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Today at Guernica I have a new essay about teaching James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time throughout Obama's presidency. Here is a little of what I conclude:It only became clear to me as I taught the book over the past few years ... following the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, as we discussed the protests in Ferguson and the renewed vigor and revolutionary moment captured by Black Lives Matter, that Obama is not the key figure in this country. I had been wrong: the American future is precisely not as bright or as dark as his. And my students, who have paid attention to a chokehold on Staten Island and a shooting in greater St. Louis, and who remembered a black teenager killed in Sanford, Florida, and who are reckoning with recent killings in Tulsa and Charlotte and Los Angeles, now know what Baldwin was talking about. They've seen the private fears of white Americans projected onto American blacks. We see it every day. This is our ongoing crisis; there is serious evil in the world, and hardship and pain. And my students know this now. They've seen anger in the world, and it makes sense to them, and now it seems right to see it on the page.

Today at The Los Angeles Review of Books, I have an essay about Marilynne Robinson, love, marriage, God, and our democracy. It was a long time in the works and I hope you'll read.

Bookforum's Daily Review is running a piece from me about William Giraldi's new memoir, The Hero's Body.

This month sees the release of Pacific University Press's first book, When the Rewards Can Be So Great: Essays on Writing and the Writing Life, edited by the poet Kwame Dawes. I'm proud to have a craft lecture included there alongside those of my colleagues Sanda Alcosser, Steve Amick, Ellen Bass, Marvin Bell, Carolyn Coman, Claire Davis, Debra Gwartney, Laura Hendrie, Pam Houston, Valerie Laken, Dorianne Laux, David Long, Mike Magnuson, John McNally, Benjamin Percy, and Mary Helen Stefaniak.My essay, "The Courage to Sound like Ourselves," can be found here. The book is available here.

As part of the Pacific University MFA in Writing Program I'll be reading new work tonight with my friends and colleagues Steve Amick and Eduardo Corral. The reading, which starts at 7:30, is open to the public, if you're in or around Forest Grove, Oregon. Come to Pacific University's campus: McCready Hall in the Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center.

Day one of this season's Pacific University MFA in Writing residency is in the books. The day featured talks by Ellen Bass, Chris Abani, and Debra Gwartney. Many, many more to come, including guest lectures by Dan Raeburn, Garth Greenwell, Tyehimba Jess, Willy Vlautin, and others. I'm incredibly happy to be back in Forest Grove, Oregon, with this group. The residency goes through Sunday, June 26. Congratulations to all the graduates!

Last month, I participated in an evening of music and readings to celebrate the release of two wonderful books, Ann Neumann's The Good Death and Peter Manseau's Melancholy Accidents. Footage from this event is airing today—and is available here—on C-SPAN2's Book TV. I emceed the event and read from my lastest essay in Virginia Quarterly Review, "Good for You."

Thursday evening, March 10, I will be participating in an evening-long celebration of the publication of Ann Neumann's new book The Good Death. There will be music. There will be reading. There will be Advanced Directives. The event is hosted by Killing the Buddha, and also features Peter Manseau and Gordon Haber. Music by Ilan Moss and Alex Kramer.Thursday, March 10, 2016, 7 p.m.The Morbid Anatomy Museum424-A 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn

Since Friday, I've been spending long and exhilerating days teaching at the January residency of Pacific University's MFA in Writing Program. We're on the beach in Seaside, Oregon. Each evening, the program hosts a faculty reading, and so far we've heard work from Sanjiv Bhattacharya, Claire Davis, Joseph MIllar, Kwame Dawes, Debra Gwartney, and Cate Kennedy. Tonight, I'll be reading with Marvin Bell and Craig Lesley. The readings are free and open to the public. 7:30 p.m.Best Western Ocean View Resort414 North Prom, Seaside, Oregon

The Winter 2016 issue of Virginia Quarterly Review contains a new essay from me, "Good for You: What Makes a Happy Family?" Here is a little sampling:I've read reasonable and compelling arguments against having any children at all, though these arguments are often diminished by editors who provide headlines like this: "Having kids is terrible for the environment, so I'm not having any." I've seen eight- and nine- and ten-point lists in recent years that explain why not having any children is the best life choice a certain person has ever made. This seems like an exaggeration designed for the internet, but who am I to say? I don't know these people. Many of the reasons people often give for not wanting to have children—and I'm not making the opposing argument here—have to do with the way that they shut out certain other options in life, which children do. And just as I don't doubt sibling science, I don't doubt, on its face, either the soundness of the thinking or the soul-searching involved in coming to these conclusions. I don't tend to care whether other people have children or not.

Today The Literary Hub is running an essay originally titled "Near the Continental Divide," as a tribute to poet Joseph Millar. The headline now, "On Chest Hair and the Mystery of Fathers," captures a key image and theme. I hope readers will enjoy the piece.