International House of Mark Saltveit
Here are some things I enjoy and/or do. Click for details (or check my publications):
Palindromes -- I've become something of an expert on this classic wordplay -- I edit the world's greatest palindrome magazine, give talks and workshops, and write books, articles and of course palindromes. The national NPR radio show "Here and Now" interviewed me for a feature story recently, and my standup comedy bit about palindromes is proving popular. My literary agent is Andy Ross, of the Andy Ross Agency in Oakland CA.
Freelance Writing -- technical, creative, journalistic, humorous & grant writing -- as part of TextSmiths. Current clients include the Oregon Bioscience Association, Willamette Writers, and the Miracle Theatre Group.
Standup Comedy -- I'm travel around the NW and Inland West, and am a regular at Helium Comedy Club, the best venue in Portland my next week there is March 1-3rd with the very funny Brian Posehn. Did I mention that I have a hot comedy bit on palindromes on YouTube? For private events, I happily write special material for the occasion.
Public Speaking -- I currently give talks and workshops for business, general and school audiences, and also appear as a guest on programs such as KOIN-TV's "Studio 6" and the Portland Trailblazers' TV postgame show, "Talkin' Ball." I MC every year at the WordStock festival in Portland.
Simple Mindedness -- That's the name I've given to my personal brand of unorthodox Taoism (Daoism), mixed with a little Jung, existentialism, residual Catholicism and just real life. I write stuff along these lines, for example "Comedians as Daoist Missionaries" and my "American Koans." I have a completed manuscript of the latter awaiting some enterprising literary agent or publisher.
I also like skimboarding, running, raising kids and marriage, but I'm not good enough at any of them to say more.
Publications
Column on the manly task of watching Glee with daughters, December 2011.
My article on Barry Duncan, who the Believer anointed a "master palindromist," from issue #8 of The Palindromist.
A slew of new palindromes about the Oregon Ducks football team are in The Oregonian newspaper, October 7, 2011.
I have another "American Koan" about the nature of celebrity in issue #48 of Exterminating Angel (September 2011).
My article "Literary Reversals" is in issue #6 of MeFiMag, which is in general an excellent use of your reading time. It's a new print/pdf magazine that grew out of the Metafilter website.
I wrote a profile of multi-talented musician and TV host Derrick Ashong for Harvardwood Monthly's Sept. 2011 issue.
"Comedians as Taoist Missionaries", a truly original meditation on my other career, appeared (in draft) on a great Chinese philosophy blog called "Warp, Weft and Way." The final version appeared in issue #4 of MeFiMag.
A poem I wrote, "Bathtub Palindrome," appears in the March 2011 "Fantasy" issue of Collective Fallout.
I wrote a feature article, "Curbstoned," for issue #2 of MeFiMag.
3 of my American Koans -- excerpts from my book-in-progress "Philosophy Without All Those Words" -- are in the Nov. 2010 issue of Exterminating Angel Press.
In 2010, I had a couple of short humor pieces in The Oregonian and Short, Fast and Deadly, issue #55.
I published a book of days called A Man, A Plan, 2002: The Year in Palindromes. A little out of date by now, but it was pretty good at the time. I should update it.
The Gecko Wears A Tiara (PDF) is a short collection of the primitive wisdom of ancient Sumer, four thousand years old now. Odd and sometimes inappropriate, but strangely compelling.
Co-wrote Computer Fun For Everyone -- a kids' project book -- with my ex-wife, Elin Kordahl, in 1996. Amazingly enough, it is still bought and sold today.
I have essays in The GenX Reader ("Whatever") and Not Fade Away ("Reasons to Hate the Dead"). Kind of opinionated, but I got a nice shout out from The Nation ("eerily prescient media critique") a couple of years ago.
Interview with Professor Osseforp in Harvard Magazine. He likes palindromes.
Projects
The Skeleton Closet: All the Scandals on All the Presidential Candidates (since 1995).
The Palindromist Magazine: the world's greatest palindrome zine.