Walt Whitman

Before They Were Famous: Celebrities Who Were Once Federal Workers

Joseph A. Beaudoin | Posted 05.04.2012

Joseph A. Beaudoin

Even though you don't hear about their work every day, that's not to say you've never heard of some of America's federal employees! Who are these famous former feds?

Literary Recipes: Walt Whitman's Cranberry Coffee Cake

Nicole Villeneuve | Posted 05.04.2012

Nicole Villeneuve

Among Whitman's collection of papers are the few recipes he liked enough to preserve -- one for coffee cake. Whitman's letters have inspired my new personal philosophy: Live every day with sass, and with several slices of cake.

A Brief Guide to National Poetry Month

John Lundberg | Posted 04.15.2012

John Lundberg

The event has grown beyond poets to become a coordinated effort by teachers, publishers, non-profit and government agencies, corporate sponsors, and lots and lots of celebrities.

Why Post 50 Males Must Resist Becoming "Standardized Old Men"

Brent Green | Posted 05.07.2012

Brent Green

This is a generation that has never settled for outdated traditions, and collectively men over 50 will create new images of male aging. The sociology of Boomer male aging has vast implications for business, from edgy new products to inspired services.

"The Jungle Book"... Where Books Are Seen

Posted 03.05.2012

Although we spend hours looking at books, we rarely acknowledge their physicality, especially if we're reading something on a Kindle. Natasha Bowdoin ...

Everything Indicates

Tamsin Smith | Posted 03.21.2012

Tamsin Smith

The discovery of a poem can feel like stumbling upon a message in a bottle, one sent only to you. Discovering that others are decanting under the same spell -- even if in their own unique way -- is radically cool.

Untranslatable Too

Tamsin Smith | Posted 01.28.2012

Tamsin Smith

Walt Whitman is by turns comforting and disturbing me today. It's why I sought him out. I'm overdue for a good cage rattling. Time to tip myself si...

The Greatest Poetry Reading Ever?

Steve Heilig | Posted 01.02.2012

Steve Heilig

Walt Whitman's legendary epic poem "Song of Myself" first appeared in 1855, self-published in Brooklyn by the then-unknown journalist and walker, who was 37 years old at the time.

Poems That Celebrate the Summer

John Lundberg | Posted 08.24.2011

John Lundberg

Spring officially left us this past Tuesday. So to help us get off on the right foot with the season, I've collected some great poems that celebrate the joys of summer.

From Writing Quietly to Screaming "Buy Me!" -- Promoting a Book

Randy Susan Meyers | Posted 08.15.2011

Randy Susan Meyers

The problem is this: except for the most ego-driven or ego-protected among us, it's an unnatural position for most writers. We like working in pajamas. We don't like shaking our booties. But to sell, we must.

PHOTOS: History’s Most Distinguished Literary Hair

flavorwire.com | Posted 07.11.2011

In preparation for Celebrating 100 Years, the New York Public Library’s centennial exhibition, the curators at the library came upon some unexpected...

The Hangover: Questions for a Post-Bin Laden America

Richard (RJ) Eskow | Posted 07.03.2011

Richard (RJ) Eskow

It's been a hell of a binge, hasn't it? Now it's hangover time. When the hangover ends, that's when the questions usually begin: Will we finally honor those "everyday heroes" we keep hearing about?

Salman Rushdie Picks Books For New York Hotel's Guest Rooms

Reuters | Posted 06.20.2011

Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie has come to the aid of guests who check into a trendy Manhattan hotel with nothing to read, choosing 13 celebrated A...

Portraits Of Authors In Their Own Words

flavorwire.com | Posted 06.18.2011

People say that the lines in your face are representative of the life you’ve led – as in, love your laugh lines because clearly you’ve had a goo...

Obama's Empathy for the Supreme Court

John Paul Rollert | Posted 05.25.2011

John Paul Rollert

Skepticism like Sotomayor's is a challenge to the President's jurisprudence. If the law strays into uncertainty, it does not necessarily follow that a judge should rely on personal experience instead.

How Well Do You Know The Brooklyn Literary Scene? Take This Quiz To Find Out

guardian.co.uk | Posted 05.25.2011

Novelist Jonathan Lethem took a shot at New York's fashionably bookish borough this weekend, telling the LA Times that Brooklyn has become "repulsive ...

Who's Singing These Songs With Us?

Reverend Billy | Posted 05.25.2011

Reverend Billy

This notion in Christmas carols that Spirit is in all things, and that hills and clouds and stars can change the fortunes of all of us -- do we still sense this?

10 Tips on Loafing Creatively

Michael Sigman | Posted 11.17.2011

Michael Sigman

I loaf and invite my soul, I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. --Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" Five years ago, I blew a ch...

Hide/Seek and Don't Ask Don't Tell

Alison Teal | Posted 05.25.2011

Alison Teal

In today's Washington, we find ourselves looking to the Portrait Gallery for leadership, not our elected officials.

Redefining Greatness (It's Complicated)

Tony Schwartz | Posted 11.17.2011

Tony Schwartz

Greatness demands both decisiveness and flexibility, courage and prudence, strength and vulnerability, action and introspection. The true measure of greatness is our capacity to navigate between varying opposites.

An American Tradition of War and War Protest

Cynthia Wachtell | Posted 05.25.2011

Cynthia Wachtell

What would happen if Melville and Whitman were mystically transported from the great beyond and asked to give their opinion of our modern wars? And how would they be received for their viewpoints?

Our Thoughts Are Too Small

Tom Morris | Posted 11.17.2011

Tom Morris

Our thoughts are too small. And as a result, our actions are too small. Most of us have our typical thoughts, imaginations, and decisions produced and...

What's important, what's happening, and what's public diplomacy

John Brown | Posted 05.25.2011

John Brown

Yes we all love the new social media. Type, for example, "public diplomacy" when you're on Twitter, and you'll get the latest on what twitterers are saying about the subject. But what's happening is not necessarily what's important.

Baseball & Hot Dogs

Cheryl Carlesimo | Posted 05.25.2011

Cheryl Carlesimo

Our good friend George Duran, the host of Food Network's Ham on the Street, and now TLC's Ultimate Cake Off, grew up in Venezuela where baseball is an obsession, and he shared his recipe for Venezuelan Hot Dogs with us.

Walt Whitman and the Immigration Debate

Claudio Ivan Remeseira | Posted 05.25.2011

Claudio Ivan Remeseira

We don't know exactly what Walt Whitman would have said about SB 1070, but about the supposed encroachment on American identity by Hispanics, his thoughts were clear.