tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52781756157050385832024-03-05T19:15:39.273-05:00The Live Nude Girl In the Devil's Territory Tour BlogA diary of the Spring 2009 Live Nude Girl In the Devil's Territory Tour, a 25-city traveling literary circus in support of Kathleen Rooney's memoir Live Nude Girl and Kyle Minor's story collection In the Devil's Territory. Special guests include Daniel Handler a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, Steve Almond, Joshuah Bearman, and more!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-19148440995650561792009-12-31T11:02:00.002-05:002009-12-31T11:04:56.164-05:00Lolita Lark likes Live Nude Girl......and says so over at the <a href="http://www.ralphmag.org/">Review of Arts, Literature, and the Philosophy of the Humanities</a>. "<span style="font-style:italic;">Live Nude Girl</span> is intriguing, as much for the insights into clothed vs. unclothed as for the occasional throw-aways. For instance, she tells us that Paul Weston, with his stunning photographs of nudes 'made some of his subjects look like vegetables'," she says. You can check out the whole review <a href="http://www.ralphmag.org/FW/artist-model.html">here</a>. Thanks, Lolita.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-81573119861516541952009-12-08T09:32:00.005-05:002009-12-08T09:35:53.945-05:00Bookslut!Interviews <span style="font-style:italic;">Live Nude Girl</span>! Or rather Elizabeth Hildreth interviews me over at <a href="http://www.bookslut.com/features/2009_12_015465.php">Bookslut</a>. Major thanks to Liz for giving me the opportunity to answer such questions as "I want to talk about your anti-ending ending. I thought I could smell the obligatory “here’s what I learned during summer camp” coming down the road to greet me, when you suddenly jerked on the brakes and were like, here’s what I learned: Nothing. Bye! Well, not nothing, but that the process of modeling for you was a continual search for connections with people, or with ideas, however flawed or incorrect they may be -- thus, ending with Bill Knott’s brilliant “Misunderstood,” poem. Pretend you’re writing, oh, anything, for The New Yorker. Now that some time has passed, can you tack on a nice, epiphanic paragraph to LNG for us? We love them so. Surely one Life-Changing Experience has come to surface?."Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-46080731501227522062009-11-13T11:38:00.006-05:002009-11-13T11:58:58.369-05:00Mairead Case reviews Live Nude Girl......in the latest issue of <a href="http://www.makeshiftmag.com/about.htm">Make/shift</a>. "Take the book's epigraph, from Darian Leader: 'Most people can tolerate being looked at only when they are wearing a mask.' Rooney wears none, whether modeling or writing, and so nimbly that she's impossible to put on any one shelf. That's fucking awesome, so who cares if I wasn't sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time?" she says. <br /><br />She also reviews <span style="font-style:italic;">Barf Manifesto</span> by Dodie Bellamy, <span style="font-style:italic;">Animal Shelter: Art, Sex, Literature (Issue 1)</span> edited by Hedi El Kholti and Paul Gellman, and <span style="font-style:italic;">That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness</span> by Elisa Gabbert and me. Pick up a copy of <span style="font-style:italic;">Make/shift</span> at one of <a href="http://www.makeshiftmag.com/where_to_buy.htm">these</a> fine locations and see for yourself. Thanks, Mairead!Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-59012807185122274212009-09-28T20:17:00.003-04:002009-09-28T20:39:50.219-04:00The American Book Review......reviews <span style="font-style:italic;">Live Nude Girl</span>. <a href="http://americanbookreview.org/currentIssue.asp">See?</a> More specifically, Jocelyn Bartkevicius does. The whole review is thought-provoking, but the part that seems the most provocative is when the reviewer quotes Virginia Woolf's "A Sketch of the Past":<br /> <br />Here I come to one of the memoir writer's greatest difficulties--one of the reasons why, though I read so many, so many are failures. They leave out the person to whom things happened. The reason is that it is so difficult to describe any human being. So they say: 'This is what happened'; but they do not say what the person was like to whom it happened. And the events mean very little unless we know first to whom they happened. <br /><br />I'm a fan of Woolf, and I'm grateful to Bartkevicius for taking the time to consider my book so carefully, but I can't help but disagree a bit with Woolf's assertion. Maybe when Woolf was writing this in 1939 it was more accurate, but now that memoir in particular and creative nonfiction in general have had 70 more years to establish themselves and to go through so many transformations and iterations, it seems unnecessarily restrictive to hold a whole genre to a single task. To say that memoir is and should do only one thing (and that it can be dismissed if it does not) disregards all the things memoir can be and do. But as someone who favors writing that does more than one thing at once--memoir mixed with cultural history, poetry mixed with prose, novels mixed with verse, and so on--it's interesting to think about the opinions of those who suggest that genres should stay within certain boundaries and attempt only certain pre-established goals.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-67459063571066890412009-09-12T17:56:00.004-04:002009-09-12T18:02:54.830-04:00The Art Libraries Society of North America......likes and recommends <span style="font-style:italic;">Live Nude Girl</span> even though I do not "embark upon a Cixousian endeavor to write [my]self," nor do they think I use the book to "represent a project to reclaim [my] life from that of objectification through the act of inscription." <br /><br />You can read the whole review <a href="http://www.arlisna.org/pubs/reviews/2009/08/rooney.pdf">here</a>, but the bottom line is that "This would be a good purchase for any art library that includes a section for recreational nonfiction reading." Thanks to Rachel Chatalbash for the thoughtful review.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-89875662588225634972009-07-20T20:15:00.005-04:002009-07-20T20:24:04.415-04:00I prefer the term "bedfellow."The lovely latest issue of <a href="http://www.provincetownarts.org/">Provincetown Arts</a> arrived in the mail today, and page 31 contained a nice write-up of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Live-Nude-Girl-Life-Object/dp/1557288917/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248135826&sr=1-1">Live Nude Girl</a>, as well as a picture of the cover, which you can see here...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2nXhuuqiZyh_KOPKY-a8u6HilKgGozr9FGq0oWHzEw4PkJaapUOoaCJmBUDOHu0q7_w5Bi5EiJ2aRddZEMpAHd2oPudxArAo_B9dVjzGmO3TUMRKG1hBlWV_tigSFf12vtNkYZmP62TTA/s1600-h/005.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2nXhuuqiZyh_KOPKY-a8u6HilKgGozr9FGq0oWHzEw4PkJaapUOoaCJmBUDOHu0q7_w5Bi5EiJ2aRddZEMpAHd2oPudxArAo_B9dVjzGmO3TUMRKG1hBlWV_tigSFf12vtNkYZmP62TTA/s200/005.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360701876355074914" /></a>...occupying the third spot from the bottom of the page, just below <a href="http://lawrenceshainberg.com/">Lawrence Shainberg's</a> most recent novel <em>Crust</em>, and just above Liz Rozenberg's novel <a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061734564/Home_Repair/index.aspx">Home Repair</a>. <br /><br />Since you can't really read it in the above image, here's the write-up:<br /><br />Kathleen Rooney, a former Fine Arts Work Center writing fellow, visited briefly on a stop on her national tour publicizing Live Nude Girl: My Life as an Object, an account of her career posing in life drawing classes. She modeled for two years in sessions at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. The allurin cover is a drawing by Jim Peters of a nude, naked but for a scrap of underwear. The woman's face is turned and her arms are raised as she fixes her hair, unaware of the viewer's gaze. If bird-watchers are platonic voyeurs, then Paul Valery was right when he said, "The nude is for the artist what love is for the poet."Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-56076927187692286572009-06-22T21:49:00.011-04:002009-06-22T22:41:49.378-04:00British people are smart.It can be difficult to know what to make of reviews, and maybe even more difficult not to fall into the habit of deciding that critics who like your books are incredibly intelligent and perceptive, and that people who dislike them just don't understand you, or your project, or possibly anything at all. At the risk of walking straight into that trap: <a href="http://glamourousrags.dymphna.net/">Roz Kaveney</a> totally gets me. Or at least she's written an astute review of <em>Live Nude Girl</em> in the <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/">Times Literary Supplement</a> of June 19. I can't seem to find it online, but here's a picture of the copy that my friend Ernie faxed to me this afternoon: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmqllw0wJYNwGmuOSBjqw2ydN-CXLEBz_-A3XSYowE4uFhVuXrDkV0FtcBA9K3rm8Vus-_HSjXvFypOWY1XjKhUsV3iiLEPBOHQ0mJOctp8aMNOO-GM98ZjxKNvh_LYTBc4A2bYuArVQz/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmqllw0wJYNwGmuOSBjqw2ydN-CXLEBz_-A3XSYowE4uFhVuXrDkV0FtcBA9K3rm8Vus-_HSjXvFypOWY1XjKhUsV3iiLEPBOHQ0mJOctp8aMNOO-GM98ZjxKNvh_LYTBc4A2bYuArVQz/s200/002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350334793609976818" /></a> Not pictured? The triple exclamation point to the left of the arrow. Thanks, Ernie! (Incidentally, all you readers at home can pick up a copy of Ernie's poetry collection <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sixty-Sonnets-Ernest-Hilbert/dp/1597093610">here</a>.) <br /><br />"One of the likable things about Rooney is that she is aware of the physical limitations of actual bodies as well as of the ways in which they can be idealized," Kaveney writes in a portion of the review that you can't really see in the snapshot. Thanks, Roz.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-17901644860641667982009-06-20T08:57:00.010-04:002009-06-20T09:10:51.741-04:00Think. Art! Think. Art!The weather in Chicago last night was what meteorologists like to call severe, but the greenish sky followed by humid darkness and heavy rain only added to the spookiness of the <a href="http://www.danztheatre.org/">Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble's</a> interpretation of one of the photo shoot scenes in <em>Live Nude Girl</em>: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJijPd4YjIO9sCEQNsf-MQIr2nuquQmrQBxiOgVlURmhWCcW08JgGCeQFxjR2D_Mgs7cG2mnsAPFC0-s9f4jHAzp-Ipeyu0pSH6KQaCDe2vvmnK0CnB3bkBM85mJzEkIU5qqudVKO14Rc/s1600-h/007.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJijPd4YjIO9sCEQNsf-MQIr2nuquQmrQBxiOgVlURmhWCcW08JgGCeQFxjR2D_Mgs7cG2mnsAPFC0-s9f4jHAzp-Ipeyu0pSH6KQaCDe2vvmnK0CnB3bkBM85mJzEkIU5qqudVKO14Rc/s200/007.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349393489432880594" /></a> See? Even though we were in a well-lit art gallery... <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjobpkGEVgiJbOBatg7BFLp4645Zah5ThklW8TCq4PDHcQgNTqFFYTmMYVJdSM8phS_q8BBEK535HiYYHepR2vFfrRSVRtrKm9oho-kE1ie1B7VRJwU9N-b0dNrjVuzhGdhbPf4Ftt7Qvh6/s1600-h/001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjobpkGEVgiJbOBatg7BFLp4645Zah5ThklW8TCq4PDHcQgNTqFFYTmMYVJdSM8phS_q8BBEK535HiYYHepR2vFfrRSVRtrKm9oho-kE1ie1B7VRJwU9N-b0dNrjVuzhGdhbPf4Ftt7Qvh6/s200/001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349394550272336050" /></a> ..they made it feel just like a campfire ghost story: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6MgVqeEhBPj9VzCUbagSllGxFMfiJPxmRUpIw8TPGLHUdAPsSMNgzxy1UYctKNNDdcFRQWURFmir9J7UsbHmr8-lCGW36CS1JnSF1il7j7Mk6Iz2QbofUI8uJ1ilmJNgbX0c3vaL2xqRi/s1600-h/003.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6MgVqeEhBPj9VzCUbagSllGxFMfiJPxmRUpIw8TPGLHUdAPsSMNgzxy1UYctKNNDdcFRQWURFmir9J7UsbHmr8-lCGW36CS1JnSF1il7j7Mk6Iz2QbofUI8uJ1ilmJNgbX0c3vaL2xqRi/s200/003.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349395288863235586" /></a> Thanks again to Laurie Glenn for hosting and for fostering the Spirit of Surrealism, pictured here...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvSHFkSKm-qHWSDcqwWaCHmmfpV94vN0uLQNrbOxLoUMrgP7fOy3Z1ORumiYGT_YNiy8yE_qhOlyXggjRkGsQkovuqsbpPgv1LM8ylPAoXcEJwULY3YMYoUB87xv3m-E_eYBsF9_UZugG/s1600-h/004.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmvSHFkSKm-qHWSDcqwWaCHmmfpV94vN0uLQNrbOxLoUMrgP7fOy3Z1ORumiYGT_YNiy8yE_qhOlyXggjRkGsQkovuqsbpPgv1LM8ylPAoXcEJwULY3YMYoUB87xv3m-E_eYBsF9_UZugG/s200/004.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349395803758637794" /></a> ...and the spirit of community and collaboration. Thanks again to the Chicago Danztheatre, and to S. L. Wisenberg for inviting me!Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-68402332972566553262009-06-18T23:36:00.016-04:002009-06-18T23:57:47.558-04:00When I say Think, you say Art!Check it out, it's "me" posing for an art class! Or at least it's me as portrayed by Denise Parkhurst of the <a href="http://www.danztheatre.org/">Chicago Danztheatre</a> ensemble...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibi_eD_VfJLopV4C_i3peUg3WrnLUbhw02eiFTmrgcI9Ctq1CEwJ1LutE0-dFn_fnbC6sJNVTfSc2AllRk9Q1Enl_53niwkp1kpwd9168Ct4tAjFAa5wL2fkGgKV9vB0E2MJq5u2IgG7AK/s1600-h/015.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibi_eD_VfJLopV4C_i3peUg3WrnLUbhw02eiFTmrgcI9Ctq1CEwJ1LutE0-dFn_fnbC6sJNVTfSc2AllRk9Q1Enl_53niwkp1kpwd9168Ct4tAjFAa5wL2fkGgKV9vB0E2MJq5u2IgG7AK/s200/015.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348878436835244738" /></a> ...at the <a href="http://thinkartsalon.com/">Th!nkArt</a> Salon series, hosted by the inimitable Laurie Glenn, pictured below, all the way to the right: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sNG5IzI1XMO1CiX71VbICe-lH5sRzrkxEhdM7yYj1Bj4HrbnuD2xVnK05OL_HmGOxEWrg7q5EbcZ5HVZRE0awvrFqPEHG2hYs3shUCdFL-rUigUTEocKWnitAGhzFd-aQGHNPITRJ93j/s1600-h/004.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-sNG5IzI1XMO1CiX71VbICe-lH5sRzrkxEhdM7yYj1Bj4HrbnuD2xVnK05OL_HmGOxEWrg7q5EbcZ5HVZRE0awvrFqPEHG2hYs3shUCdFL-rUigUTEocKWnitAGhzFd-aQGHNPITRJ93j/s200/004.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348878123657160018" /></a> Chicago Danztheatre also interpreted scenes from Sandi <a href="http://cancerbitch.blogspot.com/">"Cancer Bitch"</a> Wisenberg's book, and as you can see, they were not shy about sitting on the couch right next to unsuspecting salon-goers...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0u8fdyqjzJifxLzWFinkg50y8I5wqIatpY43jcrwuvYZCb4Zz5755Ss5yUdXzWT2z-eZtif4g7muem399DV7LsnC78FbnZQo22diE_ZBpVi5BT7vj1uT5netdgD3UFLni6C3NClBlf61/s1600-h/006.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0u8fdyqjzJifxLzWFinkg50y8I5wqIatpY43jcrwuvYZCb4Zz5755Ss5yUdXzWT2z-eZtif4g7muem399DV7LsnC78FbnZQo22diE_ZBpVi5BT7vj1uT5netdgD3UFLni6C3NClBlf61/s200/006.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348878851039543394" /></a> ...because letting yourself be held back by the fourth wall is like, so lame. Sandi and I each read a tiny bit from our respective books, <a href="http://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2009-spring/wisenberg.htm">The Adventures of Cancer Bitch </a>and <em>Live Nude Girl</em>, but to call it a reading would be inaccurate. Neither Sandi nor I had ever had an actual theatre troupe read our whole books, pick out selections, and then act them out in a gallery full of people before, and for that, we are super-grateful and impressed. Because I have this picture from an event earlier today during which I helped chaperone a field trip of interns to the Federal Reserve Bank...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexD5KUHSEo6xkCpWpN2bsI_SdIgF4jBt7JbFJcXO9bIwGm1elZCJBQvXo6g6CiSGlEtCeSV1czxwAeOx09BnSWXqDkVAE4DrF1oqh8iVGm0GZV7vA8JTjLFCrqp4p_WTfFIW6JPONuhds/s1600-h/003.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexD5KUHSEo6xkCpWpN2bsI_SdIgF4jBt7JbFJcXO9bIwGm1elZCJBQvXo6g6CiSGlEtCeSV1czxwAeOx09BnSWXqDkVAE4DrF1oqh8iVGm0GZV7vA8JTjLFCrqp4p_WTfFIW6JPONuhds/s200/003.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348877803370742242" /></a> ...I'll go ahead and say it: thanks to Laurie and Chicago Danztheatre for making us feel like a million bucks. If you missed it tonight, there's one more chance to catch the show: tomorrow, 1530 N. Paulina, Chicago, IL from 5:30-9:30. Hope to see you there.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-73998761374953112182009-06-16T13:52:00.003-04:002009-06-16T13:56:53.692-04:00LNG makes today's Daily Pick List......on Jim Agnew's Literary World. You can check it out alongside other picks (including, but not limited to, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743599357?ie=UTF8&tag=jimagn-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0743599357">Glenn Beck's Common Sense</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1558323740?ie=UTF8&tag=jimagn-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1558323740">The Joy of Pickling</a>) <a href="http://www.jimagnew.net/daily_picks.htm">here</a>. <br /><br />Thanks, Jim! And thanks to University of Arkansas Press's eagle-eyed marketing director Tom Lavoie for pointing it out.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-45109665885595479932009-06-14T22:30:00.012-04:002009-06-14T22:52:59.921-04:0078 square miles surrounded by realityAs the nickname above might lead one to believe, Madison, Wisconsin is almost unreal in its physical beauty and wholesome-yet-progressive atmosphere. How do I know? I was just there today to read with Sandi Wisenberg aka <a href="http://cancerbitch.blogspot.com/">Cancer Bitch</a> at <a href="http://www.roomofonesown.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp">A Room of One's Own</a> feminist bookstore: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDVfB-h46GHJj49sT2E6CZmWfmMFygc_5QJCuTvjxFWHOzEMyb2dN6h77RzLta7xlIsR8VlkS8rivBwsexBa5m93zH188pLIkk_AV-p2LV8GfEq8JtMMZmMA-kKPd3TDD4TPeXOQgZW0s/s1600-h/009.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFDVfB-h46GHJj49sT2E6CZmWfmMFygc_5QJCuTvjxFWHOzEMyb2dN6h77RzLta7xlIsR8VlkS8rivBwsexBa5m93zH188pLIkk_AV-p2LV8GfEq8JtMMZmMA-kKPd3TDD4TPeXOQgZW0s/s200/009.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347378900591989522" /></a> Like Sandi, I read behind a lectern, but since I've posted plenty of podia pics here in the past, I offer you instead this photograph of me posing in the style of the statue "FORWARD" on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Capitol building overlooking State Street. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSvi9E2D8fVIg0zQeli6PXDWoq54VdvZM2Y3Wa4LMav5q-ZZoQKtvAzH4ZUwCQp5XqCKpSMw0SjT2cOln28D0dNSYKfOBnqU9fwjr-OBvT7956M7XHlFzD_sgGV8stMgema4rEgIa8Br7/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSvi9E2D8fVIg0zQeli6PXDWoq54VdvZM2Y3Wa4LMav5q-ZZoQKtvAzH4ZUwCQp5XqCKpSMw0SjT2cOln28D0dNSYKfOBnqU9fwjr-OBvT7956M7XHlFzD_sgGV8stMgema4rEgIa8Br7/s200/002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347376420992760274" /></a> And here is 50% of our beautiful audience, lit from the side: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QGGM-fqJKbapKISmji8a9cpKvaihWliJQEF_RM3sIFjWM6pRUsrVBzII8JURFT09635MmyNE_RUhfm8l8Oowgfvxkfcwroqz2E2mLsPT0qQF8_Y94_73pjNXCFPRsng5NMGZuPSyjas2/s1600-h/010.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QGGM-fqJKbapKISmji8a9cpKvaihWliJQEF_RM3sIFjWM6pRUsrVBzII8JURFT09635MmyNE_RUhfm8l8Oowgfvxkfcwroqz2E2mLsPT0qQF8_Y94_73pjNXCFPRsng5NMGZuPSyjas2/s200/010.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347379926130417970" /></a><br />And here is some of the weird reality that surrounds Madison's 78-square miles, the ad for the Roast Beast sandwich at the Beefaroo restaurant attached to the Road Ranger station where we stopped for gas:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVlnjbnK3CiItM3mFIeyBkBxmlJ_Q3LXTokqVrrIPI2RaoxVLJShRJvzFdGGGekw71yqVIUTQfIpwC6EkIlTwIuYI9tuirpxaDJ1puWaqJZZSG_2g6zr8s5dcSximNQoV6kh-9czRd_f88/s1600-h/014.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVlnjbnK3CiItM3mFIeyBkBxmlJ_Q3LXTokqVrrIPI2RaoxVLJShRJvzFdGGGekw71yqVIUTQfIpwC6EkIlTwIuYI9tuirpxaDJ1puWaqJZZSG_2g6zr8s5dcSximNQoV6kh-9czRd_f88/s200/014.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347380938138868066" /></a> Thanks to Sandi for hatching the plan for this reading, to A Room of One's Own for hosting us, and to Beefaroo for offering a sandwich so beefy you have to tie it down. Sandi and I will also be reading at the <a href="http://thinkartsalon.com/">Th!nkArt Salon</a> on Thursday, June 18 and Friday, June 19. Hope to see you there!Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-18686557712363227192009-06-11T22:49:00.005-04:002009-06-11T23:03:06.182-04:00Mr. Obama's Neighborhood<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7FMwOdlt6ZjHNMiqwul3uprIgYpeYpW07kB-hgAn7SJCgi_TudEJmuqDRhsbO8kfbMRu8cu3haaQio3l1Wj-opGu4_jjEviJ8mN8_IRl9kNzMwZXQLwHt6S0E-c_0AqnmHVOZ1p01V1sw/s1600-h/HPAC.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 135px; height: 92px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7FMwOdlt6ZjHNMiqwul3uprIgYpeYpW07kB-hgAn7SJCgi_TudEJmuqDRhsbO8kfbMRu8cu3haaQio3l1Wj-opGu4_jjEviJ8mN8_IRl9kNzMwZXQLwHt6S0E-c_0AqnmHVOZ1p01V1sw/s200/HPAC.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346270889059047042" /></a>As part of their 70th Anniversary celebration, the Hyde Park Art Center is hosting <a href="http://www.hydeparkart.org/get-involved/creative-move/">"70 Days for 70 Years"</a>. They started on April 5 and are continuing through July 4 with "70 days of exciting and creative events," one of which was the <a href="http://www.hydeparkart.org/calendar/2009/06/reading_and_discussion_live_nu.php">"Live Nude Girl Reading and Discussion with Kathleen Rooney and Krystal Meisel"</a> which took place tonight. In addition to being an artist's model and a kickass event partner, Krystal is a brilliant photographer whose work you can see and learn more about <a href="http://krystalmeisel.com/">here</a>. Thanks to Crystal Pernell for hosting us at the Art Center, and to Chicago Public Radio for recording us!Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-47026732920320185642009-06-01T13:02:00.002-04:002009-06-01T15:23:38.904-04:00Llalan Fowler reviews LNG on VernacularIf you follow <a href="http://v.tgdn.net/2009/04/live-nude-girl-my-life-as-an-object.html">this link</a>, you’ll see that this review was posted back in April, which sounds even farther away now that it’s the first day of June, but still. I’m sorry I missed it when it first appeared, and—because I am a completist and want this record to reflect that—am psyched to have the chance to post it now. <br /><br />Thanks, Llalan, for reviewing it in general, and in particular for saying things like: “Rooney’s own writing is reflective but not to the point of egotism, and scholarly but never dry or overwhelming. The quick switches among the essayistic passages, the more personal reflections, and the quote-heavy, research-driven sections catch hold of the reader and dispel any doubts that there is nothing to say on the subject. However, few if any besides Kathy Rooney could have written this book. It is a smooth, fast-moving, engaging read that is constantly surprising the reader. One might argue whether the book itself is naked or nude.”Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-62906877540977618932009-05-27T03:59:00.003-04:002009-05-27T04:43:37.610-04:00Signing off<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnqlmcbOnGF2MZjHqxWVaEEoBHfSOcZ0Ozjoial3kufP5tO-l3AIJIscqdzLZJaTX2yZYfEOT8g0am0T3aR0mutyQrKldYFEkDkVFbLkPFBUFqV9TzDhIA5T-S4CiP2J8WPvuieRKTuc/s1600-h/authorphotokyleminor.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 140px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnqlmcbOnGF2MZjHqxWVaEEoBHfSOcZ0Ozjoial3kufP5tO-l3AIJIscqdzLZJaTX2yZYfEOT8g0am0T3aR0mutyQrKldYFEkDkVFbLkPFBUFqV9TzDhIA5T-S4CiP2J8WPvuieRKTuc/s200/authorphotokyleminor.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340410573588149394" /></a><br /><br />A week after the final reading of the book tour, and a couple of months removed, now, from the days when we were on the road for weeks at a time, it seems profitable to reflect upon the experience. I didn't know Kathleen Rooney very well when I called to ask if she might be interested in joining forces. I asked her because (1) I enjoyed and admired her writing, (2) our books were coming out around the same time, and (3) she seemed like she would be a hard-working tour partner, and that if we worked together, we could introduce more readers to each other's work.<br /><br />What I hadn't anticipated was how extraordinary a tour partner Kathy would be. She was quite frankly better than I was at almost every aspect of putting the tour together. Her organizational skills are unmatched by anyone I've ever met, and she proved to be very good at implementation, too. Most of all, I was impressed by her skill with people. Her network is vast, and it's not a superficial vastness. In city after city, we were greeted by her many friends, and I felt lucky that some of that goodwill and enthusiasm could extend to my book, as well.<br /><br />My greatest admiration for Kathy would probably extend to her reserves of energy and strength. I couldn't match her drive, her stamina, nor her will for optimism. I admire all three, and wish I could match them.<br /><br />In addition to the things I thought the tour would offer -- the opportunity to connect with more readers, the opportunity to interact with booksellers and critics, the opportunity to get to know other writers -- the tour also provided me with an opportunity to reexamine and reevaluate what kind of writer I want to be, and what role I hoped writing would play in my professional life. On grounds of my personal life, the tour proved to be ill-timed. Right around the beginning of the tour, I learned that I had been laid off from my teaching position at the university where I had been working, and I felt the heaviness of the loss throughout the tour. My wife had given up her teaching post so I could take the one I had now lost, and I spent the weeks on the road in daily worry about whether one of us could find something that would provide money enough for us to live, and, perhaps more importantly, health insurance, since our youngest child was born quite premature and therefore has a suspect immune system. <br /><br />I had long treated my writing as a purely artistic prerogative, believing that teaching would provide income and time enough to let me write whatever I wanted, even if what I wanted was only to write unremunerative short stories and poems, and even if it meant only publishing books on small presses. But going on tour, and interacting with writers who have found ways to make a living largely on the strength of their writing, made me think that it might be possible to do the same, especially since my aesthetic interests had recently turned more sharply toward the novel and toward reportage. <br /><br />The other example of a writerly life I saw on tour and admired was that of the writer who chooses a concurrent career path that is completely outside any traditional writerly career path -- writer/physicians, writer/attorneys, writer/civil servants, writer/special effects technicians -- career paths that enable writers to become what Dana Gioia called "Spies in the House of Commerce."<br /><br />My own post-In the Devil's Territory work has been driven by frequent investigative trips to Haiti, where I have been working on a narrative nonfiction book and a novel. In the Devil's Territory was a book largely concerned with the world of my childhood, but now I feel like I want to create pieces of writing that engage more fully with the world outside myself. In Haiti, where there is a breakdown in the rule of law, and where what is at stake daily is literal life and death, I have seen how closely intertwined public policy can be with human misery. And I have also seen how people with basic, ground-level skills -- nurses, dentists, physicians, agriculturalists, structural engineers -- can ease human misery in specific places, and vastly change the quality of the lives of people. I want my writing to begin to more broadly engage both of these matters, micro- and macro-, and also to achieve a broad enough audience that what is discovered might have some traction beyond the pleasures of literature.<br /><br />I also want to begin to cultivate at least one of these extra-writerly disciplines on my own, as a means of liberation from dependence on the academy, as a means of deepening the knowledge base that informs the authority of my writing, and, most importantly, as a means of making possible a front-line human response that I can offer independent of my work as a writer. Toward that end, I'm going to spend some time in the next year exploring some of those disciplines in preparation for choosing one as a parallel career path.<br /><br />It is no exaggeration to credit the people I met on tour, and most of all Kathy, as catalysts for varieties of active reflection that will no doubt shape the kind of writer I will become, going forward. Traveling to 25 cities, meeting hundreds of people of diverse inclinations, eating and drinking at many tables, enjoying conviviality, engaging in occasional arguments about things that matter, and pushing past physical and psychological exhaustion to achieve a marathon of interaction with other people (an area that, I'll admit, is far from my strength), all of it I'll count among the most valuable, extraordinary, and life-shaping experiences of my life.<br /><br />I am extraordinarily grateful to everyone who opened their home to us, to everyone who came to a reading, to everyone who bought a book, to everyone who followed the blog, to my family for being gracious about my long absences, and most of all to Kathy for being my better in so many ways on a 25-city tour the likes of which very few people are ever able to experience. I feel very lucky.<br /><br />With warm wishes,<br /><br />Kyle Minor<br />May 27, 2009Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-5026710706458682792009-05-19T10:25:00.031-04:002009-05-19T10:47:35.157-04:00The Live Nude Girl in the Devil's Territory Tour......is over. And can I just say that if I have to sign one more naked torso with a Sharpie, I'll poke myself in the eye? Kidding! We love our fans. Some of them are here…<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBlap9CiF3BxQomBEpllqZrSKGJ6XzBhLuPG6_dol-uerB-kOsNWZ8i-G1KAWlWtwkVZ8refe7pd2TfeSw51-fJYaSFOcsFvcI0PGGbr-ooUT_r875maL8spTzjCvapBof1N97fBQJNghn/s1600-h/BCAud1.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBlap9CiF3BxQomBEpllqZrSKGJ6XzBhLuPG6_dol-uerB-kOsNWZ8i-G1KAWlWtwkVZ8refe7pd2TfeSw51-fJYaSFOcsFvcI0PGGbr-ooUT_r875maL8spTzjCvapBof1N97fBQJNghn/s200/BCAud1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337541439149164418" /></a>…and here:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRC1xoydg-FPd2JrV9G8GsWt6B3nLdjDVB9HVlgrXR39Elsgb6JjvveVCaPmmOAi6z_2Mm0AarRvzX0-eqGEp7EikiCYirIOnRYeGcm9qYdsFxiZujZHPft5YwvZAUqYVbBRkR0AqfL5c/s1600-h/BCAud2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRC1xoydg-FPd2JrV9G8GsWt6B3nLdjDVB9HVlgrXR39Elsgb6JjvveVCaPmmOAi6z_2Mm0AarRvzX0-eqGEp7EikiCYirIOnRYeGcm9qYdsFxiZujZHPft5YwvZAUqYVbBRkR0AqfL5c/s200/BCAud2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337541860022215778" /></a> But as all good things must, the 25-city traveling literary circus that was our tour has come to an end, and it's hard to think of a better way for it to have done so than at the <a href="http://www.bookcellarinc.com/">Book Cellar</a> (thanks, Suzy!) in the company of <a href="http://www.zachplague.com/">Zach "Featherproof" Plague</a>… <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EDXJ598a2_GP6eTRmpbG8s1tCtIyotBZQBXxPqtOZo31ZI0lrigHiT7904k1tV9zpikQwwkPKO89n9ZYctnvzmvHkCUXQm-udzvjRCtaio7SPoICHsH5nSDt643tEki_Wv4yIpsKnvou/s1600-h/BCZach.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EDXJ598a2_GP6eTRmpbG8s1tCtIyotBZQBXxPqtOZo31ZI0lrigHiT7904k1tV9zpikQwwkPKO89n9ZYctnvzmvHkCUXQm-udzvjRCtaio7SPoICHsH5nSDt643tEki_Wv4yIpsKnvou/s200/BCZach.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337543752886598930" /></a> …and <a href="http://www.ginafrangello.com/">Gina "Other Voices" Frangello</a>: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1I9Taza3FCuvT9wsmPFswxfnCLs9AtbCKzuc44ZJLaLQpYn8uUFvvsaNJu_zUnmJgm1Ku1yTBqp_7kVCtCnQQLebdFxGT2R1-XbpzG8E2p3rjgr15zwwzkJWAXlTcT-wj86USHUWd_dt/s1600-h/BCGF.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1I9Taza3FCuvT9wsmPFswxfnCLs9AtbCKzuc44ZJLaLQpYn8uUFvvsaNJu_zUnmJgm1Ku1yTBqp_7kVCtCnQQLebdFxGT2R1-XbpzG8E2p3rjgr15zwwzkJWAXlTcT-wj86USHUWd_dt/s200/BCGF.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337542193603180594" /></a> I was so excited, I wore a dress that matched my book cover:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8e9rx2I00Cq9g1dzKxszaFbSoCUTbvngW0YVTSqL-Sm0-WkttgZnKfVArvnfbbTx7MMcwecUxxFVudo7Z1kykAX0LmH-g_l6kixuqhjo6sxJqsQbny91vEyy-cUGwB6DnO5RdPKCtkzap/s1600-h/BCKR.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8e9rx2I00Cq9g1dzKxszaFbSoCUTbvngW0YVTSqL-Sm0-WkttgZnKfVArvnfbbTx7MMcwecUxxFVudo7Z1kykAX0LmH-g_l6kixuqhjo6sxJqsQbny91vEyy-cUGwB6DnO5RdPKCtkzap/s200/BCKR.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337543267778781730" /></a><br /><br />It's kind of pleasing that something so fun and awesome ended at the (relative) beginning of something else so fun and awesome: the <a href="http://pilcrowlitfest.com/">Pilcrow Lit Festival</a>—be sure to check it out all week long, including tonight at Innertown Pub for the <a href="http://quickieschicago.blogspot.com/">Quickies Reading Series</a>, where I’ll be reading a story from <a href="http://rosemetalpress.com/">Rose Metal Press’s</a> <a href="http://rosemetalpress.com/Catalog/PFR_more.html">A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness</a> alongside tons of other fantastic writers including RMP’s Geoffrey Forsyth whose short short chapbook <em>In the Land of the Free</em> is not to be missed.<br /><br />Also, even though the tour proper has reached its conclusion, stay tuned to the blog, which will continue to meet your one-stop-shopping needs for all future <em>Live Nude Girl</em> and <em>In the Devil’s Territory </em>news. <br /><br />Before I bid you 'bye for now, here is a picture of Clark "Vince is Back" Harding who flew in all the way from L.A. in time to attend this reading in a turn of events that thrilled my love of things coming unexpectedly full circle:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hzNCdxcQhuGsONj_CFyQG0ZBtchfUSpB54pUrsQsQ_BJXA8KwjYuhSxXNlrco1LWFgMyLovOvohbB16S9QnGRekTgVmjl7ecr_wNzOKl-h_al7-QH6zffshVQC6Ickr8EdP6YLc9wss_/s1600-h/BCClark.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hzNCdxcQhuGsONj_CFyQG0ZBtchfUSpB54pUrsQsQ_BJXA8KwjYuhSxXNlrco1LWFgMyLovOvohbB16S9QnGRekTgVmjl7ecr_wNzOKl-h_al7-QH6zffshVQC6Ickr8EdP6YLc9wss_/s200/BCClark.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337544285427648178" /></a> Kyle and I crashed at his place on the very first night of the LNGitDT tour, and last night, he crashed with Martin and me. Such symmetry. He also bought a copy of Armistead Maupin's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_City">Tales of the City</a> at the Book Cellar last night so he could re-read it, and he highly recommends you do the same. Thanks, Clark, and thanks everyone, everywhere, for everything.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-69823923681706656502009-05-11T12:20:00.011-04:002009-05-11T12:37:05.838-04:00LNG in the June 2009 issue of Esquire!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVLh2Mlp_ocC-pm3fXE4eaCn1w0V74C9cgTc_3ovGNIPJGD9on00vv_fAAyBG8thk0-QkerU0ykXLF_N0q664isqC9Y8HMjhhKzMS0Gfovoh9H5e2xp4Yf387xHz0d7mTNwiNke7rNG2x/s1600-h/DSC_0021.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVLh2Mlp_ocC-pm3fXE4eaCn1w0V74C9cgTc_3ovGNIPJGD9on00vv_fAAyBG8thk0-QkerU0ykXLF_N0q664isqC9Y8HMjhhKzMS0Gfovoh9H5e2xp4Yf387xHz0d7mTNwiNke7rNG2x/s200/DSC_0021.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334602311353434178" /></a> A gentleman wrote to <em>Esquire's</em> Stacey Grenrock Woods that "I finally convinced my girlfriend to let me take pictures of her naked, but in every one she looks awkward. Is there some kind of pose or trick to make them look sexier?" In order to provide him with the necessary answers, SGW quoted yours truly. The column's not available online, but you can see it pictured to the left here, and pick up the whole issue in a bookstore near you. While you're already there picking up a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Live-Nude-Girl-Kathleen-Rooney/dp/1557288917/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219421526&sr=8-1">Live Nude Girl</a>, of course, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Territory-Kyle-Minor/dp/0979312361/ref=pd_cp_b_1?pf_rd_p=413864201&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1557288917&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1JY531FN6Z4TJ8NQ1B3A">In the Devil's Territory</a> while you're at it. Further reasons to get this issue of the mag include, but are not limited to: 1) Megan Fox on the cover, 2) a 10-page feature on how to be a more skillful drinker, and 3) a What I've Learned questionnaire answered by Christopher Walken. Thanks, <a href="http://www.esquire.com/">Esquire</a>!Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-25507475578043573742009-05-03T22:34:00.002-04:002009-05-03T22:37:44.991-04:00The Erotica Readers and Writers Association……just posted a great review of <em>Live Nude Girl</em>. Reviewer <a href="http://erotica-readers.com/ERA/COF/Rob.htm">Rob Hardy</a> says “It is, as you’d expect, poetic on many pages, but it is also funny, the work of an amused and alert writer who has a point of observation on the model’s stand that is unique and is seldom so deeply considered…” You can check out the whole review <a href="http://erotica-readers.com/ERA/SL/BR-Live_Nude_Girl.htm">here</a>.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-60998076226120056842009-04-22T19:26:00.005-04:002009-04-22T19:37:17.273-04:00Open Correspondence from the Senator<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9YTh94m8XJdmSGKa8SOwdaKxxFfNEUIsohuJkAL9-NphbbAOmOnAeXvxPFJ0dnBhvAQCnizxN79Zsa2Yio9kge1Kf9gp7Ew5mdKsuCeFow0PI7avAmLq_r_wGoK6AFkn3165Mtp0Lo-z/s1600-h/IMG_1542.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9YTh94m8XJdmSGKa8SOwdaKxxFfNEUIsohuJkAL9-NphbbAOmOnAeXvxPFJ0dnBhvAQCnizxN79Zsa2Yio9kge1Kf9gp7Ew5mdKsuCeFow0PI7avAmLq_r_wGoK6AFkn3165Mtp0Lo-z/s200/IMG_1542.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327661715932541378" /></a> Last week, Jeremy Schmall sent me a copy of his high-concept (it comes in a file folder!) chapbook <em>Open Correspondence from the Senator</em> in the mail because he said he would when we met him in Brooklyn. I read most of it on the train today and really enjoyed it and its high production values, courtesy of <a href="http://www.x-ingbooks.com/">x-ing books</a>. And, because I said I would, I took it to work and read a tiny bit of it there—see? It blends right in. Thanks, Jeremy!Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-86229182329785702982009-04-14T23:00:00.002-04:002009-04-14T23:00:58.980-04:00All Travelers Are Lost: Recommendations from Across the LandIn his essay “On Lullabies,” Federico García Lorca talks about the difficulty of attempting to describe his travels, and about “trying to avoid the sort of ugly erudite data that tire out audiences; it is emotional data I shall try to emphasize.” <br /><br />On the tour, I got to see a lot of people I love, and to meet a lot of new ones: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhICPUNHaqpOOKs4VE94ESejUHJ_Ff3hOsJj5vdKlgqPJueZoPm3nhDbg9glz_FDHF_7n-IrFHTzfDEfjZEAZorde5UD4WxRV5iZyxsziWr_lVnZ35q3wmjiVd4pd-FRneSHa6ceKbOO_/s1600-h/IMG_0645.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhICPUNHaqpOOKs4VE94ESejUHJ_Ff3hOsJj5vdKlgqPJueZoPm3nhDbg9glz_FDHF_7n-IrFHTzfDEfjZEAZorde5UD4WxRV5iZyxsziWr_lVnZ35q3wmjiVd4pd-FRneSHa6ceKbOO_/s200/IMG_0645.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323146989946673938" /></a> These people in turn told me about a lot of things that they liked that they thought that I would also like—to read, to watch, to hear, to drink, to eat, to use, to do, etc. Here, because lists and geographic regions are two of my fave ways to organize information, is a list of some of that data, a haphazard and organic look at what came up when we were where: <br /><br />In LA:<br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://wiredforwar.pwsinger.com/">Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century</a>, nonfiction by P.W. Singer <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_(novel)">Feed</a>, a YA novel by MT Anderson <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Have_Always_Lived_in_the_Castle">We Have Always Lived in the Castle</a>, a novel by Shirley Jackson (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunting_of_Hill_House">The Haunting of Hill House</a>, a novel by Shirley Jackson (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Doubletakes-Pairs-Contemporary-Short-Stories/dp/0155060813/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt">Double Takes: Pairs of Contemporary Short Stories</a>, an anthology edited by T.C. Boyle <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Baghdad-Brian-K-Vaughan/dp/1401203159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238951392&sr=1-1 ">Pride of Baghdad</a>, a graphic novel by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon <br />Pretty much anything by <a href="http://www.tcboyle.com/">T.C. Boyle </a><br /><br /> To Ride: <br /><a href="http://www.metro.net/index.asp">The Metro</a> (rode it; loved it) <br /><br /> To Visit: <br /><a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/museum-of-death-los-angeles-2">The Museum of Death</a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUZbUPFlzWxoKX0J5vj6eW3zTJ8GNmuCDTfb9eJl8kjPV7r6oELnIdam1k5WaOcKDUP9KHV_rxR2SIscpbxH03HqIj0Ophdh2onPVM4EZA3jMUjX8EM5GcQb0rtLV-YjXI8kfbIeKkuzy/s1600-h/IMG_0099.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUZbUPFlzWxoKX0J5vj6eW3zTJ8GNmuCDTfb9eJl8kjPV7r6oELnIdam1k5WaOcKDUP9KHV_rxR2SIscpbxH03HqIj0Ophdh2onPVM4EZA3jMUjX8EM5GcQb0rtLV-YjXI8kfbIeKkuzy/s200/IMG_0099.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323147842683985362" /></a><br />In San Francisco: <br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effi_Briest">Effi Briest</a> by Theodore Fontane <br />A<a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=42858 "> Miracle, a Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers</a> by Lawrence Weschler <br /><em>Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin </em>by Lawrence Weschler<br /><em>Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology</em> by Lawrence Weschler <br /><a href="http://www.peterorner.net/">The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo</a> by Peter Orner <br /><a href="http://www.peterorner.net/">Esther Stories</a> by Peter Orner: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje1d1d81C0nYWoNcowy4uScIbBViyyIoxQyUxGt1LdDiNiSDpaHUPvEOv4mOOsTF8gctaO8R_ZgF20PlqKd9lHVBOsgQC3oBuFIT7-NTnSsrIma8C6quv4CE_CEqZTRjlTSsWXOwS-I4bd/s1600-h/IMG_0147.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje1d1d81C0nYWoNcowy4uScIbBViyyIoxQyUxGt1LdDiNiSDpaHUPvEOv4mOOsTF8gctaO8R_ZgF20PlqKd9lHVBOsgQC3oBuFIT7-NTnSsrIma8C6quv4CE_CEqZTRjlTSsWXOwS-I4bd/s200/IMG_0147.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323149127444663362" /></a> <br />In Portland: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2OfBcwtMeWMgs8haUx6aAnxSwVM_byIRAVEezgREM1UjIgH-OEcgMq9VlVzKrX5Q-Dw6eefh2sAhBTo4qhWKbfopjrQmc8uThZxva3uYNHxQy7oAeMLUtuciE0MaUNoHXOFT-3VHvQlFf/s1600-h/IMG_0161.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2OfBcwtMeWMgs8haUx6aAnxSwVM_byIRAVEezgREM1UjIgH-OEcgMq9VlVzKrX5Q-Dw6eefh2sAhBTo4qhWKbfopjrQmc8uThZxva3uYNHxQy7oAeMLUtuciE0MaUNoHXOFT-3VHvQlFf/s200/IMG_0161.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323163591775001970" /></a> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/0081594">“Detroit Arcadia: Exploring the Post-American Landscape,”</a> an article by Rebecca Solnit in Harper’s (read it; loved it)<br /><br />In Seattle: <br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.antiochseattle.edu/academics/ba/faculty/BryanTomasovich.html">Ouisconsin: the Dead in Our Clouds</a>, poetry by Bryan Tomasovich <br /><a href="http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-59376-196-1">All About Lulu</a>, a novel by Jonathan Evison: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkDTITsvgmEwCZlFtc1fZ9_WBtVTJXhOdm-kOTzY4ZrudJ6D4ZJhhXVzBctG5ijdN2aqZMmuWh6gLpAWaUFila_GBikgO77QwR72BkQxr-tccfsahXJT330Z0TH1zbbdJpEjubXoG0qJkq/s1600-h/IMG_0213.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkDTITsvgmEwCZlFtc1fZ9_WBtVTJXhOdm-kOTzY4ZrudJ6D4ZJhhXVzBctG5ijdN2aqZMmuWh6gLpAWaUFila_GBikgO77QwR72BkQxr-tccfsahXJT330Z0TH1zbbdJpEjubXoG0qJkq/s200/IMG_0213.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323150813579547682" /></a> <br />In Bellingham: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkj-_SURIZoxOBNXUv4vl3h1d-G7CCttY6-NdYAjhmNaAIbEEJqpXEC2KYZUNY28NVIMhWUWicxzaX2pDzRVLQ5FAMvyxiIaWDidaUTZOt1zFGpak-TREj4N0qjT_rgJNSpzKZIgMl40E9/s1600-h/IMG_0250.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkj-_SURIZoxOBNXUv4vl3h1d-G7CCttY6-NdYAjhmNaAIbEEJqpXEC2KYZUNY28NVIMhWUWicxzaX2pDzRVLQ5FAMvyxiIaWDidaUTZOt1zFGpak-TREj4N0qjT_rgJNSpzKZIgMl40E9/s200/IMG_0250.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323152144884522402" /></a><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Dolls ">Valley of the Dolls,</a> a novel by Jacqueline Susann <br /> <br /> To Watch:<br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058390/">The Naked Kiss</a> by Samuel Fuller <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057495/">Shock Corridor</a> by Samuel Fuller <br /><br />In Tacoma:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6NuDxmGh24LjmA5pqchuEH-ophKXL2QqNGvW7efEjHfTZkIHYLSfiG6m9v7v8-sAabHlFxCZC1T5iJlVVgbBQg0tOewwv3FpPAcGg-hTeHemHd4CgkUX_-PmK3X6luq-BfE1L3T9T8xX/s1600-h/IMG_0294.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv6NuDxmGh24LjmA5pqchuEH-ophKXL2QqNGvW7efEjHfTZkIHYLSfiG6m9v7v8-sAabHlFxCZC1T5iJlVVgbBQg0tOewwv3FpPAcGg-hTeHemHd4CgkUX_-PmK3X6luq-BfE1L3T9T8xX/s200/IMG_0294.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323173678566498162" /></a><br />To Read:<br /><a href="http://rantsravesreviews.homestead.com/ArtObjects.html">“Writer, Reader, Words,”</a> an essay by Jeanette Winterson (read it; loved it): "The serious writer cannot be in competition for sales and attention from the ever expanding leisure industry. She can only offer what she has ever offered; an exceptional sensibility combined with an exceptional control over words." Yes. <br /><br />To Listen To:<br /><a href="http://www.centro-matic.com/">Centro-matic</a> (listened to it; loved it) <br /><br />In Minneapolis: <br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exposure-Kathryn-Harrison/dp/0446670235">Exposure</a>, a novel by Kathryn Harrison <br /><br /> To Watch:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTef0HWbW_M">The Danish Poet</a>, a short film <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belly_(film)">Belly</a> <br /><br /> To Listen to:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Nyro">Laura Nyro</a> <br /><a href="http://www.wendywaldman.com/">Wendy Waldman</a> <br /><br /> To Drink at:<br /><a href="http://www.onmilwaukee.com/bars/business/arts.html">Kochanski’s Concertina Bar</a> on the south side of Milwaukee (formerly Art’s Concertina Bar) <br />Grumpy's, near the Loft, which featured prominently in the short story Rebecca Kanner read (drank there; loved it): <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0anCGsITcephTfzidGt2Y39W_qibwOW_bj87W64QefX2nmboT9qpvuqZDWNp8Dl6RmCc5ye8lIUH5jSzRwufNSRtJJisxKtdLPK2AdWTQs2Ed_yVPqw4zZB_2ygURej2WUajgl37ZK6pC/s1600-h/IMG_0365.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0anCGsITcephTfzidGt2Y39W_qibwOW_bj87W64QefX2nmboT9qpvuqZDWNp8Dl6RmCc5ye8lIUH5jSzRwufNSRtJJisxKtdLPK2AdWTQs2Ed_yVPqw4zZB_2ygURej2WUajgl37ZK6pC/s200/IMG_0365.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323155434041633890" /></a><br />In Milwaukee: <br /><br /> To Read:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_or_Ardor">Ada, Or Ardor</a> by Vladimir Nabokov <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pnin">Pnin</a> by Vladimir Nabokov <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Half">The Dark Half</a> by Stephen King <br /><br />To Watch: <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343135/">Along Came Polly</a> <br /><br />In Chicago:<br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/85gsc7qh9780252030536.html">Dark Horses: Poets on Overlooked Poems</a>, an anthology edited by Joy Katz and Kevin Prufer <br /><a href="http://switchbackbooks.com/bodyfeel.html">The Bodyfeel Lexicon</a>, poems by Jessica Bozek <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Chatterley's_Lover">Lady Chatterley’s Lover</a>, a novel by D. H. Lawrence <br /><em>Specs</em>, a literary magazine<br /><a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/happy.htm">You Must Be This Happy to Enter</a>, short stories by Elizabeth Crane (read it; loved it) <br /><br />To Watch:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_(film)">Metropolitan</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip_girl">Gossip Girl</a> <br /><br />In Boston:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQO0-ggH2gVNdfXaSjfimZJYXhV6TXn5EirOpfu_ow6V0KUMr1iokKQIHDYglvfMVstvS6AK2TUA3LFGWGKqtGZKO-s6PF_TDROQXm_cOzpkemC5BtmqwX8p_LrPeXCIX2rG9bqmX9pTZX/s1600-h/IMG_0529.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQO0-ggH2gVNdfXaSjfimZJYXhV6TXn5EirOpfu_ow6V0KUMr1iokKQIHDYglvfMVstvS6AK2TUA3LFGWGKqtGZKO-s6PF_TDROQXm_cOzpkemC5BtmqwX8p_LrPeXCIX2rG9bqmX9pTZX/s200/IMG_0529.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323162164669923778" /></a><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.slicemagazine.org/ ">Slice</a>, a literary magazine<br /><a href="http://www.thenormalschool.com/">The Normal School</a>, a literary magazine <br /><a href="http://us.macmillan.com/howsassychangedmylife">How Sassy Changed My Life: a Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time</a> by Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer <br /><br />In Provincetown: <br /><br /> To Read:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Loved_Flowers">The Man Who Loved Flowers</a>, a short story by Stephen King from the collection Night Shift <br /><br /> To Drink at: <br />The Governor Bradford (drank there; loved it): <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbPBWHyTF-DGDmW6Lr8c4cgnX7oaLlWo9NS7rwZuWBvhTK4bbMKBYBHK_mALyitnbEnOLOnQsX5HbMn6g16YJQDXAKCYw87R6p5H3RjVXfWmEhH4BEqK_ick6w5LMcAjiDHCeVmHNpI90/s1600-h/IMG_0586.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbPBWHyTF-DGDmW6Lr8c4cgnX7oaLlWo9NS7rwZuWBvhTK4bbMKBYBHK_mALyitnbEnOLOnQsX5HbMn6g16YJQDXAKCYw87R6p5H3RjVXfWmEhH4BEqK_ick6w5LMcAjiDHCeVmHNpI90/s200/IMG_0586.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323149965261161698" /></a><br /><br />In Providence:<br /> <br />To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.brianevenson.com/">Last Days</a>, a novel by Brian Evenson:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyIyd8w_q2yVIozRtrsDMDzbuiLtzOV8ILTzgfjiEkszFCl6eXgdbeiqcFIAeRPILVLzn95sIdcOSZmv3OccYmHYU2zPHBjlAaVwV5Tc6ws1jlUrOKkWJb0VhBQAYtBgjrNMeTwrzY_LD/s1600-h/IMG_0609.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyIyd8w_q2yVIozRtrsDMDzbuiLtzOV8ILTzgfjiEkszFCl6eXgdbeiqcFIAeRPILVLzn95sIdcOSZmv3OccYmHYU2zPHBjlAaVwV5Tc6ws1jlUrOKkWJb0VhBQAYtBgjrNMeTwrzY_LD/s200/IMG_0609.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323164529246381762" /></a><br /> <br /><a href="http://boaeditions.org/bookstore/details.php?prodId=221">On the Winding Stair</a>, short stories by Joanna Howard <br /><br /> To Look at:<br /><a href="http://www.openarts.org/benwatkins/index.php ">The art of Ben Watkins</a><br /><br /> To Listen To:<br /><a href="http://www.keithandthegirl.com/">Keith and the Girl</a> <br /><br />In New York:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgHiMb6Nx2Qjpy_g0sFekG4GtmF_fTdlk6HkBHIZxOxx5bU36Ycowuqf4-FHXVAr-JgtamRYRLhkxyby10QcQjNNAI0eLOlGe_ZRjsoOG_8BX2Z0MjLVYAUOWI2T3F4CesKJRZapW4T9e/s1600-h/IMG_0639.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgHiMb6Nx2Qjpy_g0sFekG4GtmF_fTdlk6HkBHIZxOxx5bU36Ycowuqf4-FHXVAr-JgtamRYRLhkxyby10QcQjNNAI0eLOlGe_ZRjsoOG_8BX2Z0MjLVYAUOWI2T3F4CesKJRZapW4T9e/s200/IMG_0639.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323175077799731314" /></a><br /> To Read:<br /><a href="http://muumuuhouse.com/store.html">Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs</a> by Ellen Kennedy (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://theartinstinct.com/">The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure and Human Evolution</a>, nonfiction by Denis Dutton <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chilly-Scenes-Winter-Ann-Beattie/dp/0679732349">Chilly Scenes of Winter</a>, a novel by Anne Beattie <br /><a href="http://giganticsequins.blogspot.com/">Gigantic Sequins</a>, a literary magazine <br /><a href="http://theagreader.com/">The Agriculture Reader</a>, a literary magazine <br /><a href="http://x-ingbooks.com/senator.html">Official Correspondence from the Senator</a>, a chapbook by Jeremy Schmall <br /><a href="http://www.recessionwire.com/">Recessionwire.com</a> <br /><a href="http://jeremyhoffeld.blogspot.com/">Jeremy Hoffeld in New York</a>, a blog by Jeremy Hoffeld in New York (read it; love it): <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052847/"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQHpfzwMPNNqRSBV5shoNFyGbw0HtpkRx7yEtYokAVXc6P2CH3IgiX8DLwXhYX4ukwjU_uxDXvoHXQkpUz4-iDTk_clwoXjlpv2frqmrz_Db4gCdnHtq7xh346EdLBx1bmSvkBhTL1lpAR/s1600-h/IMG_0659.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQHpfzwMPNNqRSBV5shoNFyGbw0HtpkRx7yEtYokAVXc6P2CH3IgiX8DLwXhYX4ukwjU_uxDXvoHXQkpUz4-iDTk_clwoXjlpv2frqmrz_Db4gCdnHtq7xh346EdLBx1bmSvkBhTL1lpAR/s200/IMG_0659.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323181470423236642" /></a> <br /><br /> To Watch: <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cross_and_the_Switchblade">The Cross and the Switchblade</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_E">WALL-E</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratatouille_(film)">Ratatouille</a> <br /><br /> To Look at: <br />The art of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Pfaff">Judy Pfaff</a> <br /><br /> To Listen To:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GG_Allin">GG Allin</a> <br /><br /> To Drink:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroni">Negroni</a>: 1 part gin, 1 part sweet vermouth, and 1 part bitter (normally Campari), recommended by Brendan: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicP7mH1uQ7HUz3chOxe4SzIeTNL3wLHl77UEp3XlajlAvv6oyaiADM6-CRlkqh1ihh5o5PdfdcGz1u-Qd-iYfr57royMGZAUeBF5vIcwxF_rlW1PQuW5Iy6NN64HzBLfw6rKj-tu_oYscb/s1600-h/IMG_0794.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicP7mH1uQ7HUz3chOxe4SzIeTNL3wLHl77UEp3XlajlAvv6oyaiADM6-CRlkqh1ihh5o5PdfdcGz1u-Qd-iYfr57royMGZAUeBF5vIcwxF_rlW1PQuW5Iy6NN64HzBLfw6rKj-tu_oYscb/s200/IMG_0794.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323170046165157042" /></a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha ">Kombucha</a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbt-EI6H0CEgGNmaxk9tFLPxNyqOrTV3Y8b5O64hTRjl5wMCVSfovaBYbo6glhzPI0e0tOfIHgl92KJkzahdo3wcfjiV9znilHgiOPHjgrBuI2iq2SoPU9fICKXhWYPQUtviJPI1ywr_f/s1600-h/IMG_0778.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbt-EI6H0CEgGNmaxk9tFLPxNyqOrTV3Y8b5O64hTRjl5wMCVSfovaBYbo6glhzPI0e0tOfIHgl92KJkzahdo3wcfjiV9znilHgiOPHjgrBuI2iq2SoPU9fICKXhWYPQUtviJPI1ywr_f/s200/IMG_0778.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323155964853983106" /></a>recommended by Tao Lin:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJxOCSM2UR9OcOtWOVP063hYbPV-IbHlLDiUimvg01IeoKsXKeDByAA-_wIYu_9O3Hi2rTXqgaWvXJE_G3M1w8G-_KmXCnGxOe00Z2BehaKb-0YFLyveYld_5B3RikMaetbfT-zsQHIRd/s1600-h/IMG_0772.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJxOCSM2UR9OcOtWOVP063hYbPV-IbHlLDiUimvg01IeoKsXKeDByAA-_wIYu_9O3Hi2rTXqgaWvXJE_G3M1w8G-_KmXCnGxOe00Z2BehaKb-0YFLyveYld_5B3RikMaetbfT-zsQHIRd/s200/IMG_0772.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323536279148786738" /></a> <br /> To Attend:<br /><a href="http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com/">The In the Flesh Reading Series</a><br /><a href="http://litcrawlnyc.wordpress.com/">Lit Crawl NY</a><br /><br /> To Wear:<br />Other people’s stylish glasses, like Jeremy here, wearing Jeremy's glasses: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0I6nDS2_lrAJEqwIrmHinlOzSZVfLjAQkQfdCvcBdRIWwSpTu1EavM5FvKFoi_2VxuxpT_Gz0JPooT7cFESl7DZObx_zK8LzoImI7FTtLl2cRuelTwYsjvNUw1bpRVGSU-3jpUjaKAlNt/s1600-h/IMG_0665.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0I6nDS2_lrAJEqwIrmHinlOzSZVfLjAQkQfdCvcBdRIWwSpTu1EavM5FvKFoi_2VxuxpT_Gz0JPooT7cFESl7DZObx_zK8LzoImI7FTtLl2cRuelTwYsjvNUw1bpRVGSU-3jpUjaKAlNt/s200/IMG_0665.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323146351346888450" /></a><br /><br />In Baltimore:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQN2-jclLLdEVJvhzymMCYq8uwq2DQRrAM-snulURZ_YmjHWXqZXqnca6z3lYfRGaHqnkhmTRsBj9NQ6A1Zq-cl7t3L7lqKzla-LwhzP6voOyna8icRgHoqkTl42ITqGQTsDvGnRbXD0S/s1600-h/IMG_0816.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQN2-jclLLdEVJvhzymMCYq8uwq2DQRrAM-snulURZ_YmjHWXqZXqnca6z3lYfRGaHqnkhmTRsBj9NQ6A1Zq-cl7t3L7lqKzla-LwhzP6voOyna8icRgHoqkTl42ITqGQTsDvGnRbXD0S/s200/IMG_0816.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323151563047759698" /></a><br /> To Read:<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Megillat-Esther-J-T-Waldman/dp/0827607881">Megillat Esther</a>, by JT Waldman <br /><br /> To Learn How to Cook:<br />Almond-crusted tomato sandwiches<br /><br /> To Visit in Memphis:<br /><a href="http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11606">The Crystal Grotto</a> <br /><a href="http://www.peabodymemphis.com/">The Peabody Hotel</a>, containing the ducks <br /><br />In DC: <br /><br /> To Read:<br /><a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780066212340">How Soccer Explains the World: an Unlikely Theory of Globalization</a> by Franklin Foer <br />Books from the small press <a href="http://www.beothukbooks.com/">Beothuk</a> <br /><br />“<a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/2/2carman.html">Rod Blagojevich Writes 25 Things About Himself on Facebook</a>” on McSweeneys by Sean Carman (read it; loved it) <br /><br /><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/the_education_of_oronte_churm/guest_post_sean_carman">“Maybe You Can Go Home Again”</a> by Sean Carman at the Inside Higher Ed blog (read it; loved it) <br /><br /> To Learn How to Cook:<br /><a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090108201322AATgc4V ">Shweji</a>, a Burmese dessert: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDvYAjC3dJDijPP0tCI_Rp_tt3tEczL9isfu2kRBccLDFITErdd4-xfJ8_aJWtRY9NUBjliU2NcBBtTXuJWwgqr37OUN1IeqYKuJ0alPpmhybphuqIwGQc8bX_OaUDiM2CKqsT4i3wIZ3/s1600-h/IMG_0857.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDvYAjC3dJDijPP0tCI_Rp_tt3tEczL9isfu2kRBccLDFITErdd4-xfJ8_aJWtRY9NUBjliU2NcBBtTXuJWwgqr37OUN1IeqYKuJ0alPpmhybphuqIwGQc8bX_OaUDiM2CKqsT4i3wIZ3/s200/IMG_0857.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323152705633269442" /></a><br />To Visit in NYC: <br /><a href="http://www.grolierclub.org/">The Grolier Club</a>, America's oldest and largest society for bibliophiles and enthusiasts in the graphic arts <br /><br />In Chicago (again):<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-vmFHx5BkYDXf9z5m9JEy_r77Jl4hhNwK0jr4r4gMAyo1nG1SkEONHAY6SMsi8Q6Ru7RYVGfxthQxMRNe9npMLn_njgU85hiKAqyWErMp6BmIVPTex03lLAGJ3qjVRcJQy-kspgeT7HFg/s1600-h/IMG_0882.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-vmFHx5BkYDXf9z5m9JEy_r77Jl4hhNwK0jr4r4gMAyo1nG1SkEONHAY6SMsi8Q6Ru7RYVGfxthQxMRNe9npMLn_njgU85hiKAqyWErMp6BmIVPTex03lLAGJ3qjVRcJQy-kspgeT7HFg/s200/IMG_0882.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323158045398400482" /></a><br /> To Attend:<br />Theatre productions (especially <a href="http://collaboraction.tix.com/Schedule.asp?OrganizationNumber=1398">Sketchbook</a>) by <a href="http://collaboraction.typepad.com/">Collaboraction</a> <br /><br />In Fayetteville: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-oL9W4rY2-KEPTJsbK4y1e_04FZFCa9Xkxh4oIBlSjAIYZqtyi7uVrSDlzeoQjCB5ebSWpI_Re_fGZx44vG3WaJ848VfRBGuQcdDK2BrLmktNrf3dqd4xudKC2W9KZ_DutKnfxYeCqf3j/s1600-h/IMG_0953.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-oL9W4rY2-KEPTJsbK4y1e_04FZFCa9Xkxh4oIBlSjAIYZqtyi7uVrSDlzeoQjCB5ebSWpI_Re_fGZx44vG3WaJ848VfRBGuQcdDK2BrLmktNrf3dqd4xudKC2W9KZ_DutKnfxYeCqf3j/s200/IMG_0953.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323159824164623618" /></a><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.nightofthegun.com/">Night of the Gun</a>, a memoir by David Carr <br /><a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=23063">The Last Fine Time</a>, a memoir by Verlyn Klinkenbourg <br /><a href="http://linebreak.org/about/">Linebreak</a>, a literary magazine <br /><br /> To Watch: <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_Me_in_St._Louis">Meet Me in St. Louis</a> <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081283/">Ordinary People</a> <br /><br /> To Wear: <br />Your scarf over your head when a winter storm blows in suddenly and you’ve forgotten your umbrella: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikhIkupxjXcpnWjWLx5lbzl6ubrnSy_M16-nC6d5E_jaUNkQzBNhdOS5XJPT4AOs44MwfvhppFOHsVQ94JfppiFt3wnjW8AlqOcHF_c49jlEb6SBY2mmHvaPTwqQpr_BWQREZSiNrNYJTr/s1600-h/IMG_0959.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikhIkupxjXcpnWjWLx5lbzl6ubrnSy_M16-nC6d5E_jaUNkQzBNhdOS5XJPT4AOs44MwfvhppFOHsVQ94JfppiFt3wnjW8AlqOcHF_c49jlEb6SBY2mmHvaPTwqQpr_BWQREZSiNrNYJTr/s200/IMG_0959.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323145155241620034" /></a><br /><br />In Memphis: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3rK2FOIOhMHWXnJy9sUV7KxyrRqW0mBwCYR0bdEYEQNjwIx_9dRiFC4baJMsyAq3rY9cyuhIy_8ZD17mXYC8VIaTRDg24_i8JQ7oCMxHOGz6ZI1usCV_HzcT4r2L0nhJj7kbLWCTegmk/s1600-h/IMG_1007.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3rK2FOIOhMHWXnJy9sUV7KxyrRqW0mBwCYR0bdEYEQNjwIx_9dRiFC4baJMsyAq3rY9cyuhIy_8ZD17mXYC8VIaTRDg24_i8JQ7oCMxHOGz6ZI1usCV_HzcT4r2L0nhJj7kbLWCTegmk/s200/IMG_1007.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323174391968473474" /></a><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Book-Thief-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375831002">The Book Thief</a>, a YA novel by Markus Zusak <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Territory-Men-Memoir-Joelle-Fraser/dp/0812968182">The Territory of Men: a Memoir</a> by Joelle Fraser <br /><a href="http://us.macmillan.com/themanwhoturnedintohimself">The Man Who Turned Into Himself: a Novel</a> by David Ambrose <br /><br /> To Watch: <br /><a href="http://www.thevisitorfilm.com/">The Visitor</a> <br /><br /> To Listen To: <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_Softly_Lonely_One">Cry Softly, Lonely One</a> by Roy Orbison <br /><br /> To Visit: <br /><a href="http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/">Stax Museum of American Soul Music</a> <br /><br />In Edwardsville:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0sR9J-QBfCM_ED2FB1WZomA3oQcM-O2N4MAyPbI_8Rn5fPyAc1q5Kh1k0cFEwnT3SPZVz4N9loS5QpYWTfHy9SZBMNz4IplFXe6VESkxMEuRR6xQr-s8aYHjUla1IO7THKPX6ECJkFz8/s1600-h/IMG_1028.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0sR9J-QBfCM_ED2FB1WZomA3oQcM-O2N4MAyPbI_8Rn5fPyAc1q5Kh1k0cFEwnT3SPZVz4N9loS5QpYWTfHy9SZBMNz4IplFXe6VESkxMEuRR6xQr-s8aYHjUla1IO7THKPX6ECJkFz8/s200/IMG_1028.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323178843607189634" /></a><br /> To read: <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Song-Stacey-Lynn-Brown/dp/0981501052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238948502&sr=1-1">Cradle Song</a>, poetry by Stacey Lynn Brown <br /><br /> To Wash With: <br /><a href="http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=163381&catid=12957&aid=337568&aparam=fresh_soap_milk_milk_7&CAWELAID=60272701">Milk Milk</a> soap from Fresh <br /><br />In Champaign-Urbana: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9FYvcyM-dDbTSjwWf1LALpNJizrNpxuSvoaKIzPeBUXpFIxq8DZ9iA7xU1LdEI9s27Ee8kdKjbUDS8R9npQWSArCPkz4-EafdXrgWqsOSBRMvUlyLTYhOGwBFoEIpgE16EjYDatnaGh3/s1600-h/IMG_1060.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo9FYvcyM-dDbTSjwWf1LALpNJizrNpxuSvoaKIzPeBUXpFIxq8DZ9iA7xU1LdEI9s27Ee8kdKjbUDS8R9npQWSArCPkz4-EafdXrgWqsOSBRMvUlyLTYhOGwBFoEIpgE16EjYDatnaGh3/s200/IMG_1060.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323176907466477010" /></a><br /> To Read: <br />Anything by Richard Powers, but especially <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/21/specials/powers-variations.html">The Gold Bug Variations</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/books/review/Whitehead.t.html">The Echo Maker</a> <br /><br />In Bellingham again: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHKktaJMSKfGUAEJcrKE-FhfeJ7JNRT4seAxCeNbNX0cY6Jaa15zLjkTgJ45N57U4cODhYuUXkISQa8GICQNk73z_Ttg6-Dln5ff6om09UmeexlEt5bFlkrfAr41skTSv02HCB0vH4uZh/s1600-h/IMG_1103.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHKktaJMSKfGUAEJcrKE-FhfeJ7JNRT4seAxCeNbNX0cY6Jaa15zLjkTgJ45N57U4cODhYuUXkISQa8GICQNk73z_Ttg6-Dln5ff6om09UmeexlEt5bFlkrfAr41skTSv02HCB0vH4uZh/s200/IMG_1103.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323176192778606530" /></a><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://myweb.facstaff.wwu.edu/millerb/books-blessing.shtml">Blessing of the Animals</a>, a collection of essays by Brenda Miller <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cool-You-Eileen-Myles/dp/188712859X">Cool for You</a>, poems by Eileen Myles <br /><a href="http://www.ohiostatepress.org/">American Husband</a>, poems by Kary Wayson <br /><a href="http://www.autumnhouse.org/index.cfm?method=bookDetail&bookID=84B59A44-3048-2E0B-0675CA75A9600DB5">No Sweeter Fat</a>, poems by Nancy Pagh <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Body-Language-Kelly-Magee/dp/1574412191">Body Language</a>, short stories by Kelly Magee <br /><a href="http://jjgallaher.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-difficulty-in-poetry-reginald.html">“On Difficulty in Poetry,”</a> an essay by Reginald Shepherd (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://www.poetrymagazine.com/archives/2005/Summer005/Features/alexie.htm ">“Captivity,”</a> an essay by Sherman Alexie<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sayonara-Mrs-Kackleman-Maira-Kalman/dp/0140541594">Sayonara Mrs. Kackleman</a>, a kids’ book by Maira Kalman <br /><br /> To Eat:<br /><a href="http://www.germandeli.com/rittersport2.html">Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Marzipan</a> <br /><br /> To Know About and Maybe Try to Go to Sometime:<br /><a href="http://www.hedgebrook.org/">Hedgebrook</a>: a rural retreat on Whidbey Island for Women Writers <br /><br />In Chicago again:<br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://eunuchsblues.blogspot.com/">Inside a Red Corvette: a 90s Mix Tape</a>, a poetry chapbook by Becca Klaver of Switchback Books from Greying Ghost Press (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://www.tiltpress.com/index_files/News.htm">a / long / division</a> a poetry chapbook by Hanna Andrews of Switchback Books from Tilt Press (read it; loved it): <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByyw1RC18vexEHEM4RDUMbmcIwLk2u2riums1Oap0Had0-bqJGYId0CSFanwEWZd6hxp4Mjegtr4X7HVZuiEUrimG9Fe_Vf_gpKoBjg6JOgAFg_vglIV5EvneZQeB768CFAEgHYhiBrmE/s1600-h/IMG_0463.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByyw1RC18vexEHEM4RDUMbmcIwLk2u2riums1Oap0Had0-bqJGYId0CSFanwEWZd6hxp4Mjegtr4X7HVZuiEUrimG9Fe_Vf_gpKoBjg6JOgAFg_vglIV5EvneZQeB768CFAEgHYhiBrmE/s200/IMG_0463.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323145640004857266" /></a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_Qualities">The Man without Qualities</a>, a novel by Robert Musil <br /><br />In Ann Arbor:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3jCl-LUEzVfBzAb2DtR_U1f3FTp71Xk8OZiPCC0oPVFAnQpqPII7H-m2v0j7SUZGF1KtbxJFLfuDxs91TPL9Q0SE1SX5ogg25e3InPCk_kNn9WLgcoeaTRwToFFHdps9Upw4zWctNnXO/s1600-h/IMG_1201.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3jCl-LUEzVfBzAb2DtR_U1f3FTp71Xk8OZiPCC0oPVFAnQpqPII7H-m2v0j7SUZGF1KtbxJFLfuDxs91TPL9Q0SE1SX5ogg25e3InPCk_kNn9WLgcoeaTRwToFFHdps9Upw4zWctNnXO/s200/IMG_1201.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323158877275881330" /></a><br /> To Read:<br /><a href="http://hobart.typepad.com/hobart/2009/01/mary-millers-big-world-buy-it-now.html">Big World</a>, short stories by Mary Miller, from Short Flight/Long Drive Books <br /><a href="http://hobartpulp.com/minibooks/ ">The Sicily Papers</a>, a travel memoir by Michelle Orange, from Short Flight/Long Drive Books <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead">Walking Dead</a>, a zombie comic created by Robert Kirkman <br /><a href="http://www.coffeehousepress.org/murderaviolet.asp">Murder (a violet)</a>, poems by Ray McDaniel <br /><a href="http://www.coffeehousepress.org/saltwaterempire.asp">Saltwater Empire</a>, poems by Ray McDaniel <br /><a href="http://www.hobartpulp.com/games/magicessay.html">Anything</a> by Mike Alber <br /><br /> To Watch:<br /><a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/quarantine/ ">Quarantine</a> <br /><a href="http://www.lettherightoneinmovie.com/">Let the Right One In</a> <br /><br /> To Eat:<br />Grilled peanut butter sandwiches with garlic salt <br /><br /> To Visit:<br /><a href="http://www.citypaper.net/food/restaurants/id/2249/Big+Jar+Books+&%3B+Coffeeshop">Big Jar Books</a> in Philadelphia (which I can’t totally tell if it exists) <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit">Detroit</a> <br /> <br />In Chicago again:<br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.siu.edu/~siupress/Kercheval%20Cinema%20Muto.html ">Cinema Muto</a>, poems by Jesse Lee Kercheval <br /><a href="http://www.mayapplepress.com/BookPages/George.htm">This Must Be the Place</a>, poems by Alice George <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bestiary-Elise-Paschen/dp/1597091316">Bestiary</a>, poems by Elise Paschen <br /><a href="http://www.shearsman.com/pages/books/authors/odeliusA.html">Strange Trades</a>, poems by Kristy Odelius <br /><a href="http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/endersgame/endersgame.shtml">Ender’s Game</a>, a novel by Orson Scott Card <br /><a href="http://wisecrackzine.blogspot.com/">Wisecrack: Feminism & Comedy</a>, a literary magazine <br /><a href="http://www.dorislessing.org/thechild.html">The Fifth Child</a>, a novel by Doris Lessing (read it; loved it) <br /><br /> To Watch:<br />Silent films from <a href="http://www.wisconsinbioscope.com/ ">Wisconsin Bioscope</a> <br /><br />In Carlsbad, California:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gDcifxsXE2Eq8mj810Y86k26zbLI8G81K1P27vZ-wxJN8TjPGJFzbafwYDV364FPzCgKhqMEDwp_mqMqFYbyUirYdILaiPux-7nesedAnlKI_MmMCzKBuc7W8Oq3DZtkjcaAvW5ky9-Q/s1600-h/IMG_1322.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2gDcifxsXE2Eq8mj810Y86k26zbLI8G81K1P27vZ-wxJN8TjPGJFzbafwYDV364FPzCgKhqMEDwp_mqMqFYbyUirYdILaiPux-7nesedAnlKI_MmMCzKBuc7W8Oq3DZtkjcaAvW5ky9-Q/s200/IMG_1322.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323163110461817810" /></a><br /> To Read: <br />Hardboiled novels by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Macdonald">Ross Macdonald</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_roger_ackroyd">The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</a>, a novel by Agatha Christie <br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781582432557-1">Why Did I Ever?</a>, a novel by Mary Robison <br />Reader’s Block, a novel by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Markson">David Markson</a> <br />Wittgenstein’s Mistress, a novel by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Markson">David Markson</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas ">Cloud Atlas</a>, a novel by David Mitchell <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deer-Head-Nation-Silem-Mohammad/dp/0974016705">Deer Head Nation</a>, poems by K. Silem Mohammad <br /><a href="http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/hejinian/mylife/">My Life</a>, poems by Lyn Hejinian <br /><a href="http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-933368-63-2">Candy in Action</a>, a novel by Matthue Roth <br />A Harper’s article about the NYC sewage/wastewater system (something about the Big <br />Flush)<br /><a href="http://kitchenpresschapbooks.blogspot.com/2008/09/hit-wave-jon-leon.html">Hit Wave</a>, a chapbook by Jon Leon (from Kitchen Press) <br /><a href="http://www.uapress.ua.edu/NewSearch2.cfm?id=10894">Telling It Slant: Avant Garde Poetics of the1990s</a> edited by Mark Wallace and Steven <br />Marks <br /><a href="http://www.aerialedge.com/haze.htm">Haze</a>, poems by Mark Wallace <br /><em>The Temporary Worker Rides a Subway</em>, poems by Mark Wallace (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1647411.speculations_descending_therefrom?utm_medium=api&utm_source=grid_widget">speculations descending therefrom</a> a poetry chapbook by <a href="http://terminalhumming.blogspot.com/">K. Lorraine Graham</a> (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Telling-Future-Off-Stephanie-Young/dp/0974016748">Telling the Future Off</a> by Stephanie Young <br />Books from <a href="http://www.tougherdisguises.com">Tougher Disguises Press</a> <br />Books by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Meetze">James Meetze</a> <br /><a href="http://www.accidentalhedonist.com">Accidental Hedonist</a>, a food blog <br /><a href="http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/">The Traveler’s Lunchbox</a>, a food blog by Melissa Kronenthal <br /><br /> To Watch:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU">“Kittens Inspired by Kittens”</a> on Youtube (watched it; cracked up) <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/">The Haunting</a> (the 1963 version) <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052847/">Gidget</a> <br /><br />To Listen To:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pyC7WnvLT4">“It Never Rains in Southern California”</a> by Albert Hammond (listened to it; cracked up) <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_christy">Something Cool</a> by June Christy <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Jackson">Wanda Jackson</a> (listened to it; cracked up/squirmed with discomfort) <br /><a href="http://www.keithjarrett.org/">Keith Jarrett</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pernice_Brothers">The Pernice Brothers</a> <br /><br />To Eat: <br /><a href="http://www.producepete.com/shows/persian.html">Persian Cucumbers</a> (especially in drinks) (ate/drank them; loved them)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadYNA8hWYcZ9NWVHbaOgNWYlAFySNvtdh3hYPwn4t6Fj7rMgAiwTnq9PWxTWY0Rdx31JejOIq9FoZdmVconpyee5dHWHGV4eeLLRpnUWfhAz-cRwP7djWdlf8s4yXE_vlbz1uaixt-KN9/s1600-h/IMG_1344.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadYNA8hWYcZ9NWVHbaOgNWYlAFySNvtdh3hYPwn4t6Fj7rMgAiwTnq9PWxTWY0Rdx31JejOIq9FoZdmVconpyee5dHWHGV4eeLLRpnUWfhAz-cRwP7djWdlf8s4yXE_vlbz1uaixt-KN9/s200/IMG_1344.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323148534676327746" /></a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_pollen">Bee Pollen</a> (ate it; felt healthy) <br /><br /> To Floss With:<br /><a href="http://www.drugstore.com/qxp145634_333181_sespider/crest_glide/dental_floss_deep_clean_mint.htm">Crest Mint Glide</a> <br /><br /> To Write With: <br /><a href="http://www.dickblick.com/products/stabilo-point-88-fineliner-pens/">Stablio Point 88</a> Fineliner pens <br /><br /> To Consider as a Potential Future Pet:<br /><a href="http://www.parrotlets.com/">Parrotlets</a> <br /><br /> To Someday Name a Cat:<br />Pianoface (but Lorraine gets first dibs) <br /><br />In Carbondale, IL:<br /><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/726">The Only World</a>, poems by Lynda Hull (read it; loved it) <br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0395510635">Transparent Gestures</a>, poems by Rodney Jones <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unborn-Poems-Rodney-Jones/dp/087113005X">The Unborn</a>, poems by Rodney Jones <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Things-That-Happen-Once-Poems/dp/0395856019">Things That Happen Once</a>, poems by Rodney Jones <br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/0807125563">Carolina Ghost Woods</a>, poems by Judy Jordan <br /><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781932511253-0">My Psychic</a>, poems by James Kimbrell <br /><a href="http://www.laurabenedict.com/book-isabellamoon.cfm">Isabella Moon</a>, a novel by Laura Benedict: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFDq6qVSiozWhRVv_C4Lb-EELS_jDd1kkb50BIKq3dPmomvqR9HswMehDSgN9sFnLxnyAd36NekMjAtkYe2cTxuD_acnlYPkO-U7dNALLnOvTaWrcsTgYHSQzaD4wl-VNfP2m_SfvLM8v/s1600-h/IMG_1434.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFDq6qVSiozWhRVv_C4Lb-EELS_jDd1kkb50BIKq3dPmomvqR9HswMehDSgN9sFnLxnyAd36NekMjAtkYe2cTxuD_acnlYPkO-U7dNALLnOvTaWrcsTgYHSQzaD4wl-VNfP2m_SfvLM8v/s200/IMG_1434.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323171059073015458" /></a> <br /><a href="http://www.laurabenedict.com/book-cmlh.cfm ">Calling Mr. Lonelyhearts</a>, a novel by Laura Benedict <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Town-Smokes-Stories-Pinckney-Benedict/dp/0865380589">Town Smokes</a>, short stories by Pinckney Benedict: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6X5RwWbCaOlLjKdQ_3CfRThf7xkTN8MHmslCYmxaEzd5yBoQ6E1q2B-ZgKALmPZ21EUQP7iTC3fzTXZVDk4nqtWJhu1_lvqCjICNQRkf6_Jvk0wwOygqZmqpaMiMDat0c6xDCVI25Okj/s1600-h/IMG_1450.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6X5RwWbCaOlLjKdQ_3CfRThf7xkTN8MHmslCYmxaEzd5yBoQ6E1q2B-ZgKALmPZ21EUQP7iTC3fzTXZVDk4nqtWJhu1_lvqCjICNQRkf6_Jvk0wwOygqZmqpaMiMDat0c6xDCVI25Okj/s200/IMG_1450.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323172128863584034" /></a><br />Dogs of God, a novel by Pinckney Benedict<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wrecking-Yard-Pinckney-Benedict/dp/0385511191">The Wrecking Yard</a>, short stories by Pinckney Benedict <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reveries-Solitary-Walker-Jean-Jacques-Rousseau/dp/0872201627/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239038745&sr=1-1 ">Reveries of the Solitary Walker</a> by Jean-Jacques Rousseau <br />Anything by the poet <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/1275">Jack Gilbert</a> <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Legend-Richard-Matheson/dp/031286504X">I Am Legend</a>, a novella by Richard Matheson <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hell-House-Richard-Matheson/dp/0312868855/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239038953&sr=1-1">Hell House</a>, a novel by Richard Matheson <br /><a href="http://www.thomaslynch.com/grimalkin.html">Grimalkin and Other Poems</a> by Thomas Lynch <br /><a href="http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/thurber.htm">The Night the Ghost Got In</a>, a short story by James Thurber <br /><a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/4982.html">Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in Modern Horror Film</a> by Carol J. Clover <br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Iowa-Michael-Meyerhofer/dp/097744712X ">Leaving Iowa</a>, by Michael Meyerhoffer <br /><br /> To Watch: <br /><a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/feasting-on-waves/index.html">Feasting on Asphalt</a> on the Food Network by Alton Brown <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291311/">L’il Pimp</a> (a Laffs from the Hood Production) <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Yorga,_Vampire">Count Yorga</a> <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Vampires">Planet of the Vampires</a> <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0254688/plotsummary">Pick-Up</a> <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052969/">Killer Shrews</a> <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052846/">The Giant Gila Monster</a> <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071675/">It’s Alive</a> <br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071994/">Phantom of the Paradise</a> <br /><br /> To Attend: <br /><a href="http://www.dineatduffs.com/">Duff’s Reading Series</a> in St. Louis <br /><br />In Indianapolis, IN: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQobdPyGAP2pVg7oomWXAnYsiN_7dhpWsuYZCQ8cYEoevyMwUyRgK9zZhcxfXy1DBlZgFa_ogfHVlWXY3sHjCqfWCuKODkHwJ41oeP4xl53dh0hcnmbh_BrHn_sw8YRDQy1H6D-x4qZeI1/s1600-h/IMG_1483.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQobdPyGAP2pVg7oomWXAnYsiN_7dhpWsuYZCQ8cYEoevyMwUyRgK9zZhcxfXy1DBlZgFa_ogfHVlWXY3sHjCqfWCuKODkHwJ41oeP4xl53dh0hcnmbh_BrHn_sw8YRDQy1H6D-x4qZeI1/s200/IMG_1483.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323154077208257922" /></a><br /> To Read: <br /><a href="http://www.sunnyoutside.com/releases/013/modern_r.html">Modern Love</a>, a fiction chapbook by Andrew Scott, from Sunny Outside Press <br /><a href="http://freightstories.com/">Freight Stories</a>, a literary magazine for contemporary fiction <br /><br /> To Join:<br /><a href="http://andrewsbookclub.wordpress.com/">Andrew’s Book Club</a>, a book club for short story collections, run by Andrew Scott</a>Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-91164113295858520232009-04-11T18:56:00.011-04:002009-04-11T19:09:47.004-04:00Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNtHkQCYa15n1q-GCf5Ed1iOwr8Hn-Giu6ToJB0b_3lJ01bLfbhVShvR7cCJIANjvdXfB_MLp4HErvYJrmqS1ureVkBDJ4LcHkiWkE2nG0Kr_eQ7lW6eXqWmvt6tD69xZ54U_UaadZV0H/s1600-h/IMG_1512.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHNtHkQCYa15n1q-GCf5Ed1iOwr8Hn-Giu6ToJB0b_3lJ01bLfbhVShvR7cCJIANjvdXfB_MLp4HErvYJrmqS1ureVkBDJ4LcHkiWkE2nG0Kr_eQ7lW6eXqWmvt6tD69xZ54U_UaadZV0H/s200/IMG_1512.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323574565504839058" /></a> ...has some rock-solid rules for their monthly Figure Drawing Spectacular: 1. This is a participation-only drawing class. No looky-loos! 2. Respect your model. Don't make gross comments. Don't ask her out. 3. No messy or stinky mediums. How do I know? Thanks to <a href="http://carolguess.blogspot.com/">Carol Guess</a> (whose prose poetry collection <a href="http://rosemetalpress.com/Catalog/tinderbox_more.html">Tinderbox Lawn</a> is not to be missed), who sent the flier all the way from Hamsterdam to Chicago, where it looks really nice on the fridge. Thanks, Carol!Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-7961652248598584482009-04-06T15:37:00.004-04:002009-04-06T15:44:09.513-04:00The April issue of ARTnews......has a write-up--with pictures!--of <em>Live Nude Girl</em> in their "Art Talk" section. Sharing real estate <a href="http://artnews.com/issues/issue.asp?ID=10450">there are Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Yoko Ono</a>. Not bad. Thanks to Ann Landi for the write-up and to Beth Rooney and Salvatore Del Deo for the images.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-90115855157755683792009-04-04T11:33:00.001-04:002009-04-04T11:33:59.999-04:00One Hundred Things I Loved About Touring the United States with Kathleen Rooney (Part One: The First Fifty)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.rususa.com/city/images/train_los_angeles.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 635px; height: 769px;" src="http://www.rususa.com/city/images/train_los_angeles.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />1. Riding the Metro from the Green Line at the airport to the Blue Line to the Red Line to Hollywood, a surprisingly fun hours-long trip that allowed us to take in a whole lot of the city, including plenty of the parts where people tell you not to go. My favorite was South Central, where people were nicer and more helpful than almost any other place in any other city in the world. Michael Moore was right about South Central Los Angeles. It's a vibrant community, not a hellhole, and I liked it plenty.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j300/museumofdeath/MODKevorkianJackVeryStillLife.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 404px;" src="http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j300/museumofdeath/MODKevorkianJackVeryStillLife.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>2. Not Touring the Museum of Death (a relief!)<br /><br />3. Standing on Cowboy Gene Autry's Walk of Fame star.<br /><br />4. Meeting a bookstore employee at L.A.'s Skylight Books, remarking upon how friendly she was, liking her intensely, learning later that she was the fiction writer and anthologist K. Kvashay-Boyle, who I had already admired on the page.<br /><br />5. Kicking it with Clark Harding, screenwriter and Antarctic explorer.<br /><br />6. Talking shop with Joshuah Bearman, admiring his new beard and bow tie, learning about the legend of Master Legend, the Orlando-area vigilante crimefighter.<br /><br />7. Walking San Francisco.<br /><br />8. Eating all the foods of the world in San Francisco, including (a first!) Taiwanese.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://jmg-galleries.com/blog_images/021107_san_francisco_520c.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 520px; height: 376px;" src="http://jmg-galleries.com/blog_images/021107_san_francisco_520c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />9. Eating said foods of the world with George Awad, host and tour guide extraordinaire.<br /><br />10. In the Mission, meeting a Guatemalan man in a Mexican restaurant who was reading a library edition of Isaac Bashevis Singer's stories, translated into Spanish from an English edition translated from Yiddish. Also: having this moment with this man without either of us actually using words the other knew. Hooray for Isaac Bashevis Singer!<br /><br />11. Meeting Peter Orner, buying his book, reading it later that night, wishing I had read it before I met him so I could have talked with him about it when I met him.<br /><br />12. Reading with Daniel Handler.<br /><br />13. Drinking with Daniel Handler.<br /><br />14. Eating lots of meals with Kathleen Rooney (hereafter I'll refer to her as Kathy), whose vegetarian ways helped nudge me toward eating more healthily, and thereby feeling better than I would otherwise have felt, and also probably keeping me from falling ill while on the road. The first of many admirable things I learned, in fact, from traveling with her.<br /><br />15. Bitching about the weather in Portland but sort of liking Portland anyway.<br /><br />16. Bitching about the semi-creepy guys in Portland who came out on account of the idea of "Live Nude Girl," but sort of liking the semi-creepy guys in Portland anyway.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://laist.com/attachments/la_callie/J._Evison.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 380px;" src="http://laist.com/attachments/la_callie/J._Evison.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>17. Meeting Jonathan Evison, the hardest working man in fiction publishing. He brought tiny hot dogs and Twinkies to our reading at the University Bookstore in Seattle. He invited everyone at the reading to the after-party. Even the bookstore employees followed us over. No debauchery followed, so far as I could tell. What did was plenty of warm conversation, jokes, talk about literature, talk about the economy. A theology professor held forth in one corner about the death of God, and a factory worker held forth in another about gaming the Washington state unemployment system. I wrote a blog post about Jonathan Evison wearing rouge, but turns out he doesn't wear any. He is gifted with the natural coloration of an Abercrombie and Fitch model. I took notes but couldn't figure out how to replicate the genetics.<br /><br />18. Watching Kathy cycle through her material before settling on the crowd-pleasing piece -- the essay on photography -- that became her standard reading material. Watching her progress as a reader from good to very good to, by day six or so, world-class pro.<br /><br />19. Taking a chance in Bellingham, and reading from "A Love Story," a slower story about a closeted gay man who is also a fundamentalist preacher, and connecting with several people in the audience in a way that the slicker, more thrilling work never could quite match. <br /><br />20. Hanging out with Carol and Elizabeth, poets extraordinaire, in Bellingham. Sitting around their table and working, the four of us, like we were real writers, and enjoying the quiet communion of that time of work.<br /><br />21. Eating Indian food and gossiping in Tacoma with Jason Skipper, author of one of the most beautiful not-yet-published novels in America.<br /><br />22. Fighting with the gas station attendant outside SeaTac, and making our flight only because of Kathy's uber-organization.<br /><br />23. Regarding with sheer pleasure the magenta binder of maps, directions, expenditures, and receipts that Kathy collated with a care not unlike the care she invests in making and publishing beautiful books for other people at Rose Metal Press.<br /><br />24. Flying over Big Sky country, reading Amy Wilentz's grossly underrated The Rainy Season, which is the best account by anyone anywhere of the pivotal late '80's in Haiti.<br /><br />25. Learning that Minneapolis is one of the best cities in the world. The people are warm there, the politics are just right, and when you read at the Book Loft, they put your name in pink letters on the streetside marquee, and send a photographer to follow you all night and give you a CD-ROM full of pictures before you leave.<br /><br />26. Learning that Rebecca Kanner, our guest reader in Minneapolis, was as cool in person as she seemed to be from her work. Loving her, loving her, loving her.<br /><br />27. Hanging out afterward at a dive bar with Rebecca's friends, whose stories and regalements included talk of intercontinental expeditions, detainments by Uzbekistani police officers, bribes paid, motorcycles wrecked on icy ponds, and heroin dens disrupted by the vice of virtue.<br /><br />28. MegaBussing for eight dollars one way, Minneapolis to Milwaukee.<br /><br />29. Watching Kathy skillfully defuse a semi-skillful MegaBus proposition, a thing of dicey sketchy beauty I hadn't known enough about the world to imagine possible.<br /><br />30. Eating strips of bacon wrapped in cheese wrapped in egg rolls, deep friend, and washed down with pitchers of beer, in Milwaukee, with the poet Drew Blanchard.<br /><br />31. Talking Peruvian poetry, political violence, and the Shining Path, while drinking Peruvian drinks with a Peruvian poet (in Milwaukee!)<br /><br />32. Spending more less the last of a buddy's record advance while all-night carousing on Division Street, in Chicago.<br /><br />33. Playing uno with my brother and sister-in-law, in Chicago.<br /><br />34. Reading to a packed-out bar on the north side, in Chicago.<br /><br />35. Standing three inches from three Vincent van Gogh self-portraits, in Chicago.<br /><br />36. Reading with real true personal hero Roy Kesey, in Chicago, and also oversleeping in the bed next to Roy Kesey's, both of us snoring I'm told, in Chicago.<br /><br />37. Talking Postevangelical Literature, comic books, the sexual lives of the ladies of the cloth, and the apocolypse, with Pinckney Benedict, David McGlynn, Scott Kaukonen, and Angela Pneuman, while a standing room only audience egged us on, in Chicago.<br /><br />38. Meeting Beth Rooney, soon-to-be-famous photographer, in Chicago.<br /><br />39. Dammit, I really loved Chicago.<br /><br />40. Finally meeting Martin Seay, Kathy's husband and author of a manuscript for a novel whose ambition seems to me to rival William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom, and Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code, and both at once, and maybe it will appeal to both audiences, and maybe I just got in on the ground floor -- Fanboy #1. I'm claiming it. This was also in Chicago.<br /><br />41. The unexpected beauty of Boston from the vista the airplane achieves upon approach -- the buildings, the harbor, the crazy cow path road shapes. <br /><br />42. Reading with Steve Almond, whose generosity extended to gifts of rarish sweet candies in a paper dime store bag.<br /><br />43. A magical evening in Provincetown, among the best and smallest crowd of the tour, a crowd that interrupted the reading to cheer or praise the work, and a crowd that brought beer. <br /><br />44. A magical evening in Provincetown (Part II), at the townie bar, where a drag queen regaled us with stories from his wedding and his cab company, and then bought copies of both our books.<br /><br />45. Eating avocado wraps the next morning in Provincetown, while sitting on a bench in the beach sand, overlooking the bay, contemplating the Atlantic beyond, dreaming of New York City.<br /><br />46. Walking Provincetown one last time, among the ghosts of summers past, all the way to the lighthouse.<br /><br />47. Hearing the good news that Kathy was going to be a guest on Talk of the Nation!!!<br /><br />48. Sleeping an extra hour in the car while Kate and Kathy navigated Boston's downtown one-ways and got us safely to the rental car drop-off.<br /><br />49. Reading V.S. Naipaul on a Chinatown bus full with people for whom English is not language number one, and discussing politics in Chad with a woman from Chad, who said, "Would you ever like to visit Chad?" (Yes, I would!)<br /><br />50. Arriving in New York! Drinking coffee in Chinatown! Hopping the subway to Brooklyn!<br /><br />In our next installment: 25 Readings in One Day! Tao Lin! Tacos! Snow Falling in Memphis! Snowplows Necessary In Arkansas! A Birthday Party! Interstates! Aaron Burch!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-84901734351575571432009-04-04T10:29:00.003-04:002009-04-04T10:46:04.603-04:00The Short Review and Bookslut on In the Devil's Territory<a href="http://www.theshortreview.com/reviews/KyleMinorInTheDevilsTerritory.htm"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 508px; height: 85px;" src="http://www.theshortreview.com/images/shortreviewlogo.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />There's an extraordinarily generous new review of In the Devil's Territory by British critic Susannah Rickards up at The Short Review. Rickards writes: "Everyone who reads or writes short fiction should take a look at this debut collection. Missing out on it would be like missing out on Greene, Carver, Munro . . ." More <a href="http://www.theshortreview.com/reviews/KyleMinorInTheDevilsTerritory.htm">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bookslut.com/blog/archives/2009_03.php#014262"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 343px; height: 86px;" src="http://www.bookslut.com/images/logonew.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />And there's a new post about the book and particularly the story "A Day Meant to Do Less" at the Bookslut blog. Nina MacLaughlin writes: "In Kyle Minor’s debut collection In the Devil’s Territory (which came out late last year; which I’ve written about elsewhere; which more than warrants continued discussion), sex weaves in and out of the stories, a powerful, destructive force, a location of massive self-deception and self-denial. The sexual situations Minor sets up are baleful, uncomfortable, sad. He explores the shadowy pockets of our hearts and heads, the places we avoid, because what we find there is weird, off, wrong, and sort of scary." More <a href="http://www.bookslut.com/blog/archives/2009_03.php#014262">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-24690624687061137432009-04-04T10:09:00.006-04:002009-04-04T10:14:28.907-04:00Live Nude Girl gets 8 out of 10 nipples.......from <a href="http://www.campusprogress.org/about">Campus Progress</a>! To give some sense of scale, this occurs on the same page where the new Decemberists album gets "8 out of 10 dog-eared 19th-century Penny Dreadfuls" and U2 gets "9 out of 10 earnest rock stars." <br /><br />Read Caroline Hagood's review in its entirety <a href="http://www.campusprogress.org/underreview/3851/under-review">here</a>.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5278175615705038583.post-34170446722468334652009-03-30T21:34:00.032-04:002009-03-31T21:12:56.106-04:00Imitation is the sincerest form......of affectionate mockery, hence my co-workers' leaving a copy of the hot new book, <em>Live Nude Boy: Shake It, Shake it, Shake It, Till You Can't Shake No More</em>, on my chair for me to find when I made my triumphant return yesterday morning: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdr2q8kuaUlLDSzPwJhxq04VvC2NQ0zYBbMBj3MhqHXMaWqWd15ZXcBs-uv8qDyc6ryKT2ppK3E5PyMpFCRRqvZu0qReb0N9JV5jt7QrUxUDOC-BebzF9Ga0EWClqWLdFTooLywiLtJ1BW/s1600-h/IMG_1501.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdr2q8kuaUlLDSzPwJhxq04VvC2NQ0zYBbMBj3MhqHXMaWqWd15ZXcBs-uv8qDyc6ryKT2ppK3E5PyMpFCRRqvZu0qReb0N9JV5jt7QrUxUDOC-BebzF9Ga0EWClqWLdFTooLywiLtJ1BW/s200/IMG_1501.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319524616146226914" /></a> Thanks, guys! Also waiting for me? The following sign, courtesy of Sendy...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWodFfa2Te7XyXrs3apRZWhg4Whmd0aFP_989CaR0lOB-OjwSFflcv3qTZ4bes7Furv8nji6PMDUqqfxQJSYnSX0VeNmMkcFOkYNE0Y4rES5EObHESkJ9oS36QaUSCwshK44agdfV-SraD/s1600-h/IMG_1502.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWodFfa2Te7XyXrs3apRZWhg4Whmd0aFP_989CaR0lOB-OjwSFflcv3qTZ4bes7Furv8nji6PMDUqqfxQJSYnSX0VeNmMkcFOkYNE0Y4rES5EObHESkJ9oS36QaUSCwshK44agdfV-SraD/s200/IMG_1502.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319523533767438082" /></a>...and peanut-butter blondies...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4aolPUdNqLEUcD_PZcAQMefADNCXlHztISwwTh409oUkiEc1onwpcdEyOPihyxYQ5pjZ35NkkKc9OFJznIt-i8OwSYr6qVM5u_aPKoXPScpG3sD4lZnyctlAm5Q3WCbSrNrhlxV9Lix_/s1600-h/IMG_1503.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4aolPUdNqLEUcD_PZcAQMefADNCXlHztISwwTh409oUkiEc1onwpcdEyOPihyxYQ5pjZ35NkkKc9OFJznIt-i8OwSYr6qVM5u_aPKoXPScpG3sD4lZnyctlAm5Q3WCbSrNrhlxV9Lix_/s200/IMG_1503.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319523845228067858" /></a>...courtesy of Jeffrey. If you are curious about how he made the culinary magic happen, then might I suggest you take a look at <a href="http://jeffreyesser.weebly.com/recipes.html">Jeffrey's blog</a>? Welcome to the working week.Kathleen Rooneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03451458434006516604noreply@blogger.com1