Vancouver poet Stephen Collis writes about the poetic resistance to another pipeline planned to transport oil sands slurry from inside western Alberta to market in Poetry vs. Oil. Right now, one major pipeline carries the goop to Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet, where it is loaded onto supertankers tourists can wave at from scenic Stanley Park. TheContinue reading “Poetry vs Oil (and bulldozers)”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
The Way: A Catholic movie for non-Catholics
My old friend and equaintance Lance Mannion wonderfully appreciates that small but touching movie, The Way, which came out last year. He captures so many aspects of the film, from Martin Sheen's ability to carry a movie with sheer grumpiness, to the underlying beauty of the story. The Way is a sweet, sad, funny, joyful movieContinue reading “The Way: A Catholic movie for non-Catholics”
When 1 + 1 = 3: Ken Burns on Story
A fascinating short film (in the Burns style) on what the documentarian thinks makes a good story: Sez Burns: Abraham Lincoln wins the Civil War and then he decides he's got enough time to go to the theatre. That's a good story. When Thomas Jefferson said "we hold these truths to be self-evident, thatContinue reading “When 1 + 1 = 3: Ken Burns on Story”
Robert Creeley: A Prayer
A Prayer Blesssomething smallbut infiniteand quiet. There are sensesmake an objectin their simplefeeling for one. Robert CreeleyFebruary 1966 [Editors note: Spelling corrected, pic removed — inappropriately pretty. Search continues] Continue reading “Robert Creeley: A Prayer”
The Last Myth: the problem with apocalyptic warnings
From a new book about the perils of apocalyptic thinking called The Last Myth. To understand why fewer people believe in climate change even as evidence mounts, we must look beyond the industry-funded movement to deny the reality and effects of climate change. Perhaps equally important — if not quite equally culpable — has beenContinue reading “The Last Myth: the problem with apocalyptic warnings”
Could one consultant mislead two SoCal water districts?
At its best, journalism is surely a joint enterprise. It's not a reporter that makes democracy workable, it's the press. Quotes from Thomas Jefferson come to mind. So it's very exciting to yours truly to see another reporter pick up and run with a crucial detail from a long story I wrote a few weeksContinue reading “Could one consultant mislead two SoCal water districts?”
Tweets: bird poems, by the season, from Marie Harris
These days when we hear the word "tweets" we may not think of birds. But Marie Harris, former poet laureate for New Hampshire, reminds us of the real thing with a quartet of lovely but tough poems about birds and their lives. I'll cite just the first, and encourage readers to search out the rest:Continue reading “Tweets: bird poems, by the season, from Marie Harris”
John D. MacDonald: Nature’s tricks of interdependence
The Florida-based mystery writer John D. MacDonald, who like his funny counterpart Carl Hiassen unabashedly displays a wide streak of caring for the land and the sea on which he lives, tells a story about the way of buzzards in The Lonely Silver Rain. This is the 21st and last of his great series of TravisContinue reading “John D. MacDonald: Nature’s tricks of interdependence”
For Mother’s Day, a spiked New Yorker cover
From a fun new site called Blown Covers, a New Yorker cover that could have been:
Mitt Romney: Worse than George W. Bush?
One of this country's lesser-known great writers, Edmund White, writes for The New Yorker about the Cranbrook School, where Romney and a gang of followers ritually humiliated a gay classmate in l965. White attended the school, just as Mitt Romney did, but a few years earlier, and as a gay person. He speculates about Romney's motivationsContinue reading “Mitt Romney: Worse than George W. Bush?”
Kit Stolz 