I am not understanding what this article is “about.”

Too many writers being able to publish their own work electronically is bad for literature? Self-publishing dumbs down the art? Poetry should only be written by those who treat it with seriousness? (If so, Auden said it better, here).

Sure, all those things are easy to agree with, but seriously? This is one of the 3 main feature articles in the new, Saturday Books section of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, a newspaper with an 8-million person readership, and written by Julia Keller, who once won a Pulitzer, “for her poignant three-part series on a deadly tornado that struck Utica, Ill”? As my grandmother would have said, “shame.”

I’ve had better, more interesting and conclusive discourse about self-publishing whilst drunk in a room full of zinesters. Also, I am tired of that Flannery O’Connor quote being used to put people in their place.

Shakespeare’s a click away with technology
By Julia Keller
Tribune cultural critic
Published May 20, 2007

“Edgar Allan Poe has a lot to answer for. It was Poe, after all, who self-published his first book of poems, thus giving hope to rhymesters everywhere who have found themselves dissed, ignored and inadvertently humiliated by mainstream publishers. Poe is the name often dropped by disgruntled poets whose dens are wallpapered with rejection slips (”Dear Sir or Madam: While your epic poem cycle on the history of the world’s oceans is fascinating, we regret to say t it does not meet our needs at the present time.”) Because the act of writing often is posited as little more than opening one’s soul the way one would a can of ravioli, many people are under the mistaken impression that they can do it. We all have souls, after all.” For full article, click here.

Edited to add: Okay, I am slightly appeased by another article of Keller’s this week; basically her love-letter to books and what is in them. I’m a softie for that kind of thing.

Date: Friday, May 18th
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Uptown Writer’s Series
Participants: JB Vanover, Dan Rybicky, Julie Saltzman

In conjunction with Bumby Reading Materials, UWS will host a reading entitled “Lust, Not Lost”. It is described as “an explanation of inexplicable appetites” and, to that end, offers snacks and drinks. Word on the street is that playwright and screenwriter Dan Rybicky may read “Picky,” his delightful short story about a young woman who has a rather gross and unnerving habit. Seats are limited — RSVP by calling (773/275-1000) or e-mailing (info@uptownwritersspace.com).

Date: Thursday, May 17, 2007
Time: 7pm
Location: Quimby’s

Most independent bookstore clerks were happily surprised when Soft Skull novelist Matthew Sharpe’s The Sleeping Father was picked for “The Today Show” Book Club. It’s not every day that an irreverent literary dramedy about illness and teen sex lands on the bestseller lists. If Sharpe’s new novel Jamestown is anything like its predecessor, I’m devestated I don’t yet have a copy. Sharpe reads with Chicago residents Elizabeth Crane (movie-optioned fiction writer and favorite teacher of my friend Sarah) and Anne Elizabeth Moore (zine expert and co-editor of Punk Planet).

I was scoping the authors appearing at Printer’s Row and noticed the above pictures. Bask in the juxtaposition!

I recently posted about the Devil in the White City tour offered by the Chicago Architectural Foundation, but last night a librarian pal clued me into additional tours offered by the Chicago History Museum, all based on Chicago literature (Nelson Algren, Audrey Niffenegger, etc). Maybe a good thing to do with visiting parental units? (Thanks, Maria).

Chicago, this is the only chance you’ll ever get to see one of the editors of Time Out demonstrate martial arts on one of the editors of Poetry. The latter, Fred Sasaki, has orchestrated what can only be described as an extravaganza. SuperFight is a celebration of fighting. “There will be fiction, a play, a video screening, poetry, and personal history. It will all be short,” reads Sasaki’s e-mail blast. And yes, that’s my name at the bottom of the flier.

May 16, 2007, Black Rock

They fought, all right.

Dojos were mentioned, as were green plastic dildos. A slow-motion boxing moment was viewed; a woman insisted that we throw wads of paper at her while she fought with herself; a mafia-affiliated father was mentioned watching Rocky Balboa in the bathtub; assistant editor of Poetry and Time Out Books editor engaged in fighting stances; and a tribute to “Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf” was conducted. So everyone won, except me, because my camera gave out halfway through and I missed a bunch of great photos, including one of one straight man kissing another straight man’s forehead while they demonstrated self-defense moves.

I was enjoying this article’s headline so much that I decided to share. First the Independent Press Association goes under, now this? An excerpt: “…Because the Post Office is a monopoly, and because magazines must use it, the postal rates always have been skewed to make it cheaper for smaller publications to get launched and to survive. The whole idea has been to use the postal rates to keep publishing as competitive and wide open as possible. This bedrock principle was put in place by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. They considered it mandatory to create the press system, the Fourth Estate necessary for self-government.

It was postal policy that converted the free press clause in the First Amendment from an abstract principle into a living breathing reality for Americans. And it has served that role throughout our history.

Under the Post Office plan, smaller periodicals will be hit with a much larger increase than the big magazines, as much as 30 percent. What the Post Office is now proposing goes directly against 215 years of postal policy….For full article,click here.

Saturday, May 12, 2007; Webster Wine Bar
By: Marci Merola

What happens when you mix storytelling, award-winning tech-folks and theater people, and throw in sponsorship from deep-pocketed wine distributors? At the 2nd Story Story, Wine and Music Festival, you get a packed house and a recipe for success that borders on brilliant.

Saturday’s festivities at Webster’s Wine Bar, 1480 W. Webster, marked the ninth night of ten of the 5th Annual festival, presented by Chicago’s Serendipity Theatre Collective.

Webster’s Wine Bar provides a warm setting for the communing that will ensue. An anomaly itself, the venue is literally the second story of an old two-flat in the midst of the corporate Clybourn Corridor. The format works like this: Guests line up in the main bar, willingly cough up $15 per ticket and then scramble upstairs to get a seat. The ticket buys guests a flight of wine, and each of the four pours is provided by the sponsoring winery. And it’s not your usual mix of literati here: blue hairs, Trixies, and everyone in-between gathers, sharing tables, chatting and seeming comfortably involved in their plates of pates and cornichons, while guest DJs spin ambient sounds.

An hour or so later, an emcee kicks off the night and offers a poetic description of one of the wines that waitstaff quickly distribute around the room. Then she introduces a storyteller, usually from Serendipity, who tells a well-rehearsed yarn, complete with high-tech soundtrack. Choreography is everything: storytellers are planted in different corners of the room, and 10-12 minute performances are followed by 20 minutes or so of conversation. This structure appeals to our short attention spans while creating an opportunity for conversation. That’s precisely the goal of 2nd Story folks, whose name refers not only to the upstairs location but to the idea that the anecdote will hopefully spark a bit of bar talk — the second story — among strangers and friends alike.

Like any other reading series, 2nd Story topics span emotional highs and lows, success and lost dreams, loves gained and lost. Kim Morris told a story about seeing a guy on the El who reminded her of a tragic moment in high school; during the story’s crescendo the Cure’s “Hot Hot Hot” slowly cued up to heighten the drama. Others were on the lighter side: Megan Stielstra (2nd Story’s Director of Story Development) delivered a tale about her undying love for Indiana Jones and Mike Tutaj (an actor and audio/visual guy around town) programmed an old Teddy Ruxpin to co-narrate his story. So what’s the secret ingredient in this recipe? What is it that should make venue coordinators around the city sit up and take notice? Quite simply, 2nd Story is fun. It’s a really good time. Maybe it’s not the deepest, most poetic verse, but it’s solid writing, it’s polished, and at the end of the night, the room is still full and the crowd goes smiling.

Five years in the making, it seems 2nd Story has become downright venerable and their lack of literary pretension and inclusivity becomes of note. After all, what we all set out to do is use the written word to get people off their collective sofa and into our community, right? If 2nd Story creates just a split second of community, if it only nods in the direction of preserving the art of storytelling, and if its accessibility spurs the tiniest bit of…of something in a newly-churned out MFA grad, what could be the harm?

It seems that in our city of big shoulders, we prefer to keep our gems hidden but a formula for success bears repeating and so 2nd Story will be branching out to a Randolph Street location next year.

In addition to being an accomplished poet and writer in her own right, Marci Merola is the advocacy specialist at the American Library Association. She hopes you will check out ilovelibraries.org when it launches on June 21.

A fun Salon analysis by a Chicago reporter about how downtrodden 2002 Democrats learned ruthlessness from Illinois Democrats that they used to take back the House and Senate in 2006. It’s based on the book, The Thumpin’: How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution. An excerpt: “As it turned out, Emanuel was just the kind of shameless asshole the Democrats needed to win back power.”

For the full story, click here.