Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Low sixties here today, forties through weekend. Every day like this is one day closer to spring, & one more day without snow or icy slop. But Jersey is a humid coastal state, & winter is when we have our clean, clear dry cold air, good for people with allergies - just about everyone is allergic to one thing or another. A deep freeze is necessary for a really colorful early springtime when the crocuses, tulips, forsythia & dogwoods all bloom. So it's a trade off. I don't think many people really mind cold, sunny days. Just layer up.
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Surrendering to uncontrollable lawlessness, Newark NJ city council passed a discriminatory & possibly unconstitutional law:
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Pathetic dust up between an Oxford Professor of Poetry & the British poet laureate over the latter's suggestion that texting has "tremendous potential" for poetry.
Carol Ann Duffy is 'wrong' about poetry, says Geoffrey Hill
Oxford professor of poetry attacks Duffy's praise of text language
I don't know if it does or doesn't. You let poetry happens wherever it happens. But I do know that hardly anyone outside of the realm of poetry knows Hill or Duffy much less cares what they say. I began writing poems when poets still had some cultural credibility beyond poets, & it was common to find a few books from New Directions, Pocket Poets & Black Sparrow on bookshelves of people who'd attended college.
Although the terrain of poetry has expanded & more young people are participating in it, they - the poets - are still constrained by boundaries, as if a poet involved in something other than poetry is no longer acting as a poet.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
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Surrendering to uncontrollable lawlessness, Newark NJ city council passed a discriminatory & possibly unconstitutional law:
Ordinance limiting hours of late night Newark eateries passes unanimously
Many of the city’s eateries won’t be hiring armed guards late at night because many will not be open.If you own an eatery in a designated high crime area, you are treated like the cause of crime rather than as a victim of the city's inability to protect your business, for which you pay taxes. That's prejudice. The police chief inaccurately stated that suburban businesses aren't open late. First, & most obviously, a city isn't suburbia. Good American cities stay open late. In New York City nightlife doesn't even get rolling until midnight. But suburbia in Jersey has 24/7 diners, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's, convenience stores & supermarkets. Many fast food places close for only two or three hours for the cleaning crew & breakfast menu turnaround.
From Lyons Avenue to Broadway, restaurants in high-crime areas must now close their doors at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
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Pathetic dust up between an Oxford Professor of Poetry & the British poet laureate over the latter's suggestion that texting has "tremendous potential" for poetry.
Carol Ann Duffy is 'wrong' about poetry, says Geoffrey Hill
Oxford professor of poetry attacks Duffy's praise of text language
I don't know if it does or doesn't. You let poetry happens wherever it happens. But I do know that hardly anyone outside of the realm of poetry knows Hill or Duffy much less cares what they say. I began writing poems when poets still had some cultural credibility beyond poets, & it was common to find a few books from New Directions, Pocket Poets & Black Sparrow on bookshelves of people who'd attended college.
Although the terrain of poetry has expanded & more young people are participating in it, they - the poets - are still constrained by boundaries, as if a poet involved in something other than poetry is no longer acting as a poet.
Labels: about writing, in the news, New Jersey, potpourri, weather
