The Everglades...

When I was in graduate school, I had scheduled a visit to Everglades National Park. I didn't make the trip for complications (too long to travel, too many deadlines at the moment). I've always wanted to explore the park, and so this winter break instead of skiing, we headed down to the park. We did a eight day canoe trip through the heart of the park and then saw the grasslands region on another trip. It was wonderful (we canoed down the Wilderness Waterway over a half of the course and then wound up going around out to the Gulf Coast where we camped on key islands). I post some pictures here. We saw dolphins, marlin jumping out of the sea, tons of alligators, and multiple birds. We slept on our boat one evening, because we had traveled eighteen and a half miles and couldn't find our camp. This is how we got the nicknames from friends -- the "Crazy Mattsons."

Fox News

Did an interview (on camera) for this story at Fox News. Somewhere there's video, but for now, this is what I have:

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/23/should-obama-dream-primary-colors

DECLINE???

On Monday, October 25 I'll be on the Kerri Miller show with James Fallows. We'll be talking about the idea of American decline... Here's a link to the show.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/programs/midmorning/

THE POLITICS OF STUPID

Here's a recent little thought exercise done for Dissent:

http://dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=277

RADIO POPULISM

I will be on (and you can likely find the podcast after the show's done) this radio show talking about the populism piece that I wrote for The American Prospect. Appearance will be Tuesday, September 21, noon to one.

http://burtcohen.com/

The debate on populism continues...

My article, in the words of the American Prospect's editors, hit a "nerve." Yikes. Here's the nerve plus my response at the bottom. Enjoy.

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=tap_debates_populism

more summer photos, and that will be that.

Yes we can.

More photos from summer to come.

ON THE ROAD

Some stuff from being on the road -- the Uintah High Wilderness, the Sawtooth Wilderness, the Frank Church Wilderness, to be more specific. Plus many other good travels. Here's some stuff that's out that might interest folks. Many cutthroats and much else.

I have a piece on populism and why it sucks for the American Prospect:

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=forget_populism

And a review of Cary Nelson's book on academic freedom here:

http://ocaaup.org/

There will be a piece in the upcoming Baffler, plus the Common Review. More to come.

A GOOD STORY THAT JUST HAPPENS TO FEATURE "MOI"

Matt Bai wrote a good story about presidents and crises; seems to be an awful lot there. He interviewed me, and he wrote an important story to which I link here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/weekinreview/06bai.html

NOW OFFICIALLY, A SOMETIMES BLOGGER

I will be contributing, when the inspiration comes, to the following blog:

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/atw.php

FEELIN' OPTIMISTIC?

Yours truly appears in this story about the never-ending, perpetual optimism machine of America:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-02-16-optimistic-decade-americans_N.htm

BUSTER, R.I.P., 1994-2010

I don't do this often, but in this case I will. Our cat, Buster, passed away last night in his sleep. I got him when I lived alone in New Jersey in 1995 (he was one year old, or so the guess went). He had been being fed by a man with Alzheimer's who kept forgetting that he had to feed the twelve cats that hung around his house. Buster was taken to a shelter, where I adopted him. He was a very cool cat, more friendly than most, the constant hunter for a lap to sit on. My wife and kid came to love him immensely, for good reason. In any case, his death prompted me to search out a poem that I used to love by Charles Bukowski (I'm not usually a fan). I link to the poem here. Those lines about the influence of Celine and all are just fantastic. And so in memory of Buster:

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/10781-Charles-Bukowski-The-History-Of-One-Tough-Motherfucker-wbr-

MORE ON JIMMY...

Here's a recent interview done about "What the Heck?":

http://www.rorotoko.com/

THE HORROR, THE HORROR

A longer essay in which I describe my experience of reading Going Rogue by the lady who's now at Fox and who knows absolutely nothing about everything... Palinology in Mattson form.

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=323

FOR THOSE WHO READ DISSENT...

I have a review of Morris Dickstein's recent book about Depression-era culture.

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=2042