Stephen Schenkenberg

A slideshow: My wife Tamara looking at art. I took these...

Sat, 26 May 2012 21:05:00 -0500

Art Institute of Chicago

de Young Museum (San Francisco)

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Philadelphia Museum of Art

National Gallery of Art

Deutsche Guggenheim (Berlin)

Gemäldegalerie (Berlin)

Sagrada Familia (Barcelona)

Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin)

Kemper Art Museum (St. Louis)

A slideshow: My wife Tamara looking at art.

I took these photographs starting about in 2006 — three years into our dating life — and continuing through our 10-month stay in Europe last year up through recent months in St. Louis.

New Project: iPad E-Book Featuring William H. Gass & Michael Eastman

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:58:00 -0500

I am happy to announce that a personal project I’ve been working on for a few months is ready to meet the public: Abstractions Arrive: Having Been There All the Time (iTunes link), an iPad-only book pairing a previously unpublished 15,000-word essay by William H. Gass with a series of abstract photographs by Michael Eastman. I am the book’s editor and publisher, and I’m honored to have had the enthusiastic participation of both Gass and Eastman. The price we are charging for this interactive book: $6.99.

Bill and Michael have long hatched creative plans together, and back in 2009, one of them was this book. But in print form. I helped edit a version that was made privately, for a small group of people. Earlier this year, I proposed to both of them that we make an e-book version for the larger reading public, using Apple’s new iBooks Author software. They were game. (Yes, Gass authored the famous “In Defense of the Book” essay in Harper’s, but, well, he was still game.)

I realize I’m limiting the audience for this project by using iBooks Author, making a book that’s readable only by owners of the iPad 2 or later. But it’s the route I wanted to go in this publishing experiment, particularly since it afforded full-screen images and multi-photo galleries.

I’ll be posting next month a bit about my experience using iBooks Author Itself — there were both ups and downs. For now, though, here’s the book’s official description, as well as some screenshots taken on my own iPad:

This iPad-only volume pairs a penetrating 15,000-word essay on modern art and photography by William H. Gass — a writer Bookworm’s Michael Silverblatt has called “our greatest living writer of prose in America” — with the “Abstractions” series of photographs by internationally collected photographer Michael Eastman. Gass and Eastman are friends, neighbors, and collaborators, having partnered on, among other projects, Auguste Rodin (Archipelago Books, 2004). The writing in Abstractions Arrive is quintessential Gass — erudite, playful, probing, fun. Eastman’s images, which iPad users can tap to isolate and make larger, are some of the most striking in his decades-long oeuvre.

The book, as it appears in the Apple Store

A table of contents-like view for Chapter 3

A representative spread

The Notes page

Portrait mode

Made it all the way here? Yes, I will happily provide you with the link to buy, preview, or download a sample of the book. Questions? Comments? Write me at stephen @ stephen schenkenberg dot com. Thanks for your interest!

"Not His Riches, But Ours"

Sun, 13 May 2012 08:30:00 -0500

A member of the Wallace-L listserv posted this Pascal quote this morning, commenting (insightfully) on how it brings to mind many statements DFW made about reading and indeed love:

When a natural discourse paints a passion or an effect, one feels within oneself the truth of what one reads, which was there before, although one did not know it. Hence one is inclined to love him who makes us feel it, for he has not shown us his own riches, but ours. And thus this benefit renders him pleasing to us, besides that such community of intellect as we have with him necessarily inclines the heart to love.

“Fresh Air 2: 2 Fresh, 2 Furious,” a really great...

Sun, 13 May 2012 08:08:30 -0500

“Fresh Air 2: 2 Fresh, 2 Furious,” a really great short film written and directed by comedian Mike Birbiglia.

“The Making of the Leica M9-P Hermès Edition,”...

Sat, 12 May 2012 08:27:20 -0500

“The Making of the Leica M9-P Hermès Edition,” via maniacalrage. Gorgeous example of craftsmanship at work. No script needed.

"A Different Puff Than Yours"

Sat, 12 May 2012 08:20:47 -0500

"A Different Puff Than Yours":

Barack Obama, writing in his early twenties with confidence and style to girlfriend Genevieve Cook, as published in Vanity Fair:

Moments trip gently along over here. Snow caps the bushes in unexpected ways, birds shoot and spin like balls of sound. My feet hum over the dry walks. A storm smoothes the sky, impounding the city lights, returning to us a dull yellow glow. I run every other day at the small indoor track [at Columbia] which slants slightly upward like a plate; I stretch long and slow, twist and shake, the fatigue, the inertia finding home in different parts of the body. I check the time and growl—aargh!—and tumble onto the wheel. And bodies crowd and give off heat, some people are in front and you can hear the patter or plod of the steps behind. You look down to watch your feet, neat unified steps, and you throw back your arms and run after people, and run from them and with them, and sometimes someone will shadow your pace, step for step, and you can hear the person puffing, a different puff than yours, and on a good day they’ll come up alongside and thank you for a good run, for keeping a good pace, and you nod and keep going on your way, but you’re pretty pleased, and your stride gets lighter, the slumber slipping off behind you, into the wake of the past.

Simple, the banking alternative, previews its iPhone app....

Sat, 12 May 2012 08:05:47 -0500

Simple, the banking alternative, previews its iPhone app. I’ve been in the beta queue since early fall of 2010. According to Simple’s Facebook page, those who signed up back then can expect an account by the end of this summer. Can’t wait.

"Dilemma Protests"

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:13:00 -0500

"Dilemma Protests":

From “Protesters in Moscow Try New Tactics to Avoid Arrests,” in the NYT:

The evolving tactics in Moscow are not novel. In a primer on nonviolent protest, “Sharp’s Dictionary of Power and Struggle,” Gene Sharp, an American intellectual, described a “dilemma protest” as a performance of an action so inchoate and unorthodox that police are trapped. If they let it happen, they are encouraging it, but if they arrest people they risk looking either silly or arbitrary and unjust, which is the point….

The tactic has found wide appeal in Belarus, where activists gather to clap, eat ice cream cones, set their cellphone alarms to ring in chorus or simply stand silently.

"Why Obama Couldn't Wait"

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:22:57 -0500

"Why Obama Couldn't Wait":

Richard Socarides, writing at newyorker.com:

That is not to take anything away from the courage exhibited by President Obama today. His willingness to share with the American people his thinking, indeed his struggle, around this issue will help build a national consensus. Everyone is entitled to a journey on this issue.

I suspect that at the end of this national conversation the result will be a good one, and the process, including Obama’s painstakingly slow evolution, will have been a positive experience for the country. Hopefully, it will lead us in a positive direction—which, after all, is the job of a President.

Gary Wills: "The Myth About Marriage"

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:14:37 -0500

Gary Wills: "The Myth About Marriage":

The Catholic writer, in a post at the New York Review of Books blog:

Those who do not want to let gay partners have the sacredness of sacramental marriage are relying on a Scholastic fiction of the thirteenth century to play with people’s lives, as the church has done ever since the time of Aquinas. The myth of the sacrament should not let people deprive gays of the right to natural marriage, whether blessed by Yahweh or not.

"Obama and the Passage of the North Carolina Gay-Marriage Ban"

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:16:29 -0500

"Obama and the Passage of the North Carolina Gay-Marriage Ban":

A strong post from Amy Davidson, start to finish.

If there is a lesson in the North Carolina vote, it is that complacency on this issue is not a victimless stance.

Tamara and I spent Friday and Saturday morning in Madison,...

Sun, 06 May 2012 09:48:00 -0500

Near the student union terrace

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

Protesting Governor Walker

German medals, curated by Tamara

Tamara and I spent Friday and Saturday morning in Madison, Wisconsin, where we’d lived from October 2005 - April 2007. While she met with members of her dissertation committee, I bummed around and tested my phone’s data limit.

"Postscript: Adam Yauch"

Sat, 05 May 2012 22:15:00 -0500

"Postscript: Adam Yauch":

Terrific piece by Sasha Frere-Jones at The New Yorker’s website. Yauch’s transition from celebrated youthful knucklehead to enlightened (and hugely productive) grown-up was admirable.

I can still remember listening to “Licensed to Ill” in 1987 for the first time, on a tape my 8th-grade classmate Chris made me. My parents were away at the time, and I was staying at my grandparents’ apartment here in St. Louis. I listened to the tape on headphones before falling asleep on the sofa in their den. I’d never heard anything like it. More than two decades later, I still listen to hip-hop week in and week out.

Really enjoyed all three of these “Future of the...

Tue, 01 May 2012 21:36:00 -0500

Really enjoyed all three of these “Future of the Book” videos by IDEO. Especially “Coupland,” the second one. Details from IDEO:

Meet Nelson, Coupland, and Alice — the faces of tomorrow’s book. Watch global design and innovation consultancy IDEO’s vision for the future of the book. What new experiences might be created by linking diverse discussions, what additional value could be created by connected readers to one another, and what innovative ways we might use to tell our favorite stories and build community around books?

(Via Rachel Craft)

My morning French Press ritual is dear to my heart — a mandatory...

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:52:43 -0500

My morning French Press ritual is dear to my heart — a mandatory day-starter — but after watching this lonelysandwich post, I’m wondering if I should branch out and try one of these.

AeroPress “Ritual” (spec)

This is a short tribute to my AeroPress. Two years ago, one was given to me, and it changed everything.

For a little more than $20, this marvel of science will produce arguably the best cup of coffee you’ve ever made in your home. It makes no sense.

Here’s where to buy it: amzn.to/IiqlhO

Prada Marfa, a permanent sculpture created by...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:16:43 -0500

Prada Marfa, a permanent sculpture created by artist-collaborators Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. Interesting backstory at The Fox Is Black.

Michael Silverblatt Interviews William H. Gass

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:13:00 -0500

Michael Silverblatt Interviews William H. Gass:

The Bookworm host has previously referred to Gass as “our greatest living writer of prose in America.” Here, he calls him “one of my true living heroes.”

Speaking of admiration, I love this interview bit from Gass about Henry James:

James’ world is not to be found anywhere in the world. It’s too wonderful for that.

Paul Ford on Facebook and Instagram

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:35:18 -0500

Paul Ford on Facebook and Instagram:

At NYMag.com:

First, to understand this deal it’s important to understand Facebook. Unfortunately everything about Facebook defies logic. In terms of user experience (insider jargon: “UX”), Facebook is like an NYPD police van crashing into an IKEA, forever — a chaotic mess of products designed to burrow into every facet of your life.

Great new addition to YouTube: William Gass reads from The...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:00:00 -0500

Great new addition to YouTube: William Gass reads from The Tunnel and discusses literature and philosophy. Recorded at The Village Voice Bookshop in Paris, February 6, 2007 (by Villagevoice75).

Skepticism in Montaigne's Day

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 20:27:19 -0500

A surprising and interesting passage from Sarah Bakewell’s How To Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, which I’m reading now:

There was only one exception to [Montaigne’s] “question everything” rule: he was careful to state that he considered his religious faith beyond doubt. He adhered to the received dogma of the Catholic Church, and that was that.

This can come as a surprise to modern readers. Today, Skepticism and organized religion are usually thought to occupy opposite sides of a divide, with the latter representing faith and authority while the former allies itself with science and reason. In Montaigne’s day, the lines were drawn differently. Science in the modern sense did not yet exist and human reason was only rarely considered something that could stand alone, unsupported by God. The idea that the human mind could find things out for itself was the very thing Skeptics were likely to be most skeptical about. And the Church currently favored faith over “rational theology,” so it naturally saw Pyrrhonism as an ally. Attacking human arrogance as it did, Pyrrhonian Skepticism was especially useful against the “innovation” of Protestantism, which prioritized private reasoning and conscience rather than dogmas.