Jackson Squared: The Heart of New Orleans By Tom Varisco (Chin Music Press) Reviewed by Cate Czarnecki The idea of Jackson Square and what it embodies has been fragmented over time in the minds of those whose lives intersect with it. As with any iconic public space, various prisms reflect the different versions of what … The never-changing, ever-changing scene: JACKSON SQUARED by Tom Varisco
Rebecca Solnit will give a live presentation titled “The Speed of Thoughts: Parades, Marches, Strolls, and Other Journeys Through Places and Ideas” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 9, in Nunemaker Hall at Loyola University New Orleans. The event is free and open to the public. By Nathan C. Martin I’m tempted to say that … On Solnit
Butcher’s Sugar By Brad Richard (Sibling Rivalry Press) Reviewed by Taylor Murrow The title poem in Butcher’s Sugar is one that wrecked me. If you read the book from front to back, it appears about a third of the way through. By the time you reach that poem—the one that begins “Beyond the candied peristyle … The Boy is Gone: Brad Richard’s BUTCHER’S SUGAR
Room 220 editor Nathan C. Martin spent a good chunk of last spring selecting locations and writing the first edition of the recently released Wallpaper* City Guide to New Orleans, published by Phaidon Press. Wallpaper* is a magazine based in the U.K. that covers design, architecture, interiors, fashion, and art, and their series of travel … Shameless Self-Promotion: Wallpaper* City Guide to New Orleans
By Ari Braverman In Moira Crone’s new sci-fi parable, The Not Yet, coastal flooding has turned the Gulf South into a wild archipelago. The New Orleans Islands are mostly a playground for Heirs, the decadent ruling class whose lives have been artificially extended for centuries and revolve around entertainment and vapid ritual. Naturals—or “Nats,” the … Any System of Thinking Holistically has been Totally Abandoned: An interview with Moira Crone
The wonderful Rebecca Solnit will give a talk at 7 p.m. on Jan. 9 in Nunemaker Hall on Loyola University New Orleans’ main campus. Stay tuned for a fairly gushing post by Room 220 editor Nathan C. Martin on the importance of her work to him. Solnit is currently at work editing a book of … Early warning: Rebecca Solnit at Loyola Jan. 9
Though it’s intended for a worldwide audience, this recent piece by Press Street co-founder Anne Gisleson in the Cairo Review of Global Affairs presents a more clear-eyed, comprehensive personal assessment of the city than any other I’ve recently encountered. It’s the city from Gisleson’s individual perspective, and like the rest of her work, this piece … The Cairo Review of Global Affairs: New Orleans, Marching On
By Clark Allen A few days after I read My Heart is an Idiot, a new collection of personal essays by writer, This American Life contributor, and Found magazine creator Davy Rothbart, something happened that got me thinking about it. I was at a bar with some friends. I don’t remember what sparked the conversation, … Sometimes Things Land Right: An interview with Davy Rothbart
By jewel bush When friend and fellow MelaNated Writers Collective member Kelly Harris suggested we bring poet, photographer, and word provocateur Thomas Sayers Ellis—cofounder of the Dark Room Collective—to New Orleans, I said: “Fuck yeah!” I jumped at the chance to hear TSE, the co-founder of the Dark Room Collective, read his work live: … … Of Folk and Form: An interview with Thomas Sayers Ellis
As those of us in the know are all too acutely aware, the end of the world is going to take place on December 21, 2012. We are not sure what will happen–will the universe simply implode in God’s hands? will a terrible virus spread like lightning, driving man and beast alike mad?–but we at … Room 220 anticipates the END OF DAYS — Dec. 10 and 13
