I'm taking ideas for how I should try to embarrass myself on TV. Any suggestions?
From the WashU website:
"Live! From Washington University! Want to be on national TV? Many opportunities will arise this week as the national media descends on the WUSTL campus. Students are encouraged to come out and be a part of live camera shots that will showcase WUSTL to the nation and the world. Show school spirit, make signs and greetings to the folks at home, or simply see the detail that is involved in the production of a national broadcast.
CBS' "The Early Show" with Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez will broadcast starting at 5:30 a.m. Oct. 2 from Holmes Lounge and then will move outside of Holmes Lounge from 7-8 a.m.
MSNBC will be broadcasting live from outside Graham Chapel throughout the day Oct. 2, starting with NBC News' Political Director Chuck Todd at 11 a.m. and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell at noon. "Hardball with Chris Matthews" will broadcast live from the MSNBC stage outside Graham Chapel from 4-5 p.m., 6-7 p.m. and 11 p.m.-midnight.
Also on Oct. 2, the CNN Election Express Yourself Tour Bus will be parked on campus at the northeast courtyard of the Danforth University Center, and C-SPAN's Campaign 2008 Bus will be located outside the Mallinckrodt Student Center."
Maybe I'll go over to the "Express Yourself Bus" -- lord knows I've been doing that quite a bit about this election already.
I'm really just joking, since I'm camera shy. But I think I will go wander around and enjoy either a Blue Donkey or Pink Elephant shaped cookie on campus. I want to buy an elephant, just so I can bite its head off. (Mean, I know). ;)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Don't Starve Yourself
http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/12502.html
Recently there has been a lot of talk about not eating and living longer. In the past few years, studies done on mice revealed those with an overall restricted diet had a longer life.
Researchers are NOT finding the same is true in humans. The findings are currently suggesting it is only beneficial when humans cut down on protein intake. I've posted the article from my university, which is doing some of this research.
I'm sure vegetarianism will be the way of the future. I greatly admire vegetarians, but I am not there yet. Please note too, the researchers are not saying to stop eating protein -- you still need it! But it's a good idea to get your protein from sources other than meat.
Most of all, this information challenges philosophies that insist we starve ourselves or eat the same amount as mice. It may help a mouse to eat only crumbs, but it won't necessarily help you.
This is also a note to my husband, dear J.D. please eat something today.
P.S. Not to say that J.D. doesn't eat, or that he tries to starve himself. He just has an amazing ability to forget about eating.
Recently there has been a lot of talk about not eating and living longer. In the past few years, studies done on mice revealed those with an overall restricted diet had a longer life.
Researchers are NOT finding the same is true in humans. The findings are currently suggesting it is only beneficial when humans cut down on protein intake. I've posted the article from my university, which is doing some of this research.
I'm sure vegetarianism will be the way of the future. I greatly admire vegetarians, but I am not there yet. Please note too, the researchers are not saying to stop eating protein -- you still need it! But it's a good idea to get your protein from sources other than meat.
Most of all, this information challenges philosophies that insist we starve ourselves or eat the same amount as mice. It may help a mouse to eat only crumbs, but it won't necessarily help you.
This is also a note to my husband, dear J.D. please eat something today.
P.S. Not to say that J.D. doesn't eat, or that he tries to starve himself. He just has an amazing ability to forget about eating.
A fun game: Quiz Question
Ok, quick, name some Supreme Court cases. . . .
. . . . {Time to think}. . . . {insert Jeopardy music here}. . . .
If you named ONE -- Congratulations, you're qualified to be Vice President!
If you named more than ONE -- Oh, sorry, you're overqualified.*
*(But congratulations you're not an idiot.)
Monday, September 29, 2008
My-opia
I probably should, but I sort of have my weird reasons for keeping glasses. First, I guess honestly I am afraid of having a laser shot into my eye. Although, I think what bugs me most is the thought of my eye clamped open. I always picture the strange torture device in Clockwork Orange. I know, it's not the same. Still, associations are powerful. My second reason is I also think about the unique way, and somewhat beautiful way, I can see the world when I take off my glasses. I might regret losing that. Maybe to restore my blurred vision I could just put on a pair of glasses, as people usually exclaim everything becomes a big haze when they look through my lenses. But I don't know. I think maybe none of us see the physical world in exactly the same way.
I remember the first time I looked through glasses. I was 5 years old. My mom took me to Dr. Fox, and while they told me I needed glasses, I cried and cried. I didn't want to be "a four-eyes." I recall the nurse trying to comfort me: "You shouldn't cry, there was a little girl in here just the other day who cried because she couldn't get glasses."
I knew that was a lie. No one would cry about not getting glasses.
But then, when they actually had me look through my new glasses, it was a world-transforming moment. I suddenly experienced the world as an entirely new, completely different place. I remember the feeling of shock and amazement that the world was not how I always thought it to be. This was a new world. I remember seeing my mom's face very clearly, how beautiful she looked. That's a powerful experience for a 5 year old.
Since then, I've always liked the idea that I can see the world two ways. I can see the distinction, clarity, and definiteness of the world when I put on my glasses. I can see far away, and I can participate in the world, recognize people from a distance, and generally go about a normal life, without falling off a cliff.
Yet, sometimes I like to take off my glasses and indulge my natural myopia. I like it at night, while J.D. is driving us somewhere. I'll just watch the world become a big blur, with car lights coming and going, into a steady stream of red and yellow. It's also lovely to look at water and the sky, where distinction becomes impossible. Myopia gives one a worldview were boundaries are themselves merely illusionary. It builds a vision of connection, cohesion, indistinctness, colors bleeding into each other, and a great sense of unity.
Recently, I watched a BBC production on Monet and the Impressionists. Perhaps I've always liked Impressionism because that's how I experienced the world my first 5 years. That's how I can see the world now, any time I wish. There's beauty even in what is considered by many a defect.
I also think perhaps it's good now and then to let our eyes and imaginations be stimulated by different visual sensations. Sometimes my blurry perceptions might be seeing more, rather than less, clearly.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wordles
I went a bit crazy creating these "wordles" from different blog entries of mine.
You can make your own here:
http://wordle.net/.
The largest words are the most frequently used.
Friday, September 26, 2008
I need to get out more.
Where in the World I've been
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php
Well, I still have quite a few places to go. I wish I could travel more. I'd like to go everywhere.
I've got "the West" down, now to just work on the East Coast.
Why did the dollar have to tank?
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php
Thanks Catherine for the link this was fun. :)
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php
Well, I still have quite a few places to go. I wish I could travel more. I'd like to go everywhere.
I've got "the West" down, now to just work on the East Coast.
Why did the dollar have to tank?
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php
Thanks Catherine for the link this was fun. :)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Political Grandstanding and Time-buying
Politicians play politics. That's understood.
But McCain hasn't cast a vote in the Senate since April. By July this summer he was already the "#1 absentee in the Senate," followed by "Tim Johnson, who has been recovering from a brain hemorrhage."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/11/reid_chastises_mccain_for_not.html
So, why exactly did he need to "rush" back to Washington yesterday, which included chatting with Katie Couric along his way and stopping by the Global Initiative forum in New York this morning? He doesn't sit on any relevant committees. Why suspend his campaign for the financial crisis, when only ten days ago "the fundamentals of the economy" were "strong"? Oh, but by "fundamentals," he didn't mean our biggest banks and financial system, no he meant the ingenuity of American workers. Now he wants to suspend the debate. I'm sorry, I think the American people deserve to hear directly what both candidates think right now. If a crisis isn't a necessary time to hear about what you would do, when is?
Finally, is it merely coincidental that the McCain campaign would like to reschedule the debate for Oct. 2?
Last time I checked, that's when Palin v. Biden was supposed to happen. Hmmm. . . .
But McCain hasn't cast a vote in the Senate since April. By July this summer he was already the "#1 absentee in the Senate," followed by "Tim Johnson, who has been recovering from a brain hemorrhage."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/11/reid_chastises_mccain_for_not.html
So, why exactly did he need to "rush" back to Washington yesterday, which included chatting with Katie Couric along his way and stopping by the Global Initiative forum in New York this morning? He doesn't sit on any relevant committees. Why suspend his campaign for the financial crisis, when only ten days ago "the fundamentals of the economy" were "strong"? Oh, but by "fundamentals," he didn't mean our biggest banks and financial system, no he meant the ingenuity of American workers. Now he wants to suspend the debate. I'm sorry, I think the American people deserve to hear directly what both candidates think right now. If a crisis isn't a necessary time to hear about what you would do, when is?
Finally, is it merely coincidental that the McCain campaign would like to reschedule the debate for Oct. 2?
Last time I checked, that's when Palin v. Biden was supposed to happen. Hmmm. . . .
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Please be aware of this
Ok, so there are MANY things I should be doing. But, if I don't write about this now, I may regret that I didn't speak up. Not that it will make a difference, other than I will know I was not silent or ignorant during this crucial moment in history.
In the shadow of all the financial crisis hubbub, which is really serious, what you probably won't hear about today is the ongoing fight for legislation on equal pay for equal work.
In 2007 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Ledbetter v. Goodyear that workers only have 180 days to file a wage-discrimination complaint from the day the payroll decision is made. This means, that you must obtain proof you're paid less than someone equally qualified and file your case within 6 months of the payroll decision. Thus, if a company is able to go for 181 days with the inequity unresolved, they will be off the hook. Of course, this makes addressing the wrong almost impossible. For one, people don't know immediately if they are being treated unfairly. Secondly, these sorts of inequities add up and develop gradually over time. Finally, it's difficult to get the proof necessary in less than 180 days.
The Supreme Court decision makes it virtually impossible to get the fair protection U.S. citizens are all guaranteed.
Justice Ginsburg, now the only woman on the court, wrote a dissent in which she argued the points I outlined above and asked Congress for legislation to counteract the Court's ruling.
Congress tried to redress this problem, but the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act did not make it out of the Senate back in late April 2008.
For the record, John McCain was against it, saying that women and minorities need "more education and training." Whereas, the point was that this legislation would protect people who were already EQUALLY qualified. Similar legislation is coming up now, and McCain says he will still vote against it.
Now, McCain has a woman on his ticket, which allows him to pander to female votes while feeling free to consistently vote down issues that matter most to women and minorities. Recently I heard a poll that found "less educated women" are the majority of females voting for McCain/Palin. Women that need more education, as McCain says, are evidently the ones he consistently relies upon, but he won't be there in return to help them or offer anything other than blame.
Overall, it is very painful to see this sort of exploitation done in the name of women's progress.
In the shadow of all the financial crisis hubbub, which is really serious, what you probably won't hear about today is the ongoing fight for legislation on equal pay for equal work.
In 2007 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Ledbetter v. Goodyear that workers only have 180 days to file a wage-discrimination complaint from the day the payroll decision is made. This means, that you must obtain proof you're paid less than someone equally qualified and file your case within 6 months of the payroll decision. Thus, if a company is able to go for 181 days with the inequity unresolved, they will be off the hook. Of course, this makes addressing the wrong almost impossible. For one, people don't know immediately if they are being treated unfairly. Secondly, these sorts of inequities add up and develop gradually over time. Finally, it's difficult to get the proof necessary in less than 180 days.
The Supreme Court decision makes it virtually impossible to get the fair protection U.S. citizens are all guaranteed.
Justice Ginsburg, now the only woman on the court, wrote a dissent in which she argued the points I outlined above and asked Congress for legislation to counteract the Court's ruling.
Congress tried to redress this problem, but the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act did not make it out of the Senate back in late April 2008.
For the record, John McCain was against it, saying that women and minorities need "more education and training." Whereas, the point was that this legislation would protect people who were already EQUALLY qualified. Similar legislation is coming up now, and McCain says he will still vote against it.
Now, McCain has a woman on his ticket, which allows him to pander to female votes while feeling free to consistently vote down issues that matter most to women and minorities. Recently I heard a poll that found "less educated women" are the majority of females voting for McCain/Palin. Women that need more education, as McCain says, are evidently the ones he consistently relies upon, but he won't be there in return to help them or offer anything other than blame.
Overall, it is very painful to see this sort of exploitation done in the name of women's progress.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
What's your Palin family name?
Check out what you would have been named if you had been born to Sarah Palin:
http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html
Mine = Seam Marauder
J.D.'s = Beans Harpoon
Please share if you get an entertaining one. "Beans Harpoon" is my favorite so far.
Although here are some other interesting ones:
Halter Grasshopper
Hose Hotrod
Commando Coalfire
One name that I'm sure won't come up: Subpoena Testimony. . . just saying.
http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html
Mine = Seam Marauder
J.D.'s = Beans Harpoon
Please share if you get an entertaining one. "Beans Harpoon" is my favorite so far.
Although here are some other interesting ones:
Halter Grasshopper
Hose Hotrod
Commando Coalfire
Molten Contra
Mullet Troll
One name that I'm sure won't come up: Subpoena Testimony. . . just saying.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Do Something Good
If you're looking for a reason to be happy today, think of giving $10 to help someone else. These nets can help save lives.
http://www.nothingbutnets.net/nets-save-lives/
Please check it out.
http://www.nothingbutnets.net/nets-save-lives/
Please check it out.
Publishing info for Fanatics
Briefly, it was interesting today thinking of myself as a "fundamentalist" for the first time ever.
The head of a premier global university press, (I'm keeping it vague on purpose) today compared "us" academic folk to a group of fundamentalists and fanatics because we actually would like to own every book we read.
We also write for a highly specialized and select audience, I'm sorry that sounds snobby, but most people don't write about or even read what we live and breathe. It's just the way it is. This isn't to argue that what we read isn't for everyone-- because I think it is and can be accessible, but you have to CARE about it first, and most people just don't.
Anyway, for those fellow academic travelers out there, in history & literature, here are some of the highlights.
Famous American university presses --like starts with H. sounds similar to "averred"-- publish largely based on personality / the author. Already known scholars are likely to go with them because they get preferential treatment. Since his press C. UP (and not the childish joke) prioritizes the text and their in-house list of texts, they are more likely to publish for intrinsic merit alone. He said there was a strange, ruthless egalitarianism to it actually.
Monographs in general are not in good shape these days, and focusing on individual authors is like owning AIG stock today. There are only a few "big" names that will get a monograph in libraries. He did say Woolf stock was on the rise. Post 1945 single authors, just won't happen. Overarching themes with wide appeal have more of a chance (for this particular press).
He discussed the unfair nature of journal vs. book publication. Journal articles will actually, in many cases, disseminate your information more, but they are still often not seen as tenure winning. There's an unfair bias.
When approaching a publisher we must demonstrate:
1. Why our material matters.
2. To whom it matters.
3. Why it deserves to be published.
We should also fit each proposal to the particular publisher; *Never say your book is the first one on the subject. He will interpret it as, "why should we be the first to take a risk here?" Stress how our project fits in with the current discourse, what it adds, what it builds on, etc. Be specific in naming other titles and their publishers in our similar line. In the letter you write do not go into specific moments or close readings. Touch only on the general thematic appeal.
Book length should be ideally 80,000 words.
They don't like to see more than 2 journal publications from your book material.
Pretty general stuff.
He recommended the paper "The Market for the Scholarly Book" by
Alexander Green, published by PMLA.
The head of a premier global university press, (I'm keeping it vague on purpose) today compared "us" academic folk to a group of fundamentalists and fanatics because we actually would like to own every book we read.
We also write for a highly specialized and select audience, I'm sorry that sounds snobby, but most people don't write about or even read what we live and breathe. It's just the way it is. This isn't to argue that what we read isn't for everyone-- because I think it is and can be accessible, but you have to CARE about it first, and most people just don't.
Anyway, for those fellow academic travelers out there, in history & literature, here are some of the highlights.
Famous American university presses --like starts with H. sounds similar to "averred"-- publish largely based on personality / the author. Already known scholars are likely to go with them because they get preferential treatment. Since his press C. UP (and not the childish joke) prioritizes the text and their in-house list of texts, they are more likely to publish for intrinsic merit alone. He said there was a strange, ruthless egalitarianism to it actually.
Monographs in general are not in good shape these days, and focusing on individual authors is like owning AIG stock today. There are only a few "big" names that will get a monograph in libraries. He did say Woolf stock was on the rise. Post 1945 single authors, just won't happen. Overarching themes with wide appeal have more of a chance (for this particular press).
He discussed the unfair nature of journal vs. book publication. Journal articles will actually, in many cases, disseminate your information more, but they are still often not seen as tenure winning. There's an unfair bias.
When approaching a publisher we must demonstrate:
1. Why our material matters.
2. To whom it matters.
3. Why it deserves to be published.
We should also fit each proposal to the particular publisher; *Never say your book is the first one on the subject. He will interpret it as, "why should we be the first to take a risk here?" Stress how our project fits in with the current discourse, what it adds, what it builds on, etc. Be specific in naming other titles and their publishers in our similar line. In the letter you write do not go into specific moments or close readings. Touch only on the general thematic appeal.
Book length should be ideally 80,000 words.
They don't like to see more than 2 journal publications from your book material.
Pretty general stuff.
He recommended the paper "The Market for the Scholarly Book" by
Alexander Green, published by PMLA.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
When Biden Met Palin:
Ok, I have to admit, I stole this from an e-mail advertisement for an upcoming Alumni event. But I thought it was funny, and since my blog is just for family and friends, with no commercial interest, I thought I would share it. Wash U is hosting the VP debate this year. I have added my name to the lottery... please, please, please let me see Biden avenge the elk. Although, it would be difficult going to the debate if J.D. couldn't. Anyway, I'm sorry about the picture of the elk, now that I look at it more, poor thing. But, while humorous to some extent, these juxtaposed images do articulate a certain terror in my soul.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
We don't like Ike
We didn't fair totally well in the storm, it wasn't bad by any means, but we did not say adieu to Ike 100% unscathed. All the rain here flooded the streets and caused a lot of problems.
Our problem was that the car quit on J.D. as he was driving to work. He went to work at 8:30 a.m. to finish his weekend report for Monday. I lounged in bed until 9:00, then got up and started watching political commentaries on t.v. But a little while after 9:10, there was a knock on our door. Not expecting maintenance or company, I wondered, who the heck is this? Peeking out, who do I see but my husband! Soaking wet from head to toe. He had been running in the rain for 25 minutes with no umbrella.
The car stalled out after a hill and huge puddle. The puddle was blocked by the hill and covered the entire road. Evidently the car's starter got wet. So, after calling for assistance at home (sometimes a cell phone would be very nice) J.D. then went back to the car, with AAA to help, and they tried to get it started but still had to push it off to the side and leave it. He came home again and said we would try to let the starter dry out and go back later. I made him change his wet clothes. The silly man wasn't going to. But when he did, he admitted it felt a lot better. See, wives are smart. Then I fussed over him for awhile, offering hot drinks and blankets.
At 6:30 p.m. we both walked to the car, and it didn't start again. Now, we've had it towed to an auto mechanic nearby. Hopefully it won't cost a bundle to fix.
It's good J.D. could ride his bike to work this morning, which he left home here at 4:14 a.m. to try and make up for lost time yesterday.
I can't imagine how awful it would be to live in a place that receives the brunt of a storm like that. I hope all the people in Texas are doing ok. There are people who face tragedy not just inconvenience. But it is a testament to the power of such storms that even this far inland, they can still pack a punch.
P.S. I just saw on the news that two people were killed in the street flooding in U-City, where we live. Terrible.
Friday, September 12, 2008
OMG hilarious
National Endowment For The Arts Funds Construction Of $1.3 Billion Poem
WASHINGTON—The National Endowment for the Arts announced Monday that it has begun construction on a $1.3 billion, 14-line lyric poem—its largest investment in the nation's aesthetic- industrial complex since the $850 million interpretive-dance budget of 1985.
"America's metaphors have become strained beyond recognition, our nation's verses are severely overwrought, and if one merely examines the internal logic of some of these archaic poems, they are in danger of completely falling apart," said the project's head stanza foreman Dana Gioia. "We need to make sure America's poems remain the biggest, best-designed, best-funded poems in the world."
Gioia confirmed that the public-works composition will be assembled letter-by-letter atop a solid base of the relationship between man and nature. The poem's structure, laid out extensively on lined-paper blueprints, involves a traditional three- quatrain-and-a-couplet framework, which will be tethered to an iambic meter for increased stability and symmetry. If the planners can secure an additional $6.2 million in funding, they may affix a long dash to the end of line three, though Gioia said that is a purely optimistic projection at this stage.
The poem is expected not only to revitalize the community, Gioia said, but also create jobs for the nation's hundreds of out-of-work poets. According to the proposed budget, the poem's 224 authors have allocated $4 million for the final rhyming couplet, $52 million to insert hyphens into the word "tomorrow" so it reads "to-morrow," $7.45 for a used copy of John Keats' Selected Poems for ideas and inspiration, and $450 million for a simile likening human fate to the wind. Some experts, however, say the poem is already at risk of going over budget, citing the soaring $5,000-per-square-inch cost of vellum, and an ambitious but perhaps ill-conceived $135 million undertaking to make the word "owl" rhyme with "soul."
"We've already put 200 hours of manpower into the semicolon at the end of the first stanza," said Charles Simic, poet laureate of the United States and head author of the still-untitled piece. "And I've got my best guys working around the clock to convert all the 'overs' in the piece into one-syllable 'o'ers.' I got [Nobel Prize winner Seamus] Heaney and [Margaret] Atwood stripping all the V's and tacking apostrophes in their place. It's grunt work, but somebody's got to do it if this poem's going to get done."
Gioia denied allegations that the poem is being mismanaged, claiming that he has implemented several measures to keep the project on schedule, including giving no more than two words to each poet, limiting alliteration and assonance to a maximum of three words per line, cutting out all extraneous allusions to Eliot and Yeats, and restricting any unwieldy metaphors hinting at the vast alienation of modernity.
Although the poem is still in the early stages of construction, it has already come under fire for serious structural issues, including a shaky foundation and a half-dozen partial synecdoches. "This poem is an eyesore," said literary critic Stanley Fish. "The whole right side of the verse is barely being held up by a load-bearing enjambment, and it seems as if they just sloppily patched up all the holes in the piece with plagiarized Rod McKuen passages."
In addition, the tenuous line that was being drawn between the narrator's mortality and winter unexpectedly collapsed on itself Monday. Two poets were killed in the incident. "Sure, some of the imagery might be beautiful, but is this poem actually going to be useful?" Fish said. "Or are people just going to look at it and go, 'Huh. Interesting.' Why not put this money toward something everybody can enjoy, like a TV pilot or a New Yorker cartoon caption?"
"The government needs to stop throwing billions of dollars at the arts," he added.
Fish cautioned that previous attempts to funnel money into poetry had been cut short before they were fully completed, resulting in the large number of unfinished, million-dollar poems that are still lying unread across the country to this day.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/national_endowment_for_the_arts
I LOVE you Onion. I'm sure only a small audience will find this funny at all, but I know at least one other person will find it hilarious, especially the Stanley Fish part.
I love how Fish is reported to say flatly: "This poem is an eyesore." I burst out laughing.
I also love the nod to overcoming Deconstructionism by stabilizing the poem's internal logic, great little joke there about building a poem. And thinking literally about "partial synecdoches" is a real brain teaser, but a great in-the-know joke too. There's so much here. Isn't it lovely how Seamus Heaney is doing "grunt work" on the poem? One thing they should fix though, Charles Simic isn't the poet laureate anymore, now it's Kay Ryan. Anyway, pretty dang hilarious. So much to love.
WASHINGTON—The National Endowment for the Arts announced Monday that it has begun construction on a $1.3 billion, 14-line lyric poem—its largest investment in the nation's aesthetic- industrial complex since the $850 million interpretive-dance budget of 1985.
"America's metaphors have become strained beyond recognition, our nation's verses are severely overwrought, and if one merely examines the internal logic of some of these archaic poems, they are in danger of completely falling apart," said the project's head stanza foreman Dana Gioia. "We need to make sure America's poems remain the biggest, best-designed, best-funded poems in the world."
Gioia confirmed that the public-works composition will be assembled letter-by-letter atop a solid base of the relationship between man and nature. The poem's structure, laid out extensively on lined-paper blueprints, involves a traditional three- quatrain-and-a-couplet framework, which will be tethered to an iambic meter for increased stability and symmetry. If the planners can secure an additional $6.2 million in funding, they may affix a long dash to the end of line three, though Gioia said that is a purely optimistic projection at this stage.
The poem is expected not only to revitalize the community, Gioia said, but also create jobs for the nation's hundreds of out-of-work poets. According to the proposed budget, the poem's 224 authors have allocated $4 million for the final rhyming couplet, $52 million to insert hyphens into the word "tomorrow" so it reads "to-morrow," $7.45 for a used copy of John Keats' Selected Poems for ideas and inspiration, and $450 million for a simile likening human fate to the wind. Some experts, however, say the poem is already at risk of going over budget, citing the soaring $5,000-per-square-inch cost of vellum, and an ambitious but perhaps ill-conceived $135 million undertaking to make the word "owl" rhyme with "soul."
"We've already put 200 hours of manpower into the semicolon at the end of the first stanza," said Charles Simic, poet laureate of the United States and head author of the still-untitled piece. "And I've got my best guys working around the clock to convert all the 'overs' in the piece into one-syllable 'o'ers.' I got [Nobel Prize winner Seamus] Heaney and [Margaret] Atwood stripping all the V's and tacking apostrophes in their place. It's grunt work, but somebody's got to do it if this poem's going to get done."
Gioia denied allegations that the poem is being mismanaged, claiming that he has implemented several measures to keep the project on schedule, including giving no more than two words to each poet, limiting alliteration and assonance to a maximum of three words per line, cutting out all extraneous allusions to Eliot and Yeats, and restricting any unwieldy metaphors hinting at the vast alienation of modernity.
Although the poem is still in the early stages of construction, it has already come under fire for serious structural issues, including a shaky foundation and a half-dozen partial synecdoches. "This poem is an eyesore," said literary critic Stanley Fish. "The whole right side of the verse is barely being held up by a load-bearing enjambment, and it seems as if they just sloppily patched up all the holes in the piece with plagiarized Rod McKuen passages."
In addition, the tenuous line that was being drawn between the narrator's mortality and winter unexpectedly collapsed on itself Monday. Two poets were killed in the incident. "Sure, some of the imagery might be beautiful, but is this poem actually going to be useful?" Fish said. "Or are people just going to look at it and go, 'Huh. Interesting.' Why not put this money toward something everybody can enjoy, like a TV pilot or a New Yorker cartoon caption?"
"The government needs to stop throwing billions of dollars at the arts," he added.
Fish cautioned that previous attempts to funnel money into poetry had been cut short before they were fully completed, resulting in the large number of unfinished, million-dollar poems that are still lying unread across the country to this day.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/national_endowment_for_the_arts
I LOVE you Onion. I'm sure only a small audience will find this funny at all, but I know at least one other person will find it hilarious, especially the Stanley Fish part.
I love how Fish is reported to say flatly: "This poem is an eyesore." I burst out laughing.
I also love the nod to overcoming Deconstructionism by stabilizing the poem's internal logic, great little joke there about building a poem. And thinking literally about "partial synecdoches" is a real brain teaser, but a great in-the-know joke too. There's so much here. Isn't it lovely how Seamus Heaney is doing "grunt work" on the poem? One thing they should fix though, Charles Simic isn't the poet laureate anymore, now it's Kay Ryan. Anyway, pretty dang hilarious. So much to love.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Transience
Leaving Costco today there was a sweet, little lady playing an exhibit piano. You could tell she was doing it just for fun. She had some jazzy elevator music going. Walking out, I noticed a man in the food court tapping his foot, smiling appreciatively. Little things. Signifying nothing. Everything.
Outside a blue, gold, pink sunset. J.D. leaning against the car, waiting for me, smiling. Little things. Signifying nothing. Everything.
Yeah, "great" for all women
Well, here's another story to bring everyone a ray of sunshine.
Palin as mayor required raped women to pay for their own forensic tests. Talk about blaming the victims. They don't make victims of other crimes pay for police work.
I'm not 100% sure about the details or biases here, but I certainly want to know if this is true.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/wasilla-charged-rape-victims-for-their.html
http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2000/05/23/news.txt
"Breaking the glass ceiling" by trampling other women isn't what I call progress.
Palin as mayor required raped women to pay for their own forensic tests. Talk about blaming the victims. They don't make victims of other crimes pay for police work.
I'm not 100% sure about the details or biases here, but I certainly want to know if this is true.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/wasilla-charged-rape-victims-for-their.html
http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2000/05/23/news.txt
"Breaking the glass ceiling" by trampling other women isn't what I call progress.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Lou
Lou watching Candice from his tree. We'll miss you Lou; you were one heck of a character.
Brave enough to tease Casey; sweet enough to love Candice.
I'm really sorry Sis I know how much it hurts.
Love you Candice.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Art Fair
van Gogh's "Wheat Field with a Lark"Well, it was time for the Clayton Art Fair again. It's always so crowded, and this year there didn't seem to be anything outrageous or very amusing, of course, other than the prices. Most were between $1,100- $5,000. Although, there was one landscape by an artist named Deanna Henion that both J.D. and I liked a lot. It was a long canvas with rolling blue hills, a grey-blue sky, and a little light green in a golden wheat field. It reminded me of home. But it was $850. Still, comparatively, it was a bargain. And it was beautiful. Looking at it gave you a feeling of expansiveness and a sense of breathing fresh air.
When it comes to paintings, at least ones I'd like to own, I do have a fondness for landscapes. I like van Gogh's wheat fields a lot, in the way that he captures the wind moving through the grain. I enjoy his "The Green Wheat Field," "The Fields," "Wheat Field under a Cloudy Sky," "Wheat Field with a Lark," and "Wheat Field with Cypresses." But, if $850 wasn't going to happen, I don't think 35 million dollars.... well, obviously, you get the point.
Still, it was amusing yesterday. It's good J.D. and I have similar taste, for the day we eventually do buy any art. And it's always fun to look around until then.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Preparing for VP debate
I put my name in the ticket lottery. I'd like to see Biden v. Palin.
It should be interesting. Maybe I should go protest in the assigned area on campus.
Any ideas what I could put on my sign? Although, I'll have to follow these rules.
Restrictions for the Public Viewing Area:
1. No coolers, glass containers, animals, alcoholic beverages, or any kind of amplification equipment.
2. No balloons filled with substances other than air or projectile launchers.
3. No weapons, including but not limited to, paintball guns, slingshots, air pistols, explosives, blasting caps, knives, mace or any other instrumentalities used or intended for use as a dangerous weapon.
4. No climbing of fences, poles, trees, or any other structure.
5. Signs and banners are permissible, but may not be posted or attached to pickets or on fences. 6. Signs must be constructed solely of cloth, paper or flexible cardboard no greater than one-quarter inch thick.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to take my cats, throw water balloons, bring any moose-hunting implements, or give anyone a paper cut with a really thick piece of cardboard. Dang.
And just to not forget, another article that had some interesting points:
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/the-mirrored-ceiling/
Impressionism
. . . a pink cloud paints a last touch of life in the tranquil sky. A few drops of rain fall without noise on the water, ancient but still in its divine infancy coloured always by the weather and continually forgetting the reflexions of clouds and flowers. And after the geraniums have vainly striven, by intensifying the brilliance of their scarlet, to resist the gathering darkness, a mist rises to envelop the now slumbering island; one walks in the moist dimness along the water's edge, where at the most the silent passage of a swan startles one like, in a bed, at night, the eyes, for a moment wide open, and the swift smile of a child whom one did not suppose to be awake. Then one
would like to have with one a loving companion, all the more as one feels oneself to be alone and can imagine oneself to be far away from the world. ("The Guermantes Way II.106)
I love the image of water forgetting its reflections. Water is like the mind here, but Proust makes the water a constant tabula rasa, whereas, we hope human beings would retain the memories of their colored impressions. Perhaps that's the point. We do retain precisely impressions. We don't recall exactly how the pink cloud looked, but we recall the sensation of the pink cloud, the feeling of aloneness or quietude or appreciative beauty as it dissolves before our eyes. We also have a build-up of impressions. Proust worked a lot with memory. He helped develop the idea that our memories are not always, or even often, under our control. They are spontaneous and take on an independent life. Seeing a pink cloud in 10 years could remind me of eating the dark chocolate I'm snacking on right now as I write about it. Or the next time I eat chocolate, I could think about pink clouds. Our senses take us back through the past, often in an unpredictable time machine. We often suddenly remember something from our childhood, perhaps a loving memory of a grandparent when we smell fresh baked cookies. Our impressions to a large extent become our identity, but they are more wild than we like to admit.
I love most the line about the geraniums, intensifying their scarlet, against the darkness. This is one of the most beautiful features of a grey day. Of course, poor geraniums, it's a losing battle. But, they do seem to glow more vibrantly in the onset of the gloom.
There's a lot here in this passage. I think I can work with this, but I don't know why I am. Sometimes you have to have faith. All I know is that Merrill marked it, his check is by the word "dark-ness" as it breaks like a enjambed line. I know too that he worked with the imaginative connection between sight and memory, between all the senses and memory, and especially the nature of reflexion/reflection.
He also has a major poem about swans and childhood, which he wrote in college around the same time as his thesis on Proust... could I perhaps have discovered the source / a source? Perhaps just another impression along the way to its formation, either way, it's promising I think.
p.s. I forgot to add too, the very nature of the passage, with it's flowing from one image and idea to the next builds or enacts this functioning of the human mind. We move rapidly from the pink cloud, to water, to red geraniums, to mist and swans, to awake eyes, to a child's smile, to the desired sensation of walking with one's imagined, beloved companion.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Last of Gustav
"Gustav" -- Gustav. The rain is pouring. Outside our stairwell is a waterfall. Gustav started last night at 12:30. I couldn't sleep. Maybe last night was just a sleepless night for everyone. What sort of name is Gustav anyway? Here I've got to look it up. "Staff of the Goths" -- German. Yes, if by Goths we mean raindrops, then those Visigoths are busy sacking my home right now.
I'm really nervous. I'm almost bordering on panicked. I really don't know what I'm doing, and the clock is running. A school year may seem like a lot of time, but I know it will go by in a flash. Already the weather is turning cool. Soon the leaves will fall. Then it will snow. Then the snow will melt. Then the dogwood's will bloom. And before you blink, another year will have passed.
My life has been very slow and small these past few years, to the point I've felt claustrophobic. But the pressure of producing something so important and massive, something that taps into your brain and 30 years of whatever you've put in there... I can't think of anything else to describe it other than frightening. I guess we never know our future, but ours is really uncertain. We need to move. We need to find somewhere with jobs. We need to buy a house. It makes me queasy thinking of the equity we could have built. But all I feel is so much anxiety, I can't focus to write a word of what I need to.
Instead I sit here and listen to Gustav. On second thought, it is kind of a nice name for just the rain.
I'm really nervous. I'm almost bordering on panicked. I really don't know what I'm doing, and the clock is running. A school year may seem like a lot of time, but I know it will go by in a flash. Already the weather is turning cool. Soon the leaves will fall. Then it will snow. Then the snow will melt. Then the dogwood's will bloom. And before you blink, another year will have passed.
My life has been very slow and small these past few years, to the point I've felt claustrophobic. But the pressure of producing something so important and massive, something that taps into your brain and 30 years of whatever you've put in there... I can't think of anything else to describe it other than frightening. I guess we never know our future, but ours is really uncertain. We need to move. We need to find somewhere with jobs. We need to buy a house. It makes me queasy thinking of the equity we could have built. But all I feel is so much anxiety, I can't focus to write a word of what I need to.
Instead I sit here and listen to Gustav. On second thought, it is kind of a nice name for just the rain.
"Real" Change?
As we all know, in response to Obama running a campaign based on the theme of change, the Republicans have been describing themselves as the party of "real change." I guess I'd have to agree.
Watch the middle section for clips of Karl Rove on why the mayor of Richmond and then Governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, didn't have enough "experience" to be Obama's VP choice. Bill O'Reilly on reserving judgement regarding teen pregnancy and parental responsibility. And two talking heads on Clinton exploiting the "gender card" because she can't "play with the big boys," yet arguing questions about Palin's suitability to be VP are sexist.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=184082
I suppose "change" would be one word for it. I think hypocrisy is probably a more accurate one.
Watch the middle section for clips of Karl Rove on why the mayor of Richmond and then Governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, didn't have enough "experience" to be Obama's VP choice. Bill O'Reilly on reserving judgement regarding teen pregnancy and parental responsibility. And two talking heads on Clinton exploiting the "gender card" because she can't "play with the big boys," yet arguing questions about Palin's suitability to be VP are sexist.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=184082
I suppose "change" would be one word for it. I think hypocrisy is probably a more accurate one.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Mavericks
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26504638/
I think some of the information in this article is pertinent, especially as McCain and Palin claim to be such "mavericks" about wasteful government spending and lobbying groups.
Evidently when mayor of Wasilla, Palin employed lobbyists to rake in $26.9 million in earmarks for her town of 6,715 residents.
This following quotation helps put that in perspective a bit more, in terms of 1 year's funds:
"In fiscal year 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks -- about $1,000 in federal money for every resident. By contrast, Boise, Idaho -- which has more than 190,000 residents -- received $6.9 million in earmarks in fiscal 2008."
I think some of the information in this article is pertinent, especially as McCain and Palin claim to be such "mavericks" about wasteful government spending and lobbying groups.
Evidently when mayor of Wasilla, Palin employed lobbyists to rake in $26.9 million in earmarks for her town of 6,715 residents.
This following quotation helps put that in perspective a bit more, in terms of 1 year's funds:
"In fiscal year 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks -- about $1,000 in federal money for every resident. By contrast, Boise, Idaho -- which has more than 190,000 residents -- received $6.9 million in earmarks in fiscal 2008."
Monday, September 1, 2008
From the Zero Draft
Gee, it doesn't look like much.
But my page today took me from 9:30 until 11:30. Of course, I was also rummaging through books and papers and such. It's not "the beginning," but it's "a beginning" for now.
Please feel free to say "what the hell?" Please point out to me any awkward sentences or ideas. Of course, this probably won't make much sense at this point. I'm sort of trying to be ambiguous and not explain myself too much because I want to Jump into it. In need to give myself a feeling of momentum.
Also, the whole magical cookies thing won't make much sense until you read pages 54-58 of Swann's Way with the epiphany on the nature of spontaneous memory. Merrill used the English translation by C.K. Scott Moncrieff for his thesis, so that's what I'm using.
But my page today took me from 9:30 until 11:30. Of course, I was also rummaging through books and papers and such. It's not "the beginning," but it's "a beginning" for now.
Please feel free to say "what the hell?" Please point out to me any awkward sentences or ideas. Of course, this probably won't make much sense at this point. I'm sort of trying to be ambiguous and not explain myself too much because I want to Jump into it. In need to give myself a feeling of momentum.
Also, the whole magical cookies thing won't make much sense until you read pages 54-58 of Swann's Way with the epiphany on the nature of spontaneous memory. Merrill used the English translation by C.K. Scott Moncrieff for his thesis, so that's what I'm using.
My page today on Proust
Reading pencil in hand, he pauses long enough to underline the words that sketch a scene of light across the page, an image transferred letter by letter from the impression of another mind. It is a small moment; it is hardly worth noticing. It is not the moment of magical madeleines dipped in tea that creates a theory of memory, about which Merrill would later quip in his memoir A Different Person, that it revealed a similarity between Jesus Christ and Proust: “Like Proust he [Jesus] had dipped, with miraculous consequences, a cookie into a restorative cup” (Collected Prose 633). Nor was this small textual moment equivalent to when Merrill paused in reading Remembrance of Things Past to note in the margin: “metaphor of death—grandmother’s eyes shooting stars” (II.34). Instead, what strikes James Merrill in reading this passage by Proust is the detail of this particular day’s light: “the grey day stitched its shimmering needlework of light and shade. . . .” (II.56). It is the change of light, small and insignificant to any other reader, that catches his eye.
Of course, Merrill at that moment is reading for a purpose. He is writing his college thesis on Proust and Impressionism, so he notices the subtle descriptions of light as they alter upon the page. He writes earlier in the margin of volume two: “matter becomes personality, personality becomes matter thus the two disparate topics are bound together. A law of impressionism, illusion, one thing in terms of another” (II.105). While Merrill may have been surveying Proust’s words in terms of their Impressionistic value, his attention and sensitivity to light and changes of light were a theme long before his reading In Search of Lost Time and long after.
Of course, Merrill at that moment is reading for a purpose. He is writing his college thesis on Proust and Impressionism, so he notices the subtle descriptions of light as they alter upon the page. He writes earlier in the margin of volume two: “matter becomes personality, personality becomes matter thus the two disparate topics are bound together. A law of impressionism, illusion, one thing in terms of another” (II.105). While Merrill may have been surveying Proust’s words in terms of their Impressionistic value, his attention and sensitivity to light and changes of light were a theme long before his reading In Search of Lost Time and long after.
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