Doing much better....
But last night was complicated...
We (Hillel) brought someone to campus last night to talk about Israel, someone whose politics couldn't be further from my own... someone far to the religious-right of Ariel Sharon... and while I DO believe that my job is to help and support the students in whatever they endeavor to do... that doesn't mean it's always easy. My solution was to keep myself so busy with setup and support that I didn't have time to actually meet our speaker or attend the event.
But ironically, in the room below the event I was "working" there was a poetry reading happening, which was full of the people I DO want to be hanging out with... including a friend of mine from Breadloaf and four students from Chattanooga (my undergrad writing school) who had driven down to hear Williams and Zagajewski.
At one point I found myself standing on a stair, looking at the two doors, all symbolic and shit. I had to pick a door. The lady or the tiger, no?
I snuck in quietly and sat down. And felt all at peace. I was okay with myself. I forgave myself.
You can say what you want about the mainstream, but a Polish poet trumps a military-man any day.
Iamb what iamb.
We (Hillel) brought someone to campus last night to talk about Israel, someone whose politics couldn't be further from my own... someone far to the religious-right of Ariel Sharon... and while I DO believe that my job is to help and support the students in whatever they endeavor to do... that doesn't mean it's always easy. My solution was to keep myself so busy with setup and support that I didn't have time to actually meet our speaker or attend the event.
But ironically, in the room below the event I was "working" there was a poetry reading happening, which was full of the people I DO want to be hanging out with... including a friend of mine from Breadloaf and four students from Chattanooga (my undergrad writing school) who had driven down to hear Williams and Zagajewski.
At one point I found myself standing on a stair, looking at the two doors, all symbolic and shit. I had to pick a door. The lady or the tiger, no?
I snuck in quietly and sat down. And felt all at peace. I was okay with myself. I forgave myself.
You can say what you want about the mainstream, but a Polish poet trumps a military-man any day.
Iamb what iamb.
3 Comments:
Instead of looking at the speaker as a "military" man, you could have instead viewed him as an Israeli "leader" and showed your support for an endeavor that needs your support more than you know. More than the world of poetry needs you.
Please try to think about it this way... I DO support any endeavor of my students. I worked HARD on this event, ran all over town, planned for months in advance, used money from my own budget. I picked up food, sent out press releases, invited everyone I knew, welcomed him warmly to campus...
But what good would have been served by one extra person in a room of a hundred, particularly a person who truly disagrees with the speaker.
And poetry may not need me, but I need poetry.
I get to be a person too, you know.
I'm not so convinced that you actually disagree with him. Why? Because the last time you had a chance to listen to him or read his writings, you probably chose, instead, to go to a poetry meeting. Maybe had you gone to hear him speak, you would've started to agree with him.
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