Category: Other thinks
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Mad Men en français, or Why Sally Draper is Really Important
A friend once described watching the AMC series Mad Men as an experience akin to reading well crafted postwar American short fiction. I thought that was a little excessive until I actually watched the show, which is exactly like well crafted postwar American short fiction. That’s not usually my jam. But the accessories are amazing and accessories […]
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The Office Retirement Party
In the early days, people asked us questions like how long we would take off from work and had we researched daycares in the area. Had we read about attachment parenting? Would we let our baby cry it out? But other recent parents asked nothing about parenting at all. Instead, they asked us which television series […]
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On Blessing Someone’s Heart
The thing about deep cultural knowledge is that you don’t realize you have it until a piece of your culture gets appropriated. I have never considered myself particularly Southern, at least in the way that people take ‘Southern’ to mean. I do not frequently use y’all. When I ask for a Coke I do not mean some other […]
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Merry Christmas Introverts – Grab a Book
Introverts have been receiving a lot of attention (ironic, no?) since Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking came out in 2012. It was kind of a thing. In fact, it was a ‘revolution’.* My internet world suddenly became filled with everything from “The Introvert’s Guide to Shoe Shopping” to […]
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How to Become World Literate
What “world” are we talking about when we talk about “world literature”? We know it when we see it. It’s not France. It is definitely Africa. It might be Russia. But what about Finland? Or Puerto Rico? And what “literature” are we talking about? Do folktales count? Are comic books literature? What about religious texts? […]
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Marlon James, African and Caribbean Women Have Written Some Great “Geek” Books
Right after the publication of his most recent novel A Brief History of Seven Killings (winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize – not too shabby), Marlon James appeared on the thoroughly superb podcast “A Tiny Sense of Accomplishment,” hosted by writer buddies Sherman Alexie and Jess Walter. It was a great interview – those guys […]
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I quit my job once and I want you to know about it
or Some Reflections Provoked by #QuitLit — Six years ago I found myself living in an idyllic midwestern college town, working anywhere from three to five jobs at a time. Here is a list of what my BA in French/comparative literature and recently completed MA in African Languages & Literature qualified me to do: serve coffee, sell books, rent […]
Indirect Libre 