2008 April | Words & Tricks

Interview: Jane Levin shares insight on poetry, surviving cancer and self-publishing [with Video]

April 30th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Poetry, Writing, arts by Chris Pommier

I’ve been lucky to know Jane Levin for over a year now. She and I were awarded a Mentorship by SASE/Intermedia Arts, a local arts organization, and the Jerome Foundation in 2006. With several other local poets we Legacy, by Jane Levin met regularly to workshop and support each other under the watchful eye of Sun Yung Shin, our mentor.

Since then, Jane has worked hard and met with a lot of success in publishing her poetry in both online and print journals. Last week she performed as a featured reader for the SASE/Intermedia Arts GLBT Reading Series. Award-winning writers Andrea Jenkins and John Medeiros curate this long-running reading series.

Part reading, and part book release party, Jane triumphantly held up the gem-green book that she had labored to publish over the previous months. Legacy is a slim volume packed with lyrical, wry and moving accounts of the author’s experience dealing with the fear and pain of cancer, and celebrating the triumph of health, family, friends and her lover Judy.

In her own words, Jane says:

My poems, especially those in my chapbook Legacy, explore universal issues that arise from living as a Jew, a cancer-survivor and a member of the LGBT community. My hope is that my poems will also heal.

I used my digital camera (a Cannon PowerShot A95 for you poetry-loving gadget-geeks out there) to record some short video clips during Jane’s reading. You can watch three of those clips edited together here.

In this 4:42 minute video, Jane thanks her supporters and reads “Atoll” and “Passover” from her book, Legacy.

To order the book, you can send an email to moonflowerpress [at] gmail.com. Each copy is only $8.00 USD. Legacy is also available at the following Twin Cities independent bookstores: Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, Birchbark Books, Brochin’s, Elijah’s Cup and Micawbers.

Read the full interview with Jane Levin after the jump, and below the video.

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WT Update: Selection of Chris Pommier’s freelance clips online

April 19th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Nonfiction, Writing by Chris Pommier

I wrote for Lavender Magazine, a local gay/lesbian/queer focused print magazine in 2006-2007. However, in February 2007, they rolled out a new draconian contract for freelancers that would have forced me to give up all future rights to my work, and would have held me liable for future litigation against the magazine. I refused to sign it because of that, so they couldn’t give me any more work.

I really enjoyed working for them, and their wonderful editor at that time, Michael Moeglin. Though the magazine is rightfully critiqued as a glorified advertising pamphlet within the community, it does support good work, and some wonderful talent. Unfortunately, for some reason the publisher of Lavender has never archived the magazine’s content online. So, for about a year now, I’ve had physical clips sitting in my file drawer waiting to be released online to prospective editors and employers.

I finally made the time to scan, and place, those clips as pdfs on this blog. It took most of Saturday morning, but it was worth it.

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Music library getting dusty? 3-and-a-half websites you may not know (but should immediately bookmark)

April 15th, 2008 | 2 Comments | Posted in Advice by Chris Pommier

Finding that you’ve gotten into a rut with you music? If, as my fellow Twitterer BigBrightBulb said (who blogs here and twitters here), you’ve been filling out your 80’s pop collection based on Muzak from your favorite burrito shop,, then I’ve got some tips for you below. Or, maybe, like me, the hard drive that housed all your music crashed beyond repair. The smell of burning plastic does not bode well for my Tori Amos Discography.

Either way, I’ve got a short list of sites you’ll want to check out.

They’re not as famous or popular as Last.fm, iTunes, or Yahoo! Music, but maybe you’ve already tried those, and just maybe they’re boring you to tears. Especially since you want to find music that challenges you, and pushes your boundaries. You want to find music uncovered by the most music-obsessed people on the planet. Music bloggers.

Look no further.

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Watchdoggin’: Top notch reporters & editors share investigative journalism tips for ethnic media

April 13th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Writing by Chris Pommier

This weekend the nonprofit Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc., a grassroots organization devoted to improving the quality of investigative journalism, brought professional journalists from the New York Times, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Wisconsin State Journal to Minneapolis for a two-day conference and workshop. With partners New American Media the Twin Cities Daily Planet and the Twin Cities Media Alliance, IRE provided workshops and networking sessions focused on strengthening watchdog journalism, and building coalitions, among local ethnic media.

It’s not often that I have the chance to be trained by professional, working reporters and editors from nationally recognized, Pulitzer Prize winning newspapers. For a nominal fee of $25, which included lunch and a year’s membership to IRE, I was practically obligated to go. More »

My single favorite new feature in WordPress 2.5 [Techno File]

April 9th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Advice by Chris Pommier

One-click plugin upgrades.

There is nothing more calming than a sea of light green boxes descending in an ordered column down the page.

My partner told me tonight that I’m a tech nerd. Can you believe that?

Anyway, to extend the basic functionality of WordPress, many of us bloggers and designers rely on third-party bits of code to do the whiz-bang bits of our sites. The “bling,” as it were.

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