An Astonishing Poet You Should Know

I’d like to introduce you all to an amazing and little known poet, Talvikki Ansel. And yes, I did just interview her for my thesis, so perhaps I’m biased. Nevertheless, she is a poet whose work is worth knowing. Her first book, My Shining Archipelago, was published as winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets in 1996. And her second book, Jetty, came out in 2003. Jetty is out of print but can—and should be—found used.

Almost all of Talvikki Ansel’s poems are in some way connected to the natural world—she has spent a significant amount of time working in gardens and cataloging birds for conservation efforts. This influence comes across in her work, which is laced with botanical terms and filled with experiences from the field.

Although her poetry stands strongly on it’s own, Ansel has often been compared to Elizabeth Bishop. They inhabit similar natural landscapes; have an affinity for odd and quirky images, and employ precision description. In one of Ansel’s more recent poems, “Valentine’s,” published in Poetry Magazine 2003, she writes, “I identified that weird / seed pod”… “Magenta capsule and four orange seeds”… “ ‘heart’s a-bustin’ with love’ it’s called” (12-13, 15, 16). This image seems an apt introduction to an astonishing poet.

Please follow these links to read further about Ansel and her work:
Review of Jetty in Blackbird.
Where Poetry Outgrows Hobby Status Artcle in the New York Times, written after Ansel won the Yale Series of Younger Poets.
First Sunday on Poetry A close look at one of Ansel’s poems from Jetty.
Orion Magazine, Poem: “Seed Savers”
Three Of Ansel’s Poems: “Tree List,” “Or Stay Again,” “Blue Collection”

The House on Fortune Street

Book news! Margot Livesey, who made an appearance on our 25 Books Project for her Eva Moves the Furniture, has a new novel out, called The House on Fortune Street. I was able to see her read from it and bought the book at her reading Tuesday at Porter Square Books in Somerville, MA. It was nice to have something weighty and yet fast-paced for my 20+ hour flight to Korea yesterday. Sort of four novellas that add up to a very full novel, and which elicit a lot of reflection on the characters and the way lives are intertwined. Highly recommended.

Senioritis

I used to think "senioritis," that affliction commonly associated with spring time and general procrastination, was only a problem for college students eager to join the "real world" and college-bound high school kids. As a grad student in her mid-twenties who works full-time and has been out of college for more years than she cares to think about, I thought all of that youthful restlessness was a thing of the past.

I was mistaken. Though most of my classmates have finished their final final papers, projects, and theses, and are preparing for graduation and planning for moves to New York or epic job searches, I am still one summer class shy of completing my master's degree. I'm not even done with my spring semester yet--a problem compounded by a pretty severe (and somewhat premature) case of senioritis. One final project (to build a web site) stands between me and a 3-week break before summer classes begin. Though I have been aware of this project for some months, I underestimated the difficulty it would present to me. After all, I know how to blog, I'm pretty familiar with HTML, how hard could it be? Turns out, building a web site is much harder than it looks. The fact that the weather is finally sunny and sometimes even sort of warm, leading to a deep-seated desire to be outdoors, does little to improve my motivation to sit hunched over my laptop, working on a project that makes me feel like I have no skills whatsoever.

This academic brand of senioritis has seeped into other areas of my life as well. For example, instead of reading any of the new literature I have lined up to read this summer, I often find myself staring out the window of the T on my hour commute to work each morning--not contemplating life or love or ethics, but rather thinking things like "ooh, look at the pretty flowers on that tree" and "I love that woman's dress--I wonder where she got it." Once I finally arrive at work, I settle in and diligently begin my work for the day. This burst of productivity usually lasts for about a half hour before I begin to check my email, gchat with friends, and catch up on my blogs--a process that is suprisingly time-consuming. If I don't have class, I find myself lounging on my futon, watching bad reality tv with my roommate instead of going grocery shopping, doing laundry, washing the dishes, or writing--all tasks which linger on my constant to-do list.

All of this inability to focus or motivate myself in any way leads me to wonder--is "senioritis" a malady that is synonymous with laziness, restlessness, and ennui that we're doomed to be plagued with each time certain situations in our lives are about to draw to a close or have reached the point of complete stagnancy? What do you all think?

Digital Gandhi

For my final bit of promised subculture, read about performance artist Joseph DeLappe's piece on Gandhi.

DeLappe reenacted Gandhi's Salt March on a treadmill hooked into
Second Life.

DeLappe does a lot of digital art and digital protest, including his America's Army protest, where he signs into the first person shooter game the army uses to recruits new soldiers, and instead of fighting with the other players, he drops his weapons and types in the names of soldiers who died in Iraq.

Interestingly, DeLappe told me that reenacting older works has traditionally been a way that the art world explores the possibility of new spaces for art.

Photo courtesy of Joseph DeLappe.

I Heart Pickles!

My master's project, City Picklers, is finally ready to meet the world. The site, produced with Lisa Biagiotti, tells the story of how homemade pickles are invigorating the local food movement.

Over the course of the project, I made more than five quarts of sauerkraut, plus pickled lemons, kimchi, cucumber pickles, fermented garlic, a failed attempt at pickled cauliflower (cruciferous veggies smell bad when fermented) and pickled fennel.

Our final week of work, which occurred during "spring break," was one of my most grueling as a student. A 120+ week that culminated in a 3-day labor spree where Lisa and I logged 65 hours. But it was totally worth it to see our pickles fly off the page and into the hearts (mouths?) of our viewers.

Here's our official synopsis:

CityPicklers.com is a website devoted to New York pickles--in all varieties, including vinegar, lacto-fermented, Jewish, Indian, Chinese, and so on. Every culture has its pickle, and we found that pickling still thrives in the historic pickle district on the Lower East Side, in ethnic enclaves of the outer boroughs, in farmer's markets and in pickling classes.

Through multimedia and text, CityPicklers.com tells the story of:

* new pickling businesses and the local food culture surrounding home and artisinal pickling, including interviews with Rick Field of Rick's Picks, and Al Kaufman of the Pickle Guys
* the benefits of pickling and ancient traditions of lacto-fermentation, including interviews with fermentation expert, Sandor Ellix Katz
* how-to make the crunchers, with instruction by hipster pickler Bob McClure of McClure's Pickles and Inside Park chef Matt Weingarten

The site is best viewed in the Firefox browser.

We'd like to thank the more than 70 chefs, cookbook authors, historians, purveyors and picklers we interviewed over the last six months.

Happy pickling!

Lisa Biagiotti and Lizzie Stark
CityPicklers@gmail.com
CityPicklers.com

Photo by Lisa Biagiotti.

Gandhi, Squatters, and Pickles

Admittedly, I've neglected this space a bit in the last few months, but I assure you it's for the best reasons: I've been out covering subcultures for my New Media class, and since subcultures are pretty Fringe, I'll give you one each day for the next few days.

First there was the complex story of Lower East Side Squatters. Six years ago the Urban Homestead Assistance board brokered a deal between the city and and squatters. UHAB bought eleven buildings that had squatters living in them for $1 each under the condition that UHAB would renovate the properties and make them into low-income coops.

The city gave UHAB two years to complete the renovations. Now, six years later, some of the buildings still lack heat and hot water, and only two of the original eleven are even close to becoming coops. On top of that, UHAB took out $5.5 million in mortgages on the buildings to make the repairs, and now the money is dwindling, some buildings are in disrepair, and residents fear that the bank will come knocking.

This piece was difficult to write because squatters are fairly suspicious of outsiders and of the media in particular. My reporting partner, Kenan Davis, and I spend a solid seven days doing extensive shoe leather reporting. We tracked down financial documents for each of the squats, talked to more than 10 squatters, but only succeeded in getting a handful to talk on the record, and dug up one squat's lawsuit against UHAB for alleged mismanagement of funds.

Check out the story on the NYC24.com site...because nothing says "Fringe" better than folks who appropriated their living spaces.

Ah Spring, buds on trees and feminists getting hitched

A lot of kids here at Fringe are doing the nupital dance this season, and I thought of them when I read this wonderful article by Christie Church (it's been making the rounds: originally at girlistic magazine, here on alternet, but I first saw it on my truthout feed).

How familiar a script, and how refreshing a story! (but when they visit the jeweler, ooh: I read that, became physically angry, and spent a pent-up commute really, really hoping they took their business elsewhere).

So friends, headed to the altar in church or backyard or city hall, do it your own way and be proud.