Happy Birthday, Derrida!

Join us today in celebrating the birthday of one of the most famous philosophers of the twentieth century! On July 15, 1930, Jacques Derrida was born in French Algeria. He would grow up to become the father of the deconstruction movement and famed for his work in the fields of poststructuralism and postmodernism.

Derrida was considered subversive and avant-garde. His 1966 lecture at Johns Hopkins University, entitled “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences,” was a groundbreaking moment as it challenged the previous assumptions of Western philosophy. Derrida was also a prolific author; he wrote both essays (such as “Différance”) and more than 40 books, including Dissemination and Of Grammatology. The latter contains an essay on Rousseau in which he famously asserts the importance of context, stating “there is nothing outside the text.” Derrida was known for his studies of text and language as a form of revolution as well as a type of paradox that he called “binary oppositions,” in which one term of the opposition is central and the other is marginal. Derrida’s ideas can often be difficult to understand and he certainly has his share of detractors, but it is clear that his work has had a significant impact on the world of philosophy.

Further Reading: Derrida For Beginners

Unpublished Jane Austen Manuscript Sold at Auction

Today is an exciting day for Jane Austen lovers. Her incomplete manuscript for a novel called The Watsons was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in London for 993,250 British pounds, the equivalent of $1.6 million US dollars, more than three times the amount expected by Sotheby’s. According to the LA Times, The Watsons “was begun, then abandoned, by Austen in 1804, after she’d drafted Sense and Sensibility but seven years before its publication. Austen got about one-fourth of the way through the manuscript of The Watsons before abandoning the manuscript.” The handwritten document is 68 pages long (plus six blank pages) and includes Austen’s own corrections and notes; the loose pages are contained in a box. Aside from the first 12 pages belonging to the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, The Watsons is the only known privately owned Jane Austen manuscript.

Nondual Mind, Nondual Heart and Nondual Body

Zoran Josipovic, co-author of Zen For Beginners, is holding a summer workshop series in New York. Josipovic is an experienced practitioner of various meditation techniques, including the Tibetan, Zen and Advaita Vedanta traditions. He hopes to use this practice-oriented workshop “to explore both the dualistic nature of our ordinary mind and the nondual nature of our essential awareness allowing us to experience how their interplay shapes our lives.” 

Nondual Mind - Sunday, July 17, 2:00 - 5:00pm

Nondual Heart - Sunday, August 7, 2:00 - 5:00pm

Nondual Body - Sunday, August 21, 2:00 - 5:00pm 

VILLAGE ZENDO

588 Broadway, Ste. 1108

New York, NY 10014

For more information or to register for one or more of the workshops, click here.

July 6th, Dalai Lama's Birthday!

On July 6^th the 14^th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, turns  76. The Dalai Lama currently lives in exile in India, having been forced to flee Tibet during the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. The Dalai Lama is recognized as the spiritual leader of the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and also as a Tibetan political leader. He is believed to be the reincarnation of his predecessors, all of whom are considered the manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was deemed the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama at the age of 2; not long after the previous Dalai Lama had passed.  Roadblocks were set up by the ruling Chinese government to prevent the Dalai Lama from migrating from his village in the Qinghai province to Tibet, but this did not deter the Dalai Lama from receiving his education and eventually being ratified as the ruler of Tibet at the age of 15.

 The Dalai Lama permanently fled Tibet in 1959 at the start of the Tibetan Uprising, which started in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and soon spread to other areas of the country. The Tibetan people revolted against the occupying Communist Party of China, which had been in control of Tibet since 1951. The rebellion was eventually squashed in 1962 and China considers Tibet to be another annexation to its state.

Since his exile, the Dalai Lama has advocated for the Tibetan people to the rest of the world.  He has traveled the world over talking to political and religious leaders. In 1989, the Dalai Lama received a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to liberate Tibet through peaceful means.  On May 29, 2011 the Dalai Lama ratified an amendment delegating his administrative and political duties to democratically elected officials of the Central Tibetan Administration. The Dalai Lama wishes to remain a religious leader, but not retain his political responsibilities.

Whether you find his policies or philosophies controversial or not, the Dalai Lama stands in the world’s eye as a leader in peace and compassion and as the voice of the Tibetan people. To find out more about the Dalai Lama and/ or other schools of Buddhism, check out our For Beginners books: Eastern Philosophy For Beginners and Zen For Beginners!

Interview with Jaimee Garbacik

Jaimee Garbacik, author of the upcoming Gender and Sexuality For Beginners, has a new interview in Creative Writing Now with advice for aspiring authors on revising fiction manuscripts and finding a literary agent. Garbacik, the former acquisitions editor for The Literary Group International, is now the owner of Footnote Editorial Services.

In the interview, Garbacik describes problems that appear often in the manuscripts that agencies receive, and offers authors tips for correcting them. It’s very important, she says, to capture the reader’s attention within the first fifty pages. When agencies are dealing with more than a hundred unsolicited manuscripts every week, she warns “you’re going to wind up in the reject bin unless we see something that sets you apart right away.” Garbacik also cautions writers not to make their dialogue “overly clever” or “snarky” and encourages them to differentiate and develop each character’s voice. She also has a useful piece of advice for concluding novels: "Authors, I swear this is true: You don’t have to tie up every loose end to satisfy your reader." This interview should be very helpful for writers looking to revise and improve their manuscripts, and it’s just an interesting read!

An Important Date in Shakespearean History

Yesterday, June 29, was the anniversary of the date when the Globe Theatre burnt down in 1613. The wooden building and thatched roof went up in flames after a cannon misfired while being used as a sound effect during a performance of Henry XIII. The Globe was rebuilt the following year, though it was later closed down by the Puritans in 1642. The theatre became famous for its association with William Shakespeare; his playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later known as the King’s Men), built it in 1598, and many of his plays were performed there.

For more information on Shakespeare, check out Shakespeare For Beginners. It’s a good place to start learning more about the popular playwright’s famous works for those intimidated by the originals, though nothing beats seeing a performance in person.

In Memory of Gene Colan: September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011

The comic book world mourns the loss of Gene Colan, the prolific comic-book artist responsible for bringing to life some of the most landmark comic book characters of all time (Tomb of Dracula, Howard the Duck, Iron Man and Dare Devil). Colan passed away at 11pm on June 23 after losing his battle to liver disease. Right up until the end Gene was doing work for fans until he became too weak to do so. In 2009, Gene illustrated the Captain America issue 601, titled “Red, White and Blue-Blood,” which won the 2010 Eisner Award for best single issue. Gene has done work on many of the iconic superheroes over the past decades and worked with comic publishers from Dark Horse and Marvel to DC and Eclipse.


Longtime colleague and friend Clifford Meth has posted a very touching eulogy to Gene on his blog and has also posted Gene’s last interview. In his eulogy Meth writes:

“I knew this day would come but it came too quickly. It's been a rare pleasure working with Gene. He knew who he was—how valuable his contributions to the world of comic art have been—how prized it remains by so many. Yet he never felt less than grateful to anyone who’d even read a single panel that he’d drawn.”

Gene’s family has also decided to set up a scholarship at the Joe Kubert School. To find out more about how to donate, please visit Gene’s own blog.