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Rumpus Articles
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A Reaction Sauce
Yesterday we linked to Malcolm Gladwell‘s most recent New Yorker essay, “The Courthouse Ring,” in which Gladwell discusses Atticus Finch, Alabama Governer “Big Jim” Folsom, race, and “the limits of Southern liberalism.” Well over at The Millions Garth Risk Hallberg…
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The Monthly Rumpus
Were you at August’s Monthly Rumpus? Look at how much fun you had here. Were you not at August’s Monthly Rumpus? Look at a projection of how much fun you could have in September. We hope to see you then.
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Afghanistan Rocks the Vote
We’re not ones to write about pop stars, but NPR is reporting that Afghan “musical hero” Farhad Darya is performing numerous free concerts “to encourage his countrymen to vote in the upcoming presidential election.” On Tuesday night Darya’s show in…
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The Juggalo Gathering 2009
“It’s a Newport! You want the rest? Have it! Have the rest!” See also the 2009 Juggalo Gathering Infomercial.
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The Last Book I Loved: Inner China
Eva Sjödin’s poem-novel maps in swift, uncanny sentences the dark marvels of being little. I am a sucker for tales of sisters, especially when an older must defend a younger from threats. Left by a stupefied mother to their own…
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A Family Affair: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Cult Rock
Charles Manson is a bad man. I’ve never kidded myself to that fact, and I don’t glamorize his crimes or the crimes of his “family” one bit.
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Morning Coffee
This is day three of me filling in for Dan. His absence is making me jittery. It turns out breast milk is good for babies. In other news, being stabbed is bad for the body. (Unless it’s Dan’s body –…
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TRUTH SERUM:
Online DisconnectionTruth Serum books (big commitment). Truth Serum on Facebook (small commitment).
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Seven Thousand Skulls and a Tolerant Spouse
“How many people want to spend their entire day — their entire life, I guess, at this point — collecting heads from rotting marine mammals? Well, Ray does!” From Shelf Life, a 25-minute documentary you can watch here, about Ray…
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Lethem on the “Squandered Promise” of Science Fiction
“In 1973 Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow was awarded the Nebula, the highest honor available in the field once known as “science fiction” — a term now mostly forgotten. “Sorry, just dreaming… [T]hough Gravity’s Rainbow really was nominated for the 1973…
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“Edmund Wilson Regrets That It Is Impossible For Him To:”
Writer and famed literary critic Edmund Wilson wasn’t a fan of giving interviews, doing any kind of editorial work, reading manuscripts, and a number of other things according to a printed response to “a student group asking him to do…