Some Poetry: Poetry and Thoughts by Arthur Turfa: November 2020

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Starting ther 30/30 Project for the Tupelo Press in a Few Days

https://tupelopress.networkforgood.com/projects/112435-arthur-turfa-s-fundraiser?fbclid=IwAR3h0Cvt-lxzIIpYhooiKS7xMj69WwqvmQ6Z1OY-vATEZgW7K00yuxJ217A

Please pass the link along! If you can contribute something, that is wonderful! And even if you cannot, that is still wonderful! Along with a few other poets, I will write a poem a day to be posted in December. What a way to end 2020! Perhaps the core of a new book will emerge from this.

Friday, November 27, 2020

Perceptive Column about the 2020 Election

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/opinion/trump-democrats-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Thomas Dewey said in the 1940s that conservatives do not win elections. He was a moderate Republican. One could make the case that socialists do not win elections either. However, many of their programs could be tailored to fit voters preferences. Joe Biden can do it!

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Jo Harjo Poem for Today.....

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49622/perhaps-the-world-ends-here

I love the way Joy uses the extended metaphor of the table.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Paul Celan Centennial Poem in Poem-a-Day

https://poets.org/poem/so-many-constellations

Holocaust survivor Paul Celan (born 11/20/1930) committed suicide a year before I started studying German at Penn State. I remember reading about him in my Gruppe 47 book in my sophomore year. The curriculum did not include living or recently-deceased writers/poets, sad to say.

Since I became an official poet (it sounds better than it looks), I have come across his work and have resolved to read more of it.

Monday, November 23, 2020

Review of Adrienne Rich Biography from the ATLANTIC

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/hilary-holladay-adrienne-rich/616935/

The new issue came on Saturday. It is on the coffee table in my den. Today I have three online classes a Zoom meeting, and who knows what else. I may not get to the issue until evening or tomorrow. But I know it will be good! The ATLANTIC is a first-class publication; I have subscribed to it for most of the last three decades, minus a deployment

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Biden has Two Predecessors Who Are Easy Acts To Follow

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kansas/articles/2020-11-21/buchanan-no-tough-act-to-follow-for-2nd-president-from-pa

For years I have been chagrined that the only Pennsylvanian who occupied the White House was the one who did absolutely nothing to prevent the Civil War. The article linked above says it all; James Buchanan understood other countries better than he did his own.

As for soon-to-leave, never-to-concede Donald Trump: he does not merit further discussion.

Joe Biden spent about ten years in his native Scranton, PA. After moving to Delaware, where his father went to seek employment, Joe visited the area often. My family lived in an adjacent county to Scranton for over a dozen years, and we know what he is made of. And's good enough for us!

Time to make some history, Joe! and you certainly can improve over these two predecessors.

Sunday, November 15, 2020

U of South Carolina Might Cut Adjuncts due to COVID

https://www.thestate.com/news/local/education/article247169831.html

Today's post is from the world of education. Normally I do to post much here; I usually tweet or put on Facebook. USC (the original, which is in Columbia, SC, and in several locations scattered through the Palmetto State) is a good school. The Darla Moore School of International Business ranks as the best in the nation. Many of my former students have gone or are attending there now. A few friends are faculty in various departments.

My adjunct career began in Pennsylvania, where I taught History at two community colleges and Religion/Ethics at a four-year college that later became a university. Fortunately, I was employed as a full-time high school teacher at the time, in addition to being in the National Guard or Army Reserve, and serving a Lutheran parish part-time under call or filling in as needed.

When I came to South Carolina, I continued my adjunct career at a local two-year technical college, this time mostly teaching English. Teaching at a four-year school did not happen, although there were a few glimmers of hope. The Great Recession of 2007/08 played a role in that. I taught high school full time, eventually retired from the Lutheran Church (still filling in as needed), and retired from the US Army Reserve Component, eventually receiving a pension.

Some adjunct colleagues only have a tenuous existence in that their sole source of income comes from teaching what classes they can. Midlands Tech, where I teach, is very supportive and like most schools in the US, needs adjuncts. Around three-quarters of all college classes nationwide are taught by adjuncts.

Full-time faculty members at USC do not want to have to teach more or to teach introductory classes. Class size may be higher, and so will stress for all concerned. I hope that USC can cut some things in the budget to come up with the money they need to keep adjuncts.

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Maybe the Exorcism Worked Three Years Later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1AQ4NuJUA8

Ed Sanders is quite the artist/post/etc. Back in the day, the Fugs were more extreme than the Mothers of Invention, which speaks volumes. Enjoy! Or better put, dig it!