When women criticize … I’ve been called hysterical and told to reign in my anger, get control, etc. Anger is not a legitimate emotion when it comes to debate, even if it isn’t detectable. Being passionate about a topic renders one hysterical, or so it would seem when the person debating doesn’t want to actually…
California’s Top Court Legalizes Gay Marriage SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California’s Supreme Court declared gay couples in the nation’s biggest state can marry — a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony. “Essentially, this boils down…
UPDATE: VIDEO: Sacha Baron Cohen held by police after outrageous stunt on Milan catwalk By Nick Pisa Last updated at 7:45 PM on 26th September 2008 Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen was taken to a police station yesterday after he brought chaos to the Milan fashion show for the second day running. Despite the increased security…
“Get ready for another economic shock of major proportions — a virtual doubling of prices at the gas pump to as much as $10 a gallon.” —The Sun ~~~~~ From: “Jeff Whitty” Date: April 21, 2006 To: (Tonight Show email address) Subject: For Mr. Leno Dear Mr. Leno, My name is Jeff Whitty. I live…
In a scene dubbed “a bit too precious” by one reviewer, an excerpt from Walt Whitman’s poem, “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” makes an appearance in the excellent film, L.I.E., above. And separately, I have been graciously granted, by Annie Finch, the Women’s Poetry Listserv moderator title that she has worn many years now:…
Lesbos islanders dispute gay name Campaigners on the Greek island of Lesbos are to go to court in an attempt to stop a gay rights organisation from using the term “lesbian”. The islanders say that if they are successful they may then start to fight the word lesbian internationally. The issue boils down to who…
The Griffin Poetry Prize Announces the 2008 Canadian and International Shortlist International Shortlist Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems • John Ashbery HarperCollins Publishers/Ecco Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems • Elaine Equi Coffee House Press The Complete Poetry: A Bilingual Edition Clayton Eshleman, translated from the Spanish, written by César Vallejo University of…
“We used to go over to the railroad track and play,” she said. “We’d take straight pins, lay them on the railroad track and make little alphabets out of them. We’d know just about the time when the train was either coming or going, and the train would run over the pins and mash them…
Since Ms. Clinton began her campaign, there certainly has been a public resurgence in misogyny, starting with my long-lost father sending me Hillary Clinton jokes via email. No call on my birthday or Christmas, but I warrant jokes in which a presidential candidate ends up dead, raped, and mocked? That’s emotionally-charged action from a man…
Brandi Homan reviews I’M THE MAN WHO LOVES YOU in The Cutbank Review today (an excerpt): Even though King does something that there should be more of in contemporary poetry—addresses the sociopolitical aspects of life in the 21st century head on—I’m The Man Who Loves You accomplishes much more. It is disjointed, beautifully grotesque, and…
The Associated Press – Thursday, April 17, 2008 PARIS: The esteemed Martinique poet and politician Aimé Césaire, a leading figure in the movement for black consciousness, died Thursday, the French president’s office and a hospital said. He was 94. Césaire was involved in the fight for French West Indian rights, and he also served as…
Who doesn’t love a good cat fight? Nails and hair flying, women on their knees, beating each other mercilessly, ripping out earrings, bleeding scratches, possible nudity — BUT. We intellectuals are above all that, right? Liberal men and liberal women use their brains and don’t succumb to such debased antics tinged with “lower class” heart-on-the-sleeve…
This Recording Thanks to Jackie Clark for inviting me to participate in the ten part Poets Off Poetry series. My contribution, “Fed You From The Blood of My Nose: A Medley Melodic,” appears under the heading, “In Which Nearly Every Human Knows This Desire.” Lots of links to music you might enjoy, and I hope…
DELIRIOUS HEM The following excerpts are taken from “Dim Sum: Tonya Foster & Evie Shockley — Braiding: ConVERSations: To, Against, For” It would be one thing if poetry were made of words alone, but it is not–no more than words themselves are. –Paolo Friere via James Scully (Linebreak 133) …If essentialism means being able…
This blog has received regular hits for The Knife’s “Pass This On” ever since I posted it at the end of May 2007. Since then, the video was removed by Youtube or the subscriber who posted it. Today, I found it elsewhere on the site (w/ an annoying “Z” in the upper corner) and posted…
A New Frame: Strong Communities It’s a sad, sad state of affairs for the American people when we have to boil our presidential election down to questions of race and gender. And yet, we’ve arrived: Are Americans more racist or sexist? We have to wonder aloud, so that we send the most able opponent up…
“You can … discuss this avalanche of misogyny without endorsing her campaign …” –Bill Moyers in conversation with Kathleen Hall Jamieson ~~ Select excerpts from Robin Morgan’s “Goodbye To All That (#2)“: —When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at…
On my way to the next one to give an exam, but thought it fun to note here that my basic writing students informed me this very morning that Condoleezza Rice is a lesbian. She owned a house with Randy Bean! This kind of evidence is akin to that citing weapons in Iraq: proof positive!@!…
Yes, that’s John Travolta and Kirk Douglas lip wrestling, but this post is about much more than curing the daily — Jim K wrote a quick review of my recent Dusie chap, Kiss Me With the Mouth of Your Country (send your address to amyhappens @ gmail dot com for a copy). And thank you,…
I have just finished sending out my chapbook copies for the DUSIE Chapbook Kollectiv. The title is this post’s title. I have a few copies left over, so if you’re interested in receiving one – freely and imminently – I’ll post it to you before the holidays. My DUSIE chapbook from last year…
Many of my students are required to watch the above youtube video, “A Girl Like Me”, among numerous others, as part of their supplemental assignments in my courses. Basically, I try to get them to begin analyzing by using the mediums they are most accustomed to, which include youtube and showing dvds of popular media…
For a few years now, I’ve used the 30-minute version of Maggie Hadleigh-West’s film, “War Zone“, in my basic writing course (excerpt above). I also used to work in Manhattan for about five years, and often found myself with a female co-worker navigating our lunchtime walks around construction sites or generally wherever men are known…
First of all, love is a joint experience between two persons—but the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved. There are the lover and the beloved, but these two come from different countries. Often the beloved is only a stimulus for…
~~~~~~ “Homosexuals should relinquish their right to protect our country along with their right to earn a living wage for the able completion of such service. I mean, whenever I think of them doing the ‘do’, I get a funny feeling down deep, below the waist, and then my morals start to burn and ache.”…
The title poem of my next book I thought was submitted somewhere. I think I was wrong. Now it’s nowhere but here. It starts and ends with a scarf, just in time for this blustery New York City-Brooklyn winter descent — any publishers want it assuming I don’t discover it’s submitted somewhere between now and…
“The female is as it were a deformed male.” –Aristotle “Distinguished women . . . are as exceptional as any monstrosity . . . for example a gorilla with two heads.” –Le Bon (1879) “It was certainly an odd monster that one made up by reading the historians first and the poets afterwards–[woman as] a…
AMY KING 