Ten rules for riding public transportation from a poet.
I can enthusiastically support the first four, at least. Some of the latter ones are a mixture of illegal (at least in DC) and too England-centric.
Funny Story…
First of all, let me say that no one could have predicted that this man’s actions would be a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money nor that his statements would be crazy, stupid, and wrong.
I say that as preface to noting that (and this will blow your mind, man!) (soon to be former) Congressman Allen West’s recount efforts and legal challenges have not worked.
As crazy as it sounds, Florida voters in that district did not choose to send back to Congress a man who just spent two years in Washington looking for Communists. And he checked everywhere, from the men’s bathroom in the east corner of the third floor of the Rayburn House Office Building all the way coat check counter on the south side of the United States Capitol.
Instead, they plumped for some moderate Democrat who opposes privatizing Social Security and Medicare.
Must have been voter fraud. Only reasonable explanation.
Monday Morning Staff Meeting – Where The Poets Are
And the hottest new poetry scene is in… Queens.
Or Forklift, Ohio (not a real place).
Sadly, none of these places are Washington, DC or St. Petersburg, Florida.
DC is, perhaps, a little too institutional. Though it’s got a thriving visual arts scene. But the local poetry scene is very slam-centric. There is the Beltway Poetry Journal, but that’s exclusively online and I’m looking for more. I’m just not a slam person, as I’ve said before. I love poetry on the page, even when I read it aloud. Yes, there are the readings at the Folger Shakespeare Library, which I attend religiously, as well the Poet Laureate and other readings at the Library of Congress. But nothing which seems half so interesting as what’s happening elsewhere. But they – the residents of elsewhere – they feel that way too, don’t they?
And Florida is Florida. We elected Rick Scott for governor, for heaven’s sake. The man ran a company that in a very real and tangible way defrauded the taxpayers of this country for billions. You can’t write an elegy that depressingly sad.
Sunday Paper – Don’t Make Poets Angry
Stand Up To Hurricane Induced Power Outages
Saturday Post – President Heidegger
The Need For Speed
I’m a big fan of DC United’s Chris Pontius. He’s a creative attacking player, able to play wide and also play a center forward.
I also understand why he may never get a real shot at playing for the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT), because we have a lot of those players.
Graham Zusi is skillful and confident in possession and if you give him half a yard of space, he can loft some beautiful, accurate balls into the box towards his fellow attackers or even get off a sweet shot himself. The much maligned Freddy Adu has that same ability to hold onto the ball and give his teammates time to get in place before he slips a pass through. Jose Torres, when he’s been played wide left, also uses that position to set the tempo.
What we don’t have much of are players who can burn you for pace. Go flying up the wing or drive towards goal with frightening speed. Really, just Brek Shea comes to mind and he’s been something of a head case for the last six months.
Donovan still has that quick first step, but that’s about creating some separation between himself and a marker, rather really than running up down for a game. At thirty, that’s not his game, not anymore.
Dempsey’s game has always been about brute force and timing, rather than speed, because he’s never been exceptionally speedy.
So Pontius will go down on the same list as Danny Pena: talented American players who rarely played for their country because, as good as they were, they weren’t what their country really needed.
Harrison Ford Is A Replicant
I’m watching Blade Runner (one of the director’s cut versions, of course – sans voiceover) and even though Ford was 39 or 40 during filming, when you watch it, all you can think is ‘he looks so young.’
It ain’t human. I’m 38 and no one ever comments on how young I look (though I get plenty of comments about the grey in beard and semi-questions like, ‘so what are you… in your forties?’).
The Only Comment I Intend To Make Regarding The Petraeus Issue
You won’t hear anyone from Tampa Bay actually use the phrase ‘Tampa socialite.’
Because ‘Tampa socialite’ is a genus that only people from some other place would ever think exists.
File it under ‘Sasquatch’ (which is entirely mythical, unlike the Loch Ness Monster, which is a real thing).
Columbia University Press & Indie Bookstores
They also give some shout outs to some fine bookstores, including local favorite, Bridge Street Books, and my old haunt, Skylight Books.
I’d once visited University Press Books in Berkeley (though I can’t remember what I bought there) and of course I’ve been to City Lights.
Embarrassingly, I’ve never been to Prairie Lights in Iowa City, Iowa, despite having lived in the Hawkeye state for a political cycle. On my way out of there, I stopped in Iowa City to visit former (then current) Iowa House Minority Leader, Dick Myers (great man; a little crazy, but great). It would have been a perfect opportunity to stop by Prairie Lights and pick up a literary memento, but I never did.
the coffee philosopher 