| Author | Message | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 31212 Registered: 11-1998 |
Enjoy -- Borders Open Door Poetry Love, M | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Moderator Username: garydawg Post Number: 25349 Registered: 07-2001 |
M, I don't see you listed. Bogus. Smiles and grins. Gary Celebrate Walt with Gary: http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw10/tw4conte.htm | ||
| Fred Longworth
Senior Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 4383 Registered: 05-2006 |
I applaud the Borders site . . . but let me share a little Borders/poetry story. **************************************** About eight years ago, there was a monthly feature/open-mic poetry reading at the Borders in Mission Valley here in San Diego. It was hosted by Merle Fischlowitz. The reading was held near the center of the store, but not far from the entrance to the children's section. About halfway through the reading, a Catholic priest sauntered up to the edge of the group and stood listening. He seemed discontented with the poems. He shuffled his feet, scoffed. Then Billie Dee stood up to read her poems. She is a top-rated local poet, whom I have known a bazillion years. After a couple of minutes, she used the word "breast", and she didn't deploy it in the manner of a selection at KFC. The priest flipped out. Suddenly, he began castigating the whole poetry group (there were maybe thirty people in attendance.) We were slimeballs. Trash. Morally bankrupt. How dare we use that word in a bookstore near the children's section? We were wicked, nefarious, heinous, decadent . . . He spoke very loudly. Clearly, not only those innocent children could hear him (presumably their mothers covered their precious little ears) -- perhaps people on the sidewalk outside as well, possibly even cardinals at the Vatican, maybe even God. He threatened us. He said that this kind of reprehensible behavior had to stop, and HE would make it his mission to put an end to the reading. Then he stormed off. * * * * * The next month, without warning, Borders permanently cancelled Merle Fischlowitz's reading. They did a first-class hush campaign, not announcing the cancellation anywhere. So . . . many people showed up for the next reading only to be told it had "suddenly been cancelled." To those pusillanimous Borders staffers whose concept of poetry was undoubtedly on the level of "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," I say: "You suck." **************************************** Perhaps, via the web-site cited above, Borders is unwittingly doing penance for their cowardly act back in 2000. Fred | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 31228 Registered: 11-1998 |
Thanks for sharing the story. Sad state of affairs. Luckily one Borders in San Diego does not an entire chain make. Obviously, that particular store's employees bent under pressure. But 2000 was quite a while ago, and spoken-word poetry has come quite a ways since then. We regularly attend poetry readings at Borders (and other bookstores). The word breast wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. And people bring their kids to these readings. There's a whole lot worse being said than breast, trust me. Nobody flinches -- kids or parents. It's understood it's a literary event and there's going to be adult topics and language. The more you talk about San Diego, Fred, the less I would ever be interested in living there. Sorry about your friend Merle. She certainly didn't deserve that. Love, M | ||
| Fred Longworth
Senior Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 4384 Registered: 05-2006 |
~M~, Merle is a man, at that time probably in his mid to late sixties, a retired school psychologist. I believe he worked in Escondido about a half hour's drive north of San Diego proper. He is a Jew, and his wife was a holocaust survivor. I don't know which concentration camp she was in. I do know that a good share of Merle's writing was one man's attempt to come to terms with the horrors of what happened to his wife when she was very young. Due to health considerations (his legs), Merle has had to drastically cut back his participation in poetry events. In the last year of the reading at Borders, he always used a motorized chair. Billie Dee is a retired physician and a lesbian, and frankly someone I like and admire. I have long wondered how much the priest's ire was fueled by his bigotry regarding Jews and lesbians. * * * * * It is people like that priest who aided Torquemada in the Inquisition. And the Borders employees who went along with his vendetta are cut from the same cloth as those who went along with the Waffen SS. * * * * * Tonight I listened to Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, on the radio. As you know, she is McCain's choice for VP. She actually gave birth to a child, a boy, with Down's Syndrome earlier this year. (She has five children.) Now, she is on the ticket because she presumably stands for conservative Christian values. But even as governor, she is obviously not able to be more than a titular mom to the several of her kids who are underage. And now she proposes to abandon motherhood to her infant child in order to be VP of the United States. I don't think you can have it both ways. Either you are a conservative Christian with a life style that goes along with it, or you are living a modern life style and mouthing Christian platitudes to pander to the evangelical electorate. * * * * * Fred | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 31238 Registered: 11-1998 |
Whoops, sorry about the mix-up on the names, Freddie. Of course, I meant Billie. I was going too fast. And of course, Merle did not deserve a cancellation of his reading. That's poor form and ignorant behavior. I'm sure both their work is rich with experience and merits proper exposure. Borders was wrong to cave in to one bigotted priest on his own twisted mission. There might be a poem in it for you, though. It's a very interesting story. Love, M |
