ISJ What?

I haven't really kept you lovely readers updated on my ISJ. And since procrastination is already a major theme of my ISJ experience, why stop now? My story is about El Habib Louai. He is 28 years old and lives in the small village of Tamri, which is in the south of Morocco. He loves the Beat Generation writers and is currently working on a translation of Ginsberg's poetry into Arabic. This has never been done before and really, when you think about it, is pretty wild. Ginsberg, the homosexual counterculture hero of contemporary American poetry being translated into a language for Moroccans to read. Even with all the images of drugs, sex, violence, protest, etc. Louai believes it's important to make it available in his country. Even if it doesn't get published, even if it means trouble with the law, even if not a single Moroccan picks up a copy, he is trying. Along with the profile of Louai, I discuss the history of the Beats in Morocco and why Beat literature is practically absent from the country today. It has been amazing getting the chance to speak to professors, writers (I interviewed Anne Waldman!) and other experts about the Beat Generation and this country. 

Let me also say that having an editor is pretty freakin' awesome. My editor's name is Marla Kinney (you can just click on her name for a short bio! Pretty high tech stuff) and she has been brilliant. As you know from reading this blog, I'm a huge fan of ranting. I can rant with the best of them when I write. It's not really a bad problem to have, better to have too much than too little. It didn't take long for Marla to learn this about me and my writing. In the revisions she sent me yesterday she cut 1000 words from my piece. 1000 words! That's 2 pages of blabber that she slashed through to find just the essentials. She is a master at breathing life into the article and I'm constantly in awe of the ideas she has.

It's due on Sunday. I'll have it done, I'm very close now. Until next time.