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Today, Stacey Nyikos, author of, Dragon Wishes, nervously shares some of her poems with us. Don’t be so worried, Stacy, we think they’re gorgeous!

As the molten orb descends into
the inky depths of the sea
No earthbound mortal remarks
its departure
Only the greyness
hovering over the dreary landscape
Darkens in hue
Glistening pellets rat-tat-tap
upon the corroded evades
Chasing last autumn's foliage
toward the rusty tin pipe
That hugs the clay-beaten stone
While sodden creatures
seek refuge in the towering firs
Shuddering with each blast
From winter's lungs

The warmth of glowing windows
Beckons to the man cowering under
Sunday's paper
A soggy brown sack
Clenched under his tattered mantel
The eager, driving waters
Rain mercilessly upon the sodden wretch
Emptiness sighs in his breath
And defeat stare out behind
His broken gaze
Scant wisps of grey matt agains
this clammy forehead
As he slurps from the brown bag
Aching to have a light to go home to

I have seen this man in
The souls of many
But was too hurried to slacken
My pace
And reach out to the humanity
Mollified yet aloof
I scurried by
Not daring a second glance
For fear that his gaze
Might alight in my own.

This poem was inspired by Gustav Klimt's, "The Kiss" (Pictured Below)

Caressing silently the maiden form
Pressed to his chest
His fingers lace themselves in the flower-laden
Wisps floating on satiny sheets.
Around his own head
a laurel of green
Announcing his eagerness,
his budding desire.
Innocently the creature
he longs to waken
Places one creamy
hand about his neck
And another inside his fingers
at her cheek
Her blooming features tempt him
in their subtle passion
And he is moved,
as if by a spirit
More powerful than his own.
Gently he leans nearer
Sensing her fragrant breath
Overcome by her beauty
Warmed by the glow...
of a kiss.




Gustav Klimt's, "The Kiss"

We should be close to a time when I can watch a movie online with my friends who live in different places. For example, if my friends in Florida, Indiana, and I all want to watch All About Eve, we should be able to stream it online and comment on it MST3K-style. Anyone know of an existing service like this?

David Bornstein, author of How To Change The World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas is a journalist who specializes in writing about social innovation. In his book, Bornstein profiles some of the incredible individuals who have successfully changed the world by blurring the line between business and social action. In the excerpt below Bornstein looks at why studying social entrepreneurship is so critical.

Over the past century, researchers have studied business entrepreneurs extensively. They have analyzed their orientation to action, to risk, and to growth; they have explored the entrepreneur’s “personal value orientation” and “internal locus of control” and searched for clues to explain the entrepreneur’s propensity to seek out and exploit change. Not only have business entrepreneurs been thoroughly studied, but their talents have been nurtured by value systems, government policies, and a wide array of institutional supports. (more…)

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Might the social networking site CafeScribe be the solution
Higher Ed publishers have been waiting for?

By Evan Schnittman

Last week Salt Lake City based social networking site CafeScribe visited our NY office to demonstrate their service and explain their business model. These kind of meetings happen all the time and I usually sit politely through a series of PowerPoint slides which show how Site X or Product Y appeals to a myriad of users who are in our target demographic, and how these users would love to have access to our content. When discussion of business models comes around, they are usually what I call “personal hovercraft business models” (i.e., this will start earning OUP and its author’s money when everyone is floating around on their own personal hovercraft.) (more…)

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