This is a note for anybody who hasn’t yet entered the Goodreads giveaway for 2 copies of the book that ends tomorrow: get off your cute rear end and enter! The prize package includes two issues of Kitchen Sink and a custom mix CD soundtrack for the book which I worked on yesterday, and it’s damn good if I do say so myself. It’s got everything from Allen Ginsberg to Bikini Kill.

Special thanks, additionally, to Moe’s Books for putting S&E on their recommended reading list. And to Vroman’s in LA for mentioning it in a discussion of BookGlutton and interactive book media.

Still caught in the end-of-semester vortex, and heading into my third straight weekend of essay grading (those who imagine academics live a leisurely life have never taught basic writing courses), but I wanted to drop a few updates while I have a minute of early morning time:

• Today is Buy Indie Day. If you’re lucky enough to live near an independent bookstore, record store, a farmer’s market, or anyplace else that’s not a chain, today’s the day to put your money where your mouth is and support them. If you don’t, there are plenty of online places where you can still support independent artists and media.
• I’ve already posted these on the home page here at Oakestown and on Facebook, but early reviews of Slanted and Enchanted are arriving, and they’re pretty awesome. Publisher’s Weekly calls the book “lively and highly literate” (knew that grad degree was good for something), and says that “as an explanation and excavation of the already fading recent past, it is essential reading.” Library Journal picked the book for a featured review on its website and said it “uses the concept of a creative community as a mediating theme to illustrate how indie culture has oscillated between the music and literary scene throughout the last few decades.” It adds that S&E “will particularly appeal to artists, musicians, writers, and kids with thick-rimmed glasses”, which makes me extra glad I went for the Rachel Maddow frames at the optometrist this year. I’m still getting used to people writing anything about my writing after, ahem, twenty-something years of writing for indie magazines, zines, lit journals and small press pubs that very few folks actually read, but I do appreciate the kind words.
• S&E is also doing pretty well over at Goodreads, where lots of folks are marking it as a “to read”. I’d like to make a deal with those people. If you actually read it when it comes out, let me know and I’ll happily provide you with free issues of Kitchen Sink magazine, shipping included. Although it’s no longer being published, KS won the Utne Independent Press Award and multiple Best Magazine awards from our local free weeklies. I write a bit about it in the book, and still think it was a great experience to write for it and edit it. Also I have approximately 5 million issues collecting dust in my house and they’re a fire hazard.
• Yesterday was National New Majority Facuty Day. Lately I’ve had a lot of discussions with colleagues about the increasing presence of lecturers (I’m one of them) in higher education. Something like 70% of undergraduate courses at Cal are taught by non-tenured faculty and graduate students, and this has steadily become the case at many other schools. Unfortunately, it creates  a two-tiered class system for faculty: those with tenure receive research grants, sabbaticals, regular pay raises on a higher salary scale, marital hiring preferences (eg if you get tenure, your spouse/partner is pretty much guaranteed a job) and nice offices. Those without get bupkes (well, at Cal we do get benefits, and that’s nothing to sneeze at in this economy). Since it’s May Day and I’m a member of the union, I just wanted to mention that one can start to feel quite taken for granted at one’s job when one is not tenured. For example, if one publishes a book or two, one might not even get any acknwoledgement for that from anyone beyond one’s immediate coworkers and students. Ahem. I’m not sure if I agree with the idea that the elimination of tenure is the solution, but something must, must, must be done to increase parity between faculty. It’s an insult that equally qualified, equally trained, equally well published folks are not considered worthy of much beyond one year contracts, if that. End rant! Happy May Day! Go buy stuff from independent artists!