by Brian Bergen-Aurand Following last week’s murder of five journalists at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, several more states have passed or are seriously considering passing “red flag laws” or Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs). Such laws allow police officers, family members, and domestic or intimate partners to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms […] … Continue reading
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Five Disability Memoirs for 2018
by Brian Bergen-Aurand I’m stretching the boundaries a bit with this list, mentioning some books that brush up against or intrude upon our usual definitions of disability in order to broaden and disturb our conceptions of what disability memoirs and crip lit might exclude. (Synopses from Goodreads.) 1. A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True … Continue reading
“Bodies of Music, Bodies of Soil”–from Singapore Review of Books
Australian poets Andy Jackson’s Music Our Bodies Can’t Hold and Tanya Thaweeskulchai’s A Salivating Monstrous Plant feature poems about the body. This is a body living in space and time. Although there is joy and pleasure here, the body is often under threat — from operation, society, nature. In Music Our Bodies Can’t Hold Jackson […] … Continue reading
Five Basic Income Books for 2018
2018 is seeing the publication of a number of new Basic Income titles, including the following: 1. Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World by Annie Lowrey (Crown Books, May 2018) 2. It’s Basic Income: The Global Debate edited by Amy Downes and Stewart Lansley … Continue reading
“I am not sure it is mine.”–Notes on Writing in Helen Keller’s THE STORY OF MY LIFE
by Brian Bergen-Aurand Almost halfway through Helen Keller’s The Story of my Life, which first appeared in installments in Ladies’ Home Journal throughout 1902, is a chapter recalling what Keller labels “the one cloud in my childhood’s bright sky.” Chapter 14 tells the tale of the author’s first adventure in writing–her composition at the age … Continue reading
Review: Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen by Guy Standing–from Make Wealth History
I forget where it was that I first came across the Basic Income, but it seemed obscure at the time. There was almost no debate about it in mainstream media outlets. The idea has a rich history and it clearly had supporters, but the organisations campaigning for it had websites that looked niche and out […] … Continue reading
Walk. Use Your Library Voice. And Don’t Touch. But Enjoy Yourself.
by Brian Bergen-Aurand Sundays are free admission to the Henry Art Gallery on the campus of the University of Washington, so we made it a family outing to see the new installation Fun. No Fun. by Kraft Duntz featuring Dawn Cerny. I had read Travis Vogt’s interview with Cerny in City Arts, “The Comedic Architecture … Continue reading
Essay: Searching for a Collective Movement in “Progressive” Seattle—from the South Seattle Emerald
by Renea Harris-Peterson & emily warren Seattle, celebrated for its progressive positions on many issues, still struggles to push past the façade of “liberalism” into the true realm of equity. Lack of rent control, the police force being under investigation, woefully underfunded education, and the proposal to build a new youth incarceration facility are just […] … Continue reading
Top Ten: 10 Documentaries you cannot miss at the Human Rights & Arts Film Festival —from Asian Film Festivals
We selected a list of documentaries you should not miss at the 10th Human Rights & Arts Film Festival that is taking place in Melbourne from May 4th – 18th. via 10 Documentaries you cannot miss at the Human Rights & Arts Film Festival — Asian Film Festivals Continue reading
Essay: Terrance Hayes Says in Times Like These, Poets Need to Poet–from the South Seattle Emerald
by Brian Bergen-Aurand Throughout the day on Thursday, poet and teacher Terrance Hayes gave a series of talks on the campus of Bellevue College. His topic was “Social Justice for Black Lives,” and he addressed it through a morning presentation before faculty, students, and staff; a later question and answer session moderated by English professors […] … Continue reading
Foreign Influence 