Geek Droppings

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Saving the Earth, one cycle at a time

Check out this awesome video Cristina and I made in Charlotte:

The state of things

Well - I've finished my first year of law school. It was harder than I expected, and took up much more time than I had anticipated. I did well though.

Cristina and I went to India in January, and to New Orleans in April. No trips in May. We're going to Charlotte at the end of this month, and then to visit my parents in Virginia. Mid-July, we're going to Kansas City to visit some of her friends. In August, she may be going to Austin for the National Poetry Slam - she made the team this year as an alternate.

Right now, we're concentrating on clearing out and reorganizing the house. We're almost finished cleaning out my storage. There's only a few bookcases, a table, and some pictures left. We found this fantastic thing called Freecycle. You post things that you no longer want, and other people come and take them off of your hands. We've gotten rid of the strangest things that way. We're focusing on making a space together, that we both enjoy and can live in peace with. We no longer want to be so tightly bound to our possessions.

It's been a great summer so far.

Hot Topic = hardcore??

FULL DISCLOSURE: I like Hot Topic, and I buy things from them from time to time.

Can a band really be "underground" when Hot Topic is presenting it? Apparently, the House of Blues in Orlando thinks so. When I opened the email from them yesterday, this is what I read:

Hot Topic Presents Sounds of the Underground with GWAR and Chimaira, Every Time I Die, Job For a Cowboy, Necro, Darkest Hour, Amon Amarth, The Acacia Strain, The Devil Wears Prada, HeavyHeavyHeavyLowLow, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Goatwhore, This Is Hell, 2 Cents***This Show is at UCF Arena***

I'm sure I know several people who will be going to the show. (FYI, Goatwhore is terrible. I saw them a few years ago, possibly with Pantera, but I wouldn't swear to it.) I wonder if they feel that GWAR and Chimaira have sold out. How much can one accept from the corporate gods before the soul shrivels and the hardcore balls shrink? For that matter - is it "selling out" to market your 12" at Hot Topic? Or just a canny use of "the man" to reach hitherto un-evangelized masses?

I think the real, ultimate, burning question is this - can you be hardcore if you buy your concert-gear and records at a mall? Discuss.

I Started Law School

I started law school. It's very hard. I have no time. I drive a lot. All of my synthesis and analysis is directed towards a) school and b) work, and there is no brainpower left to spare for the sad, neglected little blog. Expect updates after December 11.

National Poetry Slam

Cristina and I are leaving tomorrow morning for Austin and the National Poetry Slam. I got the new camera today, so we will have photos AND video - I'm taking the camcorder too. It's going to be great - hot, but awesome.

Wednesday night our bout is at 10PM, and Thursday our bout is at 8PM. Friday night is semifinals and Saturday night is finals. There are various assorted open mics and slams during the day and at night. I have to leave on Friday evening to get back in time for orientation on Saturday. I have no doubt we'll make it to the semi-finals, so I guess I'll just have to rely on someone else videotaping it for me.

Not sure if there'll be updates on the official site or not - if I can blog I will, if not, I will just write a huge entry when I get back.

Sun-Sentinal on Slam

Check out this article about the Dada poetry slam in the Sun-Sentinal. Putting aside my irritation that they didn't talk to Cristina (or mention her), it's pretty cool.

Well-versed performers

Poetry slam team looks to upstage rivals on sixth trip to national contest

By Erika Slife
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 6 2006

Delray Beach · It's after midnight on a Tuesday, and most of the city is asleep, but inside a cozy room of a 1924 house-turned-restaurant, the poets are having their say.

Part confessional, part social commentary, part rant, the weekly poetry slam at Dada, an eclectic eatery and bar on Swinton and Atlantic avenues, is where outspoken artists lift their words from the jotted notes in journals or wadded napkins and belt them out before an audience in competitive, three-minute bursts.

"She made a promise at the bus stop bench she couldn't keep," a heartbroken performer bemoaned one recent Tuesday.

"I want the right to drive drunk again," another thundered to a laughing crowd in a tirade against the legal alcohol limit.

Now, a group of them known locally as Poets Anonymous hits the national stage this week for the largest team performance poetry event in the country, the National Poetry Slam.

"Fundamentally, when you walk into the venue when you are about to compete you are entering a sea of strange faces and you know it's your job to get them to adore you by the end of your performance," said Casandra Tanenbaum, a schoolteacher by day and Dada's official Slam Master and team coach by night. "If the crowd is with you, you've won."

The five-member team will head to Austin, Texas, today to go verse-to-verse with about 75 groups from all over the country, as well as Vancouver and France. It's the sixth trip to nationals for the Delray Beach team; last year, they made it to the semifinals, the best showing ever.

Started in 1986 by Chicago poet Marc Smith, poetry slam enthusiasts celebrate poetry slam's 20th anniversary this year, a milestone after seeing it spread to all parts of the country and move into pop culture. Slam poetry has been included in concerts, like Lollapalooza's 1994 tour, and featured in TV shows, such as HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.

"Most people today don't sit around the living room reading Byron or Poe. You have to bring them to a bar to enjoy it," said Andrew Procyk, an adjunct sociology professor who once ran, unsuccessfully, for a city commission seat. It will be his sixth time going to nationals.

At times confessional, more often entertaining, the poems are delivered in frenzied, dynamic renditions. Judges, who are volunteers from the audience, use placards to rate the poets on a scale of zero to a perfect 10 based on delivery, performance and preference.

The top scorers earn a trip to the second round, where a winner is determined.

Winners from those final rounds make up the Delray Beach team headed to the nationals.

"Sometimes I don't know what the draw is because it's weird to put a numerical and competitive edge on poetry," said Renda Writer, an entrepreneur and writer and team member. "But I do it anyway. It's an outlet for me to be heard."

On a typical night at Dada, poets will sign in from 10 to 10:30 p.m. Slam Master Casandra, who officiates the contest, will pick three to five volunteers from the audience to judge and the competition begins.

Sometimes more than 100 people will show up to watch 12 to 14 performers, said Sean McGrade, general manager of Dada.

"We're committed to the arts, the owners here really wanted a cross-section of the community to have a base, whether it be art, music, voice and opinion, poetry and self-expression," McGrade said.

In a city that is striving to establish a cultural and artistic identity -- Delray Beach officials spent $53,000 to come up with a cultural plan -- Dada on its own is a major contributor to the South Florida art scene, poets say.

Mayor Jeff Perlman said city officials are seeking to springboard off what some in the private sector have started. In January, the city hosted the Palm Beach Poetry Festival for the second year in a row.

"The environment that's been created here is very conducive to the creative class. We've got all the physical assets in place," Perlman said. "That's the biggest part of the battle. Now we have to cultivate a plan. How do you stimulate it?"

Dada may be a start. Poets from Miami to West Palm Beach and beyond gather to critique one another, as well as inspire.

"I think of course the opportunity for a certain amount of exposure, personal exposure and intimate exposure, is a draw for the performers," Tanenbaum said.

"They derive a very strange and clever joy out of it."

Jeffrey McDaniel - The Quiet World

http://www.nea.gov/features/Writers/Mcdaniel.html

In an effort to get people to look
into each other's eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.
When the phone rings, I put it in to my ear
Without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.
Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.
When she doesn't respond,
I know she's used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.

Shoes

Every now and then, I start craving shoes. Awesome shoes. Like these:

Christian Louboutin Chambord slingbacks

Christian Louboutin Tutti-Frutti pumps

Christian Louboutin Mioum slingbacks

Christian Louboutin Guitouneflower slingbacks

Christian Louboutin Gandhura sandals

Taylor Mali - What Teachers Make

What Teachers Make, or
Objection Overruled, or
If things don't work out, you can always go to law school

By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com


He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.

"I mean, you're a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"

And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?