The novel
is not dead.
The novel
is trying to kill me.
Notes on Creativity
Micro-Thought Experiment #1: Food as a Right
In America, your health is linked to your wealth. If you’re poor, you’re less likely to be in good health (for a number of reasons). Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that this is unacceptable. Let’s say that your physical quality of life shouldn’t depend on what kind of job you have. Let’s say that you have a Right to Health.
Not too controversial yet, right? Let’s go one step further.
Nutrition is a cornerstone of health. So if we have a Right to Health, doesn’t it stand to reason that we should also have a Right to Food? That good food should be accessible (geographically & economically) to all?
Indiana faces shortage of first-time teachers
Indiana faces shortage of first-time teachers
From Dawn Fable Lindquist: “I wonder who will be called on and paid to do the unnecessary GOP-suggested study about why fewer people are going into teaching. It’s not a secret. Just ask us: Lower starting salaries, fewer opportunities to move up the pay scale, less value placed on earning higher degrees, less autonomy in the classroom to do what is best for our students, less tax money for anything related to education, and demonization of teachers by Mitch and Tony. And I have had it up to here with stories quoting teachers who say they are OK with getting paid poorly and having to buy their own classroom supplies because the job is their “calling.” Teaching is not my religion. It is my career, and I expect to get paid well for my work just like anyone else does. The people who want to do the study should instead spend two weeks teaching in the classroom, being observed and evaluated just like the rest of us. I think they would figure out the issues very quickly, without wasting taxpayer money. If they really want to know and really care, they would do it. I have been fortunate to work in excellent school districts, but ALL districts are dealing with these issues. If I didn’t know better, I would think Mitch and Tony and Mike wanted to end the public school system and replace it with one where you have access to quality schools only if you are rich enough to pay for them. I hope our citizens don’t let it come to that. Access to quality education is a human right longed for around the world. Let’s not throw it away here.“
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Invariably you’re asked to assert the importance of the short story, and I’m actually just fucking sick of it. We don’t say, ‘Why are songs important? What do we like about a song?’ It’s like, fuck you. At a certain point, in the end, it’s just a conversation that’s meant to be had to ease someone’s commercial fear about what is or is not sellable. If you’re not somebody who can be physically felled by a short story, then fine. You’re not going to get persuaded into caring about one. But, to me, it’s one of the great art forms. There’s an amazing legacy of it. We have a tremendous long, rich, varied tradition. This idea that one has to prove the importance of the art form is just a huge snooze to me at this point.
Ben Marcus
(via mttbll)
(via mttbll)
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SIR ANDREW: Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian or an ordinary man has; but I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.
SIR TOBY: No question.
TWELFTH NIGHT, Shakespeare
Quote
My (writing) advice is free, excellent, unsought after but given without stint. If you have only written (your manuscript) three times, it is still supposed to be no good. You have a defect of patience, not a defect of energy … I have a defect of energy myself but not a lack of patience. I can wait on myself indefinitely.
Flannery O’Connor writing to Thomas Stritch
Welcome to Death Alley, Bikers!
The street that connects my neighborhood to Indianapolis has a bottleneck. For about a quarter miles, it goes from four lanes down to two. Two narrow lanes, no shoulder, heavy traffic. My neighbors and I call this charming little stretch “Death Alley.”
A few weeks ago, the city started repaving the road, and I heard they were going to put in a bike lane. Cool, I thought. Now the people of my town can bike right into Indy. And maybe we’re all becoming a little more progressive and environmentally friendly, and a little less dependent on oil and cars. It felt like a small leap toward a good future.
But when they started paving the road, it didn’t look any wider. And so far there’s no sign of a separate bike lane to run parallel to the road, like the one they built up on 71st street. What I did see—what just appeared today—are signs that say “Bicycle May Use Full Lane.”
The bottleneck hasn’t changed. Traffic certainly won’t change. The Department of Public Works basically put up a sign that says, Welcome to Death Alley! so that someone at City Hall can get credit for building another bike lane.
Oh, they’re also spray-painting a picture of a bike on the road, which is a good facsimile of what your bike will look like once it’s been flattened by an F150.
If this was merely stupid, I’d shake my head and get over it. But this is beyond irresponsible; it’s reckless. You want credit, DPW? I’ll tell you what you’ll get credit for: The fatality that will happen when someone gets suckered in by your signs and attempts to ride through that bottleneck during rush hour. Their blood will be on your hands.
Stop spray-painting pictures of bikes on the roads and start following the best practices of bike lane building. Either do it right or don’t do it at all.
maybe I’m not an introvert after all
“If you go to a party and you leave energized, you’re an extrovert,” I heard someone say once. “If you leave exhausted, you’re an introvert.”
That definition resonated with me, because I like to go out and be around people, but it takes it out of me, man. So, introvert, right?
I’m not so sure anymore. I thought about this definition yesterday after a get-together. I talked to a bunch of people, but in every conversation I had to do all the heavy lifting. Asking questions, building on their responses, showing interest. Nothing fancy, just conversation 101–but none of these people reciprocated any of these moves. Was it any wonder I was drained when I left?
Here’s the thing it did make me wonder, though: am I really an introvert, or is it just exhausting to talk to a line of boors? How would I feel after going to a party with some decent conversationalists?