Poetry Exposure

So, I had the wonderful opportunity to go the the Dodge Poetry Festival on Thursday, and for the most part I was swept away. I discovered some awesome poets and poetry, and hopefully my work will not suck as much as I now have more references for inspiration. If you want to read some cool stuff, look up Patricia Smith, Roger Sedarat, Beth Ann Fennelly, Joseph O. Legaspi, Brenda Shaughnessy, and Luke Warm Water. They were awesome!

I also saw Ted Kooser. He writes some great stuff as well, and he has a cute book on love poems. He's also one hysterical dude. I've always liked his work, and he has an amazing history.

The only major dissapointment for me was Tracy K. Smith. She writes beautifully, but god is she boing to listen to.

So, thanks to Thursday, I'm now working on some new ideas, but I'm not putting any of them out as I dont' want to post anything crappy like much of what I've written before :P

New Yorker Recognition

So, I get so worked up over political misunderstandings, and I don't even address the fact that seven years ago today the Twin Tours, which were only an hour and a half away from my house, collapsed (along with the crash into the Pentagon and some field in Pennsylvania).

Anyway, I didn't personally lose any friends or family in the 9/11 incident, but I sympathise with those who do since, well, I have lost family members on other occasions and for the first 24 hours after the airplanes crashed I didn't know if my brother or sister were alive. It was a frightening time for everyone and I'd like to give my sympathies to those who are reminded again today of all they have lost.

Philosophy Versus Political Parties

Ok, this may sound like a complaint, and I'm terribly sorry if it does, but there is one major misconception that drives me insane. My history teacher this morning decides he's going to try to teach the class about what it means to be a "Democrat" and what it means to be a "Republican". Now, his basic definition that good majority of Democrats are liberal is correct, and that a good majority of Republicans are conservative, but he doesn't bother defining the difference between liberalism and conservatism. Thus, his lesson gave off the aura that Democrat = liberal and that Republican = conservative. As that may be the situation in present day America, that is just not politically correct (no pun intended). To be a Democrat, for the sake of simplicity, means to believe in large government, and to be a Republican means to believe in small government. But these are not the defining factors of what liberal and conservative mean.

Liberalism is the idealism that is new or revolutionary for the day. A liberal person believes in ideals that are not widely accepted (i.e. gay marriage, immigrant rights, universal health care, pro-choice, higher taxes, etc.) and that personal liberty is most important. Conservatism is the idealism that is "old" or widley accepted by the majority of the public (i.e. pro-life, smaller taxes, anti-gay rights, restricted immigrant rights, etc.) and they believe tradition is most important. This means that the role of a political party changes depending on the stand they take on social and economic issues. Today Democrats are stereotypically liberal and Republicans are stereotypically conservative. However, back in the 1860's, the Republicans were the liberal party and Democrats were the conservative party. The only thing that consistantly defines a Democrat or Republican is their view on the proper role of government.

In fact, this is the only factor that has stayed consistant throughout America's history. Politicians have been arguing about the role of government since the conception of The Constitution - federalists wanted a larger government, and anti-federalists wanted a smaller government. To some extent, these are now the parties that exist today, except under different names. Keep in mind that I'm leaving out a lot of history for simplicity's sake, but it's undeniable that this central arguement has been pivital within the past 221 years.

Otherwise, I think teachers need to make a point to explain to their students that Democratic-conservatives and Republican-liberals DO exist. You can believe that government should have a bigger role in people's lives but that a woman should not abort their children. You can believe that government should play a smaller role in America and believe that gays should have every right to marry. There is a difference between a political party and a political philosophy. The problem is Americans today seem to mesh the two ideas as if they're the same thing.

Now, that's not to say that I wasn't one of these Americans myself. I was extraordinarilly naive to this difference until just a while ago. But, the fact that I didn't understand this essential difference scares me, especially since I know I'm not the only one. We're living in this country and yet we don't understand the basic principles of how our politics work. Scarier still is that teachers don't even adress this issue. They leave students to believe stereotypes they take as truth, some even reinforce it.

A Non-Stereotypical Rant

So, ok, I haven't posted anything in a really long time. I barely touch this place, and I'm not one to simply leave something stagnant when I run out of ideas. I've also just realized that a great deal of my poetry is awful (except for one that I just recently finished). So, there's no point in waiting around for the next bright idea to pop into my head. I may as well use this for intelligent ranting as well like some other bloggers (I'm not into the unitelligible ranting that most bloggers are into lately). So, yes, this is my great enlightenment for the day, not that it's going to matter since, as far as I can see, no one reads this thing anyway :P Oh well, I guess it's also just fun to be able to tell someone "Hey, I have a blog!", and they give you the most terrible look as if now you're the stereotypical depressed blogger who rants about how aweful their life is :D Oh, and here's my recently finished poem/lyric that is NOT a piece of crap...

Tell me this isn't over
Too much has been done
For this to be a phase
Just one of those
Passing games

Tell me there is no end
For I fear the risk
Of becoming one of those fools
Who lets sweet moments as these
Come to only memory

For here we've become princes
No longer society's paupers
Free to our mind's content
Free to heart's desire

Tell me this will live
As a journey we'll embark together
That this will not die in memory
But grow in our history
As we grow closer still

For here we are friends
Not convenient acquaintances
Forever to grow
Forever to love

Through tears, through smiles
Through anger, through laughs
Through joy, through silence
We've stayed, we've loved

Tell me this isn't over
Tell me there is no end
Tell me this will live
Tell me this is home

I still haven't figured out a title for this one, but let me give you some background information on it. I was invited to studdy at Cambridge University (in England) for a month this summer, and I made some really close friends on that trip. I also really changed as a person, or, really, I became more comfortable with myself. It was the most "me" I had felt in a really long time, and I didn't want to leave the people who had made helped me reach this stage in my self exploration. They were also just really awesome kids who I wanted to take home with me and continue to do rediculous things with :D