1/23/07

This Wednesday, January 24th, UI MFA students Lucas Howell and Joe Wilkins will be reading from their new poetry chapbooks, "The Lonesome Crowded West," and "Ragged Point Road." They will begin at 7:30, here in BookPeople.

For literary travelers, check out the Kenneth Patchen Festival in Cleveland. The festival will run from April 13-15 and feature art, music, a chance of live stage performance, and, of course, poetry. For information, contact Larry Smith with Bottom Dog Press / Bird Dog Publishing LSmithDOG@aol.com.

Thursday, January 25th, the Pacifica Quartet will be performing as part of the Auditorium Chamber Music Series. The quartet champions new music and future musicians by commissioning numerous new works every year, performing and organizing new music concerts, and helping to create the Music Integration Project, which brings music to inner-city elementary schools. They have also been lauded by organizations and competitions as diverse as the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and received the honor of the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America.

Thought-provoking reading: In the Winter 2007 issue of "The American Scholar," Ethan Fishman has an article titled "Not Compassionate, Not Conservative." Fishman aligns himself with classic conservativism, ala the political philosophies of Aristotle and Burke. Referencing a 1954 article--"The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt" by Hofstadter, in the Winter 1954-55 issue of "The American Scholar"--Fishman tracks American conservativism to the McCarthy years, and from that backing addresses how "our public policy has for six years been shaped by those who discount reason to practice a politics of largely inchoate sentiments." Also notable are Alan Trachtenberg's attempts to hear a "voice of national unity," envisioned by Lincoln, in today's culture, and how working a mop-and-bucket brigade helped James McConkey's outlook on life.

On that note, have a good week.

BookPeople

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