Category: Weekly Posts
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El Portal is seeking submissions
We want stories and poems about West. West is a bullet-riddled ’85 Grand Marquis, a gleaming spaceship hovering over Roswell, a cowboy paying for latte with his Amex-card, an alien wondering where in the world to get the golden iPhone. West is where it hurts, West is the rattlesnake you didn’t hear, the dust storm…
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Thinking West: Oregon Founded as Racist Utopia (Gizmodo)
Gizmodo recently featured an interesting article concerning Oregon’s racist past. According to Matt Novak (and historical fact), Oregon was founded as a whites only, racist utopia. Check out the excerpt below: When Oregon was granted statehood in 1859, it was the only state in the Union admitted with a constitution that forbade black people from…
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Thinking West: The West in Pictures
Check out the National Archives’ collection of pictures from the American West.
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When Superintelligent AI Arrives, Will Religions Try to Convert It? (Gizmodo)
Zoltan Istvan (Gizmodo) examines how the world’s religions might handle the creation of superintelligent artificial intelligences. It appears that, much like American corporations in a recent Supreme Court case, superintelligent AIs may find God, too, with a little help, of course…. Like it or not, we are nearing the age of humans creating autonomous, self-aware…
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Never Mind E-Books: Why Print Books Are Here to Stay (WSJ)
Print books are here to stay. E-books haven’t surpassed print book sales. Instead, it seems that E-books are fading fast as print book sales see increased demand…. Ever since Amazon introduced its popular Kindle e-reader five years ago, pundits have assumed that the future of book publishing is digital. Opinions about the speed of the…
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February’s El Portal Web Features
This month’s web feature includes poetry by Alexandra Itzi. Check out Itzi’s “Nothing” and “Marlboro Marlboro.” If you have questions concerning El Portal web features, feel free to drop us a line at el.portal@enmu.edu.
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What’s Wrong with Only Reading Half a Book? (Electric Literature)
Last month, the e-reading company Kobo revealed which books its users read to completion. Much was made of the fact that Donna Tartt’s prize-winning bestseller The Goldfinch was only finished by 44% of Kobo readers, and that, in general, the bestseller list didn’t match up at all with the most completed list. It also spurned…
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O’Donnell Lecture (Thursday, 29 January)
This year’s Jack Williamson Endowed Chair will be giving a lecture on 29 January. This lecture will be held in JWLA 112 at 2p. We welcome and encourage all to attend. For more information on Jim O’Donnell and his writing, please visit O’Donnell’s personal website. If you have any questions concerning Jim O’Donnell’s lecture, please…
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Jim O’Donnell Lecture (Thursday, 29 January)
This year’s Jack Williamson Endowed Chair will be giving a lecture on 29 January (Thursday). This lecture will be held in JWLA 112 at 2p. We welcome and encourage all to attend. For more information on Jim O’Donnell and his writing, please visit O’Donnell’s personal website. If you have any questions concerning Jim O’Donnell’s lecture,…
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Portugal
According to the CIA World Factbook, Portugal is slightly smaller in size than Indiana. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized drug possession, which precipitated in fewer drug crimes and even fewer drug abuse cases amongst Portugal’s youth. Portugal was one of the world’s leading maritime powers during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. During the early years of…
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Thinking West: Have Gun — Will Travel (“Ballad of the Paladin”)
CBS’s Have Gun — Will Travel was a classic show about a mythical West, where gunslingers, bandits, and businessmen ruled the frontier–all brought to one’s television in crisp (4:9) black and white. The best part of the show had to be its closing theme music or ballad (“Ballad of the Paladin”) by Johnny Western. The…
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Writing Pros: How J.K. Rowling Plotted Harry Potter with a Hand-Drawn Spreadsheet
Open Culture featured an article discussing how J. K. Rowling plotted her Harry Potter stories using a hand-drawn spreadsheet (see image below). How do you plot your stories or novels? Check out the original article at Open Culture .
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Thinking West: Robo Novels
Technology and science now act as the modern world’s newest frontier. It is a frontier full of excitement, questions, and its share of dangers. The questions brought forth from this nebulous frontier could shape our world and how technological and scientific progress become part and parcel of our daily lives. As we approach the singularity…
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Weird Stuff Authors Do: James Patterson’s Self-Destructing Book Scheme
James Patterson has taken the cake for weird s@#$ authors do to snag the public spotlight. Check out the video below. For more information on Patterson’s self-destructing book, check out Mashable‘s article on this bizarre event.
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Jim O’Donnell Reading Today! (23 January)
Jim O’Donnell will be reading some of his work in JWLA 112 at 2pm. We welcome and encourage all to join us for today’s reading.
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More from Jim O’Donnell
Danube River at Night – My Shot of the Day – October 16, 2014. More Pictures of Beautiful Bratislava by Night. We be will hosting two major events while Jim O’Donnell is in Portales: Reading on Friday, the 23rd at 2pm in JWLA 112 Lecture on Thursday the 29th at 2pm in JWLA 112
El Portal Literary Journal 