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f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

January 11, 2009

can Grimmy be my Service Dog?

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,q.s. quickies — David Giacalone @ 4:08 pm

Grimmy . . .

holidays over  –
the dog puts a halo
on my snow angel

… by dagosan

.. f/k/a is going to the dogs today, inspired by a few stories in the news (about Colombian coffee, assistance creatures and Pavlovian partisan politics, which are discussed below), plus a haiku or two.

distant thunder
the neighbor’s dog
scratches the door

in the park
my dog fetches
a better stick

… by w.f. owen — from haiku notebook

tripping over the dog
again…
night of winter rain

… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

[full cartoon; Mother Goose & Grimm, Jan. 2, 2009]

Canned Canine? We reported last year that drinking coffee enhances your mood and makes you more sociable.  Apparently, the same cannot be said for growing coffee. Grimmy’s cartoon sidekick Attila brought the wrath of the Colombian coffee cartel down on his master Mike Peters, this week.  Attila made a crack in the Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip of January 2, 2009 [detail above; full cartoon] about the nation’s crime syndicates and finding “a little bit of Juan Valdez,” the fictitious symbol of Colombian coffee growers, in every can. See “Colombian coffee growers sue U.S. cartoonist,” Columbia Reports (Jan. 6, 2009); more coverage at Robot 6 (Jan. 7, 2009); The Associated Press, Jan. 8, 2009; and the SSFeral Children weblog (Jan. 7); via Overlawyered.com (Jan. 9).

Sun-scorched slope– 
an old donkey rubs his rump
against a mud-crusted post

…… by Rebecca Lilly – Shadwell Hills (Birch Press, 2002)

Feeling its national dignity, and that of the 300,000 small, independent coffee growers that it represents, was insulted, The Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers announced a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Mike Peters because his cartoon linked Colombia’s coffee with its crime syndicates.

The Juan Valdez strip, which is not one of Peters’ funniest, was part of a week-long series based on the fact that the inventor of the Pringles potato chip can had his ashes buried in one.

Going a bit over the top, federation director Gabriel Silva said last Tuesday that the guild seeks:

“not just an economic compensation for something that damages the intellectual heritage. We also want moral compensation. A public manifestation.”

Mike Peters is also a well-known editorial cartoonist. It’s a bit surprising (unless you take into account the $20 million request for damages) that he held back his tongue in responding:

“I had no more thought to insult Colombia and Juan Valdez than I did Pringles, Betty Crocker, Col. Sanders, Dr. Pepper and Bartles & Jaymes. . .

“I thought this was a humorous subject and all of my Mother Goose & Grimm cartoons are meant to make people laugh. I truly intended no insult.”

We’re pleased to see that some of Colombia’s most respected cartoonists are scoffing at the law suit and calling it a waste of time. Although the f/k/a Gang will continue to drink Colombian coffee every day, Grimmy and I are symbolically raising our legs, not our mugs, to salute the litigiously-over-caffeinated Cafateros Cartel and their New York lawyers.

the taste
of coffee –
the aftertaste

Park Closed ’til Spring
yellow snow
behind the Rest Rooms

… by dagosan

.. Look Who’s Coming to Dinner: An article in last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, “Creature Comforts” (January 4, 2009) by Rebecca Skloot, has left me more knowledgeable and open-minded than I was when I started the article.  But, I’m still not sure where I would draw my bottom line about how to define “service animal” for the purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which says businesses must allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals into all areas of the business where customers are normally allowed to go. Only if a service animal is out of control and presents a direct threat to others, may you ask the customer to remove it from the premises.

For me, the whole topic of Service Animals and Therapy Animals (a/k/a Creatures) was, frankly, colored by my dislike of people who drive with dogs in their laps (see prior post) and other pet-lovers who insist upon bringing their much-loved “family members” everywhere they go — even into places like restaurants and drug stores, where pets are not normally allowed.

The NYT piece taught me one important point: To distinguish between Service Animals and Therapy/Comfort Animals, which are treated differently under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

  • “Service animals” are animals that are individually trained to perform specific tasks for people with disabilities.
  • “Therapy animals” (also known as “comfort animals”) are used for emotional support, comfort, companionship, or therapeutic benefits, but are not trained to do any particular tasks for an individual. They are not considered to be service animals and business do not have to let customers bring Comfort Animals into their establishments.

It sounds like I won’t be able to bring Grimmy along with me as my Service Animal — the therapeutic effects of his humor on my mood and well-being only place him in the Comfort Animal category.  It’s a good thing that I can sneak Grimmy into a restaurant in a briefcase (and that he’s paper-trained).  Mother Goose can’t claim his fetching the morning paper for her as a covered “task,” either, since she’s not disabled.

Seeing-eye Dogs are our archetypical example of Service Animals.  But, Skoot tells us in her article that:

“a growing number of people believe the world of service animals has gotten out of control: first it was guide dogs for the blind; now it’s monkeys for quadriplegia and agoraphobia, guide miniature horses, a goat for muscular dystrophy, a parrot for psychosis and any number of animals for anxiety, including cats, ferrets, pigs, at least one iguana and a duck. They’re all showing up in stores and in restaurants, which is perfectly legal because the Americans With Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) requires that service animals be allowed wherever their owners want to go.”

Naturally, the line between therapy animals and psychiatric service animals has always been blurry, because it comes down to varying definitions of the words “task” and “work” — and whether something like actively soothing a person qualifies. D.O.T. guidelines for airplanes muddied the waters considerably, however, with new guidelines saying, “Animals that assist persons with disabilities by providing emotional support qualify as service animals.”  People started thinking they could bring their Comfort Animals everywhere, so long as they had documentation that the animal was needed.  As Skloot notes:

  • “Soon, a trend emerged: people with no visible disabilities were bringing what a New York Times article called “a veritable Noah’s Ark of support animals” into businesses, claiming that they were service animals. Business owners and their employees often couldn’t distinguish the genuine from the bogus.”
  • However, “To protect the disabled from intrusive questions about their medical histories, the A.D.A. makes it illegal to ask what disorder an animal helps with. You also can’t ask for proof that a person is disabled or a demonstration of an animal’s ‘tasks’.”  You can only ask whether it is a service animal and what particular task it performs.  You many not ask for documentation.

.. how do you feel about service animals? .. ..

The article focuses on the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice is considering a proposal that would ban all but canine service animals and leave “therapy animals” out of the definition.  At her Culture Dish weblog, Rebecca Skloot follows-up on the magazine article with several helpful and thought-provoking posts.  One gives you DoJ’s Rationale Behind Banning Non-Canine Service Animals (January 7, 2009); another has DoJ’s reasoning for allowing Psychiatric Service Animals but leaving Therapy Animals out of the definition.  Skloot also gives more details about various non-canine service animals, including Panda the miniature horse, Sadie the Parrot and an assistance monkey.

By the time I finished reading Skoot’s materials, I was far less skeptical of Skloot’s assertion that “What’s most striking about Edie and Panda is that after the initial shock of seeing a horse walk into a cafe, or ride in a car, watching them work together makes the idea of guide miniature horses seem utterly logical. Even normal.”  Nonetheless, I’m not sure yet where I would come down on the question of whether only dogs should be considered as Service Animals.  I am, however, still certain that businesses should be able to ostracize mere Comfort Animals.   The definition of Service Animal and the scope of related obligations and rights under the ADA is a topic that is both interesting and important.

cloudy valley
the dog barks
at himself

… by David G. Lanoue author of the novel Haiku Guy

.. Pavlovian Lapdog Politics:  Last August, we wrote of our dislike for the Norwellianly-named Employee Free Choice Act, while scoffing at the claims of its proponents that the Act has bi-partisan support. Our main complaint was that — as Carl Strock wrote in the Daily Gazette — it should have been called the “Election Suppression Act” or the “Strong-Arm Sign-Up Act.” As Strock noted in his post “Employee Free Choice?” EFCA permits “signing a card handed to you by a possibly pushy or intimidating organizer” to count just as much as a secret ballot.

We don’t like it any more today, and in fact find that the economic arguments made by those against EFCA, about hurting small business and their employees, ring true.  See, e.g., “A Labor Dilemma for President Bam,” at Point of Law.   One thing for sure: It is not change, nor new politics, for a Democratic President to be seen as the lapdog of organized labor.  Our only hope is that Barack Obama, should he hold his nose and sign EFCA, can now say to the unions who helped elect him, “That’s the last time I will support a bill on your behalf that does not meet my standards of fairness and intelligent economics.

in the park
my dog fetches
a better stick

… w.f. owen — from Haiku Notebook

all day rain
on the playing field
a stray dog

… by Tom Painting – from A New Resonance 2: Emerging Voices

traffic jam
a plastic dog
keeps on nodding

………Yu Chang – Upstate Dim Sum (2002/I)

the village dog
suddenly disapproves…
the scarecrow

a long day–
the dog and the crow
quarreling

… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

distant thunder–
the dog’s toenails click
against the linoleum

not much afternoon left–
his dog runs loose
ahead of him

letting
the dog out–
the stars in

. . . . by Gary Hotham – breathmarks (Canon Press, 1999)

January 9, 2009

when a perp pleads “not guilty” it isn’t a lie

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,lawyer news or ethics — David Giacalone @ 12:54 pm

“To American lawyers, a twenty-year-old document is ‘ancient,’ while a seventeen-year-old person is an ‘infant.’ at one time or another, the law has define ‘dead person’ to include nuns; ‘daughter’ to include son, and ‘cow’ to include horse; it has even declared white to be black.”

…. from “The Party of the First Part: The Curious World of Legalese,” by Adam Freedman (Henry Holt and Co., 2007)

There are a lot of words and terms that lawyers use differently than the rest of humanity.  Besides the ones mentioned in the above quote by Adam Freedman, consider: brief, charge, count, party, practice, person, try and real.  Most non-lawyers take these differences in stride and accept the shift in meaning within the legal system or profession.

Nevertheless, there are large numbers of people (including one or two of my aunts) who believe there’s something wrong when a “perp” (the perpetrator who has in fact done the acts charged in an indictment) pleads “not guilty” at his or her arraignment.  They consider a perp’s plea of Not Guilty to be dishonest — a lie — and therefore immoral or unethical (or, for the less judgmental, an unacceptable waste of public resources).  Faced with the following multiple-choice question at his or her arraignment:

How do you plead to the charge?

  • guilty
  • not guilty
  • no contest

these fans of the inquisitional system of justice (where you are forced to answer every question, and to do so truthfully) insist that a perp should admit guilt and face the appropriate punishment.  If the defendant’s lawyer really believes he has a valid legal defense or justification for the seemingly criminal behavior, some of the Inquisitors might permit the defendant to say “not guilty.”  Otherwise, if he in fact did the deeds that amount to the alleged crime, they want him to plead “Guilty.”  It apparently doesn’t matter that in our accusatory system of justice

  • the defendant is “presumed innocent” until the State proves his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
  • the judge has just told the defendant he has three important Constitutional rights: 1) the privilege against self-incrimination; 2) the right to a trial by jury; and 3) the right to confront his accusers;
  • the judge will enter the plea of “not guilty” for him, if he fails to respond with one of the allowed answers; and
  • to everybody officially involved at court (judge, prosecutor, defense attorney) the term “not guilty” has a far broader meaning than “I didn’t do it”

A few criminal lawyers with weblogs have been discussing this topic at their weblogs the past couple of weeks, starting with Jeremey Richey (ECILCrime, “Is It Ethical to Plead Not Guilty?,” Dec. 20, 2009) and Mark Bennett (defending people, “Justice vs. Fairness,” Dec. 22, 2009), and spreading to Ken Lammers (CrimLaw, “morality and immorality of ‘not guilty’,”Jan. 4, 2009) and Scott Greenfield (“The Two Most Loaded Words in a Courtroom,” Simple Justice, Jan. 5, 2009, where there is even a discussion in the Comment section about the merits of possible substitute phrases).

Mark Bennett has a nice, pithy explanation of the cause of the confusion:

In The World, “not guilty” means “didn’t do it.” Not so in the criminal justice system, where it means, “the government hasn’t proven it.”

  • Jeremy Richey insists “It is perfectly ethical [honest] for a person to plead not guilty even if the person believes himself to be guilty as sin,” because he is merely doing what all the players in the judicial system expect him to do — “requiring the government to carry its burden.”  Therefore, “when a person enters a not-guilty plea, he is not being deceptive or dishonest.”
  • Ken Lammers says it might be immoral for the defendant to refuse to take responsibility for his criminal behavior, but “Quite simply, the trial system doesn’t care. It is set up to test the government’s ability to prove guilt – not to judge the defendant’s morality. The stains on the souls of those in the dock are between them and God, not them and the court.”
  • Scott Greenfield opines that “the vast majority [of defendants] fall within a relatively gray area of morality, where they possess a rationale for their actions that may fail to comport with what most people would consider moral choices but which is not so far outside the box as to render them evil.  Wrong, perhaps.  Stupid often.  But not quite evil.”  As for the Not Guilty Plea:

“These words are not a moral statement, but a legal one, encompassing the plethora of issues and challenges inherent in the criminal justice system.  To utter them in response to ‘how do you plea’ in the courtroom is never to be immoral, for morality plays no role in the proceedings.”

Because some blawgers and commentors were mocking those who confuse the everyday definition of “not guilty” with the legal or judicial meaning of those words, I piped in at Simple Justice that lawyers ought to be educating not ridiculing the public on this topic, and indeed has had centuries to do so.   The legal profession should, concisely and using Plain English, explain the Not-Guilty Plea’s meaning and justification in our criminal justice system, especially its relationship to the privilege against self-incrimination.  Then, we should use our public relations savvy and access to all sorts of media to get the word out — maybe even inserted into episodes of Law and Order or CSI — that:

  1. “Not guilty” doesn’t just mean “didn’t do it” in our judicial system. It also means “I’ve got some good defenses,” “I’m presumed innocent,” “you gotta prove it, dudes,” or “I want a trial”
  2. “Not Guilty” is the only answer available to a perp who isn’t willing to give up the important privilege against self-incrimination and the status of being “presumed innocent.” For him or her, it’s the best answer out of the three choices available at the arraignment.  Even if more “accurate” or “truthful” pleas were available, such as “did it, but you have to prove it” or “did it, but it was justified,” they would be a form of self-incrimination.
  3. Allowing a perp to preserve his or her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination by making a Not-Guilty Plea serves two valuable and interrelated interests: The preservation of an accusatorial system of criminal justice and the preservation of personal privacy from unwarranted governmental intrusion.  Our 4th and 5th Amendment rights would be far less meaningful, if they were available only to the “innocent.”

[For more on the history and justification of the right against self-incrimination, with cites and links to relevant case law, see “Fifth Amendment Rights of Persons: Self-Incrimination,” from the Congressional Research Service Annotated Constitution.]

Let’s hope we don’t have to wait a couple more centuries for the legal profession to come up with informative explanations of the Not Guilty Plea (this Meida Manual by the Boulder County Bar Association doesn’t come close).  Given their expertise, the f/k/a gang thinks the Criminal Law Bar — prosecutors, professors, and public or private defenders — should take the lead.  Considering how many of them blog and tweet their days away, they surely seem to have enough spare time for the project.  We hope that some fragments of this post will be of assistance, and offer this opening, to get the ball rolling:

Why Isn’t the Perp’s “Not Guilty” Plea a Lie? The ability to make a Not-Guilty Plea is central to our criminal justice system, which is accusatory not inquisitional.  That is . . .

. . . . .

Finally, as is our habit here at f/k/a after long pieces of punditry, we offer some short pieces of poetry.

lonely road
a policeman listens
as i recite the alphabet

… by ed markowski

lightning flash–
only the dog’s face
is innocent

night fishing–
the pleading
of a katydid

accusing the pine
of foolishness…
evening mist

in and out
of prison they go…
baby sparrows

… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

January 6, 2009

ending the holiday season with a Beary Merry Christmas

Filed under: Haiga or Haibun,Haiku or Senryu — David Giacalone @ 11:35 am

Yesterday, January 5th, was Twelfth Night and today is the Feast of the Epiphany.  For most folks, they represent the end of the holiday season, when we take down decorations, look for loose-fitting clothes, and get back to our everyday routines. I can’t think of a better way to close the holiday season than by spending a little time with our poet-lawyer friend Roberta Beary (although we’d prefer to do so in person).

Curtis Dunlap had the same idea last night. At his Tobacco Road Poet weblog, he presented a YouTube video of Roberta performing her haibun (that’s a short prose piece with a linked haiku) “The Day After Christmas.”  Rather than repeating the video posting here, we suggest you give yourself a treat and view it at Tobacco Road, and then browse that interesting haiku site.

We’re going to let you savor the text version of Roberta’s “The Day After Christmas,” which was first published in Shamrock Haiku Journal (Issue 6), and can also be found at Haibun Today (October 15, 2008):

The Day After Christmas
(by Roberta Beary)

We are at the mother of all sales, scrunched up against the hats, the no-good, the bad and the downright ugly. Try this one, she orders, and this, and this. There is no room to move, let alone try something on. With stone face, I lift my hands and obey. She is, after all, my big sister. Buy the red one, she points, yelling for all to hear, it makes your nose look less big.

snow-mush
my neighbor’s tree kicked
to the curb

Here’s another pair from the author of the much-acclaimed volume of haiku, The Unworn Necklace:

too tired
to untangle
christmas lights

first snow
at every window
a child’s face

…. by Roberta Beary
“first snow” – Published in Haiku Happens (1998)

.. Orthodox Christmas: Of course, if you celebrate Christmas based on the Eastern or Greek Orthodox Christian calendar, your Christmas celebrations take place on January 7th, and we wish you a most merry Orthodox Christmas. In Schenectady, Xrysanthi, the little Angel pictured here is celebrating her first Christmas season.  She brings a special joy to her parents Kathryn and Michael, and their families and friends.

January 2, 2009

new year already old hat

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,q.s. quickies — David Giacalone @ 9:48 pm

January 3rd 
only the panhandler
says “happy New Year!”

… by dagosan

It looks like I’m going to have to edit that senryu I wrote a couple years ago.  This afternoon (January 2, 2009), the pretty and popular young check-out girl at our public Library was quite taken aback when I handed her the items I wanted to borrow and said “Happy New Year.”   A few hours into her first work shift of 2009, and the idea of offering good tidings for the new year to someone she sees and chats with a few times a week had already floated into “whatever” oblivion for the young college student and part-time civil servant.  The same thing happened when I passed a neighbor on the sidewalk a block from home around noon.

Sigh. After expending all that effort trying to work up a head of steam of Christmas cheer, people are already sticking pins in my holiday balloon.  Well, I’m going to see what happens tomorrow — and Sunday, too — when I extend New Year’s greetings to folks encountered as I do my quotidian weekend tasks [Don’t you hate that over-used, pretentious word for “everyday”?  Maybe the New York Times could resolve to eschew quotidian in 2009].  Of course, by Monday (January 5th), if I’m still chirping “Happy New Year!” at all the passersby, people will be wondering if I’m going to hit them up for the price of a pint of dago red.

. . .  . While my old HLS classmate Christopher Edley (now dean of UC Berkeley law school, as I fiddle around with this darn weblog) and a few other deans are worrying about finding admissions criteria to help determine success after law school (via Court-o-rama); and USF law dean Jeffrey Brand is seeking lawyers with skill sets such as “empathy, persuasiveness and the willingness to have the courage to do the right thing — which the LSAT does not measure;” I’m going to settle for posting a handful of New Year’s poems by Master Haiku poet Kobayashi Issa, who always seems to find the right balance of bitter and sweet, hope and realism.

a present, a present
a New Year’s present!
her pink cheeks

my tumble-down house
just as it it…
“Happy New Year!”

 

the cat steals
a New Year’s nap…
sitting room

here and there
hanging in the thicket…
New Year’s ropes

a full round
of New Year’s greetings
at the inn

with a cheer
my hut’s New Year’s decorations
up in smoke

………………… by Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

afterwords (Jan. 3, 2009): Scott Greenfield expands (as he does so well) on this topic this morning at Simple Justice, in “A New Year’s Shelf Life,” where he laments that the problem of the “contraction of the Happy New Year greeting opportunity” is part of a broader societal insistence on immediacy and brevity.  Despite agreeing with Scott that most topics worth discussion require nuance and explanation, dagosan and the rest of the f/k/a Gang want to point out that demanding immediacy and brevity is just fine when it comes to certain poetic genre.

December 29, 2008

2008 melts away

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,q.s. quickies — David Giacalone @ 12:35 pm

As the old year comes to a close, the only bakers I want to be contemplating are Mama G., (Aunt) Grace Papagni, Sylvia Briber, and other selfless souls who have been stuffing the entire f/k/a Gang with all sorts of Christmas cookies and similar treats over the past week.

empty cookie tin —
letting out last year’s
santa suit

frontdoor
to curb –
pine needles and tinsel

…. by dagosan – from “Holiday Haiku from Schenectady

Nonetheless, I’ve been spending far too much time the last two days responding to Ron Baker and Ed Kless, who are defending Value Pricing (their version of vale billing) in comments to a prior post here at f/k/a.

. . . .  Despite his adopting a new-agey, feel-good image, and condemning hourly billing as unethical, it seems quite clear to me that Value Pricing guru Ron Baker wants lawyers to charge (and clients to pay) higher fees than can be generated using hourly billing. Value Pricing is the mechanism he touts — in books, seminars, private consultations, articles, and more — as the way to achieve those premium fees.

If that topic interests you, click the above link (and see our prior post and the links therein).  For another perspective on a topic that kept us busy at this weblog again in 2008, see the Washington Post article “Laws to Track Sex Offenders Encouraging Homelessness” (via The Moderate Voice, Dec. 27, 2008).

holiday thaw
a trooper emerges
from the snowmelt mist

… by dagosan

The f/k/a Gang would much prefer to be focusing on more pleasant topics.  Like seasonal haiku and senryu, and the wonderful sunset last night along the Mohawk River (at the end of my block of Washington Avenue, in the Schenectady Stockade), which I tried to capture with my Canon Powershot.

rising river…
sandbaggers pass
a brown paper bag

.. by Ed Markowski

— looking eastward into Riverside Park; Dec. 28, 2008 —

year’s end
the bartender
blocks my reflection

…… by Tom Painting – The Heron’s Nest

New Year’s Eve –
the lentil soup
again

…… by Tom Clausen – from Homework (Snapshot Press 2000)

blue sky
behind bare branches
year-end bonus

…. by David A. Giacalone – Legal Studies Forum XXIX:1 (2005)

……………….. ..

.. the view west toward the Western Gateway Bridge; Dec. 28, 2008 —

last week of the year
ice floes rush
to the waterfall

… by David Giacalone – Roadrunner Haiku Journal (Feb. 2006)

December 26, 2008

inflatable spirits at a time of deflation

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,q.s. quickies — David Giacalone @ 2:08 pm

Boxing Day drizzle –
the inflatable snowman
keeps smiling

…………… by dagosan

A year ago, I reported that the inflatable snowman across the street from Mama G’s place in Gates, NY, was still smiling on a rainy December 26th. I’m not sure if it’s a sign of our rocky times, or just a result of 55-mph winds on Christmas Eve, but that same vinyl Snowman was rather tipsy — or maybe playing Peeping Tom — around sunset on Christmas Day:

Of course the big non-bio-degradable Snowman might have been trying to catch a glimpse Christmas morning of ABC’s Good Morning America and its segment featuring Bob Eckstein, author of ”The History of the Snowman [see our prior post], If you missed Bob on GMA, click here Science of a Snowman (Dec. 25, 2008) However, like the f/k/a Gang, Bob might not be too popular with inflatable snowpersons or their supporters. As we pointed out back in February, our friendly Snowman Expert told USA Weekend that:

Every 8-foot-high blow-up snowman is a lost opportunity of a God-given gift we all have: artistic expression.”

The inflatable Frosty across the street is apparently sleeping in this afternoon, so I can’t describe his current state of uprightness. At a time when global warming might be reducing our opportunities to make art and fun from newly-fallen snow, I agree with Bob Eckstein’s assertion in today’s New York Daily News, that “As everything melts down, there’s no man like a snowman” (op/ed, December 26, 2008):

“We have all waited a long time for change. Change of leadership, change of seasons. And what we need to lift our spirits now is snow: cold, beautiful, malleable snow. We need joviality, an inexpensive treat that reminds us we don’t have to plug something in or stare at a screen to have fun. We only need the sky to open up and cloak our city with the fluffy stuff.

So, let us return to our roots. And begin the new year with a return to the basics. As never before, we need to make snowmen.”

winter fog
i stub my toe
on the snowman

………… by ed markowski

If you need a little post-Christmas inspiration today, the f/k/a Gang suggests reading the op/ed reminder in today’s New York Times, that “Boxing Day Is for Giving” — charitable giving (Judith Flanders, Dec. 26, 2008). Ms. Flanders gives us a history lesson:

“Boxing Day, usually thought of as Dec. 26, but technically the first weekday after Christmas, has a distinguished pedigree in Britain, and during this time of economic crisis, it is good to be reminded of it. It is on Boxing Day, after all, on the “feast of Stephen,” that “Good King Wenceslas” looked out and saw the snow, “deep and crisp and even.” The cold was notable not for its beauty, but for the hunger that it brought with it. The king calls for food, wine and “pine logs” not for his own feast, but that he and his page may “bear them thither” to give to the poor.”

She concludes with a suggestion that we make Boxing Day a national holiday in the USA — but, not just “another day in the round of shop-eat-family-family-family.

“Instead Boxing Day could return as a day of giving. Not necessarily cash — and not material to make uniforms — but rather one day a year to donate skills or effort, a day for sharing something of value in the larger community. . .

“What we really need to do is put down the punch bowl and pick up on what Punch magazine wrote more than 150 years ago: Don’t just keep the Christmas of the belly: keep you the Christmas of the heart. Give — give’.”

.. Boxing Day technically lasts the entire last week of the year. So, Prof. Yabut, dagosan and the rest of the Gang will first be catching a sugar-filled-tummy holiday season nap this afternoon, and then be putting Ms. Flanders’ Boxing Day advice into action. We hope that — unlike the family of Inflatables across the street — our charitable-sharitable feeling won’t be just a lot of hot air that is packed away the rest of the year. Happy Boxing Day to our readers!

December 24, 2008

easing into Christmas Eve

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu — David Giacalone @ 9:39 am

There’s not the slightest chance the f/k/a Gang will be writing about greedy lawyers or politicians, or otherwise engaging in punditry today. We’ve got a wintry mix changing into a rainy and blustery day here in my hometown of Rochester, New York. And, Mama G. is stuffing calamari and cleaning shrimp out in the kitchen, while I use her computer here in the den.

While we wonder whose flight will be canceled and where we left the Scotch tape, let’s let a few of our Honored Guest Poet friends help ease us into the peace and joy of Christmas Eve:

Christmas Eve–
the hum of power lines
just pass the mall
… by Alice FramptonNew Resonance 3; beyond spring rain
Christmas eve
the carousel animals
all motionless

Christmas eve
in the courtyard below
a flutter of wings


Christmas eve-
the row of cut trees
no one took home


…. by Pamela Miller Ness – “Christmas eve/trees”: “Modern Haiku” XXIX:2 (Summer 1998)
“Christmas eve/carousel” Modern Haiku XXIX: 2 (Summer 1998)
“Christmas eve/courtyard” – “Can Collector’s Red Socks” (2003)

Christmas eve
in her pajamas all day
the youngest one

…. by Tom Clausen Upstate Dim Sum (2003/1)

silent night, holy night
three
at the bar
… by David G. Lanoue from the novel Haiku Guy
Christmas Eve
my niece old enough to ask
for calamari
.. by dagosan

christmas eve
the starlings begin
to flock together

…. by Matt Morden – Morden Haiku (Dec. 24, 2008)

christmas evening
the goose she raised
all summer

christmas eve…
we yank two ton
from the # 4 mine

christmas…
there ain’t enough coal
to put in the stockings

………………. by ed markowski

December 22, 2008

nudging maternalism beats Nudge‘s paternalism

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,Procrastination Punditry — David Giacalone @ 12:23 pm

.. … from making Christmas happen for her kids . . .

.. to sharing Holidays with Great-grandchildren . .

Mama G. has followed in her mother’s loving footsteps for over half a century, continuing and creating holiday traditions — scraping pennies and dishes; stuffing envelopes and turkeys; embracing changes and children.

Christmas again:
she shops and shops
and chops cardoons

.. by dagosan

The folks at the Sunstein and Thaler Nudge Weblog tried to cure me of my Scroogy holiday procrastination, after I turned in desperation last week to the decision-making principles and “choice architecture” presented in their book “Nudge” (Yale Univ. Press 2008).  Readers at their website suggested a new To Do List and strategically-positioned post-it reminders.  But it’s really only the image of Mama G. that finally got me off my balking backside to get Christmas 2008 into gear.  Her modeling of constant holiday preparation, between work and daily family duties, and her nurturing of the spirit of the season despite fatigue and the greedy neediness of her young offspring, have left me suitably motivated — by admiration and obligation.

Clearly, maternal nudging — that sweet mixture of nature and nurture, example and guilt — represents the Holiday Decision Tree I needed to stop stalling and start spreading holiday cheer.

too tired
to untangle
christmas lights

………… by Roberta Beary 

That’s all I wanted to say, as I dive into a final, long day of holiday preparation before heading tomorrow for Rochester, NY.  I’ll be en-joying Christmas with Mama G. and all the other women in my family who always work so hard to make Christmas and every other major holiday warm and loving (and filling) for generations of their children.  Of course, I’ll also bask in the company of many other relatives (young and old), including all the males who are so well-fed and pampered like the little kids we are at Christmastime.

I’m coming, Mama G., thanks for the gentle nudge into Holiday Spirit.

Christmas Eve calamari
Nana serves
Grandma’s recipes

…. by dagosan

holiday recipes…
I set a haiku
on the backburner

how did Santa know?
a roll of duct tape
in my stocking

…………………. by laryalee fraser

.. postscript: It’s easy to forget that our mothers and grandmothers were once little children with Christmas dreams and disappointments of their own.  A few years ago, my family discovered a family portrait photo of my maternal grandmother, Elisabetta Catino Papagni, with her siblings, circa 1902, when she was still a toddler.  That’s her image, at the start of this postscript.  For the first decades of my life, every Christmas was orchestrated and revolved around Grandma Papagni, and both her absence and love are especially felt this time of year.  Although she might want to do a thing or two a little differently, I know she would be proud of the way her daughters have carried on and passed on both her recipes and her tradition of holiday love and joy.  She always wanted her grandson Davie to “mangia” some more.  I hope I can earn her holiday blessings each year by honoring her wish to refill my plate often, and then to help wash those plates after every lovingly-made meal.

red envelopes
the sound
of children’s laughter

……….. by Yu ChangUpstate Dim Sum 2003/I

p.s. If you’re smuggly finished with all your Holiday Prep, and have spare time for celebrating the Winter Solstice, the f/k/a Gang suggests you treat yourself to viewing the new edition of Haiga Online (Vol. 9-2), where you will find fine examples of the haiga genre (images combined with linked haiku or similar poems), along with this one by dagosan.

Then, if you have additional time to kill, please ponder this seasonal mystery: Where do all the snow shovels go between winters? Why is there always such a big rush for shovels at hardware and home-supply stores after the first major storm each year?

December 18, 2008

the allure of HSA’s “dandelion clocks

Filed under: Book Reviews,Haiku or Senryu — David Giacalone @ 11:16 am

dandelion clocks – Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 2008 (Roberta Beary and Ellen Compton, Editors, 2008; cover)

Like kids of all ages, I’ve always been attracted to the downy white globe of seeds that forms at the top of a dandelion.   We called them dandelion puffs in my Upstate New York hometown, but they’re also known as “dandelion clocks” to people around the world.  They’re used for making wishes, and telling time.  They bring a smile to the lips of young lovers, and a curse to the tongue of many an elderly homeowner, for whom they symbolize a neglected lawn and an enemy guerrilla army fighting an endless war over precious turf.

It was a treat, therefore, to hear that a poem I wrote featuring dandelion clocks was selected by editors Ellen Compton and Roberta Beary for inclusion in this year’s Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology.  It was also a surprising honor to recently learn that the title of this years Anthology would be dandelion clocks.

As we’ve written in prior years, the HSA Members’ Anthology includes one haiku or senryu from every member who submits poems for selection by the volume’s editors (see the guidelines).  This year, 177 members participated in the call for entries in the 2008 Anthology; they come from the USA and ten other countries.  The result is an impressive collection, chosen with care by Beary and Compton, who came to the task as last-minute pinch-hitters, but brought with them the experience gained editing fish in love, the HSA 2006 Members’ Anthology, which won a special 2007 HSA Merit Book Honorable Mention for Anthology.

The Introduction to dandelion clocks is written by HSA President Lenard D. Moore, who says:

. “This collection of haiku indicates the diversity that is prevalent in the twenty-first century. During the fortieth year of the Haiku Society of America, editors Roberta Beary and Ellen Compton perhaps had gender and culture in mind while selecting the best available haiku from members of the Haiku Society of America.  What about identity and its meaning in this rich anthology? How do the poets engage political, social, and cultural dimensions in a technological world?  What subjects are important to the poets in this book in the first decade of the century?  How do these poets transform haiku?  The answers are in the poems, though with stylistic differences. . . “

(more…)

December 16, 2008

we need our traditional pre-holiday nudge

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,q.s. quickies — David Giacalone @ 10:16 pm

Maybe Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler can help . . .

married a decade
she hides
the mistletoe

setting up the creche –
the Baby’s name
uttered over and over

“easy to assemble”
I put it back and
grab a teddybear

nine days ’til Christmas –
the tree and the cat
both shedding

…. from the “not quite the holiday” sequence at dagosan’s haiku diary (Dec. 6, 2007)

.. In a week, I’ve got to head home for Christmas with the Family of Origin.  Like every other year of my adult life, pre-Christmas Scrooge Syndrome has paralyzed me (e.g., 2007 and 2005). Neither the flesh nor the spirit seems willing to work through that ever-growing Holiday To Do List.

I was about to despair, until I saw an article in the new Harvard Law Bulletin: “Intelligent Design: Cass Sunstein shows how ‘choice architecture’ can help people make better decisions” (Fall 2008).  It reminded me that I’ve been meaning since last April to read Sunstein and Thaler’s much-praised book “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” (Yale Univ. Press 2008).  A lifetime of Mama G’s “catholic maternalism” hasn’t helped me get my Holiday Act together, but surely the “libertarian paternalism” extolled in Nudge can lead me out of my annual Yuletime wheel-spinning and teeth-grinding.

wrapping and
packing –
she pastes on a smile

…. by grinchosan

Thaler and Sunstein seem to have me in mind when trying to understand how human beings make choices — and how to “nudge” them into making the best choices (for themselves and society) by better structuring the context in which our choices are made.  According to HLB:, S&T’s “choice architecture . . . acknowledge[s] that many people will take whatever option requires the least effort.”

. . . “Human beings will often consider required choice to be a nuisance or worse, and would much prefer to have a good default,” they write. “And, these tendencies toward doing nothing will be reinforced if the default option comes with some implicit or explicit suggestion that it represents the normal or even the recommended course of action.”

Naturally, I was hoping they’d already have a relevant Holiday Nudge to get me working on that To Do List right now.  But, a quick search at their Nudge weblog turned up nothing specific for turning on (much less sustaining or modeling) holiday spirit — no “holiday decision tree” for working past my punchbowl procrastination and finding seasonal renewal and inspiration.

I did find a link at their weblog to a dozen sample nudges from the book, and I’m planning to read them before heading to bed tonight.  If I sleep on it, I’ll surely wake up as converted as the post-visitation Scrooge.

Just in case that doesn’t work, I picked up a copy of Nudge from the Library today.  It’s almost 300 pages.  If it takes me a couple days to read and absorb Nudge — and construct my own Holiday Choice Architecture — I’ll surely have time to get that To Do List done. Buy those cards and write them on Thursday.  Start shopping Friday afternoon, and wrapping on Saturday.  Get together with my best Schenectady-area Friends on Sunday and Monday.  A bit of panic-packing on Tuesday. And, . . .

By the way, how late is the Post Office open on December 23rd?  And, does Santa have a Default Position?

update (Dec. 17, 2008; 11:30 PM): Thanks to the Nudge Blog for soliciting suggestions and solutions in response to our plea for help.  It remains to be seen whether the Nudge experts and their disciples can solve our chronic Christmas crisis.  As of this update, they’ve only attracted an additional To Do List for me.  Hmmm.

afterwords (Dec. 31, 2008):  As we wrote on December 22, a maternal nudge got us on the road to a happy holiday.   And, see this post for a Boxing Day de-briefing.

first doubts
santa sounds
like Uncle Al

…… by dagosan; photo by Mama G. (1952; larger haiga here)

December 15, 2008

it’s Bill of Rights Day

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,q.s. quickies — David Giacalone @ 12:57 pm

.. As Blawg Review‘s righteous editor reminded us a few days ago, President Bush has declared today to be Bill of Rights Day.  You’ll find the text of the Bill of Rights — the first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution — at the foot of this posting (click more).  The Bill of Rights was ratified by Congress on December 15, 1791.

No matter how ironic it might seem that GW is celebrating the Bill of Rights, I’m happy to say that you can find tributes and reminders of our rights (and our responsibility to work to uphold those rights) across the web, and especially on lawyer weblogs.

  • For example, see Eric Turkewitz’s tribute to John Peter Zenger, who helped establish the right of freedom of the press in Britain’s American colonies. Eric’s post includes an inspiring reference to a shopping mall, Bill of Rights Plaza in Eastchester, NY.

It is no coincidence that our blawging paisan, the oft-irreverent libertarian Prof. Marc Randazza, is hosting Blawg Review #190 today at The Legal Satyricon.  Normally not fans of theme-based Blawg Reviews, the f/k/a Gang (like Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice) is grateful that Marc has focused on each of the ten Amendments, reminding us that (beyond the Biggies that get all the attention) there are several important Rights that rarely get mentioned in the media or in our everyday conversation.  Head over to Blawg Review #190 to find links to recent posting at lawyer weblogs about every one of the Amendments contained in the Bill of Rights.

Fresh from a liberating weekend, during which an ice storm prevented us access to the internet and freed up a bit of time for just lazying around our 4th-Amendment-protected home, the f/k/a Gang doesn’t feel much like heavy pundit-lifting this morning.  So, we’re merely going to praise the Founding Fathers for adding the Bill of Rights:

“in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of [the powers of the federal Government . . . and] best insure the beneficent ends of its institution.”

And, as we have every right to do, we’ll also try again to clear up a misconception that is far-too-prevalent about the First Amendment.  To wit, as we’ve said before:

. The mistaken invocation of the First Amendment against private action is something that every American has heard since birth. [Try living with a teenager and see how often you face such arguments.]  Those who erroneously believe that all Americans have the right to say whatever they want whenever they want come from all walks of life and all ideologies and parties.  . . .  The Bill of Rights limits Government action, not private action. It is basic ignorance of the meaning of the Bill of Rights . . and not some “lex-centric” liberal worldview that causes most Americans to decry private forms of “censorship” as unAmerican.

In the context of weblogs, Walter Olson put this right rather well last week at the new website Secular Right (via SHG):

“Let’s make it clear right now, though, that this is a moderated comments section. It may resemble a very broadminded letters-to-the-editor column; it is not going to resemble a public-access cable channel, graffiti wall, or Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner if I or DH can help it.

“What’s more, it’s moderated for the benefit of this site’s intended audience, bearing in mind that some lines of discussion more quickly become tedious and irrelevant to that audience than others. . . .

“One group we’d be better off without are those who feel that commenting on this site is somehow a matter of right, no matter what the tedium factor, and radiate wounded entitlement when they learn that’s not how it’s going to work. They really would be happier elsewhere.”

Finally, here are some favorite haiku from two Bills who never bring tedium or irrelevance to this website:

early spring
before she can tie it
the balloon escapes

.

in the park
my dog fetches
a better stick

werewolf movie
at the commercial
letting the dog out

prostate exam
the doctor and I
trade jabs

long day
his finger slows
the spinning globe

… by W.F. “Dr. Bill” Owen
“prostate exam” – HSA Brady Contest 2001; The Loose Thread: RMA 2001
“werewolf movie” – HSA Brady Award — Second Place 2001
“early spring”  – Selected poems by w.f. owen
“long day” – Two Autumns Reading (San Francisco, 2003)
“in the park” – Modern Haiku XXXI:3 (2000); A New Resonance 2

November chill–
a barefoot man waits
for the northbound ferry

avalanche warning–
how very still
this winter night

storm clouds roil
across the prairie—
she marks her place

trail’s end—
the taste of wild onion
still sharp on my tongue

… by Billie Wilson . . click for publication credits

(more…)

December 7, 2008

snowman historian blows into schenectady

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,Schenectady Synecdoche — David Giacalone @ 7:28 pm

. . Bob Eckstein’s Book Presentation and Signing, Schenectady, NY . .

schenectady snowman —
bob’s book balanced
on his belly

… by dagosan (Dec. 7, 2008, for Bob Eckstein)

As we predicted last week in our post “SnowmanCity, NY“, Bob Eckstein spent a windy Sunday afternoon n Schenectady, today, for a presentation of his book “The History of the Snowman: From the Ice Age to the Flea Market” (2007), at our Central Library and a book signing at The Open Door Bookstore.   There was just a tiny crowd at the Library — only seven people other than myself, Laura Lee Linder (who helped Bob research the tale of snowmen who witnessed the 1690 Schenectady Massacre), and a representative from the Open Door.  But, we enjoyed a thirty-minute display of rare photos and historic images of snowmen — including a surprising array of magazine covers (from children’s weeklies to Playboy).  As a good author would, however, Bob failed to answer his mystery question of Who Made the First Snowman, leaving that for those who read the book.

Bob did, however, help us understand how ubiquitous snowmen have been across cultures and centuries.  In Part III of f/k/a‘s series on snowmen, we stated: “As demonstrated on our lawns, and in cartoons, comic strips, and movies, Americans have long imbued their snowmen with the same frailties, foibles and fate as humans.” Bob’s book shows that virtually every culture with snow (and perhaps a few in the tropics), have done the same thing.

The presentation inspired audience members to brave strong winds for the two-block walk from the Library to The Open Door bookstore, to purchase The History of the Snowman and have Bob autograph the book (and schmooze a bit).  They were joined by a constant stream of autograph-seekers, including the Open Door staff, who are big fans of the book.

I’m sitting here sipping coffee from my “fun and attractive” History of the Snowman Mug (thanks, Bob!), which is also available from his website, Today’s Snowman, the only online magazine devoted solely to Snowman News.

small sad face
in the puddle –
last weekend’s snowman

…………….. by david giacalone – Simply Haiku V4N3; a procession of ripples anthology (p. 18)

a little dizzy
after chemo — replacing
the snowman’s head

………………… by dagosan

You find more commentary from the f/k/a Gang and more snowmen haiku and senryu, in Part I “snowman (r)evolution”, Part II, and Part III “snobesity”, of our series on snowmen.  If you need more encouragement to seek out Bob’s book for yourself or for holiday presents, see a sneek peek and a chapter-by-chapter pictorial YouTube Preview.

winter fog
i stub my toe
on the snowman

below zero…
sparrows peck
the snowman’s nose

………… by ed markowski

“below zero” – Simply Haiku (Summer 2006, vol. 4 no. 2)

December 6, 2008

encore: holiday haiku from Schenectady

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,Schenectady Synecdoche — David Giacalone @ 4:46 pm

a holiday haiku stocking-stuffer from Schenectady . . .

Stockade Christmas Tree at Lawrence Circle - Dec2009

– 2009 Schenectady Stockade Christmas Tree –

Schenectady, NY, a haiku hotbed? It surprised me, too, when I first realized that two highly-respected haiku poets –- Hilary Tann and Yu Chang — were professors at Union College, right down the street from my home in Schenectady’s Stockade Historic District. We each came to Schenectady years ago from distance places — Yu from Taiwan, Hilary from South Wales and myself from an exotic place called Washington, D.C.

Hilary and Yu readily said yes, when I asked them a year ago to help me compile a holiday collection of “real” haiku and senryu as our Holiday Gift to f/k/a‘s readers and our “neighbors” in Schenectady and around the world.

The result was “Holiday Haiku from Schenectady” (pdf.) which has two dozen poems by the three of us, and which is formatted to be printed on two sides of a letter-size sheet and made into a tri-fold brochure.

Here are the poems for those who would rather scroll than click.  No matter which holidays you celebrate during this month of special days, may they be joyous for you and all your loved ones.

.. ..

wintry mix
we make a snow buddha
for Santa

– dag

[orig. haiga]

December rain
a starlet
sheds her tears

parting clouds
she checks the Christmas lights
one by one

red envelopes
the sound
of children’s laughter

three generations
peering down a gopher hole
winter solstice

Christmas snow
my father’s footsteps
bigger than mine

………… by Yu Chang

red bows decorate
the ‘Closed for the Season’
sign

Christmas Eve
we share the same
wrapping paper

replacing
the paperweight –
another snowstorm

Christmas service
the old carols
with no back-beat

sitting
where I sat as a child
I wait out the storm

Christmas lights
my eye is drawn
to the house with none

………………. by Hilary Tann

2009 Stockade Christmas Tree with Lawrence the Indian - Schenectady NY

setting up the creche –
the Baby’s name
uttered over and over

married a decade
she hides
the mistletoe

Nana serves
Grandma’s recipes –
Christmas Eve calamari

warm yule
the ice-fishing hole
mostly hole

empty cookie tin —
letting out last year’s
santa suit

frontdoor
to curb —
pine needles and tinsel

……………………….. by David Giacalone

New Year’s eve
a balloon
tied to an empty chair

new year’s day
a squirrel emerges
from the dumpster

……………………….. yc

twelfth night
a trail of pine needles
down the garden path

ht

Boxing Day drizzle —
the inflatable snowman
keeps smiling

gray sky
all the way home
from grandma’s house

New Year’s Eve
sleet and snow–
the old man takes baby steps

……………. dag

…. from the brochure “Holiday Haiku from Schenectady

– click for more Christmas Season Haiku by f/k/a‘s Honored Guest Poets –

– find Schenectady holiday spirit in the Gazette gallery of Stockade Doors


Arianna, a “blog post” is not a “blog”

Filed under: Haiku or Senryu,Procrastination Punditry — David Giacalone @ 11:05 am


. . . another pet peeve . . .

It’s bad enough that the f/k/a Gang lost our fight to ban the word “blog” as a substitute for “weblog,” as well as the battle to keep that ugly little word from being used as a verb.  Having no quioxtic need to smack our heads against walls or windmills, we’ve stop campaigning against the use of the term “blog” in those contexts, and have merely settled for avoiding it in our own writing as much as possible.  But, we’ve noticed lately that the sad, tiny verbal mutation is being utilized more and more by people who are talking about a “post” or “posting” or “blurb” or “piece” or “article” or “column” that has been written and put up [“posted”] on a weblog.

A high-profile example of that linguistic malpractice and “verbal abuse” two nights ago, by the omnipresent and nearly omnipotent Queen of Bloggers Herself, has provoked today’s plea that the practice be ended now. To wit:

On December 4, 2008, Charlie Rose interviewed Arianna Huffington, in conjunction with her new book “The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging” (Simon & Schuster, by The editors of the Huffington Post, December 2, 2008, Paperback).  Although I always find Arianna Huffington‘s visits on Charlie’s show and at other television forums interesting, I have no idea who will find her slim volume on blogging worth the time or the asking price. (It is, in fact, doubled in size to its 240 pages by quite a few fattening appendices of slight value to the weblog neophyte.)  Nonetheless, she is looked to as an authority on “blogging” and thought of as a wordsmith.  So, I was annoyed to hear Ms. Huffington, more than once, using “blog” as a noun meaning the individual piece of writing that is posted in reverse chronological order, with its own permalink, and set of reader comments, on a weblog.

For example, when Charlie asked Arianna to explain what a link is, she replied “it means that I’ll write a blog — I wrote a blog about the book” and used a hyperlink . . . . .

That is simply not an acceptable use of the word “blog.”  For example, people using printing presses did not say they were producing a “press” instead of a book, article or pamphlet (and thankfully never said they were “pressing” when producing their product).  Likewise, a story or piece appearing in a newspaper is called an article, not a newspaper; and an entertainment or news episode appearing on a television is called a show, not a tv.   Turning “blog” into a synecdoche meaning any part of a weblog is a confusing and grating verbal practice.  And, we respectfully ask Arianna — especially as a leading advocate for bloggging — to stop doing it.

The Glossary in “The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging” correctly offers these definitions, which suggest the writers can distinquish a blog from a post:

blogger — someone who writes blog posts.

blogging – writing a blog post.

But, it gives this rather ambiguous definition of the word “blog,” which could indeed be talking about a blog post, and which could use some editing:

blog –  derived from the term “web-log”: regularly updated account of events on a website, commonly listed in reverse chronological order.

Enough said (and enough time spent putting off further writing on excessive legal fees).  I’ll leave you with a true anecdote about the pervasiveness of the word “blog”, which happened less than 12 hours after hearing Arianna on the Charlie Rose Show:

While explaining to a group of strangers that I’ve spent quite a bit of my time the past few years working on my weblogs, a young women asked “what’s that, does that have something to do with a website?”   When I replied that a weblog is a blog, she indicated she now understood, but said — and the others in attendance seemed to agree — that she had no idea the word blog was derived from “web-log.”

Naturally, I then threw in a short version of my sermon against the word “blog”, saying that I try to stay with “weblog” as much as possible.  I added, of course, that Peter Merholz [who first created the term “blog” by shifting the syllabic break in “web-log” to “we-blog”] said he was just being silly and liked the fact that “it’s roughly onomatopoeic of vomiting.”

If you are a regular reader wondering where the haiku is today, here are a few before I go, starting with Ed Markowski and then a trio from the newest issue of The Heron’s Nest:

cobwebs sway
where the mistletoe hung…
lent begins

….. by ed markowski

jasmine in bloom —
termites swarm
from their nest

stump speech —
this black and white butterfly
in none of the field guides

…. by Carolyn Hall – The Heron’s Nest (Vol. X, No. 4, December 2008)

a still, starry night —
train tracks
wet with dew

…. by Michael Dylan Welch – The Heron’s Nest (Vol. X, No. 4, December 2008)

breakfast alone
except for that cricket
behind the fridge

… by David Giacalone – The Heron’s Nest (Vol. X, No. 4, December 2008)

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