Tag Archive
Poetry by post
Sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the University of Chicago’s Program in Poetry and Poetics, “Poetry of the Shelf: Elizabeth Bishop’s Correspondence with the New Yorker” commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of poet Elizabeth Bishop and of the recent publication of a collection of her letters, “Elizabeth Bishop and the New Yorker:... »
Mid East in the Midwest
A woman in a black dress and a man in a black tie and white-collared shirt stood on stage. Black binders in hand, they read from a collection of letters, diary entries, philosophical musings, and poetry from diverse authors. Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi, Islamic mystic Ibn al-Arabi, and Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk were all... »
Jazz Philharmonic Scales Down
For a few minutes, it could have been any other string quartet. The musicians sat poised in their chairs facing the conductor. A violin came in with a descending melody, and one by one the other instruments echoed the same tune in shifting harmonies. But after several times through the theme, a ride cymbal... »
Tuvan Tunes
Pedestrians passing the University of Chicago’s International House on the evening of April 14 may have noticed the bellows emanating from the building’s top floor. Did the University host a didgeridoo competition or rent a few elephants, you ask? Surely not—in reality, Alash, a professional Tuvan throat singing group, and a motley group of... »
From Women’s Lib to Writing for Kids
Not many sixty-five-year-old women have tattoos that read “Thug Life,” but Nikki Giovanni is an exception. The radical ’60s poet-turned-children’s author, who stopped at the University of Chicago’s International House during her book tour on October 18th, inked herself some years ago in a tribute to famed rapper Tupac Shakur. This was just one... »
Disaster Capitalism
The line to get into Naomi Klein’s talk, “Disaster Capitalism: Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys,” extended through the hallways of the University of Chicago International House and onto the street, where individuals who came to see the journalist known for her radical politics nonetheless managed to avoid the “Workers Vanguard” and Trotskyist publications... »
Use Your Delusion
Last Thursday, the faithful faithless made pilgrimages from all around to see Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor, renowned evolutionary biologist, and a self-branded bulldog of unfaltering atheism, lecture at the International House. Dawkins has risen to pseudo-cult stardom as one part of the “Unholy Trinity” (along with Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens), a collection of... »
Bunraku Your World
The American experience with puppetry, as we now know it, is defined by a cast of loveable characters with either insightful things to say about letters and numbers or advice based on how being green isn’t as easy as it looks. It is with puppetry and its imaginative quality that many of us associate... »
