still too chicken to post this to wompo
this part is from yesterday
my "a" and "s" keys are on the way out
because I have been thinking today about a certain political party's likely nominees to the executive office together with this list and with -- admittedly, not just poetry, but also teaching
1.
while I ws disturbed by the "writing the body" feminist trend in criticism and art as having some strange-to-receive spects vis a vis biological difference nd aesthetics before now, the focus on the female, fertile bodies in the election is disturbing & throws a new light on this -- is it more possible for mle writers to leave the body and its functions behind? is there a matching effort, say in some fatherhood poems, for male poets to reach out *to* society and the body in order to ground the work, because otherwise it is not s grounded as women's writing?
2.
many single issue voters will vote for a certain party's ticket on moral, not political, grounds, many for a single issue (to overturn Roe and continue to attempt to make political appointments to the Supreme court)
many candidates who are not particularly religious, spiritual, or church-going have felt it important to make (often empty) gestures toward showing this;
I am increasingly distubed by the gap between rhetoric and analysis of action -- at the same time
I have noticed -- particularly among younger writers -- an increasing willingness to apply a moral opinion to writing of others -- i.e., this writing is not "right" because it is not situationist, formal, etc.
or a larger intolerance, "being a vegan/following the 100 miles guideline/organic/fair trade is the only ethical way to live -- even the sympathetic characters in this story are eating EGGS"
3.
a certain choice for vice president converted from roman catholicism to a pentacostal protestantism; whereas in the past, a concern, perhaps left over from the reformation in England, was that a foreign power would be making decisions about censorship, stands on political issues, etc., so much so tht many roman catholic politicians carefully distinguish their beliefs and those views espoused by their religious leaders from the way they would govern, one candidate hs (in some cases unsuccessfully) tried to align policy -- including book banning, censroship, library book budgets -- with her adopted american-based religion
or, "faith shopping"?
we are all familiar with the sad fact tht homeless men surf porn on public library computers next to children researching school reports, and with budget cuts for book buying, and controversies over text choices in public institutions of learning
but what of poems and books and movies that represent a range of human experience, not what is "right" and perhaps not with a frame like "this is purient" or an interpretation or judgment applied? is this the message of reality tv or incest poems -- it really happened, so, whatever, what can we do?
4.
age of consent, voting age, parents' and the state's responsibility to protect and provide for education and health until 16? 18? 21? in an age of earlier and earlier physical maturity and greater ideational access to adult society? women as teachers, and institutions in loco parentis?
this part is from yesterday
my "a" and "s" keys are on the way out
because I have been thinking today about a certain political party's likely nominees to the executive office together with this list and with -- admittedly, not just poetry, but also teaching
1.
while I ws disturbed by the "writing the body" feminist trend in criticism and art as having some strange-to-receive spects vis a vis biological difference nd aesthetics before now, the focus on the female, fertile bodies in the election is disturbing & throws a new light on this -- is it more possible for mle writers to leave the body and its functions behind? is there a matching effort, say in some fatherhood poems, for male poets to reach out *to* society and the body in order to ground the work, because otherwise it is not s grounded as women's writing?
2.
many single issue voters will vote for a certain party's ticket on moral, not political, grounds, many for a single issue (to overturn Roe and continue to attempt to make political appointments to the Supreme court)
many candidates who are not particularly religious, spiritual, or church-going have felt it important to make (often empty) gestures toward showing this;
I am increasingly distubed by the gap between rhetoric and analysis of action -- at the same time
I have noticed -- particularly among younger writers -- an increasing willingness to apply a moral opinion to writing of others -- i.e., this writing is not "right" because it is not situationist, formal, etc.
or a larger intolerance, "being a vegan/following the 100 miles guideline/organic/fair trade is the only ethical way to live -- even the sympathetic characters in this story are eating EGGS"
3.
a certain choice for vice president converted from roman catholicism to a pentacostal protestantism; whereas in the past, a concern, perhaps left over from the reformation in England, was that a foreign power would be making decisions about censorship, stands on political issues, etc., so much so tht many roman catholic politicians carefully distinguish their beliefs and those views espoused by their religious leaders from the way they would govern, one candidate hs (in some cases unsuccessfully) tried to align policy -- including book banning, censroship, library book budgets -- with her adopted american-based religion
or, "faith shopping"?
we are all familiar with the sad fact tht homeless men surf porn on public library computers next to children researching school reports, and with budget cuts for book buying, and controversies over text choices in public institutions of learning
but what of poems and books and movies that represent a range of human experience, not what is "right" and perhaps not with a frame like "this is purient" or an interpretation or judgment applied? is this the message of reality tv or incest poems -- it really happened, so, whatever, what can we do?
4.
age of consent, voting age, parents' and the state's responsibility to protect and provide for education and health until 16? 18? 21? in an age of earlier and earlier physical maturity and greater ideational access to adult society? women as teachers, and institutions in loco parentis?
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