I Moved!

I'm finally doing what everyone else did 5 years ago, and am moving over to Tumblr. Come visit me over at http://sbridgins.tumblr.com/!

Essay on Grief

I have an essay over at Trop about reading Julian Barnes' grief memoir Levels of Life in the wake of my mother and grandmother's deaths. It's a beautiful book and I was so grateful for the chance to write about it.

Two Poems

I have two poems in the new issue of Plain Wrap which was edited by Lucy Tiven. I love Lucy's poetry and was so excited when she asked me to contribute.

Favor

Miracle Jones started his litvideos subreddit a year and a half ago as a response to the fact that YouTube has no "Literature" category. His efforts received attention from The Millions, The Rumpus, Galleycat, and The Atlantic among other sites.

Litvideos is great. It has been the only place where you can find such treasures as David Lynch's favorite quinoa recipe, Janice Joplin's final interview, and Anthony Hopkins reading "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Even more importantly, it is one of the few places you can find a collection of videos taken from readings and storytelling shows around the city that would have otherwise gone uncaptured. Recording and posting these videos is something Jones does in his free time. It takes a lot of work and as a poet, performer, and lit lover, it's an effort I'm so grateful for. There are so many stories and poems that only truly come alive when they're read in front of an audience and without the work Jones' does at litvideos far fewer people would be able to experience these moments.

If you have a Reddit account, or even if you do not, I would love you forever if you would subscribe to litvideos. Litvideos is the only reason I have a Reddit account and it is totally worth the 10 seconds it takes to create one. Also, post things!

In one sense I am asking for a favor, but in another sense I am doing you a favor because it really is a book/theater/music lover's dream and an even better way to kill a boring afternoon than searching for funny cat videos. And I live for funny cat videos.

Last week I went on vacation for the first time in a couple years. It was great. Here are some things I accomplished:

- Touched the ocean.

- Ate at least one type of seafood every day.

- Started reading both Moby Dick and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again.

- Learned how to play a poker game called Night Baseball.

- Drank a milkshake at a pharmacy soda fountain.

- Bought a pair of sparkly fish skeleton earrings.

- Watched the entirely of the Miss America Competition. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid and let me tell you, watching a beauty pageant as an adult is a weird experience. I kept getting outraged by things like the fact that the swimsuit competition is supposed to be about judging the contestants' "commitment to health." I'm pretty sure every feminist in the world stopped paying attention to swimsuit competitions about 20 years ago. That fruit is so low hanging it's underground. The concept of Mario Cantone and Carla from Top Chef judging which 22 year old has the best bikini body and is therefore most deserving of a scholarship is kind of insane though.

- Saw a pig named Mr. Wrinkles crowned the winner of a livestock competition. (He beat two ponies!)

Feminism and Book Reports

- I did a reading last night at Bluestockings that was curated by the lovely Krystal Languell, who edits the poetry journal Bone Bouquet. We were asked to read one piece of writing by someone we considered to be our "feminist elder," along with our own work. I was so happy to be included and to have the opportunity to share one of my favorite poems by Sharon Olds. I first read "Sex Without Love," in college. It is amazing and taught me that it's possible to write poems about sex in a way that isn't embarrassing and does not involve flower metaphors.

- Miracle Jones' report on "Moscow, 1937," that he read at the Second Anniversary of The Book Report reading series was just published over at Vol. 1 Brooklyn. I hereby order you to stop reading my blog and go read Miracle Jones book report because it is fierce and brilliant and amazing.

Here is a quote:

"But we don’t live and die in the world. We live and die in our heads. We live and die making decisions as individuals that change the story of our life, in real-time, day by day, according to insane laws of our own devising. A higher intelligence is always watching, whether you believe that higher intelligence to be Stalin, Jesus, Spock, Krishna, or your friends who will tell your story when you are gone."

New Poem

My poem "Cricket Cage," was published today over at NAP! It's a really great journal and I'm very excited to have my work featured there.

Assuming I don't become overwhelmed by my fear of bumming everyone out, there is a good chance I will be reading this poem along with many others at one of my two readings this week. Come say hi!