E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
TED, WE WILL MISS YOU...
| News Alert Mass. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Dies After a Yearlong Battle With Cancer 1:56 a.m. ET Wednesdaysday, August, 26, 2009 Edward M. Kennedy, one of the most powerful and influential senators in American history and one of three brothers whose political triumphs and personal tragedies captivated the nation for decades, died at 77. |
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
THE LITTLE e-NOTE: The 1 Question Interview.
Novelist Charles Johnson
How will your faith in Buddhism now shape your retirement from teaching?
After 33 years in higher education, I am now "letting go" of my attachment to teaching as a professor always "on call" at the University of Washington. I'll still do speaking engagements, of course, and visit the classrooms of others at different universities and colleges. But this is a "season" of my life that has served its purpose (I've been going to school steadily, as a student or professor, since I was five-years-old), and now it's time for me to move on. In ancient India, a life was often spoken of in terms of the four seasons. The season of youth was for study and skill-acquisition. The season of adulthood was devoted to being a householder and serving others through one's profession (see my novel Oxherding Tale), making money and using that for the benefit of one's family and society in general---for example, by creating scholarships for students, as I've done at my alma maters, Southern Illinois University and Evanston Township High School. (One's duty in this stage is to become rich in order to help others.) At age 50, one began another, third season, that of the home-leaver, who gives away his accumulated possessions and concentrates on spiritual practice to the exclusion of all else. (I work now on Sanskrit study every day so I can read the Buddhist sutras in Sanskrit and Pali.) The last season---winter or old age---was devoted to preparation for the great transition from what we call "life" to "death," to meeting our Maker, who made all our deeds during our lifetime possible, and merging with the All (visvam in Sanskrit). I am now at Stage or season Three, that of renunciation, of "letting go," but still serving as best I can, at age 61, from this particular station in life.
Running for political office somewhere in the United States?
Here are a few issues you need answers to.
- Homelessness
- Drug addiction
- Prison reform
- Long term unemployment
If you have no new ideas for solving these problems, there is no reason for anyone to vote for you.
Yes, these issues will demand time away from the mistress.
Here are a few issues you need answers to.
- Homelessness
- Drug addiction
- Prison reform
- Long term unemployment
If you have no new ideas for solving these problems, there is no reason for anyone to vote for you.
Yes, these issues will demand time away from the mistress.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Washington Redskins:
In 2009 this team could be 7-0 by their bye week in November. There should be no excuses. Of course the Giants could pow wow their butts on September 13th and the season could end before it even starts. But wait - how can you let Eli Manning beat you? New England still hides their lonely eyes and weeps.
Oh, and the Redskins could lose 8 games after they take 7.
All this team really needs is a dynamic punt returner, a new QB and 1 more WR.
If this team's defense is among the top 4 in the NFL - look for a playoff run.
I'm not even a Washington Redskin fan.
In 2009 this team could be 7-0 by their bye week in November. There should be no excuses. Of course the Giants could pow wow their butts on September 13th and the season could end before it even starts. But wait - how can you let Eli Manning beat you? New England still hides their lonely eyes and weeps.
Oh, and the Redskins could lose 8 games after they take 7.
All this team really needs is a dynamic punt returner, a new QB and 1 more WR.
If this team's defense is among the top 4 in the NFL - look for a playoff run.
I'm not even a Washington Redskin fan.
A NOTE FROM ALLEN HOFFMAN IN ISRAEL
Bar-Ilan University
אוניברסיטת בר-אילן
Department of English
Ramat Gan 52900 Israel
The Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing
התכנית בכתיבה יוצרת ע"ש שיינדי רודוף
Aug. 23, 2009
INTRODUCING CWSI AND MADELYN KENT
Dear Friends of the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing,
We are very pleased to announce that we are establishing at Bar-Ilan an undergraduate Creative Writing Semester in Israel (CWSI). Before telling you about the program, we would like to introduce to you CWSI’s orginator, founder and coordinator, Madelyn Kent. Although Judy Labensohn and I have been working closely with her in the development of CWSI, Madelyn quite literally brought the idea to us. She has sold it to us at Shaindy Rudoff, to the English Department, to the Faculty of the Humanities, and to the Bar-Ilan administration. MASA, the joint Jewish Agency and Government organization that supports short-term programs in Israel, has awarded her a $25,000 grant to develop CWSI. If this sounds somewhat remarkable, it is.
Madelyn Kent is a talented, visionary, enthusiastic new olah who is going to make this program happen in the spring semester of 2010. It may sound improbable, but we believe that Madelyn will make it happen. Madelyn is a playwright and screenwriter (MFA from N.Y.U.) and will teach a course “Writer as Witness” in the program.
She left for New York last week to recruit students in the States, and we have given her your name and suggested that she might contact you. If she does, we do hope that you will be responsive, as we believe that CWSI can become a very special program for undergraduates from abroad, for Bar-Ilan, and, particularly, for the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing.
And now we would like to introduce you to the CWSI PROGRAM.
CWSI: CREATE HERE!!!
Spring Semester, 2010
The first and only fully-accredited creative writing semester in Israel in English for undergraduates.
CWSI, Creative Writing Semester in Israel, is a study-abroad program administered by Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of the Humanities and English Department, in affiliation with the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing, Israel's only graduate program in creative writing in English.
CWSI is a highly selective program open to gifted, emerging writers. It combines the nurturing of students' creative talents with the intensive exploration of the relationships among writing, personal identity, Jewish Studies and the experience of living in Israel.
Coursework:
CWSI students take four courses: Writer as Witness; a Writing Workshop; a Jewish Studies elective; and an English literature elective,
All classes are given in English on the Bar-Ilan campus in Ramat-Gan, just outside of Tel Aviv. In addition, there will be an intensive non-credit Hebrew Ulpan offered during orientation.
Learning Beyond the Classroom:
Trips, volunteering, and other CWSI events are designed to help students begin to understand the rich historical landscape of Israel. As writers, students will be encouraged to discover, react, and find ways to express in writing what they perceive and learn.
Travel: Field trips to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Galilee and the Negev.
Volunteering: All students will volunteer during the semester at a social action project, alongside international and Israeli peers.
Cultural events: Students will attend literary evenings with Israeli authors, film screenings, and live performances, as well as visit museums and galleries. They will also be invited to participate in the many holidays and events, both religious and national during the spring semester in Israel. CWSI, as a Bar-Ilan program, is suitable for Sabbath-observant students.
Literary Journal: Students will publish their own literary journal at the end of the semester.
Faculty:
CWSI is delighted to announce that Joan Leegant, a returning instructor for the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing, will teach the first CWSI writing workshop in 2010. Her story collection An Hour in Paradise (W.W. Norton, 2003) won the 2004 L.L.Winship/PEN New England Award, the 2003 Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish Fiction and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Her novel Wherever You Go will be published by Norton in Fall 2010. Joan has taught creative writing at the Harvard Extension.
Madelyn Kent, Coordinator of CWSI, will teach Writer as Witness. A writer and theater director, her plays have been presented at several theaters in New York and Europe including New York Theater Workshop, The Joseph Papp Public Theater, and Soho Rep, where she is a founding member of their Obie-winning Writer/Director Lab. Her plays "Enoshima Island" and "Sachiko" are included in New Downtown Now (Edited by Young Jean Lee and Mac Wellman; Univ. of Minnesota Press). She holds an M.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she taught playwriting and screenwriting.
CWSI is fortunate to be affiliated with the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing—JEWISH TEXTS: CREATIVE CONTEXTS—the world’s only Jewish creative writing master’s program.
The SRGProgram is led by the distinguished award-winning authors and instructors, Allen Hoffman (fiction and Acting Director) and Linda Zizquit (poetry). Shaindy Rudoff’s students’ projects have been published as books and are under contract to publish with Random House, Hougton-Mifflin, and noted university presses; student stories and poems have been published in the finest literary magazines and journals. CWSI will share visiting writers with the Shaindy Rudoff Program. Since its inception in 2002, the Program has hosted the following distinguished instructors: Joseph Skibell, Melvin Jules Bukiet, Jane Bernstein, Jon Papernick, Atar Hadari, Mark Jay Mirsky, Steve Stern, Jonathan Wilson, Evan Fallenberg, Joan Leegant, Bret Lott, Jennie Feldman, Marcela Sulak, Richard Sherwin, Rachel Back, and Risa Miller. In addition we have also welcomed an extraordinary group of visiting writers.
Program Dates:
February 2010 - June 2010
Program Cost:
$12,000 (US)
This fee includes tuition, accommodation, overnight trips, cultural events, insurance, and a non-credit Hebrew Ulpan.
This fee does not include transportation to and from Israel, transportation to and from the airport, board, private Sabbath outings.
Eligibility/How to Apply:
Applicants must submit an academic transcript, writing sample (5-25 pages), and an academic recommendation.
Applicants must be twenty years of age at the start of the program, Feb. 2010.
Contact Madelyn Kent, Coordinator CWSI, for complete details and visit the web site:
http://ww.cwsiprogram.org
Email: kentma@mail.biu.ac.il
Tel. from outside Israel: 972-50-572-6677
or the Bar-Ilan English Department: 972-3-531-8236
Dear friends, if you wish to contact Madelyn, please do. We promise that Madelyn wll not be shy in contacting you. We invite you to help us recruit for CWSI and appreciate your efforts on our behalf.
With every good wish for the coming New Year, Leshana Tova,
Yours,
Allen
Bar-Ilan University
אוניברסיטת בר-אילן
Department of English
Ramat Gan 52900 Israel
The Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing
התכנית בכתיבה יוצרת ע"ש שיינדי רודוף
Aug. 23, 2009
INTRODUCING CWSI AND MADELYN KENT
Dear Friends of the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing,
We are very pleased to announce that we are establishing at Bar-Ilan an undergraduate Creative Writing Semester in Israel (CWSI). Before telling you about the program, we would like to introduce to you CWSI’s orginator, founder and coordinator, Madelyn Kent. Although Judy Labensohn and I have been working closely with her in the development of CWSI, Madelyn quite literally brought the idea to us. She has sold it to us at Shaindy Rudoff, to the English Department, to the Faculty of the Humanities, and to the Bar-Ilan administration. MASA, the joint Jewish Agency and Government organization that supports short-term programs in Israel, has awarded her a $25,000 grant to develop CWSI. If this sounds somewhat remarkable, it is.
Madelyn Kent is a talented, visionary, enthusiastic new olah who is going to make this program happen in the spring semester of 2010. It may sound improbable, but we believe that Madelyn will make it happen. Madelyn is a playwright and screenwriter (MFA from N.Y.U.) and will teach a course “Writer as Witness” in the program.
She left for New York last week to recruit students in the States, and we have given her your name and suggested that she might contact you. If she does, we do hope that you will be responsive, as we believe that CWSI can become a very special program for undergraduates from abroad, for Bar-Ilan, and, particularly, for the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing.
And now we would like to introduce you to the CWSI PROGRAM.
CWSI: CREATE HERE!!!
Spring Semester, 2010
The first and only fully-accredited creative writing semester in Israel in English for undergraduates.
CWSI, Creative Writing Semester in Israel, is a study-abroad program administered by Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of the Humanities and English Department, in affiliation with the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing, Israel's only graduate program in creative writing in English.
CWSI is a highly selective program open to gifted, emerging writers. It combines the nurturing of students' creative talents with the intensive exploration of the relationships among writing, personal identity, Jewish Studies and the experience of living in Israel.
Coursework:
CWSI students take four courses: Writer as Witness; a Writing Workshop; a Jewish Studies elective; and an English literature elective,
All classes are given in English on the Bar-Ilan campus in Ramat-Gan, just outside of Tel Aviv. In addition, there will be an intensive non-credit Hebrew Ulpan offered during orientation.
Learning Beyond the Classroom:
Trips, volunteering, and other CWSI events are designed to help students begin to understand the rich historical landscape of Israel. As writers, students will be encouraged to discover, react, and find ways to express in writing what they perceive and learn.
Travel: Field trips to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Galilee and the Negev.
Volunteering: All students will volunteer during the semester at a social action project, alongside international and Israeli peers.
Cultural events: Students will attend literary evenings with Israeli authors, film screenings, and live performances, as well as visit museums and galleries. They will also be invited to participate in the many holidays and events, both religious and national during the spring semester in Israel. CWSI, as a Bar-Ilan program, is suitable for Sabbath-observant students.
Literary Journal: Students will publish their own literary journal at the end of the semester.
Faculty:
CWSI is delighted to announce that Joan Leegant, a returning instructor for the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing, will teach the first CWSI writing workshop in 2010. Her story collection An Hour in Paradise (W.W. Norton, 2003) won the 2004 L.L.Winship/PEN New England Award, the 2003 Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish Fiction and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Her novel Wherever You Go will be published by Norton in Fall 2010. Joan has taught creative writing at the Harvard Extension.
Madelyn Kent, Coordinator of CWSI, will teach Writer as Witness. A writer and theater director, her plays have been presented at several theaters in New York and Europe including New York Theater Workshop, The Joseph Papp Public Theater, and Soho Rep, where she is a founding member of their Obie-winning Writer/Director Lab. Her plays "Enoshima Island" and "Sachiko" are included in New Downtown Now (Edited by Young Jean Lee and Mac Wellman; Univ. of Minnesota Press). She holds an M.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she taught playwriting and screenwriting.
CWSI is fortunate to be affiliated with the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing—JEWISH TEXTS: CREATIVE CONTEXTS—the world’s only Jewish creative writing master’s program.
The SRGProgram is led by the distinguished award-winning authors and instructors, Allen Hoffman (fiction and Acting Director) and Linda Zizquit (poetry). Shaindy Rudoff’s students’ projects have been published as books and are under contract to publish with Random House, Hougton-Mifflin, and noted university presses; student stories and poems have been published in the finest literary magazines and journals. CWSI will share visiting writers with the Shaindy Rudoff Program. Since its inception in 2002, the Program has hosted the following distinguished instructors: Joseph Skibell, Melvin Jules Bukiet, Jane Bernstein, Jon Papernick, Atar Hadari, Mark Jay Mirsky, Steve Stern, Jonathan Wilson, Evan Fallenberg, Joan Leegant, Bret Lott, Jennie Feldman, Marcela Sulak, Richard Sherwin, Rachel Back, and Risa Miller. In addition we have also welcomed an extraordinary group of visiting writers.
Program Dates:
February 2010 - June 2010
Program Cost:
$12,000 (US)
This fee includes tuition, accommodation, overnight trips, cultural events, insurance, and a non-credit Hebrew Ulpan.
This fee does not include transportation to and from Israel, transportation to and from the airport, board, private Sabbath outings.
Eligibility/How to Apply:
Applicants must submit an academic transcript, writing sample (5-25 pages), and an academic recommendation.
Applicants must be twenty years of age at the start of the program, Feb. 2010.
Contact Madelyn Kent, Coordinator CWSI, for complete details and visit the web site:
http://ww.cwsiprogram.org
Email: kentma@mail.biu.ac.il
Tel. from outside Israel: 972-50-572-6677
or the Bar-Ilan English Department: 972-3-531-8236
Dear friends, if you wish to contact Madelyn, please do. We promise that Madelyn wll not be shy in contacting you. We invite you to help us recruit for CWSI and appreciate your efforts on our behalf.
With every good wish for the coming New Year, Leshana Tova,
Yours,
Allen
D-Man on the AIR: Interview with R. Dwayne Betts
Here is the WYPR link: http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wypr/local-wypr-854054.mp3.
FUTURE SHOCK and weather forecast:
Future opposition to Obama will come from Republicans who will defend the Bush Administration's war against terrorism. It's also quite possible that the GOP will become the political party that is against the war in Afghanistan by the next presidential election. Look for the future leader of the GOP to be an isolationist in the Pat Buchanan mode. Lines will be drawn separating the US from the rest of the world. Many countries will be viewed as simply failed states. There will be tighter immigration restrictions preventing people from these nations from coming into the US. On the domestic level a one term Obama presidency will open up deep divisions and finger pointing within the Democratic Party. Depending on how close Obama might be defeated could create racial tremors around the nation. Any question about voting problems or rumors of another stolen election - just won't fly among many people of color. It's quite possible that we could experience a "bumper crop" of racist acts and activities. The return to normalcy or whiteness for the US is something various Right Wing groups desire. The problem is that this type of thinking is so outdated that it has a Custer smell to it. American will circle the wagons and label Muslims as the new Indians. What's next, broken treaties or torn Korans?
Future opposition to Obama will come from Republicans who will defend the Bush Administration's war against terrorism. It's also quite possible that the GOP will become the political party that is against the war in Afghanistan by the next presidential election. Look for the future leader of the GOP to be an isolationist in the Pat Buchanan mode. Lines will be drawn separating the US from the rest of the world. Many countries will be viewed as simply failed states. There will be tighter immigration restrictions preventing people from these nations from coming into the US. On the domestic level a one term Obama presidency will open up deep divisions and finger pointing within the Democratic Party. Depending on how close Obama might be defeated could create racial tremors around the nation. Any question about voting problems or rumors of another stolen election - just won't fly among many people of color. It's quite possible that we could experience a "bumper crop" of racist acts and activities. The return to normalcy or whiteness for the US is something various Right Wing groups desire. The problem is that this type of thinking is so outdated that it has a Custer smell to it. American will circle the wagons and label Muslims as the new Indians. What's next, broken treaties or torn Korans?
Tricycle's Daily Dharma
We are not our bodies
You should train yourself: Even though I may be sick in body, my mind will be free of sickness. That's how you should train yourself.... And how is one sick in body but not sick in mind? There is the case where an instructed noble disciple ... does not assume the body to be the self, or the self as possessing the body, or the body as in the self, or the self as in the body. He is not obsessed with the idea that "I am the body" or "The body is mine." As he is not obsessed with these ideas, his body changes and alters, but he does not fall into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair over its change and alteration. (Similarly with feeling, perception, mental processes, and consciousness.) This is how one is sick in body but not sick in mind.
|
School Days or Dazed?
Today students are heading back to school. The morning buses will be crowded with kids and parents. The schoolbags will be new and there will be a one day wonder with education. We forget that education is something that should take place for all the days of our lives. How many of our young people find reading boring and writing difficult? What skills does one need today to make it in the world? Today I will walk across the campus of Howard University again. I've been doing this since 1968. Has this been a slow or fast walk to freedom? I really don't know. Are students consuming the same things I did when I was their age? I came to Howard with three books in my foot locker. One was Black Power by Carmichael and Hamilton and the other two were Marshall McLuhan bibles. Out of high school in the Bronx I had seen the film "Color Us Black" on PBS, about the Howard University student movement. I was ready for the revolution but had no clue as to what a revolution was. Now it's years later and I realize the revolution took place within myself. I became a poet and writer, something I did not leave New York to become. It was at Howard that I suddenly found myself looking eastward. Islam and Buddhism joined the chorus with Christianity.I wrote home to friends and family about my awakening. I forced my words into poetry and slacks. Dress for success? Only now do I think I'm ready. The world continues to change and this is why one is either hopeful or disappointed with the young people I will see on the bus in a few hours. Do they understand the price of the ticket, or is it now just the quick swipe of the fare card? How much money is left on our cards? Where did all the homeless people go who once banged on the bus windows asking for those paper transfers? Where is Rosa Parks? Why is the light at the corner still red? What are we stopping for?
Today students are heading back to school. The morning buses will be crowded with kids and parents. The schoolbags will be new and there will be a one day wonder with education. We forget that education is something that should take place for all the days of our lives. How many of our young people find reading boring and writing difficult? What skills does one need today to make it in the world? Today I will walk across the campus of Howard University again. I've been doing this since 1968. Has this been a slow or fast walk to freedom? I really don't know. Are students consuming the same things I did when I was their age? I came to Howard with three books in my foot locker. One was Black Power by Carmichael and Hamilton and the other two were Marshall McLuhan bibles. Out of high school in the Bronx I had seen the film "Color Us Black" on PBS, about the Howard University student movement. I was ready for the revolution but had no clue as to what a revolution was. Now it's years later and I realize the revolution took place within myself. I became a poet and writer, something I did not leave New York to become. It was at Howard that I suddenly found myself looking eastward. Islam and Buddhism joined the chorus with Christianity.I wrote home to friends and family about my awakening. I forced my words into poetry and slacks. Dress for success? Only now do I think I'm ready. The world continues to change and this is why one is either hopeful or disappointed with the young people I will see on the bus in a few hours. Do they understand the price of the ticket, or is it now just the quick swipe of the fare card? How much money is left on our cards? Where did all the homeless people go who once banged on the bus windows asking for those paper transfers? Where is Rosa Parks? Why is the light at the corner still red? What are we stopping for?