I donated all of my energy to Microsoft Project yesterday. I'll be giving most of my time to that program the next few weeks as I try to figure out if it's a worthwhile application for what I need. That means little joy expected for at least eight hours of my every weekday. Expect a lot of posts full of "highlights" like this one until things stabilize:
John Grisham gave a commencement address to some high school students in Little Rock. He told them that they should prolong their college years as long as possible. However, the most important pertinent part of his message was his admitting that he doesn't belong in the pantheon of great Southern writers: "I'm a pretty good storyteller who happens to live in the South," he said. "I've sold too many books to be taken seriously as a literary writer."
Looks like the Duke lacrosse scandal has cost the school more than just its reputation. It appears noted scholar Houston A. Baker is leaving Durham for Nashville. He has been highly critical of the Duke administration in recent weeks.
The St Paul Pioneer Press profiles Gary Amdahl, author of a nice new collection of short stories called Visigoth. (My overly overdue review should follow in the coming weeks.):
"This is an experiment, to some extent, on my part," Amdahl explains.
"I was thinking about (poet, essayist and critic) Randall Jarrell's idea that 'story' can be anything — anecdotes, poems, true, false. I wanted the world to see my best work, regardless of genre, so I presented some fiction, essays and novellas to Milkweed as a collection. The essays and stories complement each other. They have the same themes and style. I guess I would have preferred to make it clear that a couple of pieces were essays. But we went ahead with the idea we would call the whole business stories."
"He's a man's man, he's a ladies' man and, even at 83, he's a very sexy man...Personally, I think he's one of the great sex symbols of the 21st century...It's never too late, Norman!"--Anjelica Huston hearts Norman Mailer, and she made it known when presenting him with the Los Angeles Library Literary Award last Thursday.
"Maybe 30 years ago," responded Mailer.
Princeton's Firestone Library has purchased an invaluable archive, considered to be one of the most significant acquisitions in decades:
Inside the folders are correspondence from some of the greatest poets of the 20th century -- formal, almost imperious letters typed in blue ink and signed by T.S. Eliot, postcards scrawled in William Carlos Williams' arthritic, post-stroke handwriting, letters signed in meek, careful print by the demented Sylvia Plath.
They are part and parcel of The Hudson Review's singular literary archives, more than 250 boxes of manuscripts, galleys, letters and journals penned by the magazine's writers that were acquired by Princeton University's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections last week.###
Ever wondered where some of Mississippi's legendary writers, musicians, athletes, activists, and politicians are buried? Wonder no more.
I love it when academics justify those age-old arguments we all have had after a few tokes on a water bong. For instance, check out this study (rather large pdf file) on what factors lead to people's choices for "worst song ever." According to the researchers, "Achy, Breaky Heart" was cited most often as being that song. {via}
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