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brainpickings

Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

Background, poem text, and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/08/09/charles-bukowski-reads-friendly-advice-to-a-lot-of-young-men/

Charles Bukowski reads his "Friendly Advice To A Lot Of Young Men"

The Laughing Heart (Written by Charles Bukowski, read by Tom Waits)

your life is your life
don't let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can't beat death but
you can beat death in life, 
sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight in you.

You are marvelous and the Gods wait to delight in you (Bukowski's Laughing Heart read by Tom Waits)

Nous Pas Bouger - Salif Keita - live

Teach yourself Nama 
Leer jouself Nama 
Aitsama Namagowaba //khā//khāsen
Khoekhoegowab (Khoikhoi Language)

Voorwoord
Hierdie boekie is ontwerp en saamgestel as deel van die Departement Kultuursake
en Sport in die Wes-Kaap se Nama Bewustheidsveldtog.
Die boekie en sy gepaardgaande CD is daarop gemik om die leser in staat te stel om
self die Nama taal aan te leer. Dit moet egter ingedagte gehou word dat die beste
manier om ‘n taal aan te leer, is om met moedertaalsprekers van die taal te praat.
Die inhoud en struktuur van die boekie is saamgestel en gekonseptualiseer deur
mnr Pedro Dausab.
Die Departement hoop dat hierdie boekie die leser sal help om ‘n kennis en
waardering van ‘n kosbare taalerfenis van Suid-Afrika aan te kweek.

Leer jouself Nama (Aitsama Namagowaba //khā//khāsen)

Mass Transit's latest single, All of Me, originally performed by John Legend. 

All Of Me

Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s independent US Senator, is angry about what he sees as big money’s wholesale purchase of political power. It’s a grave threat, he believes, not only to our electoral process but to democracy itself.

Two weeks ago, Sanders visited a town hall meeting in Richmond, California to fire up supporters of Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and a slate of progressive city council candidates. They’re running against a ticket backed by the energy giant Chevron, the third largest corporation in the United States. Chevron owns an enormous refinery in Richmond and is spending $3 million to defeat the progressives, who have charged the oil company with damaging the city’s economy and environment.

Chevron’s Richmond money – they’re spending more than $100 per voter – is just a fraction of the billions being spent this year on the most expensive midterm elections in history, money unleashed by Citizens United, McCutcheon and other court decisions that have turned voting into what feels more like an auction than ‘one person, one vote.’ Because the Supreme Court says money is speech and big business can buy all it wants, corporations are trying to drown out the voice of anyone trying to speak out against them, whether in Congress or a state legislature, on a judge’s bench or in city hall.

“Apparently for these guys, owning and controlling our economy is not enough,” Sanders told the rally. “They now want to own and control the government. And we are not going to allow them to do that. Not in Richmond, not anywhere.”

Bernie Sanders on Breaking Big Money’s Grip on Elections

Joe Hill

Bono recites Bukowski

NYPL’s Tony Marx reads “The Writer,” a poem by Richard Wilbur.


Find it at NYPL: http://nypl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/18202388052907_collected_poems,_1943-2004 

Find it online: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/writer

Music: Chris Zabriskie, “That Kid in Fourth Grade Who Really Liked the Denver Broncos”

More info on The New York Public Library’s 30 Days of Poetry: www.nypl.org/blog/2015/04/01/30-days-poetry

“The Writer” by Richard Wilbur

NYPL's Leslie Tabor reads from "All You Have to Do," a short story by B.J. Novak.

Find it at NYPL: https://nypl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/20037756052907_one_more_thing

Music: Blue Dot Sessions, "FasterFasterBrighter"

"All You Have to Do" by B.J. Novak

NYPL's Gwen Glazer reads from "Murder in the Dark," a short story by Margaret Atwood.

Find it at NYPL: https://nypl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/11976022052907_good_bones_and_simple_murders

Music: Blue Dot Sessions, "The Stasis"

"Murder in the Dark" by Margaret Atwood

NYPL's Kay Menick reads from "Babycakes," a short story by Neil Gaiman.

Find it at NYPL: https://nypl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/17102154052907_smoke_and_mirrors

Music: Blue Dot Sessions, "Union Hall Melody"

"Babycakes" by Neil Gaiman

Baaba Maal - Baayo (Live)

Part of an interview with Sarah about  being a working artist in today's world and how we measure creative success, as individuals and as a culture: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/03/07/sarah-kay-interview/

MORE / INTERVIEW

Sarah Kay reads "On Being Prepared"

Debbie Millman interviews the celebrated cartoonist and MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Alison Bechdel about her life, her work, and how the two inform one another. Courtesy of Design Matters: http://soundcloud.com/designmatters

Background, context, and highlights: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/05/09/alison-bechdel-are-you-my-mother-design-matters-interview/

Photograph by Elena Seibert: http://www.elenaseibert.com/

MORE / TEXT

Design Matters: Alison Bechdel

On @designmatters, Debbie Millman interviews the celebrated writer and philosopher Alain De Botton about love, life, and everything in between.

Follow @designmatters for more invigorating conversations with artists, writers, designers, and other creative thinkers.

Background, context, and highlights: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/06/27/alain-de-botton-the-course-of-love/

MORE

Design Matters: Alain De Botton

Background and poem text: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/06/28/amanda-palmer-reads-humanity-i-love-you-e-e-cummings/

Join me in supporting Amanda on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/amandapalmer

BACKGROUND / POEM TEXT

Amanda Palmer reads "Humanity i love you" by e.e. cummings

Listen to an audio version of The Atlantic Magazine's January/February 2017 cover story by Ta-Nehisi Coates -- My President Was Black. See the original full text article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/my-president-was-black/508793/

My President Was Black - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic - JanFeb 2017

Background and poem text: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/01/01/adrienne-rich-reads-what-kind-of-times-are-these/

Recorded for PBS's "Poetry Everywhere" program: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/

Adrienne Rich reads "What Kind of Times Are These"

The preconditions are present in the U.S. today. If Congress is quiescent and the public listless, Donald Trump can set the country down a path toward illiberalism, institutional subversion, and endemic graft. Full Text can be found here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/

How to Build an Autocracy - David Frum - The Atlantic March 2017

Background, context, and poem text: https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/01/31/protest-poem-ella-wheeler-wilcox-amanda-palmer/