Seen on the Train

96th Street subway, uptown side, Oct 2009 - 09
Originally uploaded by Ed Yourdon

Titles that I've seen people reading on the light rail:

Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse by Peter D. Schiff and John Downes

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John

Seen on the Train

I'm back on the light rail to work after taking a little break during the cold months. Saw people reading books by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Stephenie Meyer. Am I the only one bothered by seeing grown women reading the Twilight series?

Light Rail Readings + Caitlin Horrocks

Yay for success!! Caitlin Horrocks (shown above), who graduated from Arizona State's MFA program in 2007, has her first book coming out on Sarabande Press in 2011. It's entitled This Is Not Your City and the stories in the collection have appeared in the Paris Review, Tin House, The PEN/O Henry Prize Stories 2009 and elsewhere. Caitlin is super talented, funny, humble, smart...I could go on. She is definitely a writer to watch.

Caitlin will be reading on Wednesday, November 4 at the Piper House at ASU in Tempe, Arizona. The reading starts at 7:45 p.m.

Books that I've spied on the light rail:

Bram Stoker's Dracula (it's the Halloween season after all)
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Readings, Performances and Stuff

Saw people reading these books recently on the light rail:

At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Carmelo by Sandra Cisneros

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell (okay, that's me)

And here are a few events coming up in the Phoenix and Tucson area:

October 7: Mark Anthony Neal and Celine Parrenas Shimizu will speak about gender, race and justice from 12:30-2:30 in the Carson Ballroom, Old Main at ASU

October 8: Leslie Marmon Silko reads at the Heard Museum, Phoenix, at 7 p.m.

October 14: Kimiko Hahn reads in ASU's Memorial Union, Room 241A at 7:30 p.m., Tempe

October 15-18: "A Tribute to Donny Hathaway" a play based on poems by Ed Pavlice and performed by Black Poet Ventures at Playhouse on the Park in Phoenix.

October 16: Sherman Alexie reads at Heard Museum in Phoenix, 6 p.m.

October 16: "Fall into Poetry" reading featuring Gina Franco, Andrea Gibson, and Brian Turner at 2020 E. 4th St. in Tucson, 6 p.m.

What Readers are Reading and Watching

I'm reading and loving Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun. The Nigerian born writer also has a story collection that came out this spring titled The Thing Around Your Neck. Watch a video of her talking about the collection here.

Books that I've spied being read on the light rail: Angels and Demons, The Life of Pi, The Virgin Suicides.


Interested in the most popular books being read right now on NY subways? Go here.

A recommendation from the world of film. I recently watched the movies "Twelve Angry Men" and "12" back-to-back. The first flick, adapted from a play, came out in 1957 and stars Henry Fonda. It's about a jury of twelve men deliberating on a murder case where the suspect is a poor boy accused of killing his father. The remake (2007) is set in contemporary Russia and the suspect is a young Chechan boy accused of killing his stepfather. Both movies explore ideas about class, ethnicity, innocence, and guilt.

Reading on the Light Rail

Two books that I've spied people reading this week are "god is not Great:How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling.

There has been plenty of reading on the train but I had a really hard time seeing the titles for some reason and I didn't want to stalk people as they read.

I did ask a passenger sitting next to me what book she was reading on her Kindle. She was reading news from the Arizona Republic. It was the first time that I got to look at a Kindle in person and the screen is not computer-like at all. It looks just like a printed page from a newspaper or book. And it holds 1,500 books or something like that. I may have to reconsider.

What We're Reading on the Metro + A Recommendation

Here are titles I've seen recently on the train:

Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Cofounder by Kenny Moore

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood by Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

The Aeneid by Virgil

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Here's what I've been reading on the train:

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (I LOVED it. I highly recommend this original/funny/sad graphic memoir.)

Home by Marilynne Robinson (This book has been recommended by many people but I'm struggling to keep interest. I'll give it a while; I'm still at the beginning....)

Lit Bits

Interested in what book an author took to a restaurant to read? Look here.

Paule Marshall, author of Brown Girl, Brownstones, and my fave, Praisesong for the Widow, has a new memoir.

Tayari Jones is the hardest working woman in Letters. Check the video.

Books that I spied on the metro this morning: The Life Room by Jill Bialosky and the bible.

What We're Reading on the Metro or A Poll on How Many People Read Stephen King

Here's what I've seen people reading on the train:

Dreams From My Father by My President

Falling Man by Don DeLillo

Phantom by Terry Goodkind

Governance as Leadership: Reframing the World of Nonprofit Boards by Richard P. Chair, et al.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

One of the "Mr. Monk" books

The Stand by Stephen King

I couldn't see the title on the King book (only his name scrawled huge on the cover) but I'm pretty sure that's the title that was being read. I think I've seen more Stephen King books than anything else. I won't front, I like King's work. The first King book I read was Cujo as a kid. It was a book recommended by my English teacher.

What We're Reading + Amy Gerstler

Here is a list of books that people were reading this morning on the Metro:

1. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

2. The Bible by God and his prophets

3. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

5. A Brief History of Sociological Theory by Alex Callinicos (not so sure about the author)

6. Runner by Thomas Perry

7. Medicine by Amy Gerstler

Okay, so I was reading that last selection. I love Gerstler's work. I found this interesting portrait of her online and thought I'd include that along with one of her poems:

The Bear-Boy of Lithuania

Girls, take my advice, marry an animal. A wooly one is most consoling. Find a fur man, born midwinter. Reared in the mountains. Fond of boxing. Make sure he has black rubbery lips, and a sticky sweet mouth. A winter sleeper. Pick one who likes to tussle, who clowns around the kitchen, juggles hot baked potatoes, gnaws playfully on a corner of your apron. Not one mocked by his lumbering instincts, or who's forever wrestling with himself, tainted with shame, itchy with chagrin, but a good-tempered beast who plunges in greedily, grinning and roaring. His backslapping manner makes him popular with the neighbors, till he digs up and eats their Dutch tulip bulbs. Then you see just how stuffy human beings can be. On Sundays his buddies come over to play watermelon football. When they finally get tired, they collapse on heaps of dried grass and leaves, scratching themselves elaborately, while I hand out big hunks of honeycomb. They've no problem swallowing dead bees stuck in the honey.

A bear-boy likes to stretch out on the floor and be roughly brushed with a broom. Never tease him about his small tail, which is much like a chipmunk's. If you do, he'll withdraw to the hollow of some tree, as my husband has done whenever offended since he firsts left the broad-leafed woodlands to live in this city, which is so difficult for him. Let him be happy in hiss own way: filling the bathtub with huckleberries, or packing dark, earthwormy dirt under the sofa. Don't mention the clawmarks on the refrigerator. (You know he can't retract them.) Nothing pleases him more than a violent change in climate, especially if it snows while he's asleep and he wakes to find the landscape blanketed. Then hiss teeth chatter with delight. He stamps and paws the air for joy. Exuberance is a bear's inheritance. He likes northern light. Excuse me, please. His bellow summons me.

Let me start again. True, his speech is shaggy music. But by such gruff instruction, I come to know love. It's difficult to hear the story of his forest years with dry eyes. He always snuffs damply at my hand before kissing it. My fingers tingle at the thought of that sensitive, mobile nose. You've no idea how long his tongue is. At night, I get into bed, pajama pockets full of walnuts. He rides me around the garden in the wheelbarrow now that I'm getting heavy with his cubs. I hope our sons will be much like their father, but not suffer so much discomfort wearing shoes.

--from Medicine by Amy Gerstler, Penguin Books (2000).

What Phoenix Metro Riders are Reading

Here are titles of books that I saw people reading on the train:

Night by Elie Wiesel

I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigioberta Menchu, Elissabeth Burgos-Debray, and Ann Wright

The War Within by Bob Woodward

This Calder Sky by Janet Dailey

The Republic of Poetry: Poems by Martin Espada

Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind

Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs

What We're Reading on the Metro + An AZ Arts Alert

Books that I spyed people reading on the Metro:

Kurt Vonnegut's Hocus Pocus

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

An LSAT primer

A James Patterson novel (again)

I wonder if I'm missing people who are reading e-books on the train? I'll have to check.

On a more serious note, the Arizona legislature is eliminating a significant amount of arts funding, with promises that the money will return later, but who knows? If you value the arts and artists as part of the culture here in Arizona, please write to your state representative and protest these drastic cuts. More information below.


Take Action!
Contact your Elected Officials Today!

ARIZONA ARTS ACTION ALERT

Jan 27, 2009 - Arizona Action for the Arts has been actively working with legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle to protect the Arizona Commission on the Arts' budget.

Today, we learned of a potentially devastating proposal to cut all state funding for the Arts Commission; Arizona ArtShare (the statewide arts endowment) and the Arts Trust Fund. This proposal threatens an already vulnerable nonprofit arts industry serving citizens in every Arizona community. If state funding for the arts is completely cut, we also lose our annual federal match and eligibility for federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The net effect: decimating the nonprofit arts industry that provides quality programming, educates our young people, brings tourism dollars into our state, creates jobs, generates taxes and encourages spending.

The Arizona Commission on the Arts has distinguished itself by working with leadership in making appropriate and reasonable reductions to its budget for 2008 and 2009 thus far. By continuing to work with legislative leadership, we hope to ensure that reductions to our funding would have the least impact in our communities and keep the arts industry in a position to be a part of the economic recovery.

ACTION OPPORTUNITIES:

At this time, it is most appropriate to send a PERSONAL message to your Legislators by CALLING or WRITING (preferred), or by emailing them to let them know that:

* The Arizona Commission on the Arts is willing to do its fair share to help solve the budget crisis and that any proposal to eliminate all state funding would be short-sighted and unfair in this current crisis which will pass over time.
* Given the small size of the total arts budget compared to the state's fiscal problems, eliminating the Commission would be draconian and would severely disable programs and services the arts industry provides for Arizona citizens.
* A current analysis of nonprofit arts organizations statewide shows an already-stressed sector with 84% experiencing decreased contributions, more than half already having cut program and more than one-third instituting hiring freezes or starting layoffs.
* Eliminating public funding for the arts will have a devastating impact on thousands of Arizonans who make their livings, pay their taxes, contribute to the well being of Arizona through the arts and make Arizona a great place to live.
* The arts and creative industries in Arizona, which include 10,590 small businesses, employ more than 46,000 people. (ref: AFTA Creative Industries report)


Stay tuned for future alerts and messages. We are very early in the Legislative session.

For additional information, please look at the new publication, Building Public Value for the Arts in Arizona: Advocacy, Promotion and Audience Engagement


SIGN UP FOR ARTS CONGRESS TODAY! (Monday February 2nd)Your opportunity to personally talk with your Legislators is coming up next Monday - Click here to Register Today


ACTION REQUEST RECAP:
1.At this time a personal phone call or handwritten message is best! These communications carry much more weight with elected officials who are being overburdened with hundreds of emails from every cause imaginable this session. Click here to find phone numbers and addresses.
2.If your only alternative is to send an email message, create your own - again, "stock" email messages are proving less effective. Here are some good TIPS for writing your personalized email message:
a.Your subject line should be simple, for example: "Message from a Constituent" or "Please consider my request" or "Special request" or something creative that will stand out from other subject lines - possibly more personalized, ie: "Senator Jones - I have a request. "
b.Keep your message SHORT. Get right to the point, the shorter the better - no more than 200 words (one paragraph).
c.Be sure to say WHO you are, WHERE you live and try to share one PERSONAL story as to why you believe in the work of the Arts Commission or what impact drastic cuts would have on you, your family, your neighborhood or community.
d.Use one or two facts only from this alert.
e.Ask that they be "fair" to the arts when considering budget reductions this year.
f.Thank them for their service, or their time.
g.Tell them you look forward to seeing them at Arts Congress on Monday, 2/2

Reading and the Light Rail

Phoenix has entered the New Year by stepping up its public transportation game. January 1st, metro area Phoenicians got a light rail that takes us through some of the East Valley (including Arizona State University) and a good chunk of Phoenix. Now I don't have to commute an hour each way to work or pay the ridiculous parking fees ($10 a day! or $800 a year!) at my job. But the main reason I wanted to ride the light rail is because it gives me an hour of uninterrupted time to read.

It's hard to read with kids running through the house. It's hard for me to read before bed because I tend to fall asleep. Like immediately.

So reading at dawn on the train sounded good. Other folks take advantage of this, too, and last week I actually looked at the books that riders were reading. Three or four people were reading James Patterson. One rider was reading Stephen King. Another person had a book titled The Toyota Way that looked interesting for wonkish, corporate types.

As much as I love to see people engaged with a book, I have to admit that I was disappointed with such obvious mainstream choices. The NY Times recently reported that reading of fiction by adults has risen which is good news. And Barack Obama's choice of Elizabeth Alexander as the inaugural poet is an inspired choice that will hopefully turn people onto her amazing body of work. What are you reading that you'd like to recommend? What are folks reading on the trains and buses in your city?