I am on a roll. I am butter. Seeping into the crannies. Smooth. I feel very good about most things at this precise moment in time. Sure I fret about money, health (mental and otherwise), dreams deferred, societal ills and conspiracies. Yet I feel peaceful. At peace, even. Probably the sun. It's always the sun, isn't it.
I have been reading anthologies lately. The anthology is quite possibly my favorite literary invention. I love reading a single writer's collection but an anthology brimming with all manner of voices and perspectives is intoxicating. I have been reading from the "Best American" Series. This series is very appealing with its wide-ranging focuses from collection to collection. The Best American Nonrequired Reading is captivating my attention right now but I would love to read the Best American Sports Writing, Best American Spiritual Writing, and Best American Essays. Oh, I love good essays. Creative nonfiction is delicious. I just finished an article in the Best American Nonrequired Reading anthology by Jonathon Ames, a writer for Spin, about a goth festival in Illinois. I gotta tell you, that guy had me in stitches. Stitches!
He was so matter of fact. I think that is going to be a very recognizable defining quality of quality writing of this era we live in. This decade. The best, or most widely acclaimed and watched, writing on television is usually quite dry. Droll is funny and interesting and endlessly amusing. That is why I am so hyped on nonfiction. It is just facts but it can be so entertaining or even just not boring. Not boring is very good. Uninteresting is very bad.
Another thing that is very is good is this:
"Not all of us Americans appreciate the fact that we have about 150 very good quarterlies in this country. Every state seems to have a very good quarterly, and about a hundred colleges have very good quarterlies — from the Kenyon Review to the University of Illinois’s Ninth Letter. So by our estimate there are about 150 very good quarterlies in this country. Maybe more. Now, the thing we don’t always appreciate here in America is that elsewhere in the world there are few to no quarterlies." Dave Eggers from the "Q and A" section of the Best American Nonrequired Reading collection.
THIS IS GOOD NEWS. God bless American writers. I usually am not the most ardent fan of things American. But perhaps the winds are changing if this country values its writers as much as it seems to. Hmmm.
brandon
3 comments:
Honesty is beautiful. Honest.
I am an American writer. Take that, quarterlies. Actually I'm not quite sure what a quarterly is, more because I have a lot of definitions to stick to it rather than nothing. So confusion, not ignorance.
Oh wow. Evan. I am praying for that kid. I didn't know. I wish I could talk to him. That is tragic.
hey thank you for that last post i really needed to hear that. im doing better now she's gone for now at least so i can try to become a responcible person. my job is going great they love me there and see what a hard worker i truly am. the owner is really surprised because you wouldnt have expected this out of me in highschool. the days by quicker than they used to. im learning stuff quickly but the "right" way to do things is kinda killer because if i want this advancement i can't cut any corners to get the job done smoother. but that is something my boss is very impressed with my quickness and doing it right the first time. for the first time in years i feel like i can accomplish something that im truly proud of without hesitation.
http://pipl.com/cache/?N=10.4.25.134&S=2008050822393741100000000101437710188&P=NCS7_20346.htm
check this out it scared me pretty badly when i first found it.
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