“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
“His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives.” Noam Chomsky on Howard Zinn, who died…
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Isaac Fitzgerald
1891 posts
Isaac Fitzgerald has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, and was once given a sword by a king, thereby accomplishing three out of five of his childhood goals. Formerly of The Rumpus and McSweeney’s and most recently the founding editor of BuzzFeed Books, Isaac is now the co-host of BuzzFeed News’ Twitter Morning Show, #AMtoDM. He also appears frequently on The Today Show to talk books, and is co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (with Recipes) (winner of an IACP award), and the author of a YA novel and picture book forthcoming from Bloomsbury. He uses Twitter.
Freedom of (Virtual) Assembly
Well this certainly isn’t your parents’ protest. The group Rethink Afghanistan has “executed a widespread war protest on the White House’s Facebook page.” Learn more at Mashable: “War Protesters Storm…
“Be a Warrior, Woman.”
“Even if you could please everyone, if you were an artist with as many gifts as Berdeshevsky, why would you want to?” Brian Beglin reviews Margo Berdeshevsky’s Beautiful Soon Enough.
iTampon Links
“People are making a joke due to unfortunate word associations in the name of Apple’s new tablet, the iPad.” Twitter’s iTampon trending topic page. The Internet’s best period-related iPad jokes.…
NBCC Finalists Announced
The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its 2009 book awards. Among those named are D. A. Powell (whose Rumpus Original Combo can be read here) for…
“When I’m Thirsty and When I’m Not”
“Charles Baudelaire (1821 – 1867): Booze, Opium; Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849): Alcohol, Opiates; Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861): Opium; Stephen King (1947 – present): Booze, Cocaine, Prescription…
“Mr. Plimpton’s Revenge”
Author Dinty W. Moore has an interesting tale about chance run-ins with George Plimpton that starts when Moore was an undergrad at the University of Pittsburgh and ends, decades later,…
Vollmann on Prostitution
“Well, I’m getting older, so I can’t get it up as much as I used to. […] I think prostitutes are amazing people with so much knowledge of human nature…
Almond on “Hysterical Lyricism” and the Splinter Generation
“Why do you think people are emailing and texting and twittering and Facebook updating in such a compulsive manner? Because they’re lonely as all hell…” The Splinter Generation has an…