January 7, 2011

• reeling

  Sometimes I sound really good on air. Other times...well.

  I think I seem pretty stupid to most people IRL anyway because I'm awkward and slow-witted. So I seem dumb - that is, unless they get to read my writing. Which is funny, because most people seem really smart to me - until I read their writing. 

  My friends and I were disagreeing on facebook over a slaughterhouse video I had posted and I noticed that people really suck at arguing - even those who write exceptional poetry, who are passionate and knowledgeable about environmental sciences, who have degrees in history and english. Years of school and/or honing research paper arguments doesn't apparently necessitate that people are able to articulate themselves within a debate.

  Make no mistake, my friends are incredibly smart and talented, but being an activist-academic refines your written confrontation skills especially because reading obsessive amounts of news, news analysis and activist theory is just part of the lifestyle. And that familiarizes you with the opposition argument, which forces you to strategize both continually and compulsively. Activism teaches you to know your adversity, and to always be on your guard. 

  Luckily for me, we were all working in my domain of expertise (it was, after all, a written argument about slaughterhouses). But it nonetheless reminded me of what [alwaystruggling] once said, "You know, I don't think I would have married a man who didn't know his grammar. When I asked Mike one night what subjunctive mood was, and he knew-- he had my heart."

  I mean, it was the catharsis of Lime's words that had me heads over heels. I didn't think Starr was that special until I read his writing. I became disillusioned with Digi when confronted with his lack of literary artistry. My life is a stretching string of words, and I'm looking for someone to write it with.

  • 5:39 am
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