April 23, 2009

Jim Luke from London is in town.

April 20, 2009

Deep Oakland Editions is pleased to announce the release of Adam Cornford's O Town 86-96: Documentary Poetry from the Social Wars.

April 16, 2009

1. Been rereading Bill Luoma's Dear Dad.
2. The clown to the left is called "Uncle MacDonald" in China. He doesn't get a first name, but yet somehow gets more trustworthy because he's your "uncle" which I find kinda (rapist/pedipheliac) creepy.
3. I get May Day off, living in a communist nation as I do. This gives me a three day weekend. I'm thinking about going to Tianjin.
4. As good as it is, and it is good, Jaques Ranciere's The Future of the Image is shit subway fodder.
5. Saturdays are for playing pool.
6. At my ESL job, we show movies in the lobby (which teachers can see from the teacher office). Yesterday, we showed Gremlins. That's pretty awesome.

April 14, 2009

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych (1954-2009)

The Bird was one of my first baseball favorites. The wacky way he talked to the ball made a lot of sense to my 6 year old self.

April 2, 2009

1. I have started getting on more friendly terms with some of my students, chatting with them before and after classes. I've learned that among my students are a reverse-engineer for China's space program, a PLA general who works in the strategic planning division, several actors and dancers, and a full-fledged corporate spy. It's a real cast of characters. So far, no poets.

2. Rereading Stephanie Young's Picture Palace. I have dog-earred pages 52-3 for future consideration.

3. I have been amassing 1 yuan peasant notebooks like they are going out of style. Not sure what I plan on doing with all of them, but they make a lovely stack on my dining room table that I am using as an office.

4. I like the story behind the name of the old lit magazine Big Table. Kerouac wrote a letter to editor Irving Rosenthal saying he should get a big table . . . .

5. I think I lost my digital camera.

6. Sha and I are going to the Arrow Factory this afternoon. I will report later if there is anything to report.

7. One of the outfielders on my fantasy baseball team may get called up mid-season for military service in Korea. My second round draft choice isn't recovering well from kidney surgery over the break. And I don't know why, but I am keeping Jack Cust as a bench-warmer.

8. I get Saturday off for Tomb Sweeping Day, which means I have three days free (I usually get Thursday and Friday off). I may go to Tianjin just for the hell of it. Word is it's boring and an industrial shithole. This may just make me nostalgic for Oakland and Detroit.