I’m not a big movie buff. I like a particular kind of movie and watch movies for a particular reason, namely to satisfy my craving for art and entertainment when I don’t have time to read a novel. Lately, it’s been a stress-relief mechanism. Or I should say, I’ve tried to make it a stress-relief mechanism. Unfortunately, the majority of the movies we’ve rented lately have been, um, less than entertaining or thought-provoking.
Three Poems in Touch Issue 2
I have three poems in Touch: The Journal of Healing, Issue 2. Two of these poems were written during Zachary’s major illness last spring. The third focuses on a different kind of healing – social/emotional healing from domestic violence. All three are very personal and mostly outside the realm of my usual more externalist writing. I hope you enjoy them.
Note as well that The Lives You Touch has now launched their print press and is accepting submissions! I’ve had the privilege of seeing their test chapbooks and can attest to the quality of their work.
Dueling Columns – An Editor’s Thoughts on Simultaneous Submissions
Preface: Richard and I are writing dueling columns on this subject. He’s written up the writers’ view on simultaneous subs here. I’ll link to it again at the end of this column. Share your thoughts–editor side, writer side, what-the-hell-is-a-simultaneous-sub side (Richard answers that question), whatever. We want to know what YOU think!
First, a disclaimer. We allow simultaneous submissions at The Externalist. Still, I sometimes think that we shouldn’t and as an editor, I completely understand why some markets don’t.
Simultaneous submissions, lacking an online submission management system (several hundred dollars) or paid staff (several thousand), are an administrative headache.
You Are Here: Activism from the Edge of the World
My essay on disability, mental health, literature, literary activism, and experimentation is now posted. This essay explores a variety of ideas and includes previously unpublished excerpts from some of my prose work, as well as hitherto unpublished poetry. This is the piece I submitted and presented at PRESS: a cross-cultural literary conference on the theme “activism and the avant-garde.” It’s available for reading here.
Thoughtful reading,
L.
Short Story in Wheelhouse Magazine/PRESS Anthology
My short story, “Not Broken,” explores disability, advocacy, and prospects for independence in rural Idaho. It has been published in the Wheelhouse Magazine anthology of PRESS contributor.
PRESS was a literary conference under the theme “activism and the avant garde” at which I was a presenter in 2008. Wheelhouse Magazine is an online journal of avant garde and activist art (literary and visual). I’m proud to be associated with this group of folks who are both artistic and socially conscious.
Thoughtful reading!
L.
108 Degrees of Living Low Income
In 2006, we said to hell with Idaho minimum wage ($5.15/hr), health care (if you could call it that), special education (don’t get me started), and weather (weeks of 100+ and weeks of 25-). We sold everything that didn’t matter, packed what was left into a Penske moving van, and headed to Corvallis, Oregon where I had already begun the process of renting a federally-subsidized tax credit apartment complex. We told ourselves that it was only going to be for a year. Now our third next door neighbor is moving out and I’m insanely jealous. And after a day of 108 degrees, it almost feels like we might as well be in Idaho (except for the having hope part).
S & I Review of “Up”
First, let me qualify this review with a statement of protest. I did not see this movie in digital 3-D. I have no intention of seeing any movie in digital 3-D. Digital 3-D is a way for big production companies to make more money from fewer people because fewer people are able to watch those movies in the movie theater. And it isn’t that good. And the movies that are coming out in digital 3-D don’t need to be in 3-D at all. They are kid flicks. They are preying on childhood excitement and parental fear of failure. People are falling for it. Now…on to the movie…
The first ten minutes of “Up” are alternately heartwarming and heartbreaking. In form that only Pixar can pull off, the story is told more in action than dialogue. The protagonist is easy to fall in love with, even when (perhaps especially when) he’s being a big jerk. And on the surface, it seems as though it is a merely a story to tug on the heartstrings without making any kind of social commentary. On the surface. There are actually three distinct societal undercurrents in “Up” and each is represented by a distinctive and unforgettable character.
Personal Site Up and The Externalist Under Construction Soon
My new personal web site is up and some of my more popular blog posts from here are moved. I’ll continue to use this blog for reviews and commentary posts, but most of the announcement-style posts will end up over there. At least, that’s the vision.
The Externalist web site will be coming down for a few days later this week for a complete redesign. This part of a large vision for The Externalist and I am positive that our readers will like the changes! In the meantime, you can download a back issue absolutely free on the Archives page.
I post announcements of new content on both sites over on Twitter.
Another Note on Rejection Letters
I first wrote A Note about Rejection Letters in March of 2007, one month before Gary Wilkens and I founded The Externalist: A Journal of Perspectives. The Externalist is more than two years old now, and as I continue to receive rejection letters of my own, I’m forced to consider the whole process from the other side of the desk. I know now that a rejection really might have nothing to do with the quality of my work. I know now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if an editor takes the time to write a note on my rejection letter, that is a positive sign (unless, of course, it says something like “Don’t ever submit to us again”). I know that good writing is turned down all the time and that if one market doesn’t like a piece, another market still might. Interestingly enough, none of this makes me feel any better. Rejection is, after all, still rejection, right?
Dueling Columns: Online or Print Pubs?
This is the second installment of Dueling Columns between myself and Richard Thomas. Over at “What Does Not Kill You,” Richard talks about the virtues of publishing in online venues. As the editor of an online journal, I appreciate him eagerly defending the practice of publishing online. As a writer, though, I very rarely submit to online venues. Where my career is concerned, I have reservations about online publishing for a few reasons.
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on October 23, 2009 at 8:59 pm Comments (2)