It’s Friday ladies and gentlemen and that means hot dogs. That’s right, it’s time to break out the brisket and lighter fluid and do what Americans do: burn things. But perhaps that’s too harsh. After all, our predilection for fire did save us from the communism. Or did it? Salon discusses. The English writer Edward Hogan has his own predilection. It’s for small towns. His latest book explains. Remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t just a broke governor? We don’t either, but Jacket Copy looks back to when men were men and governing was for sissies. Holy smokes, there’s more Salinger news. Turns out he created the blog. We’ll leave it at that. Moving on, what does a huckster with brimming sexual energy and a soft spot for Greek lettery do when he attends college? Join a frat, of course. What happens to that sexual energy and Greek lettery? The answers are discussed in Alter Net. And finally, Our Stories conducts an interview with an esteemed man of letters. Good stuff all around today. Just enough reading to make you hungry for a couple of sizzling weeners. Happy 4th! — Kevin Murphy
– Last week, Edward Hogan won the Desmond Elliott first novel prize for Blackmoor, the story of a Derbyshire village during the miners’ strike. He chooses his favourite stories set outside the city. “I grew up in a village, and loved it – it had a park, the woods, and a Co-op. When I got older I realised that the notion of a perfect small community wasn’t always that simple, especially if you didn’t play your prescribed role. — Edward Hogan in the Guardian
– In the late 1980s the Florida News Herald reported that a Florida State University student had been gang raped by some fraternity brothers. Allegedly, the attackers painted the Greek letters of their house on her thighs, symbolically claiming her as they had also claimed her through sexual assault. — Frat Boys in Alter Net
– First came “The Man’s Book: The Essential Guide for the Modern Man” in May. It is divided into “man-logical” sections — health, sports and games, women, dress, outdoors, drinking, smoking, cooking, idling, arts and sciences, almanac — that are dappled with quotes from famous men and include practical how-tos. — Manly Men in Jacket Copy
– Most adults now living were born during the Cold War, a 45-year standoff between competing political and economic systems that threatened civilization with nuclear annihilation and asked virtually every human being on earth to pick a side. — Communism in Salon
– J.D. Salinger invented blogs, according to a federal judge who granted a temporary injunction yesterday against John David California’s planned “parody” of Catcher in the Rye. — J.D. Salinger in Gawker
– Alan Cheuse –author, professor and well-known book reviewer for NPR’s All Things Considered is not the easiest person to interview. Seduced by his reputation around George Mason University, every semester we hastily registered for his courses with our fingers crossed. You must understand— you only have to see this man holding a door for Susan Shreve or standing around the English Department chatting with Richard Bausch and Bill Miller to share an instant love and subtle intimidation for him. — Alan Cheuse in Our Stories
Video of Alan Cheuse Discussing Religion
