One of McCain/Palin’s gambits for winning this election is a form of assymetrical warfare on the democratic process. It goes far beyond feigned outrage, “working the refs”, and even the blatant racism and xenophobia oozing from McCain on down (though all of those are horrible enough). In fact, I think it’s the only consistent pattern that McCain has shown throughout the general election season: an attempt to foster a crisis within the very polis. Guiliani is an expert at the kind of off-handed (yet pointed) fear-mongering and fraying of the rule of law. Perhaps someone told McCain, obliquely or not, that this is his only chance of winning. Who knows. But you saw it with his selection of Sarah Palin — a baffling choice except as one designed to inject surplus fear and chaos into the electorate — galvanizing the authoritarian wing of the Republican party (and by “wing”, it is a wing that dwarfs the bird), who thrive on this chaos and, in turn, take it as a cue to blame those who aren’t falling in lock-step with them. It’s a way of getting the vicious cycle of victimology kickstarted.
The “suspension” of his campaign in terms of the financial crisis was much of the same — more than a cheap publicity stunt, he was trying to create crisis, to recreate that “old time feeling” of October and November 2001 where only a strong leader (in his mind) could step in and provide Sun-King-like direction (direction from division of course–the Greek root for crisis is “separation”). The fact that it more or less failed miserably was immaterial for them as a campaign strategy.
And the contradictory layers of Obama typecasting — an uppity socialist Muslim dandy raised in a madrassa in West Hollywood? Coherent messages are for the weak. They want the electorate to buckle under by the sheer kinesis of incomprehensible bullying, viruses of nano-fascism slipped into the discourse hoping to infect the host.
So the only thing left to do is to double down, and keep doubling down, as if the very friction that this doubling down creates is going to catch something on fire.
On that note, Tuesday is going to be crazy.
Sun, November 2 2008 » Polis » 1 Comment
Kristin just took these on her camera phone. And because I am Powerless To Resist posting them, here they are. P.S. Kristin swears these weren’t staged! Gambit is just 100% all natural goofball.
Mon, February 26 2007 » Life Studies » 1 Comment
Though I guess he’s technically not a puppy anymore?
It’s almost about 1 year since Kristin and I got Gambit, and it’s been a pretty wild ride, with his post-Katrina feral-ness, his initial shyness (we actually had to pick him up to take him outside so he could do his business), the parasites in his body, the urinary birth defect, the removal of a kidney and (now) some kind of tendonitis that means he should refrain from chasing tennis balls/jumping for frisbees (?!?). But I wouldn’t trade any of those weird medical, er, quirks for the world, because he’s pretty much the sweetest, most cuddly dog I’ve ever known, and he’s one hella tough, persistent dog. And a total goofball.
Here’s to you, Gambit!
Mon, September 11 2006 » Life Studies » 3 Comments
Quite low-key, quite fun. Kelly was guest of honor so it was good to see her and Gavin, as well as Mark and Martha. Bryan Thao Worra was the Special Guest, and he gave a really amazing multimedia talk about Laos and its attendant folklore. (Check out a PDF ebook of his speculative poetry here.) The auction (although it did drag a bit long) is also rather nice in that the opening bids are rather low. Kelly, in particular, gave a great birthday present through one of these bids–and sit down in preparedness for the geekiness of this–a slew of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D hardcovers. About 9-10 of them: Monster Manual I and II, Wildnerness Survival Guide, Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide, Legends and Lore, etc. etc. It’s this weird nexus of collectibility and browsability and nostalgia-crack that made me really excited about this. So, thanks, Kelly! (The geek quotient of our house just went up a few notches, so I’m not sure how Kristin feels about this.) Another highlight of the weekend was catching up with Eleanor Arnason, who has been a great mentor to me throughout the years…so it was good chatting about writing, the writing life, and other things with her.
As a side note, one of my friends from work dog-sitted for Gambit, and he seemed to be pretty good throughout the weekend. They have a beagle named Max who is on the same wavelength, energy-wise, with Gambit. So the weekend for him seemed to be the Max and Gambit Show, starring Max and Gambit. They had fun.
All in all a good weekend.
Mon, August 14 2006 » Fiction » No Comments
Cannot…resist…posting…puppy photos!
Tue, March 14 2006 » Life Studies » 5 Comments
…sliding cars and jack-ass mist–must be in the snowflakes–which cause people to barrel through St. Paul spaghetti junction 50mph where there’s not, because of the snow, any real lanes. That was fun. Or this morning, when the woman in the VW SUV turned right into the street I was crossing with full right-of-way priviliges. Awesome. Other than that, loved the snow. Oh wait no I didn’t. I want it to be spring so so bad. This March snow is to be expected. It’s all part of the grand plan. Gambit DID love the snow, and that was all good. He uses his giant cone as a scoop, so now he has this scooping and skipping motion down pat.
The Infernokrusher clan in Kingdom of Loathing, btw, has 8 members. Rockin’.
Tue, March 14 2006 » Life Studies » 2 Comments
Gambit had his stitches out but he still has to have the stupid cone (I call it a cone but it’s actually an “Elizabethan collar”, so what do I know) for another two weeks:
Wed, March 8 2006 » Life Studies » 6 Comments
Crazy book sale from Small Beer Press. I mean it’s really insane. Trampoline for $8 and Meet Me in the Moon Room for $5!
Meghan has some good writing advice.
Weird L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E-type poetry from the 70s involving a vampire, kind of, appropriately named Dracula.
Goldmine Shithouse.
Gambit is doing very very well, btw.
Fri, March 3 2006 » ?!?!?, Life Studies » No Comments
Good news. Gambit’s surgery went well. He had a birth defect that was wholly unrelated to his neutering surgery. (I don’t remember word for word the exact science of it, so rather than misquote it, I’m going to go bare bones with it.) Essentially, one of his kidneys was shot and useless, and had to be removed. But he’ll expect to make a full recovery. We visited him today and, except for a little dribbling, he was the same old Gambit–it was unreal how alert he was after the surgery. When we held him and petted him it was like a massive weight was released. We take him home tomorrow and there’s 2 weeks of recovery where he’s not supposed to make any sudden movements because of his stitches. That will be…interesting. The vets and vet techs who performed surgery and took such good care of him are all wonderful, and we can’t thank them enough.
Here’s hoping that Gambit has a long, boring, uneventful rest-of-life.
Thu, February 23 2006 » Life Studies » 9 Comments
Our puppy Gambit was neutered Friday, but we knew something wasn’t right–he was having trouble going to the bathroom–so we took him in Sat. to the vet, who gave him antibiotics, checked him out, etc. And he seemed to be doing better, although still having trouble peeing. Last night he pissed a lot of blood and Kristin took him into the pet emergency room (I was still coming home from work). He spent the night there and early this morning was taken to the U. of M. veterinary school for surgery. They’re not entirely sure what is wrong with him–so they’re doing exploratory surgery pretty much right now. It could be complications from the neutering surgery, or just that, indirectly, the surgery had triggered something that was already there (because of his weak immune system when we got him). Needless to say we’re freaked out and worried as all hell. It’s just a devastating waiting game. I keep thinking that the little puppy survived the toxic wastelands of Hurricane Katrina on his own and that he’ll pull through. He’s a trooper and survivor. There’s that hope, even though it feels like it’s only a thread.
Wed, February 22 2006 » Life Studies » 7 Comments
Back in the Twin Cities from Madison, on an astoundingly beautiful November day. (Seriously, we really don’t get too many of these.) World Fantasy was great, rich, exhausting–the usual. One of the nice things about it was that it was at the Madison Concourse–my mental map of the hotel was pretty much etched in my head, so there was no expending of energy along the lines of “so where’s the consuite again”? Some random thoughts:
Didn’t get in until 12:15AM Thursday night (technically Friday morning, I guess). The first party I went to, Garth Nix gave me a beer that he was saving for himself (the party had run out). That’s a good augur for the rest of the con. Some dazed dancing. Key word: dazed.
One of the nicest surprises was running into Eric Lorberer and Kelly Everding, our friends from the Twin Cities who edit Rain Taxi. They weren’t able to stay long but we spent some good time with them at lunch and the dealer’s room. Through them we met Rusty Morrison and Ken Keegan of Omnidawn. Paraspheres, their fabulist fiction publication, has a really amazing TOC. There really was an embarrassment of riches in the dealer’s room, and it’s going to take me awhile to wade through what we bought. (Oh, and I also got the new Atmosphere album; after the first listen or two I think it’s their best since Lucy Ford. Anyway.)
It’s hard in my sleep-deprived state right now to piece together in my head individual conversations, but there were many of them. All good. Lots of people who I haven’t seen in years.
Also, a lot of Infernokrushers.
This con report is turning into free-form jazz on a triangle, so let me attempt to give CPR to a narrative thread. I did attend a panel, which is on the quantitative high end for me–”Fantasy on the Fringes”, which was thoroughly entertaining. Jeff Ford’s reading on Saturday was of “In the House of Four Seasons,” an incredible story that appears in the debut issue of Fantasy magazine; it was a tour de force. Everyone should check it out.
Friday night parties were fun, although I went to bed “early” at 2am (what’s up with that?). Kristin was shocked. That was because I wanted to make at least a kind of an attempt to “rest up” for the Small Beer/Rabid Transit/Electric Velocipede/Trunk Stories “Got Zine?” party on Saturday night. It went off swimmingly. Gavin had the idea to put multi-colored tissue paper over the florescent lights of the room, so ambience had much less of a “sanatorium cafeteria” feel. Zines were sold prodigiously, I wore a wacky wig, the kegs went over well, the party went strong for quite a while, and wonderful people came out of the woodwork to help out with set up and clean up. What more could you ask for?
Sunday was definitely slog time as the lack o’ sleep was beginning to catch up for everyone. One of the highlights was the Twenty Epics mini-reading with Ms. McCarron and Mr. Schwartz organized (and promoted with utmost postering skill) by Mr. Moles. Much fun. Those two can read. And to top off the day, the banquet and awards ceremony was brisk, funny, and moving.
Gambit the Puppy was very happy to see us and vice versa. He had made a little bed in our living room (where he broke through the barrier) with blankets, shirts, socks, strips of paper, etc. Kind of like a raven, only furrier and much cuter.
I think that’s all I got right about now. We’ve already registered for Austin 2006.
Update: Whig party. GOT ZINE!!!
Mon, November 7 2005 » Fiction, Life Studies » 1 Comment
Kristin has plenty of puppy blogging goodness. We ended up naming him Gambit. We held out for so long–sooo long–from dipping into the pool of geekery pet names, but when Gambit suddenly dawned on Kristin, it was too perfect not to pass up. So we’re hopeless that way! Not a bad thing at all.
In terms of the World Fantasy schedule, I defer to Meghan’s more annotated list of upcoming panels.
Mon, October 31 2005 » Life Studies » No Comments
This is a continuation of a blog that I’ve been keeping since September 2002, of divers subjects and cacophanies. So, about me? Born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1973, 12 years of Catholic school, B.A. in English from the College of Wooster, MFA in poetry writing from the University of Virginia. Author of two poetry chapbooks: The Black Hare and Atari Ecologues. I’ve also released a 165-page poem, The Stations, for free in the wilds of the Internet with a pretty loose creative commons license. You can download it here or here.
My first short story collection, Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead, came out from Small Beer Press in June 2006. If you’re curious about my short fiction and the book, you can download the book as a “fun-size” edition (about a third of it) for free here.
On November 24, 2009, Spectra will publish my novel Total Oblivion, More or Less.
My literary agent is Colleen Lindsay of FinePrint Literary Management.
Married to Kristin Livdahl, human being and writer extraordinaire. Saga of the Raiding Team is a story of hers I have posted here. We have 3 cats (Tora, Kochan, and Piper) and 1 dog (Gambit). For the day job, I manage a proofreading/copy editing department at an advertising agency.
Feel free to email and say hi.
Sun, May 15 2005 » Uncategorized » Comments Off
Reginald Shepherd’s blown a gasket, but don’t dare call him on it, because it will just depress him. From the email extant on Josh’s blog:
“But then, in general it seems difficult these days to make a nuanced argument–people see things only in black and white, and insist on reducing one’s arguments to simplistic parody.”
Later…
“There is nothing in the so-called avant-garde, from the New Americans to the Language poets to whatever the contemporary crew wants to call themselves besides ‘too good for everyone else,’ that wasn’t done by the Modernists.”
and
“there is a lot wrong with pretending that one came up with these techniques and approaches oneself, especially when one then goes on to congratulate oneself for one’s daring and perspicacity.”
and
“And why, for that matter must interesting, challenging, difficult poetry be labeled or accountable as ‘avant-garde’ in order really to be taken seriously?”
Alrightey. Rather than actually engage with a dialogue, pout. Then deny the conceivability that one may gain pleasure from anything from the New Americans to the present day in terms of experimental lexicons. Then, create an rather idiosyncratic, largely unsupportable cosmology regarding Modernism, and pre-empt anyone actually calling you on it by asking:”Why can’t poetry be allowed to be and do what it is and does?” Got it.
The funny thing is, I really don’t think Mr. Shepherd addressed much of what Tim had to say at all, and when he did, he pretty much did it with the old “slander by accusing slander” fashion. How is Tim saying:
“the binaries of text/context and form/content don�t line up cleanly either with each other or with the binary of avant-garde/mainstream”
an example of Tim being, according to Reginald, “particularly determined to willfully distort everything [he] wrote”?
Perhaps most tellingly, Tim wrote, in regards to Reginald’s earlier comments, that “these aesthetic positions must recognize themselves as positions, not as the absence of any position or as some idea of pure critical neutrality that welcomes any ‘great’ work, whatever its kind.”
Yet this is precisely the gaping absence in pretty much everything that Mr. Shepherd wrote. Most of what we had to contemplate from him was the expression of tactical gambits. “Peace and poetry” indeed.
Thu, May 5 2005 » Poetry » 1 Comment
