Thursday Verses: Doing Nothing

Heard this morning on Garrison Keilor's Writer's Almanac. He's rarely political in that venue, and this isn't explicitly political, either. It's just a meditation on a moment of human life, and I've been there, too.

Doing Nothing
by Dan Gerber from A Primer on Parallel Lives. © Copper Canyon Press.

When I passed him near the bus stop
on Union Square while the cops
cuffed his hands behind his back, while he
said, "I didn't do anything,"
I didn't, either,
do anything but look away,
a little afraid they might cuff me
if I paid too much attention,
and walked on still wondering
what he might've done
and still more what I
might've done.

Thinking Blogger Award

I don't usually covet memes, or awards. But I've been having little qualms of envy watching this one make the rounds: it's exactly why I got into blogging in the first place.

Though the blog isn’t updated as often as I’d like to see, A. consistently shares thoughtful comments with us here, bringing a much needed infusion of logic to my thinking and writing. When A speaks, I listen.

I'm very pleased to accept the designation and the tag: thanks very much, Terry! (Terry definitely deserved her award: she's a great blogger and I definitely find lots to think about over there!)

The rules of the meme are simple.

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

I thought it would be hard finding good thought-provoking bloggers who hadn't been tagged, but it turned out that there's a lot of folks on my reading list who haven't gotten the credit they deserve yet:

Sepoy at Chapati Mystery -- He is leading us historians into the digital wonderland. Also a kick-ass writer and historian. Reading CM is a continuing education in all things South Asian. I can't believe nobody's tagged him yet!

Brandon Watson at Siris -- Philosophy, theology, original poetry, logic, and, sometimes, other interesting things. Plus an even disposition and civil approach that makes disagreement a pleasure, though it's very difficult to win.

Sara Robinson at Orcinus -- It's Dave Neiwert's blog, originally, but the long-time commenter known as "Mrs. Robinson" joined him as a co-blogger a while back and it's been great. She's a futurist-in-training, a fantastic social analyst.

Ralph Luker at Cliopatria -- Tirelessly feeding our need for history news, trenchant commentary, and mentoring bloggerly connections, not to mention being a fine historian in his own right.

Nonpartisan at Progressive Historians -- Really, the whole collective community there deserves a nod, but Nonpartisan is the founder, the lead blogger, the one who recruits fantastic crossposts from all over the political and historical blogosphere. Also a nice guy, with interesting ideas. I can't wait to see what comes out of his sojourn in grad school, and his commentary just might make this next election cycle tolerable!

I am Tanka

I am the tanka. The attention of others Is unnerving, and Since I try not to draw it, I'm left alone. Which is good. What Poetry Form Are You? [via]

My second choice, according to the quiz, was haiku. Nothing long, mind you. I wonder if limerick was an option?

Unclear On The Concept?

Picture: Unexplained circles

I saw these and took the pictures myself. Alien landing sites? Faerie meeting places? Ritual gravel abuse? Celestial vibratory artifacts? Signals to hostile hoverers?

I have a theory, but you might think I'm weird....