tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52014722012-01-18T09:17:29.091-06:00Sensitive. Melodramatic. Up to No GoodTimothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.comBlogger9601100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-37862601642912957652012-01-17T16:31:00.002-06:002012-01-17T16:31:56.365-06:00

"Tiger Mom" Amy Chua returned last month with a new essay in the Wall Street Journal. She's a little more circumspect, a little more "hands-off." But don't worry. She's still a better parent than you are. Chua's older daughter is now in college (at Harvard, of course). Tiger Mom is constantly looking over her shoulder, right? Wrong! That's for inferior Western "helicopter parents," who have to

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-17371198459171188862011-12-29T15:55:00.002-06:002012-01-02T11:53:24.217-06:00

(image via bigWOWO) I've been amazed by the response to my last post on Asian American studies--some great comments here and even more discussion on Facebook, and even a shout-out from angry asian man. It seems like the state and place of Asian American studies is something a lot of people have been thinking about, although I get just as strong a sense that people are eager for a more open

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-7398215732599518642011-12-20T22:03:00.000-06:002011-12-22T17:19:03.847-06:00

Episode 1: The New York Times publishes a review of the learning center at Heart Mountain, one of the sites of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Halfway through, the piece takes a hard turn toward historical revisionism. Internment was "more the rule than the exception" and was applied to other ethnic groups too. Japan was a "racist, militant society" and many Japanese Americans

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-19886530624633084822011-12-18T16:47:00.001-06:002011-12-18T16:47:36.632-06:00

In March 2003--more than eight years ago--I ended my first blog post with these words: I don't think it's a coincidence that I'm feeling compelled to start one of these things at the very moment that the U.S. has engaged in a mad war on Iraq. The blogger, the poet, and the dissenting citizen seem to have a lot in common these days: they're all trying to make themselves heard in a culture that

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-5804071274033697442011-07-21T16:55:00.004-05:002011-07-21T18:28:40.621-05:00

for Wendi Dengtiger tiger tiger wifewonder woman volleyball spikeif you have an Asian wifemaybe she’s not just a gold-digger?tiger wife or trophy wife?slam-down sister or socialite?bright pink jacket and pencil skirtnot like gold-digger who wants old man hurtWendi Deng is a Power Rangerwith Crazy Asian Magic Powerswas in Red Army? trained to kill?agile PYT hit like a girlCrouching tiger? flying

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-36413684305971858872011-02-09T00:20:00.004-06:002011-02-09T14:31:26.282-06:00

Kartika Review and poet Bryan Thao Worra have thrown down the gauntlet. Can we find 500 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders--10 from each state--who love Asian American literature?The 500 Project is seeking responses from Asian Americans in all 50 states. The goal is to find at least 500 "writer activists who will express without equivocation that Asian American literature matters" in order to

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-81397831884992914942011-02-02T15:20:00.009-06:002011-02-04T00:34:19.378-06:00

Amy Chua’s new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, has provoked controversy for its supposed argument that Chinese mothers are better than American ones. But don’t be fooled. Chua’s book is not about being a Chinese mother. What Chua’s actually doing is inventing a new model of high-stakes, high-pressure, middle-class American parenting—and calling it “Chinese.”Chua’s book leads us into a

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-29412730919353175912011-01-01T23:58:00.006-06:002011-01-02T22:29:05.096-06:00

The New York Times Book Review has a feature up on “Why Criticism Matters,” with six book critics opining on the continuing value of literary criticism. Is it necessary? Is it dead? Here’s my question: what does the NYT mean by “criticism”? They don’t just mean “reviews,” since (as the editors point out) we’re awash in those, from stars to rotten tomatoes to likes and dislikes. And they

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-31691264598618852082009-01-31T11:03:00.005-06:002009-01-31T11:10:57.537-06:00

My new book, Race and the Avant-Garde: Experimental and Asian American Poetry since 1965, is now available from Stanford University Press. You can get it directly from the press website, through Amazon, or through a really esoteric bookstore near you.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-16525591965945082762008-03-09T16:58:00.008-05:002008-03-09T20:51:38.639-05:00

Here's the paper I gave on Thursday about poetry blogs at the "Markets: From the Bazaar to eBay" conference held by the University of Toronto's Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies. Special thanks to Jonathan Mayhew, Eileen Tabios, and Del Ray Cross, who emailed in response to my call for contributions and whose comments I incorporated into the paper. I didn't see Barbara Jane Reyes's

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-66832818224229736652008-02-28T18:15:00.003-06:002008-02-28T18:25:44.701-06:00

If you're a poet who blogs (or someone who blogs about poetry), I'd love to have your input on a talk I'm giving at a conference next Thursday here at the University of Toronto. The conference is on "Markets" and is being sponsored by the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies. (Full program in PDF can be found here). I proposed my topic a long time ago, so you'll have to forgive that

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-16283123682778105162008-02-06T21:21:00.000-06:002008-02-06T23:22:51.796-06:00

So there we were, three Americans in Toronto on Tuesday night, watching MSNBC streaming on a Mac desktop monitor and each of us with laptop open on our laps and hitting refresh on our browsers. Nerds.I knew I'd be obsessing about the Super Tuesday results, but it's not like you can go to a Canadian sports bar and demand that they put on CNN. So why not have company? Add that we're all

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-59938500526194144002008-01-22T21:54:00.000-06:002008-01-22T22:26:36.714-06:00

While I'm not crazy about the ongoing Barack Obama-Bill Clinton smackdown, I get why it works for both campaigns.As we saw in the quick "truce" over Hillary's comments on Martin Luther King, Obama and Hillary Clinton realize that direct attacks on each other (especially on volatile issues like race) are tricky. If she attacks him head-on, she risks looking mean-spirited and petty (and at worst

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-71292255103564880722008-01-19T23:18:00.000-06:002008-01-19T23:54:09.133-06:00

This is totally awesome. The Nevada Democratic Party site has caucus-by-caucus results, which means you can see exactly how each candidate did at the casino caucuses. The theory was that these at-large caucuses would help Obama, since the culinary workers' union (which represents many casino workers) had endorsed him. It doesn't seem to have worked out that way--Clinton edged him out in most

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-35881139708028889122008-01-19T19:26:00.000-06:002008-01-19T19:32:41.966-06:00

While everyone is reporting that Hillary Clinton has won the Nevada caucuses, it appears that Obama will be awarded more delegates in the end. Quoth DailyKos: "Obama wins Nevada."So...shall we call it a tie and move on?

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-300082211241099122008-01-18T23:31:00.001-06:002008-01-18T23:36:02.339-06:00

for Steve HalleDear Mongolian Death Worm,No one is safe from my bureaucracy of cheese. We may as well pretend that this high-salt Easter is a peanut of plenty. But digging deeper we find overt Elizabeth, filthy with time. Yes of course this is straight from the heart.Now I am in my spidersuit and running for Wolf Catcher of the World. Don't think you'll tell me how much you "like" me: I

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-86370672404347044942008-01-17T17:48:00.000-06:002008-01-17T18:08:25.992-06:00

Came across this wacky post from the Times (UK) Online suggesting that Al Gore would be a great candidate...for vice president, with Obama at the top of the ticket. Now I think Al Gore is great and all, but this seems like a profoundly dumb idea. (Okay, you can't blame this guy for coming up with the idea: see also here, here, here, and here, for starters.) Here are the columnist's 10 reasons

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-55270125141074548382008-01-16T16:39:00.000-06:002008-01-16T16:45:28.312-06:00

Timothy Yu's Facebook profileIt should also tell you something about where my current energies lie that I'm assuming the only way anyone will even know I'm making posts here is when they see it in the feed on my Facebook profile.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-56539471380443112182008-01-16T16:00:00.000-06:002008-01-16T16:36:53.662-06:00

I am weirdly realizing that this blog has been inactive far longer than it was ever active. Looking back at my archives, it seems like my most active posting period lasted only from about March 2003 (!) to August 2004--just under a year and a half--which was followed by a 6-month gap. So that makes over three years of mostly sporadic posting.Maybe it's not surprising that the urge to blog

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-51815059459781467132008-01-09T18:12:00.000-06:002008-01-09T18:44:53.978-06:00

Okay, so it's been, oh, 6 months or so since my last entry. But I'm popping back up to share the slew of photos I took at the MLA marathon reading in Chicago. I tried to get a shot of every reader, but I think I missed a couple at the beginning and maybe in the second half when I got up to stretch my legs and raid the snack table. Aldon Nielsen's pics put mine to shame (he got that darn

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-40400306389809007022007-07-22T10:06:00.001-05:002007-07-22T11:35:01.176-05:00

Welcome to our OETRY.Notice there is no "P" in it.Please keep it that way.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-6255314431889392542007-07-22T06:33:00.000-05:002007-07-22T06:42:42.327-05:00

They enter wearing poem-proof vests.Each is armed with a Poetry Magazinetotebag. In close formationthey swarm the free tables for copies of Makeand Stop Smiling. The chorusof pixies falls silent. Smokersare escorted to the loading dock.No more free half-hot dogs with everythingfor you, I'm afraid. We fleewearing nothing but hard hats and suspenders.But still the door won'tclose. Disperse,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-48824894700775080352007-05-29T00:51:00.000-05:002007-05-29T00:57:15.349-05:00

Series Apresents a special poetry reading in conjunction withJuan Angel Chavez 's Speaker ProjectThursday, May 31, 7:00 p.m.Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. CornellfeaturingTim YuErika MikkaloSarah LangRay BianchiJoel CraigErica BernheimAbout the Speaker Project:Chicago based artist Juan Angel Chavez will create a multi-directional, multi-layer sound experience at the Hyde Park Art Center from April

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-73272986015421278902007-05-17T23:57:00.001-05:002007-05-18T00:08:21.589-05:00

Originally uploaded by tympan. Lessons learned at an evening of comedic poetry at Myopic:1. Fixed forms are funny. The more elaborate, the better. 1a. Sestinas are especially funny (McSweeney's). Septinas are even funnier (Joyelle McSweeney).2. Repetition is funny. Especially if you repeat the names of2a. Animals (Aaron Belz).2b. Body parts (Gabe Gudding).3. Anaphora is funny.4.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-29678892306021623762007-04-19T19:10:00.000-05:002007-04-19T19:11:21.468-05:00

A middle-aged man with frayed pant cuffs sitting in a comfortable armchair in a suburban Borders cafe leafing through the most recent issue of Autopistols.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-56655160348803270242007-04-16T20:27:00.000-05:002007-04-16T20:37:36.978-05:00

MYOPIC POETRY SERIESpresentsTim Yu & William AllegrezzaSunday, April 22, 7 pmMyopic Books1564 N. Milwaukee Ave, Wicker Park, ChicagoTIM YU won the Vincent Chin Chapbook Prize for his collection Journey to the West, which appears in the Winter 2006 issue of Barrow Street. His work appears in Seven Corners, 2nd Avenue Poetry, Chicago Review, and SHAMPOO, as well as in the forthcoming anthology The

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-12308719048339333332007-04-12T15:30:00.000-05:002007-04-12T15:31:06.523-05:00

brother's address. Solmes. father. Solmes. brother. Solmes's favour.father's power.Lovelace? sister, if I married him.Lovelace. family. father's hands.Lovelace.younger sister. man.Solmes.sister.man's own. sister loves!virtuous man.mother.father.family.that man!family.father?] Solmes? family.If you canfamily.mother. other man's favour.brother. family. Solmes.man? mother's. Solmes!]

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-77210347624941382452007-04-03T14:56:00.000-05:002007-04-03T15:07:44.641-05:00

I'll be in New York from Thursday to Sunday attending the Association for Asian American Studies conference. While I'm there, I'll be doing two readings: one on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Lolita for Paolo Javier's 2nd Avenue Poetry (with Emmy Catedral, Kevin Coval, Thom Donovan, Wanda Phipps, and Sukhdev Sandhu) and another on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Verlaine for Kundiman (with Marlon Unas Esguerra,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-15968786655408877272007-03-29T00:22:00.000-05:002007-03-29T00:26:40.876-05:00

I am thinking about the parallels between a T-shirt that saysIt's a black thing. You wouldn't understandand It's a language thing. Let me explain.There is a whole raft of things to say here about how the label "language poet" might or might not resemble the label "woman poet" or "black poet," but you'll just have to wait for the book on that one.Meanwhile, I guess my T-shirt would have to

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-32907238900121454882007-03-21T17:42:00.000-05:002007-03-21T17:45:24.556-05:00

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-48197547251719987622007-03-18T15:56:00.000-05:002007-03-18T15:57:41.831-05:00

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-72619468571027350542007-03-02T20:38:00.000-06:002007-03-02T23:05:12.059-06:00

I've got a few poems up in the March issue of Concelebratory Shoehorn Review, edited by Maurice Oliver. They were originally written as postcard poems in correspondence with Del Ray Cross back in July 2003. I've been publishing a number of these poems in various places the past few months, and there's a weird nostalgia around them for me: I'm just realizing that they were written during my last

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-59952907468123046732007-03-01T16:41:00.000-06:002007-03-01T16:45:30.514-06:00

I'm the featured poet this week in the Chicago-based blog journal Seven Corners, edited by Steve Halle. (Warning: the photo of me looking relaxed and summery can be blown up to an alarmingly large size.)

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-32683231387425525922007-02-17T15:57:00.000-06:002007-02-17T16:45:42.801-06:00

The new Winter 2006 issue of Barrow Street is out, and nestled snugly in its center is Journey to the West, a 15-page selection of my poems that won the 2006 Vincent Chin Memorial Chapbook Prize. Thanks to the folks at Kundiman, which sponsors the prize (and which is also sending me to their summer retreat at the University of Virginia in June). I also have to give a shout-out to Roger Pao,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1166075675885807172006-12-13T23:50:00.000-06:002006-12-13T23:56:52.020-06:00

* Volume 2 features work by ANSELM BERRIGAN michael coffey ERNEST CONCEPCION kevin coval DEL RAY CROSS thomas fink ROB FITTERMAN drew gardner RIGOBERTO GONZALES donna ho FANNY HOWE brenda iijima PAOLO JAVIER jack kimball SERENA LIU paolo manalo NOAM MOR joyelle mcsweeney BRUNA MORI daniel nester MANUEL OCAMPO tim peterson WANDA PHIPPS sreshta premnath MEREDITH QUARTERMAIN peter quartermain

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1163569834802469662006-11-14T22:55:00.000-06:002006-11-15T00:03:27.646-06:00

At this past weekend's M/MLA convention in Chicago, Bill Allegrezza assembled a panel on "Experimental Poetics in Contemporary Chicago," with Bob Archambeau, Garin Cycholl, Ray Bianchi, and myself. Since Bob has been kind enough to post his paper at his blog, I thought I'd follow suit.I think it’s fitting that two of the four papers on this panel have question marks in their titles. Because I

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1162275227049126852006-10-31T00:11:00.000-06:002006-10-31T00:13:47.093-06:00

Next month’s groundbreaking conference Drawing the Lines: International Perspectives on Urban Renewal Through the Arts at Indiana University Northwest will feature an urban poetry panel on Thursday, Nov. 2 from 12:15 p.m. until 1:30 pm in the IU Northwest Savannah Center Auditorium.Four published poets will recite their works during this presentation and will also discuss what it means to be an “

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1157420797028827842006-09-04T20:06:00.000-05:002006-09-04T21:31:39.193-05:00

Myopic Poetry Series presentsPAOLO JAVIER and TIM YUSunday, September 10, 7 p.m.Myopic Books1564 N. Milwaukee Ave., ChicagoPAOLO JAVIER is the author of 60 lv bo(e)mbs (O Books), and thetime at the end of this writing (Ahadada), which received a Small PressTraffic Book of the Year Award. He edits 2nd Ave Poetry, and lives in New York.TIM YU's poetry and prose have appeared in Chicago Review,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1152644928242832452006-07-11T14:07:00.000-05:002006-07-11T14:08:48.300-05:00

series A, a new reading series, is hosting its first reading on Thursday, July 20, at the new Hyde Park Art Center at 6:00 p.m. The featured readers will be Kerri Sonnenberg and Chris Glomski. I invite everyone to come out and celebrate the launch of a new series in Chicago and to celebrate the writing of these wonderful poets. For more information, please see http://www.moriapoetry.com/

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1150764941945178702006-06-19T19:55:00.000-05:002006-06-19T19:55:41.976-05:00

An unexpected trip to Boston, plus a cold I picked up there, pretty well knocked me out for the past week and a half. Meanwhile this discussion has gone a few more rounds and should perhaps be left alone. But it's surprisingly persistent. In my last post I tried to outline two modes of using Asian stereotypes in contemporary poetry--the ambivalent and the ironic--and I do still want to see if

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com104tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1149547235125537872006-06-03T18:42:00.000-05:002006-06-05T18:35:47.930-05:00

Hoo boy. So I was in San Francisco last weekend (more on which soon) and heard some murmuring about a Michael Magee poem that had caused a stir at a recent reading by talking about "Asians." That poem, of course, was "Their Guys, Their Asian Glittering Guys, Are Gay", and after some pointers from Barbara Jane Reyes and Brent Cunningham I found the discussions going on about the poem at Minor

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1148959747512166462006-05-29T21:07:00.000-05:002006-05-29T22:29:07.603-05:00

Thanks to Ron Silliman for pointing to my review of Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation--although it is a bit disturbing to think that this is the best available picture of me.It's always illuminating to hear someone else summarizing your argument, which often brings out things that you may not have noticed yourself. Silliman's pithy precis defines the three "generations" of Asian

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1148187843431873492006-05-21T00:01:00.000-05:002006-05-21T00:04:33.410-05:00

[New Orleans] Mayor Ray Nagin, whose shoot-from-the-hip style was both praised and scorned after Hurricane Katrina, narrowly won re-election over Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu on Saturday..."It's time for us to stop the bickering. It's time for us to stop measuring things in black and white and yellow and Asian."Um...

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1148015465012195852006-05-19T00:05:00.000-05:002006-05-19T00:11:05.023-05:00

I've signed up as a blogger for Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, the spinoff of the Asian American organization within the Howard Dean campaign. I'll be making occasional posts (with a couple other bloggers) over there on politics and Asian Americans. This may protect all of you from having to hear so many political rants from me. Unless of course you like that sort of thing, in which

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1147929072316159052006-05-18T00:05:00.000-05:002006-05-18T00:15:20.823-05:00

The Senate...backed construction of 370 miles of triple-layered fencing along the Mexican border Wednesday...The vote to build what supporters called a "real fence'' - as distinct from the virtual fence already incorporated in the legislation - was 83-16. The fence would be built in areas "most often used by smugglers and illegal aliens,'' as determined by federal officials. Sen. Jeff Sessions,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1147926576580668522006-05-17T23:26:00.000-05:002006-05-17T23:29:36.593-05:00

I was kind of hoping that this was a joke, but apparently it's not.Chinese restaurant syndrome is a collection of symptoms that some people experience after eating Chinese food.Following this logic, I propose that obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer be relabeled American food syndrome.Don't worry, though.Most people recover from mild cases of Chinese restaurant syndrome on their

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1147495785524864002006-05-17T20:53:00.000-05:002006-05-17T20:58:30.646-05:00

The second issue of Galatea Resurrects is up, including a reprint of my review of Victoria Chang's Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation. It's a good opportunity for me to try to respond to the interesting discussion around reviewing--particularly of Asian American poets--that's been going on the past couple weeks.Barbara Jane Reyes has been asking some tough questions (parts 1, 2, and 3)

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1147463490061651262006-05-12T14:50:00.000-05:002006-05-12T14:51:30.070-05:00

Seen on a pickup truck parked in front of my house, printed on a red background:If this sticker is blue, you're driving too fast.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1147213889918541292006-05-09T17:30:00.000-05:002006-05-09T17:31:29.930-05:00

POEM PRESENT Reading and Lecture SeriesUniversity of ChicagoWednesday, May 10LECTURE by Lyn Hejinian: "The Return of Interruption"Rosenwald 405, 1101 E. 58th Street5:00pmFREE/OPEN TO THE PUBLICSponsored by POEM PRESENT & THE PROGRAM IN POETRY AND POETICSThursday, May 11READING by Lyn Hejinian Social Sciences 122, 1126 E. 59th Street5:30pmFREE/OPEN TO THE PUBLICSponsored by POEM PRESENT & THE

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1146950643905030392006-05-06T15:48:00.000-05:002006-05-06T19:16:49.453-05:00

Why can't I go out for lunch in Chicago without getting asked this question? There I am, sitting in a Hyde Park restaurant, minding my own business, when this elderly white man comes shuffling toward me and strikes up a conversation.Elderly White Man: I guess these are the high-class seats!*Me: Yeah, I guess so.EWM: I've never been in here before! I had no idea it was so luxurious!Me: Yeah,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1146623837853334582006-05-02T21:30:00.000-05:002006-05-02T21:37:17.853-05:00

New link (well, new to me): Chicago Poetry, a group blog by Ray Bianchi, Kerri Sonnenberg, Jeremy P. Bushnell, and others.(Not to be confused with ChicagoPoetry.com, "The Center of Chicago's Cyberspace Poetry.")

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1146623004567294912006-05-02T18:47:00.000-05:002006-05-02T21:23:24.586-05:00

What is the origin of the political phrasing: "[Name of politician] for [name of state or country]"? I was thinking about this when looking at the banner at the top of Ron Silliman's blog entry yesterday: not "Pennacchio for U.S. Senate," for instance, but "Pennacchio for Pennsylvania." (I imagine in this case Pennacchio is taking advantage of the fact that "Penn" is part of his name.) The

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1146271110674867972006-04-28T19:16:00.000-05:002006-04-28T19:38:30.703-05:00

Hello all. I'm rather amazed to report that the U of T's spring term is over, which might mean--could it be?--occasional reappearances in blogland by me over the next few months.If you're wondering what I've been up to, you might check out the new issue of Chicago Review, which in addition to much fine work by and on Canadian poet Lisa Robertson, contains my rather lengthy and belated review of

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1140030385634008082006-02-15T13:06:00.000-06:002006-02-15T13:06:37.953-06:00

Why this should stir me out of my shell, I don't know. But so I get this email announcement:Poetry Foundation PresentsArchibald MacLeish’s JB A Staged Reading Produced by Bernard SahlinsCHICAGO —The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is pleased to announce a staged reading of Archibald MacLeish’s JB produced by Bernard Sahlins. This is the fourth production in the Foundation’s

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1138213513969710812006-01-25T12:23:00.000-06:002006-01-25T12:25:13.983-06:00

Wherever We Put Our Hats # 3 docks this week. Dana WardClayton A. CouchHeather BrinkmanRodrigo ToscanoValzhyna MortMatt TurnerKristin PrevalletAnne Boyer 4, 5, or trade

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1138135965523692502006-01-24T14:23:00.000-06:002006-01-24T19:11:55.506-06:00

Hello there, (sort of) Conservative Canada.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1136578820239934782006-01-06T14:04:00.000-06:002006-01-06T14:20:20.253-06:00

Look out world: next year they're letting me teach contemporary poetry. Here's your chance to write my syllabus.Okay, more precisely: The course is called "Contemporary Poetry in English," which would seem to include writing from any country except Canada--not that Canadians don't speak English, but that there is already a separate full-year course on modern Canadian poetry. It's a one-semester

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1136567732425978412006-01-06T11:09:00.000-06:002006-01-06T11:21:30.996-06:00

Americans are often criticized for being ignorant and indifferent to cultures that exist beyond their own. To what extent do you believe this is true?Where does the tension in this story lie? Did you guess the outcome?Have you ever witnessed or participated in this kind of aggression against a group of people in your community? What was the outcome?Do you think she has learned from her

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1136485268004639982006-01-05T12:18:00.000-06:002006-01-05T12:21:08.016-06:00

New link: the APIA Blog Network, which collects feeds from a range of Asian American blogs.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1136439885088017572006-01-04T23:06:00.000-06:002006-01-05T00:13:05.156-06:00

Happy New Year, all. Seems the holidays aren't really so good for blogging: even less likely than usual that I'll be sitting in front of my computer for more than 15 minutes at a time.The first week of term is perhaps not the best time to go into the Seminary Co-op Bookstore, whose basement warren is claustrophobic enough on a slow day; I kept getting poked by elbows and handbags. Still, I

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1133914025471578802005-12-06T18:04:00.000-06:002005-12-06T18:07:05.486-06:00

Via angry asian man: a review by Marianne Villanueva of three Asian American poets: the cool restraint of Chang, the impetuous rush of Linmark, the searing honesty of Lee.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1133465697544233542005-12-01T13:34:00.000-06:002005-12-01T13:35:58.243-06:00

Just catching up to this post from Ivy: Do southeast Asian-Australian writers write partly to challenge the Anglo-Celtic mainstream by bringing to life their personal renditions of their Australian identity?(Question from a dumb American: What is this "Anglo-Celtic mainstream" of which you speak?)

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1133371033883828052005-11-30T09:22:00.000-06:002005-11-30T15:38:19.656-06:00

...anyone seen the Old Navy "Scarves" commercial that parodies an awards show? They show the winner for "Best Reaction to a Scarf": a couple: "Kate" and "Jeff," are opening Christmas presents. Kate pulls an Old Navy "shimmery scarf" out of a box, looks at Jeff and says, "Are you asking me to marry you? YES!" and throws her arms around him, the scarf flying in his face. A stunned-looking Jeff

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1133299471181036282005-11-29T15:10:00.000-06:002005-11-29T17:15:42.846-06:00

Well-intentioned but slightly disappointing piece by Lawrence Downes in the NYT today on the death of actor Pat Morita. Since I'm currently teaching two Asian American studies courses, I can testify to the extent to which Downes seems to have absorbed the conventional Asian Americanist critique of Hollywood, as it limits Asians to caricatured, pidgin-speaking, sidekick roles; he even notes that

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1132607655707008342005-11-21T15:09:00.000-06:002005-11-21T15:14:15.720-06:00

From Tenth Dems, an organization of intrepid Democrats on Chicago's heavily Republican North Shore:Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk was at an event last weekend at Northwestern University when he was asked about the difficulties of the visa process for immigrants. He was quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times as saying: "I'm OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1132446111901746122005-11-19T18:16:00.000-06:002005-11-19T18:21:51.913-06:00

Currently laughing my tail off reading short fiction pieces by Australian writer Tom Cho, fantastic bits about identity and pop culture. The story "Suitmation" imagines that everyone in the family wears Godzilla-like suits that turn them into perfect replicas of celebrites. It's followed by an image of Tony Danza with the caption "Uncle Wang."Better yet, Tom has a blog.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1132350493730497632005-11-18T13:21:00.000-06:002005-11-18T15:48:13.783-06:00

There's a feature story in the Toronto Star today about a new exhibit by Canadian artist Charles Pachter, best known for his "queen-on-a-moose" paintings. Pachter's exhibiting paintings done on a recent trip to India, where he said "even the poor people looked exotic and beautiful."In the photo from the Star, Pachter is standing next to a painting of an Indian woman in a sari. The painting is

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1131484661616017722005-11-08T15:07:00.000-06:002005-11-08T15:20:32.153-06:00

I, too, caught that New Yorker profile of John Ashbery. Josh and Jack quite rightly take issue with its failure to offer anything particularly helpful in reading Ashbery's work. That didn't surprise me; I instinctively cringe when I pick up any New Yorker writer profile/puff piece and am usually glad if I don't come out on the other end hopping mad.My guess is that Larissa MacFarquhar thought

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1131483872200111592005-11-08T14:51:00.000-06:002005-11-08T15:04:46.660-06:00

A few days ago Ron Silliman posted an early, quietudinous poem on his blog, while noting that most of his other juvenalia was, alas, locked up in the Archive for New Poetry at UCSD.It so happens that a few years back I did some research there, and lo and behold, digging through my notes I've found that I have a huge cache of transcribed early Silliman poems, largely dating from 1964-68. Should

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1131413348704846442005-11-07T19:28:00.000-06:002005-11-07T19:29:08.720-06:00

SUSAN HOWE & DAVID GRUBBS: “THIEFTH”November 8, 2005Fulton Recital Hall at The University of Chicago1010 E. 59th Street, 4th Floor7:00pmPoet Susan Howe and musician and composer David Grubbs will present the United States premiere of “Thiefth” on November 8, 2005 at 7:00pm at Fulton Recital Hall on the University of Chicago campus. The performance, one of only two to take place in the US, will

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1130638988985327342005-10-29T21:22:00.000-05:002005-10-29T21:23:08.996-05:00

...it's three days after the Sox won the World Series and every guy you see is wearing a Cubs hat.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1130444087231095082005-10-27T13:49:00.000-05:002005-10-27T15:18:23.720-05:00

I got a phone call from a friend of mine (a Canadian, as it happens, now resident in Utah) just before game time last night, who wanted to offer me premature congratulations, as the only person he knew who had a remote claim to being a Chicago South Sider. (Our place in Chicago is, indeed, in Hyde Park.) He was polite enough not to mention (or, perhaps, to know) that as someone who grew up in

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1130177376531127662005-10-24T13:07:00.000-05:002005-10-24T13:09:36.536-05:00

Something about covering a hurricane brings out the worst in a writer:Palm trees bent; their fronds looked like they were on a 100 mile an hour ride in a convertible...At about 9:30 in the morning, when the torrent of wind and rain and calmed down somewhat, people ventured out. They looked like extras in a dawn-of-the-dead movie as they walked through the destruction from the storm.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1130024927563584852005-10-22T15:33:00.000-05:002005-10-22T18:49:05.083-05:00

Jonathan on his politically wary colleagues:They worry that literature itself is a conservative thing. That is, they view the object of study itself as somehow suspect, infused with conservative baggage that it is their task to be suspicious of.If I'm understanding this statement correctly, it's a little different from the subsequent discussion over at Bemsha Swing, which is about the

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1129063986413861652005-10-11T15:52:00.000-05:002005-10-11T15:54:18.550-05:00

From Jon Leon:Poets and Parties:Issue #2 of Wherever We Put Our Hats has arrived and will be hitting the post Monday morning with a spritely new cover and a generous cache of poems from the young and the old(er), and the young and the western. See the contents here: wwpoh.blogspot.comThanks to all the contributors past, current, and future for making wwpoh your home.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1129063575335633122005-10-11T15:46:00.000-05:002005-10-11T15:46:15.343-05:00

The University of Chicago Committee on Creative Writing'sEmerging Writers Seriespresents a poetry reading bySAM WHITE and GEOFF HILSABECKTuesday, October 11Classics 216:00pmReception to followThe Emerging Writers Series presents three joint readings per year that pair a professional emerging writer with a U of C student writer of his/her selection. This Fall's Emerging Writers Series Reading will

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1128568205281528622005-10-05T21:45:00.000-05:002005-10-05T22:16:37.553-05:00

So I'm idly browsing some stories on the announcement by 15-year-old golf prodigy Michelle Wie that she's going pro when I start to notice some oddities about the way her nationality and ethnicity are being described.The first story, from the Rocky Mountain News:Wie, though born in Hawaii, is of Korean ancestry and speaks fluent Korean. The straight-A student also is learning to speak Chinese and

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1128548739184528102005-10-05T16:44:00.000-05:002005-10-05T16:46:52.253-05:00

POEM PRESENT Reading and Lecture SeriesSUSAN WHEELERReading: Thursday, October 6Classics 10, 1010 E. 59th Street5:30pmA reception will follow the readingLecture: Friday, October 7Wieboldt 408, 1050 E. 59th Street1:00pmTitle: "Mutant Vernaculars!"Susan Wheeler is the author of four collections of poetry, Bag ‘o’ Diamonds (1993, University of Georgia Press), Smokes (1998, Four Way Books), Source

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1128520679860383142005-10-05T08:55:00.000-05:002005-10-05T08:57:59.870-05:00

MYOPIC POETRY SERIES -- a weekly series of poetry, fiction, and occasional talksMyopic Books in Chicago -- Sundays at 7:00 / 1564 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd FloorOCTOBER EVENTSSunday October 2 - Chicago Noir hosted by Adam LevinSunday October 9 - Melissa Buzzeo and Amina CainSunday October 16 - Raymond L. Bianchi and Jennifer KarminSunday October 23 - Matvei Yankelevich and Anna

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1128466439275304102005-10-04T17:45:00.000-05:002005-10-04T17:53:59.283-05:00

Realizing the extent to which Sau-ling Wong's theory of Asian American literature relies on an analogy between texts and persons:Just as the Asian American ethnic group is a political coalition, Asian American literature may be thought of as an emergent and evolving textual coalition, whose interests it is the business of a professional coalition of Asian American critics to promote.It's an

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1128386116003037302005-10-03T19:08:00.000-05:002005-10-03T19:47:29.960-05:00

Comment box spammers seem to have found me over the weekend; I came back to a good two or three dozen junk comments. I may have to suspend commenting if it continues, despite the devastating impact I know that will have on national poetry discourse.Long absence over the past month largely due to general start-of-term busyness, I guess. I'm again teaching an undergrad course on Asian North

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1125956155381479852005-09-05T16:35:00.000-05:002005-09-05T16:35:55.383-05:00

Oh, and can someone please tell me what the heck a "German sausage" is?

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1125956114888530162005-09-05T16:34:00.000-05:002005-09-05T16:35:14.893-05:00

Did you miss me?

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1123736801882258022005-08-10T23:24:00.000-05:002005-08-11T00:06:41.893-05:00

Ron Silliman remarks that poetry contests "substitute an administrative social context for poetry in the place of a community one...To win a contest generally is to announce that one as a poet does not come from any community.""Community" here is something analogous to being a member of a poetry "scene," though Ron notes (as I would) that membership in such a scene can be determined by geography,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1123132342808975072005-08-04T00:09:00.000-05:002005-08-04T00:12:22.813-05:00

Let me join Stephanie in welcoming Del Ray Cross and his daily anachronizms to blogland.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1123044603993675042005-08-02T23:31:00.000-05:002005-08-02T23:50:04.003-05:00

Here's a question for everyone: Should poetry mags have contributors' notes? You know, those little things in the back pages that say, "So-and-so's poetry has appeared here, here, and here; he/she teaches at the College of Wherever and lives with her/his two dogs."I ask because neither of the two journals I'm currently reading (The Hat and New American Writing) have them, and I'm wondering if

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1122530169724893312005-07-29T00:35:00.000-05:002005-07-29T00:39:48.730-05:00

I first read Noelle Kocot in the first issue of Lungfull I ever picked up. My immediate sense was that her poem ("Palm Sunday, 1998") didn't belong there. I mean, I could see certain surface resemblances between it and the other poetry in the journal, but the differences were striking: it had an explicitly religious theme; it was formalist (a loose terza rima); and most importantly, it had a

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1122611952116130182005-07-28T23:36:00.000-05:002005-07-28T23:39:12.123-05:00

From SHAMPOO editor Del Ray Cross:This is to happily inform you that I'm going to host an unprecedented 5th Anniversary SHAMPOO Celebration and Reading on: Thursday, August 18 at 6:30pm at GalleryOne San Francisco Mezzanine Level of One Embarcadero Center (same building as Embarcadero Cinema) on the corner of Battery and Clay Streets Expect to hear some poetry from Alli Warren, Bill Berkson,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1122525371399046492005-07-27T23:24:00.000-05:002005-07-27T23:36:11.406-05:00

Weather change--at last--like a fever breaking. A string of 90-degree-plus days stretching back to May; this past week too hot for coherent thought, our two portable air conditioners creating pitiful auras of cool we huddled around like a stove. In the car on Sunday the external temperature read 108.Monday evening the air finally cracked open: hours of lightning, power flickering on and off at

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1122007242622464532005-07-21T23:08:00.000-05:002005-07-21T23:44:49.230-05:00

Kasey on "hot ecleticism":I'll leave myself open to the possibility that there is a way of valuing both Sharon Olds and Carla Harryman on a hotly eclectic level. My instinct tells me, however, that such appreciation must occur on a carefully measured and considered individual level that is a bit much to ask any anthology to be responsible for.True enough. There are any number of collections that

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1121756707227900652005-07-19T00:38:00.000-05:002005-07-19T23:37:31.043-05:00

[Note: I've belatedly realized that I stole the title of this post from Shin Yu Pai's review of several Asian American literary anthologies in the most recent issue of Hyphen. Apologies to Shin Yu for that. Guess it was a good title.]Ron and Kasey, among others, discuss what it would be like to construct an Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, or whether such a thing would even be

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1121743676073165432005-07-18T22:11:00.000-05:002005-07-18T22:27:56.080-05:00

Via Josh: The Chronicle of Higher Education tells us academics that if you ever want a job, don't blog. This is excellent advice, which I will add to other excellent job-seeking advice I have received over the years:Don't be a vegetarian.Don't be married, have a partner, or date.Don't have a baby. Don't get pregnant or even think about getting pregnant. If you are pregnant, hide it.Don't be a

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1120967189652347382005-07-11T00:55:00.000-05:002005-07-11T01:01:06.680-05:00

The north wall of my study in Chicago is dominated by an enormous, framed map of the London Underground, of about the same size you would see posted in an actual station. I'll confess to being a bit of a public transit junkie, so the map was one of my most prized souvenirs of a month in London a few years ago--a "research" trip in which Robin did research and I met her for lunch every day,

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1120607966971303192005-07-05T17:55:00.000-05:002005-07-05T18:59:27.003-05:00

I've been meaning for weeks now to put up something about the 5th-anniversary issue of SHAMPOO, and have finally decided to overcome the twin bugbears of laziness and fear of self-promotion.Mostly because SHAMPOO deserves the attention. It's hard to believe it's been around for five years--in the world of literary journals (especially online ones), that makes it something approaching an

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1120024567239348652005-06-28T23:34:00.000-05:002005-06-30T00:17:29.260-05:00

A few weeks ago I posted a few comments about a Starbucks Frappuccino commercial in which an Asian man is transformed into white singer Michael Buble, with follow-up posts here and here. Since then I've received a truly ridiculous amount of traffic from folks searching for information on the commercial--a motley group of advertising geeks, Buble fans, and even one guy who has a crush on the

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1119072305843575462005-06-17T23:21:00.000-05:002005-06-18T09:56:56.740-05:00

The reviewing thread seems to have turned largely to a discussion of ethics/back-scratching, which I think is okay but, come on. This is a small world; nobody's going to review us poets but us poets. The marketing value of any review is that it mentions the name and title of a book and gives maybe some sense of what it's about and whether I should bother with it; a nasty review can do this as

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1118965526880294812005-06-16T18:44:00.000-05:002005-06-16T18:45:26.886-05:00

But we had banded together to begin with out of a common knowledge and desire, and we would work this commonality to the ends of the earth, if there were in fact anything to be had there, and we would shape our work as the collective autobiography that it could only be, outside of the invasions and ambushes that throttled history.And she kicks ass.

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1118793255899860832005-06-14T18:04:00.000-05:002005-06-14T19:01:30.206-05:00

Jordan wonders if we need a new "poetry paper of record," one that would do the job the NYT and Poetry aren't capable of doing anymore. "The issue is that there is no robust national discussion of poetry."True enough. But is the antidote more reviews? Is the culture of reviewing relevant anymore to the culture of poetry?Reviews and print culture were born together: the emergence of something

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1118681870710882542005-06-14T00:36:00.000-05:002005-06-14T00:49:26.650-05:00

It didn't start well. I busted my butt to get downtown in time for Ann Lauterbach's 11 a.m. reading--an absolutely uncivilized time. Apparently Lauterbach agreed: she didn't show.Oh well. I meandered over to the fair itself, set up along Dearborn Street in the South Loop. Summer is festival season in Chicago: just block off a street, throw up some canvas tents and you're good to go.The fair's

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5201472.post-1118380663077364242005-06-10T00:08:00.000-05:002005-06-10T00:17:43.083-05:00

Since when does Charles Bernstein have a blog?And is it a blog? I'm not really sure. It says "Web Log" at the top but it's organized more like a traditional "what's new" page, with categories like "video," "essays," "reviews," etc. No daily entries telling us what readings Bernstein went to last night or how many papers he has left to grade or what he thinks of Star Wars Episode III.Which is

Timothy Yuhttps://profiles.google.com/110316619313976803017noreply@blogger.com1