Book reviews
-
On translation.
Translation is imperfect, and dangerous, and we should all do it. The act of putting another’s thoughts into our words will bring us closer.
addiction, Cathay, Cherry, Christopher Logue, drug addiction, Ezra Pound, Hayden Pelliccia, Homer, imperfect translation, incomplete equivalence, Iraq, Iraqi translators, literal translation, literary translation, literature in translation, Mark Polizzotti, military interpreters, military service, military translation, mistranslation, Nico Walker, Perry Link, Sympathy for the Traitor, The Iliad, translated literature, translating literature, translating poetry, Translation, War Music
-
On vengeance and Ahmed Saadawi’s ‘Frankenstein in Baghdad.’
We all share blame for the ills perpetrated in our names, but some among us are made to suffer outsize portions of the costs.
Ahmed Saadawi, Albany, Arabic fiction, cocaine, cooperation, Correction, Correction (pt. ii), Correction part 2, corrections, evolution of cooperation, evolution of eusociality, forgiveness, forgiving, Frankenstein, Frankenstein in Baghdad, incarceration, injustice, Iraq, jail, jail poetry, Jonathan Wright, justice, Lori Milks, mass incarceration, most provable murder case I have ever seen, murder, murder victims, neurology, neuroscience, philosophy, poetry, poetry in jail, prison, public defender, punishment, rehabilitation, reprisal, restorative justice, retribution, Saadawi, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, terrorism, the healing power of forgiveness, the neurology of justice, vengeance, victims of terrorism, violence, War on Drugs
-
On Brett Wagner’s “Apocalypse Blaze.”
Nuclear fallout is a killer. But my friend was felled by the apocalypse that’s already upon us.
addiction, alcohol, Apocalypse Blaze, apocalyptic fiction, Bird Town TN, Bloomington, Brett Wagner, drinking, exposure, futurism, handgrith, hangrith, homelessness, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, meth, methamphetamine, nuclear apocalypse, nuclear fallout, poetry in jail, post-apocalyptic fiction, prison, prison poetry, sobriety, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, unfinished novels, writing in jail
-
On empathy.
To write from another’s perspective, an author must empathize deeply with that character. And we need that sort of empathy to help us change the world.
authorial distance, autism, autism spectrum disorder, corrections, empathizing with characters, empathy, In Defense of Cultural Appropriation, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, juvenile delinquents, juvenile detention, Kenan Malik, Lost in Place, Lying Awake, Mark Salzman, mass incarceration, novelists, prison, school to prison pipeline, teaching creative writing, teaching in a corrections center, teaching in jail, teaching poetry, The Curious Indicent of the Dog in the Night Time, The Reason I Jump, True Notebooks, writing practice
-
On consent.
To make a better world, we’ll need to get over our potential embarrassment and make sure that somebody’s “yes” means what we think it does.
affirmative consent, Alarming Rise of Rape Culture, album of the month clubs, ask first, Asking For It, assault, consent, elastic definitions of consent, Eve Rickert, Fatimah Asghar, Franklin Veaux, gender violence, gendered violence, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, justification, Kate Harding, masculinity, morality, More Than Two, no means no, Peggy Orenstein, poetry about gender violence, poetry in jail, positive consent, prearrange consent, rape, rape culture, rationalization, rationalizing rape, reading poetry in jail, sex while sleeping, sexual assault, sexual behavior of college students, sleeping sex, teaching poetry in jail, toxic masculinity, unwanted sex, Veaux and Rickert, violation, violative assault, When Refusing to Twerk Is a Radical Form of Self Love, When Tip Drill Comes on at the Frat Party, why do men rape, why don’t men ask first, yes means yes
-
On ‘The Ravanayan’ and women traveling alone.
It’s bad enough that our thousands-year-old myths feature women attacked for traveling alone … why are we still letting this happen today?
A. K. Ramanujan, comic books, comic review, comics, did Shoorpanakha deserve to be punished, did Shurpanakha deserve to be punished, fate, fear curtails liberty, female desire in the Ramayana, freedom to travel, gender violence, gendered violence, graphic novel, graphic novel review, graphic novels, Holy Cow, Holy Cow comics, Indian mythology, Mohanty and Goel, monkey battle, mythological violence, mythology, oppression, oppression of women, Rama, Ramanujan, Ramayana comic, Ramayana variants, rape culture, Ravana, Ravanayan review, retellings of the Ramayana, review of the Ravanayan, Sexism, sexual impropriety, Shoorpanakha, Shoorpanakha mutilated, Shurpanakha, Three Hundred Ramayanas, toxic masculinity, Vijayendra Mohanty, violence, violence against women as terrorism, violence against women in the Ramayana, violence against women to instill fear, Vivek Goel, why was Shoorpanakha attacked, why was Shurpanakha attacked, women traveling, women traveling alone
-
On the value of religious misinterpretation.
We’re liable to misinterpret old stories when we look at them with modern eyes … but it’s worth knowing what myths might mean in a better world.
Abraham, anachronism, anachronistic crtique, Ants Among Elephants, Bible, can God save us, caste, caste system, Christ, Christian theology, colonialism, conquest, covenant, creation in Genesis, dalit, David Kishik, DK, Dravidar Kazhagam, forgiveness, forgiving god, Genesis, God, God saw that it was good, God’s insecurity, Goldman, grammar, hebrew, Hinduism, human sacrifice, human sacrifice for good harvest, imperialism, incarceration, incarceration crisis, incarceration in the U.S., incarceration in the United States, jail, Jesus, Jesus’s sacrifice, Job, John-Michael Bloomquist, mass incarceration, merciful god, mercy, Noah, Old Testament, oppression, poetry, poetry in jail, rainbow, Rama, Rama threatening ocean, Ravana, Ravana worship, religion, Rudyard Kipling, sacrifice, sacrifice of Jesus, suffering, Sujatha Gidla, Tamil, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, textual analysis, The Book of Shem, The Flood, The Iliad, The Prodigal’s Return, theology, Translation, untouchable, why did Christ have to die, why did Jesus suffer, why does Rama threaten the ocean, why is God jealous, Yahweh
-
On kind, environmentalist, and vegan books for kids.
A few gorgeous picture books perfect for vegan children … and other kids, too.
Ben Hatke, best books for vegan children, best books for vegan kids, best vegan childrens books, best vegan kids books, books for kids who love animals, books for vegan children, books for vegan kids, Callie Barkley, childrens literature, compassionate kids books, Eileen Christelow, Ellie and the Good Luck Pig, environmentalist, environmentalist books for kids, environmentalist childrens books, environmentalist kids books, environmentalist parenting, farm sanctuary, farmed animals, favorite kids books, great books for vegan children, great books for vegan kids, Gus’s Garage, independent reading, Jan Thomas, Jane Goodall, Jeanette Winter, Julia’s House for Lost Creatures, kids who love animals, kids’ books, learning to read, Leo Timmers, Me Jane, parenting, picture books, raising vegan children, raising vegan kids, reading to children, reading to kids, teaching children to be kind, The Critter Club, The Dog House, The Great Pig Escape, The Watcher, Uplands PEAK, vegan, vegan activism, vegan advocacy, vegan books for children, vegan books for kids, vegan childrens books, vegan kids books, vegan parenting, vegan picture books, vegetarian, vegetarian books
-
On storytelling in games.
Of course games can be art! There are certain stories, like tales of moral complicity, that games tell better than any other form of media.
45, Abu Ghraib, atrocities, board game design, board games, Bruce Weigl, computer games, console games, Donald Trump, experiental art, fascism, fighting fascism, following orders, game design, games as art, Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto as art, GTA, Life on Mars, Marco Arnaudo, marcowargamer, Milgram Experiment, moral complicity, moral depravity, moral failure, multimedia art, narrative potential of games, politics, PotUS, psychology, psychology experiments, psychology experiments as role-playing games, Rockstar Games, Rockstar North, role playing, RPG, second person novels, Secret Hitler, Stanford Prison Experiment, storytelling in games, Storytelling in the Modern Board Game, The Soldier’s Brief Epistle, torture, torture in Grand Theft Auto, Tracy K Smith, Tracy Smith, Trump, war crimes
-
On ‘The Overstory.’
Trees made our world livable. Will we show gratitude … or destroy all the forests, wrecking our own chances of survival in the process?
AI, algorithms, artificial intelligence, atmosphere, bees, biomass, book review, brains, carbon, carbon cycles, chemical communication, climate, climate change, cognition, Collapse, communication, computers, consciousness, cycle of life, deforestation, Earth, environmentalism, environmentalist, evolution, extinction, forest, Fruitful Labor, global warming, Go, greenhouse gases, Jared Diamond, Mike Madison, nature, neural networks, neurology, neurons, old growth forest, origin of consciousness, oxygenation, plant communication, Richard Powers, robots, science fiction, smartphones, speed of life, sunlight, tech, technology, technology addiction, The Overstory, The Overstory review, tree communication, tree talk, trees, vegan, Walden, woodlands, woods
Frank Brown Cloud 