Selections From My Virtual Library: June/July 2014

I am officially a slacker. During finals in June, I completely fell off my reading schedule. And once I began teaching again with Golden Apple, life was made of lesson plans and excessive carb consumption. But, I have still cultivated plenty to read even if it is heavy on the July side. Again, italicized articles are my top recommendations.

NPR

Life After 'Life': Aging Inmates Struggle For Redemption
The One Thing Obama Didn't Say About Student Loan Repayment
Why NYC Is Afraid Of Free Lunch For All
A Campus Dilemma: Sure, 'No' Means 'No,' But Exactly What Means 'Yes'?
Is Collecting Animals For Science A Noble Mission Or A Threat?
Tackling Sexual Assault On Campus With Comedy
What We Talk About When We Talk About Violence In Chicago
The Good Listener: Has The Term 'Indie Rock' Lost All Meaning?

The New Yorker

The Teen Whisperer
Ghosts in the Stacks
Literature and Life
The Black Market for Dinosaurs
Why Students Aren't Fighting Forever 21
Wrong Answer
Lisa Elmaleh’s Folk Portraits

The Atlantic

The Morbid Fascination With the Death of the Humanities
The Elusive Specificity of Reparations
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Not Knowing How Much You Don't Know
On Teen Sexting: Same Sexism, Different Technology
How Cities Use Design to Drive Homeless People Away
The Sociology of Sorry
Why Kids Care More About Achievement Than Helping Others
Millennials' Political Views Don't Make Any Sense
What's in a Name? Everything.
Where Confiscated Wildlife Ends Up
Don't Write for the Barbarians

Medium

We Killed the Music Industry
Wikipedia Mining Algorithm Reveals The Most Influential People In 35 Centuries Of Human History
Creative People Say No

BBC

The many faces of British poverty in France
Pablo Escobar’s hippos: A growing problem

The New York Times

What Writers Can Learn From ‘Goodnight Moon’

McSweeney's

Lost Scenes From Generic Hipster Indie Romance Films Found in 2076 During a Museum Restoration of an Old Macbook Air And Subsequently Adapted For the Stage During Heritage Week at a Camp for 7th and 8th Graders Later That Summer.

Words To Make Your Poetry Legit

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: A Playlist

This quarter has led me to more questions than answers in every single aspect of my life. Of course, I had to make a playlist about it. Enjoy these tunes:

1. Fatalist Palmistry - Why?

2. East Harlem - Beirut

3. Lonesome - Dr. Dog

4. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

5. Forest Whitaker - Bad Books

6. Post Heroic - Surrogate



7. Me and You - Jake Bugg

7. Temple State - Spencer Tweedy



9. Flavor - Twin Peaks



10. Never Though That This Would Happen - The Arkells

11. Never Saw It Coming - Tigers Jaw

12. Play Dead - Bonnie & the Bang Bangs

13. Come a Little Closer - Cage the Elephant

14. World At Large - Modest Mouse

Selections from My Virtual Library: May 2014

This was a month of little reading thanks to the fact the three of my five classes are fairly reading intensive. I decided not to summarize or comment this month. Click an article that sounds interesting and jump in. Italicized articles are my must-reads. 

NPR

Want A Tour Of The American Psyche? Flip Through SkyMall

One NYC Indie Bookstore Survives By Being Small And Specialized

Descendants Of Chinese Laborers Reclaim Railroad's History

Why Aren't Teens Reading Like They Used To?

Tale Of Two Billboards: An Ozark Town's Struggle To Unseat Hate

For Two Ozarks Communities, A Stark Contrast In Culture

Medicine Needs More Research On Female Animals, NIH Says

McSweeney's

I Have Been Trapped In This Campus Life Magazine For Five Years

How to Get a Perfect Beach Body

Slate

Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient

Woman at the Top of the Masthead

The Lives of Retired Sex Workers in Mexico City

Amazon’s Illegal Drug Dealing

The Atlantic

Why Dating Is a Lot Like Diving: Advice From 'Coach' Studs Terkel

Study: You Really Can 'Work Smarter, Not Harder'

Jill Abramson and the 'Narrow Band' of Acceptable Female Behavior

To See the Dark Side of America, Head to a French Film Festival

Toward a Universal Theory of 'Cool'

How the Novel Made the Modern World

How the Amazon-Hachette Fight Could Shape the Future of Ideas

New Yorker

Bob Dylan, Fanboy

Readers' Night Out

Where do Eureka Moments Come From?

Frank Lloyd Wright Tried To Solve The City

Scrublands

Medium

Secrets of the Stacks

Stuff & Fear

Any Book Not Worth Rereading Isn’t Worth Reading

Selections from my Virtual Library: April 2014

The fourth installment you've all been waiting for is here! Just kidding, most of you are coming out of midterms, in the midst of finals, or done with school so the idea of reading for fun is probably not on the top of your list. But, you should check out these great pieces anyways.

New Yorker

Orson Welle's Shattering "Othello" - Orson Welles + Shakespeare = excellence

The Case for Race-Blind Affirmative Action - A provocative piece 

BBC

Warhol works recovered from old Amiga disks - New art found by CMU students, what a great discovery.

McSweeney's

William Faulkner's Favorite April Fool's Day Pranks - A good laugh for any reader of Faulkner

The Future of Dating - Insane

NPR

It's Official: Americans Are Floating In A Pool Of Ranch Dressing - I detest ranch, but a good read for any consumer

The Rise And Fall Of Stefan Zweig, Who Inspired 'Grand Budapest Hotel' - We all know why this is on the list

Stereotypes Of Appalachia Obscure A Diverse Picture - Beautiful photo essay that captures an interesting American culture

Play It Again And Again, Sam: Quite a cool take on repetition in music

How Rwanda's Only Ice Cream Shop Challenges Cultural Taboos: Rwandan culture discourages the public display of personal needs and it's crazy that something like ice cream can challenge the norm

Under The Streets Of Naples, A Way Out For Local Kids: Cultural restoration and social improvement combine to create a better Naples

The New York Times

I Had a Nice Time With You Tonight. On the App. - Now that there's dating apps, there's also relationship apps

Slate

What Are Cats Thinking? - Guys, I just want to know what Boots thinks of me

Needs Improvement: Student evaluations of professors aren’t just biased and absurd—they don’t even work - Students, think about what evaluations mean before you rate a professor's attractiveness

Much Ado About Nothingness: Was Shakespeare an atheist? Or more of a secular humanist? - A wonderful question to contemplate

Medium

On Acceptance and Expectations - New kinds of college apps are great, but college grade inflation is not

What inner city kids know about social media, and why we should listen - Privacy in the digital age is difficult but understanding student web behavior can tell us a lot

The Atlantic

Access to Good Food as Preventive Medicine: People diagnosed with chronic disease need good food, so why is it so hard to provide it for them?

Do Students Still Have Free Speech in School? - Words published on the Internet surrounding schools blur the line in rules

Why Teaching Poetry Is So Important - Just read poetry!!!!

The Confidence Gap - A must-read for any gender

The Quiet Radicalism of All That - We all know All That is the greatest

Get Rich, Live Longer: The Ultimate Consequence of Income Inequality - Now there's proof!

The Adjunct Revolt: How Poor Professors Are Fighting Back - Respect your professors, they're not overpaid like you may think

Before Gonzo: Hunter S. Thompson's Early, Underrated Journalism Career - Yeah, he's awesome

Selections from my Virtual Library: March 2014

This is the third installment of my virtual library, a year-long project to expand my personal literacy and knowledge base. This past month I haven't been as disciplined with my reading, so there is a slight lessening of sources.

Rookie:

The Art of Waiting: A great piece on why we all need stop fearing the artistic process.

The Atlantic:

Redlining for the 21st Century: Though redlining seems like a thing of the past, the age of the Internet has brought it back. A warning to all apartment shoppers.

International Women's Day: Mothers and Daughters: A great photo essay that looks at educational desires of mothers and daughters.

In Grief, Try Personal Rituals: All I have to say about this piece is that it's important.

The Toxins That Threaten Our Brain: Absolutely terrifying. Even though it's a very lengthy read, it's very much worth it because we are exposed to so many neurotoxins every day.

The Over-Protected Kid: Essentially, we need to let kids mess around more and this crazy, awesome playground accomplishes that in a safe, constructive manner.

Another Bloomberg Editor Explains Why He Has Resigned, Over Its China Coverage: If, in fact, Bloomberg is avoiding certain stories because of fear of losing sales in China, it would be a huge strike against them. This is an incredibly messy issue that should have some interesting developments to watch.

Star Wars and the 4 Ways Science Fiction Handles Race: I haven't read very much about this issue, but it's definitely something to look at in the coming years of new releases.

New York Times:

Casting Shadows on a Fanciful World: My token Wes Anderson article of the month. I love the photo slideshow of the miniatures in this and the quotes from Dafoe and Fiennes.

The New Yorker:

Sacred and Profane: I have mixed feelings about Malcolm Gladwell, but I am fascinated with religious radicals, especially in contemporary society.

Yes, Book Editors Edit: In short, editors deserve respect and are an important part of the writing and publishing processes.

A.V. Club:

The Bleak State of American Fiction: This is directly connected to the above link as it delves more into the actually contents of the argument. Yes, fiction is still valuable, but as the public we need to voice that opinion. 

NPR:

The '60s Are Gone, But Psychedelic Research Trip Continues: Ah yes, the opening scenes of Pineapple Express continue.

How The Cost Of College Went From Affordable To Sky-High: Any college student or soon-to-be college student should be required to read this. 

What Do Jay Z And Shakespeare Have In Common? Swagger: I love any and all modern connections to my main man Shakes.

In The Face Of Disaster, Pritzker Winner Shigeru Ban Designs Solutions: I think architecture is fascinating, and this piece would interest anyone that likes art, design, structure, or problem-solving.

Listening To The Echoes Of Creation: This is so over my head, but it is something I hope I can understand at some point in the near future.

In Arizona, Citizens Keep Close Eye On Immigration Checkpoint: Citizens monitoring their own government, very interesting.

Slate:

This Is What Finding Love Online Looks Like: Another photo essay that captures more than one generation's use of online dating sites.

What’s the Best Way to Execute Someone?: There are so many issues with the death penalty, but this is one of the most alarming.

McSweeney's:

Kafka's Joke Book: Kafka is my homeboy.

Medium:

Two Approaches to Watch in Remedial Education Innovation: Remedial courses in the college world are important and Florida's law is somewhat terrifying whereas California's law makes much more sense in my mind.

Palm Reading For Millenials: A fun little cartoon that a lot of my friends and I can relate to.

How to never forget anything ever again: I still really want to be someone that can recite a bunch of quotes offhand, general statistics, even just specific names. This seems like an easy and fun way to start on that goal.

BBC:

Why climate change is bad news for India tea producers: As an avid tea drinker, this upsets me.

Black Death skeletons unearthed by Crossrail project: Wouldn't be so cool if these were the bones that have the original strain?!

The radical readers of San Francisco: The Beat Generation is one of my favorite literary movements, and I think it is so great that City Lights has expanded so much.

Winter Quarter Words

It's hard to believe that 10 weeks ago I started my second quarter at DePaul. It's even harder to believe how much can change in 10 weeks. 

This quarter I was privileged enough to be in a Reading Poetry class, a simple English prerequisite that would allow me to enroll in more in-depth courses later in my DePaul career. This class was sort of my saving grace as it gave me time to breathe, reminded me that I love what I'm studying, and helped me grow as a writer, reader, and person on many different levels.

Below I've included a recording of myself reading Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art." I had to read this poem for a grade and I'm still not super enthused about the way I've read it, but I wanted to share. Bishop is a master of using classic form and style to create something completely new, and this poem is a great example of that. 

I choose to read this poem for a number of reasons, but I chose to post it because it more or less sums up the struggles of winter quarter. I've lost a lot of ideas, motivation, and opinions in the last 10 weeks and I have truly discovered that loss in any form is hard to master.

As human beings, we lose something every day. But Bishop reminds us that the act doesn't necessarily prepare us for the bigger moments. As much as I wish I could start winter quarter again, the knowledge I've gained is important. 

One Art

  by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster. 

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn't hard to master. 

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster. 

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn't hard to master. 

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.  

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident

the art of losing's not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Confusing Weather (And Thoughts): A Playlist

I'd love to say this is a spring playlist, but that won't be said for another three weeks at this point. Instead, here's a bunch of things I've been listening to while the weather fluctuates and the confusion climbs about seasons, school, and people. This isn't in any specific order, so maybe it's not really a playlist...

1. Temple State - Spencer Tweedy


2. Come On - Mikhael Paskalev


3. At The Bottom of Everything - Bright Eyes


4. Museum of Flight - Damien Jurado


5. You're Not That Good At Anything - Cloud Nothings


6. Off You - The Breeders


7. Snap Out Of It - Arctic Monkeys


8. Girls - The 1975


9. That Western Skyline - Dawes


10. Irene - Twin Peaks


11. Hypocritical Kiss - Jack White


12. I Got - Young the Giant


13. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire