Get to Know Me: Derrick Jensen

I don't want this blog to just become a quotidian list of what I did every week (I mean, can you imagine a blog like that? The horrors!) but I'm too tired to write anything original, so I'm going to, again, point you in the direction of one of my favorite thinkers/writers. I did the first post in this series on Dmitry Orlov, which if you missed you should go check out.

Derrick Jensen is pretty freaking fantastic. His books are wild, careening things which seemingly try to cram in everything he wants to say about the world into one book. Then he writes another one. Basically, he's following Bukowski's maxim about good writing, that you should write like there's a gun to your head and they'll pull the trigger as soon as you finish the last word. He addresses issues of environment, women's rights, teaching, and makes the case that they are the same issue -- the abuse of power and the objectification and instrumentalization of others. I don't agree with everything he says, but that's true of everyone in this series, or I woudn't be keen to write my own things. His words though are powerful, often convincing, and occasionally beautiful.

Watch this talk, parts one and two, then read any of his articles for Orion magazine, then read some of his books.