Posts by author
Lauren O’Neal
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Race, Class, and Indie Rock Music
No teenager wants to listen to their parents’ music. For Martin Douglas, that music was hip-hop, so he gravitated toward the world of grunge and indie rock. The only problem: that world is very white, and Douglas is black. In…
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How to Look Like You’re Reading Something Smart on the Bus
You’re a reasonable reader. You like the aesthetics of an old-fashioned paper-and-glue book, but you’re not averse to turning the virtual pages of an e-reader either. If that description sounds like you, here’s a DIY project you might like: making…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
If you didn’t catch them already, you’ll want to see the two awesome features we ran this weekend. First, Antonia Crane interviews Jill Soloway, writer, producer, and director, about her film Afternoon Delight, which earned her the US Dramatic Directing Award…
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Burma Nurtures Literary Tradition with International Festival
If Jon Nickell’s essay “Into the Tiger’s Lair” piqued your interest about Burma, you might be interested to know that the often isolated country with abundant censorship regulations just held its first international literary festival. With workshops and readings on…
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The Weird, Sad, Beautiful Lives of “Wayward Authors”
Writers aren’t exactly known for taking the road more traveled by, and the authors profiled in Andrew Shaffer’s Literary Rogues are no exception. There’s Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s proclivity for opium, Gustave Flaubert’s exhibitionism, and of course, Oscar Wilde’s love that dare…
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Poetry For Free
If you just can’t wait until National Poetry Month happens in April, you can start preparing now. Sign up here, and Poetry will send you 10 free copies of their April issue so you can spread the joy of poetry to…
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Let A Rumpus Pal Choose Your Next Book
Bookish, the new website that helps you choose and buy books based on input from writers, editors, and publishers, has a post up by Rumpus contributor/interviewee Scott Hutchins. Read it if you’re interested in books concerning father/son relationships and want recommendations…
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Drop Whatever You’re Doing and Read This Toni Morrison Interview
In 1993, an interview with Toni Morrison appeared in The Paris Review—and it feels just as relevant and immediate twenty years later. Morrison covers vast ground: what makes a good editor, how white writers get black characters wrong (or right), the importance…
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Cheryl Strayed Talk in Portland
Citizens of Portland! On February 25, Portland State University is holding a Dean’s Inaugural Lecture featuring our very own Cheryl Strayed (aka Dear Sugar). The event is free to attend, but you have to reserve a ticket in advance to…
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“Attention Is the First and Final Act of Love”
Steve Almond’s Writs of Passion is “the best Valentine’s gift money can buy,” at least according to About.com (and us!). About.com guide Corey Silverberg interviewed Almond about pleasure, emotional danger, and how to write sex scenes. A preview: …even if we do…
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Straight Outta Stratford
Whom do we have to thank for the line “I’ll teach you how to flow”? LL Cool J? Method Man? Actually, it’s Antonio, Prospero’s villainous brother in The Tempest. HTMLGiant collects this and other Shakespeare quotes that sound like 1990s hip-hop…
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The Rumpus Interview with Constance Hale
Constance Hale, who has been called “Marion the Librarian on a Harley, or E. B. White on acid,” talks verbs, literacy in the Digital Age, and why “it’s wrongheaded to think that the path to glory is only through standard…