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Randy on Poetry Workshops

I don’t like poetry workshops. I don’t have the right to tell a poet to take out a word or to change a line. I can suggest but what if the poet’s ego is smaller than mine? They may change a word that makes the poem for other readers based on my five second review. I also tend to not like having to write by a deadline. I like to write whenever I have free time or something must be addressed. I am an emotional person so I can create easily but I’d rather let it be natural. I have learned this semester to really work with tension in a poem. What two things are fighting each other? What is at stake for the speaker? However, I know that the criticism in this class started making me write for the writers in this class and not for the audience I wish to have. So these poems will probably never see a future collection of mine.

Randy on the Simplicity of Poetry

As a writer, the most important goal for me is to make sure that everyone can read, enjoy and relate to my work. I want those who do not read poetry and who are not aware of common conventions among modern artist or any poetry movement or style of writing to understand my work. Often, poets are concerned with what their contemporaries or other scholars think of their writing. I could care less. I want to be able to share my work with the guy behind the deli counter who hasn’t read a poem since grade school and he say: I know how you feel, that happened to me. The more abstract or intelligent a poem, the smaller the audience. It may be a symptom of a society with lowering standards of education. It may be a problem with the small attention spans of Americans who love their television. Whatever the case, the people that are in my family and that I work with don’t care about literature in the slightest. They read the latest trashy novel by Omar Tyree or Zane and consider that art. Everything else is considered boring. I chalk it up to them not being able to follow a Toni Morrison because she never tells a story completely from beginning to end. They can’t handle the classical references made in a Countee Cullen poem. Since it seems I am criticizing the educational system and the intellect of the people I know, I know naturally it begs the question: Why would I want to write poems that are concrete that don’t lend themselves to higher orders of thinking?

I believe poetry has a voice that opens up many secrets others are hiding. It can change your beliefs by providing a different viewpoint. Through imagery and stakes a story can be told or a message delivered that people are frightened of. Change in this world can only happen when the masses stop existing and start observing. If only poets and scholars can understand your message, who are you leaving revolution up to? Most poets and scholars I know have no intention of joining the army, but the young man who read below grade level in school might feel that’s his best option. Think of the urgency of the message an accessible poet could sent to him. Most artists I know have no intention of joining politics, but think of what message an energetic, young interesting poet could send to the lawyer or accountant running for mayor. Poetry has the ability to sell just as many units and be widely received as any John Grisham, Dean Koontz or Zane novel, but there is a stigma attached to poetry. It’s considered by many to be intentionally dense and difficult. Take the following four lines for example:
Persephone walks down the hill
Casting a shadow upon the earth
We must wait 6 lunar days
For the fields to again show mirth
The common response I would get from a non-poetry reader for that poem is Oh, That’s Pretty. This response is because lines 2 and 4 rhyme. The scholar or artist may enjoy it, only because they know what Persephone’s story is and what I meant by 6 lunar days and they know what the word mirth means. However, I could have been clearer:
The snows of winter last six months
Love is frozen in one’s vein
Hearts can’t feel any warmth
Until the spring thaws it again
Most scholars would say that the above poem belongs in a third grade text book. Artists may say it’s full of clichés. However for someone who doesn’t read poetry will be able to appreciate it more. And know what is being said.

Family

An accident of birth? a burden? a blessing? what is it? I wonder. On this Easter Sunday I sit here with my Aunt who hosts every holiday when only half the family shows and less than that show gratitude. But she still does it. She teaches me a lesson in forgiveness. If we have an argument, you're not welcome in my home. She always invites anyone over, who wants to be here. I want to be here. But i can't be here sober. For one my mother fusses for how my sister disciplines her children. For another, my aunt fusses about things on the floor after she spent the weekend cleaning. I can tune this out with a pint of BACARDI. They say I shouldn't drink before 12 noon. Why not? Does anyone know what time of the day Jesus turned water into wine? If you deal with my family, you will call on Jesus. You will ask him for patience. You will ask him for understanding. You will ask him for restraint. You will ask him for energy. You will ask him for peace. You will thank him you have people around you.

Entertainment Education

I wonder about American urban education.  We’re lagging behind.  People say this is because we are using outdated curriculums and outdated methods.  This is partially true.  To me the fact that is being ignored is that students are not motivated.  My generation, the ever famous generation X, did our work questioning why we had to learn certain things.  But we knew there were consequences when we didn’t learn.  We didn’t want to fail because we didn’t want to bring that report card to mama whom knew when it was coming and cared what it said.  So regardless of not knowing why we had to learn about The Aztecs, Pythagorean Theorem and Predicate Nominatives, we felt we had to.   Yeah we got disciplined at home.  Belts, shoes and open hands were my mother’s weapon of choice.  I feared my mother and I feared God so therefore I didn’t want to upset either so I sat through boring lessons and did my work. 

 

As a middle school urban teacher, there is not a lesson that I plan that I write without thinking: will my students be bored?  This is important because if they’re not entertained, they will tear my room apart.  They will write on the books, throw paper, eat sunflower seeds, curse at each other, and instigate fights out of boredom.  If I want to have a smooth lesson; it better be engaging.  In our day, teachers were allowed to be boring and students would still be required to behave and learn. 

 

As an adult, think about the amount of tedious, boring nonsense we have to go through.  Interviews, pre-job testing, lectures by elderly professors, waiting in doctor’s offices, boring meetings and trainings on sexual harassment, are all cases where we have to sit down, listen, behave and feign interest.  Are our students ready for the real world.  The answer is no.  They have no consequences at home, thanks to most Americans believing spanking is passé.  They do not have to exhibit self control and therefore when they become adults, the job market will have to change for them in order to accept their rowdiness.

 

It’s changing already.  Think about the last few times you went to a fast food restaurant.  Did you notice the employees behind the counter cursing and playing?  In my day you would’ve been fired if you said darn around a customer.  I miss those days.  I miss obedient children.  I will miss America when it can no longer compete with the children turned adults in other countries and it collapses.    

 

See Me Perform at Open Mic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ngCSW9gfvc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEpZ_a2eK-M

Economic Stimulus . . . No Thanks

Everyone that I know is against my position on this and I don't care because AMERICA, YOU ARE NOT BEING SMART! We are 7+ trillion dollars in debt, and running a budget deficit this year of another trillion dollars. We are borrowing money from the Chinese and the Russians. And then spening a billion dollars a month in Iraq! This is an impossible financial situation. The reason for this economic slowdown is simple. The world economy is held up by the American consumer. The American consumer relies on credit to buy the world's goods and services. I've said it time and time again Americans are in pain and one of the ways that they soothe that pain is to spend. Credit is just a nice name for debt and the American consumer is now tapped out. We had decades of economic prosperity based on Americans spending themselves into debt. Now the cloak is thrown off and the problem is correcting itself. Banks that were carefree in lending to high risk borrowers, are now out of business. Automakers that were producing more cars than they can sell, are now out of business. People who bought houses that they couldn't afford, are now being put out of them. Companies that had more employees than profits are now laying off. Those who were underqualified for their jobs are now being put out of work. Inflated home prices are coming down. Retail is being forced to cut its margins. The stock market which hit ridiculously high levels is now slowed down to would have been normal growth. The problems are correcting themselves. The American bubble has burst and no amount of money that the governement wants to put into it will reinflate it. Americans are going to stop spending themselves into the hole and start saving as they did this past Christmas season.

My point? The government is drowning future American taxpayers in debt. And honestly the next generation is not going to pay for it. They'll refuse and what will that mean ? War with China? Oh, I know that there will be a stimulus package on the table. But its a bad idea, especially because it has no chance in hell of stimulating an economy back into false prosperity.

On Being Lonely . . .

We're watching too much Oprah and Dr. Phil. True Americans are in pain. The addictions to debt, food, liquor and crystal meth are all tell tale signs. But not everyone who is lonely and looking for a relationship has low self esteem. That's what every counselor and psychiatrist will have you believe. Let me put it to you this way. I know I'm good looking, look at the face in the title bar, it's undeniable. I know that I have a great career. I know that I was born into this world by myself and I will die alone. I also know that having a girl is not the answer to all my problems. I'm pretty smart right, I mean I waited until 29 to start my Master's program, but I have a basic understanding of myself and the world around me. So I know that I can live alone. I mean I have for the last 11 years and have not broken out with a terminal illness. But I don't believe that GOD put us on this earth to be single. One should have companionship. Why do you think so many movies and songs are made about love? It's a human desire to love someone and be loved romantically.

One of the biggest issues that has cropped up as of late is the insane amount of time that passes after puberty until the average marrying age, which is now 26. In the 1800s you were married between 14 and 16 so therefore once you hit puberty you got married. You didn't have to worry what to do if you got wet or hard. There was someone forced upon you. Now there's premarital sex, teenage pregnancy, casual dating, internet chatting, meeting parents, extrimarital affairs, homosexuality and a whole host of experiences to be had between puberty and marriage. I love dating. I love casual sex. The issue is that starting around 23 I began to long for a partnership. One where we go out on dates still. Where we don't have to make love all the time, we can still have the roughness from casual sex. I also want the butterflies that come after you realize she is special. Calling her to tell her you miss her on the way home from her house. Neither one of you wanting to hang up the phone first so you stay on an extra 10 minutes. Arguments over the remote control, the way you eat, the bathroom sink and what movie we should go see are all pleasureable and you know why? Because it proves someone cares. Someone besides your mama, somebody besides Jesus (even though that's all you NEED) cares enough to stay in your presence although you aggrivate them.

I'm sounding mushy, but being single aint nearly half as fun as it used to be. The more I try not to think about it, the more I think about it. It's not low self esteem, that I suffer from, it's an abundance of life. So many things are going well for me right now, I have time to be lonely. When you're sick or broke, love is the last thing on your mind. It's on my mind because everything is fitting together so well in my life and this is the missing piece.

The puzzle is almost done.

Good Riddance To The Music Industry

In 2000 the bigesst sellng album was NSync's No Strings Attached. It sold 10 million copies. In 2005 the biggest selling album was Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi. It sold 5 million copies. Last year's biggest seller was Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III selling 2.8 million copies. See a trend? For decades, since the rock era started, major record companies have been taking advantage of artists and fans alike. And everyone knew it. The average take on a record for an artist during the 90's, at the height of its greed, was 4-7 % of the album's profits. Then the record company had the audacity to subtract recording costs from that 4-7 % before the artist could see a penny. How greedy, right? Well, how satisfying was it to see Tommy Mottola fired from SONY earlier this decade? How wonderful to see LA Reid outed from ARISTA two years after he replaced Clive Davis (who has since replaced him) and now Reid is at ISLAND DEF/JAM shaking in his boots. To see ARISTA chained to Whitney Houston's 100 million dollar contract and trust me her comeback won't earn them back nearly that amount of money. The decline of the CD has been an amazing feat to watch. Seeing Sam Goody and Tower go down when at their height, they were selling CD's at 18.98 a pop. To watch the labels accept lower profits when Best Buy and WalMart were selling them as low as $9.99. Now Best Buy and WalMart have both shrunk music retail space in all of their stores. It's a great terminal illness to watch.

If you feel sorry for SONY/BMG, WARNER, EMI etc . . . dont! They brought this on themselves. The death of the music industry has been caused by illegal downloading but let me tell you where that comes from. In 1998 the intelligent CEOs sat down and said "sales from singles are cutting into CD profits, if we stop issuing commercial singles in stores, then the consumer will be forced to buy an entire CD." Consumers were duped into buying Chumbawumba, Natalie Imbruglia and a whole host of other CDs for one song. So when the internet became fast enough for file sharing, people ran with it. Now the record companies are losing profits and are being forced to merge. The one sad spot in all this are the artists who have been cut from rosters and it would break my heart if Billboard Magazine ceased to exist. One last problem with all of this is how is the mainstream gonna be exposed to new music and artists? The only artist to break into the mainstreamfrom Myspace is Cassie. That doesn't look promising. But whatever the case, whatever replaces the current music industry will hopefully be fair in compensating the artist and delivering to fans.

Creative Narrative Sites

The first site I viewed was http://www.stories1st.com . This seems like a revolutionary idea, at least to me. The front page of the site gives the reader (or viewer) a choice of medium to experience the story. The reader's choices are sound, words, vision. I looked at a story located in vision first. There is a selection called flashSTORIES, which contains a group of stories told in macromedia flash. The one I viewed was called cut.sharp. It contained different speakers telling stories of unjust and unfair treatment due to race and/or religion. Different quotes flashed across the screen, some biblical, some from philosophers etc. There was also an asian dancer that danced fading in and out. A somber, new age compisition played in the background. It was interesting to see movement and artwork while listening to stories and music. It was multi-tasking for the senses. What works for the site is its simplicity. The reader can choose their medium, read a little blurb about each story's content and go right into the story. They accept submissions, though they say they are unable to pay the artists (sadface). I would like to see poetry added to the categories of submissions, people oft forget you can tell an amazing story through a poem.

The second site I viewed was http://www.classicshorts.com . This one is a mess. There is no submitting for writers here. Only stories that one would find in a Norton Anthology. Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne and James Joyce are some of the authors within it's "pages." The real problem is the site design. On my particular visit, there is supposed to be something on the side bar and at the bottom but according to my browser those pages are not available. When the reader approaches the site, you are supposed to know the name or the author of the story you want to read. No leisurely browsing can take place here. There is no summary of a story before you read it so the reader will have to sit through 100 words (my guesstimate) before they decide they've lost two minutes of their life that they can never get back. The story is on plain white background with words the editor decided may be difficult or foriegn hyperlinked. It also gives you a daunting word count before you read the story, which some of these require intense mouse action on the scroll bar. The one great thing about this site is it contains many famous English, American and European authors, and their lesser known stories. But my final take is that this is not a site for readers but for the empty pocketed college student who can't fork over eighty bucks for Norton. Happy scrolling.

The third site I looked at was http://www.storiesville.com . This is a very interesting site. The writer is to submit a story and then it is packed into a genre sub-category. There is also a place to submit poetry (smile.) Each story that you read has a spot where you can rate the story on a five point scale from poor to best. Each story comes with a picture although I am not clear if it author selected or editor selected. Another questionable feature on the site is the home page which contains "Promoted Stories." It isn't entirely clear how those stories are chosen to be promoted, but I'm sure that the author lucky enough to attain this special position has their story read and rated most. There is also a place underneath each story where you may comment. Each story contains a warning if it may contain adult content. Overall this is a great place that functions equally great for the writer wanting feedback and the reader looking for something different.