Connie Willis: The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective

One of the chance finds I came across recently was Connie Willis' satirical take on War of Worlds. as Emily Dickinson's poetry might have captured it. If it was analyzed by an English professor. The final result is hilarious, if you're a writer.

This is a very short story in essay form that works on many levels and I can safely say it is one I'll be re-reading many times in my lifetime when I need a laugh.

I roll my eyes most of the time when I see people writing about poets. The writers tend to reveal they really have no understanding of what a poet really does or how they process the world. But Willis handles the material and all of its abusrdities well. You must absolutely read Connie's hilarious footnotes to get the full measure. If you've been in academia, poetry, and science fiction for a while, this one is well worth the time to read.

The DEMONSTRA and A Sticky Mess book release!

I know, it's been a few weeks since we had the book release party in Minneapolis for DEMONSTRA (Innsmouth Free Press, 2013) and Nor Sanavongsay's A Sticky Mess (Sahtu Press, 2013) on December 30th. 

We got some great coverage but hampered by inclement weather that hit as low as -17 degrees on a dark night. But we're really grateful to everyone who came to join us for the reading that night at the Lao American Cultural Center, which is also the home to the Lao Advancement Organization of America in North Minneapolis.

Here, we have Nor Sanavongsay signing copies for his readers.

Mali Kouanchao got a great shot of Nor addressing the audience about the inspiration for A Sticky Mess. We had approximately 45 to 50 people who joined us throughout the evening, and we're grateful to Dr. Khamchanh Phanthavong for the warm welcome to everyone. Saymoukda Vongsay shared two great stories, including her favorite Xieng Mieng story, and a story from a scary children's book project she's working on. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we see that one come out.

Here we have the table where our books were being sold, and visitors also got free posters! It was a great chance for Nor to meet many of his new fans and to get a chance to talk with the community about what else they hope to see from Lao publishers in the future.

You can get DEMONSTRA from Innsmouth Free Press and A Sticky Mess from Sahtu Press. Hopefully, we'll all also get a chance to return back to Minnesota in the Summer to meet even more readers!

N. Korea, Skyfall and the art of choice and democracy

An interesting article on the relation of pop culture to democratization. Is pop culture, modern art and speculative literature the perfect approach to addressing totalitarian models? It would not be a perfect process and in a worst case scenario you could emerge with shadow democracies where the people want the trappings of democracy but not the process that builds it. The wealth and glitz, the vice and lack of consequences. But still:

While making Secret State of North Korea for the investigative journalism series FRONTLINE, we found a group of defectors who are risking their lives once again to fight back against the regime of Kim Jong-un. 

As one of the smugglers said: "The men prefer watching action films," Jeong told us in his interviews for FRONTLINE. "Men love their action films. I sent them Skyfall recently. The women enjoy watching soap operas and dramas. The more people are exposed to such media, the more likely they are to become disillusioned with the regime and start wanting to live differently. Popular culture has the most important role in bringing about democracy in North Korea."

The article continued: "In the interviews we conducted for FRONTLINE with more than a dozen recent defectors, a picture emerged of a changing society. Each defector has a story of the moment he or she first saw the outside world in foreign films and television shows; the cars, the tall buildings, the abundance of food and the apparent freedom all made them question whether they really lived in the best country on earth -- as they are constantly told by the regime."

But on the other hand I can imagine it leads to all sorts of darkly comic scenarios:

"You are sentenced to death for illegal possession of White Girls."

"Human trafficking is horrible! You monsters!"

"No. The movie."

"And you didn't even get half of the jokes. Tragic!"

As artists, I can't help but think we have a responsibility to create the best works of art we can, even with our horrors and comedies, because there are people who will be killed for it under the right circumstances. Surely, we are obliged to make some of those deaths for something worthwhile. Another part of me say: It ought to be a riot when they get The Wolf of Wall Street.

Immigrant of Distinction Award call for nominees in MN, SD due Feb. 13th

The Immigrant of Distinction Award ceremony and festivities will be held at the Skyway Theater on March 6, 2014 in the evening. Mark your calendars.This year the theme of the award is the Immigrant Artist.

You can complete the nomination form for local immigrant artists you know who are deserving of special recognition for their work in any artistic field, from painting to spoken word to dance to culinary arts. Deadline is end of business day, February 13, 2014. Send your nominations by email to Matthew Armbecht at marmbrecht@gamlaw.net