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Feb. 9th, 2005 10:11 pmso in reading a long list of various rants in response to my friend k's criticism of a volume of poetry, all I can say is thank god I never published any of the things I've said about slam poetry on my livejournal. anyone who's ever talked to me immediately after I watched a poetry slam has heard things so much nastier, harsher, more elitist and more groundless (given that I'm a chicken shit middle school teacher who has never even attemtped to make it past open mike.). gaaack!
though honestly, I have heard more honest and interesting poetry out of 13 year olds writing their first poems that in some of the poems I heard in the slam semi-finals a few years ago.
I feel almost dirty reading all of it- don't I have papers to grade, or better things to do with my time? sweet jesus and mary! make up your mind people - is LJ a place where people JOURNAL - express their opinions regardlessof basis, where they talk about what they ate for breakfast, what music they are / are not listening to and talk about their coworkers habits, or is it a place where someone's critique should then be crititiqued as if it is being published for peer review? whatever. I got so caught up in reading all that nonsense I managed to let my teapot get damanged beyond repair (who knew that the solder would actually liquefy on an electric stove?) sigh.
I know K's not afraid of confrontation, and may even be enjoying some of this discussion, but honestly, my job gives me enough real confrontation in my life to make it so that I would never want to be subject to that kind of stuff myself.
the highlight of my day was explaining to a bunch of 12-year olds how a power plant works and getting to explain the economics vs. environemental impacts of smokestack filters for the two kids who were still following what I was saying in response to their questions about what power companies charge for.
after my lecture I tried to get them to explain it to each other and then write in words. I spent a lot of time moving my hands around in circles and saying, "don't forget how the generator works, watch my hands, I'm giving you a hint"
I'm still waiting for someone to get mad at me for teaching the kids the chain of circumstances that leads from hunting large predators to fish dying.
anyway, it's past my bedtime, and now I can't use my teapot to make my goodnight cup of tea.
though honestly, I have heard more honest and interesting poetry out of 13 year olds writing their first poems that in some of the poems I heard in the slam semi-finals a few years ago.
I feel almost dirty reading all of it- don't I have papers to grade, or better things to do with my time? sweet jesus and mary! make up your mind people - is LJ a place where people JOURNAL - express their opinions regardlessof basis, where they talk about what they ate for breakfast, what music they are / are not listening to and talk about their coworkers habits, or is it a place where someone's critique should then be crititiqued as if it is being published for peer review? whatever. I got so caught up in reading all that nonsense I managed to let my teapot get damanged beyond repair (who knew that the solder would actually liquefy on an electric stove?) sigh.
I know K's not afraid of confrontation, and may even be enjoying some of this discussion, but honestly, my job gives me enough real confrontation in my life to make it so that I would never want to be subject to that kind of stuff myself.
the highlight of my day was explaining to a bunch of 12-year olds how a power plant works and getting to explain the economics vs. environemental impacts of smokestack filters for the two kids who were still following what I was saying in response to their questions about what power companies charge for.
after my lecture I tried to get them to explain it to each other and then write in words. I spent a lot of time moving my hands around in circles and saying, "don't forget how the generator works, watch my hands, I'm giving you a hint"
I'm still waiting for someone to get mad at me for teaching the kids the chain of circumstances that leads from hunting large predators to fish dying.
anyway, it's past my bedtime, and now I can't use my teapot to make my goodnight cup of tea.
