Okay, I just finished reading In Persuasion Nation and I just wanted to weigh in with some final thoughts on it. In my last post I expressed regret that Saunders, while skilled at tearing town our established ways of seeing, is able to offer almost no solutions to the current state of American myopia. Well, perhaps [...]
Archive for January, 2008
Final word on Saunders’ In Persuasion Nation
Posted in CNY Literary Scene on January 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Updated Saunders Critique
Posted in CNY Literary Scene on January 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I just read the titular story to George Saunders’ In Persuasion Nation and, while it is not the best tale in the collection, it calls to mind some of the disturbing environmental implications to our product-driven culture. A scene which describes the torn corner of the wrapper of a Slap-of-Whack bar blowing across the desert, [...]
The CNY Literary Scene
Posted in CNY Literary Scene on January 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One of upstate’s own, George Saunders, achieved national acclaim when his collection of short stories entitled In Persuasion Nation (2006) humorously skewered America’s self-destructive and consumer-driven ways. Saunders takes us inside the boxing ring of controversy that exists in the daily lives of ordinary Americans in this book and he forces us to look at [...]
Holy Crud This Is Funny!!!
Posted in Emo on January 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Cat Power II
Posted in cats on January 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Cat fanciers will enjoy the book I am currently reading. It’s titled 100 Cats Who Changed Civilization and it offers some good evidence as to why cats should be reclassified as man’s new best friend. Since the dawn of civilization felines have nuzzled their way into the hearts of everyone from religious figures and writers to statesmen and [...]
Catacombs of Greenhouse gasses
Posted in The Future on January 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
If melting permafrost, erroding beaches and the ever increasing record temperature highs don’t scare people enough, there is a term in the global warming solution debate that raises a few hairs on (at least) my head. Sequestration is a process by which carbon emissions from coal burning plants are pumped and permantly stored deep underground instead of being released into the [...]
Back to the Future
Posted in The Future on January 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The new Scientology Center which opened last year in Germany despite complaints about the religion’s dangers from some in the government.
Time and time again, while it may seem like we’re living in an eternal present, I realize we are all really living in the Future. Yes, the Future. Even though some people say Uticans are [...]
Billion Dollar Babies
Posted in State Government on January 10, 2008 | 5 Comments »
In his state of the state address yesterday in Albany, governor Eliot Spitzer said, “It is time for downstaters to do for upstate what upstaters did for downstate at the turn of the century.” That was his segue to announcing a plan to contribute $1 billion for revitalization efforts to boost upstate New York’s lagging economy. The governor has already [...]
Is Downtown Utica Coming Back?
Posted in downtown on January 2, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Too often we have heard the complaints of area residents lamenting downtown Utica’s broken status. “Downtown Utica should be a nexus for the Mohawk Valley,” so-and-so will say. “Instead, it’s vacant and everybody avoids it.” So-and-so, we must add, would not be alone in his or her thinking. “When other cities are constantly adding 30 [...]
