Plumtree's Potted Meat

Movin' forward

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:25:52 -0500

Making a new blog because trying to organize three years of material from this guy is just too much work and I want to make a more “coherent” internet presence for myself. Dear friends, be on the lookout soon for a follower by another name. It’s been real, ‘bout to get realer.

New Novel Titles, Pt. 1

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:15:23 -0500

Ekphrastic Joe and how The Kiss was stolen.

I work to ensure no(-t many) gripes about thesis-writing make their way onto this blog, but...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:57:00 -0500

I work to ensure no(-t many) gripes about thesis-writing make their way onto this blog, but I’ll be dipped and fried and goddamned if I’m not desperately cobbling up the energy to meet a (-n admittedly self-imposed) deadline of finishing this chapter by 5 today. TWO LEFT, TWO MONTHS, ONE SPEED. (Aside: if anyone wants to ~*ChAt*~ about late eighteenth-century Portuguese political reforms and the crown’s renewed interest in botany HOLLA AT YA BOY.)

poetrysince1912: —Kevin C. Powers, Poetry, February 2009Poet...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:36:34 -0500

poetrysince1912:

—Kevin C. Powers, Poetry, February 2009

Poet and Iraq veteran Kevin C. Powers talks about how this poem eventually evolved into his 2012 novel, The Yellow Birds.

toadelevatingmoment: But Confucius has answered them with the...

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:33:01 -0500

toadelevatingmoment:

But Confucius has answered them with the final whistle, it’s all over. Germany, having trounced England’s famous midfield trio of Bentham, Locke and Hobbes in the semi-final, have been beaten by the odd goal.

ibasel: Engram: Do you guys wanna play pool? MK: Is pool like..I mean like…is it… Engram: Phallic...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:38:48 -0500

ibasel:

Engram: Do you guys wanna play pool?

MK: Is pool like..I mean like…is it…

Engram: Phallic and hegemonic?

"People shouldn’t be forced to categorize themselves as “gay,” “straight,” or “bi.” People are just..."

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 01:32:46 -0500

“

People shouldn’t be forced to categorize themselves as “gay,” “straight,” or “bi.” People are just people. Maybe you’re mostly attracted to men. Maybe you’re mostly attracted to women. Maybe you’re attracted to everyone. These are historical claims — not future predictions. If we truly want to expand the scope of human freedom, we should encourage people to date who they want; not just provide more categorical boxes for them to slot themselves into. A man who has mostly dated men should be just as welcome to date women as a woman who’s mostly dated men.

So that’s why I’m not gay. I hook up with people. I enjoy it. Sometimes they’re men, sometimes they’re women. I don’t see why it needs to be any more complicated than that.

”

- From the late Aaron Swartz’s blog, dated September 8, 2009. In loving memory of a brilliant mind and goodhearted person. (via Buzzfeed)

"Oh yes, one learns when one has to; one learns if one wants a way out; one learns relentlessly."

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:08:08 -0500

“Oh yes, one learns when one has to; one learns if one wants a way out; one learns relentlessly.”

- Franz Kafka, from “A Report to an Academy”

I can't decide which is scarier:

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 02:07:44 -0500

(1) that I think I’ve found my mother’s Pinterest (or, as she says it, “Pin-ter-rest”) or (2) that—admittedly, after some googling—most of my friends have LinkedIn accounts. Both facts force me to question what I’m doing, or failing to do, with my life.

State of the Union, (1 of ?)

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 01:08:00 -0500

Unexpectedly drunk after what was an otherwise productive day (2k words and counting!1!!), doing that thing where I sit in the study room and lip-synch to Das Racist and make my shoulders wave and randomly throw my hand in the air and make duck-lips (or “dancing”). One discounted Domino’s sandwich getting delivered in t-minus 21 minutes (complete with a 2 ounce reg Coke ~*No AsParTaMe*~), and jesus fuck that’s going to be a long time.

Officially turning down a job offer to teach in Miami tomorrow morning. Really afraid my roommates will come out of their rooms sometime soon and see me selfie-dancing all over this window that looks out on the S. Gayoso/Jena intersection (reaaally afraid), a fear that is about to get compounded because Clara comes home tomorrow! Wheeeee.

Having a 1-on-1 with Aimee Bender in about two weeks, and spending Spring Break in Portland. Sharing is great. Newly excited about some grad school apps chillin’ hard out there in the ether. The Domino’s Order Confirmation thing says my sandwich is being prepared.

"When asked at a recent public lecture in Seattle about the origins of his character Yunior, Díaz..."

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:47:25 -0500

“

When asked at a recent public lecture in Seattle about the origins of his character Yunior, Díaz offered the following insight about his own experience as a student at Rutgers. It speaks directly to the depiction of masculinity in his work.

“The question was always, for someone like me: What is the role of a male artist in the feminist struggle? We can’t be feminists, I think. Our privilege prevents us. We can be feminist-aligned in some way. And so the women kept saying to us dudes, the best thing you can do is draw maps of masculine privilege. You can go places we can’t. Draw maps so when we drop the bombs, they land accurate.”

”

“Baby’s first iPhone (4)”

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:31:18 -0500

“Baby’s first iPhone (4)”

A day of acceptances and (mixed) feelings. At least: a job...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:05:21 -0500

A day of acceptances and (mixed) feelings. At least: a job offer! And I’m presenting my thesis in Portland late March.

"The main lesson of literature was courage, a rare courage like a stone well in the middle of a lake..."

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:31:00 -0500

“The main lesson of literature was courage, a rare courage like a stone well in the middle of a lake district, like a whirlwind and a mirror. That reading wasn’t more comfortable than writing. That by reading one learned to question and remember. That memory was love.”

- Roberto Bolaño, from Woes of the True Policeman

where'd ya get the name cfbwe?

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:52:17 -0500

don’t laugh, but: my parent’s initials: c. forman + b. wilkinson = engram. so, it followed to me: cfbwe. (see you monday, cindy!)

The last words of my thesis.

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:39:56 -0500

cwmfawtf:

"Alcohol gives a lot of game."

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 17:37:44 -0500

“Alcohol gives a lot of game.”

- Kat Hines, so sagely.

Load one of three—Merry Christmas, from the Wilkinsons!

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 17:25:58 -0500

Load one of three—Merry Christmas, from the Wilkinsons!

"Nesse and Williams argue that mass communication is a novel introduction to our species that has..."

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:05:00 -0500

“Nesse and Williams argue that mass communication is a novel introduction to our species that has provided serious psychological conflict with the way in which our minds evolved. In ancestral societies, humans lived in small intimate groups; as noted above these communities typically consisted of 150 individuals. Modernly, however, television and other mass media have provided us with communication, and therefore competition, with the ever-increasing global population. This may be causing humans to be more perpetually exposed to an environment that invokes our evolved strategy to re-evaluate the worthiness of our efforts…”

- Cynthia Crowley, from “Depression: A Plastic Darwinian Algorithm of the Mind”

"There are a lot of us, some published, some not, who think the literary life is the loveliest one..."

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:51:10 -0500

“There are a lot of us, some published, some not, who think the literary life is the loveliest one possible, this life of reading and writing and corresponding. We think this life is nearly ideal.”

- Anne Lamott/ definitely one of those quotes that needed to make its way to me this week.