arrBlogEntry[84] = new Array('2006.01.03', 'tired and back from lovely trip to Copenhagen. Saw three famous Danish people yesterday just doing normal things: a politician in the department store, a tv star walking down the street, and a golfer sitting next to us at dinner. funky sort of \'do as the romans do\' kind of vibe, but copenhagen is a great, funky city, and we had amazing hosts...<br><Br>and also a line from Withnail and I: <b>we went on holiday by mistake!</b>', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[85] = new Array('2006.01.03', '<img src=\"bloggraphics/20060101_2.jpg\" align=\"left\">New Year\'s Day, Copenhagen', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[86] = new Array('2006.01.06', 'Tomorrow night is the premiere of a TV show that depicts our humble neighborhood, De Baarsjes, as a crime-riddled war zone, lawless and full of racial tension. No one who lives in this neighborhood recognizes this depiction, and those who don\'t go for the argument that it is \"entertainment\" feel a little bit ripped off, as our neighborhood has worked very hard to improve the quality of life for its inhabitants. Laura recently looked at the minutes for a recent meeting, which included such desires as, <b>more benches in green spaces that have a view of the water</b>, and <b>public art should be up for longer periods of time</b>. Laura cynically argues that there\'s a silver lining: perhaps fear of our neighborhood will drive the home prices down...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[87] = new Array('2006.01.06', 'Apparently my rant about King Kong isn\'t quite done. I re-post an email:<br><BR>I realize that what angers me so much is how drastically my expectations have declined.  When Star Wars I-III came out, I also thought they were awful movies, but I thought that they were bad because of poor plot, character development, etc. Increasingly, now, we don\'t even get that in so called blockbusters. We don\'t even get the rudiments of technical or structural integrity in big-budget films. So the films cost more and more to make, we pay more and more, and we get less. Not only that, we get even less of a sense that filmmakers are trying, evidenced not only by shoddy attention to detail (and obviously, a consistency consultant costs a lot less than your basic 5-20 million dollar salary for Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Adrian Brody) but also by this influx of remakes and sequels, which, for the most part, do not require creativity. To the contrary, they require a formula which is easily understandable, and that\'s the criteria by which to sell your 10 Euro ticket.<Br><BR>Okay, you\'re an educated viewer, able to put aside all the stuff I\'m talking about and enjoy the movie for its good qualities---the suspense, the monsters, and so forth---I loved those big suckworms. And it\'s good that you can do that. But I suspect that most viewers either don\'t have or are steadily losing that capability to be critical. I realize that this sounds very conservative, that we must cling to canonical values around what makes a film (or any cultural work) good, but I\'m pointing more to a shared realization between maker and viewer that critical thought doesn\'t matter when it comes to a pop culture work.<BR><BR>And when you put in a larger context, such as the gradual dumbing down and anti-intellectualism that the Bush administration is stressing, which is not a critique of intellectuals so much as a critique of the common person\'s ability or need to critique, then it all worries me. I actually, and this is a big, wild point that most people would immediately dismiss, don\'t see that much difference between how the US watches King Kong and how so many US citizens accept the US justification of Iraq, despite what in movie terms we would call continuity problems---the logic can be fatally flawed and it doesn\'t make a difference as long as the explosions are flashy enough.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[88] = new Array('2006.01.08', 'L- makes a very good point that I agree with: I am not nostalgic for a time when we were all highly educated, well read, and adroitly critical---studies have pointed out that this was never the case in the US. However, I do believe that at this particular moment in time, political rhetoric points to a push against being intellectual, well-read, or critical---and the political desire for us not to think critically about the activities of the Bush Administration can and does extend into the cultural arena.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[89] = new Array('2006.01.14', 'So what\'s interesting about this <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/books/12frey.html\')\">James Frey</a> (James Frey is a best selling author whose memoir <i>A Million Little Pieces</i> was recently \'outed\' as being partly fictional) stuff is not so much the shock that he misrepresented himself when telling people that his memoir was, in fact, true, but really a question of how we rely on the genre of the memoir to present us with a certain kind of authenticity. We know quite well that non-fiction is, by the act of writing, fictionalized. What\'s more, Frey recognizes that the publishing industry itself, which needs to place writing in genre boxes, has an unspoken standard---that up to 5% of the memoir can be fictionalized. Okay, Frey overstepped the line of misrepresentation because his fictionalized elements (assumed in fiction to be incidental) make or break his story, and okay, he should have owned up to the fictionalizing from Day 1, but on the other hand, this so-called scandal is merely calling attention to something that we already know about memoir---it\'s pricking holes in our own illusory belief systems. Morally, it may be a problem, but Oprah is right on when she notes that it does not undermine the narrative power of the work.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[90] = new Array('2006.01.18', 'From <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.slashdot.org\')\">Slashdot</a>, my fave tech news site: \"A test carried out by Pegasus Lab on account for Swedish magazine PC F?r alla showed that a normal PC keyboard was infected by more bacteria than a normal toilet seat. More specific it contained 33000 bacteria per square centimeter, compared to 130 on a ordinary toilet seat. The tests also showed occurrence of up to 3100 fungi per square centimeter.\" So turn your keyboard over and see what sprinkles out... ', '','', '');
//this is the syntax for adding a link that opens a new window.
arrBlogEntry[91] = new Array('2006.01.19', 'I\'m pleased to announce that two of my poems from the <i>Leaving Poland B</i> cycle are being featured at <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.triplopia.org\')\">Triplopia</a>, a very good online literary journal. The feature articles are good as well... ', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[92] = new Array('2006.01.23', 'Pretty interesting <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n02/lanc01_.html\')\">book review about Google</a>, very well measured, taking in both how we love it and how it may, simply by virtue of technological avant-garde-ness, threaten the publishing industry, privacy, and retail sales...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[93] = new Array('2006.01.23', 'Today I went through an Amsterdam ritual: the promiscuity of bicycles. I had just been given a bike by a friend who returned back to the states.  Although this bike isn\'t my size, it was close to L\'s size, and would have been a great backup bike, or a bike for guests, or a bike to replace the inevitably stolen bike down the road. So I took the keys and went to pick the bike up. Too bad it feels like -8 degrees out today, about 15 Fahrenheit, and the key snapped off right in the lock. So the bike stays on Prinsengracht until I can get a locksmith or a big lock-cutter. That\'s the way of two wheelers in this country.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[94] = new Array('2006.01.25', 'I know most of you have seen this before, but we found it on L\'s computer and it amuses me:<br><br>Q:?? How many Bush Administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?<br><br>A:??? None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[95] = new Array('2006.01.30', 'Just when I needed a break, my friend and writing co-conspirator Beth sends a link to this hilarious web site spoofing <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/index.html\')\">Chuck Norris</a>.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[96] = new Array('2006.02.01', 'Amazing article (really a review of a biography) on <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?060206crbo_books\')\">Alan Turing</a>, who \"invented\" the computer, broke the Nazi enigma code, was tried by the British for homosexual activities, and, under dubious circumstances, committed suicide in 1954.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[97] = new Array('2006.02.02', 'Someone told me about the \"10th\" planet a long time ago, but <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060130/full/060130-7.html\')\">this article</a> sheds a little more light on what, upon first glance, seems innocuous: what constitutes a planet? It\'s not just a scientific debate, as, for our generations, it cuts deeply into the list of incontrovertible truths. We have always held it as indisputable that there\'s 9, and only 9 planets. And imagine all the mapmakers and scient text publishers who now have to rewrite everything! I pity Houghton Mifflin, and I can imagine them arguing that there should only be 9, because it\'s good for the publishing industry. It\'s kind of like the meat lobby being the \'expert\' opinion on the fact that there are only four food groups.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[98] = new Array('2006.02.03', '<a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.paikstudios.com/index.html\')\">Nam June Paik</a>, \"inventor\" of video art, incredibly creative mind, and co-subject of my poem <a href="\poems/poem1.html\">Letters to paik/Unsent</a>, passed away on Tuesday. As tribute, check out his work...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[99] = new Array('2006.02.04', 'One challenge of living in a foreign country, no matter how long you\'ve lived there, is to not get angry when you secretly believe that a cultural difference is downright lame. Here\'s a good example. I walk into a magazine store. Woman behind the counter is in her 50\'s, obviously the owner of the store. Here\'s our conversation:<br><BR><b>R </b>(in Dutch): Good morning, can I buy a strippenkaart (a bus/tram ticket)?<br><b>Woman</b>: Alas, we\'re all out.<br><b>R</b>: Do you know where the nearest place where I can buy one?<br><b>Woman</b>: No.<br>R looks at her, not meanly, deciding whether to pursue the topic: so  you\'ve clearly worked on this street, in this neighborhood, for a really long time, and yet you really have no idea where I can buy a ticket?', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[100] = new Array('2006.02.09', 'A while ago, I blew up the old fax machine by plugging it into the wrong power outlet. There was a blinding flash and a pop, like when you squeeze open a Doritos bag, and the fax machine was dead, long live the fax machine. But this week, we bought a new printer/fax/copier/scanner combi machine, and while I\'m not  geeky, this is one sexy piece of machinery.<br><BR>I met a Dutch performance poet named <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.powets.nl/\')\">Peter M. van der Linden</a> last night at a reading in Utrecht who was generous enough to give me a t-shirt that says \"Ein Star Ist Porn".', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[101] = new Array('2006.02.15', 'Thanks to Cagalayan and Tolga for pointing out <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.ubu.com\')\">UBUWEB</a>, which is a clearing house for avant-garde work. You can (for free) download Beckett radio plays, Cage compositions, Guy Debord lectures. Rockin stuff.<br><br>A pop culture moment that I\'d like to forget. We\'re all in the habit of seeing tv and movie tie-ins where characters from two different series get together on one episode. Favorite examples: Abbott and Costello meet the Wolfman, Sonny and Cher on Scooby Doo. So yesterday I was channel surfing during my lunch break when I see Dr. Phil doing an intervention on The Osbournes. Just thought I\'d tell you, much as I would hum a really awful song so you\'d get it stuck in your head and then hum it the rest of the week and hate me for it.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[102] = new Array('2006.02.16', 'The summer when I was twelve, mom was at work, I was at home, and there was an arcade down the street. Every day that summer, I hopped on my blue Schwinn with the banana seat, me having taken off the frilly things on the handlebars, and would ride down Lubao, make a left on Santa Rita, go up a short hill that was challenging given the lack of gears on the bike, and then, go down the hill, not stopping, not being able to brake well since the bike had foot brakes only, each day risking the fact that at the bottom of the hill was a stop sign and the opposing traffic on Penfield didn\'t have a stop sign. So each day, I would run the stop sign, simply betting on the fact that Penfield was lightly travelled and I wouldn\'t be run down, braving death simply to get to the arcade, where I would, every day, spend 5 to 10 dollars, mostly on bettering my high score on Galaxian (I think I maxed out around 40,000). Suicidal tendencies, or addiction? At the end of the summer, I had long since run out of allowance money, and had been stealing from the kitchen counter where mom kept all the change---dad, in particular, used to stockpile change in the bottom of his man-purse until it weighed him down, and mom, ritualistically, would dump all the change into the drawer. By August, I had exhausted all the quarters, then the dimes, and, like a desperate junkie, like a complete addict, spent summer mornings counting out pennies and nickels, going to the bank to have them traded up for quarters, then to the arcade. Such is a fool\'s life in the valley...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[103] = new Array('2006.02.22', 'I\'m always looking for ways to explain to people on both sides of the Atlantic what the diff is between The Netherlands and the US. And the fact that the US Supreme Court voted 7 to 1 that if the Postal Service leaves a package on your doorstep, and you trip and fall over it, then the Postal Service is responsible for damages; well, a Dutch person would think that that\'s the stupidest thing ever. If you trip over something that\'s right in front of your face, then it\'s your fault, they\'d say. <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/22/national/w080120S20.DTL\')\">Read Article...</a>', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[104] = new Array('2006.02.28', 'Ikea is hell. I marvel at the sheer avant-garde-ness of their internal marketing, the physical flow of the stores, the way they advertise bunk beds even as you\'re eating Swedish meatballs in the cafe, how everything is modular and connected, how I can choose between fake birch and fake elm, but still, the net result of this cheap quality is a profound, physicalized discomfort. After spending 6 hours in Ikea over the last two days, I am struck by how exhausted, how deeply disoriented, how overloaded with information I am, and how my body feels impelled to somehow siphon the excess away. Or, at least, that\'s what I\'d like to do; instead I\'m going to put together a set of drawers.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[105] = new Array('2006.03.01', 'Riding down the street with L- when we stop to help tourists holding up their map. They\'re Spanish, and finally they ask: \"Can you tell me how to go where the Jewish people are?\" Laura points them to the Portuguese Synagogue. I tell them they\'re in the wrong country.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[106] = new Array('2006.03.08', 'From the \'I should have known it department\': I was looking for a new computer job (pleased to say I\'ve found one), and of course, the people who interview me Google me and check out the site. Needless to say, the site is neither meant for computer people nor coded to professional standards. Luckily, they didn\'t hold that against me. I\'ll have to re-write the site properly...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[107] = new Array('2006.03.09', 'The weird world of rejection notes and literary journals: sometimes writers are expected to see the weirdest kind of silver linings, and we take our rejections to heart despite the ridiculous odds. I\'m now shipping out the short story <i>Release</i> to various journals, most of whom have a <2 percent acceptance rate. So they\'ll receive, say, 3000 short stories a year, and accept maybe 20 of them. So first, when I get the rejection letter, I am so distraught. But then, the fun part: you try to divine your rejection letter. Is it a standard form letter, or are there comments? Meaning that someone made a personal comment on the work and it was therefore closer to publication. And then, sometimes you get a line like this: \"This is not a standard rejection letter.\" And although it\'s still a rejection, and I\'m happy. Not quite ecstatic, but close. Patience, persistence.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[108] = new Array('2006.03.10', 'A big cheer and shout-out to the release of <i>Traveler\'s Tales</i>, and in particular to writer\/editors Dave Farley and Jessie Sholl. Jessie has also just released her new <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.jessie-sholl.com\')\">web site</a>, so you should check it out.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[109] = new Array('2006.03.23', 'I have finally put my new short story, <i>Self Portrait With Smoke</i>, to bed. It will be published in the upcoming edition of <i>Versal</i>, which should be out by May. This week we have been putting the poetry, art, and fiction in order for the upcoming <i>Versal</i>, and I have to say, I\'m really excited about the quality of the work---it\'s going to be a great magazine. Plus we will be in the 2007 Poet\'s Market and Writer\'s Market, so our exposure is increasing. It\'s a really vibrant time...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[110] = new Array('2006.03.25', 'So I\'ve been out of touch these weeks because I started a new job at a start-up in Holland called <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.backbase.com\')\">Backbase</a>, and have been trying to wrap my head around 8 HTML-related languages and the normal job routine. I\'ve been hired as a Programmer/Writer, which I can write code, talk to developers, and translate technical information into readable, human text. It\'s a great group of people, enthusiastic about the job, but still relaxed, and the 25-minute bike ride across town and down the Amstel---oh, very nice.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[111] = new Array('2006.03.31', 'CNN has a <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/moos/2006/03/27/moos.not.going.dutch.affl\')\">report</a> on the new videotape that all immigrants must watch before coming to The Netherlands. Watch the video, and I\'ll post my comment in a few days...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[112] = new Array('2006.04.01', 'And this is no joke: there\'s another zombie movie. But what\'s more fun is this <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/31/DDG6TI0A8N1.DTL\')\">SF Chron review</a> of the new movie, entitled <i>Slither</i>, that notes that Zombie movies, on average, get better ratings and reviews than Tom Hanks movies, James Bond movies, or Woody Allen movies...So what\'s so awesome about zombies?', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[113] = new Array('2006.04.09', 'Greetings from Los Angeles! There are rituals that I love in Los Angeles; the freezer stocked with Ben and Jerry\'s and Eggo Waffles, the hand-written sign on the office door, up for years now, that says: <i>official pigsty: fumigation imminent</i>.<br /><br />I haven\'t been in the US for a while, and I still go through a bit of culture shock---the fact that there\'s a reality show called <i>God or the Girl</i>, in which a series of seminary students are tempted by the flesh. And a debate centering around my high school town, West Covina, and how they are resisting the building of a country homeless shelter. Tomorrow to Austin...', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[114] = new Array('2006.04.19', 'You know your wife loves you when she brings back from the States jars of salsa from Texas and a copy of Max Brooks\' <i>The Zombie Survival Guide</i>.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[115] = new Array('2006.04.29', 'Sorry for the lack of writing. I\'ve been getting on top of work, trying to keep the house clean. Our housemate has chicken pox-which, in an unusual translation error, is waterpokken in Dutch (water pocks). So when I told a Dutch colleague that our  housemate had chicken pox, they looked at me in horror and said: vogel griep? which is bird flu in Dutch.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[116] = new Array('2006.04.30', 'The other day, I found my name on someone else\'s blog. They had reprinted the rejection letter that I sent as the fiction editor of Versal. Her readers  commented on the quality of the rejection letter. Some were optimistic, as this particular letter contained a short, but personal note from me. Others were outraged at the \"facelessness\" of the system and the lack of specificity in my critique.<br /><br />All in all, I really appreciated the dialogue. Rather than reply to him/her directly, and effectively admit to my snoopiness, I\'ll go on the record here as an editor. <br /><br />It is a mistake to believe that there is a confrontational gap between writors and editors, especially in small journals like Versal. In fact, most of the people reading work are writers themselves. We are looking for high-quality work, but, as always, quality is entirely subjective, and can include how we\'re feeling on the day, our stress level, and a balancing act with the other pieces we have accepted. With an international publication, there is also the fact of distinct paradigms between American and British writing. <br /><br />It is not true that editors want to give specific comments to all submissions, but it is true that most editors, including myself, would love to give specific comments on all high level work. This includes the piece that we rejected, the piece that prompted this article. However, and here\'s the sob story, most editors do not (regretfully) have the time to do this. We are volunteers who read hundreds of stories in addition to our full time jobs, our families, our writing. We are also the people who bemoan the fact that in the rejection letters we receive as writers, we rarely receive the personal connection/critique we crave. <br /><br />It\'s simply a matter of time and resources that we don\'t comment as much as we would like on rejected work. Or, for that matter, work as closely as we would like with the people we accept. And a second point, that many writers (including, often, myself) don\'t grasp: often our comments backfire. More than once, I\'ve written a writer with some kind of general directive, and we\'re received a second draft that goes too far in the direction I pushed for. Note to writers: it seems best to take our comments, let the piece sit for a while, and then go back to it. <br /><br />Bottom line for writers: if you get a form letter, it generally means your work didn\'t make it to the end stages of our selection process. If you get any kind of personalized comment (except for the occasional sarcastic ones that implore you to follow submission guidelines), be thankful. Notice that I didn\'t say: be grateful. It means that your work was almost accepted, that it is of high quality, and that it attracted our interest. And that\'s what all writers want, isn\'t it? To be read, and to affect another person. ', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[117] = new Array('2006.05.01', 'Versal 4 is back from the printer! Please come to the Release party, May 7 at the Sugar Factory, 19:00 hours. For details, please see <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://versal.wordsinhere.com\')\">wordsinhere</a> for details on the event.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[118] = new Array('2006.05.19', 'Wanna know more about politics in Holland? This is a reasonably fair article on <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,416587,00.html\')\">Ayaan Hirsi Ali</a>, a leading politician and controversial figure. What\'s interesting about this article is that she is fairly conservative, and many of the people who support her are also conservative.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[119] = new Array('2006.05.19', 'Robert reading new work this Sunday! Amsterdam\'s very own international literary journal turns four this year! The writing between its covers is first-rate, spanning the questions and line breaks of our modern world. This afternoon, the editors of Versal will come together in one room, but not to read the work of poets and writers posted from afar, as they often do. Today, they will read work from their own books, moleskines, and pockets. Between the pages of their work, they will talk about their experiences as writers and editors, living the writing life in Amsterdam, and how their work is influenced by the work they read and consider each year for the pages of Versal. With Megan M. Garr (Editor), Cralan Kelder (Managing Editor), Robert Glick (Fiction Editor), Anna Arov (Assistant Editor), Kate Foley (Assistant Editor), and Kai Lashley (Assistant Editor). <br />For more information about Versal, visit http://versal.wordsinhere.com. Copies of the new issue and previous issues will be available at the reading.<br />The reading is free but please reserve a place below. <br />Time: 16.30<br />Price: Free<br />Venue: The English Bookshop Lauriergracht 71, Amsterdam<br />http://www.amsterdamliteraryfestival.com/ for more info', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[120] = new Array('2006.05.22', 'This <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html\')\">New York Times article</a> (free logon required) asked some of the most prominent world writers to name the best American novel of the last 25 years. The accompanying essay is as interesting as the list itself.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[121] = new Array('2006.05.24', 'Proving that bass clarinet players are, uh, a little twisted, this <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11N_MOxbVAc\')\"> short video </a> combines a bass clarinet lesson with Iron Chef... While scuttering around the youtube site, we also really loved the <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A07vYT3p0aI&search=ask%20a%20ninja%20introduction\')\"> ASKANINJA </a>series of videos.', '','', '');
arrBlogEntry[122] = new Array('2006.05.27', 'You learn all this awesome stuff if you just pay attention. My friend Oguz informs me that there is a musical instrument called a SERPENT. That\'s right, it looks like a SERPENT.', 'serpent.jpg','', '');
arrBlogEntry[123] = new Array('2006.05.29', 'From an interview with Lawrence Weschler in <a href=\"\" onClick=\"window.open(\'http://www.pw.org\')\">Poets & Writers</a>: The extreme block brings him to what Weschler describes as the "black hole." "Two things are fascinating about the black hole," he says. "When you are in it, you can\'t imagine ever being able to get out, and you go into total despair. The second is that you completely forget all the things you learned last time." This sense of misery is not unfamiliar, as he experiences a deep depression in the first few days of a reporting trip: "The interview aren\'t working, I don\'t understand anything that\'s going on --- the stupid material dumbness of a place. But," he adds, "I\'ve learned over the years to just ride those moods out and get through them. Despair is not a sin. Despair is the ground from which everything else happens."<br /><br /> The solution that Weschler has devised for escaping the hole is to remedy his writer\'s block with building blocks...', '','', '');