River of Play

Global Schooner

Head over to the Prairie Schooner blog. The Global Schooner App should go live today. 

And it's free. So go clicking already.

The Spring issue cover

Book Drinking Culture

Some great spaces for two great activities that go great together.

 

Ruh Ro Retro

Or something like that.

So the albums are great, but would you read the book?

 

Quixote, Table of Three

Good luck at the windmills, Don. But you gotta love the drive of these bookstores willing to take on Amazon!

Backwards and Forwards

Books, that is, looking both ways.

My brother recently asked me what I was thinking about the future of books, and I keep revising my answer. As I write this, I'm having a hard time not hitting backspace (in part, of course, because of my rudimentary typing skills). 

So while I ponder (key pondering points: small publishers might be in good positions, authors are far more free to pursue their visions, books won't die but their formats will change), I thought I'd drop a link to Jeremy Greenfield and his ideas about digital book start-ups. And the large number of them is why I keep my pinky trained for the delete key.

 

Soggy Fires

The residents of this city take great pleasure in setting off as many cubic tons of fireworks as they can during the lead-up, day of, and exit from the Fourth of July. Nature is cooperating--without intending to--with those of us who would rather leave the explosions to the professionals by laying down a lovely, gentle rain. A nice summer soaker. While there is still a bit of small arms fire going on, it's mellowed by the sound of falling water. 

Care to discuss the effect of fireworks on the environment? Try this article from Mother Nature Network (MNN) (and be sure to read the comments, some folk seriously don't like change), another piece from the rather hardcore Chemical and Engineering News, and you might want to see what the Journal of Pyrotechnics Archive has to offer. See what you think.

Teaching the Controversy

I dive in on a poetry controversy over on the Schooner blog. 

And Now, a Different Flock

A flock of words, that is. For the next, oh, ten days or so Oxford University Press is continuing its celebration of adding back issues of the journal Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE), the publication of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE, of which I am a member, though in an effort to conserve paper, we don't carry cards). Not only has Oxford UP taken over the distribution of ISLE, they've digitized the backlist, and the entire thing is available for download--for FREE. The journal publishes academic bits, yes, but also literary nonfiction and poetry. Well worth clicking through. I will admit to shamelessly downloading many, many articles. 

So go. I'll be here. Maybe we'll have a brief chat about the quiverfull movement when you get back. 

Last Word on Geese

As you can plainly see...no photos. Alas. But the photos below are huge. Click on one and find out (while they are of a size and quality that you could use them as your desktop, don't. I tried. A dense black and white pattern with a black and white cursor is not a good combination.). Thus, one of the moments of great poignancy was realizing that while there were many birds, they were snow geese, not, oh, passenger pigeons. Still, living near one of the great migration corridors offers a glimpse into the profound compulsions of nature. It's an awe-inspiring experience, and a chance to see cedar waxwings twice a year. 

The girl was unimpressed. A bit chilly and windy. But she bore the inconvenience like a trouper.

Time's Winged Chariot

I almost wrote "whinging chariot." Fun with fingers, eh? Though nothing compared to the daughter. Her fingers are simply the most amazing thing she sees. 

We've been busy around here in Lincoln. Houseguests and so on. We took our guests--Wendy's godparents--out to look at the last of the Sandhill cranes. Instead, we ran into snow geese. Tens of thousands of snow geese. I have pictures. And I will post them. But right now I have a narrow window for posting, so I wanted to set up a quick link to a fab/scary comic here (it's the 3/13/09 strip). If you're a PhD student, you must be reading this strip. If not...it'll give you some insight, I expect. Oh, but not this particular one. It's more of a theme link. 

Remind me to write about the new poetry project. And think loving thoughts toward Natural Bridge.