Fiction-as-Detroit Conceit
“[W]hy bother trying to attract Starbucks to Gratiot Ave? Let us brew our own, stronger coffee.” At The Millions, Alexander Nazaryan makes an optimistic call-to-action for literature and the publishing…
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Caroline Kangas
130 posts
Caroline Kangas calls both Seattle and San Francisco home (though she currently resides in the latter). She recently received a mouthful of a liberal arts degree from the University of San Francisco and can be found selling pirate supplies at 826 Valencia or wandering the streets with her diva of a french bulldog, Elle.
Cut and Paste with Intention
However crude, social media today allows us to cut and paste our world into a space (mostly) under our control. Whether we’re posting on Pinterest (an action likened to tearing…
When are they going to start playing the cut-off music?
Winning tips on speechifying from the New York Times Opinionator. Teddy Wayne expands on the classic tools of Public Speaking 101 with heartfelt advice like: Imagine everyone in the audience…
Modern Marginalia
Two recent innovations for the digital conversation within electronic books. In his column, One More Thing, Baratunde Thurston proposes: What if you could download books that had been pre-annotated? I…
Untangling the Vernacular Web
In 1973, anthropologist Clifford Geertz published The Interpretation of Cultures, in which he discusses the idea of the vernacular web—a mess of interactions affecting how we understand our world. Now, folklorist Robert…
Michelle Orange’s NYC Book Launch
Hey Brooklyn friends! Come to the Powerhouse Arena (37 Main Street) this Wednesday, February 27th from 7 – 9 pm for the book launch for Michelle Orange‘s This is Running for…
A 20th Century Pied Piper of sorts
Fade in: small, American Midwest Town. Melton Barker walks into town, film kit in tow. So it went in at least 40 towns across the country, starting in the 1930s…
Whale: 1685, Kitten: 1
Ever thought, “I know Herman Melville was talking about a whale but how much, really, did he talk about a whale?” This cool page will answer your question with its graphical representation…
Intertextual Cityscapes
According to his website, Matthew Picton is interested in “humanising the city by deconstructing the clean, uncompromising aesthetic of the cartographic city plan and imbuing it with the unique history…
Literary Love/Death Match
For our LA buddies in need of plans for Valentine’s Day/just another Thursday night, check out Rumpus contributors Kyle Kinane and Melissa Chadburn in the inaugural Los Angeles Literary Death Match. The event…
An Ode to Anne Sexton
How could one resist such a title as Bitches and Sad Ladies? Rowan Hisayo Buchanan writes a Last-Book-I-Loved-esque piece in Tin House, musing on the often smoothed over, simplified statuses of women and…
The Believer’s new podcast: The Organist
“From philosophy to daytime TV, from poetry to martial arts, the show scrutinizes and interrogates the world with an affectionate and rigorous intelligence.” Join us in welcoming The Organist, a…