Community, Awaiting Moderation, & Why I Heart Truong Tran

in some ways, many of the posts from the current cohort of Harriet bloggers is about community: reading series, the commons, literary magazines, criticism, ethnic and gender organizations, humans and nature, academia. even Harriet itself is a kind of community blog.

as i mentioned in a previous comment field, there is always a dark side to community formation, always an exclusion, always the haunting of what a particular community will not embrace.

this dark side is rearing its ugly head again...

at the digital emunction group blog, folks are up in arms!

kent johnson writes:

One of the liveli­est, most inter­est­ing dis­cus­sions to take place at Har­riet in some time unfolds under _________ post on __________. I par­tic­i­pate in that quite actively, call­ing some rather ugly things out, though always with decent polite­ness and, I dare say, good humor. One of the topics bandied about there has been “policing of boundaries” in the “post-avant” sphere. I’ve just been told that all my com­ments will be held until fur­ther notice. Ah, creamy ironies of our poetic climes…

John Latta writes:

Post’d about fif­teen min­utes back to Har­riet, under the ________ thread: “Public ques­tion: why have Henry Gould and Kent John­son been put on mod­er­a­tion status for their con­tri­bu­tions to this thread?” In my cyber house, said post just sits there with: “Your com­ment is await­ing moderation” smirk­ing above it. Harriet’s a purga­tive.

another john writes:

I’ve been put on mod­er­a­tion at Har­riet too! And it came . . . with no notice, after I’d posted a reply to _______. Except by the time my com­ment went up, ______'s com­ment had dis­ap­peared, which made my com­ment non­sense — I was talk­ing to some­one who wasn’t there — a ghost! And so I imme­di­ately posted a reply to my com­ment, explain­ing what hap­pened — and that reply, explain­ing my embar­rass­ment, has been in mod­er­a­tion limbo! Speak­ing of edit­ing: the phrase should be, “Your com­ment is await­ing review by the moderator”; there was noth­ing immod­er­ate about my com­ment.

henry gould also:

They do seem to be having sort of a melt­down over at Har­riet. I gauge it as less high-​handedness & more an iden­ti­fi­ca­tion with [Harriet's] basic atti­tude. [Harriet] seems like a nice person who has a gen­uine anxiety-​aversion to intense verbal debate & dis­agree­ment on mat­ters of prin­ci­ple. It’s viewed as inher­ently “negative”, rather than a battle of 2 pos­i­tives. It endan­gers the pro­jected Har­riet audi­ence of poetry-​loving little-furry-animal-loving veg­e­tar­i­ans. The next step we will prob­a­bly see is a notice saying “this com­ment thread has been closed.”

and if you think Harriet only moderates men, here's what 'rachel' wrote:

I tried to post a com­ment on Har­riet this evening in the trans­la­tion thread and received a reply saying my com­ment is being held for mod­er­a­tion. I guess I am one of the aggres­sive, non-​male respon­ders referred to in ______’s updated ini­tial post to the thread. Wow. I wrote to [Harriet] and told [her] I with­drew my com­ment. Even before I stopped by here and learned some of you are also being mod­er­ated, I knew my com­ment wasn’t going to see the light of day.

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ah, community. personally, i've been enjoying the lively debate here on Harriet & the occassional sarcasm, and the fine combing of what 'ad hominen' means. so i DEMAND that the 'awaiting moderation' stigma be lifted on henry, the two johns, kent, and rachel (tho you can keep the 'awaiting moderation' on michael robbins because he's always teasing me)!

TO SHOW MY SOLIDARITY, I AM GOING ON A BLOG STRIKE. I REFUSE TO POST HERE AGAIN UNTIL THE 'AWAITING MODERSATION' IS LIFTED FROM THESE GREAT MINDS! I AM ALSO STARTING A FACEBOOK PETITION!

Questions: who's with me? why is harriet trying to stifle community? is harriet truly a community of bloggers? is travis a fascist? what can we, as a community, do to create productive dialogue here?

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in a recent blogpost, johannes goransson wrote:

I've blogged a bit about my troubles with the valorization of "the community" in a lot of American poetry discussions. This strain of thought is perhaps most extensively expressed in my mentor Jed Rasula's book American Poetry Wax Museum, which I think captures the essence of the pro-"community" rhetoric: the wax museum is fake, kitsch, "vocal prosthesis" (that phrase I think is about Plath); while the community is real, real interactions, real men and real women making real natural children.

obviously, this a simplification of 'pro-community rhetoric,' but i want to end this post with a valorization of community.

this past friday, i had the pleasure of attending the first solo art exhibition of the poet truong tran (his art website is here).

i heart truong tran because he was an important mentor to me during my mfa. he was also my first ethnic creative writing teacher. he also taught me how to take risks, in terms of exploring the relationship between ethnic identity & aesthetics. after i graduated, he continued to support my development as a poet & a publisher.

truong is well known in the bay area: he has taught at the university of san francisco, mills college, and san francisco state university--as well as the community organization kearny street workshops.

i was so inspired attending his art show because so many writers whose lives he affected in positive ways showed up. young poets from diverse parts of the bay area writing community (from all the dif programs) came through. former students drove hours to support his work. one former student flew all the way from new york city to be there; she said she wouldnt miss it for the world.

i carpooled to the gallery with poets oscar bermeo and barbara jane reyes, and after we left the gallery show (must have been 100-200 people who came through) we talked about how important truong was to all of us, how generous he has always been, how he's created such a strong sense of community for so many of us.

thank you, truong.

Questions: do you heart truong tran? have there been any poets in your life that have taught you about community? who has been an important mentor to you as a poet? for the poets of color out there, did you have a similar experience the first time you were taught by another poet of color?

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some pics from the art show: