Catapult has a new anonymous column in which a little bird called Magpie collects nice things that happen each week.
A Little Bird Told Me
A New Buzz-Making Strategy
Read Stephen Elliot‘s (Editor of The Rumpus, and author of the memoir The Adderall Diaries) fascinating account of his Lending Library program, whereby, prior to release, he sent a free galley of his memoir to anyone who promised to pass it on to someone else within a week.
NO MORE
The US Navy will no longer write its internal communiques in all caps. Maybe they got tired of the sense that they were constantly shouting?
Looking for Cleopatra
Recommended Reading: This love letter to Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, “the only woman in the world.” Here’s a bonus infographic that compares Cleopatra to everyone’s favorite Khaleesi, Daenerys Targaryen.
Poetry & the Environment: Answering the Big Questions
“The ideas people project onto me are just that: their projections. And to a certain extent I can choose whether or not to accept them. But these projections also put me in peril, which is why I need to cultivate love. What’s more interesting to me is how I overcome the limiting biases that are projected onto me. If I didn’t discover positive paths, my experiences — and books — would be unbearably devastating. I am always more concerned with the path toward hope and change.”
Camille Dungy, esteemed poet and essayist in Sun Magazine answering the big questions on the environment, race, religion and Trump.
Sustainable Olympics
Year in Reading alumna Nell Zink writes on the future of global sport. As she puts it, “Under my plan for reform, the Olympics will no longer be assigned a fixed geographic location.”
Beginner’s Luck
“Our great poet forever has one foot on Mount Parnassus and the other in the rue Quincampoix,” the Wall Street of eighteenth-century Paris. On how Voltaire outsmarted one of the earliest lotteries and made a fortune. Also check out how Goethe became an amateur auction theorist.
Bow Down
The U.S. Library of Congress has named its newest poet laureate, reports The New York Times. Tracy K. Smith says, “I’m very excited about the opportunity to take what I consider to be the good news of poetry to parts of the country where literary festivals don’t always go. Poetry is something that’s relevant to everyone’s life, whether they’re habitual readers of poetry or not.” Pair with our review of Smith’s memoir Ordinary Light.