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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Decisions - Decisions

Victoria Chang
or
Tina Fey impersonator debates Joe Biden.

Victoria Chang is in town for a reading as part of 2008-2009 Park University Ethnic Voices Poetry Series.  Going to be hard to pass on the Debate live, but I'll have to rush home and watch recording.

October 2, 2008
Kansas City Library
14 W. 10th Street -Kansas City, MO

Reception at 6:30pm
Presentation at 7:00 p.m.

Book signing follows

Chang's work has appeared in many literary journals, and she won a Ploughshares Cohen Award for best poem of the year. Her first book of poetry, Circle, won the Crab Orchard Review Award Series in Poetry and the Association of Asian American Book Studies Award and was also a finalist for the 2005 PEN Center USA Literary Award and the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award. The University of Georgia has just published her second book, Salvinia Molesta, and she edited the anthology, Asian American Poetry: the Next Generation.

Victoria Chang web site

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Banned Books Week



A reminder to everyone that this

is Banned Book Awareness week

“Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”—Potter Stewart, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court

The 10 Most Challenged Books of 2007

  1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
  2. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
  3. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
  4. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
  5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
  6. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
  7. TTYL, by Lauren Myracle
  8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
  9. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
  10. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

The reasons for the challenges varies. In some instances it's religious viewpoints, in others it may be language, sexuality, racism. Between 2000 and 2007 some frequently challenged titles have included:

  • Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
  • Of Mice and Men - John Stinebeck
  • Forever - Judy Blume
  • The Giver - Lois Lowry
  • We All Fall Down - Robert Cromier
  • To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
  • Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
  • Brave New World - Aldous Huley
  • One Flew Over The Cuck00's Nest -Ken Kesey
  • Anastasia Again - Lois Lowry
  • Are You There God? It's Me Margaret - Judy Blume
  • Freaky Friday - Mary Rodgers

Be alert and aware of efforts in your own community to ban books in Schools, Libraries and Universities. Don't be silent!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Unconscious Mutterings Week 296

Unconscious Mutterings ~ link
Word & Thought Associations

  • Hearing :: Aid
  • Aggression :: Therapy
  • Charged :: Battery
  • Traveler :: Insurance
  • Hydrate :: Water
  • Detox :: Drug
  • Qualify :: Loan
  • Prison :: Escape
  • Frontal :: Nudity
  • Pep talk :: High School
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    OMG this is funny

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    To MSPS Convention and Back

    TLuxReturned last night from the Missouri State Poetry Society Convention in Springfield, MO. It was a whirlwind trip down and back with the president of our local chapter, Missi Rasmussen in the Poet Mobil. Missi drove her yellow PT Cruiser and while we were at one of the secessions a reference was made to another local poet who drove the car preferred by poets everywhere. Yep, the PT Cruiser. Who knew? 

    There were two exceptional guests who read their work. Thomas Lux pictured here and Michael Burns.

    Lux was educated at Emerson College and the University of Iowa.  He was the poet in residence at Emerson College, 1972-75. He was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in Poetry in addition to National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Fellowship.

    Burns is a retired MSU Professor whose work has appeared in a number of top rate literary journals including Kenyon Review, Paris Review, and The Southern Review. In 1995 he won an NEA fellowship. 

    Burns did a group workshop an I found him to be a very down to earth instructor. I liked his teaching style. He is someone who really seems to enjoy helping others with their poetry and has a personality that is as genuine as it is rich with humor.

    I knew I recognized Thomas Lux by name, but could not place him. That was until he began to read The Refrigerator, 1957.  I didn't recognize it by name, but it didn't take long for me to realize this was the infamous Maraschino cherries poem.  I first saw this poem maybe 5 or 6 years ago and loved it.

    "...right of the middle of the middle door shelf, on fire, a lit-from-within red, heart red, sexual red, wet neon red, shining red in their liquid, exotic, aloof, slumming in such company: a jar of maraschino cherries. Three-quarters full, fiery globes, like strippers at a church social. Maraschino cherries, maraschino, the only foreign word I knew. Not once did I see these cherries employed: not in a drink, nor on top of a glob of ice cream,"

    It all went by so fast, but it was a worthwhile trip and it's too bad more of our local people could nit make the trip down.

     

    Thursday, September 25, 2008

    McCain Camp: Let's Push Back Biden-Palin Match-Up, Too

    Yes folks, according to ABC News....  the headline above is theirs and relates to the following: 

    The McCain campaign told ABC News on Wednesday that John McCain wants to postpone Friday's presidential debate until Thursday, Oct. 2.

    The Arizona senator would like the vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, which is currently scheduled to take place on Thursday, Oct. 2 in St. Louis, Missouri, to be scheduled for a later unspecified date.

    So I guess that gives them more time to work on Palin who's eyes looked like a frightened puppy when she took a whole four questions from the press today.

     

    Unconscious Mutterings Week 295

    Unconscious Mutterings ~ link
    Word & Thought Associations

    here's mine:

    Heist :: Diamond
    Hack :: Up
    Dane :: Great
    Stings :: Police
    Monkey :: Madness
    Junkie :: Dope
    Pumped :: Up
    Brass :: Knuckles
    Fight! :: War
    Vouch :: Acknowledge

    evidently I was asleep at the switch for week 294