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  #41  
Unread 01-25-2021, 12:17 PM
Jim Moonan Jim Moonan is offline
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Amanda Gorman didn't just stroll onto the inaugural stage from out of nowhere. She's a Harvard grad (Sociology) and has been active in the spoken word/poetry scene fo awhile.
Oprah Winfrey befriended her and is something of a mentor to her. She gifted Gorman the earrings and headband that she wore to the Inauguration. Gorman also said she wore the yellow dress as a nod to Dr. Jill Biden. It was she who saw Amanda Gorman recite at an event and invited her to be the Inaugural poet. This is a good omen for what the First Lady might do with her position. We've come a long way from "Be Best".
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  #42  
Unread 01-25-2021, 01:44 PM
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Kevin Rainbow Kevin Rainbow is offline
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Chris & Shaun.

Quit it.
I have absolutely nothing against her and admired her performance.
I don't think we are obligated NOT to deviate at all from the main focus of the discussion.

I LIKED her fashion-statement too, which is why I was interested in the headband to begin with. I guess you're so used to headbands being that price that the amusement failed to be amusement for you. So be it.

But you don't have to resort to slinging paranoid nonsense. An on-the-side comment about a fashion-accessory is obviously NOT an attack to anyone who is in a sober frame of mind. Labelling it as an attack really just suggests an eagerness to interpret and exaggerate something one doesn't like in the worst possible way in order to try to justify slinging accusations and labels.



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Oprah Winfrey befriended her and is something of a mentor to her. She gifted Gorman the earrings and headband that she wore to the Inauguration.
Oprah gave her the jewelry, not the headband, from what I read. Watch out. Someone might accuse you of being prejudiced and suggesting she couldn't afford at least the headband.

Last edited by Kevin Rainbow; 01-25-2021 at 11:40 PM.
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  #43  
Unread 01-26-2021, 03:48 AM
Mark McDonnell Mark McDonnell is offline
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Here's a sestina Amanda Gorman wrote.

[Sorry, I now see that Mark already posted this]
No problem Roger, it was really worth posting twice. It's very good. If it matters to anyone, it's evidence that her range does extend beyond that familiar spoken word oratory style.

And Andrew I can see what pissed
you off. What she delivered and the poise with which she delivered it, is far bigger than the babble of those (e.g me) who feel obliged to give voice to every passing skeptical thought about it. Visually, as contrast to what was happening at the Capitol a fortnight earlier, it already feels iconic and there'll always be time for iconoclasm later. At least for a short, quiet time it should probably be allowed to stand without cynicism.

I still find that Forbes video ("today, at Forbes") a bit hard to watch.

Anyway American friends, you got rid of Trump! Well done and good luck! Onward!
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  #44  
Unread 01-26-2021, 04:22 AM
Mark McDonnell Mark McDonnell is offline
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She's a Harvard grad (Sociology) and has been active in the spoken word/poetry scene fo awhile.
fo awhile? You're not getting overexcited and doing that AAVE thing again are you, Jim?

(Sorry. I realise it was a typo, obviously. Couldn't resist. It's an illness)
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  #45  
Unread 01-26-2021, 06:01 AM
Jim Moonan Jim Moonan is offline
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"fo awhile?"


My metamorphosis is creeping, creeping, creeping...I guess it starts innocuously enough: a reggae lyric here, a typo there — Ha!

My brother, who had a hard-scrabble life and died young, spoke with a southern drawl complete with southern slang, through he never lived anywhere else than the town he was born in (Trenton, NJ). Perhaps it was the slang and dialect of the down and out.

(Slang. Interesting word. It has a built-in twang to it.)
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  #46  
Unread 01-26-2021, 07:08 AM
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Andrew Mandelbaum Andrew Mandelbaum is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Rainbow View Post

But you don't have to resort to slinging paranoid nonsense. An on-the-side comment about a fashion-accessory is obviously NOT an attack to anyone who is in a sober frame of mind. Labelling it as an attack really just suggests an eagerness to interpret and exaggerate something one doesn't like in the worst possible way in order to try to justify slinging accusations and labels.

"Just because almost every time I show up here I bark a bit, piss on the floor and then lick my butt and call it a contribution doesn't mean I need a rabies shot" says every troll who doesn't own a mirror every time.
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  #47  
Unread 01-26-2021, 10:39 AM
John Riley John Riley is offline
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Kevin, your original comment and link about her headband was snide racism. You intended it to be snide racism and knew it was snide racism. I am sick of hearing the word gaslighting, but that is exactly what you are attempting to do. I live in the southern part of the U.S. and know racism fairly well and what you did is classic bait and switch, dog-whistle racism. Make a comment that everyone knows what the insinuation is and then pretend to be outraged when one of we libs take the bait and call it what it is. Since so-called conservatism, with deep apologies to Edmund Burke, has disintegrated to a game of "owning the libs," I'm sure it made you feel good. Just be assured I know a turd when I smell it and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
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  #48  
Unread 01-26-2021, 02:04 PM
James Brancheau James Brancheau is offline
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It's a bad poem, but a good speech at an important time. That's my take. Speeches are their own thing. Mario Cuomo was complemented once about his 1984 (?) keynote, and he said, no, it was a good speech, but not a great one. A great one tells people what they don't want to hear, and they still cheer you for it.
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  #49  
Unread 01-26-2021, 03:15 PM
James Brancheau James Brancheau is offline
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Jim, the fact that she's a Harvard grad has absolutely nothing to do with her ability as a poet. My guess is that she'll end up going to medical school or something. She's 22.
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  #50  
Unread 01-26-2021, 04:11 PM
Julie Steiner Julie Steiner is offline
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Amanda Gorman is scheduled to be one of the readers at a free event hosted by the Los Angeles Public Library this Thursday, 5pm PST, if anyone's interested:
https://dola.com/events/2021/1/28/li...atters-tickets

The event is celebrating a new anthology of African American poetry.
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