One more morning sunrise
strained through a gauze wrapped sky-
One more day forcing itself into my squinting eyes.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Student can recite poem with profanity
Student can recite poem with profanity
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Sandoval gave the ok for a 14 year old student to recite a poem in competition with the words "hell" and "damn" in it. Stickpoet recently reported on this in an earlier blog.
A school official, Steven West, at Coral Academy of Science in Reno, NV told 14 year old Jacob Behymer-Smith, that he could not recite the poem in competition again after using W.H. Auden's "The More Loving One" and then reprimanded the student's English teacher. West said the Auden then work contained profanity.
It is sad that this matter had to rise to the level of taking up time on a federal court docket and the school's decision blows my mind. Of course you may go here and judge for yourself just how profane this poem about love is.
I have to say, based on the poor the judgment used by the school in this instance, I don't know that I would trust these people with greater issues of education for a child of mine.
This kid is a freshman in high school for Christ's sake. The academy's attorney said this was not about free speech (the court bagged to differ) but about the schools' ability to set educational standards. That is scary given the prominence of W. H. Auden in modern poetry and how benign the usage of the words in question.
Jacob intends to recite the poem on April 22 during Poetry Out Loud, a contest sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
Tags: Poetry Free Speech Jacob Behymer-Smith National Endowment of the Arts Steven West
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Sandoval gave the ok for a 14 year old student to recite a poem in competition with the words "hell" and "damn" in it. Stickpoet recently reported on this in an earlier blog.
A school official, Steven West, at Coral Academy of Science in Reno, NV told 14 year old Jacob Behymer-Smith, that he could not recite the poem in competition again after using W.H. Auden's "The More Loving One" and then reprimanded the student's English teacher. West said the Auden then work contained profanity.
It is sad that this matter had to rise to the level of taking up time on a federal court docket and the school's decision blows my mind. Of course you may go here and judge for yourself just how profane this poem about love is.
I have to say, based on the poor the judgment used by the school in this instance, I don't know that I would trust these people with greater issues of education for a child of mine.
This kid is a freshman in high school for Christ's sake. The academy's attorney said this was not about free speech (the court bagged to differ) but about the schools' ability to set educational standards. That is scary given the prominence of W. H. Auden in modern poetry and how benign the usage of the words in question.
Jacob intends to recite the poem on April 22 during Poetry Out Loud, a contest sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
Tags: Poetry Free Speech Jacob Behymer-Smith National Endowment of the Arts Steven West
New frost place director wants to put poetry in motion
New frost place director wants to put poetry in motion
He is on just about everybody's short list of best known poets. New director of The Frost Place, a museum and arts center, talks about his plans.
He is on just about everybody's short list of best known poets. New director of The Frost Place, a museum and arts center, talks about his plans.
Chicago Tribune | Just the thought of poetry
Chicago Tribune Just the thought of poetry
All this fuss about poetry this month... Diane Cameron asks what's it all about?
All this fuss about poetry this month... Diane Cameron asks what's it all about?
Poet's Quote - Sharon Olds
"This creature of the poem may assemble itself into a being with its own centrifugal force." ~ Sharon Olds
Tags: Writing and poetry Poetry
Thursday, April 13, 2006
WAG THE CAMEL
A phrase that has raised from the ink and is making quite a splash throughout the blogisphere is MAUREEN DOWD's catch phrase from her Op-ed piece yesterday titled: WAG THE CAMEL. Dowd writes in a New York Times Op-ed piece: "Iran was whipping up real uranium while America was whipped up by fake uranium." [source]
I think this pretty much says it all.
I think this pretty much says it all.
Thursday Mix
The moon was luminous last night and hung in the sky like one of those globes at a dance that reflect lights. The drive into to work was pleasant, with remarkably little traffic and I noticed the greening that is occurring all about us. It felt safe and comforting.
On the west cost, the San Francisco Giants, my absolute favorite baseball team suffered consecutive days of rainouts for only the second time since the team moved to San Fran in 1958. Tell me there isn't something screwy going on with the weather. Tuesday's series opener was already rescheduled as a split doubleheader for Thursday.
Tuesday night, the KC Metro Verse met at the Writer House. I filled in for our President who was ill. The meeting was mostly read-arounds. We were short several other members.
I see Christine over at This is All Your Fault has been experimenting with e.e. cummings - I kind of like it, but it seems so different from what we usually see from her. I guess that is where the experimental part comes in. Anyway I liked it! Note: her book The Salt Daughter is now available on Amazon.com.
The past few days - I seem to have lost track how many now, I have been following Eileen Tabios' posts on her blog - she have captured the last days with her father. Her words have been painfully beautiful.
I finished reading Bitter Fame - A Life of Sylvia Plath this week. I've read numerous biographical books on Plath. This on is worth the read. I'll tell you more about why I feel this way in a later post.
Tags: Sylvia Plath Books San Francisco Giants Eileen Tabios Christine Hamm
On the west cost, the San Francisco Giants, my absolute favorite baseball team suffered consecutive days of rainouts for only the second time since the team moved to San Fran in 1958. Tell me there isn't something screwy going on with the weather. Tuesday's series opener was already rescheduled as a split doubleheader for Thursday.
Tuesday night, the KC Metro Verse met at the Writer House. I filled in for our President who was ill. The meeting was mostly read-arounds. We were short several other members.
I see Christine over at This is All Your Fault has been experimenting with e.e. cummings - I kind of like it, but it seems so different from what we usually see from her. I guess that is where the experimental part comes in. Anyway I liked it! Note: her book The Salt Daughter is now available on Amazon.com.
The past few days - I seem to have lost track how many now, I have been following Eileen Tabios' posts on her blog - she have captured the last days with her father. Her words have been painfully beautiful.
I finished reading Bitter Fame - A Life of Sylvia Plath this week. I've read numerous biographical books on Plath. This on is worth the read. I'll tell you more about why I feel this way in a later post.
Tags: Sylvia Plath Books San Francisco Giants Eileen Tabios Christine Hamm
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