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I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork - Peter De Vries |
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FREELANCE WRITERS GUIDE Copies of the NWU Freelance Writers Guide are available from the DC Chapter for $15 plus $4.60 for postage, or call to arrange to pick one up at the office. NWU SHIRTS Advertise your NWU membership and help support the Union's programs with a T shirt: 3 styles are available for $15 each plus $1 postage - A black t shirt with "metaphors be with you" on the front and the NWU logo on the back. - A gray T shirt with "got contract" and a cartoon character of a startled writer on the front and information on the Grievance and Contract division on the back; - The mustard yellow t shirt bearing the NWU logo in blue and the UAW logo in green. All are currently available in medium, large and extra large. If you are interested, please send a check payable to NWU for $15 for each T shirt to NWUDC, 1757 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, and we'll see that you are dressed in union style.
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If you enjoy bowling, bowl with your fellow union members for the benefit of those more in need. The 17th Annual "Bowling for Gold" Union Bowling Tournament will be held on Sunday, January 25, 2009 in Crofton, Maryland. Teams bowl at 10 am or 1 pm. Have fun, win prizes and raise money for the Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO. If you're interested, email nwudc@prorev.com Conference on Narrative Journalism: March 20-22 - The theme for this year's conference, the premier annual event for narrative journalists in the U.S., is "Telling True Stories in Turbulent Times." More than 50 star speakers and hundreds of mid-career journalists will gather in Boston to celebrate the art of storytelling in every format and every medium. An early-bird rate of $375 will be offered until January 15. More information
 SEND US NEWS OF BOOKS, TALKS AND WEBSITES HAVE A NEW BOOK, a website or about to give a talk in our area? Be sure to send a note about it to us and we'll get it up on our website. Email STORIES ABOUT
How NWU-DC Beat the Master Business License NWU-DC members went toe-to-toe with big money and lobbied DC Council against needless fees and big brother intrusion in our profession. In July 2003, we triumphed. In 2004, we worked with labor and community to endorse our chief community ally on the council and oust the sponsor of the license scheme. When the challenger won, we won. |
HAROLD MEYERSON EXPLAINS THE HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE UAW Harold Meyerson, Washington Post - The UAW not only built the American middle class but helped engender every movement at the center of American liberalism today -- which is one reason that conservatives have always held the union in particular disdain. Over the past several weeks, it has become clear that the Republican right hates the UAW so much that it would prefer to plunge the nation into a depression rather than craft a bridge loan that doesn't single out the auto industry's unionized workers for punishment. (As manufacturing consultant Michael Wessel pointed out, no Republican demanded that Big Three executives have their pay permanently reduced to the relatively spartan levels of Japanese auto executives' pay.) Today, setting the terms of that loan has become the final task of the Bush presidency, which puts the auto workers in the unenviable position of depending, if not on the kindness of strangers, then on the impartiality of the most partisan president of modern times. . . FELLOWSHIPS & PRIZES The Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism. The Nieman Foundation is the new administrator of the Bingham Prize and will present the award for the first time in March. The cash award has been doubled from last year's amount to $20,000. The deadline for applications is January 9. The award honors investigative reporting of stories of national significance where the public interest is being ill-served. For more information The Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers encourages fairness in news coverage by daily newspapers in the United States. The application deadline is January 16. The cash prize is $10,000 for the winner and $1,000 for each of the top two finalists. Full details Metcalf Institute is now accepting entries for the 2009 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment, the world’s largest cash prize for journalism. Entries must have been published or aired by media in the U.S. or Canada between January 1 and December 31, 2008. The prize is open to all works of nonfiction, including print, broadcast, and online, covering significant environmental and natural resources issues. Book entries must be postmarked no later than January 12. All other entries must be postmarked by February 2. Entry details The Nieman Foundation selects at least 12 U.S. and 12 international journalists for Nieman Fellowships each year. The fellowships are awarded to working journalists of accomplishment and promise who come to Harvard University for a paid year of study, seminars and special events. More than 1,300 journalists from 88 countries have received Nieman Fellowships since 1938. The application deadline for the 2009-2010 academic year is January 31 for U.S. journalists. More information about the Nieman Fellowship program
The National Executive Committee and National Executive Board of NWU met November 14-16 at the UAW Region 9-A offices in Farmington, Connecticut. Ann Hoffman represented the Chapter at both meetings. The big news: NWU will end the year with some money in the bank. Deficit days, we hope, are behind us. The National and all Chapters are ending the year with positive balances. The bad news: NWU is continuing to lose members (the biggest exception during the past year was the D.C. Chapter, which grew by 17 members). One solution: In addition to trying to organize new members, the union and each of its chapters are planning a major effort to get lapsed members to rejoin. Several members of the D.C. Chapter have volunteered to call half a dozen or so lapsed members to encourage them to come back. If you are willing to make a few calls, please email annfromdc@aol.com. Other good news: Members have stepped forward to revitalize chapters in Washington State and Philadelphia. As you have no doubt heard or read, our parent union, the UAW, is confronting a serious threat to its 250,000 members in the Big Three auto companies. There is another side to the story than the one you have been hearing on the news. Julie Kushner, Assistant Regional Director of Region 9A of the UAW, spent some time with the NEC explaining the issues. To get the UAW's position, go to uaw.org. Ann's complete unofficial report on the NEC/NEB meetings has been posted on the Chapter list serv, NWU-DC at yahoogroups.com. NWU President Jerry Colby has completed a thorough analysis of the recent settlement between Google and the Authors Guild and other parties, which arose from Google's unauthorized digitalization of copyrighted works. To read Jerry's analysis, log on to NWU-DC at yahoogroups.com If you have not yet
signed up to be
on the list serv, here's a short cut: send an email to annfromdc@aol.com
and she will start the process. Sign up now for access to members-only
information and services. GOOGLE REACHES AUTHOR SETTLEMENT NWU - On October 28, Google announced an agreement with book publishers and authors that could have a major impact on all published writers. The agreement grows out of Google's efforts to create digital scans of the collections of university and research libraries and books obtained directly by publishers, including millions of out-of-print books still protected by copyright laws. As a result of the settlement, Google can now make a book available online for a fee, or show up to 20 percent of the text at no charge. Universities and libraries can subscribe, gaining access to the entire collection of scanned texts. Google will get 37 percent of the revenue, authors and publishers will get 63 percent. Google will pay $125 million to settle two copyright lawsuits. At least $45 million will go to pay authors and publishers whose books were previously scanned by Google. The money will also be used to establish a digital book registry to administer the new system of compensation and to resolve existing claims by authors and publishers. The settlement reflects both the opportunities and obstacles writers face in a rapidly changing digital world and underlines the need for writers to join and become active in the National Writers Union/UAW 1981, as the best way to protect our rights and our future. To read the New York Times article
on the agreement
We will have more to say over the coming weeks and months after a more detailed analysis of, and some practical experience with, the 320-page agreement. TEN WAYS TO COPE WITH THE FISCAL CRISIS Few working Americans are old enough to have experienced anything like today's financial crisis. With shock and horror, we've seen friends and family members lose their jobs, neighbors' homes go into foreclosure, and trillions of dollars in retirement savings vaporize. Our advice is, first of all, Don't panic. Remember, you're not alone. You have the support of a union looking out for your interests, and working to keep your benefits and your job safe. This support includes a host of money-management services available to you at Union Plus.com, where our mission is to help guide you down the path that will protect you best. HOW PRIVATE HEALTH
INSURANCE Testimony before the City Council My name is Stephen J. Ackerman. I am a self-employed writer living in Washington, DC. I am testifying on behalf of the DC Chapter of the National Writers Union, Local 1981 of the United Auto Workers. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my all-too-typical experiences as a self-employed person who lost access to affordable health coverage long ago. Applying for insurance in the individual market, I met rejection repeatedly for trivial, incorrect, seemingly trumped-up reasons. “It’s no accident,” a man who had just left a job at Kaiser Permanente told me. “They tell us to find ways to reject anybody aged 45 to 65.” One firm rejected me solely because, in an effort to be completely honest, I indicated that I might need inexpensive laser eye surgery to correct narrow angles some time in the future. So I inquired whether I could be covered if I had the procedure done now, at my own expense. The clerk checked, then told me no, that there was “other stuff” disqualifying me. Another insurance company said I could not get coverage because of seasonal allergies which would disqualify most of DC. Then I asked an insurance broker what to do. “Move to Maryland,” he said. “They have a good program in Montgomery County.” I don’t want to move. I like it here. Finally, I applied to CareFirst. They rejected me for current treatment for cataract, for “pernicious and anemia.” K. Peterson, R.N., who signed the rejection, further noted that I am obese, claiming that my “physician listed my height and weight as 5’7” 196 pounds” with Body Mass Index of 30.7. Nurse Peterson was wrong on every particular, as you can see. . . Councilmembers, I am not alone. The system is rigged, against older people and against the self-employed. Bill 17-934 begins to address the open enrollment concerns by making that option less of a bad deal. It could be strengthened by addressing actuarial corruption, making the process more transparent and subject to challenge. Washington State has standardized underwriting criteria. Perhaps the insurers’ blatant age discrimination might be curbed if they had to clarify all obstacles to acceptance up front, rather than trumping up new ones as they go along. There should be a way of responding to factually flawed decisions like CareFirst’s. Politicians pay much lip service to entrepreneurialism, yet the present health system is driving many self-employed workers from their careers with its “gotcha” underwriting practices. With our parent, United Auto Workers, NWU-DC believes that health care is a basic right that can best be served through a comprehensive, national single-payer health care reform plan. This reform plan should guarantee universal coverage to all Americans, without regard to age, income, health status or employment status. The Insurance Empowerment Amendment Act is a step in that direction for self-employed Washingtonians. SOME GREAT BENEFITS ARE AVAILABLE TO NWU MEMBERS The Union Plus program is available to every member of the National Writers Union, a local of the United Auto Workers. This month Union Plus announced some benefits that caught our eye. For the full list of benefits, go to www.unionplus.org and begin typing "auto workers." Here are some highlights: 1. If you live in Maryland or Northern Virginia and heat your home with oil, the Union Plus program can save you money. Check it out. 2. Applications are available now for 2009 scholarships to college, including community college, graduate school, trade or technical school. Those eligible to apply are current and retired members of the UAW, their spouses and their dependent children (including foster children, step children, and any other child for whom the individual member provides greater than 50% of his or her support). You can sign up to receive periodic notices of benefits at the Union Plus web site. MEMBERS ONLY BENEFIT FOR NWUDC MEMBERS: Help on Foreclosures: Many homeowners need help now to avoid foreclosures and can't wait for Congress to act . The AFL-CIO Now Weblog has collected tips from experts on what homeowners can do to save their homes. Click here now to read more. You can also contact the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO Community Services Agency for assistance at 202-974-8220. |
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| BOOKS BY NWU AUTHORS |
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Mistaken Innocence & the Urban Aristocrat by Tina Magee. Josephine Townsend debuts as a young black woman who struggles to find her own identity while living in the spotlight of her prominent husband, Maxwell Monroe Townsend, Jr., M.D. Initially, she feels the urban doctor is an answer to her prayers, especially having come from a rich family of upper-class blacks from the East Coast compared to her South-Central L.A. roots. But she later finds that her trophy-piece status is to improve his professional image and that their marriage is mostly filled with lies, deceit and the crippling disease of alcoholism. Still, with four beautiful children and a comfortable style of living, she feels that staying is much easier than leaving. After fourteen years of marriage, however, she begins to feel that she is only existing rather than living in such opulent surroundings of prosperity and abundance. Overtime, Josephine's mistaken innocence takes on a whole new dimension when she discovers the truth with her own eyes. Through prayer, faith, perseverance and hope, the obstacle that stands in her way eventually proves to be an opportunity, gradually shaping her into the woman she is destined to become.  LORETTA SCOTT HAS WRITTEN Yes I Can, a true story of a soldier/nurse, woman, and wife/mother who went to war and her undying courage and the Supreme Being that enabled her to weather the storm, before, during and after Desert Storm. A rich book about heroic courage and perseverance to survive the war after the war.  Lola
“Akua” Thompson: Having been a counselor for the past 5 years working with youth in the Washington, DC area, Lola has learned how important it is to share ourselves with the young people around us to help improve our communities and breathe hope into their lives. $14.95 paperback Soroma Company P.O. Box 1634, Temple Hills, MD 20748 (240)354-2630 [U.K. paper 11.95:]  POSITIVE OPTIONS FOR REFLEX SYMPATHETIC
DYSTROPHY (RSD): SELF-HELP AND TREATMENT by Elena Juris.  Greed and Good:  Tales From the Seven Seas: Karen Morris Collection. Publish America Children's novel, 60 pages packed full of Humor and Suspense stories: Learn how Marlowe the Bear outsmarts the old lady for breakfast; why the ostrich is superior to mankind, everywhere! Take a voyage around the world with Tales From the Seven Seas! Listed Price: $12.95  North Korea, South Korea is a short, accessible book about the history and political complexites of the Korean peninsula. "As John Feffer's new book shows, Bush administration crisis mongering about North Korea is no more believable than its intelligence on Iraq. Feffer's analysis is the most reliable, balanced report available on the Korean 'threat.'" - Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire  After 9/11, Kristin Henderson's husband ships out with the Marines, a Lutheran military chaplain headed for the war on terror. She's a Quaker pacifist -- he's not. In search of peace, she hits the road with her German shepherd, Rosie, crossing America in an old Corvette. From the start of this fast-paced memoir, published by Seal Press, Kristin's on a heartbreakingly funny adventure in how to give your life meaning even when you don't like the road you're on. As she explores the back roads of a changed country, she worries about her husband and questions her belief in nonviolence, just as she earlier questioned her belief in Christianity.  A DEPARTURE FROM THE SCRIPT, by Rochelle Hollander Schwab
won the Lambda Literary Foundation's Self-Published Book Award
(women's books). In this "A delightful novel
about family, marriage and |
 In We Will Be Heard noted political scientist Jo Freeman chronicles some of the struggles of women in the United States for political power. Most of their stories are little-known, but Freeman’s compelling portrait of women working for change reminds us that women have never been silent in the political affairs of the nation. From J. Ellen Foster's address to the 1892 Republican Convention to Nancy Pelosi's 2007 election as the first female Speaker of the House, women have worked to influence politics at every level. Well before most could vote, women campaigned for candidates and lobbied to shape public policy. Men welcomed their work, but not their ideas. Even with equal suffrage women faced many barriers to full political participation.  WHISKEY IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN: In these 44 poems Browning examines the joys of the female body but also the torments. Venturing beyond the personal landscape, Browning fearlessly navigates the political: raised in an activist family, she marched against the Vietnam War at age five and at nine, campaigned for George McGovern for president. In a voice Martín Espada calls "tough and funny and smart," these poems alternate between the heartbreaking and the hilarious. Whiskey in the Garden of Eden can be ordered online or contact editor@WordWorksDC.com. Mary Shomon's latest book, The Thyroid Hormone Breakthrough: Overcoming Sexual and Hormonal Problems at Every Age was published in late 2006 by Harper imprint Collins. Shomon's agent is NY-based Carol Mann. Shomon, a patient advocate who also runs the Thyroid site for the New York Times-owned About.com network, has done six books with Harper Collins since 2000.  BOATS, BIKES, AND BOXING GLOVES: ADVENTURE WRITER IN THE KINGDOM OF SIAM Adventure writer Antonio Graceffo began his eight month long odyssey by living with forest monks, studying kick boxing in Thailand's last Muay Thai Temple. He rode his bicycle to Burma, walked to the top of Chiang Mai's tallest peak, and was the first to attempt to trace the Doi Saket River to its source. A departure from his standard, self-serving brand of humorous, if narcissistic and somewhat offensive, adventure writing, he spent time with the Akha Hill Tribe and documented the plight of a marginalized people. From a canoe trip down the Maekok river, to accompanying tribal people on a hunting trip with cross bows and muzzleloaders, the book is funny, informative, and meaningful.  THE MONK FROM BROOKLYN: AN AMERICAN AT THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE Antonio Graceffo was lucky enough to be one of the few, and this is the chronicle of his experience. Antonio has twenty-five years of experience with martial arts, so it is with a knowing eye that he observed the training at the temple. But it is his background that gives him a very unique perspective. An Italian-American from Brooklyn, New York, and a former investment banker, Antonio was educated in some of the best universities that Europe and Asia had to offer. His articles are informative, humorous, and irreverent. He doesn't pull any punches writing about the filthy conditions and the diminished mental capacities of people who spent a lifetime learning to kick, but never bothered to learn to read and write. The title says it all. Put a Chinese-speaking Italian-American, from Brooklyn in the holiest of Buddhist temples, and watch the racial harmony flow.  THE DESERT OF DEATH ON THREE WHEELS After studying at the Shaolin Temple during the SARs crisis and then living in Thailand for eight months learning the art of Muay Thai, adventure writer Antonio Graceffo decided to rest his body. So, he chose to cross the Taklamakan Desert - on a three-wheel bicycle. Not the "rest" he expected! Then, he accepted an invitation to play in the world famous Elephant Polo tournament held in Thailand. Many amazing and unexpected things happen during these two adventures! This is a must read for anyone who enjoys real-life aventure stories.  Angela M. Peabody was born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia. Her mom, who was mayor of Marshall, Liberia, and her dad, a very popular politician helped to shape Angela's world, and her interest in reading and writing. By the sixth grade, she had won her first award for writing, and had recited publicly the Liberian Declaration of Independence, a 30 page document, all from memory. This set the stage for her imminent career in broadcast journalism, as a major celebrity in Monrovia, before being exiled to America. Her love for writing had remained intact, and Ms. Peabody set out to pen a novel that was based on the true coup d'etat of her beloved Liberia. She is currently undertaking her second writing project, a biography of a native of Sierra Leone, whose rags to riches story is remarkable, who currently resides here in the states, and who asked Ms. Peabody to write her biography after reading the first release of Exiled in hardcopy (2003). Now, Angela excitedly releases a second edition paperback of Exiled, with a few additions, changes and twists that readers will find exhilarating. The book Unconditional Love was born of Exiled's lead character, Madia Tailgate. The contents truly support the title, with 12 inspiring poems written by Ms. Peabody and her life shattering story of surviving the coup d'etat in Liberia, 25 years ago. Readers will be on the edge of their seats, absorbing every word, experience, tragedy and triumph, and will then look for more from this very talented author who's future is extremely bright. |
 SARAH POSNER HAS A NEW book : God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters. God's Profits examines the unholy alliance between a new breed of corrupt televangelists and the Republican Party, which is eagerly courting "values voters" in the nation's largest megachurches. Author Sarah Posner exposes the activities of Kenneth Copeland, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, T.D. Jakes, and other politically connected, skillfully marketed, and increasingly influential religious leader s. Preaching the "prosperity gospel" - the notion that faith and tithing alone can ensure financial security - both in their churches and over the airwaves, these charismatic leaders scam the gullible even as they enjoy unprecedented access to top Bush Administration officials. Susan Elizabeth Pattishall: "A twenty-first century satire on the vital side, Witchgate is the story of spying without trying. Narrated in the first person, it takes the reader into the imaginative wanderings of a witch's mind. With realism and fantasy, the author and Sebastiana, the witch, take you to matters that depict the slapdash side of the 1980s to the present. Showing mystic intuition that is definitely realistic, witch identification is not always respect for the netherworld. It is a secret world of intense, counterclockwise awareness. The story is almost a spy's handbook."  TO KNOW YOU Jeanne Eck A portrait of Egyptian daily life, the people in Egypt, their faith, and culture, viewed through the heart of a western woman. In October 2000, I visited Egypt as a tourist. As soon as my feet touched her ancient soil, I knew I had come home. I fell in love with not only the people in Egypt, but the ebb and flow of Egyptian daily life. Four months later, I packed up my life in the United States and moved to Cairo. I didn't know the language or the rules a single midlife woman would be expected to live by in a predominately Muslim country. I went anyway. Each day I embraced the opportunity to observe the melding of Egyptian daily life with her magnificent history and modern culture. I had promised family and friends, many of whom were horror-struck by my decision to relocate to Egypt for an undetermined amount of time, that I would stay in touch. It was too time consuming to write individual letters, so I wrote one. From the responses I received, I knew that when I shared my observations about the culture and the people in Egypt from my heart, I touched the hearts of others. My experiences, the lives of the people in Egypt I met, my laughter, my pain, and how I chose to deal with it evolved into I am Happier to Know You.  IDENTITY CRISIS (Quiet Storm Publishing 2005). Attorney-turned-author Debbi Mack has written the first in a series of hardboiled mystery novels featuring lawyer/sleuth Stephanie Ann "Sam" McRae. A domestic abuse case turns deadly, when the alleged abuser is killed and Sam's client disappears. When a friend asks Sam to find Melanie Hayes, the Maryland attorney is drawn into investigating a complex case of murder and identity theft, that has her running from the mob, breaking into a strip club and forming a shaky alliance with an offbeat private investigator to get to the truth about Melanie and her boyfriend. With her career and life on the line, Sam's search takes her from the blue-collar Baltimore suburbs to the mansions of Gibson Island. Along the way, she learns that false identities can hide dark secrets, and those secrets can destroy lives. "IDENTITY CRISIS grips you from the first page. - "Roundtable Reviews  Poetic Voices Without Borders is an edgy collection that transcends regional as well as cultural borders on many levels. Nearly 150 poets, including Karren L. Alenier, John Amen, Antler, Grace Cavalieri, Alfred Corn, Jim Elledge, Jewelle Gomez, Joy Harjo, Peter Klappert, Lyn Lifshin, Marta López-Luaces, Jaime Manrique, E. Ethelbert Miller, Richard Peabody, Myra Sklarew, Gloria Vando, and many others, provide superb work that ranges from the individual to the collective we, from the sublime to the provocative, from the social to the political, in a variety of styles.  DISCIPLINED MINDS by Jeff Schmidt:The hidden root of much career dissatisfaction, argues Schmidt, is the professional’s lack of control over the political component of his or her creative work. Our system of professional education and employment abusively inculcates an acceptance of politically subordinate roles in which professionals typically do not make a significant difference, undermining the creative potential of individuals, organizations and even democracy. Schmidt details the battle
one must fight to be an independent thinker and to pursue one’s
own social vision in today’s corporate society. ot JOHN DINGES - THE CONDOR YEARS: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents (The New Press 2004), by John Dinges. OUT Feb 2 . . . FOREIGN AFFAIRS: "Dinges' account includes much new disturbing information and some remarkable revelations, particularly about the relationship of the United States to the Latin American intelligence agencies responsible for the Operation Condor assassinations and other systematic human rights violations . . This is a remarkable book and a major contribution to the historical record" |
JOSHUA BERLOW Send us your website and we'll post it.  DIANE DIEKMAN - A farm girl's memories of life in the Hidewood Valley in 1963  At Berkeley in the Sixties: The Education of an Activist, 1961-1965: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY - Only 16 at the time, jO Freeman entered Berkeley in 1961, when the nascent social and political activism of the '60s was percolating. In prose that is by turns pedantic and moving, Freeman revisits her journey through those swirling, exciting and disillusioning times. Using her own diaries and letters as well as FBI files and other documentary sources, Freeman switches back and forth between her recollections and her more measured observations as a scholar reflecting on these times.  ALSO BY JO FREEMAN : A ROOM AT A TIME: HOW WOMEN ENTERED PARTY POLITICS. Explores women's entry into party politics from the mid-19th century to the mid-1960s. Women did not wait for suffrage to become active in politics. By the end of the 19th Century, women were specializing as feminists, reformers or party women. The book won the Leon Epstein award in 2003, for a work "that makes an outstanding contribution to research and scholarship on political organizations and parties." JOSHUA BERLOW, INSANITY FACTORY A mostly true account of an involuntary mental hospitalization, demonstrating that the profit motive plays a defining role in psychiatric treatment. The narrator was hospitalized after claiming that there was a new incurable venereal disease, before anyone had heard of AIDS. After release from the mental hospital, the narrator has various adventures: life in an urban commune, telemarketing for a gargantuan publishing company, travel to New Mexico, working in a delicatessen, and studying physics. Insanity Factory is a modern coming-of-age novella that includes a recipe for brown rice burgers!  HOW WE SLEEP ON THE NIGHTS WE DON'T MAKE LOVE by E. Ethelbert Miller Publisher: Curbstone Press, 2004. Author of seven previous collections of poetry, award-winning author E. Ethelbert Miller gives us a rich variety of poems dealing with love, family, racism, and the joys and vicissitudes of daily life. . . "On nights when we don't make love, it might be helpful to have some of E. Ethelbert Miller's alluring and captivating poems nearby. As intimate as they are seductive...they should be just as enticing even on nights when we do make love." - Edwidge Danticat. ROBERT L. GIRON'S translation of Jesús Gardea's posthumous poetry collection entitled "Canciones para una sola cuerda / Songs for a Single String" (Gival Press) was one of three finalists in the 2003 Crown Violet Award for Poetry/Literary Prose; the prize is sponsored by Barnes and Noble and the Texas' League of Writers.  THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS has published the second edition of Linda Rabben's first book, "Brazil's Indians and the Onslaught of Civilization," for classroom use. The first edition came out in 1998 and sold out over a five-year period; the second edition is updated and contains two new chapters.  IMAGINING EACH OTHER Blacks and Jews in Contemporary American Literature Ethan Goffman Imagining Each Other explores Black-Jewish relations by examining the complex ways the two peoples have portrayed each other in recent American literature. It illuminates dramatic alliances and conflicts and dilemmas of identity and assimilation, and addresses the persistent questions of ethnic division and economic inequality that have so encompassed the Black-Jewish narrative in America. Focusing primarily on the 1960s and its aftermath, the book reveals how Jewish and African Americans view each other through a complex dialectic of identification and difference, channeled by ever-shifting positions within American society. WHY BOTHER? - Living in a culture that has reduced their role to that of compliance and consumption, Americans increasingly react with anger, anxiety or apathy. In this highly readable short book, journalist and social critic Sam Smith takes on this crisis not as a political issue but as a personal one: how does the individual survive in such a place? Smith confronts directly despair and survival, approaches to personal rebellion, speaking truth to power, suicide and false faith, the loss of democracy, and what to do when nobody cares whether you do it or not. RECOMMENDED READING |
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