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ASSOCIATE MEMBER BLOG TAG: america
| Thursday, July 21, 2011 6:56PM | | | | Role of Writers in American Society | Tags: Reading Lolita in Tehran, political prisoners, Azar Nafisi, Jonathan Franzen, John Irving, Role of Writers in American Society
| | | In a discussion panel with Azar Nafisi, Jonathan Franzen, and John Irving, one of the questions posed asked what role writers have in American society, in comparison to European countries. Are writers important, celebrated? Are they called upon to make comments in the newspapers, or asked to go on talk shows to impart a bit of wisdom? Not anymore.
John Irving brought this quote to the table: Who was it that said writers are the engineers of human souls? Who said it right before he killed a group of writers? Joseph Stalin. Irving argued that... | | | | | | | Wednesday, November 17, 2010 4:26PM | | | | Poetry in Wartime | Tags: poetry, practicality, usefulness, society, wartime, doctorate, MFA, roles, Poland, World War II, America, 21 century, 21st century, Hedwig Gorski
| | | Because wartime is a significant social and political circumstance, it is an opportunity for poets to uncover an usefulness for their writing that could provide new content for their poems. A national style or approach to poetry develops during special times and in places where liberty is challenged. Think of Whitman and the Civil War. He became the poet spokesperson of those times and that war and that America; his poetry is a more accurate history in the psychological sense.
Who is the poet of our wartime? What are the characteristics of American poetry in the 21st... | | | | | | | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 12:01AM | | | | The America(s) | Tags: African-American, History, Black History, The Industrial Revolution, The Great Migration, Pawnee Indian, Historical Fiction, Pittsburgh
| | | | It wasn’t until the Louisiana Purchase of 1804 that the restless giant yawned. Fattening himself off the bounty of the lands East of the Mississippi for the first few hundred years in his infancy, the baby giant’s hunger increased, especially in his slumber. Now, there was plenty of fresh new land for the ravenous giant to consume. So the man-child rolled over onto his massive back, allowed his hulking shoulder, shuddering bicep, long forearm and wrist, deliberately crushing everything beneath him, to extend a forceful hand westward and an accusatory finger. Scratching the surface of the land of the Pawnee Indians along the Platte River of Nebraska, the giant tasted it. And it was good.
A matriarchal society bound to this... | | | | | | | Monday, August 3, 2009 11:58AM | | | | Time to Settle | Tags: Native Americans, Department of Interior, Cobell
| | | | There are many ways President Obama can express token appreciation of Native Americans, and indeed he has availed himself of some of these. But if Obama wants to do something substantive as an act of genuine reconciliation, then there are but a handful of things he must do. One of those is settling Cobell. No one is asking for the long list of embezzlers (that rotated from the energy industry over a century and a half through the Department of Interior mineral management service) to be indicted for fraud, but the stolen funds must be restored. And the first step for Obama is to stop fighting Cobell; the government is guilty, it's been proven guilty, everyone acknowledges that. | | | | | | | Sunday, July 19, 2009 1:51PM | | | | Army of God | Tags: American fundamentalist movement
| | | | Bruce Wilson at Talk to Action tracks the development of violent Christian fanatacism in the US. For those on Palin watch, or simply concerned about the militant brainwashing taking place in American right-wing churches, Wilson's articles are a clarion call to effectively counter a movement based on hate and vengeance before the Army of God can spill more innocent blood. | | | | | | | Monday, June 8, 2009 12:53PM | | | | Colonial Pie | Tags: American Indians
| | | Phil Lucas, the late and legendary Choctaw filmmaker, once remarked that American Indians -- after five centuries of colonialism -- have learned very well how to divide and conquer themselves. The most effective way, the one taught in Christian boarding schools and reinforced in racist legal regimes, is to deny other Native Americans their inherent identity, thereby limiting those who can have a slice of the colonial pie.
But beyond the dysfunctional value of greed instilled by the European Americans, the systematic division of enrolled Indians and recognized tribes from unenrolled Indians and unrecognized tribes, has been a malicious method of subverting solidarity between all who share a Native American identity.
Identity is an important thing to protect and nourish if we... | | | | | | | Saturday, June 6, 2009 12:54PM | | | | Perpetuating Poverty | Tags: American Indian Holocaust
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While Obama does a photo op in Germany with President Merkel commemorating the Jewish Holocaust, the Obama Administration back home continues to block recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples of America under international law. By ignoring the American Indian Holocaust, President Obama supports genocide through US agencies like the Department of Interior, where theft of Native American mineral resources continues to this day. Obama's Department of Justice could end this criminal enterprise that perpetuates poverty on reservations, but instead chose to follow his predecessor in fighting resolution of Indian trust accounts. | | | | | | | Thursday, June 4, 2009 2:10PM | | | | Fighting Back | Tags: Gay America
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Outrage, the new documentary on gay Republicans in Congress reveals the hypocrisy of the anti-Gay movement in America. Using homophobia as a tool for acquiring political power, while simultaneously hiding their own homosexuality, may soon be a thing of the past for fundamentalist Christian politicians. Gay America is fighting back. | | | | | | | Friday, May 15, 2009 12:09PM | | | | Noble Savage Saga | Tags: Native Americans
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Is the PBS series on Native Americans, We Shall Remain, yet another noble savage saga, instilling sympathy in whites and hopelessness in contemporary Indians? Is Steven Newcomb of the Indigenous Law Institute correct when he observes that what PBS has done is to present the history of ethnic cleansing in America without adequately holding accountable the perpetrators? While the series oddly omits from culpability some American icons like George Washington, others like Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson do not escape exposure. In fairness, it appears that one can learn much about American history from the program, even though much more is left to be taught. Let us hope this is a new beginning, and not the final word. | | | | | | | Sunday, May 3, 2009 2:21PM | | | | Christian European | Tags: American Indian, resources, governance
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Steven Newcomb at Indian Country Today discusses the Christian bigotry at the core of federal Indian law. | | | | | | | Saturday, April 25, 2009 1:26PM | | | | Putting the US on Notice | Tags: Organization of American States
| | | | The death of an Irish private security guard in a shootout with Bolivian police, as reported in today’s Irish Times, includes mention of his Hungarian accomplices in what appears to be a mercenary squad hired to assassinate Bolivian President Evo Morales. Last May, as reported in The Real News Network, Bolivia deported the US consul for funding ruling class rebels trying to overthrow Morales by violence and murder of his indigenous supporters. At the Organization of American States summit this week, Latin American leaders made it clear to the new US president that they were not going to tolerate further US interference in their countries. | | | | | | | Saturday, March 28, 2009 1:10PM | | | | Old Money New Poverty | Tags: American aristocracy
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It isn’t like old money creating new poverty is an unheard of story; the land grants and government concessions that made the American aristocracy go way back, before there was a United States. Even the Rhode Island elite who made fortunes shipping slaves precede our young republic.
But rich people like to live well, and that requires replenishing their wealth at the expense of wage earners, sweatshop slaves, and taxpayers, day in and day out. When one sector falters, the slack has to be taken up with the help of Congress in the form of new loopholes and gifts. Living on the sweat and blood of others is serious business.
While there are still landscapes to be ravaged and populations to be plundered, mobilizing our... | | | | | | | Wednesday, March 25, 2009 10:58AM | | | | Pattern of Extermination | Tags: American Indian
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I'm not sure how I missed American Holocaust, but then again, how many American Indian documentary filmmakers can you name? They managed to pack a lot into half an hour. Take a look. | | | | | | | Thursday, January 15, 2009 11:19AM | | | | Broken Shell | Tags: American psyche, Gaza
| | | | Some time ago, we wrote about the progressive–fascist alliance, and what that alliance might do to the American psyche, already reeling from betrayals in public office. With the fascist invasion of Gaza, fully–supported by progressive politicians and US tax dollars, the breakdown of our benevolent mythology enters a new phase. All the rhetoric of AIPAC’s new boy in the White House won’t be able to put this broken shell back together again. | | | | | | | Monday, November 24, 2008 12:29AM | | | | The Great African Americans | Tags: Mr. President, African Americans
| | | | Ladies and gentlemen, the president of United States of America, Mr. Barack Obama!!
An African American as the president of United States of America...wow!
At last, the true freedom of speech for the Blacks!
They earned the reward, at last. But all these years, they never gave up hope; the black Americans have showed the meanings of: patience, ignorance, peace & harmony, togetherness, morality, and much more. Take a look:
| | | | | Wednesday, November 19, 2008 12:38PM | | | | The Pesky Persistance of Memory | Tags: America, Obama, November 4th election, U.S. politics
| | | | I begin this blog still full of post-election euphoria, a state so strange and wonderful that I pinch myself several times a day to remind myself to cheer-down. That's right, I , like so many Obama supporters am still afraid to feel too good about this victory, or to expect too much too soon from our president-elect. Obama himself reminded us on election night that our enthusiasm would have to be harnessed and put to hard work (and severe tests) in the months to come as he and his team attempts to bring about the beneficial changes he has promised America. But the first big change he has already accomplished. His successful bid for the American presidency has lifted the cloud of despair that many... | | | | | | | Saturday, November 15, 2008 2:50PM | | | | A Rare Combination | Tags: democracy, America, liberation
| | | In the battle for the soul of America, some have asked us what we are doing. We are defending democracy.
In trying times like these, there will always be those who counsel surrender at every opportunity. That is life.
In opposing governance of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich, the clamor for capitulation by those who lack the intestinal fortitude and moral fiber to prevail is but one obstacle along the way. For those just learning the tools of liberation, they serve as models of subservience accustomed to seeking permission to exist from the ruling class. A sad but true story.
For those who understand that freedom is not purchased by meekness and compliance, these lessons will serve them... | | | | | | | Thursday, November 13, 2008 11:33AM | | | | The Power of Words | Tags: Native American sovereignty, research, visionaries
| | | When Tempers Flare
[Back in 1975, the late Vine Deloria wrote the following about a leading figure in protecting Native American sovereignty by the name of Hank Adams. As another saintly research activist in the vein of Jack Minnis from the Civil Rights Movement, Adams saw what needed to be done and did it. Neither fame nor fortune ever graced Hank's steps, but like other visionaries with integrity, this never stopped him from putting his people first.]
FRANK'S LANDING, Wash. - When the media collide with a social movement, their chief contribution seems to be the simplification of issues and the creation of instant personalities. The complexity of conflicting ideologies which separate the respective minority groups from the rest of America is often overlooked... | | | | | | | Tuesday, November 11, 2008 11:53AM | | | | Ten Cent Toll | Tags: Kootenai, film, Idaho, American Indian
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Watch the trailer of the new film about the 1974 Kootenai insurrection. | | | | | | | Sunday, November 9, 2008 11:46AM | | | | March Point | Tags: film, American Indian, Swinomish
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March Point, the award-winning documentary film by three Swinomish Indian teens, airs November 18 on PBS. | | | | | | | Friday, November 7, 2008 12:06PM | | | | American Literature | Tags: Native American, storytelling, literature
| | | A World Apart
Leslie Marmon Silko and Ray A. Young Bear, both of whom pleasantly informed my appreciation of storytelling, seem almost like a different world from the dark, poetic weavings of Louise Erdrich. But all three authors impart a distinct, enriching view of American reality created out of the conflicting mixture of blood and origin stories that inhabit it. Ceremony, Black Eagle Child, and Love Medicine should all be required reading for students of American literature--even if they are in reality Laguna, Iowa, and Ojibwe. | | | | | | | Thursday, November 6, 2008 10:49AM | | | | Changing Our Reality | Tags: democracy, activism, America
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Real News interviews Ralph Nader about changing our reality. Check out the November 5th movement. | | | | | | | Tuesday, November 4, 2008 12:10PM | | | | The American Carver | Tags: American Indian film, Lummi
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The American Carver, a documentary feature film about Lummi carver Jewell James, debuts at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, Sunday, November 9. In the early 1970s, I worked alongside Jewell's father and brother harvesting salmon in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the Cascade Mountains. Jewell is also a fellow associate of the Center for World Indigenous Studies in Olympia, Washington. | | | | | | | Sunday, November 2, 2008 10:09PM | | | | Best New American Voices Reading | Tags: Best New American Voices, Theodore Wheeler, The Bookworm, Omaha
| | | I have a reading and book-signing coming up, for anyone in the Omaha area that's interested.
It is at The Bookworm (8702 Pacific St.) @ 1:00pm on Sunday, November 16.
I'll be reading from "Welcome Home," my story which was featured in the recent edition of Best New American Voices (Harcourt/Harvest), and signing copies of BNAV.
The Bookworm is one of the great independent bookstores in Nebraska. It will be a good time.
| | | | | | | Sunday, November 2, 2008 10:02PM | | | | Initialized. | Tags: Best New American Voices, Nicole Steen, Elyse Cheney, Prairie Schooner, Boulevard, fugue, Theodore Wheeler
| | | Hey, all. I'm excited to have this opportunity to join the PEN community via this blog. Thanks are in order for everyone who made this posssible.
A little about myself. I'm a recent graduate of the M.A. program in literature and creative writing at Creighton University, live in Omaha with my wife Nicole and daughter Madeleine, and am currently an associate editor with Prairie Schooner. My work has appeared in Best New American Voices, Boulevard, and fugue, among others. Nicole Steen of Elyse Cheney Literary Associates represents my collection of short fiction (How to Die Young in Nebraska) and my novel-in-progress (The Open City).
My intention for this blog, in addition to joining the conversion of the other authors and literary professionals here on the issues of... | | | | | |
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