Political Art

I work at an art gallery, and this was my first time in since they put up a new exhibit, featuring political printwork. It's really cool. I had to spend a little time looking through all the great stuff. They also put out newspapers that cover various people's movements, and I picked one up for myself.
And, in addition to that, I found the next issue of Arthur, which is this zine that I occasionally publish with. I wasn't published in this latest issue, but once they put the pages online, I'll be sure to post it for you. It was such agony to see all this cool stuff to read but to have to work on Blaise Pascal's Pensees, which I'm reading for a class, instead.

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.

Havana Red

Readers: Spoiler Alert! This review does not reveal the murderer of Havana Red, but it does indicate who it is not.

Havana Red is the first mystery novel in Leonardo Padura's The Four Seasons Series. This novel is about Mario Contre, a detective working through the murder of a young gay man found in women’s clothes in an Havana park. Conte goes through the usual subjects, the victim's family and his one friend, an elderly gay playwright, exploring modern Havana in decline.
So much of a mystery novel is in convincing the audience that the city or other surroundings are rotten to the core. Havana, the major city of Cuba, a country in ruins, is a perfect place for a mystery novel, and Padura wisely uses this to his advantage.
But as someone who is pro-LGBT and interested in Latino Cultural Studies, I found myself disappointed by the depictions of the two gay Latino men in the novel. The victim is aimless and no longer gets along with his father, but is close with his mother and former nurse. The victim’s closest friend is Alberto Marqués, an elderly gay man who once wrote plays. By the time of the novel, he’s living in a large, falling down house. He is a creeper, watching the detective in intimate situations, and encouraging the homophobic things said against him. Throughout the novel, he’s the character that the audience can enjoy disliking and pin for the murder, even though he isn’t. Although there may be truth to these stereotypes, this is still just another novel that relies on old ideas about the gay community, and does little to subvert them.
As for the rest of the novel, it’s just boring. The detective is predictably broken and miserable, and works it out through creative writing. The novel takes a maddening detour near the end to feature a short story the detective writes. Even that short story is boring, and it draws out the conclusion of the novel. This novel needed serious trimming down and a rethinking of its cliches.

Even More Upcoming Events

If the last two posts I had about upcoming events weren't enough, there are also two events going on Friday.

April 16 Master Poetry Class with Catherine Bowman 11 am-1 pm 110 Morrill Hall
Catherine Bowman is a poet and Ruth Lilly Professor at Indiana University. She has published several poetry books, including 1-800-HOT-RIBS and Rock Farm, and has won numerous awards, including the New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in Poetry. Her work has appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including Best American Poetry, River Styx, The Los Angeles Times, An Exhilaration of Forms, Ploughshares, Conjunctions and TriQuarterly. To RSVP, email Robin Silbergleid at silberg1@msu.edu. Please bring a sample of your creative writing to work on.

April 16 Catherine Bowman Poetry Reading 3 pm 213 Morrill Hall
Again, the same poet will be reading her work. I really love her poem "I Want to Be Your Shoebox." There's something really child-like about the poem, but it's exactly how I feel about certain boys in my life.

More Upcoming Events

As promised, I have another set of upcoming events that are happening in and around MSU.

April 14 The Poem as Vehicle 3 pm Snyder Hall Common Area
Christine Rhein, who is reading next week, will be giving a talk about the poem as a vehicle. Ms. Rhein will be talking about the elements that work together to make an effective poem and show the audience the kind of trial and error that goes on it creating poems, making it easier for the audience to engineer poems.

April 14 Nineteenth-Century Women Crusaders and Poets 7 pm C204 Snyder Hall
This is the presentation that I keep mentioning here on the blog. I'm going to be talking about some activist women poets who wrote about politics. I'll be focusing on Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Ann Plato, Eliza Lee Cabot Follen, Sarah Louisa Forten and Francis E.W. Harper. I'll be discussing their poetry and the racism and sexism that they both fight and accidentally defend.

April 22 Red Cedar Review Issue Release Party 7:30 pm Scene Metrospace
The Red Cedar Review, the nationally-known literary magazine here at MSU, will be celebrating the release of it's next issue. Everyone is welcome to come by to hear some of the author's of the new issue read.

April 29 Poetry Chalking in front of Phillips
The Center for Poetry often has poetry chalkings in the Spring. Basically, you can just bring yourself and the Center will give you a poem and chalk to decorate the sidewalk with. (You're allowed to bring your own poems, if you'd like, but you're not required.) I've always had a great time at these kinds of events, especially if it's a beautiful day.

Like before, all these events are free and open to the public, so make sure you stop by for some of them.

Ten Mississippi

Tonight, Steve Healey read as part of the Center for Poetry's Spring Reading Series. I really loved it. Dr. Healey has a great sense of language and beat. It was easy to see the influence of a lot of poets, particularly the New York School Poets. (Which was unsurprising, given that he once talked to be about Frank O'Hara.) I was also surprised to discover that his poetry is funny. There's a wonderful imagination there, one that sees things so differently. I was really impressed with the reading and the work.
He read mostly from his forthcoming book, Ten Mississippi. I liked that he had science poems, like "Terminal Moraine." My recent poetry seems to be filled with science metaphors (like "On Why Bureaucracies Work the Way They Do.") He gave a great reading. It's too bad that he'll be leaving MSU soon. He's been a great professor and I think he's been a wonderful addition to the school.

House on the Haunted Hill

Readers: Spoiler Alert! Don't read if you haven't seen the movie.

House on the Haunted Hill follows a millionaire, Frederick Loren, played by the brilliant Vincent Price, and his contestants as they play a game in an old house believe to be haunted. The goal: stay for an entire night without dying. At the same time, Vincent Price’s Loren deals with his fourth wife, Annabelle, (Carol Ohmart) who is less than interested in playing this game. All of the contestants, predictably, have ulterior motives for wanting to win the game, most desperately using the money to save themselves. If this movie was being made today, things would quickly devolve into a dog-eat-dog reality show. The contestants are not all the kind to stick their necks out for one another, but they do show a lot more caring for one another than the average reality show contestants do.
The film is beautifully shot. The use of shadows in this movie is particularly impressive. Early on, there’s a scene in which Nora (Carolyn Craig) is stuck in the basement, and the light pools around her and Lance (Richard Long) in just the right way.
And, unsurprisingly, Vincent Price gives another wonderful performance. Price’s performance when interacting with his wife is particularly interesting . The story seems to be written with the wife being the villain, the one that the audience is suppose to root against. But Price is so menacing in the scenes with Annabelle that it’s clear he is abusive, probably to the point of being a murderer, since it's stated in the movie that all his other wives have since died under mysterious circumstances. Price’s performance subverts the intention of the script and complicates the movie. As modern viewers, we’re left to pity his wife, who dies trying to save herself from two unfortunate options. Price becomes the villain, one who is, by the end of the movie, triumphant.
This is definitively one of the better old horror movies out there. The special effects are not impressive, but few movies from this time hold up against CGI and hyped movies like Avatar. Price's performance and the cinematography make it worth watching.