The New Yorker - Discussion

[Rosewood]

Funny thing.
For now I don't think I'll be renewing my subscription to TNY.
I seem to have lost interest.
Going back to the Obama cover, perhaps.
I don't know...
But I'm feeling disinclined to send them my money.

I'll probably change my mind in a couple of months, but for now.
I'm letting the thing lapse. (Well, I'm in until December, so I may feel
differently by then.)

I'm just generally listless lately about mostly everything.
Though I am focused like a laser on the election.
Go figure.

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Well-- maybe one thing at a time Rosewood --

Although they did have a good article on how we vote -- the ballot system -- last week.  I just read it yesterday.

I cheered me up because they reported that paperless machines have been so unpopular that many states are retiring them and return to paper ballots.

IMO, no one would invent a paperless voting machine unless somebody ASKED for it.  The very idea is ludicrous.

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

This week's New Yorker has an interesting article about the dynamics that contribute to teen pregnancy for abstinance-only Christian evangelist girls.

[CANSTANDIT]

My scrip to NYM has run out, darn it, in the last few weeks, and I barely noticed it. I've been consumed with work and the Election.

I guess I better renew. I know I'm missing some good fiction, and I haven't even seen the captions in weeks...that is highly unusual for me.

Hi, Everyone!!

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Hi JO!

What can we do if Rosewood isn't reading the New Yorker?

Anyway, I encourage you to re-up. 

I am still hanging on by my fingernails, trying to keep up with all this New Yorker imparted wisdom.

There is a good article about Thomas Friedman in last weeks' mag, I am still reading it.

[Rosewood]

Last week's New Yorker had a great many articles on Obama
and the election. Lots of excellent writing and interesting stuff.
Including a really thoughtful and well-written piece on why McCain lost.

MUCH better than the Time magazine on which I spent five bucks!

Well, I haven't re-upped yet, Ellen.
I'm having to finagle my budget for the next couple of months.
But once things brighten up, I think I'll renew.
So there is hope!

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Did anyone read the recent short story about the people trapped in space 

yikes

[CANSTANDIT]

Hi, folks..I let my subscription lapse, so I'm out of touch on the New Yorker, but some exciting news:

Antonya Nelson, short story author of 'Or Else', which was pub. in the New Yorker and we all read a few months back, is going to be at Changing Hands in Tempe, AZ on Feb 18th,. I just found out-it's this Wed. That story was about the guy who takes his girlfriend 'home', which is the house of the neighbors he used to hang out with-then the daughter comes home with a relative's ashes and catches them roosting there, remember? Great, odd story....anyway, she has a collection out. I'll report back if I manage to make it there Wed. night. (Pres. Jimmy Carter was there last night-he signed two copies of his new book for me-he has some blue eyes, let me tell you! Very benevolent, congenial man. He exudes quiet authority, and he really does connect, even if just for a few seconds...I told him "Thank you Mr. President for your work in the Middle East and my Mom wants you to know she voted for you"  Now we can all die happy..I'm sending her one of the books.) Changing Hands is a successful independent bookseller that has managed to hang on for decades, and has gotten some really good names to appear over the years.

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Jo, that is so cool --

I would love to meet Jimmy Carter!

Maybe he'll come to my town soon --

I hope you get to see Antonya Nelson.

I have been catching up on my New Yorkers-- some good stuff but I have the dates all mixed up so I can't comment on them-- I'm reading mags that are months old in some cases.

At least I can skip the political stuff, since we know how the election came out.

 

[CANSTANDIT]

Hi, Ellen_I've missed you. Hope you are well. I'm thinking of re-subscribing, now that I've got more evening time on my hands, again.

[CANSTANDIT]

Antonya Nelson was delightful-she read half of one of the short stories in her newest collection.

Here are some of her thoughts:

-She thinks of "shape", rather than "plot" in writing;

-She always kept an indexing system of places to send manuscripts as they got rejected by other places-she says she kept in mind that publishing is a business;

-I told her I belonged to a forum that had discussed "Or Else" for a couple of days, and she was like, 'REEEEALLLLLYYYY?'

-She thinks it behooves a writer to figure out their temperament early on, ie, are you a short story writer, or a novelist?
She says she is scared of multiple plots, as in novels; she likes to work' in a small room with just a few people'.

-These days she only writes a couple of stories a year.

anyway, just some feedback. I bought one of her books, and she signed it!

[Jer009]

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=29453

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Hey Jo, I've missed our New Yorker discussions too!  I am so buried in STUFF I am always behind in my reading and especially wish I could enter the photocaption contests, but I'm way behind on that.

So I hadn't seen your post before, sorry I missed it! 

How great you got to meat Antonya Nelson!  Did you pull an Annie Proulx on her?  What I mean is, did you ask a burning question about "Or Else"   

Like "Where did you get the idea for the story?" 

Antonya Nelson was delightful-she read half of one of the short stories in her newest collection.

Here are some of her thoughts:

-She thinks of "shape", rather than "plot" in writing;

-She always kept an indexing system of places to send manuscripts as they got rejected by other places-she says she kept in mind that publishing is a business;

-I told her I belonged to a forum that had discussed "Or Else" for a couple of days, and she was like, 'REEEEALLLLLYYYY?'

-She thinks it behooves a writer to figure out their temperament early on, ie, are you a short story writer, or a novelist?
She says she is scared of multiple plots, as in novels; she likes to work' in a small room with just a few people'.

-These days she only writes a couple of stories a year.

anyway, just some feedback. I bought one of her books, and she signed it!

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Hi Jer --

That is a really cool picture on your link!


OK, the reason I came in here today was because I read the Mar 3 New Yorker a couple days ago, and I just can't get over that Rahm Emanuel keeps his desk spotless.  (because my desk is so relentlessly piled with stuff)

I loved how his first grade teacher told his parents that Rahm Emanuel's personality was "larger than life"  (first grade!)

But he has a clean desk, and that just really irks me. 

He is busy talking to people.  Maybe that's why. 

[CANSTANDIT]

Hey Jo, I've missed our New Yorker discussions too!  I am so buried in STUFF I am always behind in my reading and especially wish I could enter the photocaption contests, but I'm way behind on that.

So I hadn't seen your post before, sorry I missed it! 

How great you got to meat Antonya Nelson!  Did you pull an Annie Proulx on her?  What I mean is, did you ask a burning question about "Or Else"   

Like "Where did you get the idea for the story?" 

Antonya Nelson was delightful-she read half of one of the short stories in her newest collection.

Here are some of her thoughts:

-She thinks of "shape", rather than "plot" in writing;

-She always kept an indexing system of places to send manuscripts as they got rejected by other places-she says she kept in mind that publishing is a business;

-I told her I belonged to a forum that had discussed "Or Else" for a couple of days, and she was like, 'REEEEALLLLLYYYY?'

-She thinks it behooves a writer to figure out their temperament early on, ie, are you a short story writer, or a novelist?
She says she is scared of multiple plots, as in novels; she likes to work' in a small room with just a few people'.

-These days she only writes a couple of stories a year.

anyway, just some feedback. I bought one of her books, and she signed it!

I lost my nerve!