The Biggest Poetry Reading You've Ever Seen

She took a lot of shit for this from Rush Limbaugh and Jon Stewart. Elizabeth Alexander isn't exactly the most daring modern poet, but nonetheless she handled herself well. It's nice to continue to see poets getting a little more attention through mainstream outlets (like Lemon in Esquire), even if it is a poet that I wouldn't call a favorite. 

There is of course that nasty business of the hoards of people leaving doing her poem, and probably being turned off forever to poetry readings and stereotyping all poetry as being just like this (because this, no doubt, wasn't really surprising anyone). And that's all unfortunate, because who wants to have that feeling when you see poets getting attention. We should all be glad for her and the great opportunity to read a poem in front of a couple of million people. That probably won't happen again for a very long time, and Elizabeth Alexander did what she had to do, and did a pretty good job with it.

If We Are What We Read, Than Who Are Barack Obama and John McCain?

Heidi Benson of the San Francisco Chronicle asks this question in a recent article published in the Chronicle. Among the favorites listed by the candidates are For Whom the Bell Tolls, All Quiet on the Western Front, & History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on McCain's list, and Moby-Dick, Self-Reliance (Ralph Waldo Emerson), & Song of Solomon on Barack Obama's list.

These lists are kind of interesting, in that way where you are sick of hearing how Obama was raised by his grandmother and McCain was a POW and you need to read something a little different. Benson asks a few Bay Area authors to chime in on what they think about the lists. Susan Griffin, while analyzing McCain's choices, says, "This strange conglomeration leads me to wonder if the confusion McCain has displayed throughout his campaign may reflect a profound inner ambivalence."

Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) may have my favorite response to the lists when he said:

All of us polish those lists for public view, and you can't get more public than running for president. But these lists do tell us something, even if it's not the truth.

Obama's list says that he'd like to convey a willingness to face heartbreak and irony, that he's open to the new and to the experimental, but that he's serious of purpose and true of heart.

McCain's list says that sure, he reads books, but he's not a pansy boy.

Read the article at the above link, and weigh in on what you think.

InDigest out.

Are You Registered?

This here is a friendly reminder from your buds at InDigest: are you registered to vote?

If not you should go here to register. I know that this is an Obama endorsed site, but you can register here if you are voting for McCain, or writing in Ron Paul, if you want to vote for Bart Simpson, or vote Green or Libertarian. It doesn't really matter to us who you want to vote for (though InDigest is certainly endorsing Obama) it's just important that you get registered and that you vote.

It's a cliche, but I'm going to go there, it is important no matter who you vote for. This is said every election in an effort to galvanize American citizens into participating in the democratic process, but, no joke, this is one of the most important elections in decades. Obviously, it's been something of a historic race, and you should be a part of it. For the first time in decades there is no incumbent (or VP) running for president, the country is in a state of crisis, we're in the midst of a protracted war in two countries, our stock market and economy are in one of the worst crashes in decades, among a host of other issues that extremely important and this won't be dealt with by the Bush administration, it's up to whomever we elect (that's not supposed to be a jab at their lack of ability to get anything done, but merely a fact of their limited time left in office).

So, before I ramble on too long, please register to vote. Leave comments on your funny registration story, encourage your friends and family to vote and get involved. It's easy to say that your vote doesn't make a huge impact, but how many anecdotes are there about congressional elections being determined by 500 or less votes? Lots. And that is where the change comes from, having your candidates in control of state or national congress, every election makes a difference and every vote counts for something. Saying that your vote doesn't make a difference is hypocritical, how can we expect our voices to be heard at a national level when most of America isn't using the little say they do have? I'll get off the pedestal now and hope that you are going to click that link and register if you haven't already.

Much love from InDigest.