April 2013 -

April

2013

The War on the Humanities has Three Fronts (Part 1: The Right Wing)

OK, maybe more than three. Maybe a lot more. But these three sola are doing a fantastic job without any help: The right wing generally (see, for example, its latest obsession with MOOCs) Higher education (which is basically a quisling for Corporate America) Artists themselves (this one merits its own blog, let alone a blog […]

April

2013

Miscellaneous

Hey, Karen – whatever happened to Point Of Ares?

This is kind of cool. It’s also kind of uncool humblebraggy stuff. I know that. I don’t care, but I thought I’d give those who object to that sort of thing an opportunity to stop reading. I’m fair like that. This week I learned that Point Of Ares is still getting airplay, or rather, Internet […]

But if the writing doesn't matter to the writer solely for its own sake, without hope of external validation, then it doesn't matter.

If you can’t write for yourself, if you can’t write for those shadows creeping along a silent wall and measuring out your time on this earth in increments of everything else you could be doing, if you can’t write while knowing you are destroying your time on a beautiful madness that nobody will ever validate and many will mock – then please don’t call yourself a writer. Real writing isn’t for sissies. It’s more than putting words on the page. It’s denying everything else to be able to put those words on the page while knowing that the mess of language you’ve created is all you’ll ever get out of it.

-Karen Michalson, “Why We Read Strangers”