Starting tomorrow, I’m saying goodbye to the internet for the entire month of August. I took a one week internet detox two summers ago with great results — there’s something about unplugging that lets me refocus on the present and slow down. My plan is to only check e-mail for one hour each Sunday (unfortunatelyContinue reading “one month without internet”
Author Archives: universalchampion
you’re wondering if I’m lonely: thoughts on what it means to lose Adrienne Rich
When I was twenty four, I had a crush on an older woman who was a writer, and late in August in the summer of our courtship, she wrote an email to me which simply said, “I just found out that Grace Paley died and all I want to do today is cry for her.”Continue reading “you’re wondering if I’m lonely: thoughts on what it means to lose Adrienne Rich”
love after love
for years a friend and I would e-mail this derek walcott poem back and forth to each other as needed. the approach of valentine’s day (or, more accurately, international quirkyalone day) made me dig it up again. xo
best of
joy without shame
This week Wilde Boys hosted their first woman poet, Marie Howe, at this intimate salon for queer poets and writers. Crowded into the stylish living room, I ended up sitting on the carpet, nearly at Marie’s feet. The entire evening was breath-taking: a rare venue for creative conversation. She was both electric and generous. AtContinue reading “joy without shame”
something else
We were studying abroad in Madrid and cowered when the sound came, in a classroom, much like some of us had been years before. We asked, what’s that? And the professor, an older gentleman, said, what do you mean? They are planes. And we said, yes, yes, but the sound of planes so close toContinue reading “something else”
july, illustrated
toot toot
From The School Library Journal: Truth And Dare, edited by Liz Miles (Running Press Kids) Gr 10 Up—Like the game for which this anthology is named, these stories are exciting, a little risky, racy, and very revealing. Miles has assembled a collection by well-known names in teen fiction, such as Cecil Castellucci, Ellen Wittlinger, andContinue reading “toot toot”
YA Saves
This weekend my Twitter feed, which is a hodgepodge of writerly folks, bloggers, queer and indie movers and shakers, blew up with the hashtag #YAsaves. The outpouring came in response to a deft article the Wall Street Journal published, titled “Darkness Too Visible,” which shamed the sometimes gruesome and serious subjects of YA fiction asContinue reading “YA Saves”
Courtney Gillette 