Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Dinh today Latta today

read the April 29, 2008 posts on these sites: Linh Dinh's Detainees John Latta's Isola Rho00068 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 gone

Monday, April 28, 2008

word of mouth anthology

Last night I finished reading Word of Mouth, an anthology of Gay American poetry edited by Timothy Liu. Centered on the back cover is the final paragraph of the editor's preface. The first sentence of this paragraph reads: "After all is said and done, I still question the notion of a 'gay sensibility'." Left of this are 29 names, and right of this/ 29 more. Fifty-eight poets. Many were new to me. The anthology appears to be arranged by birth date, but only the birth year is revealed. 1903 is the earliest birth year and 1969 the latest. The poems deal with many topics. Perhaps I should have known, but the number of poems dealing with AIDS--Tim Dlugos's "D.O.A." (being about his own death) was especially telling. I had seen on TV the D.O.A. movie his poem refers to, and as I was saved from the AIDS sadness by a syphilis scare which moved me to stop my slutty ways, this poem and others deepened my sorrow and thankfulness. Two poems by John Giorno struck me, one which is what its title is: "Pornographic Poem"; and one which describes a horrid death and a death of great peace: "None of Them Wanted to Go". Several poems by Edward Field were humorous, but several poems by Jonathan Williams were even more humorous. In general I was more impressed by the poems of poets I didn't know, but that may be due to practical restrictions the editor had to face. The following link may take you to a Google results page. If so, choose the poets.org result. The interview is the best place to learn about Timothy Liu, and excellant poems of his are there. tliu - Tim Liu's site The full title of this book is: Word of Mouth an anthology of gay American poetry - Copyright © 2000 Talisman House, Publishers = Rho00067

Sunday, April 27, 2008

saving planet earth two

At Linh Dinh's site, part of a speech by Richard Heinberg out of which the following extensive entries at Wikipedia: Permaculture and Biointensive These three center on the international move away from industrial agriculture, and engage the reasons why. Planet Earth can be saved, and it is intriguing that Jeffersonian and Emersonian thinking are at the heart of it. Yet, as Richard Heinberg says, the necessary new culture will not be like any of the older cultures. So much more is known now than was then, and so much more becomes known with each new day. - Perhaps train travel will return after all. Instead of two cars in every garage, one food garden (or a part of a food garden) for every family. I know/ this is not a possible, but our communities can be made more environmentally-friendly than they now are. O O Rho00066

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Saving Planet Earth

I am no Earth-wise holy person, but here are some links to articles worth reading and to some sites worth exploring: "The Web Way to Save Planet Earth" by John McConnell Near the bottom of this page is a link to the associated Earth site: www.earthsite.org At the BBC this Saving Planet Earth page. At money.cnn.com "The race to save Mother Earth in 8 years" by Chris Taylor, Business 2.0 Magazine senior editor Today (04/26/08) at Linh Dinh's site: "The World's Worst Population Problem" featuring Albert A. Bartlett's "Is There a Population Problem?" To learn more about this University of Colorado Physics Professor Emeritus and his contributions take the Albert A. Bartlett link Linh provides. At Alan Contreras's site, this April 14, 2008 post: "Civilized and Uncivilized Societies" Do not be put off by this title. His post is well-researched and thoughtfully presented. One sentence from it is: "A government is due respect only insofar as such respect is earned by conduct." For those who are willing to buy a book, here are two: Jorie Graham's Sea Change, about which there is an online review and Tony Juniper's How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Planet?: 95 Ways to Save Planet Earth. One more site of interest: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service This search: saving planet earth returns many results, some of which may interest you. 04/27/08: a 12/09/07 addition from The New York Times Sunday, April 27, 2008 Expert Roundtable - China: Choking on Growth answers from Michael P. Walsh O Rho00065

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Goodreads

Yesterday I joined Goodreads after noting it on J. J. Gallaher's site. I listed three books, and today I listed five more. Not sure what my doing this will come to, but I've concluded it's a good way for me to cull books from my meager library I am no longer interested in and do not wish to let others know about. The three I listed yesterday are: Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition, Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man, and The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan. The five I listed today are: Malachi Martin's The New Castle: Reaching for the Ultimate, Eric Hoffer's The Temper of Our Time, G. B. Harrison's Profession of English, Brenda Shaughnessy's Human Dark with Sugar; and Word of Mouth: An Anthology of Gay American Poetry edited by Timothy Liu, a book I am currently enjoyably reading. More about it later. Had a note exchange with David-Baptiste Chirot earlier today as a result of my joining Goodreads. All of this raises some major questions I am not the first to consider. Core among these stems from knowing/ humans are writing good reads faster than one can possibly read them, and that there are so many good reads from times past. How does one decide what to read? The question which follows this, whatever one decides, is: How will one respond to and/or be changed by what one reads? The question which follows this is: If one spends time reading, what about the one's writing time? I can assure you/ if I didn't need to sleep or eat, I--. > > > Rho00064

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Earth Day

Earth Day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rho00063

Monday, April 21, 2008

poetry that endures

The title of this post is taken from Boyd Tonkin's Why poetry still matters because the XX poem "what if a much of a which of a wind" by E. E. Cummings moved me into wondering again: What makes a poem last? A "why poems last" search led me to the feature linked to above. It answered my question so well I thought it best to simply share it. In conjunction with this are thoughts on poetics which are pertinent now: Tony Tost's Typo 2 notes: Disarm the Settlers. Also, do this search: why poetry matters now and choose the Robert Peake result * * * * * Rho00062

Friday, April 18, 2008

top cancer treatments

"The Top 5 Viable Cancer Treatments" by Aaron Rowe - Wired Science - April 15, 2008 < Rho00061

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Sound of Silence

In memory of F. K. 1981 * video * Rho00060

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Internet Future

note Jonathan Zittrain's book and then go to Amazon and read Robert D. Steele's review of it. Next, see this interview of Robert D. Steele: PBS Frontline and then do this search: Zittrain Net Competition to access August 25, 2007 article about book: "Is the Internet Doomed to Self-distruct". Also consider visiting the Open Source Solutions site. Rho00059 ! ! ! !

Monday, April 14, 2008

books from local library

- - two books transported to me late this morning: E. E. Cummings Complete Poems (1904-1962) edited by George James Firmage (latest copyright: 1991) Liveright Publishing Corporation New York, N.Y. W. W. Norton & Company Ltd. London Word of Mouth An Anthology of Gay American Poetry edited by Timothy Liu (Introduction copyright: 2000) Talisman House, Publishers (book copyright: 2000) Jersey City, New Jersey - Rho00057

Sunday, April 13, 2008

100 poems project

Catch KSM's project. No need to comment, but read what he and others write. Enjoy the poems. I don't have the anthology that handily is filling a nothing-pressing-to-do void for him. So far two poems, both ballads, have been posted. It is my feeling his doing this benefits him and those who are tracking along. & Rho00056

Friday, April 11, 2008

Poet Poet

Precipitated by a technical hold at PF's Harriet, Linh Dinh's ninth post exists in three places: here (where there are 10 comments) here here The second comment at the second site supports (more vividly) a part of my comment at the first site. However, the comments at each site should be read. Also, Aaron McCollough's provocative: "Self-Consuming Artifacts ... towards an unquiet metaphysics"--which Ron Silliman provided a link to--references and discusses Linh Dinh's post. Although bickerings over aesthetics are not without value, I prefer to observe and learn from them. That may change. There appears to be a growing group of poets moving towards the metaphysical, towards a positive metaphysics, which is where--even when most down--I have always been. Still, I usually am not a beat-the- drum type. I am too variegated. Questions ever haunt me. As I once wrote: Uncertainty is my milieu. That is why I often compare my being to air. I am posting this but it is still in draft. Aaron McCollough has added a second post on the topic of an "unquiet metaphysics". As a way in he reveals some childhood facts. It happens that mine are similar to his; so I am going to reveal some of mine. I was raised as a Roman Catholic in Wisconsin in the 1940's and 1950's. Love of neighbor (and enemy) are also important to me. He cites a passage from the Bible which imprinted itself in his mind. One which has imprinted itself in my mind is from the prayer to God the Father which Jesus taught his disciples: . . . and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Several years back I began to understand this passage in a way I had not so clearly understood it, and it was all due to the "as" in it. What is being said here is that God the Father only needs to forgive us our tresspasses to the extent that we are willing to forgive the tresspasses of others against us. Sadly, for me it is easier to do that than it is for me to forgive myself. ~ ~ Rho00055

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Intentionality

My placing these words in this order in this space is an example of evident intentionality. Whether through a visionary experience or months of rational labor, whatever is kept (like a secret) in my mind is an object of hidden intentionality. Hope lives in the former, and faith lives in the latter. If no one reads what I try to share, my hope and intentions will not matter. If I forget and cannot recall what was in my mind, my faith and intentions will not matter. Actually, even if you discern my intentions and the signs I use here, they will only retain importance by what you decide to do with them. Infederowsah, Ishtin. But let me proceed to an explanation at EPC about "Uncreativity as a Creative Practice" by Kenneth Goldsmith. The title seems oxymoronic, but it is bluntly factual. Mr. Goldsmith had set himself the task of becoming totally uncreative by his fortieth birthday, and his present project, tedious as it was/is, exemplified his best effort so far toward that end. He reveals the urges he's had to subdue in order to successfully accomplish his task. We are managers of information, and cannot be other. The way he dresses befits this/ idea. I have the feeling he is better suited than most for doing what he does. Not that most do not do similar things. It's just that most do them, not because they see it as beyond choice, but rather because sometimes they are beyond choice. I was a night auditor at mostly busy motels and hotels for many years, during which the technologies used in the hospitality business changed often. However, there were times when weather or error caused those technologies to shut down, forcing employees to resort to doing everything by hand. Therein lies the point: Regardless of the task, creativity is creativity; and sometimes the more difficult the task, the greater the creativity needed to complete it. I am beginning to suspect that, like the customer, the intentionalities of an artifact's perceiver are ultimately more powerful than those of an artifact's maker. ? Rho00054

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Mezangelle

Thanks to a comment by Angela G. re a Reginald Shepherd techno- post at Poetry Foundation's Harriet blog, I found out about the existence of a techno poet named Mary Anne Breeze who created her own language known as mezangelle and other similar names. Upon doing a search: this interview Was then led by it to an ARG article at Wikipedia: Alternate Reality Game which is not exactly a game, and possibly cannot be defined. l[i]ove Rho00053

Monday, April 7, 2008

Two Anti-Cancer Advances

First found out about the following from a free weekly newsletter www.kurzweilai.net e-mails to me. Did searches for the articles linked to here: - UCLA "nanoimpeller" for placing drugs inside cancer cells fasting for two days before chemotherapy protects healthy cells - Reminder: Alkaline foods fight cancer. Acidic foods fuel cancer. But there is more. See this tough valuable article from the Wellness Directory of Minnesota. * * Rho00052

Saturday, April 5, 2008

One to Know

Today I learned of an Isaac Stolzfuts because a grandson of his has maintained his journal. Isaac (Zac) was born September 11, 1919, and was residing in south Florida when he disappeared about the 3rd of August in 2007. If the link above is still active, information surrounding that incident persists in his journal. I left a message earlier, but do not know when or if it will be posted. My initial encounter with Mr. Stolzfuts's Journal was the result of a Charles Ray "Oh Charlie . . . ." search. I could tell you more about him, but it would be best if you used the above link and found out for yourself. He was a special man, and I am dedicating this day to him. Regarding Charles Ray's sculpture, read this post from 12-20-06 in the journal linked to above. = Rho00051

Friday, April 4, 2008

Performatism

May add more to this later but, thanks to Robert Peake, a search led me to an essay I want to provide a link to: "Performatism, or the End of Postmodernism" by Raoul Eshelman. In order to make it easier for you to understand Eshelman's positions, I suggest scrolling down to "I can make out five basic features of performatism" and reading from there to the end of his essay first. > See my bloglist for a link to Robert Peake's site. Rho00050 . . . . .

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Celtic Poetry

Poetry Is a Way of Life is the title of a post on Todd Swift's Eyewear, a blog he may discontinue come May of 2008. Beneath this post is a comment by background artist in which is a link to "The Cauldron of Poesy" by Erynn Rowan Laurie, an historical article about Irish/Celtic poetry. If you do not wish to read it, but would like to know the root rules of this neoceltic poetry, scroll to the article's last paragraph. Note: I tried to discover the id of background artist, but it is hidden. } } } } } } } } } Rho00049

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

tic toc tic toc tic

At www.commondreams.org are three articles, two of which should be read, and one which you might choose to read but the comments beneath it are more important. In a link to that article will be information about the comment I feel everyone ought to read. /archive/2008/04/01/8025/ beneath this "Could the Republicans . . ." by Wayne Barrett scroll down to the Galen April 1st, 2008 1:14 pm comment and read it first. Many of the other comments should also be read. /archive/2008/03/29/7966/ Read this article. /archive/2008/03/27/7920/ Read this article. Common Dreams is an excellent site for those who are interested in the tic toc tic toc tic of human activity on planet Earth. I, for one, will be visiting it more often after today. Somewhere in the course of history on the third out from the Sol star situated approximately two-thirds of the way from center in a spiral arm of a galaxy called Milky Way was a sentient being named, alas, Homo sapiens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rho00048