A quick pop quiz for the upwardly mobile couch potato: what theme unites virtually all our marquee cable television shows? …more

Because of flaws in my character that I am helpless to correct, I spent some minutes last week watching a clip on the BDM[1] of folks cheering the eventual Republican nominee for President, Willard Mitt Romney. Romney had just won another primary. The crowd began chanting Mitt! Mitt! Mitt! …more

A Rumpus Exaltation of the Rule of Law: …more

When I was four or five years old, my mom and dad called me and my brothers into the living room. …more

A Rumpus Lamentation on What We Lost

Say you took the long view of September 11, 2001, the view from the heavens, the view of a compassionate celestial being. From up there, you’d see that approximately 150,000 earthlings died that day. …more

I met Jennifer Close in a basement classroom that stunk of chicken fingers. This was many years ago, in the thick of George W. Bush. …more

In a few days, Norton will publish Busy Monsters, the debut novel by William Giraldi. The book has received three starred reviews and a blurb from Harold Bloom. …more

Anthony Weiner, the brash congressman from New York City, resigned this past Thursday, after it was revealed that he sent photos of himself, and sexually yearning text messages, to several women. …more

Gil Scott-Heron died on May 27, at age 62. As I write this, there’s no official cause of death. We’ll know soon enough. This is America, after all. Whatever the medical details suggest, I’m listing his official cause of death as grief. …more

When I first came to Boston, a thousand years ago, I taught a class for a tiny literary outfit called Grub Street. It was held in a dingy high school room and enrollment was, uh, spotty. Only three students showed up consistently: …more

Wow.

When I was about ten years old, I hit my older brother in the mouth with a baseball bat. We were standing around in a field, hitting pebbles with the bat, and I got him on my backswing. There was a lot of blood. …more

David Sirota writes a weekly column that appears in dozens of newspapers. He has his own radio show. And he’s a frequent guest on cable TV gabfests. These facts should qualify Sirota as a pundit.

But it feels wrong – and slightly dirty – to use that word. …more

Slightly NSFW.

Ike Reilly – “Suffer For The Trust”
Rally for Workers’ Rights
Madison, WI

(Yet Another) Rumpus Lamentation:

It’s a sunny winter day in Tucson, Arizona. There’s an event being held in the parking lot of a supermarket called Safeway. …more

My wife got upset last night, after she heard about the Rand Paul supporters who tackled a progressive activist named Lauren Valle.  One of them stepped on her head. Valle suffered a concussion. The technical term is aggravated battery. …more

(If you came here looking for porn we recommend Kink.com sites.)

Steve Almond interviews his mom about her new book The Monster Within: The Hidden Side of Motherhood. (That’s right, Steve’s mom wrote a book about a mother’s fear of having a terrible child.) …more

Dear Readers, Citizens, Freaks,

Like a lot of you, I’ve been frustrated the last two years. Despite winning the presidency and overwhelming majorities in both houses of congress, Democrats have failed to act boldly on issues ranging from climate change to immigration. They’ve been bullied by an aggrieved minority whose only sustained goals are lower taxes for the rich and deregulation. …more

“You will have to imagine my confusion when Ms. Nutting’s debut story collection, Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls, appeared on my doorstep. She had chosen to defy all reasonable laws of feminine desire by spurning me as a sexual object. And yet she had managed to publish a book.” …more

How I Became a Music Critic:

At age 19, I was assigned to review Bob Dylan in concert, despite the fact that I had very little sense of who Bob Dylan was. I was doing a summer internship at my hometown paper, and the regular critic had fallen ill. …more

(Writing wretched verse so you don’t have to since 1995… but this is the end of the line)

With an introduction by Matthew Zapruder ** …more

A Rumpus Meditation on Editors, Ambition, and Angry Dependence (in 33 loosely jointed parts):

1. On July 30, the managing editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review, Kevin Morrissey, took his life. His note stated that he “just couldn’t bear it anymore.” …more

(Writing wretched verse so you don’t have to since 1995)

Graduation Party

It looks, from a distance, like a track and field tourney:
so much avid motion in shorts and T-shirts
the college field house rented for the occasion …more

I know I should be grateful to the NYTBR for trashing my new book. I’m not.

…more

(Writing wretched verse so you don’t have to since 1995)

The Math of Betrayal

The math of betrayal my friends will never line up …more

(Writing wretched verse so you don’t have to since 1995)

Cry Timber

I am long tired
of the tyranny
of trees …more

A special Rumpus lamentation with possible added pep talk.

***

So last week the New Yorker published their once-a-decade Fiction Issue, in which they printed eight stories, along with their list of 20 Writers Under 40. …more

Let me introduce my former student Tracey Wigfield, who is now a writer for the television program 30 Rock. I am so happy for Tracey that I am now weeping inconsolably. …more