Bread is like sex and writing. The first time is the same for all three: afterwards you feel kind of proud but also disgusted and you’re not sure you want to do it again, but […]
Opinion & Democracy
But What Does It Mean?
The other night someone told me a story- I think it was a love story. There was a plate in front of me and it was composed of three small offerings of sea urchin, which […]
Words As Weapons
New School president Bob Kerrey has started a blog. It is an attempt to reach out to the students and faculty of the university after the no-confidence vote that was handed down last week. There […]
E-Book, or E-Suck
I recently received a gift from a friend in the form of an e-book. E-books are electronic versions of print books displayed either on a computer or an e-book device, which is about the size of a […]
The Price of a Word
I read in The New York Times yesterday that Joe the Plumber has penned a book. The news was in an op-ed piece written by Timothy Egan, in which he takes publishers to task on allocating what […]
Quotes to Inspire
As we reach the end of the semester, most of us are extremely busy editing our literary papers, poems, and stories. Here are a few quotes I hope you will find inspirational: I never write […]
The Weight of a Book
“Books have particular qualities that are lost in translation into code. A book isn’t just its text, it’s also a material object with a particular history, written in stains and stamps and underlining.…The body of […]
And Who in Her Lonely Slip? (A Writing Exercise)
I heard Leonard Cohen for the first time at Top Fuel, a small coffee shop in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. He sang like stars across the sky, soaring through the jukebox, like a million birds […]
Quiet Time
I write this from my parents’ retirement home near Chapel Hill, NC, where I’ve come to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. They live along a fairway in a gated golf community several miles from the quaint downtown area, […]
Just to clarify, I’m not a psychology major.
With finals, final papers and grad school application deadlines upon us, this just seemed appropriate! So far I have had people stand me up for meetings because they were immersed in their writing, received […]
Writing from Art
There’s been talk about writer’s block. I don’t really have a cure, but I know that every time I visit a museum, I leave with a poem. On Sunday, it was the MoMA. I went […]
Cathedrals of Writing
There is something magical about a good bookstore—dusty shelves, quiet nooks, jazz on the stereo, sellers that are a blend of friendly and pedantic. It is a place of romance for an avid reader. Peace […]
I’m Not Saying Buy Me a House, But I’m Not Saying I’ll Stop You If You Want To
Interesting post a couple of days ago at the Ploughshares blog about benefactors. I have mixed feelings about the idea of patronage, especially the support of a single artist by a single wealthy benefactor. Sure, […]
Kicking the Legs Out
It’s rare in this day and age that films move us to tears. With movies like Beverly Hills Chihuahua and High School Musical 3 topping the charts, the majority of American films do little to […]
A Reader’s Question
I received a semi-anonymous email last week with a plea for advice regarding writer’s block. In lieu of a traditional post this week, I thought I would share my exchange with the writer with you, our readers.
12thstreetonline is meant to be a forum for us to explore writing both personally and professionally, so I hope you guys chime in with advice for our friend in need, and perhaps pitch some queries of your own in regards to your own writing these days.
Dear Anna,
I’m having a severe case of writer’s block. I can’t work on my play, my fiction workshop stuff, anything, and I was wondering if you had any tips? It’s seriously getting to me and I don’t know what to do. Help!
Choices, Choices
Zoë’s and Anna’s thoughtful comments about the process of writing last week prompted me to think about how we choose what to write about, and how we go about writing it. Do you tend to […]
I’m Not Going To Write You A Love Song
Or write him a song if you are so inclined. 12th Street got an interesting email this morning and we wanted to pass it along to you, our audience. We encourage you to speak you […]
Hooked On A Feeling
I cannot tell a lie: I was not always a supporter of Barack Obama, our new president elect. Early on in what has proven to be one of the longest presidential campaigns in American history, […]
Children of Our Era
We are children of our era;
our era is political.
Four years ago, I was old enough to vote in my first presidential election. I was living with my parents. I had to brave the terrors of going back to my old high school to cast my ballot. I wore my “I VOTED” sticker all day and into the night, waiting for the results that would validate my efforts and prove that I had made a difference. And then I was crushed.
Breaking Our Expectations
Does an addict have to be a bad person? Zoe Miller asks how to break the expectations when creating a character.