Come to the Chicago AWP Book Release for With Rough Gods!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Noam Chomsky on Post-Modernism.
Read this gem of an essay from a great thinker (note: Chomsky is a great thinker whether or not you agree with him--I certainly don't on many points--great does not imply correct--though he is here) and find nuggets of greatness like the following:
"The right reaction is not to resort to obscure and needlessly complex verbiage and posturing about non-existent "theories." Rather, it is to ask the listener to question the frame of reference that he/she is accepting, and to suggest alternatives that might be considered, all in plain language. I've never found that a problem when I speak to people lacking much or sometimes any formal education, though it's true that it tends to become harder as you move up the educational ladder, so that indoctrination is much deeper, and the self-selection for obedience that is a good part of elite education has taken its toll. Johnb says that outside of circles like this forum, "to the rest of the country, he's incomprehensible" ("he" being me). That's absolutely counter to my rather ample experience, with all sorts of audiences. Rather, my experience is what I just described. The incomprehensibility roughly corresponds to the educational level. Take, say, talk radio. I'm on a fair amount, and it's usually pretty easy to guess from accents, etc., what kind of audience it is. I've repeatedly found that when the audience is mostly poor and less educated, I can skip lots of the background and "frame of reference" issues because it's already obvious and taken for granted by everyone, and can proceed to matters that occupy all of us. With more educated audiences, that's much harder; it's necessary to disentangle lots of ideological constructions."
Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
With Rough Gods Pre-release party
With the audiobook and ebook completed for With Rough Gods, it's time to celebrate.
Join me at the With Rough Gods pre-release party this Friday, February 3rd at 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Media Center for poetry, drinks, and $10 limited edition CD copies of With Rough Gods.
I "grew up" reading at the Thursday night CMC poetry jams and couldn't think of a better place to kick off the publication of With Rough Gods.
See you there!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Thomas Wynn and the Believers
The book is almost ready. The audiobook has been recorded and mixed.
Now to listen to other things.
You have GOT to hear Thomas Wynn and the Believers. In some ways we live in this incredible musical desert--pop music has abandoned all reason and good sense even moreso than it did at the end of the 80s or the beginning of the 60s. It's sad, really, that in a world filled with good music the radio has nearly died as an art.
Not music though. If the Believer's band camp site is too much for you to dig through, start with their song "I Don't Regret." It's music as compelling as I want my poetry to be.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The proofs have been reviewed, now on to finalizing the ebook and audiobook!
Look for With Rough Gods ordering information by the end of the month!
Monday, January 2, 2012
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