"The Artist Adversarial Instinct"

"Avant-gardes are by nature combative," Harold Rosenberg wrote. The uneasy relation between artists and society is sometimes replicated in the relationship between artists and their audience. The objective may be to shock the establishment, to shame it, to express outrage, or simply to exempt oneself from its strictures. By such measures, it may be argued, the avant-garde artist keeps the conscience of the time.

Lehman, David._The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York
School of Poets_. New York: Anchor, 1999.

"Live Reading"

Hi Everyone!

I'll be the featured reader at an upcoming MFA Reading at Roosevelt University. It's next Tursday, April 21st at 5pm. I specifically requested a time that I was sure none of my friends could make due to work schedules. Okay, seriously, this is the kind of scheduling that can only happen in a university where it's thought that people don't have lives outside of academia. However, if you happen to be there, it'll take place in the Old Faculty Lounge on the second floor of the Chicago campus. I'll be reading a selection of my most recent poems and perhaps a little creative nonfiction. I'm almost finished with this goddamn degree! Thank the gods! I hate writing!

"I'm so BORED!"

I was awakened by the alarm this morning. That almost never happens to me unless I haven't gotten enough sleep or . . . well, there really isn't any other reason. But, the fact is, I did get enough sleep. I think I was just unconsciously reticient about going to work today. I'm so bored with my job, my MFA studies, and life in Chicago in general. I had a pleasant enough weekend. Did the usual things (worked out, saw friends, etc.) but it's the mediocrity of it all that makes life seems so dull. Truth is, I don't even feel like writing this entry right now but at the same time, I feel like I have an obligation to keep it up. Just like I have an obligation to go to work and to keep up with my studies and to keep livin life until it feels worth it again. Don't worry! This isn't the woe of a severly depressed person. Or, maybe it is but don't worry too much about me nonetheless. If I can just get through to May, I'll be getting out of here for a week and completing my final semester at the same time. Can't wait! HURRY!