For those of you unfamiliar with WordXWord, it is my favorite open-to-the-public thing in the Berkshires.* They do events year-round, but the culmination is always a week-long festival in August. This year it's from the 16th-22nd, and as always, if you live or visit in or near the Berkshires, I highly recommend it. The visiting poets are always ( Read more... )

Between poetry, comedy, and stories, it turns out I have some stage time this summer. Been doing a bit of each, finally qualified for the WordxWord poetry slam over the weekend, so I'll be doing more poetry in August ( Read more... )

Just read a news article via Facebook to learn that one of the rappers I most enjoyed freestyling with at the nerd rap convention last decade was recently arrested for armed burglary. (Back at the convention in 2009, I think he mentioned he'd been arrested for petty theft.) I was going to make a joke about something something cred, but mainly I'm ( Read more... )

If you, like me, received half a dozen emails from the Alumni Fund earlier this month, you are the target demographic for my latest column. The rest of you may enjoy it anyway:
The Pun Also Rises: The Alumni FundI think this is the last week of winter. Then it will be time for me to start going outside for regular walks again. If any of you want to ( Read more... )

Finally got out for a walk today, for the first time in four months. Nearly slipped and injured myself many times (a few of which just in our deathtrap driveway), but hopefully in another week or two the ice will melt and I can get back to walking on a more regular basis. I feel better -- physically and mentally -- when I do so ( Read more... )

Last night was our first comedy open mic at our local coffee house (The Parlor Cafe, for you locals), and it was a great success. Even though the NY comedians said they couldn't come, and the Northampton comedians said they could and would be there and then didn't show, we still had 3 local comics in addition to myself, as well as a few mcla kids ( Read more... )

I haven't posted much to LJ of late, even though I ostensibly like it better than FB. Maybe I'll be better about that this year. I've been especially not great at keeping up with my humor columns, so if you haven't caught the last few:

New Ears Resolutions

The Day Before Christmas

Bard-Mitzvah: A Shakespearean Travelogue (I will admit to being ( Read more... )

For those of you not on Facebook but still here (which I'm sure isn't many, but whatever): As usual, I'll be hosting my big Heathen Hullabaloo on the evening of December 25th. If you're not celebrating Christmas (or even if you did earlier and will be done before dinner), you're welcome to join me and an motley assortment of my friends from various ( Read more... )

In which I have Epiphanies of the Obvious.

( Some thoughts on racism, media, and privilege )

So, as many of you know, every year the_star_fish and I have a boardgaming marathon where we spend a long weekend playing a boardgame for every letter of the alphabet. If this sort of thing interests you at all, you can follow along my liveblogging through Monday over at BoardGameGeek. If you dislike puns and boardgames, probably you should avoid clicking that