Here is the second guest post (the first was from Rhiannon Richardson), from the Montgomery County Community College Writers’ Festival workshop. Linda Hubbard-Cooke writes: “I grew up in a small town on Lake Erie in northern Ohio and have lived the past 17 years in suburban Philadelphia with my husband and two . . .
Read MoreI say what I think. Perhaps that’s a bit of an understatement. I say what I think about a multitude of things and often when I’m saying what I think I am in direct conflict with what a majority of people may be thinking about the same thing, or I am at . . .
Read MoreAbout a month ago I spoke about blogging at the Montgomery County Community College Writers Conference. Given that the people who were in attendance were, for the most part, writers who were thinking about blogging but had not set up a blog of their own, I offered them my space so they . . .
Read MoreTwo years ago I was in Sri Lanka, getting ready to return home to ordinary life. Life that had to go on, life that would, with all its accompanying routines. As I sat in the home I had grown up, surrounded by all the things that my mother had left behind, quite . . .
Read MoreTwo days ago the vast state of Pennsylvania woke up to news of a fresh scandal involving allegations that a coach at Penn State University sexually assaulted and abused at least eight student-athletes in his care. You can read more about the case here. Below, a few snippets form the case: Sandusky, . . .
Read MoreThe wars that permeated my childhood were those that were internal to my country, Sri Lanka. Therefore everybody was involved. There was no refuge from it, no matter your social status, particularly if you were male. You could be killed going to market, you could be abducted from your dorm-room, you could . . .
Read MoreI am over at The Rumpus with a review on Steve Almond’s new collection of fiction, God Bless America(Lookout Books/UNC Wilmington, October 2011). You can read the whole post here. Below, a short excerpt: …God Bless America, a collection that should be seen as part of a body of work intent on . . .
Read MoreThat’s how long it has been since my mother passed away. In that time I have continued to hear from people who either read my post here about her or the essay or the interview about that essay over at R.kv.r.y. I have read about her or heard her echo in many . . .
Read MoreI am over at the Huffington Post and Common Dreams today, writing about tomorrow’s request from the Palestinian Authority that the State of Palestine be recognized as a member of the United Nations. Here’s an excerpt: It has been 36 years since the UN adopted General Assembly Resolution 3379 condemning Zionism as . . .
Read MoreI’m over at the Huffington Post with a review of Justin Torres’ debut fiction, We the Animals (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 2011). It is a gem of a book. Here’s an excerpt (below). You can read the entire review here. We the Animals will surely find a cozy home among the burgeoning . . .
Read MoreI’m over at the Huffington Post today, writing about Clinton’s recent visit to India and her meeting with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (and ardent supporter of the LTTE and separatism), J. Jayalalitha. You can read the full article here. Here’s an excerpt: It is usually the case that America’s foreign . . .
Read MoreNot long ago I wrote a piece for Huffington Post Books in response to those who were being critical of Meghan Cox Gurdon’s Wall Street Journal piece on YA Literature. I write for many fora both online and in print and it has always been my policy not to respond to those . . .
Read MoreI have a brother who writes (another who does not and many more “brothers” who are engaged in doing good things in the world). People who know me know how much I admire this writer-brother of mine. Over the years I have tried to organize his poetry (he has a collection out), . . .
Read MoreThis is a piece from a speech I gave not too long ago. A person who was there wrote me a lovely note and asked me to post the text of this particular section and so, here goes: Perhaps the constant for any immigrant is our disassociation with a specific place even . . .
Read MoreI’m over at the Huffington Post today writing about the waiters at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. There’s an excerpt (see below). You can read the full article over at the Books site. When the doors bang shut behind you, in that way that old, wooden doors do, and the odor of . . .
Read MoreI am over at Azadnegar Intl. Free News Agency, mulling over the death of Osama bin Laden and, more importantly, America’s reaction to it. Here’s an excerpt (see below). The full article can be accessed over at Azadnegar or at the Tehran Times online. One of America’s foremost writers, Joan Didion, in . . .
Read MoreJust a few days ago, the husband of my college room-mate, a guy I’ve only met once (at their wedding), who serves in the American military whose wars I cannot condone, posted this line as his facebook status update: “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and . . .
Read MoreI’m over at the Huffington Post today, writing about debut novlist, Shehan Karunatilaka, a Sri Lankan writer with talent to burn. You can read the interview over there. Here’s an excerpt. On April secnd, Sri Lanka takes on India in the final for the ICC World Cup. What better day on which . . .
Read MoreThere’s always enough blame to go around. There’s always a nice fat chunk of it that can be placed upon the sturdy shoulders of parents the world over. That’s in fact one of the undeniable contributions of parents to society – because you can’t blame the government for everything. Children are born . . .
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