Mouse Farts in a Wind Tunnel

February 15, 2003

When I lived in New York, I had the luck and deep pleasure to work with Michael. It wasn't the work that was great, because it sucked, but having Michael there made it more than bearable. He and I ate lunch together every day for what was probably two years (at least? who knows). One of the few true autodidacts I have known, Michael was and is a poet. Our lunch conversations ranged over all sorts of topics, from the works of William Blake to silly Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. We tried an experiment once of reading the same book so we could talk about it, but it was a dismal failure. I couldn't make it through that damn Barry Lopez book -- I think it was Arctic Dreams -- and I know that Michael was less than impressed with Franz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth.

When he was quite young, Michael decided to be a poet, to enter into the conversation that lasts. At first, I thought this was odd, if not silly. I am not a reader of poetry and never have been. He tried to educate me but I wasn't particularly adept. I am still pretty much of a poetry moron. I remember proofreading some of his early work while reading on the N train one day and liking best his poem about the disappearance of the frogs. Typical for me, the political content made it memorable. I am a poetry philistine. I went to a few of his readings, but I never got it. Of course, to call them readings is unfair. Michael doesn't read his poetry, he recites it. He uses his voice to give it life.

Michael has kept at his work for more years than I know how to stick to one thing. I googled him today and found out that his career has blossomed in ways I couldn't have imagined. I am so proud and happy; it's an inexpressible pleasure when someone you love does the things that make his or her heart happy.

About Michael
Michael T. Young

Some of Michael's poetry
Wind and Water
Virgil in Calcutta
To the Astrologer
Summer Houses in Winter
Running in Circles
Reading between the Lines
Man of Glass
From the Silver Mines
Examples to Follow
Everything
Departure
Dad
Burnt Offering
The Moon at the End of the Street
PoetryCentral Feature Poet The Fall in Voter Turnout, How Things Are Lost, and Surfaces, in addition to Dad and A Man of Glass

Review of his work
Transcribing Experience: Michael T. Young's Transcriptions of Daylight

Order Transcriptions of Daylight I did.

If I wasn't such a philistine, I would love Michael's work even more than I do for its ability to capture a moment of light in words.

posted by el goose on 2/15/2003 01:47:21 PM | link

--------------------

February 14, 2003

Happy Valentine's Day from that other regime change.

posted by el goose on 2/14/2003 09:28:23 AM | link

Fucktard Nerdy Redhead Twat

posted by el goose on 2/14/2003 10:49:31 AM | link

"Bushlet" Act I

BER.: Wracked with dreams was I, dreams of war.
FRA..: Marry, to be wracked with Iraq's attack at that!
BER.: Funny. What hear you of our attack? 'tis time?
FRA.: Nay, only this: that our sweet young prince
Doth stalk here nightly, his brow furrowed, as if
In semblance of thought. Far does he roam.

posted by el goose on 2/14/2003 02:35:17 PM | link

--------------------

February 13, 2003

Mighty tasty lunch

Serve with plain yogurt.

posted by el goose on 2/13/2003 04:18:55 PM | link

News from Dayton.

Ashes stolen, but quickly recovered: Thieves makes off with remains, but abandon them fast

The risk you take when you keep ten-year-old cremains in the trunk of your car, even if it is just for a little while. Hot ashes returned by good samaritan: “I figured somebody was looking for him."

posted by el goose on 2/13/2003 11:35:20 PM | link

A former supermarket employee was indicted on charges of poisoning about 200 pounds of ground beef with insecticide and sickening more than 40 people.

A local tv station ran this story and then cut to "The news brought to you by Roundup." Weed killer, bug killer, what's the diff?

posted by el goose on 2/13/2003 11:48:50 PM | link

--------------------

February 12, 2003

Thanks and love to LIPTAKS, who packed my latest Amazon order with care.

posted by el goose on 2/12/2003 01:19:16 PM | link

--------------------

February 10, 2003

I thought that the Guernica Cover Up story was limping along and not dying out, but that was a function of the blogs I read rather than the staying power of the story. It more or less disappeared in the aftermath of the space shuttle story. The disappearance was helped along, I think, by not quite knowing how to report it, or not wanting to: is it an art story, a politics story, or some combination of the two, like a censorship story? The irony of the cover up was apparent among those with some knowledge of art history, but in those sources unwilling to educate readers, the significance of the act was rendered down to the same level of idiocy as John Ashcroft covering up a statue's breast.

This was an implicitly political act that had nothing in common with Ashcroft's family values. Obviously, any silencing of speech or censorship of art is a political act. This one struck me more than many do as it works to censor "elite art" which isn't necessarily something that many would raise an objection to. Once art has been isolated in some special art-for-art's-sake world, it is removed from the rhetorical vocabulary of most Americans. The cover up is the second censorship; the first is idealizing art beyond quotidian interest.

An interesting history of the creation of the painting from Islam Online

The piece refutes the common belief that art – especially figurative art – is merely something for entertainment and optical pleasure, detached from social surroundings. The unquestionable fact, however, that most artists of every age have proved is that art is one of the necessities of life and that "art for art's sake" is an unrealistic philosophy. The truth is that the real creative artist is often influenced by his/her sociopolitical environment which constitutes the stimulus for his/her creative art.

A refutation of an Islamist view of art as decadent; the other side of the coin that renders it incomprehensible. Art beyond the reach of the ordinary person... which method of censorship is worse and more stifling?

UN Report: The Picasso Cover-Up Washington Times February 3

Powell Without Picasso New York Times February 5
Maureen Dowd's column, the same day.

Shroud over Guernica Sydney Morning Herald February 5

UN Cover-Up: Guernica Hidden as U.S. Speaks on Iraq Reuters February 5
In the "Oddly Enough" wacky news articles section for some reason. Major wire service, minimizing rhetoric.

The story was reported on the ABS CBN News, Phillipines, February 5, but has scrolled from the site.

A UN Cover-up? Just for One Day New York Newsday February 6

Anti-war art doesn't fly at U.N. Toronto Star February 6
Reported as an Art story first.

'Guernica' Cover-Up Raises Suspicions Los Angeles Times February 6. Hidden Treasures: What's so controversial about Picasso's Guernica? Slate February 6
An art history piece.

No smoking gun, but carefully crafted case against Iraq The Scotsman February 7
Used as the lede in a story about Colin Powell's Smoking Gun speech.

WORRIED that Colin Powell might be photographed in front of a painting of dismembered heads and limbs, nervous press officers covered Pablo Picasso’s famous painting, Guernica, at the UN yesterday.
Nothing was being left to chance on the day Washington’s most famous dove laid out the case for war against Iraq.

UN practices its own kind of cover-up Taipei Times February 7
Page one story using Reuters material.

The lessons of Guernica Toronto Star February 9
Moves past being an Art story to News. Story picked up by commondreams.org and from there linked in a couple of other places.

Of course, it's been reported in some not-so-mainstream media, as well.

UN Covers Up Picasso's Guernica to Avoid Offending the Regime's War Criminals Independent Media Centre Ireland February 3 With link to ArtDaily, which broke the story on February 3. The story seems to have scrolled off ArtDaily at this point, which seems odd, given that this is probably the biggest "art" story going. The site reflects a larger disconnect between art and politics that marginalized the story from the beginning. It reflects an art-for-art's-sake viewpoint, which is at least ironic, if not criminal, given the conditions of Guernica's creation.

The United Nations covers Picasso's masterwork. sf.indymedia.org February 7

UN conceals Picasso’s “Guernica” for Powell’s presentation World Socialist February 8

As you were: Crean's bravado collapses

Sydney Morning Herald February 8
The story is used in Australian politics as a point in the argument whether Australian troops should be involved in any military action against Iraq.

Labor's Laurie Brereton, a strong opponent of Australian troops getting involved, introduced his speech during the three days of parliamentary debate with one of its more eloquent anecdotes. Brereton spent three months at the UN last year as one of the Australian Parliament's two representatives.
...
"I am told the UN's Guernica was donated by Nelson Rockefeller in 1985. Unfortunately, it is no longer on display. On 27 January this year, a large blue curtain was hung to cover it up.
"Questioned why, the UN press spokesman Fred Eckhard said the blue background was a technically better background for cameras covering the statements being made outside the Security Council. But media reports quote unnamed diplomats observing that it would not be appropriate for the US Ambassador to the UN or the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to talk about war with Iraq against a backdrop of images of women, children and animals showing the suffering of war.
"Whatever the reasons, there is a profound symbolism in pulling a shroud over this great work of art. For throughout the debate on Iraq, whether at the UN, in the US or here in Australia, there has been remarkable obfuscation, evasion and denial - and never more so than when it comes to the grim realities of military action."

The story has been further used at the end of a long and detailed critique of Powell's Smoking Gun speech in the Palestine Chronicle on February 10.

Where are the Incubators?

One has difficulty finding a humorous angle to this sordid situation, but the UN and the US have provided one. Today, at the UN, a curtain was drawn over a replica of Picasso’s Guernica – a painting that is an indictment of war and the barbarity inflicted by man on man. (footnote: One only wonders why Kofi Anan [sic] allowed the UN to be used in this way.)

Throughout the spectacle, one became acutely aware that the whole event was stage-managed. The mere suggestion about the horrors of war would have been out of place, clashing with the case for war offered by Powell and the other dogs of war.

This article by Paul de Rooij was presumably picked up from Counterpunch, where it was published on February 6.

A seemingly disingenuous reference to Guernica in an editorial by the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney in the Sydney Morning Herald of February 7.

And then there are the blogs. I'm sure I've missed many, but here are some that I've come across, many through the magic of hyperlinks:

Picasso's anti-war tableau "Guernica" covered up at UN Boing Boing February 3
Please ignore the painting behind the curtain. Metafilter February 3
Fascists Redux Ruminate This February 3
This gets blogged by several below.
Shock and Awe of the NewBlargBlog February 3
For God's Sake, Hide the Picasso!Ampersand February 3
First Boobs, Then War Atrios February 3
The face of fascism Orcinus February 4
Protecting our delicate sensibilities Tom Tomorrow February 4
Nothing to see here. Really. djwudi.com February 4
Any speculation? MaxSpeak February 4.
Double post to Metafilter February 6.

posted by el goose on 2/10/2003 12:52:06 PM | link

which art movement are you?
this quiz was made by Caitlin

You should know something about this, it's the Renaissance! As for style, "...artists studied the natural world, perfecting their understanding of such subjects as anatomy and perspective." (artcyclopedia.com) They loved science-y things and labored for perfection and harmonious beauty, a goal with which you sympathize. You're probably pretty smart, too. Anal-retentive much?
Famous Renaissancers (lots!): Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, and You.

Someone stop me before I quiz again!!!

posted by el goose on 2/10/2003 04:17:10 PM | link

Poetry Makes Nothing Happen? Ask Laura Bush

Katha Pollitt on the cancelled White House Poetry Symposium. Like Pollitt, I am surprised by the irony of the title of the symposium -- Poetry and the American Voice.

So much for democracy, free speech, vigorous discussion. In this most insulated and choreographed of administrations, the "American voice"-- note the singular--is welcome only when it says what the White House wants to hear. And yet, as so often, censorship backfired. "They did us an extraordinary favor," Hamill told me. "They revealed that there are many, many poets opposed to the Bush regime. And they demonstrated their fear of the carefully chosen word--their fear of poetry.

This attempt at censorship has generated a forum for many voices, many poets, also speaking with one voice against the war. If you have a poem against the war, send it to Poets Against the War. Use language to make your point; be subversive.

posted by el goose on 2/10/2003 04:41:19 PM | link

This year's Razzie nominations

Overall, Attack of the Clones was attacked with seven Razzie nominations, matching Swept Away, Madonna's career suicide pact with hubby Guy Ritchie.
...
Expected big-time Oscar nominees Chicago and The Hours were snubbed by the Razzies' 537 voters (members all of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation), on account of they weren't bad and/or didn't star Eddie Murphy.

It's so easy to be mean about Madonna and Eddie Murphy. Not to mention Roberto Benigni and J. Lo.

posted by el goose on 2/10/2003 08:09:54 PM | link

--------------------