Category Archives: politics
On Maud Newton On David Foster Wallace
Maud Newton astutely considered the legacy of David Foster Wallace in the New York Times Magazine last weekend. I thought it was an exhilarating read. She begins with a quote from “Tense Present” and then uses it as a mirror from … Continue reading
Fanboy
Over at the Morning News, my new essay “Fanboy” is up. The artwork here is a beautiful illustration commissioned from an artist by the name of Katie Turner. This is an essay that began about a year ago in a comic … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, Koreanish, letters from away, politics, travel
Hunger Games
1. I read The Hunger Games. So this is how America has chosen to process the power grab by the country’s richest 2%, I think, as I finish the novel. I buy it after I read that the author was inspired by … Continue reading
Filed under novels, politics, what is wrong with us
“Professors of Fiction”
1. I have a conversation with my partner Dustin’s Uncle Jack about how he fell on his good hip and, while painful, it reset his hips. The pain he’s been suffering from the former bad hip is gone. I wish … Continue reading
Filed under fiction, MFA programs, novels, politics, what is right with us, what is wrong with us, writers, writing
HJ Freaks FTW
Kudos to Hyunmo Kim of HJ Freaks, the cross-dressing Korean bassist the Meg Whitman campaign made into a star this week by accidentally leaving a letter off their tweet of their endorsement by the San Diego Sheriff’s Association, sending their … Continue reading
Filed under Korea, Korean Punk, Korean Queer, politics
Wear Purple Day
This morning I woke up and put on a purple v-neck t-shirt, in remembrance of Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase, Asher Brown, Billy Lucas, Zach Harrington and GLBT teens everywhere who took their lives out of fear. This … Continue reading
Filed under current events, GLBT, Korean America, Korean American, Koreanish, politics
New World, Again
1. Oh horrifying new world, where every site I visit wants me to have a profile and to receive mailings. I have over 600 messages from them unread in my gmail account, and this is because I resent the time … Continue reading
News of the World
Note: this has been updated, 5/17/2010. Lately I kept thinking of what I thought was a quote of Susan Sontag’s from a posthumous essay, and wrote a post about it. Here is the actual quote, supplied by Joshua Benton over … Continue reading
This is the Spurwink Church Meeting house in Maine. To the right of this is my father’s grave. My sister was married here, so my father could be there, and celebrated her wedding on House Island, off the coast of … Continue reading
Filed under current events, politics
“Consider Writing an 86 Proof Sentence.” – Charles Baxter
1. Saturday, I drive to Vermont with my friend Tayari, to Bread Loaf. The mosquitoes are terrifying. At a cocktail reception, as we take turns outside spraying ourselves, Sigrid Nunez advances a theory that this is because the bats are … Continue reading
Filed under letters from away, media, novels, political art, politics, what is right with us, writers, writing
