Jack Detroit's Leah Moss

There's a wonderful interview with Jack Detroit's Leah Moss. Moss founded the men's magazine about a year ago, and it launched in May.
I love what she says in the interview about how vibrant Detroit is, and how it could benefit from support. I hate encountering the negative attitudes about the city, especially when it comes from people who have never been there and are relying on what they see on television.
I love her choice in the name Jack Detroit. I'm not sure how intentionally it was, but it makes me imagine a savvy, stylish art thief.
Congratulations, Ms. Moss, on the launch of your magazine!

Slash Artists

There's a great interview up today about Marcellus Hall, a musician/illustrator.  I love people who are more than just one kind of artist. (Joy Harjo?  Ethan Hawke?  James Marsters?  Check, check and check!)  As a general art nerd, I love the idea that someone could create within multiple genres and be just as respected for all of them. 
It's acutally pretty rare that happens though.  Edgar Allen Poe is the only artist I can think of who is equally respected for his poetry and his short stories, and in both cases, they are writing, so that might not count.  In the above examples I've listed, Harjo has a band but is better known as a poet, Hawke has published novels but is better known as an actor, Marsters has a band but is better known as an actor.  (In the interview, Hall lists several other examples.)  Many writers, once they have been writing in a particular genre, find it difficult to break out into another one.  I'm hoping this is a function of the capitalist system, that wants to peg people as one thing only.  I want to see more of these "slash" artists break out of their molds and do more and interesting things. 

Latina Poetry

Racialicious recently put up this great interview with poet Janet Romeo-Leiva. In it, she talks about the process of writing, independent publishing, and her favorite authors.

She suggests some great Latina writers, including Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Andulzua. Having read them myself, I can tell you that they're amazing. They write political poetry, which is some of the toughest poetry out there to write, because it is so hard not to become didactic and lose sight of the actual poetry. Also, if you like both of these poets, I'd also suggest Lorna Dee Cervantes, another fabulous Latina political poet.

Kay Ryan Interview

I found this great interview with our soon-to-be-ex poet laureate Kay Ryan. 
Her book The Niagara River has phenomenal poetry.  They are short and as tight as a drum.  She gets compared a lot to Emily Dickinson, and if you read her poetry, you'll see why very quickly, even though Ryan is a little more whimsical than Dickinson, and not so obsessed with death.
I'm really sorry that she'll no longer be the poet laureate, though I'm excited to see who gets picked next.  (My vote?  Carolyn Forche, though I would be happy if they went with Robert Bly or Pamela August Russell.) 

State News Article

As previously mentioned on the blog, I was interview for an article in The State News, which is the local paper here at MSU. Mostly, I sound like I know what I was talking about, though I wish she had chosen my more intelligent sound bites.

Interview

Last night, after I posted to you, I got an email from a State News reporter asking if she could interview me about "the Center for Poetry." I'm a shy person, so I wasn't really interested in being interviewed. My initial instinct was to say "no, I don't give interviews." But then I thought about the Center and how much they would appreciate my input, so I said yes.
When being interviewed today, it became clear that it was an interview about my research and my upcoming presentation. Oh. I mean, yes, I'm giving the talk for the Center for Poetry, but I was under the impression that she wanted to talk about what it was like working for them, not my other stuff.
Mostly, the interview went okay. I'll try to remember to post a link to the article once it comes out.