"In some damned heaven, singing"
by Vincent A. Cellucci, in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"My life is usually late or rushed, especially my frustratingly limited time writing, but an email from Michelle provided a stress caesura—a moment of pause where I knew I was focusing on something that really mattered."
"Michelle Greenblatt as Editor"
by Steffen Horstmann, in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"She was wonderfully engaging as she wrote of her admiration of the ghazal and of her own work with the form. This exchange with Michelle was revealing about her dedication as an editor. She read submissions as they came to her, immediately; and felt honored to receive manuscripts from the many poets who admired her work."
"Letters to Michelle"
a web-based memorial with work by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Jeffrey Side, Larry Goodell, mark hartenbach, Charles J. Butler, Alexandria Bryan, and Brian Kovich
in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"this morning i sat up in a dark living room, watching the sun rise over the ozarks, it's lovely here, the sky changes from deep black to blue, stars glitter and you wonder if they're alive or dead, are their worlds spinning around them, is their someone there sitting in a house jus a'wondering on what all this means, if anything he or she did mattered, and in the end that comes for us all, what did it all mean?"
"Remembering Michelle Greenblatt"
by Frankie Metro, in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"Even through all the medical setbacks, Michelle still carried on and gave what spirit she had to the arts; if it was through her own contributions with the numerous selections of books she published or her tireless efforts as the Poetry Editor at Unlikely Stories: Episode IV, Michelle always did her best to remain positive through it all."
"Community Architect: Remembering Michelle Greenblatt"
by Gabriel Ricard, in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"Michelle Greenblatt makes me grateful for what I do for a living. At the end of the day, this is not a career that generates considerable wealth and success. You have to look for inspirational intangibles that will keep you going, keep you optimistic, and keep you dreaming. Michelle was one of those intangibles."
"When Are You, Ms. Greenblatt"
by Ray Succre, in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"To be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity,
a leniency to be forgotten, to be like when,
when the fifty thousand sadly sinking waves
travel more to carry mortality, or to prevent it"
"In Memory of Michelle Greenblatt, Editor and Friend
by Jonathan Penton, October 2015
"In her writing, she chose to return to her moments of victimization repeatedly, to explore them, to expose them, and to combat them. When reading her work, it is vital to remember that she chose to write it—that she achieved emotional mastery over her circumstances."
An Interview with Susan Joyce
by Jeremy Hight, April 2015
"Looking back now, it would seem literature, language, and text has held a continued interest for me. Many SRL performances are inspired by literature. The first SRL show "Machine Sex" (1979) was loosely based on The Stranger by Albert Camus. Interdisciplinary collaborations with artists, scientists, engineers, architects, musicians, and writers are some of the driving forces that inform my work."
An Interview with Patrick Lichty
by Jeremy Hight, April 2015
'The beginning of my practice started when Jon Epstein and I re-initiated Haymarket RIOT (it was a prog-rock band in North Carolina, and we decided that it would serve for a container for our multi-media theory). We were studying Baudrillard and Virilio at the time, and he asked how this could be articulated through media ("Pat, what does hyperreality LOOK like?" "Simple; turn on cable").'
An Interview with John Swain
by Jeremy Hight, April 2015
"I am most proud of my books and chapbooks, but I think the proliferation of online publishing is absolutely a positive thing. That there is no longer a false dichotomy between online and print in terms of quality. Now it is simply a matter of preference. The most important thing is that the work is communicated to others and the internet empowers people to speak that might otherwise have been silenced."
An Interview with Anna Joy Springer
by Jeremy Hight, April 2015
'Literature is a specially designated encounter between a reader and their other selves. Reading makes a person a little queer, or even a lot queer. Or maybe not queer at all. Maybe I mean "indeterminate, possibly irritant and nonetheless powerful." I'm most excited by staged interactions, ritual, and directed unpredictability.'
"Magical Thinking: A Review of Charles Bowden, Murder City, Dreamland, and El Sicario"
by AE Reiff, December 2014
'How there can be such a harvest that artists and poets not wonder? How in less than 100 years could earth trippple its population! Bowden says the city itself is a factory where "new human beings in quantities far greater than the market can absorb. The giant machines cut the babies from templates of mud...every year production quotas are raised and more redundant human beings are fabricated and cast out into the streets'
"Gottfried Helnwein's Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
by George Sparling, December 2014
"They might have excelled with a script written for such a skeletal, B-movie set. Bold caricatures, images of catastrophic, airbrushed entertainers' notorious faces, a scheme dedicated to accentuate death's grip (that's a wrap). The four's memento mori performer's estates' second coming, a wet dream gone public."
"Oslo out, Autonomy in"
by Yacov Ben Efrat, December 2014
"In his recent Knesset speech, Netanyahu substantiated Yaalon's words. It turns out he is not in despair at all about the political dead-end; on the contrary, he is grasping the changes in the Arab world hungrily, and is greatly encouraged by the new regime in Egypt, which resembles Sadat's regime..."
"Revolution vs. Rationalization: The Militarization of the Police and The Death of Rebellion"
by Willis Gordon, December 2014
"Those people need to stop making trouble."
"Why would you loot from your own community? How stupid."
"How come when a white person gets killed by the cops it never makes the news?"
"I wish they'd stop making this a race issue."
"Fighting Sex Trafficking or Punishing Women? A New Law Shows That Police and Prisons are not a Solution to Sex Trafficking"
by Jordan Flaherty, December 2014
'It appears police did not have enough evidence to even support a prostitution charge—according to police reports, the woman would not "guarantee sexual contact" in person. She was charged with "promoting prostitution" a misdemeanor. Because of the new law, she was initially charged with sex trafficking, apparently because she was accused of advertising sexual services online, even if she didn't offer them in person.'
An Interview with Janice Lee
by Jeremy Hight, July 2014
"I don't really distinguish between all my interests, and I have many. Science, neuroscience, the occult, the paranormal, ufology, biological anthropology, psychology, theology, philosophy, phenomenology, alchemy, etc. I like to stay away from aesthetic categories that act as constricting forces, and rather see all these disciplines and areas as overlapping wavelengths on a broader spectrum, or different perspectives on the same object of study, namely, life."
An Interview with Gary Panter
by Jeremy Hight, July 2014
"Hollywood was a real education in big-fish-eat-little-fish. Product designing for Pee Wee's was very intense, and ultimately not so funn. Too many people screaming at me. Too little money. But I am very proud of the work that I did on the show and that kids and their parents often liked it."
An Interview with Austin Islam
by Jeremy Hight, July 2014
"I need poetry or status update lit or whatever that gets me through a moment. Instead of a sip or smoke or whatever, I need you to tell me why I'm here. What is going to make taking the next breath worth it. What works for you, what might work for me. Give it to me, I need it. Throw it at me. Don't make it difficult to put in my vein."
An Interview with Mark C. Marino
by Jeremy Hight, July 2014
"They're about things that have never existed before: contemporary reality TV and the explosion of social media. But they're also about eternal quests—like our need to be seen. Tempspence wants nothing more than to emerge from obscurity, the very thing that would end his run as the voice behind Spencer Pratt's Twitter account. He's also balancing the fun of the masquerade with the desire for authentic revelation of his true self, a struggle embodied in his romantic struggle between his dueling loves."
An Interview with Mez Breeze
by Jeremy Hight, July 2014
"I've also encountered incredible modifications of "out of the box" and emergent gameplay which have helped formulate substantial chucks of my Augmentology research. With the advent of motion capture controllers and actual Virtual Reality tech [think: Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus for instance], the possibilities are only going to become more intriguing. "
An Interview with Beach Sloth
by Jeremy Hight, May 2014
"Anonymity is extreme power. I get the ability to choose exactly when to appear and when not to appear. Sometimes I think "Oh maybe I should reveal myself" but generally I do not get a very good reason most of the time. People who choose anonymity do it for comfort reasons rather than any deep dark secret."
An Interview with Daniel Rehn
by Jeremy Hight, May 2014
"LA Game Space is a massive effort—an interdiscplinary center for artists, developers, researchers, and everyone else to explore the potential of video games. Once completed, the Space will offer two galleries (one for large-scale retrospectives, another for more informal shows), a stage for all sorts of live programming, research labs, and a residency program."
An Interview with Randy Adams
by Jeremy Hight, May 2014
"The past decade has witnessed a vast increase in the numbers of people who self-identify as artists or writers or journalists. The ability to self-publish anytime, leap-frogging over the editorial or review process, comes with a price. I am guilty of 'publishing' work without review, to its detriment."
An Interview with Talan Memmott
by Jeremy Hight, May 2014
"In most cases I have some idea I am working with that is outside the artifact. This leads to a consideration of the material form the idea will take. I see this as a way of actually embedding critical or theoretical concerns within the artifact, the software, the artwork, what have you..."
6.6 Million Children Under the Age of Five Died Last Year Mostly from Easily Treatable Diseases.
by Brian McAfee, May 2014
"Most of the deaths have been from pneumonia, malaria, or diarrhea. Over 70% of these deaths have occurred in Africa and South-East Asia. Nearly half of all under five deaths occur in five countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China, India, Nigeria and Pakistan."
What We Could Do with a Postal Savings Bank: Infrastructure that Doesn't Cost Taxpayers a Dime
by Ellen Brown, May 2014
'The "unbanked" are not a small segment of the population. In a 2011 survey, the unbanked and underbanked included about one in four households. Without access to conventional financial services, people turn to an expensive alternative banking market of bill-pay, prepaid debit cards, check cashing services, and payday loans.'
The State of Literature: Let Us Strive to Make a Positive Difference
by Ndaba Sibanda, May 2014
'It is a world so fast-paced that some "forward-looking people" believe that books—as we know them now—will be transformed into dinosaurs by the emergence of the e-books. What are the implications and complications for the writers and publishers? Does it mean that writers who stick to the old book idea will also perish or become dinosaurs?'
Righteousness in the Hour of Stupidity
by Willis Gordon, May 2014
'We live in a world of upwardly mobile sycophants and schemers, cowards and thieves. Incessant suck ups who praise Lena Dunham for showing her ass while blasting Taylor Swift for her lyrical content. Flailing impotently at indifferent gods, crying out "where in the world can a little girl or even a young woman find a role model in this world."'
Journalism's Demise and the Devaluation of Literary Art
by Dennis Weiser, May 2014
'It is not the military general, nor the career politician, nor even the corporate entrepreneur, but rather the hardnosed, investigative, career journalist who has become the true enemy of literary art in our time. Journalists have fallen far short of the goal of political action, which sociologist Max Weber envisioned for the Third Estate when he wrote "Politics as a Vocation."'
Gender Violence: Police profiling, harassment, and violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people
by Jordan Flaherty, May 2014
"The modern gay rights movement was born on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, on Christopher Street in New York City's West Village. Resistance broke out in response to a violent police raid against the gay community, and riots continued for several days. Many of the key leaders were transgender women, such as Sylvia Rivera, who had started her activism during the 1950s civil rights movement and continued until her death in 2002."
Tom Bradley reads from We'll See Who Seduces Whom
by Tom Bradley and David Aronson, October 2013
On September 28, 2013, Unlikely Books released We'll See Who Seduces Whom, a full-color ekphrastic graphic longpoem with text by Tom Bradley based on images by David Aronson. Tom from their book at the release party at Innisfree Poetry Books & Café in Boulder, Colorado.
"890 Words in Favor of Sodomy"
by Willis Gordon, September 2013
'A few months ago I made a few jokes at the expense of gun owners and enthusiasts. They were crying about people trying to take their guns when no serious threat actually existed. I ended up saying something along the lines of "I'm a blowjob enthusiast, but you don't hear me screaming that shit from the rooftops. Enjoy what you enjoy, just don't expect other people to care."'
An Interview with Joe Davis
by Jeremy Hight, September 2013
"This dream of the grand fusion of knowledge has resonated throughout all of history. It was the dream of the Apollonian cult of Pythagoras and the academies of Aristotle and Plato at Athens. It was the dream of the Ptolemaic gnostics in Alexandria and the establishment their great library. These same aspirations led to the beacon of learning in Al-Andalus at the Caliphate of Cordoba and later, in the foundations of the mystical sects of Islam."
"Mad Dogs and Englishmen"
by Rich Wink, September 2013
"Hooliganism was at its worst when the country was up shit creek under a conservative government. It's unsurprising to see such a revival occur in the last couple of years under another Tory government. The EDL mostly appeals to working class males who have nothing better to do with their time. They are alienated and want to be part of something. They desire to be valued."
"How Our Leaders Are Elected"
by Michael Ceraolo, August 2013
'"the theory of the educational test
is that it furnishes an indirect method
of excluding those who are undesirable,
not merely because of their illiteracy
but for other reasons"'
"Fox News: First Impressions and a Potshot or Two"
by Fred Russell, August 2013
"I am also surprised by the health advice offered at Fox. As if a Doctor Manny wasn't enough they also have a Doctor Rosenfeld popping up from time to time, both of them of course called "Doc" in Fox's folksy way, and many, many fillers on the subject. I say this surprises me because when you talk about health, sooner or later you're bound to get to the people who poison our food, namely America's rapacious free enterprisers."
"Blood and Thunder in the Sunshine State"
by Willis Gordon, August 2013
"The dynamics of each case are of course different, but the tone going in was always the same. The nation and the media were all counting on an easy ride for the prosecution and the defense had to dig themselves out of a massive hole. With most people you talk to there is not a shadow of a doubt that these four people are murderers. However, three of the four of them walked."
"Global Autonomy: Coporate Central Versus Local Resilience"
Chapter Four of Sinister Dynamic: Global Governance and the Reconstruction of Nature by Dennis Weiser, August 2013
"The United States became impressed with and mesmerized by German corporate industrial organization, especially Germany's banking methods and techniques. That story is in large part the story of Martin Bormann's flight capital program, by which Hitler's chosen successor and administrative genius succeeded in spiriting virtually all of the Third Reich's assets, currency, gold, stock, patents, scientists, engineers and art out of Germany and into neutral countries of Europe and South America before the surrender."
"The Emperor's New Pipeline"
by David Lillard, June 2013
"TransCanada, the builder, admits gas prices will go up 10 to 20 cents a gallon in the Midwest. That's because refineries there already get some tar sands oil. If the pipeline gets built, all that oil will go straight to the Gulf, where it will be refined for shipment to China."
