Mary Dempsey responds to suggestion that Illinois shoot itself in the right foot as well as the left

Just a couple minutes ago, a link was posted to this article. It's a response from Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey to a Fox News Chicago "Special Report" that, through its positioning and language, suggested that libraries are a waste of money for budget-screwed Illinois.

It seems especially irresponsible that, in a time of financial need for so many people, a news outlet tried to deride libraries, which offer so many educational and life-improving services to the public for free, as a waste. I think Mary Dempsey's response is very well-written.

I know I shouldn't be surprised at the slant Fox News opened this report with. I'm not. Just saddened.

Again, the link: Mary A. Dempsey Responds.

Good Poetry, Embarrassing Poetry, and Caffeine

Bless the Internet for giving us so many fun things to read and read about while we're supposed to be working.

First, I heard this poem read aloud on a podcast the other day and found it quite creepy. So many interesting things can be done with rhyme and form: Don Paterson's "The Lie"

And then there are the things, equally interesting but creepy for different reasons, that result from the rhyme and form writers try to employ when they're in their teens and getting used to their voice. I went to this site because of Felicia Day and wish I had found it sooner (because then my old poetry might have had a great home, hee hee!): Mortified

Finally, I am curious about this: Killer explosive Pepsi?

Thanks for stopping by to check out these links. I wish to update this blog more, but many of the things that intrigue me during the day end up being written about in my little red private notebook. And without those to mention, I'm pretty boring.

Lucille Clifton

The other day, I was listening to an interview that Curtis Fox from the Poetry Foundation did with the now-deceased poet Lucille Clifton. During the interview, Ms. Clifton read one of her poems, "homage to my hips." After she read, Mr. Fox mentioned that the poem had been written during the 1970s and asked her if it was a response to feminism.

Her answer? A laugh and "No, it was in response to my big hips!"

:)

Poets of the world, if we all smile a little more, maybe readers won't be afraid to remember that poetry touches on everything human!

Link: Lucille Clifton

A Sonnet for Superman -- The Rejected Version

A while back, I made a post about how I sometimes find it good to write just for the sake of writing, even if the results come out flawed. The poem below is another product of one of those sessions. It could've been good, but the familiar tone that the poem starts out with gets abandoned halfway through, the idea of something put out into the world coming back to you gets muddled, and the conclusion in the last line seems to come too suddenly, without being properly developed. And yet, I can't totally throw the poem away because, dude, I wrote something in sonnet form!

What could I do with this version? I thought. And then it occurred to me: I have a blog! And so....

“A Better Alter Ego for Superman”

Kal-El's disguise was pure and utter crap.
I'm sure you've thought so, too. Those glasses? Right.
Can't you just see them broken in a fight
By Supes himself the second that a slap
Loosed from his mighty hand came back and cracked
The lenses? With good will, that's how it goes.
In tempered fists or gilded words, it flows
Like water, easy. Wherever the pact
May bring it, though, we lack a guarantee:
The hands we'd touch with it could be too hard
To hold it. Yes, the Man of Steel might be
Too kind and resolute for us, so marred
And doubtful. Instead, throw the cape on me.
I'm here, I'm human, I'm perfectly scarred.

Ha! I love this.

If you had this, would you play "Settlers of Catan" on it... or would you wear it while playing "Settlers of Catan"?

And the first nominee for Most Unintentionally Giggle-Worthy Text Balloon in an Old Comic is...

Don't worry. It's oak-kay to make a spelling mistake sometimes.

You wanted it... the trees wanted it more!

Today was the day that professional registration for Comic-Con began. That got me looking at pictures from last year's trip, among which was this beauty. I hope the Capcom booth has more Monster Hunter swag this year.

Also, totally unrelated, but happy 25th birthday to my brother!