Category: Staff Blogs (page 5)

The Best Available Evidence: A Conversation with Rebecca Marino

Austin-based artist Rebecca Marino is no stranger to the strange. Her photography is often influenced by astronomy and the cosmos and her most recent series, “The Best Available Evidence,” explores the world of paranormal investigation.

The series was inspired by a book discovered in a used bookstore, which generated a personal photographic inquiry into the world of UFO documentation. Her work is as serious as it is playful, found in both the lightheartedness of subject matter and in the thoughtfulness of her photo compositions.

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A Writer’s Ego: Proud Artist or Humble Dreamer?

Writing is a skill we learn not too long after we begin to speak, and just like those crooked and spindly characters of our first attempts, the way in which we express ourselves is as unique as the circumstances that led to our existence. Our speech and verbal expressions hold meaning and the words we write are no exception. But where do we draw the line? Where does originality become eccentricity, and at what point is artistic license simply an act of prideful preening?

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Jessica Bell’s Memoir “Dear Reflection”: Self-Discovery Amidst a Dysfunctional Family

On the surface Jessica Bell’s life seems like an envious one, being born into a house of indie rockers and growing up to become a writer, publisher and artist. But a closer look at her life, at least the one that she offers readers in her memoir “Dear Reflection: I Never Meant to be a Rebel” (Vine Leaves Press, 2017), reveals it to be one big fucking mess (to put it lightly).

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In The Garden of Externalities: A Conversation with David O’Brien

David O’Brien is an artist based in Sante Fe who works in video, printing, installation and painting. Recently showcased in Newfound’s Other Worlds issue, O’Brien’s work takes a meditative look into the micro-world of humanity’s discarded waste and the implications our enduring monuments of trash leave behind.

Each painting is a hand-printed photograph, screen printed with multiple layers of resin, ink and other materials, and then stretched around a round frame. These geographical studies take on an informative and thoughtful look into what marks we make as a species. In a recent discussion with Newfound, David shares his thoughts on his work, his artistic process and what influences him. You can see more of O’Brien’s work on his website.

Courtney Simchak: How did your Disc paintings get started? What was your inspiration for the series?

David O’Brien: The disc paintings began when I started getting serious about photographing the ground. They are a way to map and document the landscape from my own perspective. Each title is a set of GPS coordinates, accurate within a few feet of the photo.

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A Case for Reading Outside Your Genre, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

My new way of breaking the ice with strangers at parties is to ask: In what context and through what source did you first learn about the atomic bomb? (Makes me very popular at parties. Or it isolates everyone. I have about a 50/50 success rate.)

What this question is really asking is, what is your background, what beliefs and ideas make you up, and what lens do you use to view the world?

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An Interview with George Spisak, Co-Founder of The Uprising Review

The Uprising Review is a literary magazine that celebrates freedom of speech and invites all perspectives and their unique voices. Founded just recently, the literary magazine is the brainchild of four minds: Everitt Foster, George Spisak, Stephen Willis, and W.O. Cassity.

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There’s A 2% Chance This Will Be My Last Post

In two weeks I’ll be having open-heart surgery, which comes with a 2% risk of death. The risk is low enough to not cause too much worry.

This comes with its own problems. Knowing I’m about to go through substantial surgery without substantial risk causes some rather dissonant thoughts.

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A Tale of Two Flâneuses: We want more history and less Lauren Elkin

Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London by Lauren Elkin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2016) is an uneven read that delights and also disappoints.

The problem is, there are two books trying to exist here, but neither has been given enough time or attention. History-Flâneuse tackles the concept of a flâneur: a wanderer, city-walker, bohemian, and man of leisure. (In French, this word was created in the masculine form, thus the concept has exclusively described men who live a dharma-bum lifestyle. Flâneuse is the female form and Elkin is trying to make Flâneuse happen.) Memoir-Flâneuse retells a few uninspiring stories of romantic relationships gone awry set in various cities of the world.

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An Interview with Richard Adin of “An American Editor”

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Adin, Founder and CEO of Freelance Editorial Services and of the “An American Editor” blog. What follows is our discussion of his journey to become an editor, his experience in the industry, and his advice on a number of topics.

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Ezra Dan Feldman’s Habitat of Stones

Ezra Dan Feldman’s poetry collection “Habitat of Stones” (Tebot Bach, 2016) is tied together by a certain “arrogant man.” This recurrent theme throughout the collection also bumps up against notions of the body: its finitude, its mortality and the struggles and regret of intimate relationships.

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“The Graffiti of Pompeii” – An Interview with Laura Sobbott Ross

Laura Sobbott Ross has been writing poetry since she was a teenager. Her writing has appeared in The Florida Review, Meridian, and many others. She was a finalist for the 2016 Newfound Anzaldúa Poetry Prize, as well as a finalist for the Pushcart Prize and the Arts & Letters Poetry Prize in 2016.

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Why We Must Prioritize Journalism Over Fiction, No Matter How Much It Hurts

The rally call went up in the first months of 2016.

Writers of all ranks came together and decided that they must work harder than ever to ridicule, satirize and attack the new political world. They had not voted for things like Brexit and Trump, and these ideas were not only the annoying chirps of uninformed, they were the enemy of liberal, innovative art.

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“21 Extremely Bad Breakups”: An Interview with Mark Leidner

Once a year, Newfound Journal awards its Prose Prize to one author and publishes their work in a chapbook.  I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mark Leidner, winner of the 2016 Prose Prize, about some of the themes of his winning work and his relationship with writing.

Rebecca Henderson: Mark, did you write this piece specifically for the Prose Prize, or was it something you already had written?

Mark Leidner: I saw the contest advertised when I was in the middle of writing it. I thought because it’s multiple stories within a single story, it would make a good chapbook if selected.

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“Flower Wars” – An Interview with Nico Amador

Nico Amador’s “Flower Wars” is a collection that lives up to its oxymoronic title. It is grounded, it is alive and growing, but it is also full of tension, power and conviction. The 2016 Anzaldúa Poetry Prize winner is nothing less than the heartfelt work of a poet formed by the strength of his political beliefs and his desire to understand and express his place in the world as a queer, trans and mixed-race poet.

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Aiming Past your Target: A Review of Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life

To write is to create and destroy. What once was constructed can be torn down at any moment, and yet what remains can very well be so effective as to be forever built upon. Words act as the vehicle for our everyday lives. Without language, we cannot express the kaleidoscope of human emotion, nor impact future generations.

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Six Rules for AWP

The annual conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) is no joke. It’s the largest writers conference in the US, welcoming 12,000 or so attendees each year. If you have the good fortune to attend, you will find yourself in a sea of literary types–writers, publishers, editors, and more. Does that sound exciting, but also so overwhelming your stomach hurts and oh my God maybe you should cancel?

Here are some guidelines for making the most of this experience:

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