Natalie Diaz: Meth, Mistakes & Mischievous Barbies
Diaz’s well-crafted verse and rich language evoke the familiar themes of death, deception, festivity and family. Her meth-head brother is brought up often in her poetry—especially in regards to how his addiction breaks down their parents. Both bit by bit and in giant, violent pieces.
The Dance Lesson
Maria sat cross-legged on the living room floor surrounded by piles of little white receipts. There was a giant mound for groceries, a large pile for credit card payments, a small one for fun, home repairs, schooling… It was like looking back through a diary. She picked up a receipt that was for one marriage counseling session and wondered which pile to put it in.
Outside Seven-Eleven, Next Week
Pam Carter puts on a tinfoil hat and channels Leilani Mae Jesperson in her latest poem.
In Memoriam: Tristan Devin
Kelly Dermody mourns the loss of local comedian and entrepreneur, Tristan Devin.
Ellen Forney, Marbles & Me
By now you’ve most certainly heard about Ellen Forney’s immense talent and infinite heart illustrated in her graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, an artwork documenting her struggle with mental illness. The publication offers beautiful illustrations of the author’s endless quest to become the best writer, artist and human that she can be.
November 24, 1885: Anna Louise Strong
An undeniable icon in Seattle’s radical history, as well as that of the nation, Anna Louise Strong was born on the date in focus here in the uncannily-named Friend, Nebraska. Jeff Stevens histories you strikingly.
The Ghastly Impermanence: Sight Unseen
Giving Prof. Guralnick the benefit of fair doubt, I believe her goal in writing the book is to expand the audience for radio drama by proving its link to stage drama, to discuss playwrights who are best known for their stage work, rather than playwrights who write specifically for radio. I cannot argue against her choice of material. What I will argue is that the approach probably confirms more biases than it dispels.
The Theme of Foreplay
The Author makes it home with his youngest, his only, daughter. It’s late, early in the afternoon but late for nap. He has been calling Lilly’s name in the car and poking her in the backseat to keep her awake so she wouldn’t take a fifteen-minute nap that replaced a two-hour nap. He has been minimally successful and does not know what will come of naptime. The final chapter on their morning excursion has yet to be written, though it is no longer morning.
The Ghastly Impermanence: The Museum, The Department Store and The Landfill
Artists like Norman Corwin strove toward an idea of radio as an artist’s studio with radio drama as a natural product of the process. Yet as so often typical in American culture, singular artistic visions hardly merit a mention in histories of radio. The idea of an artist’s studio went largely ignored, because the goal of OTR was not to produce art but rather to produce consumers.
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