Author Archives: Peter Schmidt

(see previous posts for other excerpts from the Preface) ============== Generation Z gets what I’m talking about when it comes to the work that poetry can do.  So do many Millennials and Gen-Xers, and even some agèd Boomers like myself.  It’s basically … Continue reading →

Here’s an intriguing idea.  Poetry’s relative marginalization within the domain of commercial culture gives it freedom and a different kind of power—the ability to negate what passes for “realist” and “practical” majoritarian thinking, including that tech interventions on their own will miraculously fix … Continue reading →

Upcycling will join other books arguing that the crucial changes that must come will be primarily driven by global populist movements for restorative justice for people, ecosystems, and the planet.  Established institutions, technological interventions, markets, and other factors will have to play … Continue reading →

“Change the story” doesn’t guarantee success.  There’s plenty of contemporary skepticism about what Parul Sehgal, Amit Chaudhuri, Christian Salmon, and others have called the contemporary “narrative turn” in many fields, including medicine, religion, and law, not to mention cultural studies like … Continue reading →

“Maybe what seeks us is better than what we seek.” —Ben Okri, Astonishing the Gods “In a time of destruction, create something.” —Maxine Hong Kingston “It is so hard to write books about climate change that people want to read,” NPR … Continue reading →