Monday, April 14, 2008

Poems, Writing Together, Prizes and One Peeve

►How to celebrate National Poetry Month? A bunch of MFA students sent out a request to 1,300 poets (well known and not so) asking them to write and send back one poem within six hours. See the 100 who responded at LeftFacingBird.

►What do you get when you combine blogs, group writing, traditional publishing, very non-conventional publishing, and a bunch of other stuff I don't even understand but find really intriguing. Find the answer at
WEbook.

►In case you missed the full list, check out the Pulitzer Prize
winners.

►Ok, this is not exactly on point, but…no wait a minute, yes it is. It's exactly on point because it addresses one of my pet peeves about modern literary contrivances aimed at kids.
Pete Sagal was right on when he observed, after seeing Horton Hears a Who,
"In a new subplot added by the filmmakers, the mayor of Whoville has 96 daughters. He has one son. Guess who gets all his attention? Guess who saves the day? Go ahead, think about it, I'll wait."

Sagal has three daughters, and I have two sons, but this irks me as much as it does him. He goes on,


"And while we're at it, how come a girl doesn't get to blow up the Death Star! Or send ET home? Or defeat Captain Hook! Or Destroy the Ring of Power!"

And, I might add, how come every kid protagonist in modern films has at least one dead parent, usually the mother?

Read the full text of Sagal's NPR rant
here.

Ok, I feel better now.

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