Clay Risen considers an unusual charter school
January 24, 2011 In the February/March issue of BookForum, author and Chapter 16 contributor Clay Risen reviews a new book by video-game designer Jane McGonigal. Reality Is Broken examines the goals and effectiveness of a unique New York City charter school called Quest to Learn, where students tackle assignments designed to mimic the experience of playing a video game.
Read moreKate Daniels’s poem “Disjunction” appears in an unlikely place
January 23, 2011 Kate Daniels’s poem “Disjunction” appears in this week’s edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. “Disjunction,” which was included in the 1998 collection, Four Testimonies, begins,
On my knees in my office,
leaning over the metal can
of waste, I squeeze my breasts
to express the milk that’s accrued
in my graduate seminar on postmodern
Journalist Stanley Booth considers his friend William Eggleston, the father of modern color photography
January 20, 2011 Memphis artist William Eggleston is all over the news: this week marks the closing of a retrospective exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the announcement of a proposed Eggleston museum in his native Memphis, and the opening of an Eggleston exhibit at the Frist Museum of Art in Nashville. In addition, Twin Palms Publishers recently brought out a new collection of Eggleston prints—itself a companion volume to Michael Almereyda’s documentary film, William Eggleston in the Real World. Today, journalist Stanley Booth, a longtime friend of Eggleston from his own Memphis days, considers the work of the man known as “the father of modern color photography.”
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Poet Diann Blakely looks at the work of legendary Memphis photographer William Eggleston
January 20, 2011 One of the most striking images in Michael Almereyda’s documentary film, William Eggleston in the Real World, also appears on the cover of the new Eggleston collection, For Now: Eggleston’s wife, Rosa, lies sleeping with a yellow-flowered duvet bunched across her middle, one slender, aristocratic hand holding the sheets in place near the pubic region. Has the couple just had sex? Rosa’s lovely long legs end in feet that appear slightly dirty; the room is small, dingy, and low-ceilinged. The gaping closet door has a pink, pocketed storage container hanging over the top, and a plastic, brown-nippled baby bottle sits on top of a staticky television. Remember when TV used to go “off the air” at night? There’s something yellow and disturbing about the portrait.
Read moreAmy Greene’s Bloodroot makes the 2011 Tournament of Books
January 20, 2011 The Morning News has entered Amy Greene’s debut novel Bloodroot in its Seventh Annual Tournament of Books. The competition, which pits sixteen of the most critically acclaimed novels of the previous year against each other in a seeded bracket, doesn’t kick off until March 7. The news today “will allow time for Tournament fans to begin reading so they can follow along with the blood sport,” notes the press release.
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Jericho Brown’s raw, lyrical poetry begs to be sung
January 19, 2011 Jericho Brown’s poetry affects the reader like a song that’s impossible to shake; his beautiful lyrics read like music, hitting the subconscious in the same direct and soul-inspiring way. Brown will read from his work at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center on the Vanderbilt University campus on January 20 at 7 p.m.
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