Well......
Apparently NO WE CANNOT....
Because I am not authorized.....
I am an outsider....
I am viewed suspiciously by the BOARD
I am not to be trusted, because who am I?
I am not mired in reality and all the nuances of their predicament
I have been asked to stop everything.....personally from David Grant himself.
They have their pre-conceived plan of action - taking this huge step backwards and are sticking with it.
There is to be no tolerance for anyone who disagrees with this step backward or wants to help them in any way.
They only want to pursue their own route which entails garnering corporate support.
Forget any grass roots movement of the people.
Things green, with growth and possibility and an ultimate goal of blooming are not to be tolerated. Let's just stick to the concrete, black and white world of corporate giving.
Forget the roots carefully cultivated over 22 years, forget the branches, reaching out, forget the buds of possibility, forget the strength of the tree, clinging to the rocks, battered by the winds of change, still able to grow, despite the odds. Yes, let's forget the Dodge.... it will never be what it once was....forget...forget...forget...... forget the language of hope...... and let the black light fill the holes of their empty hearts and minds.
This did not have to happen. This did not have to be. I struggle to pull in this heavy net of reality.......... and why all was sung in vain.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
jeesh
Ya know? You'd think the people at the Dodge would return an email and a phone call from someone desperately trying to help...which makes me pause and wonder just what is in their minds? I am still going to try to pursue this, but it will be a whole lot harder without their support and encouragement...and it makes me wonder just what their commitment to the poetry festival truly means to them..... is this just a convenient excuse, the economy, to pull back and focus efforts elsewhere? Hey, 24 years is a nice run.... now it's time to re-evaluate the goals and the placement of funds....I have a funny feeling I could show up tomorrow with two million dollars in my pocket and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. But I could be wrong.
I contacted Poets House in NYC, I contacted Oprah again..... definitely will take daily emails and constant letters I think to get through to her. I contacted a person from WPLJ here in NJ, I contacted some people who are instrumental in some poetry organizations here in NJ, I did get an email back from the Prairie Home Companion, giving me an address to write to. I know I can't do this alone....and this is starting to look like a very daunting task...... I have contacted some of my friends, who have all pledge money...but what I really need are people who can make contact with groups and individuals where I do not live. Where is my Christmas wish angel when I need her?????
I contacted Poets House in NYC, I contacted Oprah again..... definitely will take daily emails and constant letters I think to get through to her. I contacted a person from WPLJ here in NJ, I contacted some people who are instrumental in some poetry organizations here in NJ, I did get an email back from the Prairie Home Companion, giving me an address to write to. I know I can't do this alone....and this is starting to look like a very daunting task...... I have contacted some of my friends, who have all pledge money...but what I really need are people who can make contact with groups and individuals where I do not live. Where is my Christmas wish angel when I need her?????
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Okay, a slow start, but that's to be expected. I did hear back from Franz Wright, a most generous hearted poet, who loves the idea of trying to get this thing in motion. I contacted the folks at a Prairie Home Companion, I contacted the Oprah show again, I contacted NPR, I contacted a few people I met at the Dodge, hoping they will want to help, I did some internet research to find out what colleges some of my favorite poets are teaching at and hoping to connect with them via their edu addresses. Nothing will deter me from this mission to save the Dodge as we know it and to grow it even bigger and better. Why should we be settling for the honor of being North America's largest poetry gathering when the entire world is ours for the picking...and for that matter, so is the universe!!!! I know we all can make a difference with this. Anyone showing up here must know of a poetry group, open mike venue, other poets who would be willing to donate time, organiza a fund raiser. Hey, that's another idea..... maybe Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springstein can volunteer their time for a fundraiser. I'm going to try, yes I am. I must get the word out and try to convince everyone possible that this is the time, this is the most important time of all, when America is weakened, hurt and bleeding...to turn to the hope, strength and beauty that poetry lends to our soul, keeping us strong and able to carry on just one more day. Yes, this is the time, the perfect time to pour our will and our hearts to this endeavor.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
YES WE CAN SAVE THE DODGE
So.................................................
Did we not all hear our new President proclaim "Yes we can!" today???????
And are we going to sit back and allow what should be a National Treasure go down the tubes?
Ok, so it isn't exactly a treasured national park with endangered species trying to survive, but surely we can all agree that the Dodge is more than a place or an idea or a nice little get-to-gether.... it IS North America's largest poetry festival, a very special oasis, if you will, where for four days there is a gathering of an almost extinct species of human beings who treasure the word, we revere them , we gather words together and watch them create rainbows in our souls, allowing us to dance with the stars. I know I am not the only person in North America who is more fully alive these four days, whose blood pressure lowers, who drops three pounds in four days because who has time to eat when there is so much wonderful poetry to discover, who really should buy stock in Borders, Books and Music just to recoup the sum of money I drop in their tent, who sits on tenterhooks for 24 interminable months until the next Dodge finally finally finally comes around. I know I am not the only one. Yes, I am the only one who dances every chance she gets with Yarina, but I am not the only rabid poetry lover at the Dodge.
So. What are we going to do about the email we all just got from David Grant concerning scaling back the 2010 Dodge and even the lurking threat that "Yet we must at least take a cycle off from the biennial Festival as you have known it".
I say loudly, clearly and with no hesitation... "OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!" I will not stand for anything less than what we have come to expect, what we deserve and what we so very much want and I am just wondering who else out there is willing to start a grass roots campaign to keep our Dodge the way we know it?
I certainly feel we all can afford at least an immediate $10 or $20 to go into the coffers for the 2010 festival and we should be sending a check in ASAP. Next, I am willing to try to see what help I can get from our state politicians. I can't think of anything New Jerseyans can be prouder of and I truly doubt that once we get the publicity we need from the media, most people will want to help donate to such a worthy cause that does so much for the young people who come, learn, participate and find their own voices. Next would be to find a print shop that will donate posters to be placed in every library in the state during April, National Poetry Month, asking for whatever donation people can spare to please be sent to the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Foundation. I would hope we can even try to coordinate pass the hat intermissions at poetry readings ..... I think quite a few poets would support such an endeavor in order to ensure that the Dodge survives. I have Franz Wright's personal email and Robert Bly's personal email and Robert Hass's..... I'll sound them out on this. Anyone else out there can contact a poet that reads at the Dodge, please feel free to approach them. I also would like to even hit up the Library of Congress, other foundations and grants for funds and I would hope my state senators and representatives will be willing to give some sort of support if not just down right tacking on a nice hefty pork barrel spending splurge for our beloved Dodge. Every state has it's own network of Public Television stations and I think we should blitz PBS and get them to re-air the Bill Moyers shows in April of this year and April of 2010, with a intermission asking for contributions to keep the Dodge going. I bet PBS will agree to this. I think we each can try to get a Poetry fundraiser going at a local community college or college or university. I think we all can just get off our duffs and do what needs to be done to make sure we have our Dodge at our Waterloo Village with the same scope, talent and vision that Jim Haba infused it with. Anyone else out there have any ideas? I have already written to David Grant suggesting the basic charge for four days be upped to $100 a person, that there be a $2.00 a day parking fee, and a weekend pass should cost $60-65.00 ( I firmly believe the festival has been underpriced for years). Please respond if you can help, and are willing to join the fight to SAVE OUR DODGE.
Did we not all hear our new President proclaim "Yes we can!" today???????
And are we going to sit back and allow what should be a National Treasure go down the tubes?
Ok, so it isn't exactly a treasured national park with endangered species trying to survive, but surely we can all agree that the Dodge is more than a place or an idea or a nice little get-to-gether.... it IS North America's largest poetry festival, a very special oasis, if you will, where for four days there is a gathering of an almost extinct species of human beings who treasure the word, we revere them , we gather words together and watch them create rainbows in our souls, allowing us to dance with the stars. I know I am not the only person in North America who is more fully alive these four days, whose blood pressure lowers, who drops three pounds in four days because who has time to eat when there is so much wonderful poetry to discover, who really should buy stock in Borders, Books and Music just to recoup the sum of money I drop in their tent, who sits on tenterhooks for 24 interminable months until the next Dodge finally finally finally comes around. I know I am not the only one. Yes, I am the only one who dances every chance she gets with Yarina, but I am not the only rabid poetry lover at the Dodge.
So. What are we going to do about the email we all just got from David Grant concerning scaling back the 2010 Dodge and even the lurking threat that "Yet we must at least take a cycle off from the biennial Festival as you have known it".
I say loudly, clearly and with no hesitation... "OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!" I will not stand for anything less than what we have come to expect, what we deserve and what we so very much want and I am just wondering who else out there is willing to start a grass roots campaign to keep our Dodge the way we know it?
I certainly feel we all can afford at least an immediate $10 or $20 to go into the coffers for the 2010 festival and we should be sending a check in ASAP. Next, I am willing to try to see what help I can get from our state politicians. I can't think of anything New Jerseyans can be prouder of and I truly doubt that once we get the publicity we need from the media, most people will want to help donate to such a worthy cause that does so much for the young people who come, learn, participate and find their own voices. Next would be to find a print shop that will donate posters to be placed in every library in the state during April, National Poetry Month, asking for whatever donation people can spare to please be sent to the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Foundation. I would hope we can even try to coordinate pass the hat intermissions at poetry readings ..... I think quite a few poets would support such an endeavor in order to ensure that the Dodge survives. I have Franz Wright's personal email and Robert Bly's personal email and Robert Hass's..... I'll sound them out on this. Anyone else out there can contact a poet that reads at the Dodge, please feel free to approach them. I also would like to even hit up the Library of Congress, other foundations and grants for funds and I would hope my state senators and representatives will be willing to give some sort of support if not just down right tacking on a nice hefty pork barrel spending splurge for our beloved Dodge. Every state has it's own network of Public Television stations and I think we should blitz PBS and get them to re-air the Bill Moyers shows in April of this year and April of 2010, with a intermission asking for contributions to keep the Dodge going. I bet PBS will agree to this. I think we each can try to get a Poetry fundraiser going at a local community college or college or university. I think we all can just get off our duffs and do what needs to be done to make sure we have our Dodge at our Waterloo Village with the same scope, talent and vision that Jim Haba infused it with. Anyone else out there have any ideas? I have already written to David Grant suggesting the basic charge for four days be upped to $100 a person, that there be a $2.00 a day parking fee, and a weekend pass should cost $60-65.00 ( I firmly believe the festival has been underpriced for years). Please respond if you can help, and are willing to join the fight to SAVE OUR DODGE.
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