Re: a comment on Middle-Aged White Woman by Dovina	Dovina 204.250.12.246	23-Apr-05/5:41 AM
How could it be taken otherwise? Oh yeah, by zodiac.
Re: a comment on Middle-Aged White Woman by Dovina	edpeterson 68.79.19.7	22-Apr-05/7:07 PM
Let us not forget the tapioca beards of the negroe jesuse lawne ornamtents.
Re: a comment on Baggage (3rd ending) by INTRANSIT	edpeterson 68.79.19.7	22-Apr-05/6:55 PM
umbilical. cat's, rabbit's
Re: a comment on Middle-Aged White Woman by Dovina	-=Dark_Angel=-, P.I. 81.153.196.50	22-Apr-05/5:17 PM
If I was a Negro, I wouldn't want White people tiptoeing around me because they were terrified of inadvertantly saying something racist. Imagine trying to be friends with someone who was subconsciously opposed to you, and was only capable of a pseudo-objective analysis of your behaviour, implemented via a complex feedback mechanism of ropes, pulleys, and two-way mirrors. I agree that the vast majority of people who are aware of their racial biases try to compensate somehow, but it's nigh impossible to calculate how much you should compensate. Most people overcompensate, and become patronising. They go up to a Black and for no reason just say something like "Denzel Washington... what a fantastic actor. He's not my favorite actor though. That would have to be Mr Sidney Poitier." (a snippet from The Office) Incidentally, the test is based on the times taken to respond to each question, not on how many errors you make. Of course if you make too many errors, there won't be enough data to draw statistically significant conclusions. The survey bit is optional, and does not affect the test (it is included so they can use your data to make exciting new discoveries in the field of Advanced Negro Engineering.)
Re: a comment on Middle-Aged White Woman by Dovina	Goad 80.132.234.116	22-Apr-05/4:50 PM
Our brains have evolved to have unconscious biases. In many ways these unconscious biases are incredibly advantageous, if not necessarily to us as individuals, to the propagation of our genes. At least, that was true in the past. In our current society, the biases and instincts we naturally tend to have/develop are often at odds with the ideals and values of society. What counts is not whether you have such incorrect biases and instincts. Virtually everybody does. What counts are the conscious choices you make about whether or not to align yourself with the values & ideals society is moving towards. And it is moving. Black people don't have equality in America, but they've more equality than they had a generation ago, and it's likely they'll have more equality in another generation than they do now. Perhaps even as much equality as they have in Canada and other more enlightened nations. Similarly, women do not yet have equality in America, but they have rather significantly more equality than they had a generation ago, and will likely have even more equality a generation from now. Perhaps by then America will have even had a female national leader, as several more enlightened nations have already. Health care is another excellent example. In the past, health care was grossly unequal but now most enlightened nations have some sort of system that provides access to health care to virtually all of their citizens. Even America has a rudimentary form of such a system that's available to most of it's citizens.
Re: a comment on Middle-Aged White Woman by Dovina	Goad 80.132.234.116	22-Apr-05/4:17 PM
I'm saddened that you're withdrawing "as vernal as spring" as an epithet for me! I've really taken it to heart over the last year, relying on it (for example) on certain mornings, saying to myself, "No, today I'm not going to lie in bed until 11 and then phone the office and tell them to fuck off like I did yesterday, because I AM AS VERNAL AS THE SPRING and instead I am going to pop right out of bed, brew a java, have a shower, and be at my desk by 10:43" I even added it to my personal business card, in tiny italic print with quotes and an ellipsis, like so: M------ J--------- "...as vernal as the spring!" though lately I've taken to crossing it out with a purple gel roller and writing "fucking sanctimonious bastard" instead. My two cents: I don't want to defend the pome as a whole because the whining of white people who, even if they are lower middle class, are vastly wealthier & have life easier than at least 95% of people who ever lived or are currently alive annoys the fuck out of me BUT I do think most people would read the "Go ahead..." stanza not as telling someone what to do, but disgustedly mentioning something they have already done. You know, someone cuts you off and you say "yeah sure...CUT me off. Fucking bastard"
Re: a comment on Middle-Aged White Woman by Dovina	Goad 80.132.234.116	22-Apr-05/4:12 PM
mmm, my indignation isn't entirely mock. My sanctimony is mock...that's a real tough one to convey properly in print, mock sanctimony...I do it SO well in real life. But whining white people really do piss me off. Even though I'm white myself, and have my share of days where I feel all oppressed and life is just SO unfair blah blah blah...but I piss MYSELF off when I feel that way. This is the internet. If someone comes (as I do too) from a wealthy western nation whose population knows little hardship and enjoys enormous privelege and wealth compared to most of the world, how much of a bleeding idiot do you think they look like to the rest of the world when they start whinging on about oppression & hardship? Ever watch a movie that has a character who is the stereotypical spoiled whining complaining rich kid? Notice how by the end of the movie you're ready to cheer when something absolutely horrible happens to this character? We should all remember that. It's not something to take lightly.
Re: What’s this sound is killing me by Prince of Void	Prince of Void 62.220.96.234	22-Apr-05/3:45 PM
the sound is killing me again and again
Re: the solitary tree by bamf909	Goad 80.132.234.116	22-Apr-05/3:40 PM
God, I totally misread this. I thought it was about someone bravely continuing to practice autoerotica in a wheat field even after a bad experience with a puritanical neighbour and their genital shocking taser gun. Though if you really think about it, that is more or less exactly what you've described in your expository comment.
Re: Crossing the Mojave by INTRANSIT	Dovina 204.250.12.246	22-Apr-05/2:53 PM
I've seen him, I think driving that road, shoe leather soul Part of me wishes to walk alongside talk with agave cross the Majave with a dark ghostly guide
Re: a comment on Prickly Pear by Dovina	Dovina 204.250.12.246	22-Apr-05/2:43 PM
You're both wrong.
Re: a comment on Prickly Pear by Dovina	INTRANSIT 204.110.228.254	22-Apr-05/2:02 PM
she's fondling her prickly pears? wha?
Re: standing outside the door by nentwined	INTRANSIT 204.110.228.254	22-Apr-05/1:51 PM
Deca- dence.
Re: a comment on Prickly Pear by Dovina	zodiac 81.10.126.152	22-Apr-05/1:43 PM
No, it's almost surely Dovina.
Re: a comment on A love apple's just a tomato (edit of "Uprooting") by fevriere	zodiac 81.10.126.152	22-Apr-05/1:42 PM
And maybe "just", too.
Re: Couplet by fevriere	zodiac 81.10.126.152	22-Apr-05/1:41 PM
The commas around soon are unnecessary. Is it really more wasted time than other ways of passing time? That's The Eagles' philosophy, and look where it got them.
Re: Prickly Pear by Dovina	INTRANSIT 204.110.228.254	22-Apr-05/1:41 PM
I thought about p/p when I wrote my villanelle. I .just couldn't get it to work. Is this zodiac? Or our very own Browne recluse?
Re: A love apple's just a tomato (edit of "Uprooting") by fevriere	zodiac 81.10.126.152	22-Apr-05/1:40 PM
Drop "and" from the last line.
Re: The South Side of Racine, 1988 by jessicazee	zodiac 81.10.126.152	22-Apr-05/1:38 PM
I disagree with Dovina.
Re: Antique by Billy Fights	zodiac 81.10.126.152	22-Apr-05/1:35 PM
"breathe" should be "breath".