CRUNK JUICE by Steve Roggenbuck
Steve Roggenbuck is an American poet who has recently been travelling around America doing readings and encouraging everyone else via blogging and vlogging to get up and do what they want to do. His attitude is encapsulated in the name of his Tumblr: http://livemylief.com/.
Internet poetry has seen a trend of writers such as Roggenbuck bringing poetry not down, but to a place far more accessible to a wider audience of people. The impression a lot of people have about poetry is that it is incomprehensible and not worth their time. If somebody can show readers who would otherwise avoid poetry that it can be read, then ‘Crunk Juice’ can only be a good thing.
The poetry collection, available as both an e-book and in print, features a sort of scrapbook collection of poems, tweets etc. Some of it is very lovely and sweet – “when i have poems assigned for school i write them abotu you no matter what the assignment is”, and much of it consists of sentiments many readers can identify with: “HI. IT WOULD BE COOL IF YOU WERE ONLINE”.
Sometimes, the reader will probably be thinking “anyone could do that”, but I suspect that’s sort of Roggenbuck’s point – he has done it, not just anybody, and if it’s something he’s created that is making someone feel something, then it is poetry. It has got its own style, the Internet-style misspellings for example, and Roggenbuck’s voice comes through strong and clear all the way through.
Overall, ‘Crunk Juice’ is a lot of fun – occasionally hilarious, sweet, and sometimes downright weird. It’s nice to see poetry being kept fresh and exciting, and it also represents the immediacy of Internet publishing. “This book is intended to be in the public domain. Please feel free to remix or republish any of its contents with or without credit” reads the front page, creating a certain intimacy between writer and reader by bypassing the need for any publishing middle-man.
‘Crunk Juice’ can be read online here.
Internet poetry has seen a trend of writers such as Roggenbuck bringing poetry not down, but to a place far more accessible to a wider audience of people. The impression a lot of people have about poetry is that it is incomprehensible and not worth their time. If somebody can show readers who would otherwise avoid poetry that it can be read, then ‘Crunk Juice’ can only be a good thing.
The poetry collection, available as both an e-book and in print, features a sort of scrapbook collection of poems, tweets etc. Some of it is very lovely and sweet – “when i have poems assigned for school i write them abotu you no matter what the assignment is”, and much of it consists of sentiments many readers can identify with: “HI. IT WOULD BE COOL IF YOU WERE ONLINE”.
Sometimes, the reader will probably be thinking “anyone could do that”, but I suspect that’s sort of Roggenbuck’s point – he has done it, not just anybody, and if it’s something he’s created that is making someone feel something, then it is poetry. It has got its own style, the Internet-style misspellings for example, and Roggenbuck’s voice comes through strong and clear all the way through.
Overall, ‘Crunk Juice’ is a lot of fun – occasionally hilarious, sweet, and sometimes downright weird. It’s nice to see poetry being kept fresh and exciting, and it also represents the immediacy of Internet publishing. “This book is intended to be in the public domain. Please feel free to remix or republish any of its contents with or without credit” reads the front page, creating a certain intimacy between writer and reader by bypassing the need for any publishing middle-man.
‘Crunk Juice’ can be read online here.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin is truly a master piece of science fiction: something that I do not say lightly. I have been an avid reader, and devoted fan, of sci-fi for a very long time so I am pretty sure that I know a good novel when I read one. This is most definitely a great novel.
The planet of the Gethians is one that you find yourself immediately immersed into, even though it is different from ours in so many ways. The main difference, at least with the actual planet, is that it is in an Ice Age. Leguin weaves her story deftly, and one is quickly intertwined with the Envoy Genly Ai on his mission from the Ekumen, and Earth, to the people of Karhide and all the people of the planet.
What is patriotism? This question is asked in the novel, most bluntly in the second half. I find it very interesting that it is during the season of the Olympics that I have finally picked this book up to read. Furthermore, I think that the answer to this question which is given in the novel will leave any reader reevaluating things in their life upon seeing the unmistakable parallels even though it was written over 40 years ago, and about another world altogether.
This, is what draws me to this novel and to science fiction: there is a level of humanity, of truth, that is reached in its pages that nothing else can even dream of touching. And it is certainly touched her in LeGuins’ novel.
The planet of the Gethians is one that you find yourself immediately immersed into, even though it is different from ours in so many ways. The main difference, at least with the actual planet, is that it is in an Ice Age. Leguin weaves her story deftly, and one is quickly intertwined with the Envoy Genly Ai on his mission from the Ekumen, and Earth, to the people of Karhide and all the people of the planet.
What is patriotism? This question is asked in the novel, most bluntly in the second half. I find it very interesting that it is during the season of the Olympics that I have finally picked this book up to read. Furthermore, I think that the answer to this question which is given in the novel will leave any reader reevaluating things in their life upon seeing the unmistakable parallels even though it was written over 40 years ago, and about another world altogether.
This, is what draws me to this novel and to science fiction: there is a level of humanity, of truth, that is reached in its pages that nothing else can even dream of touching. And it is certainly touched her in LeGuins’ novel.
And The Band Played On: Sketches of Ulster Life by Gerald Rafferty
I picked up And The Band Played On: Sketches of Ulster Life by Gerald Rafferty on a complete whim in a quaint, old world, bookshop in Portrush, Northern Ireland. I had previously bought several books of poetry while in Bushmills, and decided that it was time I branched out and bought something different. This is one of my top favorite souvenirs from my brief time spent in that country.
This lovely collection of nonfiction is charming once you’ve gotten used to the writing. At first Rafferty’s “back in my day during the thirties and forties” kind of old man, grandpa tone, is a little annoying to somebody who might be used to reading nonfiction that doesn’t repeat nearly the exact same beginning phrase at the beginning of each new sketch.
This kindly, reflective tone does grow on a reader though. Soon, one finds themselves really being able to imagine the breadman with his cart and horse coming through the snow on Wee Well Hill. Or you find yourself immersed in the wedding party for Phil and Molly at which your narrator is playing the fiddle from midnight until three am.
While there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to the organization and division of the little sketches, there is a general sense of the narrator growing older, and the seasons passing as Rafferty goes from telling about the summertime dances to the spud gathering in the fall. It could be a little confusing for those not familiar with the colloquial if not old-time phrases: crack for instances has a very different meaning, and when mentioning “scrawing spuds” one was lucky to be able to figure out what this meant from context, other times you were not quite so lucky.
These, however, are small trifles. Over all, the picture painted by the totality of this book is well worth any momentary confusion. From a very unique, informative, and unabashed perspective this book is a glimpse into a time gone by in County Armagh. Though I suspect, aspects of that life may not be not as gone as Rafferty seemed to think.
This lovely collection of nonfiction is charming once you’ve gotten used to the writing. At first Rafferty’s “back in my day during the thirties and forties” kind of old man, grandpa tone, is a little annoying to somebody who might be used to reading nonfiction that doesn’t repeat nearly the exact same beginning phrase at the beginning of each new sketch.
This kindly, reflective tone does grow on a reader though. Soon, one finds themselves really being able to imagine the breadman with his cart and horse coming through the snow on Wee Well Hill. Or you find yourself immersed in the wedding party for Phil and Molly at which your narrator is playing the fiddle from midnight until three am.
While there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to the organization and division of the little sketches, there is a general sense of the narrator growing older, and the seasons passing as Rafferty goes from telling about the summertime dances to the spud gathering in the fall. It could be a little confusing for those not familiar with the colloquial if not old-time phrases: crack for instances has a very different meaning, and when mentioning “scrawing spuds” one was lucky to be able to figure out what this meant from context, other times you were not quite so lucky.
These, however, are small trifles. Over all, the picture painted by the totality of this book is well worth any momentary confusion. From a very unique, informative, and unabashed perspective this book is a glimpse into a time gone by in County Armagh. Though I suspect, aspects of that life may not be not as gone as Rafferty seemed to think.
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War- Translated by Mark Hammond
Thucydides’ history is written not just to explain the recent past of Greek warfare and decline, but also to resonate through time. He achieves this through the foundation of the historical method, which creates a way of looking at a world where even words can change their meaning from one moment to the next. Thucydides is part historian, part anthropologist, and part philosopher. He studies the inner nature of humanity and the way it is expressed in the physical realm of action, improvisation, and compromise. The greatest value most readers will obtain from this book is its uncanny relevance to our unstable times, and the penetrating and trans-temporal answers it gives.
Fifth Century Athens saw a shift from the beliefs that 1) they were able to rely on the fighting ability of their citizens to control their neighbours, 2) that fear of displaying a hubris of which the gods might disapprove, and might punish with subsequent disaster, should restrain the victor from acting too harshly, and 3) that fear that the gods might punish injustice or hubris committed within the city should restrain its inhabitants from committing such acts against each other. Protagoras felt that “man is the measure of all things, and that it is impossible to know whether gods exist or not,” while Critias wrote that “originally there were no restraints on human nature; then laws were invented” and gods were invented to stop man breaking them.
In our society too, we are at a point where the vast majority of intellectuals are atheistic, or believe that at most any transcendent power is non-interfering in human life. As we see with Nietzsche, the old morality based on an “ought” from above becomes redundant to many, altering the patterns and manners by which many lead their lives. Divisions arise in societies, and they become in danger of collapsing due to amoral pursuit of self-interest. In the West we managed to stem the flow by two means: 1) the guilt/distraction matrix which Zizek writes about, and 2) fear of indictment of crime, increased by the creation and growth of police forces and surveillance. We are now at the point where many have realised that surveillance is incapable of effectively curtailing the interests of large, quickly assembled and forceful groups, as was seen in the Tottenham riots and in better articulated form with the Arab Spring uprisings. Thucydides provides an option different to the emphasis on crime and guilt: promoting an idea of piety based around clear-sightedness and the individual working both for himself and the community. In this way he can teach us not to be the fools of Chance (Tyche), Necessity, or delusions of divinity by countering it with calculation (Logos) followed by action (Ergon), thus giving us a self-governing law (Nomos) to rise above nature (Physis) and the automatic baseness and self-destructiveness of human nature (Anthropoeia Physis).
These points are by no means conclusive. If you are at all interested in the world, history, your own processes of approaching the world, or your fellow people, Thucydides is well worth reading and perhaps the preeminent author. Many of the insights are interspersed with ancient military tactics which are a bore to some and a pleasure to others, but the insights are fascinating and not only reflect on the current world but also reveal an ancient mind-set more pragmatic and less dogmatised than our own but which marks the bedrock of our intellectual history
Fifth Century Athens saw a shift from the beliefs that 1) they were able to rely on the fighting ability of their citizens to control their neighbours, 2) that fear of displaying a hubris of which the gods might disapprove, and might punish with subsequent disaster, should restrain the victor from acting too harshly, and 3) that fear that the gods might punish injustice or hubris committed within the city should restrain its inhabitants from committing such acts against each other. Protagoras felt that “man is the measure of all things, and that it is impossible to know whether gods exist or not,” while Critias wrote that “originally there were no restraints on human nature; then laws were invented” and gods were invented to stop man breaking them.
In our society too, we are at a point where the vast majority of intellectuals are atheistic, or believe that at most any transcendent power is non-interfering in human life. As we see with Nietzsche, the old morality based on an “ought” from above becomes redundant to many, altering the patterns and manners by which many lead their lives. Divisions arise in societies, and they become in danger of collapsing due to amoral pursuit of self-interest. In the West we managed to stem the flow by two means: 1) the guilt/distraction matrix which Zizek writes about, and 2) fear of indictment of crime, increased by the creation and growth of police forces and surveillance. We are now at the point where many have realised that surveillance is incapable of effectively curtailing the interests of large, quickly assembled and forceful groups, as was seen in the Tottenham riots and in better articulated form with the Arab Spring uprisings. Thucydides provides an option different to the emphasis on crime and guilt: promoting an idea of piety based around clear-sightedness and the individual working both for himself and the community. In this way he can teach us not to be the fools of Chance (Tyche), Necessity, or delusions of divinity by countering it with calculation (Logos) followed by action (Ergon), thus giving us a self-governing law (Nomos) to rise above nature (Physis) and the automatic baseness and self-destructiveness of human nature (Anthropoeia Physis).
These points are by no means conclusive. If you are at all interested in the world, history, your own processes of approaching the world, or your fellow people, Thucydides is well worth reading and perhaps the preeminent author. Many of the insights are interspersed with ancient military tactics which are a bore to some and a pleasure to others, but the insights are fascinating and not only reflect on the current world but also reveal an ancient mind-set more pragmatic and less dogmatised than our own but which marks the bedrock of our intellectual history
The Best Unrequired Reading of 2010
At Student at Large we're always looking for something good to read, and as university's required reading lists give way for more personal choices this summer we feel we've found a great balance. The Best American Nonrequired Reading combines everything from the best fast-food incidents of the past year to Kurt Vonnegut's "The Nice Little People." Nonrequired, technically, but we say it's something everyone should certainly read.
