July 17, 2016
“Whatever interrupts her work only makes her more broke.”
Helen DeWitt is the author of the cult-classics The Last Samurai and the (partly inspired by battles with publishers) Lightning Rods, and has written about the terror of being stalked for The London Review of Books Previously
TLS is finally getting a well-deserved reprinting! As part of the press run-up Christian Lorentzen has written a detailed profile of the author and her struggles for New York Magazine. Miranda Popkey has re-assessed the book for The Paris Review, and DeWitt has recorded a video describing her creative process. DeWitt previously
TLS is finally getting a well-deserved reprinting! As part of the press run-up Christian Lorentzen has written a detailed profile of the author and her struggles for New York Magazine. Miranda Popkey has re-assessed the book for The Paris Review, and DeWitt has recorded a video describing her creative process. DeWitt previously
If at first you don't succeed...
Water Brings them Alive
Where one half just doesn’t know anything at all about the other.
Increasingly, what counts as a fact is merely a view that someone feels to be true. Many newsrooms are in danger of losing what matters most about journalism: the valuable, civic, pounding-the-streets, sifting-the-database, asking-challenging-questions hard graft of uncovering things that someone doesn’t want you to know. Serious, public-interest journalism is demanding, and there is more of a need for it than ever. It helps keep the powerful honest; it helps people make sense of the world and their place in it. Facts and reliable information are essential for the functioning of democracy – and the digital era has made that even more obvious.
Harvesting Guitars from the Bones of New York City
Rick Kelly, owner of Carmine Street Guitars makes guitars from the salvaged wood from old buildings.
Every guitar has a story. (via Great Big Story)
Every guitar has a story. (via Great Big Story)
Explore the Psi Factor, the unknown, with the O.S.I.R and Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd grew up with psychic researchers and seances, which lead to the original Ghost Smashers idea, which in turn would become the Ghostbusters film. As he and his father, Peter, discussed on Q TV, their shared interest in the unexplained continued. A significant work of theirs was Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, a Canadian science fiction drama television series co-created by Peter Aykroyd and Christopher Chacon, a researcher of psychic and parapsychological phenomena, and episodes are hosted by Dan Aykroyd. You can now see the show, as archived by fans, on YouTube (72 episode playlist). [more inside]
More Hats, Less Pants
'2026' was conceived to challenge heteronormative attitudes to self-expression through fashion. It imagines what menswear might look like in 10 years’ time through the use of fabrics rescued from rubbish skips and thrift shops in Johannesburg and customised into new garments. . . suggestive of a more liberated manifestation of masculinity that encourages a freedom of expression. [more inside]
And now for something useful and beautiful
Once upon a time, in a public library branch in Boston's North End, 29-year-old Edith Guerrier, librarian, decided to change the world around her by founding the Saturday Evening Girls, a club devoted to improving the intellectual and cultural lives of area immigrant girls through lectures, stories, singing, and dancing. In 1908, nine years after its founding, the SEG branched out into the making of beautiful earthenware--and the creation of jobs for women--with the launch of the Paul Revere Pottery. [more inside]
“May the Force be with us.”
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Celebration Reel [YouTube] Go behind the scenes with the cast and crew of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. [more inside]
The Aarhus model
Presidential Campaigns Are Like Wildfires/State of the Union Songbook
Michael Friedman is engaged in an unusual form of journalism. The composer, who has worked on shows including “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play,” is travelling the country talking to voters about what’s on their minds in this election, and then turning his interview transcripts into original songs. “The New Yorker Radio Hour” has been documenting his work. In California, Friedman spoke with a network-news producer whose jaded feelings about political coverage was shocked by Donald Trump’s hijacking of politics for entertainmentPresidential Campaigns Are Like Wildfires...
from The State of The Union Songbook
America, America is Killing Its Youth
Henry Rollins reports that Alan Vega, vocalist for legendary proto-punk band Suicide, has died.
With profound sadness and a stillness that only news like this can bring, we regret to inform you that the great artist and creative force, Alan Vega has passed away. Alan passed peacefully in his sleep last night, July 16. He was 78 years of age[more inside]
I don’t necessarily feel safe, but I do feel free.
Why I’ve Avoided Dressing More Femininely — Until Now All my life, I worried that wearing flamboyant clothes would mean putting a target on my back. But in the wake of the shooting at Pulse, I realized that I’ve been sacrificing a huge part of myself for a safety that was never guaranteed in the first place.
Sensitive to the Whole World
Some residents of Snowflake, Arizona, take refuge from the modern world of fragrances, wifi, and plastic. They suffer from what they call "environmental illness," a controversial condition in which inks, dyes, and electricity, among a wealth of other things, are blamed for an array of physical symptoms. A Guardian reporter and photographer interview several residents.
19 hours
Gaspar Marcos stepped off the 720 bus into early-morning darkness in MacArthur Park after the end of an eight-hour shift of scrubbing dishes in a Westwood restaurant. He walked toward his apartment, past laundromats fortified with iron bars and scrawled with graffiti, shuttered stores that sold knockoffs and a cook staffing a taco cart in eerie desolation. Around 3 a.m., he collapsed into a twin bed in a room he rents from a family. Five hours later, he slid into his desk at Belmont High School, just before the bell rang. The 18-year-old sophomore rubbed his eyes and fixed his gaze on an algebra equation.
Test Your Book Smarts
The Strand Bookstore (NYC) has included a literary matching quiz in its job application form since the 1970s. Here are some quizzes from years past. Can you match the authors and titles? Beware of trick questions.
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