Recent posts
Rumpus Articles
Around the World in 100 Years
The best travel writing usually begins with an absurd proposition, so how could I not pick up an attic-sale book subtitled How to See Europe on Fifty Cents a Day?
City Cyclops
Jon Adams, author of the Truth Serum books, presents City Cyclops, “the only comics in the world that will make you forget about your mom’s new boyfriend.” Perfect. The comics…
The Many Types of Trilobites
“As the privatization and patenting of scientific knowledge rapidly grows, overall scientific literacy continues to be very low,” claims The Small Science Collective. The SSC and and its Blog Sister…
Post-Young: Thank You, Dr. Death
We live in heinous times. Times when it's nearly impossible to be shocked by the sheer horror to which humans subject each other.
The Rumpus Interview with Jaclyn Friedman
I've been interested in talking and educating about rape, safety and sexuality for most of my adult life.
What Happened To Sheila
“Don’t worry, I’m not dying,” said my wife Sheila. But she was. This was about three days before it happened, and she sat up in her hospice bed and gave…
Humor, Interrupted
Here on the Internets, we know narrative digression all too well as the “hyperlink.” Those of us who are accustomed to, and indeed savor, the buds of info that bloom…
Jonny Olsen: Laotian Pop Star
When Jonny Olsen, from Southern California, first went to Thailand, he stumbled on a plastic toy khaen, the native instrument that sounds like part harmonica, part reedy accordion. Well, the…
Punk/Rai/Jazz/Rock
Rachid Taha is an important musician on the international rock scene beginning in the early 1980s. Rachid Taha was born in 1958 in Oran, Algeria. His music is influenced by…
The Importance of Being Nice
Abject admiration is the worst way to start a review. Isn’t it the blurbist’s job to kiss a writer’s behind, the critic’s to skewer it on the formidable barb of…