Disqus - Latest Comments for SPlabman

Re: Tearing down walls this election year, not building them

SPlabman — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 11:18:33 -0000

"That fantasy has played out in real life by those who yearn for a new country called Cascadia—a Pacific Northwest republic that would include British Columbia. Over the past 25 years, Cascadia proponents have advocated a dream and waved a flag called “Old Doug,” which is blue, green and white with a Douglas fir at the center, a tree common to Cascadia’s forested parts. If the rest of the world goes to hell in a hand basket, the dream is that we can create new borders designed to protect our environment..."

Or one can see bioregionalism as the effort not to secede, but to "reinhabit" in the words of Peter Berg of the Planet Drum Foundation who promoted the notion of bioregionalism more than anyone else.

As he wrote in 1977 "Living-in-place means following the necessities and pleasures of life as they are uniquely presented by a particular site, and evolving ways to ensure long-term occupancy of that site." This predated the use of the word "sustainability" by more than a decade. It was visionary to see "national boundaries" as ones created by nature, not straight lines cutting through watersheds that make it easy to evade responsibility for ecological stewardship of an area. Indigenous people realize this and oil train, coal train and pipeline protests are one action they've taken to try to wake people up.

Berg understood all the crises we face are crises of culture, which is why we started the Cascadia Poetry Festival in 2012; to initiate a bioregional cultural investigation of this place. (The next one is Nov 3-6, 2016 at Spring Street Center in Seattle: www.CascadiaPoetryfestival.org )

To write off Cascadia efforts as "wall-building" or "separatist movements" is inaccurate and unfortunate, especially given the environmental and cultural challenges we face at this time, challenges that do not respect international boundaries like the straight line 49th parallel.

Re: Seattle Dance Companies Struggle to Find Room to Move

SPlabman — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 14:35:57 -0000

Try www.SpringStreetCenter.com as a dance venue/practice space. Home to Seattle's Subud (spiritual) community for 42 years there is a nice cork floor in the chapel and Airbnb rooms upstairs for visiting artists.

Re: #GeOntheWater with Misty and Oren Lawson of Ocean Outfitters!

SPlabman — Mon, 09 May 2016 09:09:13 -0000

My thoughts are with you two today as I learn about your Father's passing. He was a good man. May his transition be smooth and my your grief be deep and complete. Paul Nelson, Seattle, WA

Re: Jeff Beck Talks Moving Past 'Guitar Nerd' Albums on New LP

SPlabman — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 09:51:03 -0000

And Wired. And There and Back. Booooo.

Re: A poet who knows it: Bill Murray shares some favorite verse

SPlabman — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 00:44:30 -0000

Like cheese.

Re: Melissa Harris-Perry Just Showed What It Means To Give No Fucks About What White People Think

SPlabman — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 09:26:25 -0000

And the first step is not caring what certain people think. Then the next step is having compassion for their smallness and need to attempt to control, which Erich Fromm called an extension of necrophilia. And the third step is to understand that we are all connected and we aim for what Dr. King said, to judge people by the content of their character. More power to Melissa Harris-Perry and to all those who would understand what Frank Zappa meant when he said: "No one looks good wearing the brown lipstick."

Re: ON MARJORIE PERLOFF

SPlabman — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 13:23:47 -0000

This is spot on. The critic's job is illumination, not installing one's self in a position of superiority. Moten nails this (and Ralph Maud in his takedown of her attack on Charles Olson) and anyone paying even slight attention to Perloff's priorities and intentions understands this, or places career above it. Thanks Fred.

Re: Chicago Cubs: Crosstown Rivalry heats up as White Sox acquire Todd Frazier

SPlabman — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 09:41:02 -0000

1908.

Re: Confessional Privacy, Sad Sex, and Swagger in Eileen Myles’ I Must Be Living Twice

SPlabman — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 14:49:26 -0000

I heard about this review before I read it and sought it out online. I'm glad it's here, because it was described to me as saying "Her best work is behind her." Myles even responded to that in her reading at Powell's last night, (& dedicated it to Zach) but what it actually says is: "If the new poems in this book are any sign of what's to come, it's possible Myles' best work is behind her. But the book argues strongly for Myles as a major poet. Where once there were some 13 books, all brilliant but none really demonstrating the true depth of her skill, now there is a collection that shows who she really is: a poet of incredible talent and enormous influence... " which is much different. I missed her Seattle reading, so was delighted to be able to catch her last night and her best work is not behind her. She is a poet with remarkable perception, insight, and originality all done with the most open/authentic approach a poet (or lit enthusiast) could hope for. And in this era where identity poetics runs a great deal of what is happening, here is a brilliant poet who happens to be a Lesbian. You go Eileen Myles.

Re: Dori has a problem with yoga for people of color class

SPlabman — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 09:36:31 -0000

There are no places for White people to do yoga? How 'bout any yoga studio north of I-90. Check your privilege Dori.

Re: Poems: Thomas Walton - Queen Mob's Tea House

SPlabman — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 22:52:12 -0000

Greg B's always about the poop.

Re: Seattle musicians grab Portland idea to seek fair treatment

SPlabman — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 00:56:30 -0000

How'd this idea work out for the SeaMonster?

Re: Socialist councilmember Sawant calls for a new tech revolution

SPlabman — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 18:21:34 -0000

Hey, thanks for the ethic slur. Misogyny and racism are two awful traits to display publicly.

Re: Socialist councilmember Sawant calls for a new tech revolution

SPlabman — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 18:20:13 -0000

Cooperative capitalism. The big corporations (Hyatt &c) are losing to individuals who are renting out their extra bedrooms.

Re: Socialist councilmember Sawant calls for a new tech revolution

SPlabman — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 11:21:59 -0000

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative, Chapter One: "It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism." And so that book begins by alerting us to the fact that USAmericans are so brainwashed by the non-stop propaganda, and their imaginations so addled by the industry-generated culture, that what Sawant says looks like science fiction and yet she got elected as a Socialist, got the $15 minimum wage passed (a model for the U.S.) and will next work on municipal broadband. I support her efforts and Upgrade Seattle. Does Comcast or Century Link give a shit about anyone but their shareholders? No. Sawant is a visionary and has integrity. We need more like her, not the corporate puppets who hold most offices here and just about everywhere else in the U.S. If you think capitalism's going to keep on going just as it has, try an Airbnb and think of how hotels feel about that. Try an Uber. Read Jeremy Rifkin, among others. Capitalism is a doomsday device. I am glad one person in elected office around here recognizes that.

Re: Housing and growth may fire up primary voters

SPlabman — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 13:14:07 -0000

A shame we aren't hip enough to have Instant Runoff Voting in Seattle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi... All the HALA-proponents need to do is stall and we'll be SF2.0. How's it going there?

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI: A new brand of dot-com millionaires and generally Silicon Valley money have moved into San Francisco with bags full of cash and no manners.

JEFFREY BROWN: The pace of change, Ferlinghetti says, has quickened beyond control, but it’s not a new issue for him. He read for us a passage from a 2001 piece titled “The Poetic City That Was.”

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI: “Fifty years later, he awoke one fine morning, looking for anywhere he could live and work. The new owners of his old flat now wanted $4,500 a month. And many of his friends were also evicted.” http://www.pbs.org/newshour...

Re: Daryl Morey will see you in Temecula if you don’t think James Harden was MVP

SPlabman — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 13:07:48 -0000

MVP consideration does not include playoffs, but how'd Harden do in the playoffs? P.S. These si.com videos are awful.

Re: Staff Cuts Raise Concerns

SPlabman — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:56:52 -0000

Such a shame to see people like Ethelbert Miller, who represented Howard University with such class for 39 years, to be let go so unceremoniously. Howard became a little less noble with these acts and a little more like the business-as-usual we'd expect from your typical faceless USAmerican corporation. A big disappointment. These kinds of things are not forgotten easily.

Re: State of the Arts: Does Seattle have an arts aesthetic?

SPlabman — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:23:41 -0000

Did you not read the phrase right after that? "In terms of settler presence" oh dear. Mr. Anonymous? What person of privilege (in this case the son of a blue collar railroad worker and Cuban immigrant) user SETTLER as the term for non-indigenous. Careful reading might help you identify REAL threats.

Re: Ryan Boudinot killed Seattle City of Lit and the Stranger helped him bury the body

SPlabman — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:36:59 -0000

Not that Boudinot's a good example, but criticism is not tolerated in Seattle and that means the writing community is held back. See: http://paulenelson.com/2015...

Re: Ryan Boudinot killed Seattle City of Lit and the Stranger helped him bury the body

SPlabman — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 10:14:01 -0000

Ryan Boudinot bit the hand that fed him. The Stranger, which a friend once likened to "a cult" stirred up some shit and got some web hits and the City of Literature designation is dead for now, or at least stunned. But what does that matter? Would the U.N. designation mean that writing from Seattle would get better? Would there be more support for literary non-profits here. (Running one myself, I know how difficult it is to raise funds for poetry.) I doubt it. It reminds me of poet positioners who lust after contests, awards, readings and being named Poet Laureate of anything, even the town of Chimacum as Sam Hamill likes to joke. Do these titles mean anything? Probably not. Mostly this is a distraction from going as deeply into one's own consciousness to create literature that D.H. Lawrence would say, "changes the blood" as he said of Whitman. Boudinot might be so ostracized by the community for his ill-advised moves that he might go more deeply down his own throat to find the essence and, if he is lucky, might be able to capture that. Who knows? But all this lusting after titles seems like a sideshow to me unless someone can convince me otherwise.

Re: Abstinence sends mixed signals in birth control debate | Nelson - Auburn Reporter

SPlabman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:51:15 -0000

8track,

I think what spurred the author to write an opinion for her high school paper was the notion that abstinence was being suggested as the only method of preventing the unwanted consequences of teenage sex. It's naive and has been proven to be a failure. Of course it should be suggested as an option.

US American culture, by and large, puts sex in the closet and can't have a rational discussion about it, no matter the age group in question. This is one reason why pornography so popular.

If sex under age 18 is illegal, than alert the Masturbation Police. You've got several million criminals! Seriously, other countries have a much broader definition of what constitutes sex, but the unwillingness to have a rational discussion makes things more more difficult.

Re: Abstinence sends mixed signals in birth control debate | Nelson - Auburn Reporter

SPlabman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:51:12 -0000

Interesting that Rebecca has gotten the attention of readers of this website like few other opinion writers before her. Kudos!

If abstinence was a workable deterrent to sexual acting out by teens, it would have worked for that "Pro-Life Crusader" Sarah Palin. It didn't because she, and others like her, take the easy way out by proclaiming themselves to be "Pro-Life" and for "Traditional Values" etc., when in truth her position is chosen for political gain. You think young people don't see through this canard? You underestimate them at your own risk. When parents speak truthfully and honestly to kids about sex and model that behavior, they respond accordingly. Sex without love is as empty as all the political rhetoric on both sides of this issue, but Auburn tried the closet approach years ago and had the highest teen pregnancy rate in the county. The community knew then, as they do now, something more credible than "Just Say No" is necessary. Rebecca gets it. Adults should too.

Re: Abstinence sends mixed signals in birth control debate | Nelson - Auburn Reporter

SPlabman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:36:47 -0000

Truth is more flexible than you make it out to be, Chris. An attack? No. A recognition of the tone of your comment. Scaring young people into believing sex is bad, the body is dirty, homosexuals are immoral, and other remnants of the Puritan belief system don;t work and cause other unintended consequences that also leave their emotional scars. When you can get off the victim/villain dynamic, an intelligent debate is possible.

Re: Abstinence sends mixed signals in birth control debate | Nelson - Auburn Reporter

SPlabman — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:09:12 -0000

Interesting Chris thinks people "are telling you sex is ok..." It is people like Chris who can't believe teenagers are intelligent and conscious enough to make their own choices regarding this and other such activities. But, when you demonize young people, use fear tactics as the ones Chris attempts, or put sex in the closet, that is when you run into problems.

Yes, people usually realize sex without love is empty, and its a parent's job to communicate this, but the condescending tone used here by Chris and by people like him, usually often works against the best outcomes for all young people.