WHAT WOULD WOOLF AND WHITMAN DO?(A PRACTICAL PRIMER)“This is the beauty of the new media. There is no way to control it.”–Srdja PopovicWhat would Woolf, Whitman, Stein, Eliot, Pound, and countless other self-published writers do in the face of the monolithic publishing industry today? Which new and contemporary writers should consider “alternative” means to get their books…See More

Poets for Living Waters – New Statements / PoemsI don’t have the answers. I barely have the questions. But I’m not egotistical enough to imagine I can come up with a solution or complete understanding on my own. I also don’t think sitting in front of the TV, feeling angry and impotent, is the answer. This is our Chernobyl. Our genocidal war with our own environment. We may implode with oil and shed a tear for the dead fishing…See More

Poets for Living Waters is a poetry action in response to the Gulf Oil Disaster of April 20, 2010, one of the most profound man-made ecological catastrophes in history. Former US poet laureate Robert Pinsky describes the popularity of poetry after 9/11 as a turn away from the disaster’s overwhelming enormity to a more manageable individual scale. As we confront the magnitude of this recent tragedy, such a return may well aid us.The…See More

WHAT IT ISN’T…Over the past few days, there has been a flurry of recent debate on the Gurlesque (see my post here). Numerous contradictions, conflations, and confusions abound, coupled with not a lot of resolution or agreement regarding what has cumulatively “taken place” vis a vis the book itself (Ana Bozicevic touches…See More

Like it or not, parallels exist between the two separate-but-similar battles for civil rights. I received some flack the other day for posting the title statement on my Facebook page (“Gay is the new black.”), and in turn, learned there is some resistance against aligning the two movements for civil rights primarily because of fear that in so doing 1) the history of the black civil rights movement will somehow be erased (or usurped via a shift in media focus on the GLBT fight) and 2) more…See More

Ever hear of Diane Savino? You will. Currently our senator from Staten Island, she recently made the nation’s radar with her speech on the sanctity of marriage, well worth viewing (click here).“Diane Savino has dedicated her entire professional career towards improving the lives of working families. She began her career in public service as a caseworker for New York City’s Child Welfare Administration, providing direct…See More