Haven't Made It to the Mountaintop

To be jealous, obviously, is natural and common, particularly in the arts. Italian poet Dante Rossetti feuded with his sister Christina for years because he believed she unfairly received more recognition than he. Bands of every genre, from the Fugees to Van Halen, have all been reared by jealousy’s ugly head. And everyone seems to take shots at Jonathan Franzen since his mug made Time, whether or not they’ve actually read Freedom.

In a small city like Seattle where each of us writers and artists are a degree or two of separation from one another, simple jealousy goes farther than the stem of an empty wine glass. What you say over that glass only rears more jealousy, fooling yourself into believing you haven’t made it to the mountaintop because of someone, something, else — but really it’s just you.

-Brian McGuigan writes about Jealousy in the arts over in CityArts

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The signs of the coming apocalypse are many, but none are starker than this Web headline in the April issue of O: The Oprah Magazine:“Spring Fashion Modeled by Rising Young Poets.” Yes. Spring fashion. Modeled. By rising young poets. There follows a photomontage of attractive younger women — some of whom are rising poets mostly in the “I get up in the morning” sense, but all of whom certainly look poetic — in outfits costing from $472 to $5,003. This is all part of O’s special issue celebrating National Poetry Month,edited by the noted verse aficionado Maria Shriver and includinginterviews with “all-star readers” like Bono, Ashton Kutcher, the gossip columnist Liz Smith and someone named James Franco, who is apparently an actor.

via New York Times

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In his first major address since ordering American airstrikes on the forces and artillery of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi nine days ago, Mr. Obama said the United States had the responsibility and the international backing to stop what he characterized as a looming genocide in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

-via New York Times

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I'm applying to residencies for this coming fall/winter. This will be the first time I've ever applied to these sorts of things and I'm not sure what expectations I should have. I know I've already missed deadlines for some great places, but figure I'll apply to three or four amazing-seeming places and see what happens.

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Matt Nienow!