Here we continue our discussion with Todd Gitlin, author of Occupy Nation, about the future of the OWS, the challenges of political change, and the social cost of income inequality. (Read part one of this interview here.)
From the Sixties to Occupy: A Conversation With Todd Gitlin (Part One)
Todd Gitlin, celebrated writer of one of the seminal history books on the sixties, has recently published a brilliant, dynamic history of the Occupy Wall Street movement entitled Occupy Nation: The Roots, The Spirit, and The Promises of Occupy Wall Street. This e-book, soon to be a paperback, provides a larger historical context for the movement, documents the successes and failures, and highlights the tensions and ambiguities of the movement. Gitlin tackles the exigent topics of leadership, demands, or lack […]
Lost Loves and Classics Retold: Paul Rome’s “Calypso” Reviewed
I stand in utter confusion as to how to generate an opinion on the work entitled Calypso, by writer Paul Rome and performer/composer Roarke Menzies, put on last night at the Bushwick Starr Theatre. I can truly think of two narratives in response to his work.
Etgar Keret Performs John Cage at Symphony Space
Each time I hear Etgar Keret speak I become more enamored with him as a person. He’s irresistible, humble, funny, generous, kind, intelligent, and importantly, engaging. Keret molds to any artistic setting or medium. For this engagement at Symphony Space, Keret put on a rare artistic performance created by the experimental composer John Cage. At a symposium for experimental artist and composers, about 25 years ago, Cage threw the crowd a curveball and cancelled his slotted performance to perform How […]
Reviewed: Laurent Binet’s Historical Masterpiece “HHhH”
HHhH by Laurent Binet; translated by Sam Taylor Farrar, Strauss and Giroux; 336 p. I thought I knew all the main villains of of the Nazi regime. “They haunted my dreams for too long to admit, but at least I would do well on my social studies exam,” I rationalized as a child. Goebbels: the diminutive, club footed, Minister of Propaganda; Himmler: head of the S.S.; Goring: nominated successor to Hitler and Commander of the daunting German Air force; Eichmann: […]
“Either you dress for the music or the occasion”: The Complex and Challenging Poetry of Leah Umansky
I tend to gravitate towards people who can utter statements with passion and honesty sans irony to the effect of “The first chapter of Wuthering Heights changed my life.” I long ago dropped the pretension that a love of books in anyway, necessarily, speaks positively of a personality. Yet, Leah Umansky, makes me rethink my opinion. Umansky, a prolific and talented poet, a loving and devoted teacher, represents someone of the rarified kind who still believes, deeply, in the power […]
Karen Lillis’s “Watch the Doors as They Close” Enters The Canon Of Love
Watch the Doors As They Close by Karen Lillis Spuyten Duyvil; 100 p. Like many contemporary readers, I feel oddly ambivalent about today’s literary love stories, or lack thereof. I cannot think of a relationship from the world of literature that inspires me or engenders jealousy. (Two exceptions: Calvin Trillin’s nonfiction account of his wife in the devastating About Alice, and of course, that cool couple from The Notebook.) We live with a lacunae in the literary world in our […]
“A Welcome Antidote Against the Gloomy Sense of Isolation”: Susie DeFord’s “Dogs of Brooklyn” Reviewed
Dogs of Brooklyn by Susie DeFord Poet Laureate Press; 102 p. An attention to detail displays both obsessiveness and love, a line often hard to draw. For instance, take Susie DeFord’s beautiful, deceptively simple debut book of poetry, Dogs of Brooklyn. The book, to the extent that poetry fits with summaries, describes the tones, tunes, voices, and pulsations of the beautiful variety of people and animals in different parts of Brooklyn. To that extent, the book serves as a paean […]