BKBF: A Radical Act of Individualism
My second foray into the Brooklyn Book Festival was the Walker in the City panel, where the venerable Edmund White coaxed writers to reveal the imaginary forces behind a common theme in their writing: the distance their main characters covered, both geographic and metaphysical.
Artists Ahead of Their Time
Erik Sanner, an artist and a friend of mine, hosts a summer salon that brings together artists and thinkers for food and conversation about the roles of art and artists. The conversation revolves around questions, which are provided early so that we can prepare some thoughts before the (veggie) burgers hit the grill. I couldn't attend the latest round, unfortunately, but I also couldn't resist responding to the latest interrogation. Here's a taste of the questions and answers, Quick & Dirty style:
Fresh Angles Series: Eric Anthamatten and the Birds on Prison Walls
Eric Anthamatten is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the New School forSocial Research in New York City.
PEN 2011: Tidbits on David Foster Wallace
While I have gleefully immersed myself in his nonfiction and long-form essays, I have not read The Broom of the System, Infinite Jest, or The Pale King. Post-event discussions revealed that I wasn’t the only one in the audience at PEN World Voices Festival’s Everything and More panel who had not dipped his toes into David Foster Wallace’s fiction. Such is the draw of the deceased writer-philosopher genius.
PEN 2011: The Public Intellectual, Today
For me, PEN’s World Voices Festival of International Literature began two hours before the “official” opening night event (discussed here and here). I kicked off my favorite annual event at The Public Intellectual panel, held in the svelte Standard Hotel.
Left Forum 2011: Interview with Howard Engelskirchen
Philosopher, lawyer, and professor Howard Engelskirchen speaks about participatory economics and how democracy informs this practice, as well as the Marxist underpinnings of this movement.
Engelskirchen formerly taught at Union College, Iowa State University, and Western State University, and is the author of Capital as a Social Kind (Routledge, 2010). Here's a little bit about that book:
Bringing the Left Together - An Interview with Left Forum Coordinator, Seth Adler
On Sunday March 13, I sat down with Seth Adler, the coordinator of Left Fourm, an annual gathering in North America of the U.S. and international Left. Continuing a tradition begun in the 1960s, Left Forum brings together intellectuals and organizers to share perspectives, strategies, experience, and vision. Last year, The Mantle provided more coverage of the conference than any other media outlet.
