Monthly Archives: August 2011
My own private Idaho
Scenes from a family vacation. (Thanks to our daughter for her lovely photos of the horse next door, the rushing creek, the stairway of hollow blocks, and the clouds drifting past the treetops.) My one regret is not having the … Continue reading
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On identity beyond ethnicity (and other boundaries), cont’d: Tom Piazza on music, empathy, and the limits of “authenticity”
In an NPR interview, Tom Piazza discusses his collection of essays Devil Sent the Rain: Music and Writing in Desperate America. He points out that country music singer Jimmy Rodgers “crossed a lot of lines that, I think, at that … Continue reading
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Miscellany: Waiting for Irene; Neil Gaiman kicks my lazy ass; girl scientists rock (and so does Kirsten Gillibrand); Harry Potter ends; more atheist fun
Well, I’m back (and wishing I could have brought Idaho’s clear night sky back with me). And now we’re hunkering down in our apartment, bracing for the flooding from Hurricane Irene, which is due to hit New York later tonight: … Continue reading
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Gone swimming
This will be my last post for the next couple of weeks, as my family and I head out to visit the in-laws in Idaho. I’m looking forward to a break from the buzz and commotion of NYC; long stretches … Continue reading
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The case for optimism, cont’d: On dystopian YA fiction and our missing utopian futures
Though his very excellent Mortal Engines series (drop everything and go read it now; you’re welcome) itself has strongly dystopian elements, Philip Reeve nevertheless criticizes the pervasiveness and unrelenting grimness of dystopian YA fiction today: Half of the science-fiction stories … Continue reading
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