I'll admit I have never liked Daylight Savings Time. When I stumbled across this item written by the Canadian writer Robertson Davies, I just had to blog it.
"I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves." ~Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947, XIX, Sunday
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Poets catch ear of iPod generation
Is verse becoming fashionable among America’s iPod generation?
In this article:
Pam Promer, audio buyer for the Borders bookshop chain, said: “It’s a niche, like folk music, but the arrival of more lively poetry performances has meant that we are reaching people seeking an alternative to music on their way to work. And that is change.”
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Coming Out
One of my entries into the Senior Poet Laureate contest this year was the second place finisher in Missouri. I have just seen the online version of Golden Words with the National winner and the regional or state winners.
Coming Out, One of my three entries this year was the Silver Laureate or second place in Missouri. Last year, my poem Channeling Sylvia was an honorable mention.
Actually, Coming Out was written during a post card poetry exchange with Ivy Alvarez last October.
All of this years winning entries including Coming Out can be seen in the online version of the book Golden words. Simply fallow the clicks to the regional and state listings and it is under Silver Poet Laureate.
Coming Out, One of my three entries this year was the Silver Laureate or second place in Missouri. Last year, my poem Channeling Sylvia was an honorable mention.
Actually, Coming Out was written during a post card poetry exchange with Ivy Alvarez last October.
All of this years winning entries including Coming Out can be seen in the online version of the book Golden words. Simply fallow the clicks to the regional and state listings and it is under Silver Poet Laureate.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Another View
1000 Black Lines mentioned the Poets and Writers article titled That Glittering Possibility in a recent post. This is the same P& W piece I blogged on back on the 20th.
Black Lines was disturbed because almost all the 18 debut poets who had been published were teachers. He lamented that he was not one and that perhaps what his 60+ page manuscript needed was not a cover letter but a resume and a list of name dropping connections.
I thought about the article. It was the same one I read and while I didn't count the number of teachers by profession, I did note that most all of them spent years and countless contests to finally achieve publication. Leslie Bumstead for example - 3 years. Victoria Chang between 30 and 45 contests. K.E. Duffin spent 6 years in pursuit of a publisher... more then half the 11 years he spent writing the book. Sarah Gridley 4 years - two years shorter than it took to write the book. Laura Sims entered 20 contests. Mark Sullivan between 75 and 100 contests.
If teaching and connections played a role in getting the manuscripts of these people into print, it certainly did not save them from years pursuit and enormous numbers of entries.
I just thought since the two of us read the same article and saw two different things, it was worth another perspective.
Poetry Publication
Black Lines was disturbed because almost all the 18 debut poets who had been published were teachers. He lamented that he was not one and that perhaps what his 60+ page manuscript needed was not a cover letter but a resume and a list of name dropping connections.
I thought about the article. It was the same one I read and while I didn't count the number of teachers by profession, I did note that most all of them spent years and countless contests to finally achieve publication. Leslie Bumstead for example - 3 years. Victoria Chang between 30 and 45 contests. K.E. Duffin spent 6 years in pursuit of a publisher... more then half the 11 years he spent writing the book. Sarah Gridley 4 years - two years shorter than it took to write the book. Laura Sims entered 20 contests. Mark Sullivan between 75 and 100 contests.
If teaching and connections played a role in getting the manuscripts of these people into print, it certainly did not save them from years pursuit and enormous numbers of entries.
I just thought since the two of us read the same article and saw two different things, it was worth another perspective.
Poetry Publication
Food Chain Lesson 101
Ok, lets get this straight.
Someone in the administration outed Velarie Plume a classified agent of the CIA to the press. Velarie is the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson. Wislon had been dispatched to Niger to check out a claim that Iraq was buying "yellow care" (material necessary to construct nuclear weapons - not a dessert)from them. Wilson had countered the notion by the Bush Administration that Iraq was amassing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)- a claim that Bush and Cheney used to make their justification for going to war with Iraq. The outing was believed to be in retaliation to Wilson's challenge of misinformation.
So Libby, Carl Rove and others within the administration were the focus of an attempt to learn who breached her classified identity. Libby is indicted for lying and obstruction of justice (hum... remember Watergate?) So, who was Libby lying to protect?
Libby Cheney Iraq Rove Bush Plame
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Sylvia's Birthday
Vice President for Torture
Vice President for Torture
I felt this editorial by the Washington Post was meritorious of recommending to everyone. It amazes how embolden the Bush administration has become. I urge you to read this editorial and pass it along to your friends.
Torture Cheney
I felt this editorial by the Washington Post was meritorious of recommending to everyone. It amazes how embolden the Bush administration has become. I urge you to read this editorial and pass it along to your friends.
Torture Cheney
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