Let the Rain Remind Me to Hydrate

It's cool and rainy out tonight. My favorite nighttime weather.

Friday to Sunday was spent groaning in various curled positions on couches, beds and La-Z-Boy recliners due to extreme dehydration and fatigue. Turns out, my body needs lots of water or it turns against me.

The best team of writer-bowlers you'll ever meet.

The Caper / Pear Noir / Weave Reading was a success. I'm so sad to have missed it. Like, getting misty right now kind of sad. I have so much gratitude to Joel and Frank for taking over the reading in my absence. I hear that the readings were inspiring and copies of Weave issue 05 left the building in the hands of many new readers.

Somehow I finished grad school this week. I technically still have one class left online this summer, so it doesn't feel real still. But all the free time I have feels pretty awesome.

My boyfriend was in town just long enough to cuddle me while I wept and wailed in pain all weekend. He took me to urgent care and held me while I got an IV hooked up. I know he really really loves me because he saw me in various states of misery and grossness this weekend, including full-on age-regression and near fainting whilst I had my IV inserted. To say I don't deal well with needles is an understatement of ridiculous proportions. He fought with United Airlines to get his flight bumped so he could be my own Florence Nightingale. I'm in love.

I got an encouraging rejection from an editor this week. A "form personal rejection" is what I like to call it. I assume they don't ask everyone to send more work. That's what I choose to believe so don't ruin my fantasy la la la la. And the email was addressed to "Laura" and not "Writer," so that's a plus. It's all about lowering the standards...

My poem "On Rainy Nights I Dream I Am Pregnant" is up on Whale Sound. It was originally published on Radioactive Moat last year. Nic Sebastian does an amazing reading. When I read this poem publicly I will now bring a recording of her instead, because she brings a level of sadness to this poem that I cannot. This poem has so much wetness - it will be my mantra to avoid the dehydration-plague again.

While I am (mostly) finished with grad school, I still have so so so many things going on. Lots of the projects are stemming from Weave and I'm super excited to announce them all. One thing at a time though.

I must remember to stay hydrated.

It was raining when I started. Now it's just dripping from the tree branches. I'm going to go drink some water.

Support Fleeting Pages Today!

If you have $1 to spare, please donate to Fleeting Pages. It's such an important project and I'm so excited to be a supporter. There will be so many great events, readings, workshops, etc. plus the widest selection of current indie books you're going to find anywhere. So dig around in your couch, find some change and donate!

An Open Letter to Google RE: Doodle Honorees

The following letter and list will be emailed to the Google Doodle team. Please consider sending your own. 

__________________

Dear Google,

I want to start off by saying my name is Laura and I’m a fan. I have been using Google products for years. Blogger, Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Picassa, Pages, Reader, Checkout, and of course Search. I have always been pleased with your software and your focus on making it free to all users.

I know that Google is a very forward-thinking company. Google’s unique office culture shows that you value creativity and innovation and seek to foster that in your employees. I applaud you for providing same-sex partner benefits to your employees. Your business philosophy includes things like "focusing on the user" and "doing business without being evil." You are making strides to lower your environmental impact with your green standards on office buildings and data centers. Google’s technology improves the world with your work in education, health and other Google.org projects, like the Flu Trends software. Google’s influence is measured on a global scale.

With so many big projects, it is easy to forget the small ways a company like Google can make a difference.

Since 1998, Google Doodle has livened up the Google homepage with colorful logos that celebrate all aspects of human experience and culture; holidays, seasons, events, discoveries have all happily influenced the Google Search experience. On November 14, 2011, Google honored the first “notable” person by featuring a Claude Monet inspired logo. Since then, Google has created Doodles that honor individuals from all disciplines such as Albert Einstein, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ray Charles, Jules Verne and John Lennon. These Doodles made me happy!

This past Thursday, you honored silent film actor Charlie Chaplin with short film. That Doodle was great, but it made me angry. Let me explain.

Last July, I found this article on Feministe, accusing Google of sexism, demonstrating how you have honored far fewer women than men. This made me angry. I emailed the article to a friend of mine who worked at Google. I trusted that such a forward-thinking company would take the issue seriously.

The reason the film made me angry is because with all the resources you spent to honor Mr. Chaplin, why had I not seen more Doodles honoring women? I was outraged and I complained to my Googler friend. He recommended that I blog about it, but that I back up my passion with numbers.

When I searched through years of Doodles and counted, Google has honored 160 “notable” people. Only 16 of those people were women.

10%.

I analyzed further, focusing on Global and US Doodles. There were 49 notable men and 3 notable women.

Really? Only THREE? That’s not even 6% of all US and Global Doodles.

This pattern simply can’t continue.

Let me be clear: I am not accusing Google of intentionally excluding women. I don’t think the Doodle team is sitting around thinking of all the women they won’t honor.

However, I do think that the team of people deciding who is “notable” enough to get a Doodle is biased. Probably because the world is biased. Women in America make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. The causes of this issue are complex.

Google has other biases too. The team has honored a lot of visual artists (16/52 US & Global). This makes sense. Artists are creative, innovative, plus they make great Doodles. You also recognize many scientists and inventors (16/52) for their innovations. As a creative technology company, these biases are in line with your company's values and the purpose of having a Google Doodle.

Let me be clear again: I am accusing you of being negligent. Since the Feministe article came out, Google has honored 22 men and 1 woman.

Allow me to repeat something: it is sometimes easy to forget the small ways a company like Google can make a difference.

Here is how you can make a difference, Google. Honor more women on your homepage. It's really that simple. I can even help you with some suggestions I’ve made, based on criteria I developed after seeing the kinds of people you’ve previously honored. Google Doodle Honorees must:

1. Demonstrate “innovation and creativity.” Your website states that you “select doodles that show creativity and innovation.”
2. Not be political figures or associated with a political issue. Doodles also avoid political figures or people associated with a political issue, unless they have fought for civil and social justice, like JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.
3. Be deceased. Almost all the people Google Doodle features are deceased (the only exception I found was Queen Elizabeth’s Doodle when she visited the London offices. Because of your one exception, I made one on my list too: Jane Goodall, because she's really freakin' awesome).

With these requirements in mind, please consider my list of suggestions for notable women. I have listed the names below, but I also created a detailed list with their birthdays and professions. I tried to reach beyond my own biases as a white, American, poet (thought you’ll still find quite a few writers on this list). This is by no means exhaustive, but it is diverse. Though it could be improved by adding more accomplished women from countries other than my own.


I welcome people reading this letter to post more suggestions in the comments. I will continue to add names to my spreadsheet. You can also consider emailing the Doodle Team yourself with suggestions.

This list was not easy to create. The information of the world is against us. Women’s accomplishments have been overlooked throughout history. It is my hope that Google will shine light on the accomplishments of ALL creative and innovative people, including women.

Most Sincerely,

Laura

Doodle-Worthy Women

(detailed list here)

Ada Lovelace

Alice Paul

Amelia Earhart

Anne Frank

Anne Sullivan

Audrey Hepburn

Bette Davis

Billie Holiday

Coretta Scott King

Dorothy Height

Eartha Kitt

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Ella Fitzgerald

Emily Dickinson

Eva Peron

Gabriela Mistral

Georgia O’Keeffe

Grace Hopper

Gwendolyn Brooks

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Tubman

Helen Keller

Hypatia

Indira Gandhi

Irene Jolio-Curie

Isadora Duncan

Jane Addams

Jane Goodall

Juana Inés de la Cruz

Judy Garland

Julia Ward Howe

Juliette Gordon Low

Kathryn Hepburn

Lucille Ball

Lucille Clifton

Madeleine L'Engle

Maria Montessori

Marie Curie

Mary Wollstonecraft

Miriam Makeba

Mother Jones

Murasaki Shikibu

Nadine Gordimer

Nina Simone

Patsy Cline

Phillis Wheatley

Rachel Carson

Rosalind Franklin

Sacagawea

Savitribai Jotiba Phule

Sojourner Truth

Susan B. Anthony

Sybil Ludington

Virginia Woolf

Zora Neale Hurston

506 Days of Living Like a Writer

On November 29, 2009 I wrote about my new adventures as a writer, teacher and graduate student.

I began a new adventure. At 28 I started a new job, began my MFA in Creative Writing and moved into a new apartment.

I had a lot of questions:

What does my life look like as a writer? More specifically, a poet? How can I present myself as a writer to the world?

Apparently, I was also worried a lot about being "normal" or "mainstream" back then.

Poets can't pass as mainstream. Automatically you are thrown into a category where assumptions are made (and some of them are true) and those assumptions may make us unrelateable to mainstream society.

I also had to muster up some courage to even admit to myself that I was an artist:

So here I am, a writer, a poet, an artist of words, of language (yes, I said it) and I'm trying to figure out what that means.

I also really loved watching TV. Good thing that hasn't changed. But what has changed is that I don't feel like shit for wanting to watch TV, because I'm also really committed to writing.

After my boyfriend had to take a job in California, I was left to my own devices the following weekend. I wasted away (not just hours but) days of my week watching television, surfing Facebook and Twitter, sleeping and talking on the phone. I finally had the chance to delve into my writing, yet I found myself avoiding writing at all costs. 

I made my boyfriend block websites like Facebook and Hulu. Then I had even more questions!

Many questions came to mind. What was I doing with my life? What did being a writer mean? How should my life change? How should my day be organized? How should my writing and space and home be organized? How does one live like a writer? These questions only spawned more questions. 

That seemed to do the trick. I wrote like a mother fucker:

I've been writing rather prolifically this past week too, beginning a number of new poems and voraciously editing many as well.

Then I decided I needed to a blog to sort through and share my experiences of becoming a writer:

So here is where I will be discovering what it means to live like a writer, a poet, an artist. 

Well it's been 506 days and here are the most important things I have learned about living like a writer:  fall asleep each night and dream about writing. Wake up everyday thinking about writing.

But, most importantly, write.

The Waves of Uneventful Days

Most days I have very little to share.

I have things to do. They are on my to-do lists. I have seven lists of things to-do. I have only done three to-do items today.

I got some things accomplished. Submissions - electronic and postal. Poems and chapbook manuscript. Sent withdrawal emails. My poem "The Ordination of Woman" was accepted by Whistling Fire.

I'm counting my calories again. Mostly so I make sure I don't overeat. I won't share that with you.

I have not written my poem for Poem-a-Day yet. I should do that before date night begins in about 20 minutes. But I still need to shower.

I have lost some energy. I've spent a lot of time talking about the repercussions of being a public poet. That is, being the kind of poet who makes her private life public. Now I need to spend time thinking about why I feel compelled to make waves. Where does this instinct begin? What are my motivations? After the waves are crashing, how do I react? What is my role? Do I have the right to be upset if people don't accept/like/agree with my public self? If not upset, then what?

This is what happens when I have free time. Most people just watch TV.

I also reached a new high score on the Text Twist game on my phone. Over 900,000. I'm winning. Perhaps even more winning than Charlie Sheen.

The Big Poetry Giveaway 2011!

I just found out about The Big Poetry Giveaway 2011 and I'm stoked to participate. Thanks to Marie for posting about it on her blog AND for giving away such cool subscriptions.

For those of you who are new to the project, you can check out the details at Kelli Russel Agodon's blog Book of Kells. I will be giving away two subscriptions and two books.

• Subscription to Weave Magazine
• Subscription to A cappella Zoo
• Noelle Kocot's Bigger World
• Nicolette Telech's (Title Released Soon!)

If you want a chance to win, simply comment on this post anytime during the month of April. During the first week of May, I will use a Random Number Generator to pick the winners.

I love doing this kind of thing; it reminds me of when Bitch had their call for subscriptions and I gave away three. It's great to put a book or magazine in the hands of someone who might not have found it otherwise.

In other National Poetry Month news, I'm participating in the Poem-A-Day Challenge and you should too! Today's prompt: what got you here - now go write a poem!

Review: Aimee Nezhukumatathil's Lucky Fish

(Photo Credit: aimeenez.net)

I have read Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s first two books, Miracle Fruit (2003) and At the Drive-In Volcano (2007), both from Tupelo Press, in one sitting. However, it took me nearly two months to finish her latest full-length collection Lucky Fish. (2011, Tupelo). This was due to the fact that I am in my last semester of my MFA and I have been frantically working on my thesis. But personal circumstances aside, I am now glad I took my time.

I’m not the kind of person that likes to compare a poet’s new work to her past (wow I’m bad at this review thing), because I think everyone writes from whatever self they are at that time. That said, if you are fan of Nezhukmatathil, you’ll enjoy this book. The difference with Lucky Fish is merely the passage of time; the poet is a new person with new experiences that inform this collection, particularly the last section that includes a series of poems about pregnancy, breastfeeding, motherhood and parenting. What remains constant is Nezhukmatathil’s ability to create world that is simultaneously filled with the mundane and magical.

Comprised of three sections, the first sets out with a wandering spirit, traveling the globe. Nez tells us that “The Globe Is Just An Asterisk,” which is both the section title and the first poem of the book. The last line serves as a springboard for the poems that follow; “I will always find a way to dig.” And dig she does, and we dig along with her. Dig up stories from India and the Philippines. Dig up animals from earth, sky and sea. Dig our forks deep into a berry pie, its “buttery crust.” The section ends with the speaker eating the soil of New York, Arizona, Florida and Ohio. Dig in.

In the second section we dig through time, into adolescence, recalling deeply the pain of childhood, of being different. We witness fruit trees being stolen and the school mascot finally gets a chance to speak. Even with all the narrative poems, Nezhukumatathil still infuses this collection with lyricism like her poem “Reptilian’s Lament” that begins:

Too cold.
Too tongue.
Too bug-eyed.
Too gill.

Throughout the book we encounter many forms, including a number of list poems. My favorite, “How to Be A Poet,” lists five words, “Breath / Spiders / Boxes / Eyeliner / Thirst,” where the meat of the poem lies in the five endnotes. These structure experiments energize the paintings of these poems, which are mostly written in couplets or triplets. Also in the second section, we see Nezhukmatathil dig into a political poem with “Dear Betty Brown,” shaming the Congresswoman for asking a Chinese man to consider changing his name to something that is simpler for her to pronounce.

If I didn’t change my name for my husband,
I’m certainly not going to change it for you.

Damn straight, Ms. Nezhukumatathil. Damn straight.

In an interview on The Rumpus, Nezhukumatathil states that about one-third of the work in this book was written before she became a mother. This fact doesn’t make the books final section, "Lucky Penny" – which is mostly about becoming a parent – seem out of place. Nezhukumatathil has consistently written about people: parents, siblings, friends, lovers, fiancé, husband – and now sons.

Perhaps the most powerful poem is the longest of the section entitled “Birth Geographic” and subtitled “an auto-bio poem sequence.” The poem, written in eighteen sections, begins, “When you give birth, there is no map” and from there on the shape and content grapple with trying to find order in a chaotic, emotional experience. Nezhukumatathil weaves together stories of her parents' births, folklore, bowerbirds, even directions, in between the narrative of giving birth to her son. While she makes it clear that the personal stories of her poems are never held to any truth standard (though the science in her work is always based in fact) this poems brings with it the truth of experience, abandon, manic struggle, elation and fear. I was left breathless.

As someone who loves holding a book, enjoys the feel of paper and glossy covers, I must say that Tupelo continues to make beautiful books. The cover art for this collection, entitled “Mermaid Tail” by Ellen Yeast, an extreme close up of the tail end of a rainbow-colored fish, is lovely in its simple elegance. It is the perfect visual companion to the colorful, flavorful, textured world with which Nezhukumatathil remains fascinated. In fact, that is perhaps what I love most about Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s poetry: she is filled with a childlike playfulness and wonder with the natural world, entranced by its magic and her poems always share that magic with us.

While speaking at AWP about “How a Poem Happens” Nezhukumatathil told the audience to always have a variety of books on your desk; her desk currently held books about seashells and pirates. Everything can go into poems, whether it is the history of the paper, Thanksgiving dinner, Michael Jackson’s former pet monkey Bubbles, or a lucky penny. These people, places and things are all there and Nezhukumatathil is a master at layering details and narratives, braiding together multiple stories or images, and then returning, renewed. After reading her books, I love to go back and sift through the poem-layers, digging through the pages. Her poems make us all “find a way to dig.”

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Lucky Fish by Aimee Nezhukumatathil was published by Tupelo Press in 2011.