to hear her read. Poems read include: "Still Life," "New Paper," "A Musical Idea," and others.

Charles D’Ambrosio read a lengthy, intriguing piece that I assume is the opening to a novel. When he finished, I wanted to shout, "What happens next?"

Van Jordan read about a half dozen poems both old and new (from his recent book). His personae poems and eulogies were delightful and haunting.

Michael Martone read one of his "contributor notes" from his book Michael Martone: fiction. You would have had to been there to understand the unique humor of his story. As one amazon.com reviewer put it, "Mind-bending multiple views of Martone's real and/or imagined lives, written in 2-3 page faux contributor's notes." His piece was hilarious and a great way to end a rich reading.

Keep moving

2008-01-05T13:14:00.002-05:00

From tompeters.com:

General U.S. Grant was the master of this. "Keep moving, somewhere, anywhere, but keep moving" was his de facto-de jure "strategy." As long as he was on the move the other general was in a constant reactionary mode of operations....
Link.

Business strategy for nomads? No. It is strategic planning -- SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bounded. Further:

Air Force Colonel John Boyd re-wrote the modern military strategy book with an idea called "O.O.D.A. Loops." O.O.D.A. stands for: Observe. Orient. Decide. Act. Whoever has the shortest OODA cycle tends to win—mostly by confusing the enemy, who is forced into a permanently reactionary mode of action.
Link.

My take away: more coffee, less sleep?

Pillaging the New York Times

2008-01-05T13:05:00.002-05:00

What Poetry Hut learns from pillaging the NYT and Time Magazine archives for poetry related articles:

a. the public has never supported poetry
b. poets have never made any $ from poetry
c. women poets have always been marginalized but at least some aren't called "spinsters" anymore
d. poetry has never sold
Link.

This reminds me of my 7 things you should know about being a poet post.

Poetic tradition

2008-01-05T13:03:00.002-05:00

From The Nation:

Creeley was at the exact center of a poetic tradition that stretched from the twelfth century to the present Link.

Maurice Manning's poetry lecture summary and thoughts

2008-01-05T11:15:00.002-05:00

As promised, some highlights from yesterday's Maurice Manning poetry lecture.

The lecture centered on "Some Thoughts on Sympathy." Maurice began by defining sympathy. First, it is not the "I feel your pain" emotion that is manipulative, fake and inaccessible -- a show of feeling rather than creation of feeling (i.e. the desire that you feel me feeling your pain). Sympathy defined as honest feeling, common understanding -- as in "two beasts bound together" like oxen -- of suffering.

Maurice cited the Romantic period as the historical place where sympathy in literature is born -- where the outward reaching heart surveys the humanity of the world and returns to the mind where it is changed, sympathetic, and reaches outward again. "Isn't that what we seek in poetry, to be changed?" Maurice asked. From there he presented the two-step machinery of Romanticism -- heart and mind cycle -- using the physics examples of sympathetic motion in plucked strings and pendulum motion.

This is the part of the lecture where I was deeply engaged. He went deep into physics and linguistics to make the point that sympathy occurs naturally -- it is part of our nature. It is the transfer of energy from one property to another, one person to another, from the page to the spirit. This is the kind of lecture that challenges me, resonates with me, makes me want to go deep. I'm starved for it.

Maurice used Robert Burns's poem "To a Mouse" and Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight" as examples of sympathy in poetry. After an in depth analysis of the linguistic patterns of "To a Mouse," he concluded his lecture by stating that the poets he referenced found the self in these poems. "We're always yoked to something..." he said. "The mysterious force of the poem stays with us even after we have closed the book."

The applause was loud and seemed not to affect him as he paper clipped his lecture notes. As the applause subsided he quietly stated, "I guess it's lunch now."

Warren Wilson College reading -- free to the public

2008-01-04T18:33:00.002-05:00

The Maurice Manning lecture this morning was excellent. I still plan to share details later. Presently, I getting ready to attend the Warren Wilson College MFA faculty reading tonight. Here's who is reading tonight:

Marianne Boruch, Charles D’Ambrosio, Van Jordan, Michael Martone

The event is free to the public and begins at 8:15pm in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel.

Maurice Manning's poetry lecture...

2008-01-04T13:12:00.002-05:00

...was ARGH-sum!

I arrived at Warren Wilson College's Fellowship Hall a few minutes early and waited for the earlier session to conclude. First one out the door was none other than Steve Orlen. I wonder if he read my prediction? More interesting, how did he make it from the front row of a packed hall to be the first one out into the bright, cold morning? He looked at me fidgeting with my gloves. As he fished a cigarette out of its package he told me I should put the gloves away and get in there so I won't miss the lecture. I smiled, said thanks and headed into the bustling hall.

I'll provide highlights from Maurice Manning's poetry lecture later. Gotta get my mind back into work mode. Just discovered that after two rounds of proofreading the word "foreword" was misspelled on a manuscript that is en route to the printer. ARGH. So much for quality control. Then again, I've been looking at this manuscript for months and it wouldn't surprise me if the author's name is misprinted.

Did any of ya'll out there make it to Maurice's lecture?

Warren Wilson College poetry lecture -- free to the public

2008-01-04T09:53:00.002-05:00

Anyone planning to attend the MAURICE MANNING lecture this morning? Here's the lecture description from Warren Wilson College:

In 1771, Henry Mackenzie, a Scotsman, published a short satiric novel called The Man of Feeling. Literary historians tell us this novel—driven by the political philosophies of fellow Scots like Adam Smith and David Hume—helped to establish sympathy as a social virtue. Sympathy means “to suffer together”; more simply, I think it can also mean “to share feeling,” certainly one of the things we create as poets and seek as readers. In this lecture, I’d like to parse out an agreeable understanding of sympathy, briefly trace its history as a kind of ethical aesthetic in poetry, and discuss its continuing significance. I’d also like to demonstrate how English language syntax necessarily places phrases and clauses in sympathetic relation to each other. Finally, I think the poetic line itself is a sympathetic locale; such a proposition will turn the discussion to poetic devices such as tone, diction, alliteration, meter, and our old friend, metaphor. In a handout I’ll provide an example of a very bad poem, a poem from Robert Burns, one from Coleridge, and a couple of contemporary gems.

The lecture will be held in the Fellowship Hall, behind the Chapel, at 11:15 this morning. Hope to see you there.

Poetry blogosphere rawk star

2008-01-03T11:03:00.004-05:00

Holy Shoot! About.com's poetry blog listed and linked to my list of 7 things you should know about being a poet.

Crazy, right? Does this make me a poetry blogosphere rawk star? No. It means I spend way too much time blogging when I should be working... er... writing... like poetry or something.

Okay, so, About.com visitors, thanks for visiting. If you want to actually read schtuff that was published (poems, essays, etc.) follow this link. To read a weekly column I used to write go here.

Crazy is good, right?

2008-01-03T11:00:00.003-05:00

Link.

Photoshop... So pretty cold

2008-01-03T10:15:00.003-05:00

Photo composed on January 2, 2008 after a snowfall.

Using quick keys, Auto Level is applied to the composition.

Original image layer is copied and Color Burn is applied with a 50% opacity. The Color Burn layer is then copied and a faux lomo effect is created using Layer Mask -- 50% opacity.

For a different composition -- something with a bit more contrast -- The Color Burn layer is copied, desaturated, and changed to multiply at 100% opacity. The original Color Burn layer is changed to Overlay at 100% opacity. The faux lomo layer remains unchanged.

Advertising punches you in the face

2008-01-02T21:14:00.004-05:00

Link.

So pretty... and cold

2008-01-02T21:11:00.002-05:00

Tell me it's not snowing

2008-01-02T21:04:00.002-05:00

This week's Warren Willson College MFA lectures and readings

2008-01-01T15:32:00.002-05:00

From Warren Wilson College's website:

Events last approximately one hour. Admission is free. For more information, call the MFA Office: (828) 771-3715.

Readings will begin at 8:15pm in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel unless indicated otherwise.

Readings
by MFA faculty
Thursday, January 3 : Brooks Haxton, Anthony Doerr, Barbara Ras, Dominic Smith
Friday, January 4 : Marianne Boruch, Charles D’Ambrosio, Van Jordan, Michael Martone
Saturday, January 5 : C.J. Hribal, Debra Allbery, Debra Spark, Steve Orlen

Faculty Lectures
All lectures will be held in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel.
Friday, January 4 – 11:15am: MAURICE MANNING: In Kind: Some Thoughts on Sympathy

What better way to start the new year? I look forward to attending a couple of the readings and the Saturday lecture. My question (or maybe prediction), will Steve Orlen read his Dolly Parton poem again (for, like, the third year running)?

yeah, happy new year...

2008-01-01T13:44:00.002-05:00

...and all that jazz.

Speaking of Mark Strand...

2007-12-31T22:35:00.002-05:00

...I just came across this post in a google search.

One more song before you blow out the candle

2007-12-31T16:31:00.002-05:00

From NYT, regarding classical music:

One reason "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" stunned my generation... was that this Beatles album was not just a collection of songs but a whole composition.... That was a new experience in rock. "Sgt. Pepper" pointed the way to longer total-concept albums like Radiohead's "In Rainbows," the big news in pop music today. Link.

The conclusion of this piece is that appreciation of classical music is "the ability -- and patience -- to listen to something long. I wonder, in regards to contemporary poetry, if this contributes or not to the decline of poetry read in Americans -- i.e. lack of concentration to read "longer total-concept" poetry books.

The poetry books I've read recently seem to be collections of poems in the same manner that contemporary music album is a collection of songs. Of course, there are albums other than classical music that require you to listen to it from beginning to end. For example -- a seasonal example -- the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" holds together as a complete work. At least, that is how I listen to the album. Progressive rock is known for "concept albums" as in Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" or Dream Theater's "Images and Words."

But are there poetry books that hold together the way "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" does? A few poetry books I have read from cover to cover include Lavonne J. Adams's In the Shadow of the Mountain or Mark Strand's Dark Harbor: A Poem or Ted Koosher's The Blizzard Voices. Jorie Graham's collections do not work like a "longer total-concept" book. At least, not in my edumicated opinion. I tend to read her books like one works a car stereo radio dial in a strange city. I'll scan through a few poems and land on something that reads well and then scan forward a few more pages. Maybe a Graham collection would work best as a 5-song EP.

Given the propensity for Americans to latch onto iPod singles rather than a full-length project like Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle-Earth, would a better way of introducing American readers to poetry be in the form of EP-sized chapbooks? Jessica Smith offers such a format with her bird-book. Or maybe it is better to introduce readers to Les Murray's Fredy Neptune : A Novel in Verse.

Of course, my credentials as a poetry critic just went down the toilet as I used progressive rock and metal as a way to explain why Amoricans don't read lit.

Does size matter?

2007-12-30T20:24:00.002-05:00

From Washington Post regarding former poet laureate, Robert Pinsky's recent (and slim -- 83 pages) book:

Pinsky... appears as an honest guildsman, his apron smudged by his labors, his work table piled up with the objects of his making. Link.

What's in your book bag?

2007-12-28T15:41:00.002-05:00

I already offered what's hot on my iTunes/Last.fm playlists, but "What’s in the bookbag?" is a good question. Here rests a conundrum, what's in my book bag does not reflect a "top ten" favorites list. I read business books, poetry books, non-fiction books, novels and occasionally a graphic novel for a host of reasons (A list of favorite books I read this year will have to be considered for a later post.). Also, I am developing a few manuscripts for publication. So, I read those as well, but will not include them as "in the book bag." With that disclaimer, here's ten books that recently resided in the book bag:

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity -- reading
Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work -- reading
The Blizzard Voices -- reading
Daybook: The Journal of an Artist -- reading
This Place You Return To Is Home -- reading
A Mystic Garden: Working with Soil, Attending to Soul -- read
The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich -- read
The Words -- read
Life and Holiness -- read
Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story -- read

So, what's in your book bag?

There are writers and there are writers

2007-12-28T13:36:00.002-05:00

From NYT, P.J. O'Rourke. Link.

Clark talks a lot about the determination, drive and persistence of the Starbucks Corporation. But if those were the sole qualities of success, toddlers would rule the world.

(via Seth Godin) Link.

Writing is not simply typing words into a machine and broadcasting them to the world. Words (grammar) are the foundation of a logical (dialectic) argument (rhetoric). It seems a lot of contemporary writers skip the middle step and crumple grammar into a mess of rhetoric. Then there are readers that don't know the difference and great writers and thinkers are relegated to the corners of the cultural landscape.

“reducing the number of books I own”

2007-12-28T13:06:00.002-05:00

From 43 Folders:

The solutions people offer are thoughtful and suggest that many of the better ideas are coming from fellow bibliophiles who’ve struggled with The Book Problem.

Link.

The Warren Wilson Public Lecture & Reading Schedule

2007-12-25T23:03:00.002-05:00

From Warren Wilson College's website, a condensed schedule of the MFA Program's public reading and lectures:

The public is welcome to attend the morning lectures and evening readings in fiction and poetry offered during the Master of Fine Arts Program for Writers’ winter residency. Events last approximately one hour. Admission is free. For more information, call the MFA Office: (828) 771-3715.

Readings will begin at 8:15pm in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel unless indicated otherwise.

READINGS
by MFA faculty and graduating students
Thursday, January 3 : Brooks Haxton, Anthony Doerr, Barbara Ras, Dominic Smith
Friday, January 4 : Marianne Boruch, Charles D’Ambrosio, Van Jordan, Michael Martone
Saturday, January 5 : C.J. Hribal, Debra Allbery, Debra Spark, Steve Orlen
Sunday, January 6 – in Gladfelter, Canon Lounge : David Haynes, Betty Adcock, Victor LaValle, Heather McHugh
Monday, January 7 : Wilton Barnhardt, Jennifer Grotz, Maud Casey, Maurice Manning
Wednesday, January 9 : Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Megan Staffel, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Peter Turchi
Thursday, January 10 : Graduating student readings: Amy Cloud, Kira Obolensky, Henry Kearney, Matthew Simmons, Maeve Kinkead
Friday, January 11 : Graduating student readings: Sara Bauer, Kande Culver, J.J. Penna, Tom McHenry, Mark Prudowsky
Saturday, January 12 – 4:30pm, followed by Graduation Ceremony
Graduating student readings: Allison Paige, Justin Bigos, Sunil Rao, Scott Challener

Faculty Lectures
All lectures will be held in the Fellowship Hall behind the Chapel.
Friday, January 4 – 11:15am: MAURICE MANNING: In Kind: Some Thoughts on Sympathy
Wednesday, January 9 – 9:15am: DEBRA ALLBERY: ‘When Light Went Forth Looking for the Eye’: A Meditation on the Contemporary Ekphrastic Poem
Thursday, January 10 – 9:15am: JENNIFER GROTZ : The Pathetic Fallacy
Friday, January 11 – 9:15am: DEBRA SPARK: New Wave Fabulism
Saturday, January 12 – 9:30am: HEATHER McHUGH: Matters of Letters
Saturday, January 12 – 10:45am: C.J. HRIBAL: Vision and (Re)vision

Top 10 songs of 2007

2007-12-24T16:21:00.002-05:00

Here's a link to NPR's listeners pick the year's best projects. I hesitate to say "CDs" because the CD is slowly becoming souvenir to be replaced by ephemeral MP3 files. And those MP3 files disappear into apps and iPods and Last.fm playlists.

Since I didn't purchase a souvenir CD this year, here's the top 10 songs tracked on my Last.fm account.

Barenaked Ladies -- Sound of Your Voice
Brett Dennen -- Ain't No Reason
The Hold Steady -- Hot Soft Light
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Gospel Song
Michael Franti & Spearhead -- Light Up Ya Lighter
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Shuffle Your Feet
The Guggenheim Gretta -- I Think I Love You
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Howl
Barenaked Ladies -- Home
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Restless Sinner

And from my iTunes playlist:

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Ain't No Easy Way
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Restless Sinner
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Gospel Song
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Shuffle Your Feet
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Howl
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Complicated Situation
Barenaked Ladies -- Home
Barenaked Ladies -- Sound of Your Voice
The Hold Steady -- Hot Soft Light
The Hold Steady -- Massive Nights

Here's my amazon.com wishlist if you feel especially generous.

The almost perfect weekly planner

2007-12-22T20:57:00.002-05:00

Andy Welfle requests a perfect weekly planner. His requirements are as follows:

Needs to be in the 5.5" x 8.5" range...
The week has to fit onto one page or one spread.
There cannot be markers on the day for hours. My day doesn't start at 8 and end at 5, so don't fence me in!
I would really like some extra space on each page or spread to make notes...
It has to have simple styling -- one simple color or design...
I need a bookmarker or tabs to indicate where I am in the book, so I can easily turn to the right page.
No spiral-binding. Yes, I know that makes it lay flat easier, but I'm left handed. That binding hurts. Plus, I like to feel like what I'm writing in is a book.

Well, I am glad to know I designed and published an almost perfect weekly planner. No book marker is available because it increased the cost of planner $1.50 per book!

7 things you should know about: being a poet

2007-12-22T20:12:00.002-05:00

Since lists and confessions seem to be on my mind; Aaron McCollough, a University English lecturer, offers his advice. Here's the first two, read the rest by following the link:

There's generally no such thing as royalties in poetry. You don't get a dime from the books you publish, even if someone actually buys a copy. If your heart is set on being a professional poet, either score a lecturing job or get used to Ramen.
The most common way for new poets to get their work published is by entering in poetry contests. They cost money and are usually only won by people already established in the poetry community. Good luck.

(via Deborah Ager) Link.

Deborah Ager offers her 7 things here.

Coffeehouse Junkie offers 7 Things:

Consider it a hobby if you live anywhere outside NYC.
It is a selfish drug that deepens your addiction the more it is practiced.
Open mic events are both the Poetry Den and Poets Anonymous.
Get a real job--preferably a job that requires brainless activity so you can focus your addiction with lucidity.
Get used to the rejection of literary journal editors, poetry contest judges, friends, family and countrymen.
No matter how well crafted your poetry becomes, it will be read far less than the graffiti adorning urinals in Waffle Houses across the country.
Expect to lose your house, spouse, dog, and dinner for the sake of poetry, and if you don't lose any of the previously mentioned count your blessings because you're probably losing sleep in exchange.

Peace out, my lit junkies.

IMAP Mail

2007-12-22T18:58:00.002-05:00

Hm, maybe I should switch to Apple Mail solely for a surge of productivity.

Confessions : 08

2007-12-22T18:01:00.003-05:00

01. I still have not purchased a Christmas Tree...
02. and I am not going out this weekend to purchase one.
03. So, there will be no Christmas tree this year.
04. Something about the holiday consumerism confuses me...
05. and depresses me...
06. and oddly I am grateful because book sales for the publishing imprint I helped launch is more than 20% better than projected.
07. I'm still sleeping in the living room.
08. I will not explain #7.
09. But I will explain #10.
10. My entire library and art supplies were moved to the garage.

Previous confessions: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

MAC ad for Christmas

2007-12-20T15:58:00.002-05:00

(HT Drawn) Link.

The lost art of writing with pen

2007-12-18T14:58:00.003-05:00

This afternoon I was working from The Drip and noticed several other WiFi and coffee addicts smashing away on keyboards and surfing the wild world web and... and I noticed several laptop users had notebooks (some basic notebooks... others moleskin notebooks) they were writing in or reading from.

The asymmetry of new and old technology is sublime. Despite the WiFi access, people at The Drip were actually writing--regardless of proper penmanship-- in analog. Not typing directly into cyberspace or IMing or emailing or blogging, but writing the ways the ancients did--placing stylus to parchment. This represents the hope that our culture still has a grasp on the necessity of reading and writing and the cognitive exercise to accomplish that task.

1,000 posting mile marker

2007-12-18T14:55:00.002-05:00

Someone else crosses the 1000 post mile marker.

Subcriptions Down? Here's some help.

2007-12-18T11:05:00.002-05:00

For magazine publishers who are moaning about the plummeting subscription numbers, a word of advice from AdPulp (via 5280) Link.

To sell ads, you've got to attract a worthwhile audience. To attract an audience, you've got to give them compelling content. All of which convinces me that good journalism can be good business.

You know what the key ingredient to this success story is?

...we've had to more than triple our staff and increase our editorial budget...

Well, duh. Magazine publishers--still asking questions?