Writer Wednesday: Recommended

From pal Samuel Walker on Facebook: Dublin street art. What a great idea! I may need to do something similar. Hmmm, QR codes on promo postcards? Might be the way to go. You have checked out the QR code on the sidebar, right? Scroll down.

I thought today I would point you toward some things you ought to try from people I can heartily recommend. I keep saying the future of the internet belongs to "sifters": people who will sort through the dreck out there to show you the gold. So here we go:




I first knew Anne Billson from her sharp and insightful reviews of films; I don't always agree with her, but I would rush to read what she had to say about films like The Thing; reading her BFI book on that film kept me enraptured to the end of the Central Line, which fortunately was my destination that day. Then I realised she was the same Anne Billson who wrote Suckers. Want a different spin on vamps that's also delicious satire? Try it. Try all her books.




Mr B + Luca Veste + money goes to charity x good causes = what are you waiting for? Do you need to know it's got some of the best Brit Grit writers around? Well, it does. Get stuck in.




Another good cause: Vic Watson put this together. "The 'I Am Woman' campaign is about using our voices to help other women. To raise awareness of women across the planet who have in effect 'lost their voice' or had it taken away either through, fear, abuse, illness or war. We must speak for them until they can do it for themselves." Click on the picture for more.

 Don't forget: the 99¢ you pay for Burning Bridges on Amazon also goes to charity, and for the rest of May, Matt Hilton is siphoning off profits for ACTION: Pulse Pounding Tales to give to Help for Heroes.

Here's a lot of writers who take it upon themselves to do some good in the world and stand up for what's right. To their own cost in most cases: writers don't make much money, especially when you consider how long it takes to write a novel or even a short story. You write because you can't not write: and you give what you can because you can't not do that, too.

And all you Americans who think North Carolina's vote is "not your problem" -- please remember history: discrimination does not disappear of its own accord.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

-- MLK "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 April 1963

Review: Hunger Games

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AudioBoo: Moths

One touch easy recording, that's what an Audio Boo claims to be. So I had to try it out on my new shiny toy. This is a poem that's supposed to be appearing in a magazine at some point but that was about a year ago that they said so, thus I wonder if it will ever come to be (impatient? I don't know what you mean!). So here's a lovely Atlas Moth photographed by my pal Ayub at the Butterfly World Project (which I'll be seeing this spring!).






Alert readers may recognise the opening line swiped from a news story headline (thanks again, Mark H-J, for bringing it to my attention) that also appeared in another, somewhat more serious, poem "Lullaby" that appeared in Chronogram last summer:

Moths drink the tears of sleeping birds;
Mothers hear the sound of unspoken words;
Fathers know the wishes in your heart;
The magic of love is the only true art.

Massively busy this week: and Bertie's coming to visit next week. Much to be done, yet there is still time for the idle creation of memes:

BitchBuzz: You Can't Erase Your Past on the Internet

What is it with NY politicians and sex scandals? "Excelsior" must have another meaning I have not considered. So, in a timely manner, I combine my teaching with the news:

You Can't Erase Your Past from the Internet

By K.A. Laity

Much has been made of the internet in recent weeks as the golden-haired saviour of troubled nations, who use the magical power of Twitter and Facebook to foment revolution and declare freedom from the hierarchical powers of corrupt fascists dictators.

True enough: while it's overstating the case to call Tunisia and Egypt social media revolutions, there's no doubt that having these handy tools of communication helped keep people informed. Before we all start patting ourselves on the back, let's think about a couple of things: one, that we're all at risk of losing the net we take for granted. Once lawmakers heard it was possible to "turn off" the internet, every little black-hearted gnome was lining up to find a way to do so.

More importantly, we need to remember that most of us will only see revolution from the safety of our armchairs—or more likely, I suppose, our desk chairs (if we see it at all). So we have a lot of time to waste and a raft of temptations. Like children left on their own with a box of matches, we're far more likely to get into trouble than to build a scale model of the Guggenheim. Much of the internet allows a kind of passive consumption that releases the inner Homer Simpson in us all. I always remember the "Soul Mate" episode where Marge tracks down her wandering husband by heading in the direction that Springfield slopes down and looking for something shiny...

Read the rest here: http://tech.bitchbuzz.com/you-cant-erase-your-past-from-the-internet.html#ixzz1DZunneK5

I am behind: this, I realise, is not news. I have an incredible amount of work to accomplish before I head off for Rome. I must continue to believe that it is possible. I do this by not looking at the entire stack of things, but only at what's just ahead of me. It's the only way. And as those on Facebook have seen, practicing saying "no" -- for a while I had been doing well on that front, but I've slipped a little since the first of the year and now I am shaking a finger at myself (is that physically possible) and affirming I will do better.

Humor: Panopticon? Yes, please!

Yes, when I get obsessed, I get well and truly obsessed. So here's my humor piece for Polite Company magazine on -- wait for it! -- the panopticon:

Panopticon? Yes, please!

Posted by k.a.laity on 11/18/10 • Categorized as Politics

Messieurs and Mesdames,

Inasmuch as your efforts toward gentling the population have not gone unnoticed, I wish to be more forward in encouraging your movements. Yes, we have all adjusted to the latest round of indignities required to meet the threats anxiously imagined in corporate-funded think tanks surrounding Washington. We are prepared to travel in the buff and drink no liquids for the duration of the flight, even if that means standing (eh, Ryanair?).

We’ve grown accustomed to software that tracks our every click, bosses who control whether we can be Facebook friends or not, and warnings attached to every email that warn it could be scanned for copyrighted content, do not reproduce. We even luxuriate under the motherly eye of CCTV, be we cat molesters or not, safe in knowing that we’re not out of sight.

But it’s not enough...

[read the rest at Polite Company and be sure to "like" it on Facebook or share it on Twitter -- or just recite it out loud to passers-by]

If I can get things together, I'm going to try to do a Friday Forgotten Book. I'm actually trying to make my schedule more regular as people seem to like consistency. It's not really part of my nature, but I can be accommodating.

Sometimes.

I am not a Cowgirl; I am not a Quilter

But I guess that doesn't matter.

BitchBuzz: Good Witch/Bad Witch

My latest column engages with an old topic:

Christine O'Donnell: Good or Bad Witch?

If you were living under a rock you might have missed the fact that television personality and part-time poker of hot topics, Bill Maher, resurrected footage from a decade or so ago showcasing rabid right-wing American Senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, darling of the Tea Party and self-confessed non-masturbator, as she admitted to hanging around with questionable young men and "dabbling in witchcraft,", words which have rung across cyperspace via snark express ever since.

No, it didn't help that she was sitting next to Clive Barker as she spoke about it—clearly part of the monolithic illuminati of the Gay Agenda, which operates by making rabid homophobes kind of gay.

The dividing lines are clear: on the sympathetic side, cries for a moratorium on youthful transgressions (hmmm, when did we last hear that?) and a waving hand of irrelevancy.  Yet—perhaps not that surprisingly—among the wackiest of the wack jobs—i.e. Karl Rove—there is also a concern to "cleanse" their candidate to a pristine, non-masturbating, no-premarital-sex purity. In other words, they want her to clarify her "witchy" past and show contrition and a will to do penance (oh, wait—wrong branch of the monotheism) for the error of her ways.

Read more: http://news.bitchbuzz.com/christine-odonnell-good-witch-or-a-bad-witch.html#ixzz10RqdM2az

It has proved incredibly popular, generating a lot of retweeting and Facebook repostings, as well as a long conversation on my Facebook wall. The funny thing is I saw that show when it first aired and remember it -- though I didn't remember her specifically -- because of course Clive Barker was on the show. He appeared a few times; I think he's pals with Maher. The insanity around this non-issue really steams me. We have so far to go yet: it often feels discouraging.

The best cure for discouragement: hang out with people full of energy and hope! Out at my friend Mary's with a bunch of people for a full moon/equinox bonfire last night. Have you seen the moon the last couple nights? With Jupiter hanging out nearby? Gorgeous. Mary has the most incredible sanctuary and the most amazing gardens, too. Incredible to see the gigantic blooms of the moonflowers in the dark. She told us to take one home, so I did. Enormous, isn't it! As wide as the length of my hand.

BitchBuzz: Tubes

I had tried to call my latest column for BitchBuzz "Strong Men Also Cry" because it's always good to make a Lebowski reference, but from the start, it was really all about the tubes:

What is it with men and tubes? Particularly when they're men who hold powerful offices and feel the need to wield that power in a grandstanding gesture so everyone knows just what they have in their hands—it can be an embarrassing display.

It's Mad Men in a kind of perverse wish fulfillment for a time that never really existed except of course on television. But if they can send women back a few decades, it will be a first step in creating that paradise apparently.

The oppressive abortion laws passed in Oklahoma have apparently already give rise to copycat legislation in Texas. Never mind that regular access to birth control has made the abortion rates fall; it's the idea that women can just willy nilly start or stop a pregnancy that has these types in an uproar. Good god, what if women could just have sex whenever they wanted without having life-threatening consequences?! It would change everything…

As always, read the remainder over at BBHQ; and why not share it with your friends on Twitter or Facebook?

As you might guess, I am more than a little fed up with politicians of late. Okay, let's admit it: I am always fed up with politicians. I'm tired of opportunistic miscreants feeding on pig-ignorant fear. Yes, maybe it's always been that way. But it's particularly dispiriting to see this country trying so hard to go backwards. Let's just say it clearly: Leave it to Beaver was a television show and that world never existed except on television. Health care is a good thing for all people to have. Rich people and the banks they run are not there to help you (um, unless you are also a rich person who runs a bank).

At least in Britain they have the Lib Dems as a third party with some effect. If you've not been following the news there, you're missing a fun show that demonstrates the influence of social media. The Tory attempt to spin things their way with slick advertising resulted in hilarious mash-ups instead. Brown's inadvertent mic insult spawned a host of unexpected responses that filled Twitter.

It gives me a little hope, I guess, that the voice of the people (at least those with internet access and sufficient time on their hands) is being heard a bit more and a bit more quickly, but the madness of crowds is no assurance of "democracy" any more than the smoke-filled room.

At least teaching is over (as those on Facebook heard me WHOOHOO loudly) and there's just finals to get through, the first one tomorrow morning. Right after it, I head off to Connecticut to see Miss Wendy before she moves to Mississippi (sob!), Marko, the QoE, Johnny 10X and the rest of the gang (i.e. whoever's going to be around). Will be fun -- always is.

The 11th Carnival of Feminists

Drop by the 11th Carnival of Feminists and see me there as one of the revelers writing about BitchBuzz, blogging and gender! Read all the entries and leave comments so folks know they have been heard. Thanks!

Working on my syllabuses today: revising one, creating the other out of whole cloth. Now where are all those links I thought I had saved? I finished a 10K story last night, so a fleeting sense of accomplishment that will be drowned out no doubt by the complexity of figuring out the semester's schedule. Could be worse: could be snowing...

It's not, right?

UK Week 2: Mad Men and English Dogs (part four)

I headed over to the Globe to catch an afternoon matinee of As You Like It, Shakespeare's light-hearted comedy, after mudlarking along the Thames for a good long while. I wrote in my journal that I could well spend the rest of my days doing that, even though my floral duster confused a bee (also wrote that perhaps that would make for good employment, "Bees confused: 50p" but there are unlikely to be takers, I suppose). I don't know why it's so much fun idling along the banks, but it always is: watching the traffic on the river, finding interesting things among the rocks, taking pictures of the random arrangements on the shingle.

The play was a lot of fun, as always, in a really lively -- I'd even say bouncy -- production by Thea Sharrock that got the most out of the intimate setting. It was a nice surprise to see Jamie Parker as Oliver (I hadn't looked at the cast list before the show) whom I'd seen last year in The Revenger's Tragedy at the National, and of course, who was so good in The History Boys. Standouts included a very robust Rosalind played by Naomi Frederick, a very sexy Orlando played by Jack Laskey, Laura Rogers who gave Celia and Rosalind's relationship a kind of Patsy and Edina liveliness. Dominic Rowan gave Touchstone a kind of dignity that kept his shenanigans from ever getting wearing thin. I even sprang for a seat, so I was out of the sun and light rain. Great fun!

Earlier in the week (I forgot to write it up earlier) I also saw In the Loop, the Armando Iannucci film that's (kind of) sprung from his television show The Thick of It. Much of the cast is the same, although not necessarily the parts they play, and much of the action takes place in the States. I thought that would be really annoying -- an obvious ploy to make it more "attractive" to an American audience who presumably wouldn't have much interest in British politics (not that they have much interest in American politics either). But the film was very funny and the American bits weren't too annoying, and fit quite well. The thing is with a film like this, you laugh all the way through it and then later feel depressed because it's a good dissection of just how frivolously politicians let slip the dogs of war. Curse you, Iannucci for always making me think while I laugh.

Hey, I think I finally finished week two! On to week three -- er, soon. Off to Lake George tomorrow...

Oh, all right then

Okay, yes, I'm usually a contrarian, but I'm so pleased to see this country shake off the last eight years of horror that I'll give in to the widespread expressions of hope and joy, and actually believe that things might get better (tomorrow I will, however, return to carping -- and there is much to carp about, you starry-eyed kids).

Live Blogging MLA

Because I always need one more thing to do: I'm going to be live blogging MLA, the Modern Language Association conference. Many of you know that this is the biggest conference in the language and literature fields. It's not only the place for papers deemed to be cutting edge, it's also the place where the majority of academic job interviews in the field will be done. In fact, that's why I have to be there this year (well, I'm also member of an executive committee): we're interviewing a bunch of candidates for our department.

The catch is that I will be blogging anonymously because this is for a site that takes a critical (and often somewhat humorous) view of academic life. So I can't tell you where I'm blogging. It will certainly make MLA more entertaining for me, because I'll be looking for material (and there's always so much).

Well, I also get to hang out with Adrean, so there's plenty to balance the weighty responsibility of interviewing people (argh, how did I get put in a position of responsibility?), which after all is shared with my colleague, Kim (so there's someone to share the blame ;-)

Vote Today!

I don't usually focus on politics, but today all USA-ians have the opportunity to change our country and our influence on the world. It is your duty as a citizen to get out there and vote. Of course, I have definite opinions about who are the best candidates, but my haranguing you here won't affect your vote. I will say that I'm voting to end the horrors of the last eight years, a culture of deceit and cynical war-profiteering by old men who can't remember how many houses or factories they own, who show contempt for their fellow citizens and got us mired in an illegal war based on lies and personal aggression.

I am tired of fear-mongering fools who use their own mental faculties to disparage intellect and education, to the extent that the education system in this country has reached a crisis of over-management and discouragement to both instructors and students. I despair at a nation that values the arts so little, obsessing instead about their own fifteen minutes of shallow fame.

Vote! Your life, your job and the survival of the world may just depend upon it.

Albacon & Fall Colors

Ran out to get a hair cut yesterday and decided I needed a little color too, so voilà: Purple highlights! Thanks, Joy. She's so good that she matched the color to the jacket I was wearing.

We had a short night at Albacon -- one panel for me on writing flash fiction. True to form, we cut the panel short (hee hee!). But I sold two copies of Jane Quiet at the end of it (slight upward blip in whuffie), so whoo hoo! We had some tasty ice cream at the ice cream social, but having both slept badly the night before, we went home early and watched the news before collapsing. More today at Albacon -- should be fun. There's free wireless in the hotel, so updates to Facebook likely.

The corset did its job: despite being on my feet all day and driving (a stick) for the first time in a month, there was very little swelling around the ankle. Yay! I even managed to find something to Sanrio-fy it, so that's good.

How Congress Wastes its Time

H. Res. 847: Mr. McNulty has already received a complaint from me. Sure, it's just words with no legal effect, but rhetoric matters when it reinforces one narrowly intolerant point of view.