Bits

This is my office at the Stadler Poetry Center. As you can see I haven't added any personal touches to the space. Why? I go to my office once a week. Terrible, no? It's a space I don't use much.
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I became an uncle again yesterday.
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You can hear the new single by The Killers by visiting their web site. The song will play automatically.
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Each time I administered the contest, the number of submissions maintained approximately the same ratio: two poetry manuscripts to every one fiction manuscript. In other words, the numbers would have intimidated even the most confident poet. By the time those manuscripts were winnowed down to the finalists in each category--through several tiers of qualified, dedicated readers--we still ended up with two sizable batches of manuscripts that were very strong and very much in the running to win the contest.
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Currently reading:
Lisa Olstein: Radio Crackling, Radio Gone
Maryls West: Notes for a Late-Blooming Martyr
Terrance Hayes: Wind in a Box
Carol Frost: The Queen's Desertion
Mark Yakich: The Importance of Peeling Potatoes in Urkraine
Tom Andrews: The Brother's Country
Bruce Smith: Silver and Information
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Osama bin Laden is one of the world's most wanted men but he is now also about to be a published poet.
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I had a nice time talking with Ron Mohring today. He likes gossip. I don't.
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I feel bad because I've declined some friend requests on Face Book. Is there a support group for this kind of guilt?
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Look! A poet has opened her first box of books.
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Jeannine Hall Gailey reads from her collection Becoming the Villainess
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Jay Leno is not funny.
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Literary legend Hass awarded UI Honorary Degree