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"Endings Are Elusive, Middles Are Nowhere to Be Found, But Worst of All Is to Begin, to Begin, to Begin"

Filed under: Looked Into Tagged: Donald Barthelme, fiction, Joan Acocella, John Lahr, Ralph Ellison, theater, Truman Capote

On Slate, Jessica Winter meditates on Ralph Ellison, Truman Capote, and the difference between writer’s block and procrastination. Joan Acocella wrote about those awful blocks, too; not entirely tangentially, John Lahr wrote movingly about stage fright.

Donald Barthelme’s narrator in “The Dolt” saved me from the anxious swirl that might have prevented my writing this headline, or indeed this post at all. It’s true, even “bloggers” can have blocks! If they were only alphabet blocks, then we’d really be in business. (continued)

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Children Needn't Be Bored This Sunday

Filed under: The Katharine Wheel: On Fiction Tagged: audio, fiction, Hilton Als, Jean Stafford, newyorker.com, podcasts

For those of you who, like Ishmael, are suffering from a damp, drizzly November in your soul and require a strong moral principle to prevent you from deliberately stepping into the street and methodically knocking people’s hats off, I’ve got just the thing: this month’s fiction podcast from The New Yorker features a reading of Jean Stafford’s story “Children Are Bored on Sundays,” which appeared in the magazine in 1948.

I was surprised and pleased to see Stafford singled out. Although many of her stories (continued)

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On the Internet, Everyone Knows You're in Dogpatch

Filed under: Little Words Tagged: Cartoon Bank, cartoons, Ed Koren, food, Frank Modell, Leo Cullum, San Francisco

Just debuted—real-time snapshots of where in the world people are looking at New Yorker cartoons, and precisely which cartoons they’re looking at. At press minute in greater San Francisco, interest was running high in Frank Modell, Ed Koren, and Leo Cullum. In Dogpatch, a neighborhood where, about a month ago, I became one with an incredibly crowded, jolly, and soprasetta-crazed party for the magazine Meatpaper, it may be another story. You’ll have to keep a careful watch. (continued)

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Spondees and Anapests Fly at Union Square Cafe, YouTube

Filed under: Looked Into Tagged: food, Lauren Collins, Mark Strand, music, poetry, restaurants, TOTT

Martin Schneider writes:

“Word Feast” was that toothsome Talk of the Town by Lauren Collins in the May 12 issue about the versifying waitstaff of Union Square Cafe. (Seneca got beat up a bit.) It’s turning a certain Matt Gould into the kind of star that only New York can produce. Collins writes:

The biggest hit of last year’s series was a catchy rap poem written by a waiter named Matt Gould, which the bosses eventually got him to turn into a video holiday card. “Things never change or change later than sooner / Like the calamari, Billecart, filet mignon, and tuna!” Gould sings, while his co-workers shimmy on top of tables. (The Peppermill could be a new dance.)

Next, the good people of New York magazine’s blog Grub Street stated their intention to find a copy of the elusive Matt Gould holiday card. It took a mere quarter hour for a commenter to post a link to the video! (“Embedding disabled by request.”) Maybe they could combine their talents with a succulent Mark Strand special. (continued)

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Robert Rauschenberg, 1925-2008

Filed under: In Memoriam Tagged: art, Calvin Tomkins, in memoriam, Profiles, Robert Rauschenberg

The artist is dead. (He was born the year The New Yorker was founded.) What a life, and what stunning things he made. Calvin Tomkins did a very personal Profile of him in 2005; it’s not online yet, but I have a feeling it will be. (continued)

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Remnick's Jazz List: Let the Omission-Counterlisting Begin!

Filed under: Eds. Tagged: David Remnick, jazz, music, Phil Schaap, radio, Richard Brody

Martin Schneider writes:

In theory, I oppose lists of cultural distinction; in practice, I devour them greedily.

In conjunction with his Profile of legendary WKCR DJ Phil Schaap, David Remnick (with the help of Richard Brody) has compiled a fine, judicious, respectful, I daresay typically Remnickian list of the 100 most essential jazz recordings (continued)

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Martin Schneider writes:

The curious are invited to have a look at our Flickr set with photos from the New Yorker Conference:

More after the jump: (continued)

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"Every Person in New York" Lad Also Fab New Yorker Cartoonist

Filed under: Seal Barks Tagged: animals, art, Cartoon Bank, cartoons, humor

Gawker and the Post are marveling at Jason Polan today; he wants to draw every person in New York. Who doesn’t? Anyway, it’s most important not to forget this about the energetic Polan: He drew one of what I believe is one of the Cartoon Bank’s best-selling New Yorker cartoons, to wit, “I usually do two hours of cardio and then four more of cardio and then two more of cardio.” It’s the sole cartoon of his that’s appeared in the magazine to date, but what a cartoon! I hope some pretty cash results from this new endeavor, and an extra-large fruit, nut, and vegetable stick, or whatever his whirling heart desires. (continued)

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Tweetly Deedly Deet, Tweetly Deedly

Filed under: Looked Into Tagged: books, Dale Kramer, David Remnick, E.B. White, Ellin Mackay, music, newyorker.com, technology

I was in the middle of reading the following sentence early this morning — “The wire services piped the story straight to Dubuque” — when I got my first New Yorker Twitter text about David Remnick’s online list of 100 Essential Jazz Albums. (He wrote about Phil Schaap in this week’s issue, and I’m going to reward myself with the piece if/when I get through today. I once saw Schaap swing dancing, years before I started doing it myself, and I was impressed.)

It’s all happening so fast! Also, I will not be generating Twitters myself. I am, we are, posting to this blog, which is our “feed,” if not our daily bread. So just keep coming back to the tasty trough, Templetons and friends. (By the way, this is a truly rocking version of “Rockin’ Robin” by McFly. I am awake. ) (continued)

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Pencil It In

Filed under: Eustace Google Tagged: Complete New Yorker, E.J. Kahn Jr., in memoriam, jazz, music, TOTT, William Shawn

Michael Leddy at the site Orange Crate Art (clearly, someone I would enjoy talking to) wonders if the author of a 1953 Talk of the Town about pencil use at the Eagle Pencil Company might, by virtue of the story’s eloquent phrasing (“We ducked as lead flew about us”) and its attention to pencils, have been longtime editor William Shawn. In fact, according to the Complete New Yorker, it’s by E. J. Kahn, Jr. Here’s the abstract.

Leddy also notes the sad passing of Mona Hinton, the wife of Milt Hinton and a friend of Leddy’s family, who died on May 3rd. He quotes the Hinton website:

The Hintons first met at Milt’s grandmother’s funeral in 1939 and were inseparable for the next 61 years. Mona traveled extensively with Milt throughout his career. She was the only spouse on the road with the Cab Calloway Orchestra in the 1940s, where, according to Milt, she was extremely helpful in finding rooms and meals for band members especially when the band worked in small towns during the Jim Crow era. During the ’50s and ’60s when Milt was working day and night in the New YorkWi studios, Mona kept the books and made often complicated transportation arrangements. And during the last two decades of his life, Milt and Mona got to travel to jazz festivals and clinics around the world — first class.

(continued)

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Who she?

I'm Emily Gordon, reachable at emily@emdashes.com.

I'm an editor at PRINT magazine in New York City. I've worked at The Nation, Newsday, PEN America, and Legal Affairs. I've written for the NY Times Book Review, Salon, The Washington Post, The Village Voice... continued

Affinities | Blurbs

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A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

Tell me more

They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

Primary sources

The New Yorker
Events listed by the magazine
Web resources: New Yorker writers and artists
Books, Organizations, &c.

Written and edited by Emily Gordon (plus various guest contributors), designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

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