If You've Paid Attention, You Know How to Write a Story

Read," she told me, "James Joyce's Dubliners, and when you finish, read it again, and then keep re-reading it until the covers fall off the book. Then, if you've paid attention, you'll know how to write a story." I do think I managed to get the point even if I did not exactly follow the plan: I read and reread Katherine Anne Porter's stories instead.

--from VQR

The quote I gave is a bit misleading (the essay's not so much about Katherine Anne Porter...), but this is a wonderful piece by Richard Dillard about George Garrett, but he also has some wonderful things to say about the nature of mentorship, how the university is changing, and the practice of writing.

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If you watched The Wire, consider yourself devoted to The Wire, think The Wire was the best show ever on television, then read this interview with David Simon, creator. I thought I was watching pretty closely, but this opens up a lot of layers I hadn't seen/acknowledged....

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...

you'll come home to find your son has emptied

your refrigerator, dragged it to the curb,

and called the used appliance store for a pick up--drug money.

...

--great poem by Ellen Bass over at Poetry Daily

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Going to Capitol Hill Block Party today through Sunday. Stoked to see so much excellent music, including: Atmosphere, Blue Scholars, Dead Weather, Head and the Heart, MGMT, Yeasayer, and lots of others. This will be the most significant challenge the poem-a-day campaign has faced. Going to try and get today's done early...

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Watch this crazy video of people moshing during an SNL performance (1981).

via Thorpe Moeckel (you should buy his new book-length poem...)