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Tenga la luz para Haiti, Chile y China
Maintenez la lumière pour Haïti, le Chili et la Chine

A BENEFIT FOR
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS
MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES

Friday, 30th of April
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California
(ICNCC.org)
1433 Madison Street
Oakland, CA 94605

Donation: $5 to $10

MapQuest

Host | Wanda Sabir

For further information contact Kim McMillon ~ 510. 681.5652

Sponsors
Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California
PEN Oakland
Before Columbus Foundation
PEN USA
San Francisco Bayview Newspaper
A Very Nice Design Studio
BC Photography: Images of Latin America

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Go to the NYR Blog original

© 2010 Charles Simic | New York Review of Books

© Richard Drew | AP

Charles Simic, U.S. poet laureate emeritus

William Blake: Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, c. 1785

It never crossed my mind that I would become the poet laureate of the United States. The day I received the call from the Library of Congress, I was carrying a bag of groceries from the car to the house when the phone rang. They didn’t beat around the bush, but told me straight out that this was an honor and not a job they were offering to me. Of course, I was stunned, and without letting the groceries out of my hand, told them that I needed to think about it for a while and that I would call them back tomorrow. My first thought was, who needs this?

I’d heard about the endless reading tours of previous laureates, the elaborate projects they had devised and administered to make poetry more popular in United States, and none of it appealed to me very much. There’s a good reason why I have lived in a small village in New Hampshire for the last thirty-seven years. I like to hear roosters crow in the morning and dogs bark at night. “No way,” I told my wife. I was going to call them back and politely decline. But to my surprise, speaking to my children, I changed my mind. My son and daughter told me, separately, that if I refused this great honor I would come to regret my decision some day. I knew right away that they were right. I thought some more about it, but I kept going back to what they said. So, I accepted.

>>> Enjoy Charles Simic’s confession in its entirety at NYR Blog >>>

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DMQ stands for Disquieting Muse Quarterly

The DMQ Review is pleased to announce the release of the Spring 2010 issue featuring the poetry of Arlene Ang, Laurel Bastian, Ronda Broatch, Lisa Fay Coutley, Peter Joseph Gloviczki, William Hudson, Amorak Huey, Kim Kessaris, Mercedes Lawry, Gary L. McDowell, James Reidel, Chrissy Rikkers, Liz Robbins, Nell Stanton and Chris Young, with artwork by Charles Farrell.

In collaboration with Peter Davis, editor of Poet’s Bookshelf: Contemporary Poets On Books That Shaped Their Art, Volumes I & II, the DMQ Review is also pleased to feature the essay and new work of Denise Duhamel, our Spring 2010 Featured Poet.

Brian Clements’ poem, “Micro/Macro,” first appeared in the DMQ Review’s August 2004 issue and comprises our From the Archives feature.

Check it out ~ www.dmqreview.com

Courtesy photo

Sally Ashton, Editor in Chief

Editor: Marjorie Manwaring
Associate Editors: Arlene Kim, Dean Rader, Jennifer K. Sweeney
Assistant Editor: Mary Donnelly
Poet’s Bookshelf Editor: Peter Davis

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FAQ

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Google publishes figures on government requests for data

By Mick Ingram
26 April 2010
© World Socialist Web Site

Google has launched a new function called the Government Requests tool [http://www.google.com/governmentrequests] that allows users to see how many requests have been made by governments for the data Google routinely collects on users.

The tool allows users to view either data requests or removal requests. The removal requests do not include the removal of child pornography or copyrighted material from YouTube as the company does this routinely. The data requests view does not give details beyond the raw number of requests received and gives no indication as to whether Google complied with the requests.

The United States is recorded having made 3,580 requests for data between July 1 and December 31, 2009, second only to Brazil with 3,663. Third in the list is United States’ main ally in the “war on terror,” the UK, with 1,166.

In an official company blog announcing the new service on Tuesday, April 20, Google cites Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which reads, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” The company says the 1948 Article “applies aptly to today’s Internet.” Google says it believes “greater transparency will lead to less censorship.”

>>> To read this breaking story in its entirety, go to the WSWS.org original >>>

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Photo: Ray Black

Poet-editor Camille Dungy

BLACK NATURE
Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry

Listen

Morning Edition host Renee Montagne interviews Camille Dungy, poet-editor of BLACK NATURE ~ April 19, 2010

© Poitier Photo

Morning Edition‘s Renee Montagne poses with screen legend Sidney Poitier following their 2009 conversation for NPR at his Beverly Hills home.

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Listen

Friday, April 23, 2010
Poet Camille Dungy ~ It’s National Poetry Month and the day after Earth Day, so we’re featuring an interview with poet Camille Dungy. She’s edited a new book called BLACK NATURE, the first collection of nature poems by African American poets.

Courtesy KQED

Cy Musiker of KQED’s popular The California Report

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Courtesy Kewzoo’s Photo-Stream at Flickr

Camille Dungy’s personal website

Drawing: Theresa D’Onofrio

BLACK NATURE at AlYoung.org

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