A Buffalo Report

Several years ago, when my friend Cass Clarke, who still lives in Buffalo, was bringing me up to date on local events and publications of note, she mentioned Bruce Jackson's Buffalo Report. "Hmm, that's interesting, " I thought, remembering Bruce as an intelligent writer with actual social concerns, but I never got in touch with him, preoccupied with projects of my own, and the intention to check out Buffalo Report fell further and further into the file of Things To Do Someday. Time went by. Last week, as I was searching for articles on Robert Creeley, the late poet, who taught for decades at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Google turned up an interview by Jackson. And it was up on Buffaloreport.com.

Buffalo Report is partly a collection of links to a wide range of publications Jackson feels relevant to an understanding of the world at present; the home page today includes diverse links to stories about the devastation of New Orleans (including a link to Scientific American's article from 2001 predicting just such a disaster), but there's also a link to an article on Susan Sontag's film criticism. It's a site for great connections. It's updated frequently, and worth a visit.

Jackson was a longtime friend of Creeley (he too has been in Buffalo for decades), and has several articles about and interviews with Bob in his "Articles & Links" section. If you're a Creeley reader, they're close to essential. His articles otherwise, serious (if sometimes light-hearted) engagements with subjects ranging from Alan Lomax, the great collector of American folksong, to Wolf Blitzer's voice, are posted there as well, and well worth reading.