“‘Chronic inflammation’ sounds like an energy drink, ethaline green, with racecar font on the can.”

Hilarious and heart wrenching story from my brilliant friend JoAnna Novak Conjunctions conjunctions.com/online/article…

As someone who has taught college students for twenty years, I found myself nodding vigorously to this sharp piece Slate Natalie Shutler slate.com/news-and-polit…

Sad to see this ugly fence cutting off my campus from the City of St. Louis. I used to be proud that my university was not a cloistered fortress like so many other elite institutions.

“Administrators have spent much of the recent past recruiting social-justice-minded students…under the…promise that activism is not just welcome but encouraged. Now the leaders of those universities are shocked to find that their charges…believed them.”theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

For #MayDay I figured I'd share a piece I'm proud of from early lockdown: an interview with my personal account Los Angeles Review of Books in which we talk about economic precocity, creativity, and her film EL PLANETA. lareviewofbooks.org/article/having…

'We ought not to have seduced Michael. We’d been making progress under his care. But we did manage to remain good friends.'

Dark, hilarious story from my friend Dave Schuman in the latest@HarpandAltar. Check it out! harpandaltar.com/ha13/pet

Ena Sendijarević’s sophomore feature, SWEET DREAMS, proves that she is a vital cinematic voice. Poetic, dark, and bitterly funny, her scathing critique of Dutch colonialism should be seen on the big screen if at all possible (wish I could!). Currently playing Metrograph.

A remarkable tale of a deathbed email from Helen Vendler to Rita Dove.

An honor to review poet Mary Jo Bang's A BOOK IN WHICH I PLAY EVERYONE Graywolf Press for Harp & Altar. I believe it is her best book to date—and, as I argue, the most conspicuously feminist. harpandaltar.com/ha13/cellblock…

Reviews from Sylvia Dziewałtowska on Monica McClure and Eileen G'Sell on Mary Jo Bang, along with Mike Newton’s gallery reviews and a profile of Uljana Wolf by Elise Harris on the release of Wolf’s first book of poems in English translation.

One of my students is currently analyzing the 'girlbossing too hard' TikTok trend, which seems to be a modern-day iteration of the 'hot mess humblebrag' trend I wrote about almost ten years ago in Salon! salon.com/2015/08/10/the…

'Poetry is not a marketing strategy or even an aesthetic — it’s a whole way of looking at the world and its language, turning them both upside down in search of new meanings and possibilities.'

Thank you, Lindsay Zoladz. Couldn't agree more.
nytimes.com/2024/04/19/art…

Judith Butler joking about “Gender Trouble” and WHITE LOTUS on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me??! Not sure if I should be troubled or delighted—or both!

One of my favorite French films is playing this afternoon Hi-Pointe Theatre: Céline Sciamma’s PETITE MAMAN! I was honored to interview the filmmaker for Reverse Shot when the film first received wide release. reverseshot.org/interviews/ent…

This album should more aptly be called 'The Tortured Poets Program'. The academy stopped granting poets—even tortured ones—departmental funding years ago. #TaylorSwift

Love that FULL TIME, starring the inimitable Laure Calamy, is playing Hi-Pointe Theatre tonight as part of the Robert Classic French Film Festival Cinema St. Louis/SLIFF. Here's my review of Éric Gravel's fantastic film for Los Angeles Review of Books. lareviewofbooks.org/article/extrao…