Jobby Job

Inspired by Alli Warren's latest post about work-related acronyms I thought I'd let y'all know how the new job is going.
I'm uh...teaching a "Literacy" and "Recycled Poetry, Recycled Art" for the next 5 weeks as part of Mills College's Upward Bound Program in Oakland.

Teaching:

Evaluating the work of young minds via point system -0- (any negative feelings associated with this process negated by the awesome rush of power, and vice versa)

The kids call me "Miss Lindsey" + 2

I get to say the phrase "Oh, you can just put it in my box." + 10

Commute -2

Hilarious kids with serious attitude + 5

Learning about "Environmental Justice" and "Environmental Racism" via The Environmental Justice Reader" + 5

Knocking the dust off the ol' "Teacher Voice" + 2

Translating and justifying my love of old crap and inability to throw things away into something usefull ie: Found Art/Poetry +5

Edifying the youth of today for a better tomorrow -Really who can quantify the value of that?-

Birthday

Top 5 Birthday Memories:
1987 or '88- Sleeping Beauty cake
1994- Watching O.J. Simpson white Bronco car chase while waiting for my guests to arrive.
1999- First indie-rocker music festival featuring Elliot Smith. Thanks, Julia.
2002- Smooching on a picnic bench having snuck away from the party (high school graduation/birthday party).
2003- Stoney ocean romp and Mexican Food. Jenny wore her camouflage bikini just for me.

I Dreamt I was a Nymphomaniac, really

So I'm making out with Tommy Lee, of Motley Crüe, and I whisper into his ear, "Did you know that some men taste of coins?" then I lean in a bit further and whisper, "I want to count your change."


--I'm pretty sure I can thank Ms. Acker for this one.

Hey...San Francisco

You sexy thing you. I see you winking at me. You gonna be good to me? treat me right? Okay then, we can go out, but you've seen my deal-breakers so you know the score. That's what I thought. You missed me. Well, it's on!

Just keep your hands where I can see them. I've heard some things about your tenderloin.

Laura Elrick- Poetry, Ecology and the Reappropriation of Lived Space

Please read this paper Poetry, Ecology and the Reappropriation of Lived Space. Elrick presents the strongest argument yet for a poetics that get's us off the page and into the world. She helps us question our need or desire to publish in a world overflowing with publishing ventures both small press and otherwise. Small press publishing is not so small. Also, how can we explain the explosion of cultural output in the U.S. that as Elrick shows happened concurrently with the drastic decrease of domestic production of goods? The increase in the number of M.F.A. programs in the U.S. is just one indicator of this trend. She asks why so many young people have turned to poetry during this time? A question that needs asking and begs serious critical self-reflection.

One of my questions is what do we lose when we move away from a text-based poetics? Elrick does not argue for the end of text, obviously but suggests that we look at new ways to integrate the poetic with the social. Literacy is at a low low right now and we need to encourage people to read and to make the tools of literacy accessible. Yes, but, in addition, we can do other things. Generally speaking, most Americans have nearly lost the ability to take in poetry in an oral form. Hardly anyone can recite one full poem by heart. What would happen if we took our disjunction, our polyvocality, our defamilarization of language into a more public realm? Would anyone have the attention span for it? Can we expand our attention spans? Can we exercise those old oral tradition muscles?

I've seen how the average passerby reacts to Rodrigo Toscano's Collapsible Poetics Theater or David Buuk's public performances and it is very often with intense curiosity and a desire to interact. People want to become part of it, they want to join in. That is an excellent sign and something we should consider. We don't need to sell poetry. Most people don't want to buy it and that's. just. fine. From what I can tell though, people do want poetry because we want things that wake us up, engage us in our lives and brighten the edges of things. Maybe what we need to do is just give the stuff away. Give it away like it's not worth anything, like it's just part of being human.

Anyway, read the paper, it's incredible.

Antidote to Sex and the City and also these things are just bound to happen...

From I Dreamt I was a Nymphomaniac:

"I nod hello to Dan. He announces he's getting married: introduces the woman with whom he's going to get married. I walk away to get more champagne. As I return to the balcony, a blonde woman walks up to the group the stranger says "I didn't know you wanted to come here." He introduces his wife to us. I'm going crazy but withstraining myself admirably. If I don't fuck someone soon know someone wants me, I'll have to ride my horse for three days again: do something wilder. I can't stop myself. I get another drink. Mel someone walks up to us says "I'm the only man here who isn't married or about to be married" meaning I might as well fuck him because I'm so desperate. I ask him to marry me since I have a lot of money: I'll support him. I tell him how much money I have. He says "Yes. I tell him to go shit on himself. I'm in a lousy mood."



--perhaps this is no antidote at all but something better. i've seen this scene played out in designer clothing and located in New York rather than good ol' San Francisco. i saw it on tv. the movie was awful. the show has it's moments. this is not an advertisement. except that it is one for Kathy Acker. this is not literary criticism. how can i escape feeling like a salesman on this blog? my posts are tuned to an entertaining pitch and kept short and punchy like marketing copy. one big blurb, but what for? a blurb for me? just so you know, internet, i'm fantastic! like shampoo, i'm fantastic like shampoo is fantastic. What is going on here? What.

--stay tuned for clips from Freud's Totem and Taboo it'll blow your mind and then make you reevaluate your value system! Yeah!

I Dreamt I was a Nymphomaniac

"I'm a poet and what I do is sacred. The people who keep me from the few lousy instruments I need to disseminate this crap are evil. They're using the instruments for business. They've no regard for those activities which are sacred." -- Kathy Acker

Danger. Danger. Danger.

If you listen to music while you write poetry then you're extra bad.

I do so I am.