Posts by author
Lisa Dusenbery
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On Race and Empathy
In the last few days there have been many thoughtful take-downs of the already infamous Forbes “If I were a poor black kid” column. Don’t miss Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Atlantic response discussing “a muscular empathy” and confronting our own mediocrity. “If…
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Civil Liberties Roundup
Here’s a video about the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill, which the President will not veto, includes a provision that allows the military to detain and imprison American citizens indefinitely without trial. WTF? And now…
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Sugar Love
Writer Logan Sachon included Sugar’s “The Truth that lives there” in her top five longreads of 2011. Hooray! “I’m a Sugar devotee; her columns have been such a help to me during a rough year. This one, in which five…
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RIP George Whitman, Legendary Bookseller
George Whitman, owner of Shakespeare & Company, the famous Parisian English-language bookstore, passed away yesterday. Of his 98 years of life, 60 were devoted to his bookstore (the sister shop to San Francisco’s City Lights) described as an “offbeat mix…
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Praise for Treasure Island!!!
“This book is funny. I mean it. It’s pee in your pants funny. The beginning of the book which involves the unnamed narrator working at a Pet Library -exactly how it sounds- introduces readers to the narcissistic, kind of douche-like…
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Fast and Slow Thinking
Psychologists believe that the brain has two complementary modes of thought. If you’re curious about the difference between system 1 (fast mode) and system 2 (slow mode), check out this Guardian review of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.…
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“Best of 2011” Remix
Elissa Schappell has assembled her own list of books that have not received all the love they deserve during this 2011 “best of” season. Her endorsements includes Rumpus Book Club pick You Think That’s Bad by Jim Shepard, and Rumpus contributor…
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Practice Restraint
Electric Literature is asking us to show some restraint this holiday season with their Holiday Restraint Short Short Contest. Submit “a short short of 30 to 300 words, that uses each word only once” by midnight of Dec 31st. You…
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Louis CK’s Big Discovery
Louis CK has revealed the results of a social experiment in which he directed, self-produced, and sold his show Louis C.K. Live At The Beacon Theater. By doing it all himself and avoiding a big company, he was able to…
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Mother Issues
“Perhaps the most feminist thing we can do is simply forgive our mothers whatever slights.” Reviewing The Monster Within: The Hidden Side of Motherhood and Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women in Search of Love and Power,…
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Choose Books
Choose Books: A Gift Guide for People Who Care About Stories is Anna Clark’s incredibly detailed book gifting guide for the holiday season. In addition to the hundreds of specialized book recommendations, there are sections on magazine subscriptions, literary organization…
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Michael Alan’s Realism
“I’m more of a realistic artist than anything else because life always changes on us. I’m trying to embrace that rather than trying to reject it. It’s something that’s definite and we have to accept it. Change is definite, but…