The Daily Rumpus
Get Overly Personal Emails
From Stephen Elliott
Kate Durbin’s poetry and performance art focus on female archetypes like princesses, witches, and pop stars. She dives into the cesspools of modern culture without shame, resurfacing to present us with glittering treasures from the depths.
...more“There was a time, religious historians say, that religion was easy to pinpoint because people were defined by their beliefs, practices and traditions of worship. Now, with the sheer number of people and faiths intermingling, believers are consumers of religion.”
Kathryn Lofton, who most recently authored Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon, is master of the overlapping themes in religion and pop culture.
...moreA long time ago, back when I was basking in over-priced Leftism in Santa Cruz, I gave a gift to my friend: Letters To A Yong Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens.
At that time Hitchens was a venom-tongued writer for the progressive magazine The Nation and was still pals with the other equally acid-tongued provocateur, Alexander Cockburn. (Who believes, among other things, that Al Gore should be tried for war crimes.)
It was before Hitchens’s infamous transformation into a weird neo-con misanthrope radical, back before he all but officially announced his drunken disdain for women, liberals and Muslims.
...more
A memoir by a critic for The Onion views a troubled youth through the lens of popular cultureI don’t want to define The Rumpus by opposition. After all, one of our 22 mottos is, “Three Celebrations for Every Complaint.” Another of our mottos is, “Only Rich People Call Themselves Upper Middle Class.”
Still, here are some things we’re less interested in.
...more