InDigest News

As you can tell by the lack of content on InDigest the last month or so, we're taking a little break. This is not (only) because the summer has finally come to New York and we are out playing Frisbee in the parks. It's because InDigest is currently under the knife, getting a major face lift. We have brought on board a very talented designer and programmer and they are doing amazing things with the look and feel of the magazine, which we hope to unveil sometime in August.

Until then, take this time to catch up on some of the content you didn't get a chance to read and/or look at the first time around. How about these amazing poems by Ada Limón, "61 Trees" and "Rest Stop"? These poems will be included in a book coming out with cinematheque press later this summer. And Ada was recently in The New Yorker; her poem "Crush" found its way into the summer fiction issue.

Maybe fiction is more your thing. How about a story from the early days of InDigest by Sam Osterhout? Sam is currently the host of Radio Happy Hour, a live old-timey radio show that welcomes special guests, such as Norah Jones, Michael Showalter, and Andrew W.K., to perform as themselves in the script. The show is getting all kinds of attention. You can subscribe to the free podcast here.

If you've read everything there is to read on InDigest, then check out our blog, which is still being updated while the magazine is under construction. There are new features like "What's New This Week," which gives a concise list of the week's best releases in books, music, theater...really in everything, and "What We've Been Reading," which highlights some of the books the InDigest crew has been reading.

And of course there is always nDigest 1207 Reading Series, which keeps gaining momentum as the months go by. In August alone we'll welcome John Wray, Marlon James, and Ronaldo V. Wilson. And on the schedule for the fall already are the writers Neil Smith, J.C. Hallman, and James Hannaham, and the musician Franz Nicolay (of The Hold Steady). (Read a review of John Wray's Lowboy by James Wood in The New Yorker, here, and reviews of Marlon James' latest, The Book of the Night Women and J.C. Hallman's book of stories, Hospital for Bad Poets, here and here, respectively.)

As always, thanks for reading. Please be patient as we make InDigest better. We promise it will be worth the wait.

David and Dustin
Editors

Random Thoughts

I've been thinking a lot lately about the role of art in this world and if it can really move anything towards change. Ed Abbey thought that in the long run art, and more specifically, a novel could have an impact on the world. But, Ed Abbey was much like Kurt Vonnegut in that he did not see us (or most of us anyway, and in that he differs from KV) long for this place. He was a man of action and respected most those who were greater men--and women--of action. Change, change in the here and now, he thought, could not come from talking about it. You had to do it.

I read in some class or another about literary journalism a quote from a journalist writing in the Vietnam era. He asked something to the extent of if you weren't there, covering and writing about the war, then just what the hell was it you were doing? The unnecessary answer being, of course, nothing. Or what you were writing amounted to that.

This has been on my mind lately; there's just so much wrong with the world. Can poems and short stories and pictures really make anything better...in any real way. I haven't come to any conclusion yet. I tend to lean towards the opinion of Mr. Abbey, but do we have the time?

Anyway, I was pondering this over one night with a new friend--really I just met this girl--and she had these positive things to say about InDigest, which gave me hope. People still surprise me with their kindness, and so I guess I'll believe for a while longer.

"So our conversation at the bookstore the other day, and reading the writing on indigest got me thinking about how having public places to express art, writing, ideas, are central to having a healthy society...I was thinking about how dull and repressed our world would be if people were not allowed to create art and share it with others. I feel like art makes us slow down and pay attention to details. To notice. Sometimes it's the only way to truly express one's experiences. So I don't think you should feel like you are not contributing to the good of society-I think we need more people to connect on those levels."

InDigest Goings Ons

Alex Lemon, featured in Issue 1 Poetics, has a new collection out. Hallelujah Blackout is Lemon’s second collection of poetry. It features the poem Hallelujah Blackout, which was selected for Best American Poetry 2008, and also features two poems originally published here, in InDigest.

Roger Deakins

Even though I haven't seen There Will Be Blood, Roger Deakins got robbed!