Good question – why not, for instance, make what Walter Benjamin calls “the pretentious universal gesture of the book”? Well, as he points out, books don’t reach very many people, esp. people who don’t read books (which is the vast majority of people).
One could say that books last longer; this blog will wink out if (when) the internet – or electrical grid – goes down for good. And writing a book is a gesture of hope that whatever dark ages may be in store, there will be another renaissance someday. That’s a lovely thought. If the human race survives this century, and if the remaining humans have any interest in deciphering old artifacts of the sort, somebody might write a history dissertation on it someday. But more importantly, blogs are immediate. You don’t have to wait two years for them to be accepted and published. And if you feel your time-frame narrowing, that immediacy will appear even more important. By the same token, it's useful to note that a blog goes backward – you can trace the etiology. It’s a flashback. It makes you think about your relationship to the past, as you hurtle into the future. And that’s part of the idea, too.
0 Comments
lawrence almanac
april 30 temperatures hi 59 normal hi 71 lo 52 normal lo 48 flash flood warning extended another day – back yard floods often nowadays will get into our house one day the guy who runs “arctic news” hasn’t posted since april 17 (“How long do we have?”) cyclone Fani – second cyclone to form over bay of bengal in april (ever, I mean) meanwhile tigers and leopards in maharashtra entering villages in search of food and water record 45.3C in Delhi – 43.5 in Oaxaca 42 in Yangong (breaks 1881 record) "Water sources have virtually dried up in 25 villages of Trimbakeshwar Taluka in Nashik District of western India, so many women are forced to make the treacherous descent down the walls [of wells] to draw water at the bottom [60 ft or more below]." it's not it might happen it could happen it's not about the poor animals still raining in Mozambique aid flights grounded first time two cyclones hit southern africa in one season five more humans buried under landslide at garbage dump aid efforts underway in south africa after floods quito business district flooded sumatra water rationing in jamaica highest ever temps in taiwan the upper brain feels so bad for all those people the lower brain says not my people not my tribe but davenport, iowa? barrier broke downtown flooded ottawa river melbourne's first four months this year least rainfall on record more fires in scotland this 2019 than all of 2018 26 more tornadoes in south, 1 in romania it don't prove nothing *** * Not really a poem. More like a digest. No stories about animals; just people. Only all-time records. Only real-time effects. Everywhere. At once. Sources: Climate and Economy: Weekly Updates from Around the World Weather Channel news page |
Archives
June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |