Thursday, January 19, 2012

Interruptions

A woman's  mother's poet's artist's editor's person's life can have many interruptions, and so can the Internet. Yesterday I interrupted my usual blog content (which is--? unusual?) with a Blog Blackout to help raise awareness of Internet censorship and piracy issues, and to give myself and others a chance to learn a bit more by way of a few fun links.

And to join Wikipedia, the people's encyclopedia, in solidarity!

Since my first job was an as encyclopedia editor and staff writer, back in the days of print, I am also aware of the complexities of a people-written information source, believe you me! I know the Facts-On-File fact-checking we did as a staff to keep information accurate, objective, and up-to-date, and we hired experts in the field to write the appropriate in-depth articles. And as a college teacher, I required students to use regular and scholarly sources like journals and databases, where the information is reviewed and double-checked, and also to "know your source" or the slant of the particular journal or writer, as needed. Etc.! But I do love Wikipedia as a quick, fun, and easy place to get an overview, crucial details, and links to other sources, a starting place to see what you're going to have to find out and confirm. It's also a wonderful collaboration of information-sharing people. Thank you, Wikipeople!

Speaking of collaboration--and interruption--I refer you today to Collaboruptions (made up word), a mini-review of Interruptions, collaborative poems by Jessy Randall and Daniel M. Shapiro, an article I posted yesterday in the Escape Into Life blog. It is a fun and funny book that demonstrates poets interrupting each other as a way of writing, and, yes, collaborating with the mysteries of the universe in surprisingly accessible language. Or vice versa.

Eh? Speaking of...I don't know what--mysteries of the universe!--, are any of you having trouble commenting on the blog these days, or even seeing the comments of others? Hmm, how would you let me know? I ask because my friend Kim J. Kimmel is having such trouble, and I don't know 1) the reason or 2) how to solve it. I see that the new "Reply" function creates a text box that requires you to scroll down to find the place to type in the verification word if you want to comment, and I had to click around a bit to figure out how to comment on someone else's blog, so I suggest 1) patience and 2) clicking around until Blogger figures out...a fix.

11 comments:

ron hardy said...

Maybe you had some "help" during your blackout Kathleen. So possibly your blog is not completely awake.

Kathleen said...

It's awake now.

Sherry O'Keefe said...

yes, i've had troubles with getting comments to post- more so on blogspot sites than wordpress. but as always has been the case, here when i post a comment, i have to click "publish" several times before it finally takes. and sometimes the comments are easier to post when i am logged in under my google account rather than my wordpress account.

Interruptions sounds like a fun read! by the way i ordered your book this week. looking forward to its release!

sherry (ok, so i had to sign in under my google account to make this comment post.)

Kathleen said...

Thanks, Sherry, for your persistence, patience, and generosity!

Sigh... Yes, it's probably easier to comment if you are logged in via Google, but, to let others know, this blog is officially set up so anyone can post--you can post as Anonymous--and I do publish all non-spam, respectful, non-commercial, pertinent comments.

Hannah Stephenson said...

There are a few people who tell me consistently that they can't comment on my posts :(. I don't know what it is---blogger is finicky, methinks.

Ready for the weekend? Snowy for you, too?

Kathleen said...

Light snow here, Hannah. Perhaps a light, finicky snow!

Collagemama said...

I don't even know if I'm having trouble replying. That's how much trouble I'm in...

Collagemama said...

Maybe it's having to scroll down to get to the verification jumble word that isn't immediately visible....

Andrea (Andee) Beltran said...

I've had some difficulty this week with posting comments, but so far, all seems to be back to normal this morning. Thanks for the link to Collaboruptions! Hope you have a nice weekend, Kathleen.

Kathleen said...

Yes, I think that is a problem in itself, or part of a larger problem.... Here, I don't encounter it when I post, because it's my blog, so I don't have to type a verification word. At other blogs, I do, so I have to find the scroll bar and the word....

Kathleen said...

Thanks, Andee. You, too!