Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Nov 6, 2009, 1:53 pm
Sometimes the headlines (and subheads) say it all: Man caught nude in truck uses the “explosive diarrhea” defense. Woman Calls 911, Says Boyfriend Won’t Marry Her Same Person Call...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Nov 6, 2009, 12:26 pm
There was an uproar in the interweb/blogosphere/social media worlds this week when someone noted that Publishers Weekly’s list of the Top 10 Books of 2009 did not include any female authors. Fr...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Nov 5, 2009, 12:12 pm
I’m one of those who always rants about how early Christmas stuff shows up each year. So it may be somewhat hypocritical for me to join a new book blogger effort called Buy Books for the Holida...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Nov 3, 2009, 7:58 am
It was an era more than half our population knows only through history. It was an era in which the United States went from being the only nation possessing nuclear weapons to facing the reality that ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Nov 2, 2009, 8:05 am
Of all the constitutional guarantees, one most Americans are familiar with is the Fourth Amendment. In its entirety, it states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, p...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Nov 1, 2009, 11:34 am
It seems like much of the last month has been devoted to reading not-yet-released items for review. That also impacts the bibliolust list because the ARCs, proofs and the like often show up far enoug...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 31, 2009, 2:43 pm
You may recall I posted last month about how a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee amendment to legislation creating a federal “reporters privilege” appeared to require that a person work for ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 31, 2009, 12:21 pm
Bulletin Board The Rapid City Public Library is going to be posting podcasts of some of the events from this year’s South Dakota Festival of Books. Worthwhile Reading in the Interweb Tubes Ho...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 30, 2009, 1:30 pm
I’m thinking a $16.5 million verdict isn’t unexpected when jurors ask for a 10-digit adding machine. Woman arrested for offering sex for World Series tickets gets 800 new Facebook “...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 30, 2009, 7:38 am
Do real private detectives read detective novels? Do police officers read crime fiction? I wonder because, as a practicing attorney, I don’t usually read novels dealing with lawyers. Even whe...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 29, 2009, 8:09 am
Ranging a bit far afield from the usual topics of this blog but dealing with a subject of professional interest, a couple recent items reinforced this country’s problem with immigration. It isn...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 28, 2009, 7:42 am
True, Harry Nilsson’s Son of Schmilsson was released in the summer of 1972. But with the cover, on which Nilsson appears as Dracula, and the B-horror movie sound effects between the first and s...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 26, 2009, 7:33 am
Sometimes a book leaves me puzzled. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes that’s bad. Sometimes it’s both. Paul Auster’s latest novel, Invisible, falls in the latter category. ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 24, 2009, 11:05 am
Worthwhile Reading in the Interweb Tubes Vaccines & Autism: A Deadly Manufactroversy (Via.) Fifteen Things More Important Than Money (Via.) Blog Headlines of the Week Marijuana legalizers do vic...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 23, 2009, 12:37 pm
North Korea has amended its constitution. In inimitable North Korean style, the “contents of the revision have not been made public” by its government. “Miss California USA officia...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 22, 2009, 12:49 pm
If you could ask your favorite author (alive or dead) one question … who would you ask, and what would the question be? Sorry, but I can’t resist making this like asking the genie from the bo...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 22, 2009, 12:19 pm
No one is immune from genre-bashing. What’s come to be known as historical fiction is one of those genres at which I tend to look askance. I’m guilty of often considering it little more ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 21, 2009, 12:24 pm
A couple things are luring me over to the dark side — an e-book reader. If you weren’t under a rock the last 24 hours, you know Barnes & Noble is releasing an e-reader, which Wired immedi...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 21, 2009, 7:55 am
War has broken out in the book retailing world. First, Wal-Mart last week said it would offer preorders of 10 top books to be released in November for $10 each online with free shipping. Amazon, of ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 20, 2009, 6:14 pm
From a photographer who’s spent the last five years on the Pine Ridge Reservation: “I think I honestly want these photos to hurt the viewer.” (H/T Prof. Newquist.) And while it doe...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 19, 2009, 7:59 am
Given our history, Americans tend to think of political prisoners as those who actively oppose the political policies or government of their country. Yet in totalitarian societies even aesthetics are...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 17, 2009, 10:11 am
Bulletin Board As indicated by the new graphic in the right sidebar, this blog was one of about 50 selected to become new members of 9rules, a collection of blogs providing “the best content fr...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 16, 2009, 12:43 pm
I wonder if this will pop up if South Dakota’s smoking ban referendum moves forward? A Canadian truck driver was arrested and fined for smoking in the workplace — his truck. (Via.) Poli...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 15, 2009, 5:10 pm
When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 15, 2009, 7:54 am
Now I read, on average, at least one book a week. And it’s not like I’m reading boilerplate serializations or harlequin romances. If I look back on the authors and books I’ve read,...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 14, 2009, 1:13 pm
Two of Barbara Ehrenreich’s best-selling books are reality journalism, where she put herself in the situations she’s writing about. Thus, in 2001 she released Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) G...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 12, 2009, 7:48 am
Short stories and poetry are deceptively difficult literary forms. On the surface, they have the allure of simplicity. After all, they don’t require the detailed arcs or subplots of a novel. S...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 10, 2009, 11:48 am
Blog Headlines of the Week UK booksellers go nuts, decide not to stock crappy book Obama Wins Peace Prize, Wingnut Heads Explode Blog Lines of the Week Jon Krakauer: “Every single time I wri...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 9, 2009, 4:28 pm
I think this is called a vicious circle: “Lawyer Says Lawyer Defamed Him in Press Release About Defamation Suit” (Via.) So much for seeking forgiveness. A convicted sex offender in Rale...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 8, 2009, 8:06 am
No, this is not a new feature. Instead, it’s a bit of an explanation why, contrary to my promise last weekend, regular programming has not resumed. Attribute it in large part to the fact I ha...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 5, 2009, 7:59 am
The Secret History of Science Fiction, a new anthology aimed at questioning the existence of genre boundaries, could be a victim of the very issue it seeks to address. It uses the term “science...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 3, 2009, 3:40 pm
Bulletin Board With today being the end of Banned Books Week, regular programming here will resume next week. The annual South Dakota Festival of Books is underway in Deadwood, although I’m su...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 3, 2009, 11:00 am
With today being the last day of Banned Books Week, I thought it worthwhile to wrap things up with a look at how it was viewed by others, both in the blogosphere and the mainstream press. An op-ed in...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 2, 2009, 1:19 pm
Peeping Tom threatens lawsuit against homeowner who installed video cameras that led to his arrest. (Via.) Questionable post-law school decisions, Part 1: A Stanford law graduate has been sentenced ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 2, 2009, 8:05 am
As much as I agitate about book banning in the U.S., it would be utterly foolish not to recognize how fortunate we Americans are. It generally isn’t the government censoring books so that they ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 1, 2009, 12:10 pm
My bibliolust list is shorter this month because it becomes more and more clear than there just ain’t enough time. September was a perfect example. Several of the books on my August and Septem...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Oct 1, 2009, 7:59 am
More than any other institution, schools are the focus of challenges to books, whether because of required reading in a course or simply because a certain book is available in the library. The Sioux ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 30, 2009, 12:06 pm
Both houses of Congress are still considering legislation to create a federal “reporters privilege,” legislation that took different approaches for bloggers. At bottom, the difference was...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 30, 2009, 8:03 am
Although South Dakota doesn’t appear to have faced any book challenges recently, the same source indicates 70 to 80 percent of challenges are never reported. As part of Banned Books Week, I thi...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 29, 2009, 8:08 am
One of the organizations on the front lines of book challenges is The Kids’ Right to Read Project, a collaboration between the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the Nationa...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 29, 2009, 7:33 am
It was simply coincidence that I began reading John Christgau’s Enemies: World War II Alien Internment the week of September 11. Yet it reinforced that the book may be more relevant today than ...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 28, 2009, 12:12 pm
Perhaps ironically apropos for Banned Books Week is the following: “When author J.K. Rowling was proposed as a recipient for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Bush nixed the idea because Rowli...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 28, 2009, 8:11 am
... plainly shows a hole in my reading experience. That is particularly so in that I know that, between the books listed in the “Protect the Children” category and classics I know they&...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 27, 2009, 10:17 am
Think the fact a book is a classic or widely respected grants it protection from book banners? Think again. In 1998, the Radcliffe Publishing Course, now the Columbia Publishing Course at Columbia U...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 26, 2009, 10:09 am
As the first in this week’s series of posts in honor of Banned Books Week, which runs today through October 3, I thought it appropriate to post the entirety of the manifesto written by Ellen Hop...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 26, 2009, 8:20 am
Bulletin Board Today kicks off Banned Books Week, which runs through October 3. In recognition of it, I will have a post each day related to banned books. More important, as MobyLives says, make su...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 25, 2009, 1:09 pm
Ouch!! A federal judge not only denied a motion because it was “riddled with unprofessional grammatical and typographical errors that nearly render the entire Motion incomprehensible,” th...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 22, 2009, 8:01 am
Two sociologists say the meltdown of rural America has reached a tipping point, one which is “transforming rural communities throughout the nation into impoverished ghost towns.” In an ar...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 21, 2009, 12:23 pm
... to music while reading? Does this change if you’re reading in or out of your house? Do you have a preference of music for such occasions? I occasionally do but probably less th...
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Tim G. posted an article on A Progressive on the Prairie - Sep 19, 2009, 9:19 am
Bulletin Board Thanks to Valerie for calling this one of her favorite book blogs during BBAW. I’m not only honored but proud of one of the reasons she cited: “off-the-beaten path book pi...
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