ayn rand
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Kicking & Screaming: Week #4
Welcome back to the blog mini-series where I write about my experience running a Kickstarter campaign to help release an album. Before I started working on my campaign, I asked friends what they thought about Kickstarter. I was kind of…
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Objectivism in Action at Texas Schools
Parents in one of the wealthiest towns in Texas are lobbying to get Ayn Rand into schools, and in a classic case of life imitating art (or art being chosen to reflect and enact a desired worldview, perhaps) they intend…
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Subjective Objectivism
For the Atlantic, John Paul Rollert attends an Objectivist conference in Las Vegas to explore the legacy of Ayn Rand’s work. While for many Objectivists the philosophy “begins, and ends, with the word of Ayn Rand,” others question the “amenability” of Rand’s…
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Who Are We Writing For?
Sandwiched between fictions on one side and instructions on the other, a woman is often denied the breathing room necessary to find her individual sexuality. In a conversation at the Nervous Breakdown, Rumpus contributor Ashley Perez and author Cris Mazza…
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Reddit’s Do Not Discuss List
The books subgroup on Reddit, the famously libertarian-leaning message board, has planned a ban on discussion of several popular books. Many of the titles have been banned previously in the real world. Claiming “good discussion is stifled by repetition,” the…
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Do Authors Use Symbols on Purpose?
In 1963, a high-schooler named Bruce McAllister decided he would prove to his English teacher once and for all that the symbols she was asking students to find in books like The Scarlet Letter were not actually put there on purpose by…
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The Questionably Healthy Habits of Highly Creative People
Do you work better during the morning or the evening? With a shot of espresso or a mug of green tea? An intriguing little Slate series documents the work habits of writers and other creative people, from Ernest Hemingway to David…
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Dust Bowl vs. Objectivism
At The Nervous Breakdown, Rumpus columnist Steve Almond narrates the debate between Atlas Shrugged and The Grapes of Wrath to help us decide who should lead our country, Steinbeck or Rand. Which philosophy would you vote for? “Grapes: The only…
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If Demolition is an End…Then What?
In his new book Rich People Things, Chris Lehmann identifies and deconstruct the signifiers of social class in America.
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FUNNY WOMEN #51 (INAUGURAL AUDIO EDITION): Ayn Rand’s Headcheese
The Atlas Shrugged movie has opened–and we have the antidote. Rebecca Coffey recorded and musically scored (really!) “Ayn Rand’s Headcheese” recipe. Listen or download the podcast here.
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FUNNY WOMEN #45: One-Handed Reading
Loads of people have slept with authors or well-read individuals, but what would it be like to sleep with a book?
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
The books blogs always like to talk about the future, but this week was like some sort of official book blog crystal ball week, what with this new decade they tell me we’re in now and everything. We’ve already linked…