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Friday, December 05, 2003

Culture Clash of the Taste Buds

I about spit up my gande skinny cafe latte with extra froth when I heard the news. "What news?" you ask... The news!

Yes, McDonalds is taking on Starbucks in an attempt to capture a portion of the upscale coffee marker. Now I'm no marketing genius, but when I think of McDonalds and Coffee, I want to run. Quickly! (gag!)

Anyway, the new establishments will be called McCafe. My understanding is that there are now two of these puppies in California on a trial basis. They may be fine, but they have a real stigma to overcome with me. If they can succeed, maybe they can sell manure to farmers.

Stick Poet's Top Five Blog's Of the Week List

Here's the Blogs that caught my attention most this week among the many I've read:

No. 5 - Crystallyn

No. 4 - Blue Kangaroo

No. 3 - Mikarrhea

No. 2 - Chewing on Pencils

No. 1 - the Ingredient

Thursday, December 04, 2003

Poet David Baker - Midwest Poet Series

David Baker appeared at the Midwest Poet Series for a reading last night. The event was held in Mabee Theater, Sedgwick Hall on the campus of Rockhust College in Kansas City.

Baker's works have been published in The Atlantic, The Nation, The New Yorker, New Letters and the Yale Review. While he grew up in Missouri he now resides in Ohio and teaches creative writing at Denison University. He has written six poetry books and is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

His reading was well attended and was an enjoyable happening on a cold snowy Kansas City night. Bakers Missouri roots showed strongly in two of his poems, one to his Missouri grandmother and another unique piece that put himself and his family into one of Thomas Hart Benton's paintings. A very creative task to say the least considering the static nature of paintings.

There was an intense piece he wrote that referenced Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. Then to change the pace a bit, The Truth About Small Towns which was like everyone in this little Ohio village had a voice in the poem.

He read a touching love piece he wrote about hands - which was based on a hand condition that was quite debilitating for his wife over a period of I believe a couple years.

My favorite was written about his "nearly twelve" year old daughter (nearly is important to her) who is ADHD. The poem is titled Hyper and it was so dramatic in it's ability to let you feel the turbulence associated with ADHD.

Not only is David Baker a gifted language artist, his reading style was most pleasing.



Wednesday, December 03, 2003

The Demise Of Blogshares

Silent Lucidity has solved the mystery of why I could not get on blogshares earlier this week. (sigh) disappointed as I am I suppose I should consider this an opportunity to spend more time writing.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Hooray For Alli

2 N Shampoo

On Aging

"Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game finished, that the stage belongs to the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of the body, but the indifference of the soul." -André Maurois

Monday, December 01, 2003

Plum Ruby Review

The first issues of Plum Ruby Review is out and it looks to be a worthwhile read. I'll spend the next few days exploring it and have more to say about it by the weekend.