Category: Enough

Near Enough

4/3/2018

A delegation from the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum and the Dickinson Organization Poetry Enthusiasts went to the "March for Our Lives" on March 24th, and though we were near enough to the stage, we were far enough that we had to watch the jumbo-tron to see the program. The main stage was at 3rd and Pennsylvania Avenue, and we found space (among close to a million people) at 6th and Pennsylvania.

From the opening notes of "Rise Up" sung by Andra Day to the final good-byes, the entire program was very meaningful and extremely moving. Each and every speaker -- ranging from nine-year-olds to nineteen-year-olds -- was effective, eloquent, and real -- and as evidenced by the vicious and sickening attacks on them by the NRA, the conservative press, and the 2A trolls, it is clear that these young people are making a difference.

Check out many of our pictures from the event below. On the left: The main stage was very near the Newseum with the first amendment displayed on the exterior of the building.

Below left and right: Donald Trump fled Washington in fear for Nightmar-a-lago for the weekend. However, before he left, and and bro-friend Vlad Putin installed an Impenetrable Cyber Security Unit outside the National Gallery of Art -- near the main stage of the March for Our Lives -- so they could monitor the event and the speeches (click the images to enlarge).

Below: The main stage was in the shadow of the Capitol at the intersection of 3rd and Pennsylvania Avenue. The area nearest the stage was full when we arrived, so we planted ourselves at 6th and Pennsylvania.

Below: Of course, one of the most emotional moments of the event came when Emma Gonzalez spoke and stood in silence for six minutes and twenty seconds -- the length of time the mass murderer roamed the halls of her school.

Read more of our coverage about the "March for Our Lives" by clicking on "Enough" in our plog (poetry blog) archive (on the right).

A few miscellaneous shots: Above: To get to Pennsylvania Ave, we walked passed many of the offices of NRA-owned GOP senators and congressmen (shown to the left in the photo). Below left: Fortunately, event planners thought ahead to include an Emergency Egress Lane. Below right: We were pleased to find that there were poets nearby -- working as busboys.

November 2018: Vote Them Out.

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The Body Politic

3/26/2018

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From our current affairs editor Lemuel Stewart III:

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt sang “The Story of Tonight” at last Saturday’s “March for Our Lives,” but the lyrics that came to my mind at the march were from Hamilton’s “My Shot”: “This is not a moment, it’s the movement.” It also seems to me that the teen architects of this common-sense-gun-control movement might just be the answer to all of those “thoughts and prayers” offered up by Republicans after each and every massacre with an AR-15.

Some have suggested, though, that the answer is to arm teachers. Can you imagine that?

Can you picture sweet Mrs. Crawford from Room 7 at Mountain View Elementary School ordering her kids to hunker down behind a fortress of flipped desks and filing cabinets as she prepares to roam the hallways in search of a killer?

“You kids stay put and stay quiet. I’ll be back soon. Emma and Harper, you keep the group quiet. Noah, you and Logan barricade the door behind me. Vickie, you pass out the rocks.”

Yes, rocks.

It seems that another solution to the license for mass murder is to provide classrooms with tubs of river rocks so that children can pelt armed intruders. I am not making this stuff up.

Rick Santorum’s solution to protect weapons of war on the street? Students should learn first aid and CPR so they can perform triage on their maimed and mutilated classmates.

Santorum’s outrageous answer to school shootings called to mind Emmett Lee Dickinson’s poem “I felt his life with both my hands” (below on the left). Dickinson's poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "I felt my life with both my hands" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

I felt his life with both my hands
To see if it was there –
I held a mirror to his Breath,
To prove if there was air –

I pumped his Being down and down
And paused at every pound
I checked the Owner’s heart –
With doubt, that I should hear the sound –

I judged his features – jarred his face –
I pushed his body by, and waited –
If he – showed a sign –
Conviction might, of me –

They told us all, “Take Courage, Friends –
That – in some future time –
If you’d just learn to do CPR
Some might just make it Home”!

By Emily Dickinson:

I felt my life with both my hands
To see if it was there –
I held my spirit to the Glass,
To prove it possibler –

I turned my Being round and round
And paused at every pound
To ask the Owner's name –
For doubt, that I should know the sound –

I judged my features – jarred my hair –
I pushed my dimples by, and waited –
If they – twinkled back –
Conviction might, of me –

I told myself, "Take Courage, Friend –
That – was a former time –
But we might learn to like the Heaven,
As well as our Old Home”!

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Enough

3/14/2018

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From our current affairs editor Lemuel Stuart III:

In the wake of the Parkland massacre, students across the county participated in school walkouts today. #Enough, they said. #NeverAgain.

This, of course, was not the first time that students have organized a protest or walkout. One of the first came in 1853 when students across the country staged a walkout in response to the National Restaurant Association. At that time, the NRA put pressure on school cafeterias so that they would not serve nachos, the delectable and very popular treat invented by Emily Dickinson.

The NRA hoped that if school cafeterias offered more unexceptional if not unpleasant menus at lunch time, then there was a greater chance that families would eat out throughout the week. Students staged a walkout on November 6, 1853 (now National Nachos Day), and the NRA buckled under the pressure. To this day, students in schools across America enjoy Nacho Thursday thanks to the efforts of school children in the 1800s.

Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request) supported the walkout, and he wrote about the protest in his now-classic poem “There is strength in proving that it can be done” (below on the left). His poem inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “There is strength in proving that it can be borne" (below on the right).

Of course today's walkouts focused on a much more important issue – stopping future school shootings through common sense gun control -- and Dickinson's poem, written in the 1800s, speaks to the power of today's students.

For details on the national walkout, click HERE. For more on school walkouts in our plog (poetry blog); click HERE.

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

There is strength in proving that it can be done
Although they fear –
We have the sinews of such courage now
Expect to hear
The Trip might have its doubters but
we will fight –
To walk from schools requires daring Feet

By Emily Dickinson:

There is strength in proving that it can be borne
Although it tear –
What are the sinews of such cordage for
Except to bear
The ship might be of satin had it
not the fight –
To walk on seas requires cedar Feet

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Enough Already

2/23/2018

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From our current affairs editor Lemuel Stuart III:

A National School Walkout is planned for March 14, 2018, the one month anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The organizers are asking school students around the country to stand up, push in their chairs, and walk out of school for 17 minutes in honor of the seventeen lives lost on February 14th.

Of course, many right wing and 2A nut jobs are shrieking about second amendment rights because this time around they're feeling a lot more heat since the high schoolers from Florida have led the charge to protect other schools from future massacres.

"Never Again" and "Enough" are their rallying cries.

The students are determined to shed light on the blood money many politicians accept from the NRA (which many now view as a terrorist organization). #NRABoycott is even trending on Twitter.

The NRA has, for sure, had some very strange if not fiendish practices since their inception. For example, in the late-1800s and into early 1900s, the NRA included a "patriot bone pile" on the grounds of their national headquarters. The gruesome site included bones of individuals killed as a result of gun violence.

In the mid-1900s, the NRA introduced many toys for children to entice them to become gun lovers and gun owners.

Pictured below left: The NRA's Heavy Machine Gun, one in their series of "NRA Killing Machines for Kids."

Pictured below right: The NRA's AR-15 "Marauder," a gun they promoted for loaners and anti-social children.

Pictured below left and right: The NRA's "Teacher's First Tammy-Gun" school set. This toy was marketed for girls, and the doll of the teacher included a "Tammy Gun," the NRA's feminine version of the "Tommy-Gun."

Through the years, the NRA's justification for 2A protection and gun ownership has become more and more absurd. At the current CPAC convention, Wayne Lapierre, the head of the NRA, insisted that Jesus wrote the full text of the second amendment.

Fortunately, a new brand of common sense is coming from the high school students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School n response to the massacre at their school. "Enough," they say. "Never again," they insist.

Perhaps they were inspired by a short poem by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) entitled "We've had enough -- enough was one" (below on the left). Dickinson's poem did inspire third cousin Emily to pen her poem "Few get enough -- enough is one" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

We’ve had enough – enough was one
Of a killer’s shooting spree
Have not each one of us the right
To life and liberty?

By Emily Dickinson:

Few get enough – enough is one
To that ethereal throng
Have not each one of us the right
To stealthily belong?

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Near Enough

November 2018: Vote Them Out.

The Body Politic

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