The Plight of the Eloquent
At the beginning of Avenue Q, the Broadway Musical notorious for its puppets who say and do dirty things, the fresh-out-of-college Princeton glides onto the stage (as well as puppets…
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Maddie Oatman
78 posts
Maddie Oatman has interviewed musicians and writers for The Rumpus. She's the research editor at Mother Jones, where she also writes. A Boulder transplant, she can often be found on her bike, skis, or cooking with vegetables, and she wrote her English thesis on a gay red-winged monster and Billy the Kid. Follow her on Twitter or read occasional musings on her blog Oats.
Things to Think About: Publishing Links
The Department of Justice says nay to Google’s proposed Book Search deal. Joni Evans discusses the essential tools of publishing over the decades in The New York Times‘ “When Publishing…
Disturbing Journeys: A Look Inside Sex Trafficking
The recent Tides Momentum Leadership Conference featured innovators and activists from around the world passionate about discussing current challenges and striving to forge a more equitable and sustainable society. One…
Is Indie Still Alive?
What’s hipper than indie culture? Discussing whether or not indie culture still exists, of course. In his essay for The Millions, “T.V. Party Tonight!,” Patrick Brown wonders about the reoccurring…
Writing the Imaginary Novel
With the advent of a great novel comes a new and irrevocable universe its author has forged. Even the most minuscule detail imagined–a street name, a painting, a work of…
White-Washed Cover Against Writer’s Wishes
Justine Larbalestier’s thriller Liar is told from the perspective of shifty Micah, an unreliable teen who describes herself as an African-American with short nappy hair. It’s no wonder that the…
Muumuu House: Independent Press Embraces Online Genres
Muumuu House, an independent press edited by author Tao Lin, publishes not only poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, but also Gmail chats and Twitter selections on its starkly minimalist website. Lin’s…
Berlusconi in Tehran
In his piece for the London Review of Books, “Berlusconi in Tehran,” about the danger of authoritarian power within democracies, Slavoj Zizek examines the possible similarities between the victorious Iranian Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…
An Imperfect Masterpiece: The Rumpus Interview with Members of Midwest Dilemma
Midwest Dilemma’s Timelines and Tragedies combines resonant storytelling with genre-bending indie-folk music and a plethora of eclectic instruments.
The Digital Caste System
The arrival of the Internet and the wide dissemination of information that ensued has inspired the belief that technology may be able to break down hierarchies and allow for the…