Newlights Press - 2002

Aaron Cohick posted some old Newlights Press books, including my survivalists guide to contemporary mood inhibitors from 2002:

http://newlightspress.blogspot.com/

more things we can learn from the French

When they protest, they do it right.

Iraq photo of the day

Respect

Updike

d. 1/27/09

Portrait - Alex Katz.

see you in Berlin, Bex

(this poem – what some might call a broem: poem written f'r my bro – was given to Beckett on a tag attached to a key and a pair of quality handcuffs. It's probably the strangest going away present I've ever given anyone)

safeguarding your preeminent residence

for Beckett Hills

forgo the castle, freak every muzzle & Tet. Triumph of the boot! Triumph of the face! Triumph of YouTube! Fortification, said the baby-mama, releases the individual from fear, yet facilitates the forgetting. Now we remember how to implement the plan: Secretly collect metal grocery carts, pile them in the garage, & alkalize their carriages into a fence of heritage & rebates. Stockpile tuna fish, black powder, & dry humps; lock them in the cellar of your jeans. Invent the silent explosion. Chew an entire pack of Trident & stretch the flavorless dermis over our faces like deathmasks. A double-barrel in every wardrobe. Birdshot spares the bassinets. Soundproofing is everywhere – just look. Triumph of fetishes! Triumph of handcuffs! Triumph of the widow learning to Jet Ski! & here we are, in the garage again, studying the backs of our hands. No drywall on the planet quiet the pinprick

Iraq photo of the day

Obama - from his inauguration speech

"...It has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

Lamination Colony

Michael Kimball is guest editing Lamination Colony and he asked me for a short piece. I wrote another deleted scene that would have been in Falcons on the Floor, but Salim, the main character, chose not to include it in the final draft (files). Sounds weird. I know. But somehow it works.

Here's the first few paragraphs of what I sent in:

We hadn’t seen too many vultures on the second day of walking. We hadn’t seen much of anything.

Mostly, birds circled the bombings, where the cities barfed up body after wet body, mangled fighters or family members crushed on their sofas. The vultures swarmed, sallow in the heat. Overstuffed and grimacing. Big bloated turkeys with grim reaper smiles. Fat as shit birds that would send a jackal screaming in the other direction. And the frantic vultures clocked, in gangs, along the outskirts where all the other derelict animals scavenged, burrowing into sopped pantleg and sleeve, pecking out and picking clean. They weren’t crazed by what they were feeding on, but by the volume and variety of meals available – al dente, flambé, all fucked up.

We’d left all that behind us, we’d thought, Khalil and me.

Iraq photo of the day

from the iPhone of Rod Smtih

2/3 of Narrow House - Buffalo 2008.

Weekend report

Revisions (averaging 10 pages a day), good ‘ole boys, Old Granddad, bonfire, more revisions, I guess I’m going to be in the new Arboretum video directed by Joe Cashiola, True Grit by Charles Portis, Beckett and Clem’s going away party, planning a trip to Berlin, “you can’t have my belt”, chicken nuggets with polynesian sauce?!, someone pickled some pickles, old photos of Buffalo Small Press dinner from Rod Smith, BSG got boring, editing my query letter, more revisions, lovely brunch at Gertrude’s, beautiful print, invisible man in the Normal’s bathroom, coffee with no lid, nightmare: horses bowling in a parking garage, old Hondas, (totally blushing x 2), adorable.

Iraq photo of the day

American Association of Museums

The American Association of Museums wants the BMA to submit the 60 Objects/Countless Stores audio project for a media award. Deputy Director of Education, Anne Manning asked the writers describe our experience with the project for the application.

This is what I sent her:

The BMA's audio tour, 60 Objects/Countless Stores, provided novelists and poets the opportunity to freely engage the museum's artwork in a way that only prose and poetry can. We drew fresh associations, added narrative, embellished details, poked fun, and re-contextualized the work for a contemporary audience. These new oral histories serve as segues for the public to enter the museum as a kinetically interactive world – reviving the museum as an instrument for the intellectually curious.

Iraq photo of the day

critical viewing

Here's a linked up list of some amazing (to pretty good... to just ok) Iraq related documentaries and films. They are somewhat ordered from most to least favorite:

Iraq in Fragments
The Dream of Sparrows
Inside Iraq: The Untold Story
The War Tapes
Voices of Iraq
War Feels Like War
Occupation: Dreamland
The Prisoner or: How i Planned to Kill Tony Blair
Battle for Haditha
Generation Kill
Gunner Palace
Standard Operating Procedure
Making Of
Baghdad ER
The Ground Truth
Taxi to the Dark Side
Marooned in Iraq
The Soldier's Tale
Heavy Metal in Baghdad
In the Valley of Elah
Stoploss
Home of the Brave
Redacted (nearly a complete failure)

and I had to include:
The Road to Guantanamo (Afghanistan related)

in the queue:
My Country, My Country
The Blood of My Brother
G.I. Jesus

Battle for Haditha

Battle for Haditha succeeds in telling the story from both sides of the conflict. Without pointing the blame entirely on the Marines responsible for the massacre or the resistance fighters who triggered their response, director Nick Broomfield and co-writer Marc Hoeferlin sensitively investigate the Haditha incident where 24 civilians were murdered in retaliation for a roadside bomb.

The acting is candid and affectively voyeuristic at times, and Broomfield recreates the battered town with meticulous precision. Yeah, there are some cliché parts. The soldiers are depicted as trigger-happy meatheads, blaring heavy metal as they race Humvees through the desert. They embarrass themselves, but usually for the sake of comic relief – to keep each other sane. Iraqi kids sit from a swing and comment on the lovely date palms and of course the family’s grandfather sits in the living room with his beloved Qur’an. All of this is normal.

But unlike any war movie I’ve seen, the civilians play a key role in the narrative. In a story like this, it would be difficult to exclude them. We see how families are caught in the crossfire between a fanatical extremists and the over equipped military who use everything in their arsenal to destroy them. Mothers are pressured to remain silent when someone is planting a bomb outside their home. Children peer out bedroom windows to see who’s firing into their neighbor’s house.

This is one of the most realistic war movies I’ve seen and definitely the only one that fully sympathizes with the disgraceful loss of civilian life. If you’re seeking a viewpoint from the people on the receiving end of the barrel, rent it. This is a perfect companion to Generation Kill.

Iraq photo of the day

Secondary Sound being taught at MICA

I dropped off 20 something copies to Chezia Thompson-Cager for her MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) poetry class yesterday. Even I don't even know how to explain the book fully, but maybe that's a strength of the work. Composing a series of abstract queries interests me a lot more than pretending to offer concrete solutions to digital piracy and copyright reform. Hopefully the book will bust a few capital (P)oets over the nose.

superb use of the typeface

Iraq photo of the day

(long) Weekend report

Wait, I'm on the Signal this week?, huh?, everything went swimmingly at the BMA, Bret McCabe saved my jacket, "here's the straight dope", Fesperman had a tall order and nails it, Michael Kimball saves me from laughing out loud, Olu is better than Slam, Phampersand, mom likes David Byrne, mom saves me from excess heat loss, dad fixed: door nob, kitkat clock, and the Cable, Obama in Baltimore, put down the fucking chips! a heated game of Scrabble, dad doesn't understand Robert Todd, met my editor (Christy Whipple) for the first time, the Shawna connection, Burn After Reading, free PBR, my Metalhead Lolita - you can do whatever you want, Baghdad ER, LB text mess: Falcons dive to pick up pieces of my heart from the floor, hours left... BYE BYE BUSH!

The Signal:
http://publicbroadcasting.net/wypr/.artsmain/article/14/347/1458377/The.Signal/60.Objects..Countless.Stories/

Iraq photo of the day

BMA - tonight

Tonight, I'm reading at the Baltimore Museum of Art with a bunch of great writers like Michael Kimball and Laura Lippmann. Flattered is the word. These people are amazing. This is part of that crazy audio tour we've been working on for a while -- the one where I lie about that Giacometti piece and Michael has a beautiful description of Dan Flavin's work. I was also tasked with creating postcards that will have questions for the audience that provoke unconventional responses to the artwork in the museum. Bret McCabe (City Paper) and Olu Butterfly-Woods (awesome poet) also provided amazing questions for the postcards.

I hope to see you there.

My parents are in town.

Now my cat smells like Parliament lights and Chanel number 5.

CUTE!

Iraq photo of the day

TUFHAEMDSMIMSW

I submitted a short story for Lily Hoang and Blake Butler's Innovative Fiction Anthology yesterday. The story kinda functions as a deleted scene for the novel, meaning that, Salim, the main character, types a lot of the actual story in first person on a laptop. Certain files were deleted and not included in the final version (of the novel). If I end up writing more deleted scenes, I hope to have a collection of them published with illustrations by an Iranian/American friend of mine.

We'll see if this makes the cut for the anthology. Here's the first few paragraphs of the deleted scene:

In the video, it’ll be different.

Lying awake.

Sleep repels itself, allotting only an hour rest. And what shallow sleep settles is disturbed by weird dreams about men tossing dogs off buildings – terriers and German shepherds and newborn rottweilers yelping and spinning – and when the men run out of dogs they throw themselves. When the last man leaps, I wake up. Cold.

The night has no soundtrack but creeks and snaps. Every bird chirp could be a radio squeaking attack, every splash embellishes into boots rushing us blind. Restless, I’ve sat up so many times I probably have a six pack from paranoia – it could be marketed as The Ultimate, 480 Minute, Don’t Stab Me in My Sleep Workout.

Iraqi photo of the day

Prairie Organic Vodka

What isn't there to like about this beautifully designed vodka?

"Certified organic and kosher, Prairie Vodka ($25-$45) is thoughtfully distilled from organic yellow corn and crafted in partnership with a co-op of over 900 Minnesota farmers. Besides getting a deliciously smooth drink, you also get the pleasure of knowing it's probably the most eco-friendly item in your home. The fifth-generation owned Phillips Distilling Company take care all the way from the field to the bottle with Prairie. It's packaged in a recyclable glass bottle, packed in a kraft cardboard box made from sustainable forest wood pulp, and uses organic inks on the labels. Even corncobs and other leftovers are converted on-site to biogas energy for powering the stills. It's just about enough to make you drink more."

Iraq photo of the day

W

1. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

2. "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."—Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

3. "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"—Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

4. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."—Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

5. "Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican."—declining to answer reporters' questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001

6. "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''—Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

7. "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2006

8. "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."—Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

9. "I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that."—discussing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as quoted by the Sun newspaper, June 27, 2007

10. "And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq."—meeting with Army Gen. Ray Odierno, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008

11. "We ought to make the pie higher."—South Carolina Republican debate, Feb. 15, 2000

12. "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

13. "And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it."—speaking on National Public Radio, Jan. 29, 2007

14. "We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers."—Houston, Sept. 6, 2000

15. "It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."—Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000

16. "One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures."—U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 3, 2000

17. "People say, 'How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil?' You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

18. "Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."—CNN online chat, Aug. 30, 2000

19. "I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep on the soil of a friend."—on the prospect of visiting Denmark, Washington, D.C., June 29, 2005

20. "I think it's really important for this great state of baseball to reach out to people of all walks of life to make sure that the sport is inclusive. The best way to do it is to convince little kids how to—the beauty of playing baseball."—Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2006

21. "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."—LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

22. "You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war president. No president wants to be a war president, but I am one."—Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 26, 2006

23. "There's a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.' "—Boston, Oct. 3, 2000

24. "They misunderestimated me."—Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

25. "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

*ripped from Slate dot com

moleskine - portraits

Iraq photo of the day

Iraq photo of the day

Weekend report

You use black in your paintings with magnificent effect, flag pizza, she texted me her phone number – awesome, photographed that retched public art outside Penn Station (I’ve often wondered if first time visitors step off the train, look up at that sculpture, immediately turn around, and go home), short story for HTML Giant’s writer’s under 30, I made my editor cry, I have a hell of a lot of work to do on the novel, new skillet, Ravens did it, early night, more work on that story, seven question for the audience of the BMA (If our country was invaded by a foreign government and Baltimore's police force dissolved, what artwork would you save from looters if you could save only one?) The Urbanite is out of money -- done by the summer?, double feature with Beckett, Clem, and Richard, McCabe and Miss Miller/Killing of a Chinese Bookie, “this town has parts?” three free drinks from three separate friends, Operation Ivy, Adam Robinson fully bleeds, WHY is my alarm going off? I couldn’t believe it was actually Monday.

David Foster Wallace - syllabus

Thanks Blake.

http://comp.uark.edu/~ccarera/DFW_Syllabus.pdf

Iraqi photo of the day

Errol Morris, The Weirdness

Standard Operating Procedure chisels deep into the moral corruption of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal through intense interviews with the soldiers and MPs behind the camera. Everything is beautifully shot. Each reenactment is believable and abstract at the same time. That's typical, effective Morris doing what he does best. And, like usual, he prefers cinéma vérité; he only interrupts when absolutely necessary. At one point in the film, Morris uses a technique where the interviewee looks directly at the director while examining and describing a photo. It's both powerful and subtlety jarring. You see the soldier squinting, trying to understand what is going on in the same fashion that we, the viewers, are trying to make sense of it all. But the young soldier is really looking right at you (the camera).

I'm not sure how many new facts I learned from this expertly executed documentary, but it does reinforce the importance of documentation during war as well as noting that handful of enlistees took the fall for Rumsfeld's/Bush's torture policies. Abu Ghraib will be remembered as one of the pivotal follies key to losing the trust of the Iraqi people and, ultimately, the war.

Iraq photo of the day

book design for PLUMMET - Chris Nealon, Edge Books

Chris Nealon and I are finishing up the edits right now and I think his new Edge Book will be out in the next few weeks. Stephen Weiss took the photo of Liliane Lijn's Waveguide for the cover.

Lured by a great position at JHU, Chris recently moved to the area from Berkeley where he was also teaching. We're very luck to have him in the Baltimore/DC area.

Best line in modern poetry:

"I am not gay, I am from the future!"

Iraq photo of the day

Flechettes used in Fallujah

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/wpg2?g2_itemId=9141

From a U.S. Army, National Ground Intel. Center memo titled: Complex Environments: Battle of Fallujah, April 2004. I think Army Intel. took the memorandum off the net; I can't find the link I saved my PDF from.
A flechette is a pointed steel projectile, with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from French fléchette, ‘little arrow’ or ‘dart’, and sometimes retains the acute accent in English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flechette

moleskine - new moleskine

Iraq photo of the day

Iraq photo of the day

Weekend report

Leaving Behoboth, Dogfish Head's fish and chips are the size of a German Shepherd’s leg, the BMA wants me to co-organize a writing workshop, Byrne and Eno make me happy, long drive, the Cork Poachers of Charleston SC (they suffocate big game by plugging their noses with corks), a gifted blazer from Beckett, brunch with the Benders, of course you drive by right when I’m thinking of you, 1/3 of the ie reading, duckpin Magliacane birthday bonanza, Greg sees a ghost, the ghost turns out to be Mastriani, big awesome cake, big awesome beers, glad you’re not offended, Royer’s book release reading, “NO, I’m am NOT the publisher”, relocation of the ie series, RAVENS, movie night at Rocket, anxiety dreams about work.

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