On Sunday, I had the pleasure of introducing two great poets in a reading at the Writer’s Center: Sam Truitt, whose most recent collection, Vertical Elegies, is really three books in one, and Grace Cavalieri, whose most recent collection, Anna Nicole, retells and reimagines the life of Anna Nicole Smith. Some of the audience members…
A Great Big Mind and an Even Bigger Heart
A Great Big Mind and an Even Bigger Heart: David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008 It has been a month since David Foster Wallace took his own life, but the fact that he is gone is still as shocking and sad and painful to me as it was when I first heard of it. Since the…
Letter from Lakefield
Letter from Lakefield: Discovering Margaret Laurence If, like me, you mourn our current era of conglomerate “book” stores, you’re probably always on the hunt for a good independent bookseller. Here in Lakefield, Ontario, I’ve found a jewel: a small, quirky shop called HappenStance Books & Yarns. Yes, that’s what they sell – books and knitting…
Review of Macbeth at the Folger
Worth Standing For: Macbeth at the Folger Theatre I realize that it’s probably unfair to give a rave review to a show that is completely sold out through its already–extended run. But the production of Macbeth currently running at the Folger Theatre is so exciting, innovative, and spectacularly good that it’s well worth a standing–room…
Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life
Thoughts on the Exhibition, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005, 10/13/2007 to 1/13/2008, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC It has been a week since I’ve seen it, but I still can’t get the Annie Leibovitz exhibit out of my head. This comes as a surprise to me, considering that I wasn’t that interested…
Review of Into the Wild; Matter of Taste
Getting it Right: Sean Penn’s film, Into the Wild It’s always tough to see a movie based on a book you love. Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” was my first encounter with this writer, and I was knocked out by his careful reporting and graceful, honest prose, as well as by the story he told….