Barbara Kingsolver wins The Orange

Barbara Kingsolver & Ilan Stavans in Conversation
Originally uploaded by LIVEfromtheNYPL

Congratulations to Barbara Kingsolver who is the winner of this year's Orange Prize for her novel, The Lacuna. For more information on her win go here.

Quote of the Day

I did a workshop the other day for high school students who are interested in a career in education. At the end of the workshop I received a certificate that contained this quote:

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

--Ghandi

Helen's Generation

I have felt particularly sad for veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas who was forced to retire this week after making remarks about Israel and Palestine. I feel sad because although Helen was no shrinking violet, she was an elder, and I wasn't raised to dishonor my elders publicly or privately.

I also thought Helen's story highlighted our nation's geopolitics. Because Israel is a strategic ally in the middle east, the U.S. always supports Israel, at all costs and despite what that nation does in violation of international human rights.

So I've thought about age and politics, there have been discussions about anti-Semitism, but I had not thought about gender as a factor in this story. Anna Clark from Isak touches upon this in her piece for Salon. To what extent do you think Helen's gender played a role in the ferocious reaction to her remarks? Would she have been treated the same way if she were a man?

And back to age: there is something so incredibly fierce about Helen's generation of women which includes the recently departed Lena Horne and Dorothy Height. Thomas was 89, still working, still asking the tough questions front row in the White House. (And can I add that she's a Detroiter and Wayne State graduate? Woop woop!)

I will celebrate my own grandmother's 100th birthday this October and let me tell you, like Helen Thomas, Mama Rubie is no shrinking violet.

In the Space of One Year

Here is Ava last year on June 12th:



And this May in her soccer uniform:


This is how I mark the time.

From the File of Nice Rejection Letters: PART TWO

The note shown above was written by a very young intern, I'm sure. It's very sweet but I came to hate it because it gave me unrealistic hopes about how easy it would be to publish in Harper's Magazine. I think it was beginner's luck.



The following note, "R, I'd like to see something grownup" from Howard Junker at Zyzzyva was some of the best free advice I received. Of course, at the time I was pissed at this comment about my story with teenaged protagonists:




Keep sending! Keep sending, indeed.

Digable Planets - Cool Like That

Staying Cool

Because it's getting so hot outside, here's a little coolness.....

We Real Cool

The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

--copyright Gwendolyn Brooks

Hear an audio clip of Ms. Brooks reading her poem here

Read Terrance Hayes' extremely cool variation on Brooks' poem here