death penalty
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Conversations with Literary Ex-Cons: Samuel Barlow
Writer Samuel Barlow talks with Cullen Thomas in the prison where he was held for half a century.
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The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with Shara Lessley
Shara Lessley discusses her new collection, The Explosive Expert’s Wife, the task of humanizing those we might dismiss as monsters, and writing toward hope.
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The Logic of the Book: Talking with Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich discusses The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, the importance of narrative structure, and the difference between facts and stories.
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Say Everything: The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Truth is complicated, thorny, and often paradoxical. Marzano-Lesnevich advocates for a version of events that doesn’t attempt to simplify its subjects, that doesn’t reduce human life to weak metaphors.
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The Saturday Rumpus Essay: We Aren’t Killers; They Are
One story mirrors our identity—any of us could be falsely accused! The other tale is about the Other—because it’s unfathomable that one of us would commit murder. We aren’t killers; they are.
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Conversations with Literary Ex-Cons: Billy Sinclair
Former death-row inmate, legendary jailhouse lawyer, and co-editor for the award-winning The Angolite newspaper Billy Sinclair looks back on his prison experience and discusses what his priorities are now.
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Rumpus Original Fiction: Mandarin Imperial
Growing up, I understood my father through observation, and I suspect that he understood me much the same way. I liked to think our love was purer that way. Like two stray dogs who found each other and are blessed…
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The True American by Anand Giridharadas
The True American is an intellectually agile and incessantly compelling portrait of post-9/11 America—of what we are and of what we might become.
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Gruesome Spectacles by Austin Sarat
We the People of the United States do not wish to meet or exceed the depravity of those we deem too depraved to live. We just want to kill them. We want to have our death penalty and be good…
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Prop 34: The fate of the Death Penalty
The United States is one of only four industrialized democracies that still practice capital punishment. This upcoming election, Prop 34 will determine the fate of the death penalty in California. Alexandra Gross’ personal essay, “My Childhood Pen-Pal Was an Innocent Man…
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Steinbeck Family Outraged at Use of Lennie Small in Death Row Cases
After learning that Of Mice and Men was invoked in a Texas court to argue for the execution of the mentally impaired, John Steinbeck’s son Thomas spoke out in support of the (unsuccessful) effort to halt Tuesday’s execution of Marvin Wilson,…