Alex Kudera's Blog, page 150
September 23, 2011
PS--we can't afford to only sell Will Bunch's books
PSC CUNY showed up to express solidarity with the protestors at Occupy Wall Street, and at least for a moment I felt a solidarity with the cause-in-itself and almost a euphoria. (I should note that the "one demand" remains undemanded, so it's difficult to know what I am feeling almost in solidarity with.) But Thursday around 9:30 p.m., the presence of teachers on the ground at Liberty Park seemed to offer the whole business a legitimacy, even a way of seeing beyond the usual register, and hoping for better times, even fairer times.
And although young people entering their adult years at a time of high unemployment and terrible worker-participation rates were still being dragged off to jail for touching trees, violating boundaries and such, the CUNY union helped me move past the cynical notions that this overtly commodified reality TV version of anticapitalist protest could be merely a non-profit's attempt to gain mediashare, a vehicle for Keith Olbermann Studies, or a way for Will Bunch to sell his book. Which of course brought me back to the Less United States of Kudera's original raison d'etre, which was to publish and sell my own. (Note to any young or old, anti or procapitalists reading this blog: although it certainly seems played out, blogging will be part of your expected path to publication, so it could be wise to begin now.)
And so I thought then it would be a shameless omission if I did not once more burden you with new and old views of my own materials: Fight for Your Long Day and The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity .
And I should also note that when I went back to adbusters.org to copy the link, I believe I saw an ad for vodka ("Genocide and Juice," but when I google, I learn that it is a rap album released by The Coup in 1994), but then also, the livefeed was down but a Democracy Now video segment seemed to offer a clip of an interview with the protestor who was last seen being dragged on the cement and shouting that he needed his inhaler while other scared protestors asked him to say his last name. Well, pardon me if in fact this is not the same protestor, but he looked clean and safe and outside the police precinct and safely expressing his views about "freedom to assembly," America, and such. And now the livefeed reads, "Let's Chill - Live Feeds Back ~ 7AM," and they are playing older video of a kind, young, harmonica-and-guitar-Bob-Dylan-cover protestor. Not the worst I've heard.
And now, it sounds like the loud young people who woke me up at 2:30 a.m. have retreated to their own livefeeds and other indoor activities, and so it could be the optimal time to return to bed.
Goodnight!
And although young people entering their adult years at a time of high unemployment and terrible worker-participation rates were still being dragged off to jail for touching trees, violating boundaries and such, the CUNY union helped me move past the cynical notions that this overtly commodified reality TV version of anticapitalist protest could be merely a non-profit's attempt to gain mediashare, a vehicle for Keith Olbermann Studies, or a way for Will Bunch to sell his book. Which of course brought me back to the Less United States of Kudera's original raison d'etre, which was to publish and sell my own. (Note to any young or old, anti or procapitalists reading this blog: although it certainly seems played out, blogging will be part of your expected path to publication, so it could be wise to begin now.)
And so I thought then it would be a shameless omission if I did not once more burden you with new and old views of my own materials: Fight for Your Long Day and The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity .
And I should also note that when I went back to adbusters.org to copy the link, I believe I saw an ad for vodka ("Genocide and Juice," but when I google, I learn that it is a rap album released by The Coup in 1994), but then also, the livefeed was down but a Democracy Now video segment seemed to offer a clip of an interview with the protestor who was last seen being dragged on the cement and shouting that he needed his inhaler while other scared protestors asked him to say his last name. Well, pardon me if in fact this is not the same protestor, but he looked clean and safe and outside the police precinct and safely expressing his views about "freedom to assembly," America, and such. And now the livefeed reads, "Let's Chill - Live Feeds Back ~ 7AM," and they are playing older video of a kind, young, harmonica-and-guitar-Bob-Dylan-cover protestor. Not the worst I've heard.
And now, it sounds like the loud young people who woke me up at 2:30 a.m. have retreated to their own livefeeds and other indoor activities, and so it could be the optimal time to return to bed.
Goodnight!
September 22, 2011
but a bunch of what exactly, Will?
Will Bunch, blogging for The Philadelphia Daily News, does believe in a Big Media Brownout of the Wall Street Protests:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Big-medias-shameful-blackout-on-the-Wall-Street-protests.html
It could indeed be the case, but Will Bunch even acknowledges that there has been some Big Media Coverage:
"That's not to say there hasn't been some level of news coverage -- including from the newsrooms of the New York Times. The Times has published three blog posts about the protests, although they were not easy to find on the web site (here and here-- you had to navigate well below the layer of Ray's Pizza) and the Washington Post has also published blog posts (here and here) and even photo essays, which is good way of saying "look at these crazy and colorful kids" without addressing the actual issues. I've noticed that a lot of the American coverage that I found through Google News was in the form of online photo essays. Look, I'm somebody with one foot in the blogging world and the other foot still planted in the mentality of the old-fashioned newsroom, and I can tell you that sometimes buried blog posts and photo essays are a way to say you "covered" something without, you know, actually covering it, not in a way that counts."
Fair enough, but I'm working on another theory, not necessarily a competing one, but one that could also make sense to Big Media. Well, here goes: the larger media entities are merely good media capitalists, and possibly even thoughtful people (I know!), and, perhaps, they are thinking, "Hey, Adbusters is going to pay for advertising if that's partly what this is about." They've probably seen the ads for Red Bull that play during the livestream of the protests at adbusters.org, and they've probably seen that protestors who don't share in the ad revenue are getting arrested, and they've probably thought through these things a bit and in fact are somewhat genuinely apprehensive about running a lot of stories about such a commodified protest.
Or, Big Media will just do anything to capture and grow their own young audience while fending off a smaller player like Adbusters?
Or, they haven't thought much about it at all because hundreds of protestors just aren't such a Big Story for Big Media?
Sigh and move on, I suppose, but in closing, I'll note that at least one law firm is offering pro bono services to help process arrested protestors through the legal system.
I'm not sure if that's exactly like giving away the cigarettes for free.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Big-medias-shameful-blackout-on-the-Wall-Street-protests.html
It could indeed be the case, but Will Bunch even acknowledges that there has been some Big Media Coverage:
"That's not to say there hasn't been some level of news coverage -- including from the newsrooms of the New York Times. The Times has published three blog posts about the protests, although they were not easy to find on the web site (here and here-- you had to navigate well below the layer of Ray's Pizza) and the Washington Post has also published blog posts (here and here) and even photo essays, which is good way of saying "look at these crazy and colorful kids" without addressing the actual issues. I've noticed that a lot of the American coverage that I found through Google News was in the form of online photo essays. Look, I'm somebody with one foot in the blogging world and the other foot still planted in the mentality of the old-fashioned newsroom, and I can tell you that sometimes buried blog posts and photo essays are a way to say you "covered" something without, you know, actually covering it, not in a way that counts."
Fair enough, but I'm working on another theory, not necessarily a competing one, but one that could also make sense to Big Media. Well, here goes: the larger media entities are merely good media capitalists, and possibly even thoughtful people (I know!), and, perhaps, they are thinking, "Hey, Adbusters is going to pay for advertising if that's partly what this is about." They've probably seen the ads for Red Bull that play during the livestream of the protests at adbusters.org, and they've probably seen that protestors who don't share in the ad revenue are getting arrested, and they've probably thought through these things a bit and in fact are somewhat genuinely apprehensive about running a lot of stories about such a commodified protest.
Or, Big Media will just do anything to capture and grow their own young audience while fending off a smaller player like Adbusters?
Or, they haven't thought much about it at all because hundreds of protestors just aren't such a Big Story for Big Media?
Sigh and move on, I suppose, but in closing, I'll note that at least one law firm is offering pro bono services to help process arrested protestors through the legal system.
I'm not sure if that's exactly like giving away the cigarettes for free.
September 21, 2011
wall street protest?
According to Alisson Kilkenny's blog at The Nation:
Outcry erupted yesterday when it became apparent that Yahoo was censoring e-mails that contained references to the Occupy Wall Street protest. A sender would receive a message that there was "suspicious activity" detected on their account when they tried to send a message relating to the event. Yahoo later responded, saying the culprit was an overzealous spam filter.
But yahoo.com later apologized and said its spam filters had encountered a "false positive."
Is a "false positive" the same as censorship? I'd think not, but then again, how would I ever be able to know if this is The Nation's overzealous use of the word "censoring" or legitimate and somewhat intriguing news?
The "Wall Street protest" caught my attention this morning when I saw four different people had shared news about it on facebook, and one person shamed The New York Times for not covering the story.
And yet, The New York Times is covering the story.
And then, back at you know where after work, it appears a dozen people in equal measure are commenting on the potential for execution in Georgia (temporary stay as best I understand it) and the break up of R.E.M.
I'm in no position to add it all up at present, but this "dissident journalism"--written by a young man with $200,000's worth of undergraduate education (read "NYU") insists, "The point is, we are sick and tired of being ruled by a shadowy and exclusive group of oligarchs." And that the protest's goal is democracy and even "consensus." But he looks like a nice kid from Yeshiva high school who considers himself a student of Melville and Shakespeare. Which, of course, seems nice from this less united perspective. And innocent?
Could the young journalist be among the 60% of American undergrads with a median student loan debt of 23K? Is he a young writer with no job, living on cold floorboards, with a forged passport, in a Manhattan apartment?
Am I living in a different America? Or is everyone living in an individual one with occasional big and little overlaps here and there?
You say you feel fragmented?
Diffuse?
Of late night fame?
OK.
Goodnight.
Outcry erupted yesterday when it became apparent that Yahoo was censoring e-mails that contained references to the Occupy Wall Street protest. A sender would receive a message that there was "suspicious activity" detected on their account when they tried to send a message relating to the event. Yahoo later responded, saying the culprit was an overzealous spam filter.
But yahoo.com later apologized and said its spam filters had encountered a "false positive."
Is a "false positive" the same as censorship? I'd think not, but then again, how would I ever be able to know if this is The Nation's overzealous use of the word "censoring" or legitimate and somewhat intriguing news?
The "Wall Street protest" caught my attention this morning when I saw four different people had shared news about it on facebook, and one person shamed The New York Times for not covering the story.
And yet, The New York Times is covering the story.
And then, back at you know where after work, it appears a dozen people in equal measure are commenting on the potential for execution in Georgia (temporary stay as best I understand it) and the break up of R.E.M.
I'm in no position to add it all up at present, but this "dissident journalism"--written by a young man with $200,000's worth of undergraduate education (read "NYU") insists, "The point is, we are sick and tired of being ruled by a shadowy and exclusive group of oligarchs." And that the protest's goal is democracy and even "consensus." But he looks like a nice kid from Yeshiva high school who considers himself a student of Melville and Shakespeare. Which, of course, seems nice from this less united perspective. And innocent?
Could the young journalist be among the 60% of American undergrads with a median student loan debt of 23K? Is he a young writer with no job, living on cold floorboards, with a forged passport, in a Manhattan apartment?
Am I living in a different America? Or is everyone living in an individual one with occasional big and little overlaps here and there?
You say you feel fragmented?
Diffuse?
Of late night fame?
OK.
Goodnight.
September 20, 2011
the latest from amazon
Although I haven't bought a book from amazon in almost two months, I'm one of the shoppers guilty of being lured by discounts and ignoring book community pleas to support Indy bookstores. This got my attention though:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/employees-faced-brutal-working-conditions-amazon-warehouse-135842747.html
We'll see how it plays out, but it's the kind of thing that one could almost assume to be true. Not once have I heard of an Indy bookstore employee complaining of heat exhaustion or brutal working conditions.
Have you?
And, of course, it was never my experience at the brick and mortar bookstores, including a Borders, that I worked in years ago.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/employees-faced-brutal-working-conditions-amazon-warehouse-135842747.html
We'll see how it plays out, but it's the kind of thing that one could almost assume to be true. Not once have I heard of an Indy bookstore employee complaining of heat exhaustion or brutal working conditions.
Have you?
And, of course, it was never my experience at the brick and mortar bookstores, including a Borders, that I worked in years ago.
September 18, 2011
the latest from Atticus Books
Lacey N. Dunham has joined Atticus Books, the red hot lover of Atticus Review, an on the prowl, or at least online, literary journal presently experiencing a lot of eyeball action (read "page views"). With reporters on the ground in an ever increasing number of nations and business concerns, The Less United States of Kudera was able to penetrate deep into the bandwidth for top-secret communiques, and extract this snippet from Atticus Publisher Dan Cafaro:
"Lacey is a former bookseller with Politics & Prose Bookstore & Coffeehouse in Washington, DC, and the editor of the online literary publication, THIS Literary Magazine. For Politics & Prose, Lacey performed an assortment of duties and was their go-to person for social media and online book groups. Lacey has written for Ploughshares, The Collagist, The Washington Spark, and The Feminist Review, among others, and is a columnist at the
Atticus also placed a rack of its titles at Novel Places in Clarksburg, Maryland, and rumor has it that the young pub might be the first press in history to offer a million-dollar book contract to an imaginary friend.
"Lacey is a former bookseller with Politics & Prose Bookstore & Coffeehouse in Washington, DC, and the editor of the online literary publication, THIS Literary Magazine. For Politics & Prose, Lacey performed an assortment of duties and was their go-to person for social media and online book groups. Lacey has written for Ploughshares, The Collagist, The Washington Spark, and The Feminist Review, among others, and is a columnist at the
Atticus also placed a rack of its titles at Novel Places in Clarksburg, Maryland, and rumor has it that the young pub might be the first press in history to offer a million-dollar book contract to an imaginary friend.
September 12, 2011
borders finale
I'll confess that when I saw the headline, I found myself getting awfully sentimental, sad even, although compared to half the other big stories, it's not a matter of death and life. But Ann Arbor, I'm sure, will never be the same.
September 10, 2011
The Funny Man
John Warner's The Funny Man arrives soon to an amazon warehouse near you, so I thought I'd claim the possibility that I'm sort of the Al Gore of John Warner Studies although I haven't yet sent a white paper to my department chair in hopes of making a minor out of it. But, possibly, I was the first one in the history of the internet to interview him although there's certainly a great chance that isn't true. (But I'd rather write that and keep it than try googling his name.) Anyway, he made the mistake of responding to some questions about Frederick Exley last winter break, and, well, actually, I thought he gave some swell answers.
Good luck, John. Good luck, book!
Good luck, John. Good luck, book!
August 30, 2011
Fante Published Today
Dan Fante's Fante: A Family's Legacy of Writing, Drinking, and Surviving is officially out and about today. I was lucky enough to read it earlier this summer, and my immediate sense was that Dan had written his best book yet.
It also got me back to exploring his father's novels, and I particularly enjoyed Dreams from Bunker Hill and The Brotherhood of the Grape.
The Less United States of Kudera is wishing Dan well at his hometown reading this Friday night at Skylight Books in Los Angeles. Here's my interview with Dan on his Bruno Dante novels, his father, alcoholics anonymous, and more.
It also got me back to exploring his father's novels, and I particularly enjoyed Dreams from Bunker Hill and The Brotherhood of the Grape.
The Less United States of Kudera is wishing Dan well at his hometown reading this Friday night at Skylight Books in Los Angeles. Here's my interview with Dan on his Bruno Dante novels, his father, alcoholics anonymous, and more.
August 18, 2011
Iambik audiobook
Fight for Your Long Day
is now available as the first Atticus audiobook thanks to Mark F. Smith's voice and many others, no doubt. On the book's page at Iambik, point to and click on "listen to first chapter" for a sample.
August 8, 2011
Poe's woes
When times are tough, even dead writers suffer?
For some time now, I've thought that Edgar Allen Poe was living quite an extravagant life--three homes in three Mid-Atlantic cities seemed a bit much, and I had a sneaky feeling he may have had rent control in the Bronx and unpaid property taxes in Philly.
Well, this article suggests the tell-tale signs that the authorities are on to fast Edgy, and that officials will finally force him to live (in death) a bit more moderately. Baltimore is hiring consultants (scholars of literature and readers of classics, no doubt) to develop plans for Poe and his home to become self-sufficient in the town where he died.
There's no word yet on whether we'll be able interview the dead writer on these new austerity measures.
For some time now, I've thought that Edgar Allen Poe was living quite an extravagant life--three homes in three Mid-Atlantic cities seemed a bit much, and I had a sneaky feeling he may have had rent control in the Bronx and unpaid property taxes in Philly.
Well, this article suggests the tell-tale signs that the authorities are on to fast Edgy, and that officials will finally force him to live (in death) a bit more moderately. Baltimore is hiring consultants (scholars of literature and readers of classics, no doubt) to develop plans for Poe and his home to become self-sufficient in the town where he died.
There's no word yet on whether we'll be able interview the dead writer on these new austerity measures.
