Saturday, November 11, 2000
I logged on to a political chat room tonight that ciro had found. It seems like there are a lot of people out there who don't know their history and should read the U.S. CONSTITUTION before trying to finish the election process before it is actually complete (Article II Section 1 explains the Electoral process). The election is not final until the Electors have voted. In the meantime Florida still has votes to count anyway. Unless a person is familiar with Florida Election Law as well as the undisclosed full details of the election irregularities that individual citizens (not the Gore campaign) have filed suit about, it seems presumptuous to say that these people are "whiners" who just don't know how to fill out a ballot. A good portion of the "media" seemed eager to find a "spin" for this historical election after spending the first 24 hours with egg on their face. Like any corporation or specified interest group, each news company has it's own take based on it's political leanings. All of them are trying to stir up interest, because that's what gets the ratings and brings in advertising dollars. Take for instance the "Nixon" issue. One station will have a pundit that says "Nixon stepped down gracefully and didn't put the country through this" and another says "Nixon had aides investigate the election process in 11 states." Which is right? This interview seems to split the difference. Friday, November 10, 2000 Hey, i forgot to mention that i also picked up some really cool greeting cards from the NCCIL that have images from December illustrated by David Diaz. I'll have to keep an eye out for his books!
Abliene, TX has a very cool art walk! We visited the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature to see the current exhibit of Jerry & Brian Pinkney. The illustrations were gorgeous! I couldn't leave without picking up a copy of Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian. It's fun colorful and makes me hap-hap-happy! This particular book has won a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. I look forward to a reading a good bedtime story! Speaking of which, time is running out on me again. That's okay, i can just pretend i'm practicing for working on a presidential campaign (hehe). Actually, i've found this a very interesting test of our current election procedures. I think we need to update the voting process pretty darn quick, punch cards just don't cut it anymore. Anyway, i think the candidates and the media need to just chill while the votes are recounted and Florida figures out the ethical and right thing to do about its balloting problem in Palm County.~w Thursday, November 09, 2000 Holy electoral votes Batman! This is the craziest election i've ever seen! I notice that the Bush campaign seems very reluctant to comment on the fact that Gore has won the popular vote. Hmmmm. Wednesday, November 08, 2000 Credit where credit is due. I should mention that I found this whole blogger thing by visiting my friend Andy's thinking out loud page. He started one a while back and i've found it a rather easy way to catch up with what he's doing every once in a while. Andy is an amazing poet who i met through the Seattle Slam many year ago now (what was it? 1993?). I have a video tape of a KIRO news special that focused on the slam on a night when we were competing against each other. Now he's living in the NYC where he seems to find many many things to keep him busy. Another major influence of mine is the firey Kim and her Lioness Den site. Kim is another talented poet who i was fortunate enough to meet through the National Poetry Slam. Kim also worked for Poetry Alive! several years back. I look to her to keep me updated on the goings on in North Carolina (where i supposedly now live, though i don't see much of it) with her zippy daily/semi-daily log. She also has a quarterly online poetry zine and some fab reviews of strange American "stuff." But, since i'm not running for office or anything, it's probably okay that i'm late in my kudos. Tuesday, November 07, 2000 Long day today! We started at 8am doing a couple of shows for 8th graders and then had a "break" until our 7pm show at the Layland Museum in Cleburne, TX for high school students. Since we start at 8am tomorrow in Abilene, TX and had no place better to be we spent our "break" driving to Abilene and checking into the hotel and finding the school so that we could just relax and go to bed when we arrived back here at 11pm. So, lots of time spent in the car. Fortunately, the ladies hosting us in Cleburne were the essence of Southern Hospitality at it's best. They made us feel very welcome and happy we could share our love of poetry with them. Even though the evening show was geared toward adults, there was a tiny blonde girl who came running up on stage after the show just to stand next to me and tell me that we made her laugh. Then she proceeded to tell me about the pockets on her clothes, but you can't fault her for her splendid attempt to make conversation with a limited vocabulary. Monday, November 06, 2000 So we drove to Cleburne, TX today. It's wet. It rained all day, and the parking lot of the hotel looks like a river. We're hoping the school doesn't wash away before tomorrow. But hey, it was fox season premiere night for the sunday night line up, so we had plenty of new tv to watch to chase away the rainy day blues. My personal favorite is Malcolm in the Middle. It always includes a few really good full body laughs. I'm not so sure about this "search for Mulder" though. I always find the "to be continued" thing really annoying since i don't always get to watch a show at a certain time with our schedule. Well, i suppose this is it for today since i'm up past bedtime again...~w Sunday, November 05, 2000 Hey i drove today! Unfortunately it was because ciro was too sick to drive. Usually he is master driver and i'm navigator and back up, but mostly novel reader. I found it hard to stay awake listening to audio tapes. So, we started this habit last year of reading books out loud. We most recently finished The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. A wild hysterical ride that was very fitting since we started it as we drove through the southwest where the book takes place. Other great books we've read aloud in the car have included The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, all the Harry Potter books, Good Omens by Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett, Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, The Master & Margarita by Mikail Bulgakov, and Black Elk Speaks.
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words, poems, & other scribblings made while traveling the United States performing poetry for students with Poetry Alive!
other things to read
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