Vernacular header image 1

Entries Tagged as 'Joe'

‘Cause Two out of Three…Ain’t Gonna Make It

April 5th, 2010 1 Comment

Everyone, it seems, is talking about the iPad, and you can find writers, scientists, philosophers, publishers, and techies of all kinds on both sides of the discussion As a writer, I’m interested in its success as the potential leader of the e-reader army. Many predict benefits, saying the iPad will bring the written word to [...]

Tags:   · · · · · ·

The Beginning of the End

March 21st, 2010 No Comments

Just this past week my fellow Emerson graduate students and I received our thesis chair and reader assignments, marking the start of our final push toward MFA-dom. I was nervous when I found out (via Facebook) that the announcements were in, and wondered if I would get my first choice. You see, I’d selected our [...]

Tags:   · · · ·

How I Spent My Winter Break “Not Being A Writer”

January 5th, 2010 2 Comments

I’ve heard it said that writers should need to write, and not just want to like any amateur with an idea and a blog. In fact Bukowski has a nice poem espousing that very idea. But here’s the thing: I think that idea is a bunch of crap put forth by pretentious assholes like Bukowski [...]

Tags:   · · · · · · ·

Do You Understand the Words that Are Coming out of My Mouth?

October 9th, 2009 1 Comment

I’m a writer (or so I claim) but I’m also a talker (so everyone else claims). I’m just as happy giving a speech or having a conversation as I am writing a story or an essay or a poem. And yet I’m perplexed by the concept of  “readings”. Not all of them, of course; I [...]

Tags:   · · · · ·

Professor Profile: Frederick Reiken

September 18th, 2009 No Comments

Based on my past and current class schedule here at Emerson, you would think I was doomed to take every single class Rick Reiken will ever teach. My first semester, I was dropped (unwillingly, at first) into two of his courses, a lit class and a novel workshop (novels, gag), and had no small amount [...]

Tags:   · · · · · ·

Professor Previews, Part 2

September 9th, 2008 2 Comments

Poetry Workshop / John SkoylesJohn creates a remarkably friendly atmosphere in his workshop – remarkable because so much serious work gets done. This is the place to take your poems to the next level, because there is so much focus on revision and criticism. You won’t learn how to write poems; you’ll learn how to [...]

Tags:   ·

A Friend Needing a Read is a Friend Indeed

June 27th, 2008 2 Comments

Having recently completed a book-length manuscript, I now find myself in that awkward position where so many writers have been before: how do I get someone to read it and give me feedback? I know it needs copyediting and revision. In an ideal world, those services would be provided by my agent, my editor and [...]

Tags:   · · ·

Writing & Being Written About, Online

May 22nd, 2008 No Comments

No doubt in response to Llalan’s rather humorous post about her newfound Weekly Dig/hops-lover celebrity, the New York Times posted an article from this Sunday’s Magazine written by former Gawker blogger Emily Gould. It chronicles her addiction to and eventual escape from the insane amounts of attention she got from blogging about her personal life. [...]

Tags:   · · ·

Folk Tales of Niger, as translated by an Emerson Grad

April 29th, 2008 No Comments

Emerson Publishing & Writing MA Amanda Cushman is offering copies of her awesome thesis to you, her adoring public. Here’s the message from Amanda: Hey everyone,Most of you know I have been madly working on my thesis project all semester, and finally I have completed it! The project consisted of the (brilliant) translation and design [...]

Tags:   · ·

No One With a Blog is Truly Poor

April 24th, 2008 No Comments

Or at least that’s what I tell my parents every time I explain why I spend my days writing about silly things on the internet. But, lo! There is hope for writers who enjoy typing things onto a glowing screen and then using their google status messages to recklessly promote their ramblings. For the lovely [...]

Tags:   · ·