Category Archives: Uncategorized

An Author’s Statement

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Allen

In the last decade I’ve been writing mostly “fiction.” By that I mean not “non-fiction.” But genres are tricky, aren’t they? To write well, I advocate giving up all genres, and ignoring all the rules and admonitions (like this one), … Continue reading →

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Beefheart & Gormenghast

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Allen

Capt. Beefheart played at Goddard, the last summer I was around there, and although memory is inexplicably foggy about goings-on in Vermont in the late 60’s, it may have been the alternative media festival held there in 1970. Somewhere online … Continue reading →

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Swahili

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Allen

According to Google Translate, working from the English, the phrase “Unapaswa kula mavi ya tembo!” translates from Swahili into “You should eat elephant dung.” My Ugandan and Kenyan friends won’t tell me if that’s correct, so I’m not sure if … Continue reading →

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Death of The New Republic

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Allen

Thinking about The New Republic and what perhaps it really was, I’m reminded of the differences between “on-demand publishing” and conventional “traditional” publishing. The digital dissemination of music or writing is spectacularly disruptive, mainly because of the damage (or at … Continue reading →

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2015 Redux

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Allen

Upon closer inspection, 2015 has turned out to be almost indistinguishable from 2014. At least, the first week of ’15 sure as hell ain’t easy to differentiate from the last week of ’14. Come to think of it, I recall this same observation … Continue reading →

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Overdue Get-Together in the “New” Year

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Allen

Thank you all, once again, for the New Year invitations. They brought a strange synergy, augmented by reading your collective Skunk River Review pieces while listening to the Columbia University Orchestra playing the Fratres for Cello. Sadly, the outer walls of my … Continue reading →

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Leaving for Chicago?

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Allen

To all my clients, students, tutees, master classers, apprentices, assistants, disciples, and customers who are departing this week to Chicago: What to do in Chicago — hmmm — Leave? Since I’m in a poetry mood of late, I guess I’d … Continue reading →

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Multitasking

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Hall Monitor

Research shows that prolonged multitasking leads to long-term attention deficit disorder. Like we didn’t already know that. Jeez. Gotta run: baking a cake; writing a novel; shooting a video; designing a site; writing an app; building a bunch o’ stuff; … Continue reading →

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Our Floppy Disc Heritage

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Allen

Reminiscing recently on my wife Mary’s experiences running our first company, Datascan (aka Text Sciences Corporation) in southern California. We provided a media conversion service — moving documents from brand X word processors to brand Y. In those days before personal … Continue reading →

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Hell

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Allen

Folks have widely varying views of Hell, ranging from other dimensions filled with fire and torture tech to psychological modes of self-torment and fear. I have a somewhat different view of the place. If you went there, you’d find Hell is … Continue reading →

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