Uptight Lit-Bloggers

When ULAers remark among ourselves about lit-bloggers, we do so with amusement, because most of them are extremely uptight and completely transparent. They've never figured out what to make of us!

The outrage they felt when I pointed out Harper's plagiarism transgressions! How dare I! (We now see Viswanathan's book deal cancelled for similar behavior.)

Standard Operating Procedure is for lit-bloggers to ignore us-- even when we're the proverbial elephant in the room. This strategy abandoned of course if they believe they have a chance to embarrass us, as during the recent minor "Nasdiij" scandal.

Radosh suddenly noticing (and attacking) us! Ed Rants challenging the ULA to be interviewed on the topic!

I posted a well-reasoned response on the Radosh blog. (Radosh to himself: "What do I say now?") He replied with nothing more than a quick insult. Meanwhile, Ed vanished, said interview forgotten, my e-mails brushed-off.

S.O.P.

Why do i bring this up? Only because I'm amused by the "Ginsberg's House" blogger (link at www.literaryrevolution.com) who wrote a post about our Howl event, of course without naming us. (Even though Phillip Lopate scornfully read out our full name in the hall.) "KD"'s not about to lose her lit-blogger badge!

Funny thing is that I remember KD running up to me wide-eyed during intermission-- after I'd been put back into my seat-- looking very much like a regimented legal type but so excited she was creaming her pants. "Why aren't you attacking plutocrats instead?" she asked in a fake-educated snobby voice.

"There's one onstage," I pointed out. (Expression on her face: "Golly gee-- what do I say now?")

The topic of the event was literature, after all-- not the behavior of the Federal Reserve.

It's amusing the way people like KD and Rachel Aviv embrace the Beats from a fifty-year safe distance-- when if they were around in 1955 they'd have nothing to do with unruly characters like Kerouac, Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and Company.

At least both were in attendance and participated in one of the most exciting literary events ever. It gives them a touch of relevance. If KD wanted to make her blog more relevant she'd be covering the underground writers of NOW.

(p.s. Before scampering back to her seat KD did finally come up with a kind of goofy response about it being better having Moody exploiting the literary world instead of the Third World, which has a kind of very rough but idiotic logic to it. By then I was arguing with other members of the audience. The event was tumultuous.)