Continua

I make it no secret that my book is pow­ered by con­tinua. Though as a pos­ses­sor of opin­ions, and a left-​​of-​​leftist when pol­i­tics come up, I’m invested in con­clu­sions – when I’m work­ing with process, I’m much more inter­ested in ques­tions. And con­tinua – gra­di­ents – turn ques­tions into lit­er­ary mechanics.

We Are Not Children

A lot of rad­i­cals talk about a deeper eye-​​opening than the stan­dard lib­eral affair. My whole life, I’ve been a dyed-​​in-​​the-​​wool left­ist. But, now, as this research takes me just past the sur­face, and into first-​​hand accounts of US gov­ern­men­tal bru­tal­ity, I… well, I don’t know what to do.

Stylized Speak

After three weeks of Bill Comp­ton stammer-​​blathering about lady­like pro­pri­ety, I’m some­how still inter­ested in styl­ized speech. Rather, how prob­lem­atic it is in the his­tory books. This isn’t exactly a com­plaint – more a lament. And one with­out a tidy answer.

The Purpose of Stories, 3

Let’s take this dis­cus­sion back to the book. I’ve thought a lot about porta­bil­ity lately, and even about own­er­ship of words. Maybe the only way the story I’m writ­ing will sur­vive its book­ness is for me to release it entirely. My ver­sion of the story is just one. Yours will be next.

The Purpose of Stories, 2

I’ve had an amal­gam of texts at a rolling boil in the back of my head lately. They all deal with a spe­cial cul­tural dis­tinc­tion between between Taker (colo­nial) and Leaver (indige­nous) cul­tures: the strange insis­tance on his­tory over stories.

The Search for Maugus

I grew up on Mau­gus Avenue. When peo­ple (from a few blocks, towns, or states over) vis­ited, they asked my par­ents the same ques­tion: “What’s a Mau­gus?” I’ve spent most of my life won­der­ing, “Who was Mau­gus?” The time’s almost here I get to start really tear­ing into that question.

More on Ishmael

As the book relaxes on its haunches a lit­tle, sev­eral things are still bend­ing my head back: Quinn’s a prod­uct of colo­nial cul­ture, dis­cussing con­quered cul­tures. His take on Gen­e­sis and the Gar­den is heal­ing my child­hood. And his nar­ra­tive pow­ers are prob­a­bly the most impor­tant craft I could study right now.

Mother Culture Croons All Night

This week­end I began recov­ery from read­ing Ish­mael. It’s hard not to won­der how we’re sup­posed to move for­ward from this damn book. Quinn him­self, in an author’s note at the back, refers to it as much more than a book.

Criminal Elistism

How many times has this hap­pened? You want to deepen your under­stand­ing of some­thing. You get a book. You start read­ing. The writ­ing is so dense, or need­lessly com­plex, you can’t get through it, much less enjoy it. This is crim­i­nal elit­ism. Shit’s gotta stop.

Buoyed

Tues­day after­noon I went over to Pat’s place and dug through boxes-​​and-​​boxes-​​and-​​boxes of books with her hus­band, John. To give a sense of the rar­ity and qual­ity there, a good deal of her col­lec­tion will be donated to UNM’s library archives, and prob­a­bly another university’s.