Category: Emilydickinson - The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum

"Publish or Perish" and Beyond

8/3/2014

In 1862, the body of Dr. Maxie Olive Hyll, the Postdoctoral Fellow and Instructor in Neurocience at Smith College, was found outside her home in Amherst, Massachusetts, “riddled with bullets.” Although the murderer was never apprehended, the investigation uncovered that Dr. Hyll was killed due to a brutal practice in academia known as “publish or perish.” Dr. Hyll had not published any of her research in over five semesters.

Two days after the murder of Maxie Hyll, Emily Dickinson wrote the poem “Because I could not stop for Death.”

Nothing from the investigation into Dr. Hyll’s death and nothing from any and all examinations of the case since that time suggests that Emily Dickinson had anything to do with the homicide. However, studies do reveal that the Dickinson family was deeply entrenched in the vicious traditions of “publish or perish” and the rise to power of the Five Families in the publishing industry.

Throughout the month of July 2014, the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard) hosted a special exhibit on the history of “Publish or Perish,” thanks in great part to Jim Asher, the world’s leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) and the webmaster and Chief Global Implementation and Infrastructure Coordinator for the museum.

However, Asher’s in-depth study of the horrifying customs and practices associated with “publish or perish” was met with aggressive and frightening communications from the publishing “families.” As a result, Jim Asher has now had to enter the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.

The transition into the FWPP will not be easy for Mr. Asher as he is George Clooney's doppelganger. As he likes to put it, "I don't look like George Clooney. George Clooney looks like me."

Of course, we stand by our research and thorough examination of the brutalities of "Publish or Perish" in the world of academia. Everything we have posted is the truth, but it is information that the powerhouses of publishing do not want the public to know. Still, we will persevere in these anxious times and continue to publish the truth -- and through it all we will strive to live our lives as normally as possible.

Rhyme ~ or Reason?

3/2/2014

Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) was a great inspiration to his third cousin. He is the very reason she began writing poetry. She referred to him often as "Master."

Dickinson (Emmett Lee, that is) was certainly flattered -- though research indicates he thought her poetry was "without proper control," especially when it came to rhyme.

In his poem "Reflect on Rhyme, with kindly ears," he makes reference to his third cousin's failed attempts at rhyme in many of her poems.

In 'Hope' is the thing with feathers," Emily Dickinson rhymed "soul" with "all." In "I'll tell you how the sun rose," she rhymed "time" with "ran." In "The soul selects her own society," she paired "one" with "stone" and "gate" with "mat." There are countless other examples of slant or lazy rhymes (including all of the examples shown in the picture above).

In Emmett Lee Dickinson's tribute to Emily's botched attempts at rhyme, he very cleverly poked fun at her by rhyming "best" with "missed":

Reflect on Rhyme, with kindly ears –
She doubtless did her best –
Still softly rings her warbling tone
Though Echoes might be missed –

His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen "Look back on Time, with kindly eyes":

Look back on Time, with kindly eyes –
He doubtless did his best –
How softly sinks that trembling sun
In Human Nature’s West –

Interestingly enough, Emily Dickinson originally ended her poem with "In Human Nature's east" -- until Emmett Lee Dickinson pointed out to her that she could use "west" to rhyme with "best" in the second line of the poem.

The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth

1/24/2014

As we move further into the 21st century and the Age of Information, it is becoming increasingly important for teachers to teach students about information literacy and website reliability. Students need to develop a critical eye for differentiating between reliable and unreliable websites, and they need to develop skills on how to evaluate the accuracy of website content.

With that in mind, the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard) would like to offer our website as a model for teaching students about truth and accuracy on the internet. Our research on the life and poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) has been thoroughly studied and carefully assessed before any and all information is posted on our site.

We have also received the Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence by the President’s Commission for Internet Veracity and Online Quality, and we have won numerous Webby Awards.

Our commitment to presenting the truth about Emmett Lee Dickinson can be summed up in a poem he wrote well over a century ago, “Facts on our site are always valid.” Not only was Dickinson a visionary, but he was and continues to be an inspiration to many. His poem, shown below on the right, inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem shown on the left.

By Emily Dickinson:

Facts by our side are never sudden
Until they look around
And then they scare us like a spectre
Protruding from the Ground –

The height of our portentous Neighbor
We never know –
Till summoned to his recognition
By an Adieu –

Adieu for whence
The sage cannot conjecture
The bravest die
As ignorant of their resumption
As you or I –

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Facts on our site are always valid
So please do look around
And when you find you’re circumspect
Refuting some Account –

Look high and low o’er all our Labor
And you will know –
’Tis no need for any suspicion
For it's all True –

All True and thence
The sage can surely venture
Throughout our site
With knowledge each fact and assumption
Is True and right –

Pictured at the left: Headquarters for the President's Commission for Internet Veracity and Online Quality in Washington, DC, which awarded our website the Blue Ribbon for Excellence.

Snow Day

1/22/2014

I haven't plogged much lately -- I've just been too busy; but now I have a little free time, and do you do know why? Snow -- and Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).

"Why free time because of snow and Emmett Lee Dickinson?" you ask. Because it snowed and schools are closed (hence the time to plog), and it was Emmett Lee Dickinson who invented "snow days" (yes -- he was the very first to suggest that schools close due to inclement weather).

Dickinson even wrote about snow days in his now-classic poem, "The longest wait that God appoints" (which inspired third cousin Emily to write her poem, "The longest day that God appoints"). Both poems are shown below:

By Emily Dickinson:

The longest day that God appoints
Will finish with the sun.
Anguish can travel to its stake,
And then it must return.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

The longest wait that God appoints
Starts after it has snowed.
Anguish as we hold our breath
To learn if schools are closed.

To this day, when radio and television stations announce school closings due to snow, children give three cheers for Emmett Lee Dickinson -- even in Alaska where the Eskimos have twenty-six different words for "snow," but just one phrase for "school's closed!"

1991 1993 1911 9191

10/27/2013

I just realized that I'm late with posting the #1 entry on my "Top Ten References to Nature by Emily Dickinson," which I posted on my Tumblr account back in September.  I posted my list's "numero-uno" on September 24th -- and now it's October 27th -- and I never posted a link to my final entry for the visitors to this site. Oops! I'll take care of that in just a minute!

In my top entry for my "Top Ten" list, I discuss how I use the poem in lessons with students -- so before I post the link, I thought I'd offer a very quick and easy activity to use with students if you are a teacher of poetry -- and this activity happens to use numbers.

Here's what you do:

1. Write the following four numbers on the board: 1991, 1993, 1911, and 9191.

2. Tell the students that ONE of the four numbers does not belong -- and then ask for volunteers to explain which number does not belong.

3. Students might start with any of the four numbers, but someone might say "1993." Ask WHY? The student will say that 1993 has a "3" in it, and none of the other numbers has a three. Underline 1993.

1991   1993   1911   9191

4. Then ask if there are any other answers. One student might say 9191. Ask WHY? It's likely the student will say that the other numbers are past years -- but 9191 isn't a year (at least not yet). Underline 9191. (NOTE: The student might say that all the other numbers start with a "1," but 9191 starts with a "9.")

1991   1993   1911   9191

5. Then ask if there is another "correct" answer. One student might say 1911. Ask WHY? It's likely the student will note that 1911 has a "1" in the 10's place -- while the other three numbers have a "9" in the 10's place. Underline 1911

1991   1993   1911   9191

6. Finally, ask if there is another "correct" answer. Someone will volunteer that 1991 is the "right" answer because it is the only number of the four that is not underlined.

With this activity, you can discuss how EVERY number is the RIGHT answer -- as long as students can explain the "WHY" behind their thinking. Then you can continue with your unit of poetry. If/when you ask, "What do you think the poet meant?" students can offer a variety of answers, as long as they can support their answers with the "WHY."

Perhaps as you continue your unit on poetry, you will use the poem I listed as #1 on my "Top Ten References to Nature by Emily Dickinson." You'll find it HERE.

The All Too Frequent "Frequently"

9/22/2013

Happy first day of fall 2013, and the first day of fall brought to mind the following poem by Emily Dickinson:

Frequently the woods are pink --
Frequently are brown.
Frequently the hills undress
Behind my native town.
Oft a head is crested
I was wont to see --
And as oft a cranny
Where it used to be --
And the Earth — they tell me --
On it's axis turned!
Wonderful Rotation!
By but twelve performed!

Yes, the twelve performers turn all too quickly, and the older I get, the frequent rotations seem to come all the more frequently.

I remember as a kid I would think about how old I'd be when the Earth's axis would turn to mark the year 2000 -- and now it's 2013, soon to be 2014! I can barely believe that I have another birthday coming up -- in a little less than two weeks. That fact calls to mind a poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request):

Frequently my eyes are pink –
Frequently are red.
Frequently my mood is gray
At times my stride is lead.
Oft my head’s congested
My eyes wont to see –
And oft there is an aching
Where none used to be –
And my Girth – I tell you –
On its Axis turns!
Woeful Maturation!
By the years – I’m worn!

Even though time is constant, it sure doesn't feel that way. Instead, it seems as though time is spinning, spinning and spinning out of control -- and I'm gettig a bit too dizzy by the pace!

Isn't there a bumper sticker out there somewhere that states something like, "Everything is changing -- and it's all happening right on time"? I'm not sure I have that right -- but at this time of year, I know that everything is changing "autumn-atically"! (Ba-dump-bump!)

Anyway, happy birthday to me (soon enough) -- and happy fall to you!

BTW: I blogged about "Frequently the woods are pink" HERE. Check it out! : )

A Fresh Slant

9/17/2013

I attended an event recently at UVA's Fralin Museum about a literary competition called "Writer's Eye." The challenge is open to youth, high school and university students, and adults. Contestants are to submit poems or prose inspired by selected works of art in the museum.

A past judge of the competition spoke on the importance for writers to use "fresh" similes and metaphors -- and that's not an easy thing to do! She had the audience try -- for instance, give an example of how "sadness" sounds -- and it wasn't easy!

I mention this because I've been plogging (poetry blogging) lately about my "Top Ten References to Nature by Emily Dickinson," and a particular simile of Dickinson's landed a poem in the #2 slot on my list. Let's just say that the comparison was in fact a "fresh" simile -- or should I say, I "fresh" slant? The post about the poem is HERE.

I'll post #1 on my "Top Ten" list soon.

When Is A Satellite A "Sad"ellite?

7/20/2013

Yesterday I posted a PLOG (poetry log) entry about the "saddest line in all of poetry." Did you read it? Were you "sad"isfied? As a school administrator (I'm the principal of a middle school), I thought it was more sadder than saddest. If you didn't get a chance to read it, take a look HERE.

So I have another sad post today. After all, it is "Sad"urday. It's about satellites -- or perhaps, "sad"ellites? You can take a look and decide for yourself. The post is HERE.

Dont' fret, though. The post isn't completely "sad"urnine! There's an uplifting quote from Emily Dickinson at the end. We can turn that frown upside down, change that "sad"ellite to a "glad"ellite, and make this "sad"urday a "glad"urday!

One-Mississippi. Time's up.

7/12/2013

You have thirty seconds to name every song title you can think of that includes the word "Time." Are you ready? Go!

One-Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi...have you come up with any yet?

"Summertime" by George Gershwin., of course. And "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. Nine-Mississippi, ten Mississippi. Any more? Whant about "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper, and "Time Is on My Side" by the Rolling Stones.

Fourteen Mississippi, fifteen Mississippi. C'mon now, there are more. Lots more. What's the song from Casablanca? Oh yeah -- "As Time Goes By." Twenty-one Mississippi -- and there are more with the word "summertime" -- like "In the Summertime" -- that song by Mongo Jerry -- and "Summertime Blues." Twenty-nine Mississippi, thirty Mississippi. Times up!

Of course, there are many more songs with "time" in the title. You'll think of more.

And speaking (or singing?) of "time," I recently posted my "Top Ten References to Time by Emily Dickinson" on Tumblr, and I included links to 10 through 7 on my list in one PLOG post on this site, and I included links from 6 though 3 in another PLOG post. However, I never inlcuded links to my top two references to "time" by Emily Dickinson here -- so here they are:

Number 2: Click HERE.

Number 1: Click HERE.

But just like the fact that there are many other songs with the word "time" in their titles, there are many other poems of Dickinson's which reference time. Do you have favorites that I didn't mention in my Top Ten list? If so, let me know -- when you have the time.

Time's Up. Or Is It Down? (At Least It's All Around?)

7/1/2013

I keep PLOGging on about “Time”:

I always thought it was Steven Wright who said, “Time keeps everything from happening all at once.” Turns out it was French philosopher Henri Bergson – at least according to Physics Hypertextbook at http://physics.info/  (and if it’s on the Internet, it must be true – just like all of the information herein at http://thedickinson.net is true about Emmett Lee Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request).

Time is certainly a funny thing. Paradoxical really.  For example, if time stretches infinitely into the future, and there is
no end, then doesn’t it also stretch infinitely into the past – and there was no beginning?

Emily Dickinson wrote…

Forever  – is composed of Nows –
‘Tis not a different time –
Except for Infiniteness –
And Latitude of Home –

Of course, “Forever” is also composed of “Thens.”

That’s a quirky thing about time: at the very instant when “today” becomes “tomorrow,” “today” also becomes
“yesterday.” In truth, the very instant every “now” becomes the future, the very same “now”becomes the past.

Time is quite stable that way. And unstable?

In a letter to her cousin Louise Norcross, Emily Dickinson wrote, “for what is each instant but a gun, harmless because ‘unloaded,’ but that touched ‘goes off’?”

Talk about volatility! Every instant of “now” eliminates the present time to the past as it reveals (and consumes) the future.

Dickinson understood this fickle nature of time. In a letter to a friend in 1845, she wrote somewhat facetiously, “Have you altered any since I have seen you? Isn’t it a funny question for one friend to ask another? I haven’t altered any….” Instead, Dickinson would have agreed most certainly with Lewis Carroll who, in a line from Alice in Wonderland, said, “I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”

I can’t go back to yesterday, so today I just keep PLOGGIng along. PLOGging right along about “Time”: I have been posting my “Top Ten References to Time by Emily Dickinson.”  In my most recent post (dated 06/30/2013), I included links to my numbers 10, through 7. Here are links to numbers 6 through 3 on my list:

Number 6: Click HERE.

Number 5: Click HERE.

Number 4: Click HERE.

Number 3: Click HERE.

Check back later for my Two 2 references to Time by Emily Dickinson -- I'll post them when I find the time.

Talk about paradoxes, Julian Barbour, a British physicist with research interests in quantum gravity and the history of science, stated, “We shall come to see that time does not exist.” George Musser concurred -- sort of? He wrote an article for “Scientific American” entitled, “The Paradox of Time: Why It Can’t Stop, but Must.” A preview of his article is HERE.

I’ll stop for now. Time’s up.

(Or is it down?)