Alex Kudera’s award-winning novel, Fight for Your Long Day (Atticus Books), was drafted in a walk-in closet during a summer in Seoul, South Korea. Auggie’s Revenge (Beating Windward Press) is his second novel. His numerous short stories include “Frade Killed Ellen” (Dutch Kills Press), “Bombing from Above” (Heavy Feather Review), and “A Thanksgiving” (Eclectica Magazine).
Showing posts with label Joseph A. Domino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph A. Domino. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Monday, July 21, 2014
Comic Duffleman
Inspired by the Joseph A. Domino book review posted at the end of this exclusive interview with Cyrus Duffleman, H.E. Whitney, in The Disposable Adjunct, included some of Joe's text and rendered this graphic interpretation:
Friday, March 21, 2014
pay adjuncts, work hard, live below your means
I didn't know Joseph A. Domino's article in The Huffington Post was coming, but I have known Joe through various e-mails since the spring of 2010, soon after I first learned that Fight for Your Long Day would be published. His early enthusiasm for the novel led to his testimony as a blurb on the adjunct situation at the front of the book.
Reading Domino's HuffPo piece, good writing that presumably didn't earn him a dime, it struck me that 1) Joe left out a lot of personal adversity he's faced; 2) in several fluid paragraphs, he captures the 1970s recession as well as the present moment for far too many; and 3) the man has worked hard, forty plus years of it, and he deserves his retirement with a degree of dignity.
Also, Joe says that some might call him "cheap," but I'd suggest that the way he implies he has handled his money over the years is very reasonable given the elasticity of the American economy with all of its downsizing, outsourcing, unpredictable inflation, artificial bubbles, and market gyrations. In fact, we're at an intraday all-time high for the S&P 500 right now, but everyone knows that the S&P index is unpredictable and recently has become less reliable as a predictor of the average adult American's fate.
So if there are any younger workers or students reading this blog, I'd encourage you to live like Joe, below your means, and, if possible, save more than a penny for a rainy day and try to navigate the world of lower-expense safer investments. On this topic, for younger Americans, student-loan debt is often a significant obstacle, and so I also wanted to share again one government website and additional information on possibilities for safely and legally lowering payments and even having some debt forgiven outright.
If you work hard, live modestly, and save diligently, there are still plenty of ways to imagine the worst, everything from personal emergencies to total ecological collapse, but it's also possible you may enjoy a little breathing room as an older worker and retiree.
(This post's final paragraphs are dedicated to the good friend who has recently expressed concern that the narrator of "Frade Killed Ellen" has a far too pessimistic view of America. The same friend likes to remind his college students of how we can go through major life changes throughout our middle years, and how it can feel like turning the corner at age 40 is when life really begins. Of course, I realize that for many of us, there's a strong sense of what's done is done and what will be already is, and I wish I knew how to snap my fingers, get rid of this feeling, and improve various lives all at once.)
Reading Domino's HuffPo piece, good writing that presumably didn't earn him a dime, it struck me that 1) Joe left out a lot of personal adversity he's faced; 2) in several fluid paragraphs, he captures the 1970s recession as well as the present moment for far too many; and 3) the man has worked hard, forty plus years of it, and he deserves his retirement with a degree of dignity.
Also, Joe says that some might call him "cheap," but I'd suggest that the way he implies he has handled his money over the years is very reasonable given the elasticity of the American economy with all of its downsizing, outsourcing, unpredictable inflation, artificial bubbles, and market gyrations. In fact, we're at an intraday all-time high for the S&P 500 right now, but everyone knows that the S&P index is unpredictable and recently has become less reliable as a predictor of the average adult American's fate.
So if there are any younger workers or students reading this blog, I'd encourage you to live like Joe, below your means, and, if possible, save more than a penny for a rainy day and try to navigate the world of lower-expense safer investments. On this topic, for younger Americans, student-loan debt is often a significant obstacle, and so I also wanted to share again one government website and additional information on possibilities for safely and legally lowering payments and even having some debt forgiven outright.
If you work hard, live modestly, and save diligently, there are still plenty of ways to imagine the worst, everything from personal emergencies to total ecological collapse, but it's also possible you may enjoy a little breathing room as an older worker and retiree.
(This post's final paragraphs are dedicated to the good friend who has recently expressed concern that the narrator of "Frade Killed Ellen" has a far too pessimistic view of America. The same friend likes to remind his college students of how we can go through major life changes throughout our middle years, and how it can feel like turning the corner at age 40 is when life really begins. Of course, I realize that for many of us, there's a strong sense of what's done is done and what will be already is, and I wish I knew how to snap my fingers, get rid of this feeling, and improve various lives all at once.)
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
J. Domino and Con Job
It was nice to see Joseph A. Domino's latest at The Huffington Post the same week that the full fifty minute version of Con Job: Stories of Adjunct and Contingent Labor became available for free viewing.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Joseph A. Domino
I just stumbled upon this Joseph A. Domino piece, and was reminded that he was one of the early supporters of Fight for Your Long Day. Thanks, Joe. (I was searching for a recent reprint of his amazon review but couldn't find it.)
In a week where I've learned that another good friend lost a job, in this case, a so-called "good job," and that Governor Corbett has his steak knife out and is taking another look at Pennsylvania public-employee pensions, I'm still stumbling upon this kind of thing all over the web, and then I get caught up in how relatively good I have it and wonder when some more awful version of life will find me.
Okay, I'm going to crouch under the desk and hope they pass by.
And then in the middle of the night, when no one is looking, maybe I'll sneak back up here and watch Bill Black "Grand Bargain or Great Betrayal" videos at realnews.com. Black has it all--paranoia, tenure, facts, even a fair amount of his hair, and an office that is messy but not impossibly messy in that way in which even a Philip Roth character couldn't clear a clean well-lit place to seduce his paramour (the cleaning lady).
Good luck to everyone striving for a safer and more secure future.
In a week where I've learned that another good friend lost a job, in this case, a so-called "good job," and that Governor Corbett has his steak knife out and is taking another look at Pennsylvania public-employee pensions, I'm still stumbling upon this kind of thing all over the web, and then I get caught up in how relatively good I have it and wonder when some more awful version of life will find me.
Okay, I'm going to crouch under the desk and hope they pass by.
And then in the middle of the night, when no one is looking, maybe I'll sneak back up here and watch Bill Black "Grand Bargain or Great Betrayal" videos at realnews.com. Black has it all--paranoia, tenure, facts, even a fair amount of his hair, and an office that is messy but not impossibly messy in that way in which even a Philip Roth character couldn't clear a clean well-lit place to seduce his paramour (the cleaning lady).
Good luck to everyone striving for a safer and more secure future.
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