It’s time for the Pharaoh to go. Like much of the world, I’ve been glued to the news these last couple weeks, watching the people of Tunisia and then Egypt rise up against their respective dictators. Egypt, in particular, is filled with so much revolutionary possibility: Cairo is the big…

What makes art successful? By “successful,” I don’t mean it is just aesthetically pleasing. I don’t mean it brings in a crowd, or pushes the edge of what’s posssible, or moves people to action. I mean ALL OF THAT. And more. There isn’t much art that achieves that type of…

Wow. Every summer I go to Brave New Voices, the International Youth Poetry Slam Festival that I help organize with Youth Speaks. And every summer I leave more amazed than the year before. Not necessarily because the poetry is better (although this year I loved the renewed emphasis on WRITING,…