As soon as I get my teeth back in I’m gonna tell you all what you can do with your pansy anti-war act The papers and TV are all abuzz today with the startling revelation that cussing (as we used to call it where I grew up) is becoming more and more pervasive. I became … Read more
C stands for Look Out! I’ve been searching for the perfect bumper sticker for the Prius. I love driving that car every time I pass a gas station, and hate it every time I try to pass some idiot in the left lane on 169. The car needs definition. I bought a sticker in Spain … Read more
By the way… If you happen to have a literary tattoo–you know, some sort of text excerpt from a favorite poem or book–you must get in touch without further ado! I’m looking for lettered tattoos that reference the greats… And I promise not to critique your taste in literature. Or your biceps for that matter. … Read more
Another nice episode of “Future Tense” this morning, following up on this obsessing issue of online advertising. A study just out from Nielsen Norman has found that online advertising “works” about 0.01 percent of the time–in other words, hardly ever. What did the study consider “working”? Apparently, they found a way to measure the amount … Read more
Is it just me, or does all the great work by living, breathing playwrights get produced in March, April, and May? It’s just me, of course… I’ve seen plenty’a great, new works at other times of the year; I very much enjoyed Alan Berks’ new play at Gremlin Theatre just this past February, for example. … Read more
I wonder where you were going in such a hurry when I passed you walking on the opposite side of the street yesterday? You always did have that purposeful look about you. Even as a little girl you seemed like you were in a hurry to get somewhere. I knew how important it was for … Read more
Our April issue hit newsstands today. Check out the new Rake Appeal section for a piece about the curious folks who live in storefronts. If you’re interested in joining their likes, check out this storefront–for sale in West St. Paul.
So ain’t we all inanimate, George? –Jim Thompson, Pop. 1280 ‘Je’ est un autre. (‘I’ is someone else.) –Arthur Rimbaud You might, you’re perhaps fond of saying, occasionally like something concrete from me, something in the way of true disclosure, painful confession, political opinion, or merely, now and again, a bit of honest biographical kibble. … Read more
The most that anyone of us can seem to do is to fashion something –an object, or ourselves– and drop it into the confusion, make an offering of it, so to speak, to the life force. –Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death It may be that when we no longer know what to do we … Read more
…but what about the soul that grows in darkness, embossed by silvery images… –Frank O’Hara, “Ave Maria” When I first saw Citizen Kane, at the glorious Temple Theatre in old downtown Saginaw, Michigan, I didn’t quite get the thing. I was twelve years old and not aware that it was the greatest film ever made, … Read more