"There is just the human race, racism is a construct" - Toni Morrison On recently rereading Beloved for the first time, being an American writer, racism and much more. 7 minutes of pure joy.
American Education Week Salutes Public Schools
NEA President Lily Eskelsen García attends Mrs. Wesby's 1st grade class at Shwab Elementary School in Nashville, Tenn., on November 17, 2104 Happy American Education Week! This year’s theme is "Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility" and "presents all Americans with a wonderful opportunity to celebrate public education and honor individuals who are making a difference in ensuring that every child receives a quality education." How it began: Alarmed that 25 percent of the country's World War I draftees were illiterate, representatives of the National Education Association and the American Legion met in...
The New Pelican Has Landed
After a 30 year slumber Pelican Books has returned. In its heyday it was an essential ingredient to a well-rounded view of the world. Coming from the mind of Allen Lane, who revolutionized the reading experience with the introduction of Penguin paperbacks, it provided affordable non-fiction to the masses: Costing no more than a packet of cigarettes, and aimed at the true lay reader, Pelicans combined intellectual authority with clear and accessible prose. As the first British publisher of intelligent non-fiction at a genuinely low price, Pelican became an informal university for generations of Britons. With books on economics and...
Of Interest – Bomb: The Author Interviews, New Azar Nafisi, A Muse & A Maze, Literary Lives in Focus and Robbins reads Bradbury
Bomb: The Author Interviews. Edited by Betsy Sussler. Introduction by Francine Prose. Soho Press, November 2014. Since 1981 BOMB has been publishing conversations between artists. Collected here are the best from the literary world. These are not your run of the mill author interviews featuring a journalist throwing canned questions at a writer, these are conversations between writers and delve into the essence of creativity. Pairings include Martin Amis and Patrick McGrath Roberto Bolano and Carmen Boullosa, Junot Diaz and Edwidge Danticat, Jennifer Egan and Heidi Juilavits, Chaels Simic and Thomaz Salamun, John Edgar Wideman and Caryl Philips among others. An amazing compilation...
The Constructed Library of Danae Falliers
library58(digitalliteracy) It started innocently enough. While visiting the Rem Koolhaas-designed, Central Branch of the Seattle Public Library Danae Fallier began snapping photos of the iconic building and the books. When looking at the photographs she took that day she noticed that the text on the book spines had blurred and were no longer visible. It was then that her library series was born. The almost natural abstraction that appeared in those Seattle photographs motivated her to to start digitally manipulating a new group of library images. The photos in the library series are completely constructed. Gone is any text and added are...