tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72051004820609515482024-03-05T01:24:29.150-05:00AdultishFarrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.comBlogger174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-15645573907607816142013-02-13T11:42:00.002-05:002013-02-15T09:09:41.241-05:00Field Report on The Next Big Thing<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Thank you <a href="http://stevenkarl.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-next-big-thing.html" target="_blank">Steven Karl</a> and <a href="http://christopherkondrich.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/gould-vs-perahia/" target="_blank">Christopher Kondrich</a> for tagging me for The NEXT BIG THING. Here's the interview with myself.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">What is the working title of the book?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Wolf and Pilot</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />Where did the idea come from for the book?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">My first book had more personal subject matter, centered around the tragedy of my sister's death. I wanted to really break away from that, start fresh, so I invented a sort of fairy tale-ish world. Think Sleeping Beauty meets Twin Peaks.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />What genre does your book fall under?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Poetry</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">My new beautiful son could play all the parts because he's a genius.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Four girls run away from their mother, who is a witch, and find shelter with the teacher and detective who have sex together while becoming the chosen parents of the girls.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Are you kidding? Three years at least. With a great group of friends, I workshopped the first draft and finalized the manuscript at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Four Way Books, my publisher, granted me the opportunity to spend time there.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />Who or what inspired you to write this book?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Well, as I mentioned earlier, I really wanted to do something different and several books and films were setting up the new project. I watched Picnic at Hanging Rock shortly after reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. So I was interested in exploring the spooky nature of spookiness--girls who communicate without speaking, torture, bad things that happen to good people for example.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Wolf and Pilot consists of poems that tell a sort of story. The poems also embody the voices of the four girls, the witch mother, the teacher, and the detective. The usual dynamic of a fairy tale is that the children lose their idyllic, perfect mother and have to escape the hatred and jealousy of their step-mother. I was interested in thwarting that dynamic by having the four girls escape their evil mother and find a new set of parents. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br />Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">My book is published by Four Way Books, who also published my first book Rising. You can purchase both books <a href="http://www.fourwaybooks.com/2012fall/field.php?PHPSESSID=055f4cea053c942efedcbcb1c9effb84" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Watch my book trailer<a href="http://vimeo.com/49475394" target="_blank"> here</a>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">I'm tagging Christie Ann Reynolds, <a href="http://maureenalsop.com/home.html" target="_blank">Maureen Alsop</a>, <a href="http://lilyladewig.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Lily Ladewig</a>, and <a href="http://www.tarabetts.net/" target="_blank">Tara Betts</a>.</span>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-90742116556659342612012-09-27T08:10:00.000-04:002012-09-27T08:10:24.882-04:00White Wolf Party Tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpUnLA_k8qW5FDaGMOUc58iBLTL2vIyqPVpiBYqFzKr8oUNX8u_LUlMUbM1qkcqIKYz8y22An-zVpaxukdIbRRIvkfDg8ITU-ATXuTN_F62S2Fs48vpPPN24QQ0E1Qjq54FIhHMtslF4/s1600/SAM_3178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpUnLA_k8qW5FDaGMOUc58iBLTL2vIyqPVpiBYqFzKr8oUNX8u_LUlMUbM1qkcqIKYz8y22An-zVpaxukdIbRRIvkfDg8ITU-ATXuTN_F62S2Fs48vpPPN24QQ0E1Qjq54FIhHMtslF4/s320/SAM_3178.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My new book Wolf and Pilot will be physical soon! To celebrate with my publisher Four Way Books I'm headed out west with Jared White and Dan Magers. Jared is celebrating his forthcoming chapbook This Is What It Is Like To Be Loved By Me, out by Bloof Books, and Dan is celebrating the release of his book Partyknife, out by Birds, LLC. Come to a reading! Come buy a book! You can read a review <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-884800-99-3" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There will be more readings hereafter and I promise to keep you posted. I will read until the baby is born and then I will read some more!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sept 30--in Boise, Idaho with Jared White, Dan Magers, Farrah
Field, and Kyle Crawford<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://ghostsandprojectors.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: black;">http://ghostsandprojectors.wordpress.com/</span></a><span style="color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7pm,
at The Crux, 1022 W Main Street, Boise. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">October 2--Portland, Oregon with Farrah Field, Jared
White, and Dan Magers </span>with musical guest <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">import/import</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://ifnotforkidnappoetry.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: black;">http://ifnotforkidnappoetry.blogspot.com/</span></a><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7:30 PM,
Recess Gallery 1127 SE 10th Avenue Portland, OR 97214 (207-409-6763)<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">October 5--Oakland, California with Dan Magers, Farrah
Field, and Jared White<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">at Studio 1 Art Center<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://studioonereadingseries.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: black;">http://studioonereadingseries.blogspot.com/</span></a><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oct 6--San Francisco radio appearance with Jared White,
Farrah Field, and Dan Magers<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poet as Radio<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">airs Saturday from 9-10<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://poetasradio.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: black;">http://poetasradio.blogspot.com/</span></a><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oct 8--poetry talk and tea with students at Cal Arts Los
Angeles, CA<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 pm<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oct 9--Los Angeles, CA reading with Michelle Detorie, Jared
White and Dan Magers<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Pop-Hop bookstore<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5002 York Boulevard, Los Angeles, in Highland Park<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7 pm<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oct 10—the book tour ends in NY with this great reading<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">@ 6:30 pm in New York, NY.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Celebrating New Work from 2012 CLMP Face Out Grantees<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cynthia Cruz, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">Farrah Field </span><span style="color: black;">(</span><span style="color: black;">Four Way Books)</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dan Machlin reading for Frances Richard (Futurepoem
Books)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dan Magers (Birds, LLC)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kristin Prevallet<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>(Belladonna
Books)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">NYU Main Bookstore, 726
Broadway<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Farrah’s dad will be there!!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-30947423804145320482012-05-07T15:45:00.000-04:002012-05-07T15:51:36.257-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4f109dd7eab8ea441d000011/foxconn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4f109dd7eab8ea441d000011/foxconn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Two podcasts from This American Life, "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory" and "The Retraction," reveal to us that nothing is ever what it is and nothing is ever simple. Since I choose not to participate in the world where everything has a news cycle that is soon forgotten about, you may think I am approaching this conversation late. I don't particularly care if you think <i>that's over</i>, but the truth (a funny word to say here) is that I can't stop thinking about it. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is most troubling about Mr. Daisey's fabrications and half-truths is the reaction to Mr. Daisey's fabrications and half-truths. (I wondered if the podcast should have been called The Reaction as opposed to The Retraction?) Mr. Daisy presented his theater piece as a personal experience and he therefore should not have fabricated or exaggerated any truths, given that context. The factory guards have no guns, for example, because guns are illegal in China. The workers don't meet in coffee houses or in Starbucks, as Mr. Daisey implicated, because they make so little money that they could not afford coffee there. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These lies are brought forth. Thank you. Good job. How come the conversation is not taken further? If these factories are so great, why do they have guards? And shouldn't a factory worker be able to afford a cup of coffee at a coffee shop? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There weren't hundreds of under-age employees. Out of thousands of workers, there were only 91 under-age employees reported. Only 91! A real win for labor! Mr. Daisey, among other fibs, lied about a group of people forming an illegal union, but it is never corroborated that he met with any union organizers and what is implied is the possibility that are are no union organizers. You liar! Ha. This American Life sure showed him.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The real conversation that needed to take place never happened because Mr. Daisey lied and now no one should feel bad about factory working conditions; the conversation is over. Later during the podcast, Ira Glass interviews New York Times reporter Charles DuHigg, who </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">points out the most common violation among factory workers is that they work more than sixty hours per week. Ira Glass's response is shockingly cold; he wants to know if working more than sixty hours per week is such a bad thing. The workers are becoming a part of a rising middle class, they're making more money than they ever have, and more complicated still, some of them demand to work obscene amounts of hours. Although the nuances of the facts are challenging, I still think workers have been exploited and I still think that's a wrong thing to do. I wouldn't want my own children working more than forty hours a week, which in itself is on the verge of too much. I have a problem buying a product made by a person who can't afford a cup of coffee and who may have worked two twelve hour shifts in a row. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Charles DuHigg says that we can't hold foreign factory conditions against rich American standards and Ira Glass doesn't question this. Why can't we? DuHigg later on points out that</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> what we have exported are harsh working conditions that we basically outlawed here. America is a first-world country with third-world views of labor. Most American products are made by workers in another country and we seem to care about the new economy centered around the laborers so much so that we can overlook the improper use of overtime (see previous paragraph), but we shouldn't expect that a foreign factory would reflect the standards of an American factory? That's too complicated? Let's keep in mind that the aluminum dust sitting around that caused the two explosions in factories where Apple products are made could be easily compared to the leftover shirtwaist fabric lying on the floor, which caused the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire nearly one hundred years ago.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Does anyone remember when Ikea opened factories here in America and they didn't offer their sweet Swedish benefits to American workers? Ikea said that they were simple reflecting the working standards of the county the factory was in. Sounds familiar.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DuHigg points out that all are implicated. Until we, as consumers, demand that every Apple product be made in fair working conditions, then the system as we know it will continue. The system is Capitalism, right? The one living, breathing thing that seems to take such good care of itself? If everyone needs a computer, why is that we are not the ones telling Apple what we want? Perhaps there should be a union for consumers? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In order to update to iCloud, which I didn't want to do, I had to update my operating system, which cost me $30. Then I had to update my Word program because apparently I was running an old version of that (woa, fancy toolbars who knew!), which cost $150. Why is Apple in charge here? Why is Apple setting the standards and telling us what we have to do? They should be doing what I want. AND I DON'T WANT TO BE ON ICLOUD. WHAT I WANT IS FOR WORKERS TO BE TREATED AND PAID FAIRLY.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For a podcast centered around FACTS, I wonder what the This American Life fact checker found in response to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Ira Glass's comments, "I don't know that I should feel so bad," and ha ha now I feel bad. Are those facts? Ira Glass may not feel bad anymore. How does he feel about Apple paying no Federal Income Tax? Furthermore, how did the fact checker react to DuHigg's comment that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">there aren't any factories here in America with these kinds of working conditions. Hello? SLAUGHTERHOUSES? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-32193562957510355762011-05-15T12:20:00.003-04:002011-05-15T20:09:54.976-04:00After Glow<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Have you ever read a book so good that you read it slowly, to stave off the end? I used to work at a bookstore in Denver and one of my co-workers was reading through Patrick O'Brian's seafaring novels and he slowed it down around book seventeen or something just so he wouldn't finish reading the set during his lifetime. My friend was really let down the day Patrick O'Brian died. (By the way, these books make a nice gift for Father's Day. There are about twenty-one in the set, so your dad will be pretty taken care of for a long time, unless you double-up the books).</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /><a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper/images/radioactive/Radioactive1LRG._V193423854_.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 720px; height: 495px;" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper/images/radioactive/Radioactive1LRG._V193423854_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I recently slowed down while reading <i>Radioactive</i> by Lauren Redniss. The book is part biography of Marie Curie, the story of radioactivity, and art book. Did you know Curie was from Poland? Her real name was Marya. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">You can smell the ink as you turn the pages. You know how it will all end, that Marie Curie changed science forever, that it killed her, that it continues to be dangerous. To tell the story Redniss created a delightful typeface, which gives the book the appearance of being written by hand, a re-telling in a very physical sense. She named the typeface after Eusapia Palladino, who held seances Marie and Pierre Curie attended. The story of someone's life is never a simple one and Redniss elegantly balances many components of Marie Curie's professional and personal history. The one of scientific discovery. Marie Curie: "It was obvious that a new science was in the course of development." The one of love. The one of triumph. (Marie Curie was named the first female professor to teach at the Sorbonne). The one of atomic properties. How they glowed at night. Their poisonous effects.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /><br /><a href="http://moreintelligentlife.com/files/Radioactive%20pb%20c.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 563px;" src="http://moreintelligentlife.com/files/Radioactive%20pb%20c.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">Throughout the book I was very attached to the idea of a blurred line between science and magic. Because Radium glowed, Marie Curie was awed by it. In the lab, it was something special. Curie wrote, "If a radioactive substance is placed in the dark in the vicinity of the closed eye or of the temple, a sensation of light fills the eye." In this context, seeking atomic energy and creating it, at least for the Curies, was spiritual. Mystical fusion was the thing that sort of kept them going. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">In <i>Radioactive</i>, Radium has nearly three sides: the mystical glowy side, the toxic side, and the healing one. It's still used as a cure for cancer. Even though exposure to it is so incredibly harmful. Pierre Curie died so young. Marie Curie followed. Her daughter and grandchildren also died of complications related to radiation exposure.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">So are we supposed to celebrate the discovery of Radium or not? Are we supposed to answer? Redniss's book delicately and pointedly addresses the art of art, of pursuit, how earthly things seem so unearthly. Non-fiction doesn't have to be boring or terrible and Redniss's unique and investigative technique of conveying biography makes this book sit well with writers such as Dava Sobel, Rick Pearlstein, Lawrence Weschler, and Karen Elizabeth Gordon. I recommend reading this one slowly. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></div></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-50456327057249295272011-05-02T14:12:00.005-04:002011-05-02T14:56:00.298-04:00What Could Possibly Happen Next<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">According to the BBC and <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/live/bin_laden_wire/bin_laden_wire.html?ref=fpb">TPM</a>, president Obama has said that, due to the death of Osama Bin Laden, the world is now a safer and better place. How does he come by way of this knowledge? For fear of retaliation, I don't feel safe. For wrongfully invading Iraq, I don't feel safe. For the cruel and harsh treatment of detainees, I don't feel safe. For the pillaging of the environment, the world is not a better place. I don't feel safe from toxic waste and harmful chemicals. A for-profit healthcare system does not make me feel I'm receiving better care. As local police budgets are being slashed, I don't feel safer on the streets. As our infrastructure such as bridges and highways are not being properly cared for, I don't feel safe traveling on them. The continuation of drilling for oil and for natural gas via hydraulic fracturing does not lead me to believe that my tap water is always safe to drink. The proliferation of GMO food does not make me feel my food is always safe to eat.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I am deeply troubled by Hillary Clinton's statement to al-Qaeda members: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13261064">you can make the choice to abandon al-Qaeda and participate in a peaceful political process</a>. Which one is she talking about? The one where the government invests in its people over business interests? Where government diplomats talk to and reconcile with enemies? Is a peaceful political process devoid of secrets? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">When I worked on a farm one summer, the farmers said they don't shoot the coyotes at first glance because bigger ones move in and fight for the territory. To the White House complex: job well done. You perpetuate that which former president Bush started. Secrets, blame, torture, hunting people in the night. This is what our government is now. There is no question that I grieve for those who suffered in the attacks on September 11, 2001. I have also lost a family member at the hands of another, but even though I grieve every day of my life, I know that irrational actions will never repair the loss. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Obama says, "Today we are reminded that as a nation there is nothing we can't do." It's true. We sure do know how to kill. It is sad that Obama's patriotism is not generated by having the best education system, by having the cleanest subway cars, by supporting the arts. Do our political leaders </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">know how to invest in energy resources safe for the environment? Do we know how to rehabilitate people who break the law? These things seem to be a bit of a mystery.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-24903790096679810572011-04-20T14:45:00.004-04:002011-04-20T15:09:46.525-04:00A Poetry Book Club's Response to The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I'll tell ya it's 1986 New York City subways.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Responding to the Vietnam War.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Question of responsibility: killing, having to kill. Fairness. Having never given birth. What do you understand. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Subway v. Metro. AIDS era. Angels in America.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">THE QUOTATIONS. Speech weakened. Perpetual overturning of thoughts. Breaks. Makes you pay attention. Storyish, narrative driven but not building. Seeing in dreams and images. Descent of Inanna. To build this book? Cave or Subway? Writing consciousness, a story "told." Unfolding in the process. Space to fill in.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Poems as poems. Descend down them. Each poem is its own unit. Lyric poetry accumulative. Snakelike in form, going forward, looking back. Track those threads: light, birds, form, darkness. Inferno closure is important.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">We realize our own strength when we're powerless.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Visuals driving the action. Action v. image. Each encounter, action.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Each subway car is a new world. Levels of consciousness. Feminist revelations.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Chronological or not.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Allegory of the cave.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Catholic/Christian Paradise. Adamless Paradise. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">Snakes. Enticed by serpents and drugs. Adamless = female snake. DNA helix.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">p. 19--embracing the darkness. Darkness as shedding the body, womb, blood, earthiness.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">Finding the form The Tyrant doesn't own. The Tyrant isn't a person but a consciousness. Tyrant as history. Masculine ideas of history. Having never given birth. What do you understand. The female Oedipal story.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">Fire baby. Vision seeing this happen. Vietnam.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">Light Made New. Pound Plug!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">Literary Function. Will voice state of affairs. Are we writing answers to questions. Or writing the state of affairs. Is this ending hopeful?!? Triumph over the message. Changing the way we think. Imagination changes the status quo. Works of art v. mapping out the future. Constraints in our existence. Breaking through state of affairs. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">Owl: good daddy v. bad daddy. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-88913249060642498912011-04-20T14:19:00.001-04:002011-04-20T14:21:30.518-04:00A Poetry Book Club's Response to Spring and All by William Carlos Williams<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">In control, out of control. The idea of the thing. The thing itself. Cutting himself off.</span></p><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">What is the experiment. Connection between poetry and prose. Wanting you to connect it to the poetry. Poems and prose working ON you.</span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Doing nothing. Imagination without emotional connection. Everyday objects. Artist and the farmer. One thing couched in another.</span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Red Wheelbarrow: shocking "in here." What <i>does</i> depend on it?</span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">What does it mean for poetry to imitate life. Writing a poetry he can't quite write yet. Supreme importance. Nameless spectacle. Moment of cleavage.</span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Emerson, Nietzstche. Old turning over the new. Romanticism. Something lost. Disorganization principle. Emerson disobedience. Relatedness. Are these the ideas most poets operate.</span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Personality. Dialectic. In dialogue. Drawing on.</span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Projects of NOW: v. learning then, pure and puritanism, inclusive, redundancy, completeness. Always now. What is suspense. Dottie Lasky. Marianne Moore.</span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p></div><div style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Excess. Spring... and all!</span></p></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-53012591150728991862011-02-10T10:26:00.003-05:002011-02-10T10:45:18.647-05:00Underlining, I Was Cringing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://dailypoetics.typepad.com/daily_poetics/images/2008/07/31/openbook.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 304px;" src="http://dailypoetics.typepad.com/daily_poetics/images/2008/07/31/openbook.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Do you write in your books? I underline and write in the margins. When I was in college and grad school and grad school, I took most of my lecture notes in the very books we were talking about! Lately, however, (did you know you're really NOT supposed to begin a sentence with however?) I have begun feeling badly about writing in my books. I used to think that writing in my books would be like a kind of legacy. I don't really have much besides books and books are all I care about really, besides knitting. So to read a book that I've read is to know a little about me, what I underlined and bracketed or checked. (I don't know the difference between those things, but that seems to be my system). </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Does this mean I'm growing up? I started thinking about this when the old man and I started a book club with several of our friends. We have to share the same book or buy it twice, which doesn't make much sense. The first book we read, William Carlos Williams's (the Carlos saves the day here) <i>Spring and All</i> and the old man wrote all up in it. I couldn't wade through his notes, which really read like a bunch of jibber jabber. Then I couldn't tell if I was reading <i>Spring and All</i> for the old man's notes. Let us say the old man writes like four people were simultaneously holding one pen and trying to write one thing together while on a train. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I asked him not to take so many notes in our book club books and he now writes in a little journal, which I think is pretty cute. The benefit of writing in my books is that I know directly what to steal without having to waste the time of having to re-read and search an entire book for the quotation I wanted. How else would I know when the butt sex begins in <i>A Sport and A Past Time</i> if it were not for that big-ass star marking the page? Hmm? And what about all the things I need to re-pay-attention to when I reread my books? Also, when I write essay, I practically write the essay in the book.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I do not write in handmade books and chapbooks.</span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-11960714032947599782011-02-01T11:07:00.005-05:002011-02-01T11:36:45.153-05:00Disclaimboid<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Look at me. I'm a business woman now. I'm going to have a business card. A letter-pressed business card that the old man is making. Please do not worry about my soul. My soul is intact. In fact the old man and I are going on a Yoga retreat in Costa Rica. We are wholesome. We are starting a business together because we love each other. We will be selling poetry. It is kind of an anti-capitalistic act because no one could ever pay what poetry is worth. No one could ever pay what a hand-bound and or letter-press book is worth. I'm sticking it to the man. We are sticking it to the man with our bookstore, <a href="http://www.berlsbrooklynpoetryshop.blogspot.com/">Berl's Brooklyn Poetry Shop</a>. If you make books, you should let us sell them. We have created all kinds of fantastic ways to display poetry books. The old man's dad made beautiful curved wooden structures for us to display poetry books. Berl's will rule, but it will not rule the world. </span>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-24115449185877319862011-01-05T14:26:00.003-05:002011-01-05T15:16:02.088-05:00Pardon Me While I Throw Up On Myself<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">During the holidays I developed a strange need to watch a show called Hoarders. I actually watched it on instaNetflix and am quite curious as to what commercials are shown while the show is on. The Container Store? Mr. Clean? What upsets me most about watching the show is how little the show actually accomplishes, how the show is painfully devoid of humanity. Yes, we viewers get to gawk at how dirty these people's houses are, how they have chosen to have stuff like a collection of cats or years-old yogurt cups rather than personal relationships, and we get to watch them squirm and cry as a crew (standing by ready to help the hoarder!) tries to clean out various hoarders' houses. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">What I keep hoping is for someone to point out an addiction to bargain shopping. This is the price of capitalism: that someone fills up their house with shit he doesn't need or will never use because it was cheap to buy. And then he feels terrible for having to throw it away. Or he fells terrible about all the shit everyone else throws away so he keeps broken shit. There are extreme issues of poverty, loneliness, and self-esteem that are hardly addressed. What a loss--to have such an interesting topic for a show and to completely make an empty half-hour around it. They should just call the show Police Chase or something. Hoarders become that way after many, many years, and they can't possibly clean their houses in two days. My dad sometimes visits the homes of hoarders because he's a caseworker for the elderly. He says there are clients' houses that are so terrible he has to throw away the clothes he wore during the visit. He says the stink never comes out. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aAnah0l0rqk?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aAnah0l0rqk?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Would hoarders be hoarders if everything they bought was super-expensive? Do you know any hoarders? I know some and after I watch the show, I maniacally clean something. Last time I dusted a lamp, threw away three broken chopsticks, and did a load of laundry. My mom jokingly called me a Paper Hoarder because I keep wrapping paper from various Christmases. Also I like to collect trash such as the packaging from electronics because I like to craft with them. From now on I think I should stick with Buffy reruns. </span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-20656957506246883892010-11-06T15:47:00.005-04:002010-11-06T16:27:48.163-04:00How Would You Like It If Someone Trimmed Your Beak<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><u><br /></u></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><div>When people ask me if I eat turkey, I reply that I don't eat BIRDS. That's disgusting. Nor would I eat something that is so genetically modified that it can't hardly walk. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div>Did you know Turkeys can purr? Think about that before the holidays, will you?</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Turkeys recognize voices and faces. I kind of want a pet turkey. There are wild turkeys that live around a house I visit in Massachusetts. Here is a rather awful picture of one that sat for hours outside our door. Does anyone know how to get rid of that lamp? I took the photo with my computer because I didn't want to scare the turkey away. I wish you could've seen it outstretch its wings. Wide as both my outstretched arms!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6NKU1oSZ1C5ZvB-jch0iERGs0GplCZG4GyfmlHNee3KM__mePh8PKEKnFAiRG_jqmFm-eQlsz778HOiKie8ydTtMi2pKLptlYIrLNfxC3zIEO0LzgnonMjT7iN45ZhfZFBgo04r1T3U/s1600/Photo+259.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6NKU1oSZ1C5ZvB-jch0iERGs0GplCZG4GyfmlHNee3KM__mePh8PKEKnFAiRG_jqmFm-eQlsz778HOiKie8ydTtMi2pKLptlYIrLNfxC3zIEO0LzgnonMjT7iN45ZhfZFBgo04r1T3U/s400/Photo+259.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536531351893934594" /></a><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">This video is not my favorite, but it's made by the compassionate folk at Farm Sanctuary. When I was a high school teacher, I always brought in a devastating article about turkeys the day before Thanksgiving. I usually pulled those articles from the PETA website, so you know they were really gross and sad. After reading the article round robin and before we started the discussion, I would break into the disgust by saying: so, you should always just eat beef. That always got 'em laughing. But we all knew what I really meant.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /><object width="400" height="325"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vtKkGamsJOs?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vtKkGamsJOs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="325"></embed></object></span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-21476421215395334702010-10-15T23:37:00.003-04:002010-10-15T23:42:25.612-04:00You'll Think of Kermit When You Hear Him Say Help<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">My friend Noah told me about this early Jim Henson video and I thought you would enjoy it. Notice the cars when Jim Henson crosses the street. American cars used to be cool. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">So, why does he paint an elephant?</span><br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Eh4mRrwkxPQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Eh4mRrwkxPQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-80562958771607763782010-10-05T17:55:00.005-04:002010-10-05T18:00:13.266-04:00Where May I Cash This?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/142/137/211/8BE4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 340px; height: 340px;" src="http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/142/137/211/8BE4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><u><br /></u></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I've always thought our bills should be updated...</span>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-41943195335419881612010-10-05T07:52:00.004-04:002010-10-05T08:03:59.612-04:00Raffled Hair<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Watch out, y'all! There's an <a href="http://wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html">anagram maker</a>! What do you get when you type in your name? When I graduated from Columbia, Lucie Brock-Broido and Richard Howard used to make anagrams from all the students' names. I don't have an L in my name, but who cares? </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Speaking of raffled, I've always been a little smitten by words that end -led. As though those words are led to something or by something. Baffled, led by confusion or baff. Tousled. Crumpled. </span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-56087700254225499592010-10-01T17:03:00.004-04:002010-10-01T17:24:18.263-04:00List: Poetry Books With the Author on the Front or Spine<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Collected Poems by James Merrill</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">T.S. Elliot Collected Poems</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">H.D. Collected Poems</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">W.H. Auden Selected Poems</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Collected Poems of Ted Hughes</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Selected Verse by Frederico Garcia Lorca</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Selected Poems and Three Plays by William Butler Yeats</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">The Poems of Marianne Moore</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Robert Frost Collected Poems</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Robert Lowell Selected Poems</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Jorge Luis Borges Selected Poems</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Opus Posthumous by Wallace Stevens</span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">In General, with a poet on the front or spine:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">Poet Be Like God by Ellingham and Killian</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">The Journals of Sylvia Plath</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">The Selected Letters of Amy Clampitt</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">A Helen Adam Reader by Kristin Prevallet</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Spontaneous Mind: Selected Interviews with Allen Ginsberg</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke</span></li></ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-54341589118636286102010-09-30T15:02:00.004-04:002010-09-30T15:15:41.470-04:00Fantasy Feature No. 2<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Your old man has left for Los Angeles. You cried when he left. Now you get to dominate the Netflix que. You will stay awake until 4 a.m. watching these movies. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">(It really does say "Your Que," by the way). W. The Double Life of Veronique. Metropolis. Au Revoir Les Enfants. Blow Up. The Runaways. Scenes From a Marriage. Some of these films are on instaNetflix, but you will receive them in the mail just for you because you don't want to watch them blurry. You will have no one to curl up with because the old man took the cat. You will not bathe for three days.</span>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-16554193379475797192010-09-23T15:48:00.003-04:002010-09-23T16:02:07.415-04:00What You Wanted To Be Doing<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The next time you are in Cullman, Alabama, you should definitely go to the <a href="http://www.avemariagrotto.com/">Ave Maria Grotto</a>. It is a miniature Jerusalem, along with other historic buildings. It definitely is on the Christian side of the Holy Land argument, but worth the visit. The Leaning Tower of Pisa and Noah's Ark were undergoing construction when the old man and I were there, so let me know if you get to see them when you go.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSD3AclRT6aLtDHLeSeuVDqdIRVtONp8p7LArS3yiiAgpJiV3NyriZuOu-WUltShAEuvcVa0Z5MbT6OK1sBK7Q3XuCnnDIp-f8AxmN91xVymGmKJNiz9quc9sSZTl7Fg0fJwuidx82soc/s1600/Ave+Maria+Grotto.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 440px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSD3AclRT6aLtDHLeSeuVDqdIRVtONp8p7LArS3yiiAgpJiV3NyriZuOu-WUltShAEuvcVa0Z5MbT6OK1sBK7Q3XuCnnDIp-f8AxmN91xVymGmKJNiz9quc9sSZTl7Fg0fJwuidx82soc/s1600/Ave+Maria+Grotto.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />There is yummy Southern food nearby at All Steak. The old man and I ate from the veggie plate, which had one of my favorite Southern delicacies: fried okra. With your meal comes an amazing orange roll. I almost missed my flight back to New York because of the orange rolls.</span></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/36371504_1ab88eb139.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 416px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/36371504_1ab88eb139.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-58312760923569362322010-09-15T23:20:00.005-04:002010-09-15T23:30:10.144-04:00Finished in Marshall, California<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKNWDSnvDockKbnRK0Mj8kv5XqAOjf8qZ9as1QonNABYl0G_4AsPC4nPSYgOHP9t3Qa01l6Kp1mahCHvi4xdAeDp1sotlK1wZvIHY8fEN3PyYqzfL7eqD6CSaf5eB6mkU1XLWHUN12j8/s1600/SAM_1532.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKNWDSnvDockKbnRK0Mj8kv5XqAOjf8qZ9as1QonNABYl0G_4AsPC4nPSYgOHP9t3Qa01l6Kp1mahCHvi4xdAeDp1sotlK1wZvIHY8fEN3PyYqzfL7eqD6CSaf5eB6mkU1XLWHUN12j8/s400/SAM_1532.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517348407032138738" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Worked in Brooklyn, Kentucky, Ohio, and California.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Moss diamond scarf pattern from Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits.</span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-74144059881150868492010-08-24T12:21:00.003-04:002010-08-24T13:15:49.237-04:00Only Get Me When I'm Down<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I was never afraid of the dark until my mom's step-mother told me the story of Bluebeard and my sister made me sleep by all windows after that. I like it when darkness comes early. One time I went hiking in the middle of the night in Iceland, talked of sagas and realized if I didn't have lights I would believe in trolls too. Those rocks. One Christmas in Massachusetts we were snowed in, but it was so bright at night because of the full moon's reflection on the snow. Lit up from your feet. How weird it was to follow light under my eyes and not over my head. Sometimes the old man's dad turns off his headlights when we drive past a pretty New Englandy farm at night. Did you know that so many soldiers broke their ankles during WWII when they parachuted on moonless nights? Jumping into darkness. In order to save 1.2 million dollars in this year's budget, Colorado Springs, Colorado is shutting off one third of its city lights. Is having light safety or is safety safety? Also Colorado Springs majorly cut back its police force. What is darkness to a local economy? How many films can you name during which the love interests ask for help turning off the lights. Places that don't have many lights have many trees or lots of snow or huge waves. My kitty is only a bad kitty during the day or when I'm eating. I believe in trolls and Bluebeard. Suddenly everything is like a big cave and how did most things come to be. You were killing me with light anyway. </span>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-78278090255150212472010-07-29T11:13:00.007-04:002010-07-29T12:28:00.002-04:00Does This Make You Blush<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Do you know who <a href="http://schakowsky.house.gov/">Jan Schakowsky</a> is? You fuckin' should. She's a representative from Illinois who, on Tuesday, introduced a new bill to Congress that will require stricter regulations for beauty products. As you may know, Congress has not passed any legislation regarding the chemicals used in beauty products since the Cosmetics Safety Act of the 1930's. Many beauty products use small amounts of known carcinogens and other harmful chemicals. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/21/lead_in_lipstick_coal_tar_in">Democracy Now!</a> hosted a debate between Stacy Malkan, founder of the <a href="http://www.safecosmetics.org/">Campaign for Safe Cosmetics</a>, and John Bailey, industry scientist and spokesperson. I recommend listening to what they say about the issue. Bailey made an interesting point that the industry is actually backing the new legislation. I wonder to what extent. I wish he could've further explained how </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';">the industry justifies their attitude that, well, it's only a pinch of chemicals. There's only a small amount of lead in lipstick. Mr. Bailey, do you roll around in a little bit of poison ivy? Would you mind it if there was a little bit of poop in your drinking water? Think about this: if a pregnant woman isn't supposed to dye her hair (because the chemicals in the dye may harm the baby), why should anyone else use that same product?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pfq000AF1i8&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pfq000AF1i8&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">My dear reader(s), is your definition of beauty yours and yours alone? How many products do you use per day and are those products actually doing what you want them to do? (I'll be the first to admit that my bathroom has at least four bottles of lotion in it, but my skin always seems to be dry). Do you really need to put acid in your hair, only to wash it away with an oil byproduct? I can't decide what's more upsetting, the fact that there are reproductive disruptors in beauty products or that these items are so needed that we accept small amounts of poison. Sure, these chemicals don't out and out cause cancer, but they are linked to it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I leave you with two websites where you can go to to find out about the chemicals in your beauty products. The first, <a href="http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/index.php">Cosmetics Info</a>, is hosted by the <a href="http://www.personalcarecouncil.org/">Personal Care Products Council</a>, the one that John Bailey sits on. The second, the <a href="http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/">Cosmetics Safety Database</a>, is brought to us by the <a href="http://www.ewg.org/">Environmental Working Group</a>. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-46143656959028327502010-07-27T21:12:00.008-04:002010-07-27T22:21:36.013-04:00This Is Not A Love Letter From Louisiana<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Dear Mr. Flag Lapel Pin Wearer,</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">You got me! I wasn't ready for someone to ask me about that dang ol' mosque-near-nine-eleven-freedom-towers issue. I thought only crazies listen to Wing Nuts! I'm so sorry about all the confusion. When you asked me what I thought about the mosque "they're" building two blocks from the world trade center sight, I was like there are mosques all over New York City. In fact, there's one two blocks from my apartment. And two blocks from that. If we really want to get into the buildings belonging to religious institutions, which I think should have to pay property taxes BIG TIME, you can see about one hundred of them from the roof of my friend's studio. Mosques, cathedrals, etc. They're everywhere. So what if one is going downtown? How nice it must be, if you were religious, to walk to a place where a sacred ceremony is happening. You know, it's all clean sounding. By the way, do you think yoga is religious? I'm kind of starting to feel religious about it. On my recent airplane trip, I listened to a yoga podcast and imagined myself doing all the poses. Also, I kind of feel religious about the old man. Like I think about Him all the time and I would let Him do anything to me, I mean, I would do anything for Him.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">So, when you said that you thought that "they" shouldn't allow the mosque to be built, sucked in your lips, then said, someone is going to blow it up. I wanted to rip the lapel pin right off your gray lapel, sir! That's what you think America is? Incapable of making gestures? Of reaching out? Reactionary? I know we've been to a kind of war in Afghanistan for NINE YEARS and we're about to pay 34 billion more dollars for it, so that really isn't the best example of the great things America can do, BUT we do have freedom of religion, isn't that right? That someone can worship in a mosque or on my couch, in my case. I'm not sure, but I assume that we should invoke a religious-like tolerance of religion in order to have the freedom of walking to a synagogue or church. Embracing freedom. You get your religion and I get mine. Am I wrong?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I have to tell you that the way you said what you said rendered me speechless. You didn't say: I hope "they" don't blow up that mosque in your city near you where you feel afraid and see smoke and imagine people crying. You didn't say: I haven't been prepared to understand what it means to have a mosque down near the new freedom towers. You didn't say: It's a bold move and I hope no one gets hurt. Sir, you said it the way you said it because you want the mosque to be blown up. I can't hate you because you're the one who hates. As a Republican Fascist, that's your job. Wear your pin and spew your hate.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">What I can do is pity you. Your buckets are full, aren't they? Poor you. It is so easy to hate. I mean, so simple. Just blow 'em up. So easy. Understanding? Embracing? These are complicated ideas meant to be handled by adults. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">You are a little boy who has come across blue eggs in a bird's nest and has decided to take down the nest and set your dog on fire. See and destroy--that's what you do. You react; you don't progress. You are a part of something crazier and greater and together y'all have succeeded in increasing the military industrial complex. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; ">I'm so sorry you're so scared. I'm only down here for a family reunion then I'm back to Brooklyn where just about anything is two blocks from two blocks. Before I fly away, I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry you feel the way you do. You'll be stuck like that forever until, well, you want something more complicated. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; "><br /></span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-65965353919334857602010-07-22T08:36:00.006-04:002010-07-22T08:55:36.669-04:00List: Your Fad Is So Obvious<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Stockings. They are meant to be worn on the legs during WINTER. They keep your legs warm. Unless you're in some kind of marching band, you can go bare. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Boots with shorts. The look is cheeky during Spring and Fall, but one hundred and two degree weather? You're screaming.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Sweaters. Quarter sleeve, half sleeves. It's August. So you wear one in the office. Outside, it's hot. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Other random winter objects. Scarves. Turtlenecks. They are doing things you don't need right now.</span></li></ul>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-12303296869982208142010-07-07T12:35:00.006-04:002010-07-08T14:13:24.676-04:00What Is Much<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Yesterday I read the very provocative Nancy Hirschmann <a href="http://www.bostonreview.net/BR35.4/ndf_mothers.php">"Mothers Who Care Too Much"</a> article and its responses and the response to the responses in the Boston Review. Hirschmann's article is so powerful that I wish I could sign up for her class. I've had so many interesting conversations about the article, but I must admit that I kind of find the title a bit problematic. "Mothers Who Care Too Much" suggests that it's going to be an article about overbearing mothers, not about Care Feminist (do I cap this?) theory. Women are pigeonholed into the role of caretaker, furthermore into the dual role of earner plus main caretaker, or better yet sole caretaker. So why are these must-read articles framed with a title that more or less capitalizes on a mainstream, negative stereotype of women? My reaction here reminds me of the Atlantic Monthly's inflammatory title, from earlier this summer, that frames a very in depth and much-needed look at womanhood. I mean, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135">The End of Men</a>? Really? So, as discussions about women are ignited in a culture that rejects powerful women and shames women in need, am I supposed to glance at these titles and think, the end of men? Oh no! What about my future son! He's not going to be a pig! He'll be a pig over my dead body! Oh no! I'm a future mother who cares too much! I can't ever win. I can't ever get out from under the something that is the something.</span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I have a question about studies done about housework. This summer, more than one article from more than one source said that women typically do more housework than men. How are these findings obtained? I asked the old man if he thought I did more housework than he does and he said it was pretty even. Then he said it wouldn't be if he didn't include running errands. He is the errand runner of our house. So I might cook more often, but he's the one running to various farmer's markets and whatnot all the time. Do you count running errands as housework? My point is that these things aren't easy to ascertain and I feel really skeptical when I hear people cite this particular information. Who are the contributors to the housework studies and what are the questions? Are couples interviewed together? Are they always heterosexual? And are they usually married? Are they from the suburbs or in a city? Do they always have children? Tell me, how do you define housework and who does more of it in your house?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">As an aside, I'd also like to know what findings show about men's attitude toward cleanliness as they age. In college a friend of mine left a half eaten box of pizza on his couch for months and whenever I went over to his house I used the rotten pizza as an ashtray so I wouldn't smell it. Because social norms allow young men to live like slobs, isn't it a given that their future partners would do more housework? Is the problem that women do more housework or that women play with dolls and then grow up to play real house? I wonder if these studies are merely quantitative collections of symptoms rather than findings that motivate change for both men and women.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-18602979486206166792010-06-13T15:37:00.005-04:002010-06-13T16:13:09.867-04:00You When You Were Younger<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PBUTb1U58b81JVkKP8Z71oJ02BcnVNt1mAIepzLv7edbozW6p7N99NbT9nWLmvCM4BC5Il7TQWDR-uy92NE845ESAJ1wYQprzD690GNZ7vCyRlXvnFwRceidNWPWcFmoLjZaHj5_rtI/s1600/SAM_1188.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PBUTb1U58b81JVkKP8Z71oJ02BcnVNt1mAIepzLv7edbozW6p7N99NbT9nWLmvCM4BC5Il7TQWDR-uy92NE845ESAJ1wYQprzD690GNZ7vCyRlXvnFwRceidNWPWcFmoLjZaHj5_rtI/s400/SAM_1188.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482353445987204226" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Let me tell you about this wonderful reading I attended last night. Not your average poetry reading, this reading featured six or so who read from their early, teenagery work. Hosted by the beautiful <a href="http://de-cidered.blogspot.com/">Niina</a>, who apparently used to be goth, the reading was such a touching experience that it almost makes me cry thinking about it. I told G. about a poem Nicole read about being overweight and feeling as though no one would ever love her, that she wouldn't be able to give her mother grandchildren. Another reader wrote about two cousins who had to move in with her family when their parents died. She was annoyed that the cousins hogged the tv and took over her bathroom, stuff like that, but then her younger self is grateful she had parents of her own. Incredible, right?</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">It's interesting through all the haze of the-world-is-bullshit, Holden Caulfield type writing, the seriousness that was addressed--coming out, body issues, feeling neglected and misunderstood. (<a href="http://amylawless.blogspot.com/">Amy</a> pointed out a thematic connection many of the writers shared regarding someone hogging the "good television," but it seems like being pushed off the shows they wanted to watch actually got them writing and creating). The old man read from some of his cute juvenalia, a poem called "I Must Be An Adolescent," in which he wonders if man "should have ever had a SURPLUS of GOODS." The reading made me know and understand those writers in a whole new way. I felt as though I had traveled back in time with them and I was just like them but so so different. The old man wished he had gone to high school with everyone who read (and it turns out he actually did!) but I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad they just took me into their pasts, into their beginnings, into how they were first starting to make sense of it all.</span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip-AwHmvwfLrZzb1ta3ep7O1iWGuIshxGKN25RAhH8Xsnq-b43uQNHTPAx25_XNPdlMZr2cXC1dQ7Y9nrsm8frjJyNkDI0RZSVkDgcglyI46uEsnzJQauSO6rLEvgjEOOQPtsvGliFBW8/s1600/SAM_1193.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip-AwHmvwfLrZzb1ta3ep7O1iWGuIshxGKN25RAhH8Xsnq-b43uQNHTPAx25_XNPdlMZr2cXC1dQ7Y9nrsm8frjJyNkDI0RZSVkDgcglyI46uEsnzJQauSO6rLEvgjEOOQPtsvGliFBW8/s400/SAM_1193.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482353669306419506" /></a>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7205100482060951548.post-57602513633587677972010-06-03T18:06:00.004-04:002010-06-03T18:18:15.290-04:00The Voices You Hear Were The Ones You Made<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">When you read over italicized words, <i>do you read it differently</i>? I do. I kick italic-voice right in. I did it a ton while reading Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. She's the best italic-voice giver. She writes about having to call an ambulance. <i>Just come</i>, she said. <i>Just come</i>. I love that. It's interesting that just by slanting the letters, you can change how the words sound in your mind. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;">Speakin' of voices you hear when you read, do you hear someone's voice that isn't your own? I hear my senior English teacher's voice. Mrs. Boniol was the first teacher who read something like she cared about it. My other English teacher wore pants slips. I could see them sticking out from under her pants.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;">Steve Roberts, a poet I workshop with, hates italics in poems. I sort of agree or agree enough to try it. I like it when you can't tell who's talking, if there is even someone talking. I like guessing at emphasis. I took all the italics out of my manuscript today.</span></div>Farrah Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03125579159243605833noreply@blogger.com3