Readings on the Bowery

Sunday, February 17 at 2:00

Readings on the Bowery presents

Christine Casson

Patrick Phillips

D. Nurkse & Rigoberto Gonzales

THE BOWERY POETRY CLUB

308 Bowery between Houston and First Streets

For dependable directions by foot, subway, bus, cab...

www.hopstop.com will get you there.

Readings on the Bowery is a Four Way Books sponsored event, funded in part by

Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts,

a state agency.

$8.00 admission gets you $2.00 at the drink bar.

Future Sundays at 2:00:

March 9:

Deb Bogen, Matt Donovan, Sara London, Gerald Stern

April 13:

Matt Schwartz, Kevin Prufer, Marie Howe, Wendy Rawlings

May 4:

Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan, Mary Jo Bang,

Tim Donnelly, Eileen Pollack

The Cold War Threat to the Navajo

Published: February 12, 2008

It is alarming that the nuclear power industry is talking about resuming uranium mining near a Navajo reservation. A mining company has applied for permits for a new mine on privately owned land in New Mexico just outside the reservation’s formal boundaries but within what is commonly known as Navajo Indian Country. Regulators must not allow this to proceed until the enormous damage inflicted by past mining operations has been fully addressed.

Residents of the Navajo Nation are haunted by radiation threats from more than a thousand gaping mine sites abandoned after the cold war arms race. After decades of uranium mining — and accumulating evidence of spikes of cancer and other diseases — mining companies walked away from their cleanup responsibilities.

The federal government has also shamefully failed its tribal trust obligation to deal with what Representative Henry Waxman has aptly termed “an American tragedy.”

The California Democrat is investigating a history of shocking neglect that would not be tolerated elsewhere. Among the horrors: shifting mountains of uranium tailings; open mines leaching contaminated rain into drinking water tables; wind-blown radioactive dust; home construction from uranium mine slabs; and even the grim spectacle of children playing in radioactive swimming holes and ground pits.

Tribal elders finally forbade mining, alarmed at the sudden rise in cancer deaths. Federal help across the years has been sporadic at best, with only half the mines ever sealed. Prodded into action by Congressional hearings and detailed reports in The Los Angeles Times, a half-dozen agencies are now vowing stronger remedies, including the resumption of long-stalled toxic testing. Far greater resolve is called for. The House oversight committee is rightly demanding a coordinated five-year remediation plan from the agencies most involved.

The government must finally honor its obligation to seal the mines and deal with their myriad dangers. Talk of opening even one new mine — which could, of course, lead to others — adds grave insult to the severe injury already done.

[from the New York Times Editorial Page]

BELLADONNA with Barbara Cole & Elizabeth Robinson

Tuesday, February 12, 7:30PM (doors at 7PM)

Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, 2nd Floor—Between Houston & Prince

Admission is $5 at the Door

Barbara Cole received her M.A. in Poetry from Temple University and her Ph.D. in Poetics from the University at Buffalo. Since 2000, she has been writing the ongoing project, situ ation come dies. The latest installment from foxy moron was published in 2004 by /ubu editions.

Elizabeth Robinson is the author of eight books of poetry. Her most recent books are Apostrophe and Under That Silky Roof. Robinson is a co-editor of Instance Press and EtherDome Chapbook Series. She teaches at the University of Colorado, and sometimes Naropa, and lives in Boulder.

Founded as a reading series at a women¹s radical bookstore in 1999, Belladonna is a feminist avant-garde event and publication series that promotes the work of women writers who are adventurous, politically involved, multi-form, multicultural, multi-gendered, unpredictable, dangerous with language (to the death machinery).

Please contact us (Erica Kaufman, Rachel Levitsky, et al) at belladonnaseries@yahoo.com to receive a catalog and be placed on our list.

www.belladonnaseries.org

http://www.belladonnabooks.blogspot.com

connor's new thing

The Gothic Funk Nation Seeks Submissions

The Gothic Funk Nation (a movement advocating the transcendence of the deconstructive instability endemic to latter 20th century artistic criticism) has this week launched a new thrice-annual journal to publish and sustain conscious and unconscious advocates of its contemporary idiom. Submissions are now open in the categories of IMAGES (painting, drawing, photography, video, etc.), SOUNDS (music, sonic experimentation, spoken word, etc.), and WORDS (poetry, prose, theater, nonfiction, stories, etc.). We are flexible in accepting many different forms and functions, lengths and types, but we expect submissions to undertake a proactive, optimistic, and engaged attack on indeterminacy, even if they are uncertain of the outcome of this struggle.

The Gothic Funk movement was conceived in the November 2004 pre-election distress of Chicago's North and South Sides. Founding members included artists, scientists, and temp workers. Frustrated by the obfuscation and lack of rigor in current critical theory, they tried to posit solutions, beginning with a series of hootenannies that framed social interaction as the great mystery of cultural intimacy. Subsequent efforts have included public epistles, written projects, performance art, and more parties (because parties are fun).

Your creative work may be submitted at: http://gothicfunk.org/triannual

You may learn more about our project and its history (four years running) at: http://www.hereisnowhy.com/gothicfunk

For additional information, contact Connor Coyne at connor@hereisnowhy.com

go see Matt read!

EARSHOT! Reading Series hosted by Nicole Steinberg

Friday, February 8th, 8PM

Lucky Cat, 245 Grand Street in Brooklyn, between Driggs and Roebling

Join us for the next installment of EARSHOT at The Lucky Cat, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn! EARSHOT is a bi-monthly reading series, dedicated to featuring new and emerging literary talent in the NYC area.

Featuring:

Joshua Cohen

Shelly Taylor

Christina LaPrease (Columbia University)

Matthew Everett (The New School)

James Best (New York University)

Admission is a mere $5 plus one free drink (beer, wine or well drinks only)! The Lucky Cat is located at 245 Grand Street in Brooklyn, between Driggs and Roebling.

Visit their website for directions: http://www.theluckycat.com.

Also visit http://www.earshotnyc.com for more information on Earshot or e-mail Nicole Steinberg at earshotnyc@gmail.com.

READING AND COCKTAIL HOUR: Friday, February 8
Featuring: Colson Whitehead

His cocktail choice: Rye Whiskey Sazerac* (see recipe below)

Friday, February 8, at Pianos
158 Ludlow St., New York, NY
Cocktails: 6:30-8:30pm
Reading: 7pm
Admission: Free, 21+ only

Our host this evening: Elliott Holt, One Story Reading Series Coordinator

Colson Whitehead is the author of three novels, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days (which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), and Apex Hides the Hurt, as well as a collection of essays, The Colossus of New York. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, Harper's and New York Magazine. He is currently a fellow at the Cullman Centerfor Scholars and Writers.

The One Story Cocktail Hour & Reading Series is a chance for One Story readers and One Story writers to meet, enjoy a cocktail, and mingle in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Part private party, part showcase. And just like One Story magazine, one author has the chance to take the spotlight. Upcoming readings include Amelia Kahaney, Ben Miller, and Owen King.

One Story readings are at Pianos which is located at 158 Ludlow at Stanton on the Lower East Side. Take the F or V train to 2nd Avenue. Walk towards the 1st Avenue exit and leave through the door that says Allen Street. Walk east on Houston to Ludlow, then a block south to the intersection of Stanton. Pianos will be on your left.

ADMISSION IS FREE.

PIANO'S IS A 21+ ESTABLISHMENT

For more information visit www.one-story.com.

* RECIPE: Rye Whiskey Sazerac

1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 oz rye whiskey
1 dash Deva(R) absinthe
2 dashes Peychaud(R) bitters
2 dashes Angostura(R) bitters
1 twist lemon peel
ice

Chill an old-fashioned glass by filling with crushed ice. In another glass mix the sugar with the bitters dissolving the sugar. Add some ice, stirring to chill. In the old-fashioned glass remove the ice and pour in the absinthe coating the entire glass. Remove the excess absinthe. Add the rye whiskey and bitters/sugar mixture. Add the lemon twist.

Serve in: Old-Fashioned Glass

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Sen. McCain stated:

“If I am fortunate enough to be elected as the next president of the United States, I pledge to you to be a loyal and unswerving friend of the right-to-life movement.”

message from NARAL

The 2008 elections will be a turning point for the future of a woman’s right to choose. That’s why I’m writing to you today. When you go to the polls on February 5, I urge you to request a Democratic ballot and vote pro-choice in your state’s primary or caucus. Voting eligibility varies by state - click here to find out the rules for your state’s primary or caucus.

Why is a non-partisan, pro-choice organization like NARAL Pro-Choice America asking you to vote Democratic on February 5? Because each of the Republicans running for president is anti-choice and has gone even further than George W. Bush in his anti-choice rhetoric by directly calling for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

• Since coming to Washington, John McCain has voted anti-choice 125 times out of 130 votes cast on abortion and other reproductive-rights issues. He even boasts about it! “I have many, many votes and it’s been consistent. And I’ve gotten a consistent zero from NARAL throughout all those years.”
  
• As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed legislation to improve women’s access to emergency contraception. Fortunately, the Massachusetts legislature voted to override Romney’s veto. And when asked if the repeal of Roe v. Wade would be a good day for America, Romney replied, “Absolutely.”
  
• Mike Huckabee, who has emphatically stated that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, even supports a so-called “human life” amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Versions of this type of amendment could outlaw not only abortion, but birth control, stem-cell research, and in-vitro fertilization, too.

Clearly we will have our work cut out for us no matter who wins the Republican nomination. That’s why we are getting the word out now about what we’ll be up against, and why we need you to vote pro-choice February 5.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are fully pro-choice. I know that either of them will support and defend a woman’s right to choose if elected president. NARAL Pro-Choice America has endorsed both of these pro-choice leaders in their previous races for U.S. Senate, and I am confident about their commitment to women’s reproductive health and right to choose.

If you value freedom and privacy, please vote on Tuesday, February 5 for the pro-choice Democratic candidate of your choice.