1A: Steven Johnson

As I prepared for class re: Steven Johnson, I came upon a couple of things that might be of interest to you.  First, there is his website, www.stevenberlinjohnson.com. While there, I was directed to a New York Times article, "Wired for Distraction," by Matt Richtel. It looks good, as does Johnson's response to the article.  I hope to get to both soon.

I also watched this video promoting his book,  Where Good Ideas Come From. I'm going to have to watch it again.

Here's must-watch TV:  Stephen Colbert interviews Steven Johnson in 2006. And Charlie Rose, about five years ago, talks with Johnson for about 15 minutes. The interview starts shortly after the 40 minute mark.

1B - Selected Poets (Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O'Hara, Theodore Roehke, Carolyn Forche)

Dylan Thomas (1914-53)

Here are some things that you might want to check out on the web:  Dylan Thomas reading "Do not go gentle into that good night" and an interview with Elizabeth Bishop that appeared in the Paris Review.



Elizabeth Bishop (1911-79)

Frank O'Hara reads "Having a Coke with You".  O'Hara, as you know, wrote "The Day Lady Died" as a remembrance of Billie Holiday.  Watch and listen to performances of Holiday singing "One for My Baby (and one more for the road)"  and  "Strange Fruit".  The latter song is considered one of the greatest of the 20th Century and certainly one of the greatest about racism in America. If you've never heard Holiday sing, both are worth a few minutes of your time.

Frank O'Hara (1926-66)

Theodore Roethke is heard reading "My Papa's Waltz."

Theodore Roethke (1908-63)

You can also watch Carolyn Forche read "The Colonel."

Carolyn Forche (1950-- )

Should I tell you about one more reading of "Do not go gentle into that good night"?  I guess I just did.

1A: Joan Didion

Joan Didion in Conversation with Sloane Crosley

from The New York Public Library on FORA.tv

If you have time, and I hope you do, check out some of these links re: Joan Didion.  They may help you with "On Morality."

15 Great Essays by Joan Didion

Didion on Why I Write

You can find an interview with Didion at The Art of Fiction, no. 71, Paris Review, Fall-Winter 1978.

You can find an interview with Didion at The Art of Nonfiction No.1 Paris Review, Spring 2006

"Joan Didion: Writer" by Sheila Heti, The Believer, undated.

“I Was No Longer Afraid to Die. I Was Now Afraid Not to Die.” The secret subject of Joan Didion’s work has always been her troubled daughter. Her wrenching new memoir tells us why" by Boris Kachka, New York magazine, Oct 16, 2011 

"Notes on a Voice: Joan Didion" by Robert Butler, from Intelligent Life, Summer 2011

The New York Times Joan Didion Times Topic page.

"The Autumn of Joan Didion" by Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, December 20, 2011

The Unclosed Circle by Sarah Kerr, New York Review of Books, April 26, 2007. A review of Didion's We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction

"At least some of the time, the world appears to me as a painting by Hieronymus Bosch," Didion declares in "On Morality." This triptych, above, known as "The Garden of Earthly Delights," is the most famous of Bosch's painting, the Dutch artist who lived from 1450-1516. What does the painting show, from left to right? What does this painting tell us about Didion's state of mind within her essay? Learn more about Bosch at this site dedicated to him.