December 30, 2007

The Union Herald Book List:

Samih Al-Qasim, Sadder than Water: New & Selected Poems, trans. Nazih Kassis (Ibis, 2006). 12-17-06.

Sinan Antoon, The Baghdad Blues (Harbor Mountain, 2007). 9-8-07.

Amiri Baraka, Somebody Blew Up America (Philipsburg, St. Martin: House of Nehesi, 2003). 9-25-05.

John Berryman, The Dream Songs (FSG, paperback 2007). 8-25-07.

Georges Bataille, Collected Poems (Dufour, 1999). 10-15-05.

Georges Bataille, The Impossible (City Lights, 1992). 10-26-05.

Tom Beckett, Little Book of Zombie Poems (2005). 2-13-06.

Robert Bringhurst, The Solid Form of Language (Graspereau Press, 2004). 8-15-07.

Melba Joyce Boyd and M. L. Liebler, Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry 2001 (Wayne State UP, 2001). 3-1-06.

Michelangelo Buonarrota, Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Michelangelo, trans. Creighton Gilbert (Modern Library, 1965). 8-16-07.

Dan Buck, This Day's Wait (Highwater Books, 2001). 1-9-06.

Pierre Cabanne, Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp (Da Cappo, 1971). 6-25-06.

Carlota Caulfield, Angel Dust (Madrid: Betania, 1990). 10-6-05.

Carlota Caulfield, The Book of Giulio Camillo (Eboli, 2003). 10-6-05.

Jerome Ch’en, Mao and the Chinese Revolution, trans. Michael Bullock and Jerome Ch’en (London: Oxford UP, 1965). 9-18-07.

The City of Oakland, "Lake Merritt Canada Goose Management Study" (July 2007). 10-7-07.

Tom Clark, Disordered Ideas (Black Sparrow, 1987). 1-5-07.

Norma Cole, un petit a & a (Format Americain, 2005). 6-22-06.

Valerie Coulton, Passing World Pictures (Apogee, 2003). 9-30-07.

Morri Creech, Field Knowledge (Waywiser, 2006). 10-5-07.

Michael Cross (ed), Involuntary Vision (Avenue B, 2003). 11-20-06.

Michael Martin Day, China's Second World of Poetry: The Sichuan Avant-Garde, 1982-1992. 10-20-06.

Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith (Zone, 1995). 8-30-07.

Philip K. Dick, Humpty Dumpty in Oakland (Victor Gollancz, 1986). 2-26-07.

Stuart Dybek, Streets in Their Own Ink (FS&G, 2004). 10-28-07.

Geoffrey Dyer, The Dirty Halo of Everything (Krupskaya, 2003). 9-25-05.

Sergei Eisenstein, Film Form (Harcourt Brace, 1969). 9-8-05.

Franz Fanon, Black Skin White Mask (1967). 10-22-06.

Ernest Fenollosa, The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry (City Lights, 2001). 10-9-05.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Americus I (New Directions, 2004). 12-15-05.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Tryannus Nix? (New Directions, 1969). 12-15-05.

Robert Fitterman & Dirk Rowntree, War, the musical (subpress, 2006). 7-14-06.

Frank Gallagher, Days of Fear (Harper Bros., 1929). 4-20-06.

Albert Goldbarth, Of Like Mind: New and Selected Poems (Alaska Quarterly, 2006). 4-5-07.

Meg Hamill, Death Notices (Factory, 2007). 5-17-07 & 8-8-07.

Ho Xuan Huong, Spring Essences (Copper Canyon, 2000). 12-27-05.

Brain Howe, Guitar Smash (3rdness, 2006). 6-27-06.

Jack Kerouac, Some of the Dharma (Viking, 1991). 7-26-06.

Walter K. Lew, Treadwinds (Wesleyan, 2002). 5-20-06.

Mao Zedong, Reverberations: A New Translation of Complete Poems of Mao Tse-Tung, trans. by Nancy T. Lin (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing, 1980). 9-18-07.

Rosalie Moore, The Grasshopper's Man (Yale UP, 1949). 2-28-06.

Laura Moriarty, Self Destruction (Post-Apollo, 2004). 3-9-06.

Ryan Murphy, Down with the Ship (Seismicity, 2006). 2-26-06.

NBC, A Listener's Aid to Pilgrimage of Poetry: Ted Malone's Album of Poetic Shrines (NBC, 1939). 11-14-07.

Odia Ofeimun, A Feast of Return: Under African Skies (Lagos, Nigeria: Hornbill House, 2000). 8-14-06.

Tommy Olofsson, Elemental Poems (White Pine, 1991). 5-29-06.

Jose Ortega y Gasset, The Dehumanization of Art (Doubleday Anchor, 1956). 1-6-06.

Pat Parker, Movement in Black (Crossing Press, 1983). 5-8-07.

Plato, The Protagoras. 10-2-07.

Ishmael Reed, New and Collected Poems: 1964-2006 (Carrol & Graf, 2006). 11-19-06.

Gerhard Richter, The Daily Practice of Painting: Writings 1962-1993 (MIT, 1995). 10-2-05.

G. B. Ryan, Poems 17-20 (Elkhound, 2005). 12-28-05.

Dhooswan Saymi, The Eclipse (Kathmandu: Nepal Press, 1967). 9-15-06.

Spencer Selby, Twist of Address (Shearsman, 2007). 2-3-07.

Harvey Schwartz, The March Inland: Origins of the ILWU Warehouse Division 1934-1938 (ILWU, 2000). 6-11-06.

Dennis Somera, SpOAKlanD (Deep Oakland, 2007). 7-10-07.

Juliana Spahr, this connection of everyone with lungs (Univ of California, 2005). 12-
5-05.

Chuck Stebelton, Circulation Flowers (Tougher Disguises, 2005). 1-14-06.

James Thomas Stevens and Caroline Sinavaiana, Mohawk/Samoa Transmigrations (Subpress 2006). 2-18-06.

Cole Swenson, Goest (Alice James, 2004). 9-15-05.

Evany Thomas and Amelia Bauer, The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple’s Guide to the Thirty-Nine Positions (McSweeney’s Irregulars, 2006). 9-7-09.

Tristan Tzara, Seven DaDa Manifestos and Lampisteries, trans and ed. Barbara Wright. (Riverrun, 1992). 4-7-07.

Gautam Verma, In Ladakh (Shearsman Books, 2005). 4-22-06.

Wang Tao, "On Reform." Sources of Chinese Tradition. Vol 2: From 1600-through the Twentieth Century (Columbia Univ, 2000). 3-20-07.

Eliot Weinberger & Octavio Paz, Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei (1987). 1-9-07.

Rebekah Werth, Bison bison (Mr. Panda, 2005). 1-29-06.

Rebekah Werth, Megafauna & Amazing Power (Mr. Panda, 2006). 5-12-06.

Xenophon, Memorabilia. 11-30-06.

Ye Chen, Travel Over Water (Bitter Oleander, 2005). 4-8-06.

You Can't Blow Up a Social Relationship (See Sharp, 1998). 1-9-06.

Stephanie Young, Telling the Future Off (Tougher Disguises, 2005). 2-16-06.

December 24, 2007

1. Let Sha drive a car around Mills yesterday. It was her first time behind the wheel ever. I think she may be hooked on the sense of power operating a ton of machinery gives you. At least, she's seriously comtemplating driving school when she gets back to Minnie.

2. Bought an antique Smith-Corona manual typewriter from a guy in Fremont for $20. It's in excellent shape and even has a good ribbon. It's exactly like one I owned the second time I moved to New York.

3. Adam Bock's Shaker Chair is on at the Shotgun Player's theater near Ashby BART. It's refreshing to see such poignantly political material in the Bernard Shaw tradition. Good acting, minimal set, and Bock's dialogue.

4. Took Sha to the Laney College flea market. She was horrified and fascinated in equal amounts at all the crap up for sale. I walked away with a wash board. Couldn't find a set of thimbles though, so I'll most likely be scrounging in Chinatown--Chinatown has everything-- today to get some.

5. The graffiti at 46th Avenue and Foothill is something.

December 21, 2007

1. Donated my car to the Oakland Museum today. Now, I am once again carless in Oakland, but this time I have a 31 day bus pass.

2. Lynn gave birth to Sebastien Marc Roncier on the 17th somewhere near Ferndale, Michigan.

3. Going to see the Nutcracker for the first time in my life at the Paramount.

4. Then going to see Dillon's band "The Gomorran Social Aid and Pleasure Club" at the Uptown.

5. It's my sister Noel's birthday.

6. Sha's in town and I have a cold.

7. Those final papers aren't going to grade themselves.

December 19, 2007

According to Dec 5th's Oakland Post, Marcus Books, the oldest black owned bookstore in the country, is in danger of shutting down.

"developers have expressed an interest in the Marcus Books property and would liketo see the landmark building and legendary business removed under the guise of 'urban renewal' . . . allowing developers to make tons of money through the demolition of established Black neighborhoods" (10).

December 18, 2007

Alex Horowitz's write-up of last month's Chicago Calling arts festival.

December 15, 2007

December 15, 2007

The A's prove yet again that they are a farm team for the rest of the majors.

December 14, 2007

Jack Cust, really?

From the Mitchell Report:

"Jack Cust is an outfielder who began his major league career with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. Since then, he has played for five teams in Major League Baseball, the Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, and Oakland Athletics. In 2007, he played with Oakland.

At the beginning of the 2003 season, Cust and Larry Bigbie were both playing for Baltimore’s class AAA affiliate in Ottawa. Bigbie’s locker was next to Cust’s. Cust eventually asked Bigbie if he had ever tried steroids. Bigbie acknowledged he had, and Cust said that he, too, had tried steroids. Cust told Bigbie that he had a source who could procure anything he wanted, but Bigbie informed him he already had a friend who could supply him.

In order to provide Cust with information about these allegations and to give him an opportunity to respond, I asked him to meet with me; he declined" (159).

December 9, 2007

Even though the semester isn't technically over, classes have ended. This for me means that instead of running to catch the 6:30 bus in the morning for my 8 o'clock class, I can actually go to Merritt's for a cup of coffee, pick up a Trib and slowly amble my way along the lake to the bus stop. I am at a point in my life where waking up at 7 am feels like sleeping in. Thankfully, my earliest class next semester is at 11.

December 7, 2007

December 5, 2007

The Oakland Public Library is in a forgiving mood until December 14th. So, for example, if you lost that music score you checked out in 2001 six or so moves ago and owe the OPL $67.60, you just need to walk in and the librarian will pretend not to be too irritated with you as he wipes the slate clean.

December 5, 2007

from Fiona McGregor:

Friends,

On Sunday 25th November I staged an interventionist performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. 'Dead Art' was a protest about the absence of live performance art in the MCA, one of Australia's foremost contemporary art institutions.

Dressed in curatorial black, tagged like a morgue corpse, I lay on the floor in one of the galleries until I was forcibly removed by the NSW Police. I chose the Contemporary Australian Art show as the exhibition in which to display my dead body.

I came back to life outside the institution, where I was fined $220 by the NSW Police for 'Failure to comply with Police Directions'. I was banned from the MCA for the rest of the day.

'Dead Art' was also a mourning ritual to commemorate the previous evening's deposition of our Great Lord and Master, John Winston Howard.

Enjoy the photos. More details to follow on the website.

Fiona McGregor
http://www.senvoodoo.com/

December 4, 2007

November 30, 2007

10:30: Moon, still visible, constant reminder of my impermanence.

November 30, 2007

1. Payday.
2. Woke up around 5 and listened to NPR's "Morning Edition."
3. Decided for the first time since I've been here to take a bath. Turned up the radio and ran the tap.
4. While bathing, drank a Guiness and read Michael McClure's *Poisoned Wheat* (SF, 1965), which the West Coast Girl's College library stupidly gave up for free.
5. Made coffee. I have a campfire perculator coffee maker, so I let it brew until the whole place smells like coffee. Mmm, thick.
6. Decided to be half-assed house-proud for my dinner-party tonight. I cleaned the tub (which no one will look at) and decided that the rest wasn't worth the effort. I live in a lake-view closet. No matter how June Cleaver I get, you can't escape that fact.
7. If I invited you over to my place within the past three weeks, I meant tonight. Yes, Jeffrey and Dillon and whoever else, this means you. I have three chairs, including the Laz-E-Boy. Folks will most likely arrive whenever they feel like it. I am making baked ziti around 6ish. There is Pabst in the fridge and Ancient Age on the counter. Come when you're ready.
8. That is my report.