The Impact of Sequestration Locally

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Because the U.S. Congress and White House were unable to reach a budget deal, President Obama had to sign off on sequestration, meaning numerous automatic spending cuts. This issue is basically a self-imposed crisis Congress created for itself when it couldn’t reach a long-term fiscal cliff deal in the last Congress. Perhaps Democrats were naive in thinking the GOP would never allow deep spending cuts to the Pentagon, but here we are, half a week after the sequestration deadline passed, and still no solution. The impact of sequestration will most likely be felt starting in the beginning of April. There will be longer lines at airports, since TSA funding will be slashed. There will be fewer flights, since there also be fewer air traffic controllers. Teachers will be laid off. States will lose federal funding for police and firefighters. And the list goes on.

The impact of sequestration is already being felt here in northeast, Pennsylvania. The Wilkes-Barre-based paper, The Citizens’ Voice, has a front page story today that Tobyhanna Army Depot, one of the largest employers in the region, is set to unveil $309 million in budget cuts, resulting in the furloughs of 5,136 civilian employees. According to the article, “Facility managers and the unions are working on the details of the furlough, in which the 5,136 employees will be required to take 22 non-consecutive furlough days between late April and Sept. 30 unless the federal budget impasse in Washington, D.C., is solved.”

What’s especially alarming is that Congress has more impending deadlines, including the debt ceiling. This week, House Speaker John Boehner said something needs to be done to ensure there is not one crisis after the other. However, I am skeptical he will get his Congress and its Tea Party wing to really pass a long-term plan that has the support of some Democrats and avoids another self-imposed crisis. This sequestration and the failure to resolve it has only increased tensions on the Hill.

Ironically, the stock market broke a record yesterday, as the Dow Jones soared to an all-time high. Since 2007, corporate profits have been skyrocketing, but job creation remains dismal and the unemployment rate remains stuck at 7.8-8 percent. Meanwhile, if this sequestration issue is not resolved, then middle and low-income workers will be hit the hardest, as evidenced by the article today in The Citizens’ Voice.

 

 

Salon Says There Is No Short Story Boom

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In reaction to a New York Times article stating there is a short story boom, thanks to digital technology and shortened attention spans, Salon published an article saying there is no boom. Laura Miller, the article’s author, notes that the only book mentioned in the Times article selling well is George Saunders’ The Tenth of December, and Miller attributes that to other factors, writing, “Saunders has built a devoted following over the past 17 years, hadn’t published a book in a good while and — most important of all — was heralded in the headline of a long, radiant profile in the New York Times Magazine as producing ‘the best book you’ll read this year.’ All of that could have happened 10, 20 or 30 years ago and produced the same result.”

Yet, the Times articles does not necessarily make the case that short story collections are selling well. (Really, how many books are selling well now-a-days?) The Times instead makes an argument that the Internet has made it easier to publish short story collections and has even given rise to some indie presses focused solely on short stories. Miller does, however, acknowledge that the advent of smartphones changed reading habits, but she wrongly states that the Times claimed smaller screens  have led to a resurgence in the short story. I’m not so sure that is what the Times  articulated but rather that reading habits are changing and the Internet has shortened attention spans. As a creative writing and literature teacher, I see this all the time. Trying to get students to read a novel, or even a long poem, is a challenge. Now I don’t have particular evidence that the Internet has fundamentally altered the brain and changed attention spans, but it does seem likely. The youngest generations have grown up with the Internet, with instant information, and with a culture of soundbites. They want entertainment easy to digest in a sitting or two.

Regardless,  the Times and Salon articles provide interesting debate about the place of the short story in contemporary society and whether or not it is undergoing a resurgence because of the Internet.

Resurgance of the Short Story

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Short story writers rejoice! No longer do you have to feel like your medium is the oddball cousin of the novel. According to this recent article by the New York Times, short stories are undergoing a resurgence, due to the Internet and our short attention spans. For a while, the short story market was tough. A lot of publishers didn’t want to release short story collections and instead focused on novels and memoirs. Even some journals shied away, due to a shortage of funds that made their page counts smaller and smaller, thus making micro fiction or poetry the preferred genre.

But all of that is changing, thanks to the Internet. Several well-known fiction authors have released short story collections recently, and the trend will continue. According to the article:

“Already, 2013 has yielded an unusually rich crop of short-story collections, including George Saunders’s Tenth of December, which arrived in January with a media splash normally reserved for Hollywood movies and moved quickly onto the best-seller lists. Tellingly, many of the current and forthcoming collections are not from authors like Mr. Saunders, who have always preferred short stories, but from best-selling novelists like Tom Perrotta, who are returning to the form.

Recent and imminent releases include Vampires in the Lemon Grove, by Karen Russell, whose 2011 novel, Swamplandia, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Damage Control, a first collection by Amber Dermont, whose novel The Starboard Sea was a best seller in 2012; and another first story collection, We Live in Water” by Jess Walter, just off his best-selling novel Beautiful Ruins (2012).”

While literary journals that have traditionally published short stories may be dwindling, the Internet has offered new publishing opportunities. For instance, Amazon created its Kindle Singles program a few years ago for publishing short fiction and nonfiction. The cost for the reader is cheap and authors get 70 percent of the royalities.  Meanwhile, some smaller Internet publishers, such as Byliner, are pushing short stories.

What the Times article proves is that the Internet is creating yet another change in the publishing world and making it more possible for short story writers to find a market. The article also notes that our attention spans are rapidly decreasing and we want work we can read in one sitting. Short stories, however, have long been around, and some of the most well-known fiction authors of the last century, including Hemingway, Carver, Cheever, and Nabokov, have written memorable short story collections. Now there is an emerging market for such a form.

Obama’s Re-Election and a New Voting Coalition

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The New York Times has a great article today about the politics of the under 30 generation. The overall thesis is that the politics of young people reflects a belief that government can solve problems and we do indeed need to continue funding programs like Medicare and Social Security. This is the anthesis of the conservation revolution of the 1980s that helped elect Ronald Reagan twice, followed by George Bush I and later George Bush II. It is also very much possible that this generation, much like the younger generation that supported Reagan, could reshape American politics in profound ways for years to come. Essentially, after seeing President Obama get re-elected twice and Democrats winning five out of the last six federal elections, we could be seeing the unraveling of the Reagan revolution and trickle down economics.

The article, titled “Young, Liberal and Open to Big Government,” focuses on college students in Montana. The setting is significant because Montana is considered a deep red state. However, the article notes that because of the under 30 generation, Montana elected two Democratic senators and a Democratic governor in the last few election cycles. This points to the influence that young folks can have at the ballot box, especially in off-year elections when senators, governors, and state legislators are on the ballot.

Throughout the article, the young people interviewed expressed a desire for a system of government more in line with FDR’s philosophies than Reagan’s. Sam Thompson, a 22-year-old college students, is quoted as stating that while he considers himself fiscally conservative, but he opposes cuts to Medicare and wants expanded healthcare coverage. Billie Loewen and Heather Jurva, editors of a student newspaper, state the under 30 generation has a Depression-era mentality. Panicked they won’t find good jobs, or will lose healthcare coverage once they turn 26, they believe government needs to play an active role in helping the economy. These quotes are backed up by a nonpartisan PEW Research Center poll from November that found under 30 voters are the only age group in which a majority said the government should to more to fix the nation’s problems.

This trend of young people voting for Democrats is not new. They’ve been casting more and more ballots for Dems since 2004; however, the under 30 crowd now composes a bigger slice of the electorate, 19 percent this most recent election, up from 18 percent in 2008. Furthermore, the millennial are the most ethnically and racially diverse crowd.

Republicans should be rattled by these figures. The Democrats, President Obama especially, have built a new coalition, the most diverse ever, that can win national elections even without a majority of the white vote. This will fundamentally alter U.S. politics, just as the Reagan revolution did. It will make it easier and easier for Dems to win elections.

What has yet to be seen, however, is whether or not the Democratic Party will truly reflect the views of its base. President Obama has faced a lot of criticism on the left for not doing more to fix the economy and not pushing greater FDR, New Deal-like policies during his first two years in office when his party had supermajorities in the House and Senate. What has changed, however, is the conversation regarding the tax system and fair economic policy. Recently, during the debt ceiling talks, the president got the GOP to cave on taxes and he secured a tax increase for top percent of income earners, certainly the opposite of the trickle down theory. Now he is pushing to close tax loopholes. However, the president still believes in some “grand bargain” to lower the debt, a bargain that will probably include cuts to social programs, the opposite of what a lot of his base wants.

The millenials  are also liberal on social issues, and it has yet to be seen what will be done regarding immigration and gay rights, though the president has vowed to push those issues hard during his second term.Immigration was one of the cornerstones of his recent inaguration speech, and it’s likely it will be pushed again tomorrow during his State of the Union address.  He can even use the power of executive order to pass some progressive laws, especially regarding gay rights and immigration.

What is clear is that this country is rapidly changing, and the shifting demographics will indeed play out at the local, state, and national level. There is a new coalition now, one that believes in a larger role for government, the opposite of austerity and trickle down economics.

Barnes and Noble Moving Forward with Closings

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A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about the trouble facing Barnes and Noble. Not long after that post, the company’s executive, Mitchell Klipper, told the Wall Street Journal that 20 stores will close every year over the next decade. The article points out that since 2003 15 stores per year has closed; however, the company opened more than 30 per year. During the last fiscal year, the company closed 14 stores and didn’t open any.

Without any new openings, the closures would reduce the number of stores by a third. As I’ve said in the previous blog post, all of these closings make it unclear how long Barnes  & Noble will be able to stick around, especially since the sale of print books is rapidly dropping (22 percent over the last five years, according to Nielsen Bookscan).

The irony of all this is that Borders and Barnes & Noble led to the closure of countless community indie bookstores, and now if Barnes & Noble ultimately meets the fate of Borders, then no bookstores will be left.

 

 

Hillary Clinton to Pen Another Book

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Not long after the confetti fell during Obama’s re-election speech, speculation already started about 2016. Even the president quipped during a “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday that he wasn’t even inaugurated yet before everyone started asking whether or not Hillary is going to run in 2016.  In that joint interview, she didn’t say what her plans are, though she is certainly the  favorite. Her popularity among the base has skyrocketed since the 2008 primary defeat, and if she decides to run again, the Democratic nomination will surely be hers. But 2016 is still a while away. While Hillary decides whether or not she’s up for another presidential campaign, she’ll also be hard at work on a new memoir, according to a report from Buzzfeed this week.

Clinton is already the author of one bestselling memoir, Living History. Published in 2003, it focuses on her middle-class upbringing and her time as First Lady. However, I’m much more excited about the follow-up. Clinton has led a fascinating life post-2003, and her career’s more recent chapters are more interesting  to me than her time as First Lady. I’m sure she has plenty to write about regarding her time as a U.S. senator and even more pages to fill about the primary battle with Obama in 2007/08. That primary season was ugly. Bill Clinton accused Obama of creating a “fairy tale” story regarding his opposition to the Iraq war, and then the Obama campaign subtly accused the Clintons of racism. Yet, after it was all over, Hillary was invited to serve in the Obama White House as Secretary of State. The book should be fascinating for political junkies and non-political junkies alike. Before she sits down and sets a pen to paper, she plans to “catch up on about 20 hours of sleep deprivation.” It’s well deserved, and I can’t wait to see what she does next once she’s re-energized.

 

Richard Blanco, the President’s Inagural Speech, and the New America

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As I stated previously in a post about Richard Blanco reading at the Inauguration, I think he is the most fitting choice to have read at the Inauguration today. A Cuban-American and gay man, Blanco is a prime example of the changing demographics of the U.S., a new America that is much more diverse. Furthermore, Blanco’s poetry, especially his latest collection, Looking for the Gulf Motel, is all about what it means to be American. His poems , which usually mix Spanish and English, reference his working-class parents and his struggle with identity.

His poem read today, written specifically for the Inauguration, references his personal history, including his father’s working-class hands and his mother’s grueling jobs to provide a better family for their children. The lines very much represent the promise of America, the idea of coming here as an immigrant and carving out a better life for one’s self.  Beyond that, it referenced the recent tragedy of Newtown, the 20 names that will be forever marked absent.

As for President Obama’s speech, I found it bold, even a robust defense of liberalism, especially when he referenced Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall, an acknowledgement of the struggle over labor rights, women’s rights, civil rights, and gay rights and the progress and equality achieved over the last several decades. Beyond that, I’m glad he continually referenced the constitutional phrase “We the people,” and how progress is made through movements and coming together. Finally, I was thrilled the president vowed “we will act” on climate change and  immigration.

Here is a video of Blanco’s speech.

 

Writing about Weather Catastropes

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Within the last few months, I’ve written work based on weather-related catastrophes for different publishers. I wrote a poem entitled “Evacuation” for a flood-themed issue of Word Fountain, a literary journal published through the Osterhout Library in Wilkes-Barre. The editors acquired grant money to make the issue glossy and larger than past issues. All of the money will go to flood victims of Luzerene County, many of whom lost their homes in areas without the levee system during Hurricance Irene in 2011. More recently, I was notified about a project Unbound Content is doing to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy. The editor of the press (which is also publishing my first full-length book of poems late this year) is seeking creative work about the Jersey Shore.  The money from sales will be donated to hurricane victims.

These two projects led me to write more poems  about weather-related calamities caused by global warming and the massive harm we’ve been doing to the environment. I would eventually like to put together a series of poems weather-related, including poems from the point of view of the victims, maybe even politicians. As far as I know, there haven’t been many collections like this, other than Patricia Smith’s book Blood Dazzler, all about hurricane Katrina.

I foresee this being a long, slow process, especially since I’ll have to do readings for my new book later in the year, and I’m starting Ph.D. coursework, but perhaps as part of my creative dissertation, I can take on this project and really do research, looking at photos and articles about these events to generate ideas for other poems.

If you’re in the area, you should come to the Word Fountain premiere taking place this Saturday from 2-4 p.m at the Osterhout Library.  Contributors to the flood-themed issue will read their work, and copies of the journal will be on sale.

Inagural Poet Chosen

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It was announced this week that Richard Blanco will serve as the 2013 inaugural poet and now must compose and read a new poem for the president’s ceremonial swearing-in on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 21. The New York Times has a great article about the poet and his reoccurring themes of place, identity, and his Latino heritage. In the article, Addie Whisenant, the inaugural committee’s spokeswoman, said President Obama picked Mr. Blanco because the poet’s “deeply personal poems are rooted in the idea of what it means to be an American.”

I only discovered Blanco’s work very recently, after the poetry organization Split This Rock published its list of the best poetry books of 2012. Blanco’s latest collection, Looking for the Gulf Motel, made the list. I got a copy for Christmas and devoured it in one or two sittings. I’m currently in the process of writing a review of it for Poets’ Quarterly. Based on Blanco’s work, I feel he is a wonderful pick to read at the president’s inauguration. Obama won re-election with a diverse coalition, especially the Latino vote. Blanco, who was conceived in Cuba, born in Spain, and  raised and educated in Miami, is representative of the changing demographics of the United States, a change that helped get Obama elected twice. Like the president, Blanco is of mixed heritage, and his poems address that, often incorporating lines of Spanish in the stanzas.

Blanco is the fifth inaugural poet. The tradition was started when John F. Kennedy asked Robert Frost to read in January 1961. The tradition was picked up again in the 1990s when Bill Clinton selected Maya Angelou. I’ve posted some videos below from the inaugurations, including an audio recording of Frost reading the inaugural poem “The Gift Outright” and Elizabeth Alexander reading “Praise Song for the Day” from President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009.

Is Barnes and Noble Going the Way of Borders?

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In the last 24 hours or so, several of my writer friends have shared an article via Facebook regarding the slow death of Barnes and Noble. The article was penned by Dennis Johnson, founder of MobyLives and co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House. To put it simply, Johnson predicts that the chain bookstore is not long for this world and could be out of business within the next 2-3 years. When I first saw the link to the article and read the first paragraph, I thought it was an alarmist piece of journalism, but by the end of the article, it’s clear that Johnson has sound reason and evidence to believe that the demise of Barnes and Noble is likely, and that would have an astounding impact on the literary landscape and readership.

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Johnson opens the article by mentioning the wave of Barnes and Noble stores that have closed since the holiday season, and they’re not only in small communities, but in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Seattle, San Francicso, and other metropolitan eras. Publishers Weekly is cited to highlight that the bookstore had lackluster holiday sales; store sales declined nearly 11 percent, while NOOK sales tumbled 12.6 percent.

A blurb from the Wall Street Journal is cited to illustrate that Barnes and Noble has failed at marketing, especially in regards to its e-reader, the NOOK.

“What concerns us is that as the overall market gravitates toward color tablets, you’d have expected that Barnes & Noble would have been able to maintain its share because it introduced two new color tablets during the quarter,” said Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom. “They aren’t behind on the tablet front in the sense that their devices compare well with others, but they are behind in terms of marketing, awareness and adoption. And that’s critical.”

What’s shocking about Johnson’s article is the point raised that if the 2,000 plus Barnes and Nobles stores close in a few years, that would lead to the demise of roughly half the nation’s bookstores. In blunt words, the writer predicts that will leave the literary landscape and publishing industry totally screwed, and it can even harm small indie bookstores and the sale of e-books because it will make books overall less visible, thus making consumers care about them even less.

Like Johnson stated, the publishing industry better adapt to this quickly, or books as we know them will be all but extinct.  Barnes and Noble should take a cue from indie bookstores and try to engage customers by hosting more readings, book signings, and other events, whatever it takes to get customers into the store. Just imagine a country losing nearly half its bookstores. Talk about killing the publishing industry and  decreasing even more this country’s intelligence level, education, and curiosity.