A quick update from Austin and ArmadilloCon 31 (with photos to follow within a couple of days, when I can swipe them from the sites of people who brought a camera): It’s Saturday night — nearing the end of Day 2 of the three-day con — and everything’s going well. Lots of fun and productive…
New Video: Ray Bradbury on F451, education, life passions, and humanity’s destiny in space
Macmillan, the publishing giant, has just made available an absolutely wonderful new video interview with Ray Bradbury as a marketing adjunct for the release of the new graphic novel adaptation of his Fahrenheit 451, for which he wrote the introduction. (See “Graphic novel of ‘Fahrenheit 451’ sparks Bradbury’s approval,” USA Today, Aug. 3. You can…
DARK AWAKENINGS — Final table of contents
It occurs to me that I haven’t yet shared the final TOC for Dark Awakenings, even though, as I mentioned earlier today, the book is on schedule for publication this November or December. So here it is: TABLE OF CONTENTS for DARK AWAKENINGS Apologia Pro Libro Suo FICTIONS: Teeth The Stars Shine Without Me Desert…
In serving his vision of truth, the artist best serves his nation
These may be my favorite words ever spoken by an American President. They come from a speech delivered by John F. Kennedy on October 26, 1963 — less than a month before his death — at Amherst College, in honor of the late Robert Frost. The speech was published the following February in The Atlantic…
NYT: Computer scientists are worried about AI usurping human control
Sounds like a science fiction idea, doesn’t it? Well, of course, it is a science fiction idea, and a venerable one at that, with roots that reach back to the early 19th century, when Mary Shelley processed the cultural fears and fascinations of an entire era by writing Frankenstein — an act which was, notably,…
Mythic Vision: Its lack killed NASA, its recovery may save us all
I’ve been observing with great interest the flurry of recent articles, essays, and editorials about the original moon landing and subsequent implosion of the U.S. space program. By far the most fascinating and moving is the essay by Tom Wolfe that appeared in The New York Times two days ago. Titled “One Giant Leap to…
‘Green shoots’ a lie, Greater Depression still unfolding nicely
Like a lot of other people, I have been alternately galled and amused in recent months to hear all the talk of economic “green shoots” that started back when Ben Bernanke first used the term in February during a 60 Minutes interview (and thereby became the first Fed official ever to do so, even though…
The importance of reading long, difficult, serious books
I’m finally taking the plunge and getting an e-book reader, either a Sony Reader or a Kindle. My birthday is next month and I’m asking my family to contribute funds toward the cause. On a regular basis I read so very many things in electronic format, both for my professional writing activities and for my…
The Evolution of Consciousness and the Alchemy of Language
Some years ago I started telling the students in my literature and writing classes that language has an alchemical power. I usually do this when we’re studying poetry, although I have applied the idea to prose as well. This always necessitates a pause to offer a brief explanation of the word “alchemy.” Then, once that’s…
News flash: New study shows formal learning requires effort!!!!
If my tone in this post sounds sarcastic, don’t worry, you’re not imagining things. My tone really is sarcastic. Some things, I’ve learned, positively beg for a rich heaping of irony. The latest issue of Education Week contains the following article, published online June 16 and published in print June on 17: Effort, Engagement, and…