Fairy Tales
The underlying narrative motif of this news story about the feud between Keith Olberman and Bill O’Reilly is And they lived happily ever after. And how did that wonderful result occur, children? It occurred because the corporations that own Mr. Olberman and Mr. O’Reilly decided that the feud was bad for business. Like many fairy [...]
They Should Be Happy
. . . because most of the crackers [more here] who live in Alabama think that government is the problem. This is the end result of radical right-wing-attacks on government and civic life in general, in favor of a kind of he-man individualism. Well, at least most of them are armed so they will be [...]
Camping?
Had a dream last night that I was in a store buying things to go camping. I don’t like camping, actually, so I will take this as a metaphor for starting out on some kind of intellectual or spiritual adventure. Earlier, I had another dream in which a little girl gave me a device she [...]
Creativity?
What struck me about this Scientific American article on creativity is what an impoverished notion of creativity the scientists have. Solving that little problem about how to get out of a tower with a rope is “creative”? If you’re a ten-year-old, maybe. Or a psychologist. Creativity as problem solving. Is that what scientists really think? [...]
Henry Louis Gates Should Sue
That’s the provocative notion of Randy Cohen in the NY Times. I’m not sure whether it would be a good idea politically, but I think Cohen is right to point out that Gates has a legitimate case. My favorite line from the article — the the thing that struck me right from the start of [...]
Penny in Her Prime
Penny 1994 – 2009
Rescued from the shelter, she was a tough customer, stoic to the end. I just came in from burying her on a rise overlooking the river, near where her old pal Mingo is buried. I left some incense burning on her grave to help send her spirit on its way.
A Crappy Plan . . .
. . . that does not lower costs or achieve fundamental reform. That is the “health care bill” that will emerge from Congress “before the end of the year.” Obama should veto it, but he won’t, since he has already bargained away most of the really progressive ideas he campaigned on in order to achieve [...]
What Kind of Poem Would this Be?
I wonder what the poetic equivalent of this art installation would be. Flarf? In the visual arts I find this kind of massive accumulation of detail deeply engaging. Why do I distrust it in poetry? Do I distrust it? I find Allen Ginsberg’s long catalogs moving and often very finely tuned, intellectually. “Black Acid Co-op” [...]
