Category Archives: Writing

Literary London

Posted on August 12, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

As a great international capital, once at the hub of an enormous colonial Empire, London has long attracted visits by writers, artists and intellectuals from around the world. University College London is curating how London has been seen through the … Continue reading →

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We are all wingnuts to somebody and other trivia

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Berkeley, CA now has a Wingnut Museum. “The wingnut was invented in the first half of the 19th century and quickly became an indispensable piece of hardware. It lets users fasten bolts by hand, without tools, using little wings jutting out … Continue reading →

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In my writing I am acting as a mapmaker

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

In my writing I am acting as a map maker, an explorer of psychic areas… a cosmonaut of inner space, and I see no point in exploring areas that have already been thoroughly surveyed. William S. Burroughs

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there really is nothing left to write about

Posted on August 9, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

LATE ECHO John Ashbery Alone with our madness and favorite flower We see that there really is nothing left to write about. Or rather, it is necessary to write about the same old things In the same way, repeating the … Continue reading →

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Books Can Set Us Free

Posted on August 4, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

American Booksellers for Free Expression has launched a campaign for Banned Books Week 2024 centered on the theme Liberate Banned Books (#SetBooksFree). “Resisting book bans is about liberation,” ABFE noted. “It’s about liberation for schools and libraries from the rash of book challenges … Continue reading →

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Every morning a new arrival.

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

       The Guest House by Rumi This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if … Continue reading →

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Rare Book Discovery

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I have a hazy recollection of a brief visit to Canterbury’s  The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge many decades ago on one of my first trips to England, but I was intrigued by a story about its current special … Continue reading →

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To leave the world a little better than you found it

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Paul Auster // “That’s all I’ve ever dreamed of… To make the world a better place. To bring some beauty to the drab humdrum corners of the soul. You can do it with a toaster, you can do it with … Continue reading →

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James Baldwin: Mountain to Fire

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

James Baldwin // “The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.” To celebrate what would have been the 100th … Continue reading →

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the danger that carries us like a mother

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Alaska When I think about Alaska what comes to mind are glaciers, mountains, fjords, forests and snow, deserts not so much. But the other day I stumbled upon a story about the discovery of 10,000 year-old obsidian tools in an … Continue reading →

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