20 Monday Aug 2012
Posted in social media, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on This Summer
Tags
Grass Vally, moonrise, social media, summer, writing, yubanet.com
It is a busy season with writing, web projects and an amazing array of outdoor adventures.
I’ll be posting links here from time on work occurring across the boards, including footnotes on social—which filters through my twitter feed on these pages, but mostly watch for my writing elsewhere, like on YubaNet.com.
Summer evening, cool breezes the press of warm sunshine, or a moon rising over Grass Valley—enjoy!
07 Monday Nov 2011
Posted in Book Reviews, Social Change, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized, urban planning, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on What the @@*! is the economy for anyway? (the 1%, perhaps?)
Tags
1%, Amartya Sen, american economy, Anyway?, Batker, book review, Business books, de Graaf, Federal Reserve Chai Ben Bernanke, Gifford Pinchot, Jeremy Bentham, Joseph Stiglitz, occupy, Publisher's Weekly, What's the Economy for
Authors de Graaf and Batker take an unconventional look at how we tie ourselves into knots of anxiety over concepts that add little value to our lives. Their new book What’s the Economy For, Anyway?: Why It’s Time to Stop Chasing Growth and Start Pursuing Happiness dovetails with current Occupy efforts—this is a time to question not only where we are, but how we got here and de Graaf and Batker are up to the challenge—they address themes of consumption, economics and the pursuit of happiness in an America boosting over 14 million unemployed with vast wealth being held by 1% of the population.
28 Sunday Aug 2011
Posted in literature, Uncategorized, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on A Tone Poem for California
New California Writing 2011
Edited by Gayle Wattawa
Paperback, 320 pages, June 2011
Reviewed by Pamela Biery
Editor Gayle Wattawa sounds a note full of depth, resonance and diversity in “New California Writing” Heyday Books new anthology series. From Michael Chabon’s musings on everyday family life in “Manhood for Amateurs” or Rebecca Solnit’s enlightening description of bluebelly lizards, on through to the very last page, there is much to ponder, embrace and recognize as the great golden State of California.
Think of this book as a snapshot of a single moment, captured simultaneously by distant cousins who have never met—viewing these vignettes shifts the reader’s perspective, informing subtly, as the best writing does.
21 Tuesday Jun 2011
Posted in literature, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on Ann Patchett resists the flirtation of a new idea….
…which invariably arrives as she is just coming to critical point in a book half completed. These ideas appear coy and bright, bringing out the charm of a new flame, urging her to dump the tired out book she has been working on for oh however long. But Ann Patchett resists, finishes work in progress and lets this new idea languish for a bit, perhaps to see if it is really worthy. Such was the case with State of Wonder.
State of Wonder is not and never will be Bel Canto, perhaps her watermark novel. But Ann Patchett is still Ann Patchett and reads a spell-binding, evocative tale from State of Wonder leaving the audience amazed at the real-life adventures Patchett encountered while in the Amazon doing research for this latest novel. After all, few among us know the stench of an attacking Anaconda or the sounds of a jungle river, less still where the machete is found on a river guide’s boat.
Continue reading
23 Monday May 2011
Posted in Uncategorized, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on Postcards from Terra Firma
About a decade ago I encountered Ann Patchett’s novel, The Magician’s Assistant. It was in a stack on a bookstore table and commanded my attention in the curious way that books sometimes beckon. When I read The Magician’s Assistant, I was captivated. How did this novelist paint such a curvy road with so much care and luminousity, yet still hold surprises until the very end?
I reviewed The Magician’s Assistant and then, re-reading the review, thought that perhaps the author might wish to see it—so on a whim, I drafted a short cover letter and sent it away, in care of the publisher, like my grade school teacher taught me.
16 Monday May 2011
Posted in poetry & poets, Uncategorized, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on Richard Ford on Writing
What can be said about a man so calm and charming that it seems perfectly reasonable to store manuscripts in the freezer or plant a 38mm bullet through an unsavory book? The author himself demonstrates the answer when he reads from his upcoming novel, Canada. What can be said is the gentleman can surely write. In a few short minutes Richard Ford takes listeners down a windy path, introduces us to a family and splays open their history, from a happenstance beginning to the worn features of lives habituated by compromise.
23 Saturday Apr 2011
Posted in poetry & poets, Uncategorized, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on Setting the Mantle Aside for an Evening
As Dr. Jessica Burstein of the UW English Dept, introduces Joyce Carol Oates, the room grows still. Surely the credits are remarkable and even perhaps incomparable—over 50 novels and dozens of short story collections, the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. Her works Black Water, What I Lived For, and Blonde were all finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2003, Oates was honored with the Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service in Literature. For brevity, here I omit listing her purview at Princeton and other extensive recognitions…
Joyce Carol Oates’ quiet presence filled the room as Seattle’s Benaroya Hall audience sat in on a discussion of Oates work, skillfully and unobtrusively led by Dr. Burstein. But for starters, Oates took off the mantle of her achievements, making it clear that her role was not to distribute wisdom, rather it seems she casts sidelong glances at her worldly accomplishments, not owning them in a way that explains her light touch in discussing her writing process and the consistently unusual choice of topic for her works.
22 Friday Apr 2011
Posted in environment, sustainability, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on Touching Ground
In January 2006 I interviewed Julia Butterfly at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, California. I walked away from this interview with hope and commitment to change that I still carry today, so this Earth Day, I’d like to revisit Julia Butterfly and her inspiring words.
16 Saturday Apr 2011
Posted in poetry & poets, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on What was the first moment…
… poetry wooed you? So asks Alice Quinn, longtime poetry editor for the New Yorker and current executive director for the Poetry Society of America. The answers are informing, coming from three famous University of Oregon Alumni, gathered around after a Seattle Arts & Lecture (SAL) reading in Seattle.
Major Jackson describes the importance of being raised in the church, not because of the religious aspect, but because of the respect and honor shown to ritual in his Philadelphia family home. Sacred speech, like Robert Frost’s Nothing Gold Can Stay, was a beckoning.
05 Saturday Mar 2011
Posted in Book Reviews, communication, Uncategorized, writers and writing
≈ Comments Off on Another Set of Eyes
Tracy Kidder looks like a very serious writer, but as soon as he starts speaking, it is delightfully clear he doesn’t take himself seriously.
Kidder was in Seattle for the Seattle Arts & Lectures series and held forth discussing his writing, followed by audience questions, moderated by Dr. Ed Taylor of the University of Washington’s Educational and Leadership Policy Studies.
Kidder’s talk titled Another Set of Eyes centered on his nearly 40-year relationship with editor, Richard Todd, who he met early in his career at The Atlantic Monthly. Todd is reported to have incidentally suggested the topic for Kidder’s 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning book The Soul of a New Machine. Many readers know Kidder from his remarkable books, The New York Times bestseller Strength in What Remains (2009) and Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003).