She Reads and Writes
Dec 22, 2011
Longreads: Mental Floss Editors: Our Top Longreads of 2011
The editors of mental_floss magazine: Mangesh Hattikudur, Ethan Trex, Stephanie Meyers, and Jessanne Collins. They’re also on Twitter and Tumblr.
***
Read their picks for the top longreads of 2011.
Dec 12, 2011
Ravi Mangla: Visiting Writers @ Uncanny Valley Press
My collection of microfictions, Visiting Writers, has been published as an ebook by Uncanny Valley Press. There are 23 stories in the collection, some of which have appeared in Gigantic #2, Everyday Genius, >kill author, and The Outlet. Huge thanks to Mike Meginnis and Tracy Bowling for…
Nov 30, 2011
A 48-Hour Poem by Roxane Gay
Roxane is awesome, as is the Missouri Review. You should read this!
When we learned that Terry W. Thompson, of Zanesville, Ohio, released his menagerie of animals and committed suicide last month, we asked for poems written within 48 hours in response to the tragedy. One submission came from author Roxane Gay. Her poem:
Animals, they say,
are best kept in cages.
Wild things though, know
a cage is nothing
but steel on which
they can sharpen
their teeth.
Roxane Gay lives and writes in the Midwest.
Nov 4, 2011
Nov 2, 2011
In The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion contemplated how the rituals of everyday life were fundamentally altered after her husband died suddenly in 2003. The book was published in 2005, just months after Didion’s only child, her daughter Quintana Roo, died at age 39.
Didion pieces together her memories of her daughter’s life and death in her new book Blue Nights. She tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross that she was unable to start mourning her daughter’s death until she started writing again.
Oct 18, 2011
“ […] if you get into downtown Atlanta, it has people that are proud of this city. It’s not so much this way anymore, but people used to be like, “Oh, I’m in Atlanta now, but I’m trying to get to New York or trying to get to L.A.” I think the people that are here in Atlanta now — that are choosing to be here, that want to be here — they’re proud of it. And the great thing about Atlanta is that it’s not that hard to be a part of it; it’s not that hard to be active, and do events, and have a great response, and actually make a difference in a place. For such a big city, you can make a big difference, whereas, I never lived in New York or anything, but I would imagine there it’s a lot more difficult to get things rolling.”
Steven Carse, King of Pops (via lindsayoberstatlanta)
Oct 10, 2011
"I Am Speaking the Language," up now at Used Furniture Review.
“Let me loose in you, but not to be lost: loose like a wanderer, as I am among words, drifting back and forth over your breaths and rhythms, your syllables, your punctuation. It is cliché to say I want to learn the language of you. To invert and to subvert and to somehow make you rattle with the thrum of new possibility, to shake and then still in just one stanza.”
This is one of the pieces I most enjoyed writing, and though it’s extremely short, it’s one I am extremely proud of. It is, of course, about love and language and the (inevitable) conflation of the two. I had a lot of fun writing it.
You can find it here at Used Furniture Review.
Sep 21, 2011
Underground Atlanta’s future: an arts district?
This is the coolest idea I’ve heard yet for transforming the much-maligned Underground Atlanta shopping/entertainment complex.
Culture Surfing reports on a recent interview with Mayor Kasim Reed in which he forecasts a bright future for UA as a vibrant arts center (as opposed to the hideous proposal from others in recent years to turn in into a gambling center & hotel).
In the video interview embedded in the above linked post, Reed proposes turning UA into “an arts district for artists to have an opportunity to house their businesses…to make is a creative space for the City of Atlanta.” He also proposes using the complex to house arts programs from the many nearby higher-learning institutions.
I agree with the mayor. I’ve been really impressed with the way UA has served as a good space for the current Elevate//Art Above Underground exhibit and events. I think this idea has legs and could really work — where do we start?
Photo of Elevate from City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs
Love this idea so long as the artists and arts organizations are given exceptional levels of freedom that they can run with. The last thing Underground needs is another forced identity.
Sep 21, 2011
