Literature Spiraling Downward

“The rampant literary sleaziness-and make no mistake about it, we are talking about some pretty tacky humans-was almost accidental, a byproduct of institutionalized vacuity and timidity. Writers with nothing to write about invariably start covering themselves up with sex and gore, if only because they realize, almost instinctively, that those two subjects can be described …

The Apologetic for Bad Art

“The first thing we must do is get the smoke out of our eyes. Which is to say that we must start afresh, and concede publicly what most earnest men and women have always conceded privately, that the ancient apology for bad art-“the work is shoddy and disjointed because The Times are shoddy and disjointed”-is …

Yes, Citizen Ament?

In the interest of lending a helping hand in difficult times, I would like to offer a short list of suggested motions for Citizen Ament to make at the next Moscow City Council meeting. If anyone needs a little context, they can check out the recordings of portions of the last meeting at Dale Courtney’s …

Just Breathtaking

Last night the new Moscow city council met for the first time, and after they were all sworn in, nice and tidy like, a new council member (Aaron Ament) made a motion to have a moratorium placed on all “conditional-use permit applications for all educational institutions and commerical schools in the downtown sector” The Lewiston …

The Root of Affectation

“Sir Henry Savile (one of the scholars who prepared the King James Version of the Bible) read the indictment, almost four centuries ago” ‘Vanity,’ he said, ‘is the sin, and affectation is the punishment: the first may be called the root of self-love, the other the fruit. Vanity is never at its full growth till …