Direct Democracy

I went on a road/ski trip to Vermont with my mama at the beginning of this week, and am convinced this state is doing something every single state in the country should be doing. The first Tuesday of March is Town Meeting Day in Vermont. You don’t go to work; you go to Town Meeting [...]

Super Tuesday

A reminder to everyone that this is Super Tuesday, the day that 24 states around the country hold primaries or caucuses. With enough participation, today could determine the nomination in one or both parties. A MAJOR reminder to Massachusetts Fringe readers and voters: If you, like me, are NOT enrolled in a major political party, [...]

A cheer for Small Beer

Small Beer is a teeny tiny press out of Easthampton, MA, founded by Gavin Grant and author of the highly acclaimed story collection Magic for Beginners Kelly Link. They publish like 2 books a year. We love small indie presses, especially when they do wonderful, unconventional books. Small Beer is the publisher of Elizabeth Hand’s [...]

Thanks a lot, Dave Obey.

Full disclosure: I’m cross-pollinating. The publishing company I work for, Beacon Press, has a great blog (the Beacon Broadside) and a terrific and thoughtful blog editor. I just do not understand why this country keeps throwing money at abstinence-only education. Clearly, it doesn’t work; clearly, we don’t have the best interests of our youth at [...]

Two Cities: A Love Story by John Edgar Wideman: A Review by Katie Spencer

This is the thirteenth of a many-part series written by the staff and editors of Fringe Magazine, who will be reviewing books from the Pool as part of the 25 Books Project It may be that the most enduring, affecting art produced within modern cultures develops when cultures are in crisis. Think about the greatest [...]

Great cause, bad taste

There is a fantastic benefit the dames at LUPEC Boston have created this September: a number of area bars and restaurants are donating the proceeds from a specific woman-themed cocktail to Jane Doe, Inc, the MA Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. So naturally, when Julia, Janell, Joanna and I met up after work [...]

Heartbreak Hotel by Gabrielle Burton: A Review by Katie Spencer

This is the eleventh of a many-part series written by the staff and editors of Fringe Magazine, who will be reviewing books from the Pool as part of the 25 Books Project. Gabrielle Burton’s Heartbreak Hotel runs each of its engines at full capacity. It is completely intelligent, completely feminist, completely hilarious, completely furious, completely [...]

Mary Gordon and Speaking One’s Mind

Deborah Solomon’s interviewee in her August 5th weekly New York Times Magazine column was the writer Mary Gordon. When asked, “Are you a Hillary Clinton supporter?” Gordon replied, “I think no woman is electable in America.” She kept going, but reading that line, I remember thinking, “Wow, this woman has guts. Thank goodness someone is [...]

Trend: Keeping the baby

Before Harry Potter took over as Ultimate Hit of Summer 2007, there was a very popular movie called Knocked Up, comedically chronicling two young people deciding to keep the baby. All of a sudden, these stories are everywhere: Glamour has hired a 26-year-old single mom-to-be to blog about her experience (and here’s what Gawker burped [...]