Random bits about writing and other stuff

[scarlettina]

A Record
For the record, my last post—the wordless meme—garnered 139 responses (as of this morning), the most any post of mine has ever received, some by people completely new to my journal. I hope, if you decide to stick around, you'll find the rest of my content quite so compelling. ::grin::

Rejection
I had a story bounced by The New Yorker on Monday. It's the first form rejection I've received in a very long time, but then it's the first time in a long while I've submitted to a magazine outside the science fiction/fantasy genre. And, frankly, I was pretty sure the story was a no-go from the git-go but, what the heck: can't hurt to try. I'm not upset about it. Mostly, I'm amused by it, because it's probably the classiest-looking form reject I've ever seen. Printed on a piece of thick, 4.5" x 7", creamy-beige colored paper, it consists of two concise and gracious sentences beautifully centered on the page between 1.5" margins. I'm certain a designer was consulted with regard to presentation. Thoughtful.

Poetry
I've been reading Billy Collins' new collection of poetry, called "The Trouble with Poetry, and other poems." I was a fan of Collins for several years before I actually went to a poetry seminar in California to study with him. I ended up only getting to sit in on a lecture he gave. He was as dry as dust and impressed me as kind of smarmy. As you can imagine, for someone who was such a fan of his work, it was rather a disappointment. I was pleased when he was named Poet Laureate of the United States in 2001, but rather disappointed that I didn't see him do as much with the position as Robert Pinksy, who was downright activist about poetry during his term and earned my undying admiration. (He's also pretty hot.)

At any rate, though I've gone back to Collins' older collections for comfort and enjoyment in the years since then, and still savor the writing, "The Trouble with Poetry" is the first new collection of his that I've purchased in quite some time. I'm halfway through and have found most of it of only middling quality for him. I mean, really, in how many poems, one after another, is it reasonable to expect anyone to find the image of someone looking out a window remarkable and unexpected? He does this in poem after poem in this collection. His technique is meticulous, but last night was the first time I found a poem that made me stop, and think, and want to read it again. I need to find a book dart today to mark the page because it's quite a wonderful piece. But out of half the book, only one poem has kicked my ass, which is a) unusual for Collins and b) disappointing. Of course, I'll be finishing the book and will report if I find more of real ass-kicking quality. It's just remarkable to me that I had to get this far into the collection to find a single poem that moved me.

(By the way, in case you're curious, this was the first Collins poem that caught my attention—a meditation about "Three Blind Mice"—and made me want more. mckitterick, you may not want to read this poem just now. For you, I offer this one instead.)

Chorus
A source of anxiety. We're nearly ready for this weekend's performance. That's all I'm gonna say.

Current Events
The Village Voice reports that:

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Tuesday night before the start of the president's State of the Union address. A guest of California representative Lynn Woolsey, who has called for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, Sheehan was handcuffed in the House chamber for wearing an anti-war T-shirt....

Edit: Via robespierrette and with thanks to her, here's Cindy Sheehan's first-hand account of events, at DailyKos.

Welcome to the United States of America in 2006.

That is all.

Comments

[mrdorbin.livejournal.com]

Project figure out recording is now back on track; Scott knows how to place microphones and Ben has time to locate the equipment, which I will donate to the chorus as my Good Member Deed for the year. We can do a test run on Friday at tech and verify that we're getting a decent sound. If that helps.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Definitely helps. Hope you got the pieces I wrote last night and that they're somewhere near what you'd like them to be. Let me know.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I keep reminding myself of this news this afternoon when, in the wake of reviewing the "proof" I received of the program book, I realize that our designer didn't actually look at the revised document I sent her. Neither has she done a cover design...yet. No point in sending you anything to look at until I have something that's more finished but I'm working hard to keep my head from exploding. ::sigh::

[amheriksha.livejournal.com]

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Tuesday night before the start of the president's State of the Union address. A guest of California representative Lynn Woolsey, who has called for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, Sheehan was handcuffed in the House chamber for wearing an anti-war T-shirt....

Welcome to the United States of America in 2006.

Every day, I feel like we're sinking further into the sea of dictatorship...

For what happened,

[robespierrette.livejournal.com]

in Cindy's own words, go here (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/1/31944/23746).

It's so stupid and petty. The idea of some goon tackling her and shouting "Protestor!" Cindy's no saint, but she was hardly trying to disrupt the "address".

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

Even NBC reported this -- but it doesn't seem to be getting the level of press that I would have expected...

[kistha.livejournal.com]

None of it seems to anymore, does it?

*sick at heart*

Re: Cindy's arrest

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

Maybe now we'll have our Rosa Parks?

*tries to be hopeful*

[ex-butterfl246.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big Collins fan from the little that I have read, but I do like the dog-barking/Beethoven poem (http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Billy-Collins/792).

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's an old favorite of mine. He's always had a sense of humor in his work.

[bedii.livejournal.com]

Did the rejection letter have the Roman Numeral "I" on it? If so, it's the one that Irwin designed for the magazine in the 20's, according to Brendan Gill.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look. Thanks for the tip!

[bedii.livejournal.com]

Gill wrote that having the little number was a brilliant idea ("At least I was good enough to get a numbered [or was it lettered--I forget] form letter rather than just a plain one."), but since it was the only one that they ever used it had nothing to do with the merits of the story. Mind you, I have no idea if it survived Tina Brown: after semi-officially killing original cover subject Eustace Tilly by running a picture of his widow, I put nothing past her. I'm surprised she didn't show the butterfly getting stomped. (And if you know anyone who can get me a copy of the articles in Private Eye about Brown that the magazine can't reprint by court order, let me know--I'd love to see them, if for no other reason than to get a better idea of how the UK legal system works...)