And it's only Wednesday
May. 3rd, 2006 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wheelieterpThis has been a thought provoking week... On Monday, there was an awesome rally and march here for immigrant rights. I did not participate in the boycott of work, though I thought long and hard about it. But in my line of work, if I miss, I have to get a sub, which just means that someone else IS working, no impact would be felt, and I cannot afford the day off to make a rather empty statement.
But, I did get down to the march in time to see some of it. It was glorious and amazing.
I have also been reading Aloud: Voices From the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe this week. The Nuyorican Poet's Cafe has been credited as being the birthplace of slam poetry, and the book is a combination of history of the movement and poetry anthology.
My mind made a rather wonderful connection today while I was discussing the rally and march with a co-worker who had actually taken the day off and gone to the rally, whereas I just made the march. She said that the rally was weird, because it seemed like all of the speakers were coming from a place of priveledge and "Not getting it."
See, I had been thinking about the poetry in the book, and how different it was to the "learned" poetry I have been reading. It is raw, and visceral and difficult and uncomfortable and I love it. And more importantly, it proves that art is not only in the hands of the privledged and educated. That poetry can come from people who don't know how to use a comma, or spell, and have never read Shakespeare or (heaven forbid) Gertrude Stein(Kidding,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ink_ling). Now mind you, I am not saying that the writers represented in the book I am reading are these people; for all I know, they are all ivy-leauge educated, but I doubt it. And the poetry itself certainly gives the impression of raw, "unrefined" expression.
And you what? It is no suprise to me that it is brilliant. Utterly brilliant. And the comment my co-worker made connected to that. Sometimes, the "educated experts" just really don't get it.
There is more here, but I am still cooking it.
But, I did get down to the march in time to see some of it. It was glorious and amazing.
I have also been reading Aloud: Voices From the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe this week. The Nuyorican Poet's Cafe has been credited as being the birthplace of slam poetry, and the book is a combination of history of the movement and poetry anthology.
My mind made a rather wonderful connection today while I was discussing the rally and march with a co-worker who had actually taken the day off and gone to the rally, whereas I just made the march. She said that the rally was weird, because it seemed like all of the speakers were coming from a place of priveledge and "Not getting it."
See, I had been thinking about the poetry in the book, and how different it was to the "learned" poetry I have been reading. It is raw, and visceral and difficult and uncomfortable and I love it. And more importantly, it proves that art is not only in the hands of the privledged and educated. That poetry can come from people who don't know how to use a comma, or spell, and have never read Shakespeare or (heaven forbid) Gertrude Stein(Kidding,
ink_ling). Now mind you, I am not saying that the writers represented in the book I am reading are these people; for all I know, they are all ivy-leauge educated, but I doubt it. And the poetry itself certainly gives the impression of raw, "unrefined" expression.And you what? It is no suprise to me that it is brilliant. Utterly brilliant. And the comment my co-worker made connected to that. Sometimes, the "educated experts" just really don't get it.
There is more here, but I am still cooking it.