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Pictures from the Oakland General Strike
Today was the Oakland General Strike. It wasn't a true general strike, but it was pretty close, especially given how quickly it was called. Some places closed down, some real labor unions showed up,...
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Work of Art, Ep. 4: EVEN A SUCKLORD CAN CRY!
The challenge this week was based on the art of elementary school children. The artestants needed to create a piece that related to the work they were assigned. But first, we say goodbye to last week's...
View ArticleNoticed this morning
Passing the Port of Oakland on the BART today, I saw more cranes with their spreaders down than I've ever seen before, and I do make a note to look every day as I pass by. It's my own little economic...
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SAY IT HOT by Eric Miles Williamson
Local literary tummler Tony Rodriguez sent me a copy of Eric Miles Williamson's Say It Hot: Essays on American Writers Living, Dying, and Dead. I was a big fan of Williamson's novel Welcome to Oakland,...
View ArticleMonday commercial!
Less than a week to sign up for Writing Commercial Fiction, a five-week course on all your favorite genres. This is in Berkeley, not online. It will Never Be Online, okay? But if you're local, why not...
View ArticleArt: Baby With the Bathwater
Five and a half years ago, I interviewed artist Marni Kotak about the city of Brooklyn's censorship of the Brooklyn College MFA thesis show "Plan B." Art was removed, and even thrown out and...
View ArticleCyber Monday!
Hey, it's Cyber Monday, yeah! This ancient holiday, as you may know, was designed by the National Science Foundation to encourage people to learn about or even participate in something called "the...
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The Healing Power of Cowboy Sperm
I've been following the Twitter feed of a semi-famous bestselling author for a while now and have enjoyed watching all her ups and downs. Sometimes she was a fierce leftist, other times she made...
View ArticleA Christmas Carol
I love, without guilt or reservation, A Christmas Carol. Always have. Right from the beginning. "Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a...
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And now, some footage of the mass strike in the UK
Some protesters wore red T-shirts with the slogan, "Get Angry and Fight Back," a variation of the British wartime propaganda poster, "Keep Calm and Carry on."
View ArticleI see that someone has a friend who landed a job at the New York Times!
From a profile of a coterie of daring young literary types who dared found an online (is that legal?!) magazine!It was the weekly meeting of The New Inquiry, a scrappy online journal and roving...
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Work of Art, Ep. 7: WE ARE OFFICIALLY TIRED OF YOUR SHIT
Sucklord is gone, and instantly it's like half the cast has left. There's a desperate attempt to fill the screen with some frivolity by making Dusty dance around in Young's tiny twink short shorts, but...
View ArticleHow sausage is made—selling a short story
I sold a short story to a horror venue yesterday after about five months wait. The venue's slush reader—a friendly acquaintance of mine—wrote me to say so, and hinted that there was a long story behind...
View ArticleArticle 15
We've heard so much about the rancor between the two political parties in the United States. Indeed, many Democrats point to the constant fighting between parties as proof that the parties are indeed...
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You know what's not surprising? That this band is from Ohio.
Medieval LARPers and Dungeons and Dragons weirdos have some complaints about, uh, I guess the rise of Christianity in England? Or maybe they're all for it!Luckily, the video begins with a roll call, so...
View ArticlePeter Winkler
Occasional commenter Peter Winkler has a feature profile in the LA Times about his new book and writing with a disability. Check it out:Thanks to the conveniences of the wired world, Peter Winkler was...
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