some days i dream of steamer trunks & where they might take me… (via creativeinspiration)
some days i dream of steamer trunks
Author: coffeehousejunkie
today’s running soundtrack
Bang! You’re It! – Sophomore
Massive Nights – The Hold Steady
When We Were Young – Dolores O’Riordan
Light Up Ya Lighter – Michael Franti & Spearhead
Now I’m Gone – Juliana Hatfield
Right Hand On My Heart – The Whigs
99% – The Mooney Suzuki
Gilt Complex – Sons and Daughters
today the hill won…
maybe it was the temperature: 38°… or maybe it was the 5% grade… or the 170-foot ascent… or maybe it was the cookies & milk before i went to bed after the concert…
whatever it was… it took me 33.10 to finish 5k…
In defense of readers
Reading is a necessarily solitary experience—like dying, everyone reads alone—but over the centuries readers have learned how to cultivate that solitude, how to grow it in the least hospitable environments. An experienced reader can lose herself in a good text with anything short of a war going on (and, sometimes, even then)—the horticultural equivalent of growing orchids in a desert.
Despite the ubiquity of reading on the web, readers remain a neglected audience. Much of our talk about web design revolves around a sense of movement: users are thought to be finding, searching, skimming, looking. We measure how frequently they click but not how long they stay on the page. We concern ourselves with their travel and participation—how they move from page to page, who they talk to when they get there—but forget the needs of those whose purpose is to be still. Readers flourish when they have space—some distance from the hubbub of the crowds—and as web designers, there is yet much we can do to help them carve out that space.
the creative class
… the people of the creative class are fairly certain they are destined to be creative, but can never be certain about just how creative they are. So they must seek outward signs of their blessed inner superiority, must seek or contrive recognition for their creativity whenever possible. This is that class’s essential self-consciousness, and when it is acute, it becomes hipsterism.
“Creative writing and crippling self-consciousness,” Marginal Utility (via somethingchanged)
mutually assured humiliation
Young people may regret tomorrow what they make public today but I think we will all be protected by the doctrine of mutually assured humiliation (I won’t dig up your college-party picture if you don’t dig up mine).
Jeff Jarvis, “Openness and the Internet,” BusinessWeek (via somethingchanged)
malty: My post-it note confession
I miss reading
NOTE:
“i miss reading,” whatannaloves.tumblr.com, accessed November 4, 2009, https://whatannaloves.tumblr.com/post/220026161/i-miss-reading (page no longer available, web site deactivated)
Field notes
in my office, on my desk, is a copy of miles gone by. last night someone defaced the book cover. the book was intended to be a gift. really odd & disappointing on many levels.
screading
What is poetry?
how many pull quotes can you possible use to answer whether poetry is poetry, or prose?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge:
The definition of good prose is – proper words in their proper places; of good verse – the most proper words in their proper places. The words in prose ought to express their intended meaning, and no more… But in verse, you must do more; there the words [are] the media…
Housman:
Poetry is not the thing said but the way of saying it.
Frost:
poetry is what’s lost in translation.
Auden:
A poem must be a closed system.
(via)
When everyone is a book critic, no one i
this reminds me that i need to finish writing my book reviews for spr…
What I always say to creative writing students when I talk about book reviewing is that they’re entering a landscape vastly different from the one I entered, and I only entered a few years ago. Obviously, the Internet has rapidly and irrevocably changed the way books—and anything—are talked about. We now live in an age where some large segment of “professional” book criticism takes place in a medium somewhere between the customer comment and the fancy print book review. Literally, everyone’s a critic, if they want to be and can type. (via)
An argument for self-publishing your poetry manuscript
if you had $2000 to spend on publishing your poetry manuscript, why give that money to 76 publishers?
from the book of kells:
So in total, 76 presses had the opportunity to consider it over 5 years (plus 9 that ALMOST got to consider it…) Don’t do the math on how much it cost me in postage, paper, and contest fees (I’m estimating about $30 a shot) or you’ll end up with about $400 a year on submissions (I’d guess about $2000 total). This makes me a little ill as that’s a lot of money. Thankfully, it was over 5 years, so my family still ate well and was fully clothed while I tried my best to be published. (via)
this is a really good argument for self-publishing your own poetry manuscript… imho… i’m just saying, if i had $2000 to spend on my own book, i’d hire a professional editor, art director, & spend the rest on printing, ad/marketing & distribution.
Field notes
sometimes you just have to take a stand… pick up your junk & walk away…
Field notes
tonight: Natasha Tretheway and Katherine Soniat to read at Posana Cafe at 8 pm.
The Traveling Bonfires
a two-year absence from asheville, THE TRAVELING BONFIRES is back in asheville!
i’ll be reading some poems with other vagrant poets and musicians at firestorm cafe october 31. it’s free. it starts at 8:00 pm.
Civil debate
it is inspiring for me to see public intellectuals debate with reason, civility & wit… also noticed in this sneak peak that dr. marvin olasky (world magazine editor in chief) appears to officiate the debate…
thomasfitzpatrick: Preview of the first 13 minutes of the forthcoming documentary “Collision”. The film follows renowned author and anti-theist Christopher Hitchens and Pastor Douglas Wilson as they debate the topic: “Is Christianity Good For The World?”. (via)
confession: recently, i rode in a shuttle from a hotel to an airport with dr. olasky… but i was too shy to say anything…
(Source: http://player.vimeo.com/)
Field notes
tonight is poetry writing workshop at the flood gallery fine arts center… it’s raining… a prefect evening to soak in poetry & conversation…
Field notes
not sure if it was the two advil, reading zen poetry, drinking herbal tea or taking a hot bath… but the horrible pain of monday is gone…
Field notes
went for a walk into a lovely autumn afternoon & did not take a digital camera to record the fact of what i did…
Field notes
watching a teaching on wisdom from mars hill…
Field notes
to run along the river on a lovely fall morning seems such a simple desire, yet unattainable this morning.
i’m not sure if it’s seasonally allergies or maybe i finally succumbed to the virus the rest of the household has been dealing with all week, but i don’t have the energy to run a few miles on such a beautiful day.
Field notes
been thinking a lot about jack kerouac recently… his life… his work…
Field notes
the only remedy for the loneliness of this job is taking lunch at the fiddlin pig… soon as i walk in the door she has a booth ready for me and he’s got a tall glass of coke waiting at the table… makes me think maybe i should wait table instead of working from this dark cave of an audio bunker…
Coffeehouse Junkie 