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poliphilo Ben Pink Dandelion is a Quaker luminary. Big fish, small pond. He picked up his name in his formative anarchistical days when he was part of a group that was doing all it could to undermine the patriarchy. It doesn't sit quite right with me because dandelions aren't pink, are they? It's as if he hasn't really looked at and understood the essential sunny yellowness of his flower. This predisposes me to be critical.
Handsome fella, wears an earring, but in everything except his outward appearence, pretty hardcore Quaker. Mags wanted to watch a Swarthmore Lecture on YouTube (the Swarthmore lectures are a Quaker institution and have been delivered yearly since 1908- we have bound copies of most of them in the Meeting House library) so we sourced the one that Dandelion delivered in 2014. He talked for an hour, telling us how Quakers ought to be conducting themselves in the world. Ailz rattled around in the kitchen, Mags dozed...
But I was paying attention. And gradually edging away from the virtual man on his virtual podium. I may not have a silly anarchistical name but I'm an anarchist at heart. Tell me how I ought to be identifying with the group and thinking with the group- and I absent myself. I love Quakers, but from the sidelines. Don't ask me to be part of any outfit that's smaller than Humanity.
I liked some of what he said. He had a quote from the poet Harvey Gillman, "God is not the name of a god". Yes, yes, yes. This is something poets are good for- putting ideas, concepts, impressions in unforgettable form.
Handsome fella, wears an earring, but in everything except his outward appearence, pretty hardcore Quaker. Mags wanted to watch a Swarthmore Lecture on YouTube (the Swarthmore lectures are a Quaker institution and have been delivered yearly since 1908- we have bound copies of most of them in the Meeting House library) so we sourced the one that Dandelion delivered in 2014. He talked for an hour, telling us how Quakers ought to be conducting themselves in the world. Ailz rattled around in the kitchen, Mags dozed...
But I was paying attention. And gradually edging away from the virtual man on his virtual podium. I may not have a silly anarchistical name but I'm an anarchist at heart. Tell me how I ought to be identifying with the group and thinking with the group- and I absent myself. I love Quakers, but from the sidelines. Don't ask me to be part of any outfit that's smaller than Humanity.
I liked some of what he said. He had a quote from the poet Harvey Gillman, "God is not the name of a god". Yes, yes, yes. This is something poets are good for- putting ideas, concepts, impressions in unforgettable form.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-01 12:10 pm (UTC)Such a lovely guy and a fine poet. It's his fault that I'm also a poet.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-01 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-01 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-02 02:25 pm (UTC)Re Swarthmore lectures, I can highly recommend the one from last year about The Temperature of the Water. I found this year's lecture disappointing, however.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-02 03:05 pm (UTC)I'll look out for the Temperature of Water.