Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The David Haglund Watch

DAY SIX.

On May 7th I posted a remark on PEN staffer David Haglund's officially-approved PEN America blog
(www.penamerica.blogspot.com ).
A few days later I posted a follow-up. It's now Day 6 and I've received no response. I'm curious to see how long it'll take before he answers my comments, if he does. (PEN itself, of course, has been stonewalling the "Petition to PEN" matter for much longer.)

PEN is beginning to resemble a comedy routine.

PEN PODS?
The last several days I've posted comments on five blogs run by PEN members, which are attached to PEN's main site (www.pen.org), on the topic of PEN's half-a-million dollar World Voices Festival. Like Haglund, not one of the five PEN persons has yet dared reply to my comments. PEN is appearing more and more like a cult. My essay, "End of the Pods," at www.happyamericaliterature.blogspot.com a while back may have been right.

I envision Haglund and the five PEN bloggers sitting in a room like plants waiting for someone to tell them to do something. Obviously they need permission.

It could be they're just not allowed to communicate in any way with non-PEN writers. The price of PEN membership? But what happens if they meet a non-PEN writer on the street? What then?

Think of the dilemma. Do they scamper across the street to avoid the person? Do they run in the other direction? Do they look for an open manhole? Do they throw themselves to the ground yelling "Mayday! Mayday!"

It's not easy being a PEN member.
www.penpetition.blogspot.com

3 comments:

King Wenclas said...

A prediction: A renewed attempt will be made to destroy the messenger. A furious attempt is likely being made right now to pore over everything I've ever said, searching for ways to discredit the whistleblower. Would that as much energy were expended investigating outfits like PEN.

King Wenclas said...

p.s. The five PEN blogs I posted on (I assume my remarks are still there) were Elise Blackwell's, Shaun Randol's, Robert Flynn's (on "What's Taboo"), Masha Hamilton's, and Anderbo.com.

King Wenclas said...

Day Seven and no sign of Mr. Haglund, thougb long-time antagonist "Harland" has weighed in. This individual, who I've speculated as anyone from Tom Bissell to Rick Moody (or someone similar; Daniel Handler has already been outed posted anonymously on this blog) seems to be doing the talking and decision-making for the PEN folks-- which is pretty sad when you think about it. This pretty well blows away PEN's credibility as to
A.) their independence;
B.) their support of freedom of expression, dissent, et.al.
The longer the stonewalling continues, the worse PEN looks.
Mr. Roberts seems to be determined to go down with the ship. Does this make any sense?
The main question now: who is telling the entire PEN staff, and apparently their membership (at least their bloggers) to ignore this issue? WHO has imposed the wall of silence?
Can ANY of these people think for themselves?
What's the rationale?
Has someone indeed destroyed (the reputation of) the messenger?
Well, yes, they wrote most of my wiki entry, for instance, which downplays my role as a whistleblower-- but still, does not the individual integrity of each of these writers count for anything to them?
How do they get around the stonewalling? This is circulating through google and elsewhere, ya know.
I don't get it. It's a strategy of disaster. Thanks to "Harland," they've maneuvered themselves into a box. . . .