Other
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The Stories Behind First Sentences
Granta is three posts into a new series in which authors unpack opening sentences they have written. Héctor Abad’s opening sentence is “The first thing I felt when I returned from the jungle was a paralysis of willpower.” His explanation is…
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Blow Your Mind with These Timelines
Using a series of timelines that represent increasingly large amounts of time, this blog post puts everything in perspective. Everything. It starts out simple—timelines of the last 24 hours, the last week, and so on—and works its way up through recorded…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
Is the word “roundup” even remotely evocative of “Western” imagery and ethos? I only ask because my immediate thought was to start the roundup with, “We lassoed a big one in today”…and we did. We lassoed in a real winner.…
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Dear Sugar Meets Half-Sister
“She’s not a hiker but … that hiking boot on the cover caught her eye. And she was just halfway into chapter one when she said she sat bolt upright in bed and realized that we had the same father.”…
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September 11th from Spain
In fall of 2001, Molly Beer was in Spain, studying to become an ESL teacher and trying her hardest to win over the non-Americans who populated her program. Then September 11 happened, and everything changed. In an essay for Vela called “That…
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Notable Los Angeles 9/16 – 9/22
Monday 9/16: Najla Said presents and signs Looking for Palestine: Growing Up Confused in an Arab-American Family. 7 p.m. at Book Soup. Natasha Solomons discusses and signs The Gallery of Vanished Husbands. 7 p.m. at Vroman’s Bookstore. Tuesday 9/17: Students…
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Congratulations left handed people, we sort of understand what makes you! Hey look, Aqua-Velvet is back! Butterflies and bees drink turtle tears! Elsewhere in the animal world: it’s always a good time to talk about zombie ants. And now let…
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Missed #1: The Lucinda Rosenfeld Problem
In the July 3, 2000 New Yorker, the debut fiction issue, there was a photo of a young woman on the steps of a brownstone. Her story was terrifying, erotic, and not quite like anything I’d read before.
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Lit-link Round-up
Feminism is dead! Long live feminism! What do Lauren Cerand, Emma Straub, and Tayari Jones have in common with Gay Talese and Joan Didion? Bow-down style, that’s what. Mellisa Chadburn’s round-up of the best 8 literary spots on the internet.…
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Moon Over Egypt
In America we are explicitly taught that a healthy kind of love is a removed love…Love is the area outside of suffering, not within it…For me the experience of love has always been more primal than this…love is fire. It’s…
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A Syria Round-up
If you’re lost on Syria, or just a little confused, this article is a good place to start. Now that you have some of the basics, here’s a comprehensive look at varying opinions for and against striking Syria. Next, check…
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Blue Spark, Part I
Over at The Weeklings, recent Rumpus interviewee Nelly Reifler examines friendship, memory, and death, as well as her personal experiences with Elliott Smith. From his raised eyebrows and the scornful twist in his voice, he made it clear to me that he…