Posts filed under: Sammy’s Blog

Sammy’s Blog

Sammy’s Blog

Losing Jen

From Steve Abbott, Columbus Ohio poet, teacher and activist: It is with great sadness that I report the death in Columbus of Jennifer Bosveld–mentor, fellow poet, author of multiple poetry books and chapbooks and editor of multiple anthologies of poets... Read More

The Internet’s Own Boy

I’m going to put this bluntly: Go see the Aaron Swartz documentary, The Internet’s Own Boy. Freedom of speech, forward progress in science and technology, grassroots democracy, prodigious and passionate talent, this is an important film. In the movie Swartz’s partner quotes... Read More

Bullies & Bones

Amazon is a bully. Not news, I know. They’ve gone to war against Hachette Book Group, which publishes some big hitters including JK Rowling (whose forthcoming book is not currently available for pre-order on amazon, as it normally would be–see “bully,”... Read More

Only two things

Cornelius Eady has a review in the NY Times of The Crossover, a novel in verse for middle-school kids, by Kwame Alexander, that sounds pretty compelling for the adult reader as well. Vijay Seshadri’s Pulitzer makes me happy. Brian Lehrer on WNYC posts... Read More

world weary writer

Against climate defeatism. And while we’re on the subject, this story of the fight for fossil fuel divestment at Harvard reminds me how divestment became a lever in the fight against South African apartheid. Who in 2014 sustains a level of... Read More

Apparent contradictions

Salman Rushdie opens his NY Times tribute to Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the statement Gabo lives. Alongside the kerfuffle between Netanyahu and the newly united PLO-Hamas Palestinian leadership, Mahmoud Abbas this week made a statement in sympathy with survivors of... Read More

PEN World Voices, Mad Men poems

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” Kurt Vonnegut’s quote heralds the 10th annual PEN World... Read More

Art & the world

Susana H. Case‘s new book 4 Rms w Vu is out from Mayapple Press, another in Case’s line of sharply observed poetry collections that serve up her at times scathing insights with a playful sense of humor. An excellent recipe for a... Read More

Body politic, body poetic

If you’re anywhere near D.C. this coming weekend, you need to get over to the Human Rights Campaign Equality Forum, headquarters for Split This Rock’s festival of socially engaged writing. Featured poets include Franny Choi, Eduardo C. Corral, Joy Harjo,... Read More

PEN, SciAm, SXSW

Coming into Language is Jimmy Santiago Baca’s moving essay on self-created literacy, the emergence from struggle of a writer’s passion and voice, posted to PEN American Center. The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens,... Read More