Call for submissions: send us your take — whether via poetry or prose — on what it means to opt out. To opt out of the cultural moment, the political order, the favored conventions of language … to opt out of a stifling love affair, or a soul-deadening daily routine … or even to opt out of life itself, or of one’s role in creating new life. What does it mean to opt out? Who is allowed to opt out? What does opting allow for? What freedom is on the other...
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In which the battle heats up, the multinational behind the privatization of Bolivian water is revealed, and connections are made to Flint, Standing Rock, and the pandemic....
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On March 14, 2021 editors John McClure and Bruce Robbins interviewed Tom Kruse, a participant in and analyst of the Cochabamba Water Wars of 1999-2000 in Bolivia, about his experiences and reflections on the first but certainly not the last epic struggle over water of the 21st century. This is Part 1 of the interview....
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The 60s as Founding: On David Bromwich’s How Words Make Things Happen Many years ago, David Bromwich and I conducted a brief correspondence. You can tell how many years ago by the fact that the correspondence took the form of letters, with stamps. The immediate subject, as I remember it, was politics. As I remember, I remarked on the surprising respect that David seemed to have for the lasting political wisdom of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution as guides to present political judgments, a respect which (so soon after the 60s) I found implausible. As I remember, David...
Read MoreHave you ever spent a night kneeling on your living room floor, howling and digging half-moons into your palms, pleading with the indifferent night to lessen the pain? Meaning, have you ever broken up? Have you ever gotten divorced? We want to read about it. Send us your divorce and break-up poems. Send to...
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