David Axelrod makes the case for Florida to establish a four-year, renewable position as state poet laureate. With any luck, the program could begin by June 1. Florida has been absent a state poet since Edmund Skellings passed away in August, 2012
Florida’s Poet Laureate
“Every generation rewrites the book’s epitaph; all that changes is the whodunit.”
Proclaiming the death of the book has been in vogue nearly as long as the book itself. Leah Price presents a short history of our pessimism for the future of the written word.
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The Equity Series Live
Year in Reading alum Vinson Cunningham will be in conversation with Darren Walker and Crystal Williams at MoMA next Friday, March 11 as a part of the Equity Series. Watch it on live-stream at 6:30 p.m. EST.
Reading Childhood
NPR launched a new storybook project on Tuesday. Check out their Tumblr and see what parents (for example, Amy Chua and Edwidge Danticat) are reading to their kids. Pair with our own Kevin Hartnett’s essay on reconnecting with children’s books as an adult.
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Colbert 2012
Fresh on the heels of his gargantuan New York Times Magazine profile, as well as the announcement that he’s led Jon Huntsman Jr. in the South Carolina polls, political prankster Stephen Colbert has decided to run for “president of the United States of South Carolina.” This, of course, is not the first time he’s pulled this stunt, but it is the first time he’s done it with this much funding. All of this raises the question of whether this is political satire or “School House Rock on Steroids.” But don’t get too excited. Apparently folks from the Palmetto State will not actually be able to vote for him.
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