The row over the company from the UAE buying the company that runs operations in some US ports strikes me as a particularly obvious example of people missing the fact that when it all comes down to brass tacks, nationalism will always play second fiddle to corporate interests.

I don’t think it makes an ounce of difference whether or not the company is based here or on the moon, frankly.

That people are shocked that such a thing could happen is a sign of naivete. That others are surprised that there’s an outcry is disengenuous.

Nationalism is a shallow trick played to disguise big capitalism at work. If you play the trick well enough, you shouldn’t be surprised when people believe that you meant it, and expect you to act as if you believed it.

Nantucket reading rocked. The great hall of the Nantucket Atheneum / Library hosted one of Frederick Douglass’ first public speeches. Quite an honor to read there.

The passage out and back…rocky. Big swells, bouncy ride, many kids.

I am finally memorizing more poems, new poems. It feels good. I’m reading as well as I have in years.

I feel good. Cool.

I’ll be asleep again soon. I love sleep apnea — even when i’m hooked up to the Machine, I never sleep a full night through.

A quick surf revealed this:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/17/italy.abuse.reut/index.html

Ah…misogyny…the international language of bullshit.

and now I get to go to sleep early in order to drive down and make my 9:15 AM ferry to Nantucket in the AM.

It shall be cold and choppy. I look forward to both that and the return trip that evening.

Anyone going to be on Nantucket tomorrow? (ha ha) Come see me at the Atheneum at 2:00.

Night!

i swore i wouldn’t do this, but i’m getting a little scared, y’know…this is the longest I’ve been out of work in 20 years.

i went to a job interview yesterday.

a full-time job. a job doing pretty much what i’ve been doing for the last 15 years, just for a different humongous company.

good job. great money. large amount of travel to a wide variety of places.

impressed the interviewers. second round of interviews week after next.

got in the car. was almost home when the phone rang. i was in traffic, so I let it ring.

got home, picked up.

the contract trainers i’ve been trying to work for — the ones who pay well and let me set my own schedule and whose original discussions got me to consider quitting the job in the first place — want me to work for them. a spot finally opened up.

if this works out, i’ll make roughly 500-1000 dollars a day on my own schedule working for a company I like and know well, thus allowing me to also develop a consulting practice and — of course — pursue poetry more thoroughly.

leap, and the net will appear.

ETA, 2:43 PM: It’s a go. I just got off the phone with the director. I’m in.

they just dropped off my new CPAP machine, meaning I’m no longer in danger of choking to death in my sleep. which means I can finally sleep.

I mean that literally. I was so scared of dying in my sleep I barely even dozed.

about time I fixed that. g’night.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/17/cheney/index.html

Lisa and I were never really friends, but we knew each other as part of the New England scene of the early-mid 90s. She always intimidated me in a good way.

Sitting tonight with Zork and a couple of SUNY-Purchase students after the reading, I got to reminiscing about those early days; and while no one in the group knew Lisa or her work, she was much on my mind as I spoke.

The last time I saw her, she was hosting the Queer Slam at the BPC a few years ago. We reconnected briefly, and she introduced me to a woman named Joan who looked very familiar, but I casually brushed the feeling off, figuring she was a poet I’d seen around and forgotten. Marty McConnell looked at me strangely a little while later when I asked who she was, after she’d left. It was Joan Jett, who I think Lisa was dating back then. (I think I should be forgiven, as she had blonde hair at the time.) Lisa was so busy with the hosting and stuff (and I was pretty drunk, thanks to Roger and Marty) that I never did get to really talk to her that night. I regret that now.

I feel like I’ve lost another link to why I originally got involved with slam. The fact that we are the same age only amplifies that.

So — shall we do the sad roll call? Pat Storm, Chris Branch, Ken Hunt, Angela Boyce, Peter Conti, Lisa King. William McLain too, although his was old age. I’m sure there are others.

Do the new slammers know these people? Know their names, their work, their legacies?

Bring them back, indeed.

The Ken Hunt Prize is definitely on for this year, I swear.

For those of you intrigued by the possibilities inherent in a visit to White Plains, NY:

Poetry at Barnes and Noble
230 Main Street
White Plains NY

Hosted by the esteemed Zork
Featured poet, Tony Brown @ 7, followed by open mic after (sign up for the open is 6:30)

Be there or be pointy.

I have a very long day today, including a trip to NY and back, and a job interview tomorrow.

The motor on my CPAP (breathing device for sleep apnea) just gave out, and I likely won’t be able to get one until Friday afternoon at the earliest.

This means at least one night of horrendous, choking sleep.

Joy.

The first one is especially for my superhero/comic book buddies:

Go check out my buddy theryk‘s LJ entry for today for a publishing opportunity.

And: the new Zero Point Zero is up.

Read The Zero Point Zero Regular Coulmn!

It’s better than poetry!

I bought two suits today for interviews and appointments.

Some of you will find this hard to believe, but I actually like dressing up. And I tend to wear fairly conservative stuff when I do — a contrast with the ponytail and the earrings.

I think of corporate wear as a costume, and part of me likes making the costume as authentic as possible.

So I sprang today for a nice grey Ralph Lauren and a less cool but still good Paolo Uomo slate blue that will be a helpful alternative jacket with khakis and such.

Both single-breasted, moderate gorge two-button jackets. Having the pants cuffed, too, just a preference of mine.

I even bought a pocket square for the Lauren. Add the Mont Blanc Meisterstuck pen (I got it for nothing — long story) and I’m ready for the boardroom. (That is, as long as the rest of the board are into Sleater-Kinney and look like refugees from Bonnaroo.)

I’m wearing a Ramones T-shirt and shorts right now, if that makes you more comfortable.