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October 23, 2009 | 12:03 pm
Signal to Noise and Sex With Jon Stewart
Posted by Jonathan Kirsch
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Kate Gale, Co-Founder of Red Hen Press
When Amy Hertz, the new book editor of the Huffington Post, cracked that “book reviews tend to be conversation enders,” she prompted a little flurry of controversy among those of us who care about books, which is exactly what she intended to do. And here is my contribution to the conversation!
Her comment reminded me of a story that I heard from Kate Gale, the co-founder (with Mark E. Cull) of Red Hen Press, one of America’s liveliest publishers of poetry and literary fiction and non-fiction. Kate said that she experienced a sharp spike in the readership of her own blog when she strayed from literary matters and wrote instead about her fantasies about having sex with Jon Stewart.
The point of Kate’s story is that the Internet is so vast, so crowded, and so chaotic that it is damnably hard to catch and hold anyone’s attention – the signal-to-noise ratio is overwhelming. So bloggers are tempted to come up with something sparkly that will draw the restless eye of the web-surfers.
To be fair, Amy Hertz is not wrong in suggesting that our collective capacity for reading well-crafted and well-considered literary journalism is diminishing: “There’s a reason those sections in newspapers are dropping like flies,” she observed. Starting with Sesame Street and radio news (“You give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you the world”), and continuing into the 24-hour cable news cycle and now the blogosophere, the habits of mind that define American civilization have been changing drastically.
But there are still more than a few stalwarts who savor literary journalism, and none are more militant than the readers and writers of poetry. I recall what happened years ago when Jack Miles (God: A Biography), then serving as editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, announced that the section would no longer review poetry books — a clutch of outraged poets backed a dump-truck up to the main entrance of the Times and poured out a load of manure.
So I salute Kate Gale and her colleagues at Red Hen Press. They work tirelessly to call attention to the kind of writing that requires a bit more time and care than a blog entry and reward the reader for the effort with the enduring pleasure of a great book. And Red Hen Press puts boots on the ground in the kulturkampf that is raging in America today.
Perhaps the best example I can give is my experience aboard a recent flight to New York City. On the plane, I ran into novelist-biographer Judith Freeman (The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved), who was en route to the Brooklyn Book Festival. And so was a task force from Red Hen Press, which was participating in the festival and sponsoring a cocktail party in the Village.
You can join in the celebration of the 15th anniversary of Red Hen Pen at a champagne luncheon at the Luxe Hotel Sunset on Sunday, November 1, 2009. The featured guests include novelist Carolyn See—- a woman who leads and inspires others to lead the literary life—- as well as poet Mark Doty, journalist Naseem Rakha, and poet-critic Alicia Ostriker, among others. For tickets and more information, call (818) 831-0649 or visit the Red Hen website at www.redhen.org.
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I would never have heard of redhen if not for this. Thank you. And I was originally a poet!
Have you read the new memoir/stand-up/“freak of a book” by Irving Brecher who wrote two movies for the Marx Bros and created half-hour sitcom, The Life of Riley in 1949? It’s funnier than sex with Jon Stewart and delicious as a pastrami sandwich at Langer’s, although I guess Brecher preferred Labels Table on Pico….
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With most political guests, Stewart sticks to harmless questions and gentle quips, and he seems unable to pursue an argument. Rarely have such flaws been more pronounced than last night, when Senator Rick Santorum appeared on the set.
She upstaged Jon Stewart like Helen Thomas at an Obama press conference.
The staff of Signal to Noise RPG does not condone the improper and illegal use of drugs, weapons, sex, or alcohol.
Thank you and good job. Great article! I really gotta send it to some friends from college, they would really appreciate it. This is the first time I visit your site, but I can guarantee you’ll see me around. You have some valuable stuff here.
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Books have had a hard time establishing a foothold on the Internet. There are smart folks over at The Huffington Post who know this, and their decision to launch a new book vertical under the leadership of Dutton Books’ Amy Hertz, suggests that they think it will succeed anyway. Can it, though? More importantly, how does it define success?
In 1994 Kate Gale founded Red Hen Press. The press was started as a collective and began to publish Kate and her fellow writers: Marlene Joyce Pearson, Ricardo Means Ybarra, Benjamin Saltman and Angela Ball. Later the press was reorganized as a non-profit 501(c)3 and began to build an active writing community in Los Angeles.
Red Hen Press is a American non-profit press specializing in the publication of fiction and poetry and located in Granada Hills, California.
Kate is full time Managing Editor of Red Hen Press. She is an editor, writer, literary citizen and arts manager. She has been a visiting poet at Pomona College and has taught in the Graduate Humanities Program at Mt. St. Marys. She teaches publishing courses at Antioch University Los Angeles. She speaks at universities, writing conferences, low residency and residency MFA programs on independent publishing, editing and publicity.
In 1994 Kate Gale founded Red Hen Press. The press was started as a collective and began to publish Kate and her fellow writers: Marlene Joyce Pearson, Ricardo Means Ybarra, Benjamin Saltman and Angela Ball.
In the wake of the closing of Black Sparrow Press and Sun and Moon, Red Hen Press became one of the largest independent presses in Southern California. They publish twenty titles a year of poetry, literary fiction and non-fiction.
Rarely have such flaws been more pronounced than the previous night, when Senator Rick Santorum appeared on the set. With most political guests, Stewart sticks to the soft innocuous questions and jokes, and seems incapable of following an argument.
The staff of Signal to Noise RPG does not condone the abuse and illegal drugs, weapons, sex or alcohol.
true point. thanks
With most political guests, Stewart sticks to the soft innocuous questions and jokes, and seems incapable of following an argument. Rarely have such flaws been more pronounced than the previous night, when Senator Rick Santorum appeared on the set.
Very successful for administration. In fact, the Internet is a huge source of waste.
I agree with Kate who said that she experienced a sharp spike in the readership of her own blog when she strayed from literary matters and wrote instead about her fantasies about having sex with Jon Stewart.
I love your contribution to the conversation…
Is not good that Kate experienced a sharp spike in the readership of her own blog when she wrote about her fantasies about having sex with Jon Stewart.