Knockout Chosen "Best Literary Magazine of the Twin Cities of 2009" by The City Pages of Minneapolis-St. Paul

Great news—Knockout was selected as "Best Literary Magazine of the Twin Cities" of 2009 by The City Pages. And congratulations are in order to KO contributor Louis Jenkins, who was selected as best poet of 2008-2009.

New T-Shirt

A New T-Shirt, created by the ever-random Brett. Check it, and all my other wacky t-shirts, here: http://www.zazzle.com/pinata_tshirt-235246019581053496. This image is pretty small; the "no baseball bat" sign in the corner reads: Put the bat down, candy is our blood.

SUPERHERO ANTHOLOGY: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

SUPERHERO ANTHOLOGY: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Editors Andrea Reid and Maya Jewell Zeller are currently seeking submissions for an anthology of superhero poetry, tentatively titled "Between Saviors and Villains: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry Inspired by American Superheroes."

Send 3-6 poems and a cover letter including your contact information, comments on how your poems are meant to explore the concept of superheroes, and a brief bio to superheropoetryanthology@gmail.com. Please include all materials in one attached (.rtf) document. Simultaneous submissions are fine, as are poems previously published in magazines, chapbooks, and full-length poetry collections, though the author must retain reprint rights. Please note any credits in your bio.

For more information, see our blog: http://www.superheropoetryanthology.blogspot.com

(Photo of Major Mars courtesy of http://pdsh.wikia.com/)

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Happy Good Friday, y'all

Happy Good Friday. Here's a great painting by Antonio Ciserie titled "Ecce Homo" (or "Behold the Man!) that depicts Pontius Pilate presenting Christ to the crowd.

Baseball Update

The Minnesota Twins defeated the Seattle Mariners this evening. I attended yesterday's wonderful game, but I unfortunately encountered some variety of human tsunami. See for yourself:

Too funny

So as you probably noticed, we have Google ads on this site. They read the site and then produce "appropriate" ads for the content.

These ads just appeared when I was checking out the site:

Peter Singer

Depression Signs

Clinical Depression

Depression Support

Treatment Depression

I'm half tempted to email Mr. Singer--he might get a kick out of this.

And now I'm going to take some Zoloft and cry.

So I stumbled upon this size comparison of crocodiles and humans, and I couldn't help editing it a bit.

And here's my edit:

Iowa rocks!

A quick surprise in the news this morning. From Yahoo and the AP: " Iowa court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional."

As I understand it, this means, in effect, that gay marriage is legal (or will be) in Iowa.

Holy cow! Or should I say, corn?

Knockout Reading at Nina's Cafe, June 3, 7 PM

This Just In: Brett here, and I'm happy to announce that there will be a Knockout reading at Nina's Cafe on June 3, @ 7 PM. Brett will be reading from the 2nd issue--stay tuned about the rest of the line up!

Special Guests: STAY TUNED.
June 3 at 7pm
Nina's Cafe
Address: 165 Western Ave N, Saint Paul, MN 55102
Phone: (651) 292-9816

For now, here's a map of how to get to Nina's. The meantime, visit Nina's, it's a great place to visit, and if you need any added incentive, don't forget that Common Good Books is right below Nina's! (There's even a shortcut through Nina's to the bookstore!) Finally, MANY thanks to Todd Boss for helping us arrange the reading!


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Koalas Suffer From Depression

Koala Depressive Disorder

I just read about a disturbing breakthrough in koala psychology on koalascience.com

According to research conducted over a twenty year period, koalas are as prone to major depression as humans. Dr. Schultz Kuehlenschrank, of Austria's famed Lebkuchen University, said, "They may look cute and furry, but inside, these koalas have some serious problems." Kuehlenshrank said koalas are depressed for many reasons.

The life of a koala is rough. They have trouble finding food. And contrary to popular belief, they have predators. Kangaroos are the major predator. In my twenty plus years studying them, a day has not gone by when I haven't seen kangaroos harassing the koalas. On a good day, the kangaroos will simply stand below the koala, bouncing like a child on a pogo stick. But on the bad days, I've had to intervene in their disputes many times. Needless to say, I've been punched by a kangaroo many times.

What's more, the koalas don't seem to like Australia. According to the surveys they've filled out, they are not fans of the Australian outback. Specifically, koalas are tired of eucalyptus and are also not fans of the Australian accent. Kuehlenschrank said, "They much prefer the German and Austrian accents."

All of this leads to a crippling koala depression. The symptoms are easy to spot. Excessive sleeping. Sluggishness when awake. The inability to complete simple tasks, even as simple as raising one's head. Suicide is prevalent. Kuehlenschrank explains, "Suicide opportunities surround them. All they have to do is let go and they'll fall out the tree to the waiting kangaroo." And even if the koalas are taken out of the trees, there is still a great risk.

Kuehlenschrank explained, "Taking the koalas out of a threatening environment is nearly impossible, as koala claws are razor sharp. These claws are the "perfect" suicide method."

(Koala image courtesy of Luciano Roth Coelho, shared under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5)

Happy April Fool's From Wikipedia

Wikipedia, brilliant as always on April Fool's day, has an entire main page of lovely jokes, lies, and slander.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Did you know:

...that baseball Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby had his first plate appearance against King Lear?


On this day:

2006 – As mandated by a 2005 Act of the British Parliament, several British policing agencies joined together to become very serious.

1918 – The British Armed Forces started to grant personnel the power to fly.

Current Events:

NASA reports a shower of diamonds from the sky.

The merging of Hartford and New Orleans is found to have severe environmental consequences.