"The laundromat is across the street from the narrator's apartment. The narrator, also nameless, is looking at it through his window but can't seem to get there to pick up his clothes. The narrative then detours as he tries to navigate a city that is fracturing around him at the same time as he confronts the failure of poetry and memory inside the labyrinthine architectures of language." "Written as a narrative essay that continuously dissects a never-finished conversation, and annotated with fragments of poems that were maybe never written about a childhood that maybe never took place, The Laundromat Essay is a spiralling poem about the pathology of failure and of forgetting, a poetic narrative of credible absurdity."--BOOK JACKET.

Laundromats are a quintessential part of the New York City landscape: an indispensible element to many city dwellers' lives, they're an ersatz utility room shared with dozens of strangers at any given time, a moist environment of humming machines and strange clothes. No other public facility gathers so many people under one roof to engage in one of the most intimate rituals in which the modern human routinely performs, that of making clean again one's outer and under garments. What New Yorker has never experienced the dread of removing another's...stuff...from a dryer having completed its cycle in order to get on with it and be released from the temporary prison of chore.... Laundromats are as varied as the people inside. They often reflect the social, cultural, and economic fabric of the neighborhood they reside in (announcements, flags, and symbols displayed often reveal something about their mainly mom-and-pop owners), yet they additionally possess a story of commercial storefront design, inspired and mundane: the trend date of awning design and lettering; the poster advertising for cleaning; the refreshment options for adults and their charges. Neighborhood laundromats are one of the last holdouts of the disappearing storefronts of New York City as small shops are driven out of business by chains and venture-capital initiatives. Like the beloved Korean green grocer/bodega/Arab deli, someday soon there could be far fewer of these ugly ducklings, and another genuine element of New York's street life will be...washed away. Laundromatwas photographed from 2008 to 2012 and represents all five New York boroughs and most of its neighborhoods.

This collection of ten original (and one reprinted) essays provides an in-depth examination of one of America's foremost contemporary playwrights. Established critics as well as younger scholars examine well-known works such as Getting Out, 'night, Mother, The Laundromat, and the adaptation of The Secret Garden. Lesser known plays such as The Holdup, Sarah and Abraham, Traveler in the Dark, and Loving Daniel Boone are also discussed. This casebook includes an interview with Norman commenting on her work and her place in American theater as well as a review of 'night, Mother by drama critic Robert Brustein. The essays analyze Norman's works in comparison to the works of other playwrights and examine the mother/daughter relationships of the characters as well as Norman's sense of a woman's place within a patriarchal culture.

This book explores the author’s award-winning novels while also engaging her non-fiction. As the first book devoted entirely to Robinson and to her diverse contributions to literature and scholarship, This Life, This World familiarizes readers with the major currents in her thought and moves scholarly dialogue into new theoretical directions. An interdisciplinary group, the contributors bring to their subject a diversity of perspectives—Romanticism, ecocriticism, medicine and literature, religion and literature, theology, American Studies, critical race theory, and feminist and gender studies—that reflects the amplitude and fecundity of Robinson’s art and thought. The book begins with an annotated timeline and concludes with a substantive written interview with Robinson wherein she reflects on her work and its reception. A tremendous resource for Robinson enthusiasts and for readers interested in the questions she raises in her fiction and non-fiction.

The ACT official subject guides are a step by step guide for outlining the preparation for the ACT section tests. These prep guides provide students a concept-based outline for the subjects they plan to focus on. Each one of the official guides, is an efficient prep tool comprised of the most current and relevant test information packed into one guide. In addition to the book, the entire pool of questions are available online for a customizable learning experience. These guides will provide the focused support needed by subject. For the earnest test taker, start with official section guides to prepare for success! Use the ACT practice questions to check your performance on the official items from ACT. All of the Official ACT Prep Guides, will provide you with the guidance you need to succeed by telling you what you need to study, sharing details on how to prepare, and offering a ton of realistic practice questions. Use the ACT practice questions to check your performance on the official items from ACT. All of the Official ACT Prep Guides, will provide you with the guidance you need to succeed by telling you what you need to study, sharing details on how to prepare, and offering a ton of realistic practice questions. The ACT official subject guides are the best resource to get detailed input and practice to help you in preparation for the ACT. By using this guide, students can feel comfortable and confident that they are preparing to do their best! Features of the ACT® Official English Guide: Covers basic and advance topics Offers strategies and shortcuts to save you time Includes a glossary of grammar terminology 100's of official ACT English questions with detailed solutions Includes writing section

Do you feel a bit overwhelmed with the assignment you have related to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale? This guide will help place the play in context, and shed light on the many motifs and themes of the play. You will be provided with a detailed scene-by-scene summary and analysis and Critical Theory overviews, as well as step-by-step instruction on how to write a great essay.

In Amina Gautier's Brooklyn, some kids make it and some kids don't, but not in simple ways or for stereotypical reasons. Gautier's stories explore the lives of young African Americans who might all be classified as “at-risk,” yet who encounter different opportunities and dangers in their particular neighborhoods and schools and who see life through the lens of different family experiences. Gautier's focus is on quiet daily moments, even in extraordinary lives; her characters do not stand as emblems of a subculture but live and breathe as people. In “The Ease of Living,” the young teen Jason is sent down south to spend the summer with his grandfather after witnessing the double murder of his two best friends, and he is not happy about it. A season of sneaking into as many movies as possible on one ticket or dunking girls at the pool promises to turn into a summer of shower chairs and the smell of Ben-Gay in the unimaginably backwoods town of Tallahassee. In “Pan Is Dead,” two half-siblings watch as the heroin-addicted father of the older one works his way back into their mother's life; in “Dance for Me,” a girl on scholarship at a posh Manhattan school teaches white girls to dance in the bathroom in order to be invited to a party. As teenagers in complicated circumstances, each of Gautier's characters is pushed in many directions. To succeed may entail unforgiveable compro­mises, and to follow their desires may lead to catastrophe. Yet within these stories they exist and can be seen as they are, in the moment of choosing.