Literature
In the Arts, Repeating Our Actions and Expecting a Different Result Defines Insanity
by Diane Ragsdale | Jumper
About a month ago I read an article in the Atlantic on the phenomenal success of Finland’s primary and secondary education public school system—a success which, the article suggests, the US has failed to understand.
There are some notable differences between the US system and Finland’s:
1. Teachers in Finland are given prestige, decent More...
Beauty
by William Clark
“Here were two men discussing “beauty”
seriously and with dignity as if they and the topic
were as normal as normal topics of discussion
between men such as soybean prices or why
the commodities market was a sucker’s game…
- B. H. Fairchild, Beauty
As far as I can remember, I only heard the word beauty spoken a handful of times duri More...
The Streetsweeper | Grand Avenue
by Ron Koertge
The Streetsweeper goes by at 1:00 a.m. two nights of the week. I can hear the feather whoosh of his machine and see one red light. I believe that the streetsweeper lives alone, sleeping through the cold days, waking clear-eyed and deft as the sun goes down. I believe that he works steadily without a portable radio or a reading light More...SZYMBORSKA
by Jack Grapes
I came home
Wednesday night from class
and Lori was ensconced
like a caterpillar in a cocoon
on the bed, watching a movie on tv
about crazy people who fall in love
and break china.
"Szymborska died," I said.
She reached for the remote
and shut the tv off.
The room expanded
into that quiet bubble we experience
when we shut off the More...
Alice Walker
First black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award, author of 15 novels and short story collections, 10 books of poetry and 10 non-fiction books, too, Alice Walker is far more than prolific: she is excellent; she is transformational. We also love her rich website. Happy birthday week, Alice.
More...
Mae West
by Edward Field
She comes on drenched in a perfume called Self-Satisfaction from feather boa to silver pumps. She does not need to be loved by you, though she’ll give you credit for good taste. Just because you say you love her she’s not throwing herself at your feet in gratitude. Every other star reveals how worthless she feels by crying when the h More...The Tech Lives of Woz and Jobs
by Levi Asher | Literary Kicks
I waited a couple of months before letting myself open up Walter Isaacson's acclaimed new biography, Steve Jobs. Given Isaacson's known gift for storytelling and my own penchant for computer-age pop culture history, I knew I'd be in for an obsessive reading experience once I cracked it open. This is a book I needed to clear away some uninterrupted More...
Fast Gas
by Dorianne Laux
-For Richard Before the days of self service, When you never had to pump your own gas, I was the one who did it for you, the girl who stepped out at the sound of a bell with a blue rag in my hand, my hair pulled back in a straight, unlovely ponytail. This was before automatic shut-offs and vapor seals, and once, while filling a tank, I h More...Why Historical Dramas Set Our World Right
by Norman Allen
All is well in American television now that Downton Abbey has returned to PBS. Rosy sunsets again cast their light over the stones of Lord Grantham’s vast home, the downstairs staff rises above their under-educated prejudices and the family upstairs lowers their standards while opening their hearts. And it never rains—in England.
Historic dr More...
If I Should Die
by Richard Jones
If I should die this afternoon who will take care of my dog? Who will let her out this evening and walk her twice around the block, letting her stop now and then to sniff an especially delicious turd some other dog has left behind just for her, a gift hidden among leaves and tall grass that she discovers like a little girl at an Easter eg More...
