Nov 5, 2008

Hope is a Strange Invention

Hope is a strange invention –
A Patent of the Heart –
In unremitting action
Yet never wearing out –
Of this electric Adjunct
Not anything is known
But its unique momentum
Embellish all we own –

-Emily Dickinson

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Baracking on Doors

I’ll never forget the Fall of 2008. I picked up and moved to a red-state-turned-blue to shack up with Dan and teach 50 college students the difference between Plato and Play-doh. (Turns out morality is also sticky.)
50 students: That’s one student per US state. New Jersey gave me attitude, California came to class high, [...]

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Reason #216 to Oppose Sarah Palin

Check out Katie Couric at 0:26. I totally make this face at my students.
“Can you name a few examples? From the reading? Specifically?”

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Sarah Pollin’

Please take a minute to help me decide on an author photo for the chapbook. Once you’ve considered all seven, click on the green link and cast your vote. Also, if you know me, and have high-quality photos lying around (tasteful ones, people), I would love to see additional contenders!
(Trybecca should be back with regularity [...]

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Reason #584 to Oppose Sarah Palin

From Time.com:
Stein [former mayor of Wasilla] says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be [...]

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Big Apple

So, just in case you guys think I spend my Iowa mornings coaching Karaoke to be a show kitty, or Cuisinarting things just for the hell of it, I should mention that I have a job.
I’m teaching three sections of rhetoric at a small liberal arts college on the border of Iowa and Illinois. I [...]

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Death of a Boob Man

OK, so I lived in New York City for six years and never once felt in danger. Except for that time the homeless man expectorated on my hair.
And now I live in Iowa, which should be safe, right? I mean, I figured the worst that could happen was some farmer overcharges me for organic kale. [...]

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Greener

Jeffery tells me that poetry acceptance letters come when you can’t recall submitting poems.  In February, I entered a chapbook competition run by Finishing Line Press. A couple of months ago, I received a form letter: there were 538 manuscript submissions and unfortunately, mine wasn’t selected for their $1000 prize. Even though I paper [...]

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Karaoke Kills

Dan and I have been adopted by a snaggle-toothed black and white cat. She sauntered into our house one afternoon while we were unpacking and proceeded to use our living room sofa as a scratching post. She’s obese and declawed, both of which suggest an owner — but there’s no collar, and she drops [...]

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Be Careful Where You Put Your Pole

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