Guy LeCharles Gonzalez (aka glecharles) (aka loudpoet)

An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Attn: Department of Homeland Security

While catching up on the news this morning, I came across the following information buried in some left-wing propaganda on the "record-breaking" box office for Fahrenheit 9/11 that leads me to believe an insidious act of terrorism has been successfully launched on our soil: The Wayans brothers' comedy "White Chicks," about two black FBI agents who go undercover as white debutantes, opened in second place with $19.6 million for the weekend. That pushed the total for "White Chicks" to $27.1 million since opening Wednesday. I believe this qualifies as what has often been referred to as a "dirty bomb." This…

Continue ReadingAttn: Department of Homeland Security
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Yummy Sandwich: Revisited

Due to a sudden rise in Google searches for "Yummy Sandwich" leading to my journal over the weekend, and a couple of sad attempts at revisionist spin in my comments section, let's recap for the newcomers. 1) On May 20, 2004, I wrote about Yummy Sandwich's Powerpoint presentation and it's questionable use of "illegal immigrants" to promote their product. They had recently been brought in by the company I work for and a co-worker pointed me to the offending slide in the presentation. 2) On June 4, 2004, in a P.S. to an entry about the xenophobic Vernon Robinson, I…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

FLATLAND: The Village Gar’tor

By St. Cuthbert's beard, I signed up for the military to kill Orcs! Kobolds and half-orcs and the ignorant humans willing to deal with them were not what I'd expected. Never mind the undead! If I wasn't disappointed when they split Leoroar and I into different units, I certainly was when I fell beneath the claws of that damned skeleton. Two days after we'd arrived at Fort Greene, T'ohthin, grumpy old troll that he is, sent me and two others into the Blood Forest to deal with a "marauder" that was waylaying caravans leaving the Village Gar'tor, a small settlement…

Continue ReadingFLATLAND: The Village Gar’tor
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Comical Stereotypes

SCENE: Midtown Comics, East-side. A half-block-long line of stereotypical geeks, mostly male, and a smattering of normal-looking geeks, all male. I like to believe I'm one of the latter. There was a time when I would have felt extremely self-conscious in a situation like that, standing on line outside a comic book store waiting to get in for an author's signing. Being one, I'm obviously not dissing geeks in general, but stereotypes don't come purely out of thin air and there were more than a fair share of red-blooded, blue-balled, never-going-to-be-kissed geeks there. Or is "dork" the more appropriate term?…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Making Connections

You’re not a poet,
you just slam a lot.

I should note that I tend to define slam poets in a very general sense, beyond the specifics of the actual competition. IMO, non-competing poets that read frequently at slam-affiliated open mics are also slam poets, looking for and benefitting from the audience the competition attracts and the energy it generates. To pretend otherwise is hypocritical. Or self-delusional.

While the question of the level of importance of the competition in the early days of slam is the subject of some debate, few will argue that Marc Smith’s original intent was to reach a wider audience. The competition was simply a gimmick to draw that wider audience in.

As such, I’ve always valued, and found much more intertesting, the non-poets’ opinions on poetry, especially in regards to slam and its periphery. In theory, they are the audience most slam poets are trying to reach, and yet, I’ve found that the more accepted a poet is into the scene, the more dismissive they tend to become of the non-poets’ opinions.

NEWS FLASH: Other poets are not the audience one should be primarily interested in reaching. Or impressing.

(more…)

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