Politics – Page 18 – the coffee philosopher

Posted on February 22, 2014February 18, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Had To Re-Post This One…

Go to #15 and replace “Carol” with “Christopher.” I’d say replace the age, too, but it’s close enough to being true that arguing the point would sound pathetic.

The 21 People You Will Meet in a Washington, DC Bar

Posted on February 14, 2014February 11, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Weekend Reading – It Turns Out Entrepreneurs Less Concerned About Tax Rates, More Concerned About Not Living In A Nightmarish, Ayn Rand Fantasy World

This will blow your mind, but entrepreneurs are actually drawn to cities with a high quality of life (read: investments in infrastructure, environment, arts, etc) and a pool of skilled employees (read: investments in education, k-12 and beyond). Not, apparently, the low wage wastelands with low taxes and minimal regulations (read: gutted protections for clean air and water and for labor).

Could. Not. Agree. More.

This is the sort of thing that makes me nostalgic. Bars have gotten louder and cafés have gotten quieter… and each change affects the promise of political change. I can remember when you could have a conversation and even read in a bar. I used to read in bars all the time. Not so much anymore. And how long has it been since a coffeehouse was the site of active discussion? A long time, I bet. I can remember when coffeehouses were far more boisterous, with strangers engaging in conversation. The coffee wasn’t so good, but I was actually okay with that trade off. And it probably promoted entrepreneurship. I just sayin’.

Posted on February 12, 2014February 7, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Midweek Staff Meeting – Stop Screwing This Up!

Darn hippies aren’t doing it right!

It means that we’re going to hell in a hand basket!

Please be wrong.

No. And (if yes), the American reader.

Book of a lost village.

Ice-T is not a fan of Dungeons & Dragons.

Posted on February 10, 2014January 31, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Monday Morning Staff Meeting – Yes, But Was He Any Good?

This article goes into the big question when it comes to J.R.R. Tolkien: was he any good as a writer? The article says… maybe. It’s all a bit wishy washy. And I object strenuously to the negative criticism of his poetry, which I loved when my mother sang to me while reading The Hobbit out loud to a seven year old me. I think that there is also an argument to be made for a little pomo gamesmanship in his writing, if you look at it as having been written in an imaginary language (based on Anglo-Saxon and pre-English languages from the British Isles) and then translated into English. Rather as if someone wrote an epic novel in Klingon and then translated it into English. And, in case you hadn’t figured it out yet – I’m a fan of Tolkien.

Neo-liberalism and negative solidarity.

UC Davis has sold out to Amazon.

Emile Zola: novelist, polemicist, pamphleteer… influential art critic?

There are Crystals in Stone and Pressure in Snow So Are Snow and Stone the Same

Allen Ginsberg was many different from the others.

I’m glad that some newspapers are still covering poetry. Even if it is on the other side of the country (Dear WaPo, would it kill you to write more about literature and poetry ’round here? ‘Cause there’s a lot of it, most of it having nothing to do with poorly researched, pseudo-timely musings on the politics of six months ago).

Posted on January 24, 2014January 23, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Weekend Reading – More Stuff About Things Declining Or Dying Out Or What Not

It’s not books this time, it’s readers. But usually, stuff about the death and/or decline of the book is really about the decline and/or metaphorical death of readers, aren’t they? But actually, this article says that’s not really happening, after all. So I’m going to blame the person who wrote the headline, because that’s usually different than the person who wrote the article.

A strange and somewhat confusing article about James Bond. Some weird psychoanalysis taking place here.

Never stop making manifestos!

So, hey! A little profile of Coffee House Press! I bought Anne Waldman’s Iovis Trilogy from them. That book get mentioned a couple of times in the piece so I should really get around to finishing it. Maybe after I finish The Cantos. Generally, they do a lot of great work with contemporary poets. I actually dropped into their offices one time, when I was living in Minnesota, just asked, hey, do you need entry level folks? They were polite in saying no, so… that’s about as far my anecdote goes, really.

Robert Creeley’s books and why he left Scribner.

The GOP is struggling to find new, young donors to replace their aging donors.

Posted on January 22, 2014January 21, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Midweek Staff Meeting – Death Of A Poet

His political legacy is as important as his poetic legacy.

Soccer and tuberculosis and urban abandonment in DC.

Posted on January 18, 2014January 17, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Weekend Reading – But It’s Hard To Read!

Orhan Pamuk’s melancholy observations of a melancholy poet (Constantin Cavafy, the muse of Alexandria).

‘Difficult’ does not mean ‘not pleasurable’ when it comes to literature.

Jim Crow in Florida.

Poetry, finance, and Marxism.

Posted on January 10, 2014January 7, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Weekend Reading – The Existential Despair Of The Political Hack

This is just weird to read. A strange sort of interview/chronicle of the midlife crisis of Frank Luntz. But, I have seen that before among politicos. You dedicate yourself to the exclusion of all else and then, one day, you realize, you excluded all else and if you are unable to participate in the world you dedicated yourself too or if some existential crisis pops us, you lack something to fall back on. I saw this happen to a good friend. It’s never happened to me because I’m dilettante at heart, which has also held me back, careerwise. But I’ve also had ‘something else,’ which is, by definition, something. Anyway. Read this… whatever… about Frank Luntz.

The NYRB: in decline, in its pomp… or never actually in ascendance? Interesting article, but I wish they’d get some credit for the interesting books they are publising, beyond the magazine.

This is a tax cut I can support: a deduction for buying books! Forza Italia!

How to be a professional poet.

Where is the poetry high school? We have STEM and performing arts, so why not poetry?

If nothing else, this essay is worth reading for the concise definitions of economic terms related to the most recent/ongoing financial crisis.

Posted on January 6, 2014January 5, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Posted on December 31, 2013December 30, 2013 by the coffee philosopher