I saw a bald eagle for the very first time when I was in Maine last weekend. I rarely use the word awesome but it was awesome: strong, self-possessed, appropriately peremptory. Because I believe birds channel energies from the other side, I asked this spirit guide of the United States to protect what was good about our country. Today, in the first rousing defeat of the Trump Oligarchy, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals unanimously refused to reinstate the Muslim Ban. The decision even name-checked Ex parte Mitsuye Endo, in which the Supreme Court ruled the U.S. government could not detain a “concededly loyal” U.S. citizen in response to the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II. And as I write this, GOP town hall meetings all across the land are erupting with justified anger. Today the checks and balances of these allegedly United States worked, and I feel certain that eagle is proud. Maybe we lost so many beloveds last year so they could better serve in avian form. That Prince bird’s gonna be something else.
More bad news today, really terrible news. A shut-down Elizabeth Warren; Jeff Sessions confirmed as attorney general. In my distress I find myself turning to literature: memoir, novels, and, above all, poetry. I need its slow, steady heartbeat; I thrive on its small and great pleasures. Donald Hall in particular is speaking to me though I’m still figuring out why. This is the magic of poetry: that scavenger hunt of self-discovery. Continue Reading →
Since November 9, I’ve been thinking nonstop about why I so hotly dislike GIFs, emojis–all the visual options that now exist in lieu of words. Essentially, all these visual codes train us to stop articulating ourselves–to rely on limited pre/post-literate symbols for self-expression rather than this handy, deeply nuanced system of symbols we’ve already developed called LANGUAGE. This mutation of expression is dangerous. Really dangerous. For the less we use our power of articulation, the less available it is to us. All muscles atrophy when not regularly deployed, and we are in a national crisis in which all our critical facilities are vital in order to resist fascism; we must be able to describe the beast if we are to defeat it.
To be clear, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the ease of emojis. I even use them sometimes, but I find that curtailing my impulse to do so forces me to be more deliberate about engagement. I tell myself: If you don’t have something real to say, don’t say anything.Continue Reading →
I saw a bald eagle for the very first time when I was in Maine last weekend. I rarely use the word awesome but it was awesome: strong, self-possessed, appropriately peremptory. Because I believe birds channel energies from the other side, I asked this spirit guide of the United States to protect what was good about our country. Today, in the first rousing defeat of the Trump Oligarchy, the Ninth Circuit of Appeals unanimously refused to reinstate the Muslim Ban. The decision even name-checked Ex parte Mitsuye Endo, in which the Supreme Court ruled the U.S. government could not detain a “concededly loyal” U.S. citizen in response to the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II. And as I write this, GOP town hall meetings all across the land are erupting with justified anger. Today the checks and balances of these allegedly United States worked, and I feel certain that eagle is proud. Maybe we lost so many beloveds last year so they could better serve in avian form. That Prince bird’s gonna be something else.
More bad news today, really terrible news. A shut-down Elizabeth Warren; Jeff Sessions confirmed as attorney general. In my distress I find myself turning to literature: memoir, novels, and, above all, poetry. I need its slow, steady heartbeat; I thrive on its small and great pleasures. Donald Hall in particular is speaking to me though I’m still figuring out why. This is the magic of poetry: that scavenger hunt of self-discovery. Continue Reading →
Since November 9, I’ve been thinking nonstop about why I so hotly dislike GIFs, emojis–all the visual options that now exist in lieu of words. Essentially, all these visual codes train us to stop articulating ourselves–to rely on limited pre/post-literate symbols for self-expression rather than this handy, deeply nuanced system of symbols we’ve already developed called LANGUAGE. This mutation of expression is dangerous. Really dangerous. For the less we use our power of articulation, the less available it is to us. All muscles atrophy when not regularly deployed, and we are in a national crisis in which all our critical facilities are vital in order to resist fascism; we must be able to describe the beast if we are to defeat it.