Michael Janairo

Author: Michael Janairo

  • 2018 Rhysling Awards eligibility

    I had two poems published in 2017 that are eligible for the 2018 Rhysling Awards, which are awards for speculative poetry. These awards must be nominated by a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (I’m a member, but people can’t nominated their own poems).

    Eligible in long-poem category:

    Eligible in short-poem category:

    Thanks for checking them out!

     

     

  • Friday Photo: Bird in Flight

     

    bird-in-flight
    Female Northern Cardinal

  • Review: Following Tommy by Bob Hartley

    15826921 Following Tommy by Bob Hartley is a gem of a book: hard, brilliant and valuable.

    It tells the story of Jacky O’Day, a bookish teen who lives in a changing Irish neighborhood in 1962 Chicago with an alcoholic father and a troubled older brother, Tommy. All of them live in the devastating aftermath of the early death of the woman in their life, the clear-headed mother and wife who had kept the three on the straight and narrow.

    Without her, Jacky follows Tommy into his forays of petty crimes, as if that is the only viable path through their hardscrabble world. When Tommy’s crimes grow more violent, though, Jacky begins to question their relationship and himself.

    Hartley delves into questions of identity and race, and offers a dramatic portrait of how a specific kind of Chicago neighborhood operates, with and against the law.

    Through it all, Hartley’s clear, concise prose remains unflinching and cutting at times.

    The slim volume from the independent publisher Cervena Barva Press is highly recommended.

  • ‘Positively No Filipinos Allowed’

    bestdoorI came across this image while looking up something else. I couldn’t find the name of a photographer for it, though some say it is likely a hotel in Stockton, California, in and around 1930. Though I had read about such signs, especially in the great Carlos Bulosan book America is in the Heart, I hadn’t seen one before.

    There is something visceral and powerful about this image. How dark it is. How well-used the door, floor, and walls look. It doesn’t appear to be a place of wealth; rather, it is a place on the margins of American economic security and who gets counted as belonging.

  • Watch: Polyphonic overtone singing by Anna-Maria Hefele

     

    Here is something I saw when I was looking up something else. Wow!

    There is something futuristic or speculative about this type of singing. Maybe it is because the scales she’s doing sound theremin-like.

    Enjoy!

  • Happy New Year!

    Peace, Prosperity and Happiness in the New Year!
     

  • Today’s earworm: All Night Long by Lionel Richie

     

    Did you catch the Kennedy Center Honors TV show? It took my spouse and I a couple nights to watch the show, which ended with a tribute to crowd-pleaser Lionel Richie and a medley of his hits sun by Leona Lewis, including “All Night Long.”

    Now we can’t get it out of our heads. See the Richie video above, and the clip from the TV show below.

    Enjoy.

    And a note of trivia: the song lyrics that sound “African” are made up. Read about it here.

  • 2017 in Review in Music

     

    gamelan-yir-webThat’s me on the right with some of my museum colleagues playing the gamelan, which was installed in an exhibition. This was my first time playing the gamelan since I was a member of the nascent Pitt Gamelan Ensemble in the fall of 1996, when I was a grad student at the University of Pittsburgh and the Ensemble was a class taught by a grad student and before it became what it is today. I tried looking for any record of that class or the performance we did in December of 1996 at Heinz Chapel, but it seems to have been erased from history. (more…)

  • 2017 Year in Review in Podcasts

    9fe8d62a052c05af026cccbc86ce1073e04f363fcc7c5fda6ce7b40c5ac23fad0bc8595632402b605e0683e40a6726f8cd25a9ee88ca38a3b1ac33b108a7c5c2A new podcast for me this year, and for everyone, is Pod Save America, the podcast created by former speechwriters in President Obama’s administration. It acts as a tonic or a resistance in the Trump era. It seems to be a successful rallying cry so far for people who are disillusioned at the current government. It is one of the most popular podcasts now. They are even taking the show on the road. It is released twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, which is a little too much for me. I enjoy the Monday ones the best, probably because the hosts are Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor, in addition to Jon Favreau, who I think do a better job than for the Thursday show when it is just Favreau and Dan Pfieffer. Favreau is usually in the role of setting things up, kind of the straight man, so it is stronger when there are two people playing off him instead of one (and Pfeiffer does have a hesitating way of speaking that isn’t great for audio). Also, as the show develops further, they have to find a way of better integrating the guest interviews with the introductory news punditry round-up: too often they steal the thunder from their guests, and so why listen to their guests?

    You can find the podcast here: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-america/

    (more…)