Joseph Campana
In Memoriam: Grace Paley
Yesterday the literary world lost a poet, storyteller, and peace activist with the death of Grace Paley. Born in 1922, Paley began publishing stories in the 50s, protesting war in the 60s, and demonstrating against nuclear weapons in the 70s.…
Jack’s Back
I wish I could say that every youth in my sleepy upstate New York hometown longed to foment rebellion, change the world, or at least set out for long, crazed journeys to wherever the roads would take them. There didn’t,…
Summer Reading for College Students: What Do You Think?
A recent article in The New York Times notes the recent upsurge in summer reading for incoming first-year college students. The practice itself is not new, to be sure. My undergraduate college had such a program and it was my…
Un-MFAed
The rites of initiation in any profession can be crude or baroque, extensive or nearly non-existent. Too many wiser voices have spoken of the apprenticeship of writers for me to descant and yet again descant on that supreme theme. What…
“Give me my robes”: Crowning Charles Simic
Congratulations to Charles Simic, who has been named the 15th U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress. Simic is an intriguing choice. To be sure, he’s been lauded, awarded, and lionized sufficiently to make this really no big surprise.…
