tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post6199635340832829467..comments2014-07-31T13:46:42.078-07:00Comments on Petition to PEN: STATEMENTPen Petitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-33158273741767124312010-04-05T20:45:26.178-07:002010-04-05T20:45:26.178-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-4502059210625637682010-01-21T11:00:17.860-08:002010-01-21T11:00:17.860-08:00Underground writers like myself get slammed by lif...Underground writers like myself get slammed by life again and again and again-- not having even a memory of security and stability. This adds to the creation of our art difficulty but also urgency.Karl Wenclashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12328715380823038766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-1609818111289226092010-01-13T06:49:41.421-08:002010-01-13T06:49:41.421-08:00If you really want to get things going I suggest y...If you really want to get things going I suggest you start a blog in WordPress.com about corruption in the whole PEN organization, international and domestic. Personally, I have written a story about the suffering of African slaves, and was censored because they considered it a "pornographic horror" unworthy of "superior intellectuals". And they have an international Congress in Senegal, and another in Columbia too. Indeed we should be honored by the glories of the rabid racism of the organization. By the way, I am an Argentine writer. Good luck to you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-77501811612603439632009-09-02T10:53:50.528-07:002009-09-02T10:53:50.528-07:00??? I for one am not after a "big trade publi...??? I for one am not after a "big trade publishing contract." Obviously, my activities preclude that idea! We're fighting for outfits like PEN to recognize alternatives to the mainstream.<br />Figure it out.<br />********************<br />Re signing the Petition. Please follow instructions on the left side of the main page about where to send an email. No phony identities please.<br />Thank you.Pen Petitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-32945324516896495862009-09-01T02:38:18.793-07:002009-09-01T02:38:18.793-07:00Jeeze, King. I'm sorry you find things tough ...Jeeze, King. I'm sorry you find things tough out there. I'm not opposed to your claim for health care and an adequate social support network, but you think that there's some connection between being poor and being entitled to have your work published? You too Jaqueline S. Homan. I hope you can escape the grind of poverty, but I don't ever look forward to reading your prose in print from a "heavy-hitting big trade publishing house." You need to be more than poor to earn a publishing contract. You need to be able to write a decent sentence. Figure it out.Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-63873690321287072412009-08-30T00:44:46.595-07:002009-08-30T00:44:46.595-07:00i wanna sign but i'm a terrible writer. an unp...i wanna sign but i'm a terrible writer. an unpublished writer. my name is Reginald D. Johnny aka Mark Hamil--that's my alias. How do I sign?mark hamillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02847283868724974267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-11936412389979812202009-08-22T12:32:28.253-07:002009-08-22T12:32:28.253-07:00This is a great comment. It reminds me of the fate...This is a great comment. It reminds me of the fate of a woman I worked with in a local calling room named Kate. She'd been an activist in the 60's and because of her record had a tough time finding employment. (Telemarketing is one of the last places where you're not ultra-screened with background and credit checks.) She was in her sixties. When I was in Detroit last year I heard she'd died-- was filled in more when I got back to Philly. An infection in her teeth spread through her body. . . .<br />Affluent writers who treat us with unalloyed scorn have no idea how many of us live in this country; how tough it is to survive. Detroit is impossibly tough-- but the real motivation for the Petition was when I returned to Philly in February and stopped by to visit a local poet with whom I'd stayed before fleeing Philly in '07. It's wintry cold and icy, and the guy is living in a dilapidated rowhouse with no heat, no hot water, broken toilet, etc etc-- and seemed to have more missing front teeth than the last time I'd seen him. (The quickest way to spot an underground writer is to look at his/her teeth.) <br />How can someone live that way, you comfortable people ask?<br />The Poet has been existing off the books for years, is frankly not bourgeois enough for the standard hyperregulated office scene, works the kind of odd jobs that used to be performed by starving artists but now go to grossly underpaid illegals. (Plus he had his old truck and tools seized-- another story.) Incidentally, this person is a great poet and one of the best performing poets in the country. In this caste-ridden society that means nothing. Instead we get from academia posturing no-talent fakes.<br />************<br />Our role models from history are stolen from us-- like Shakespeare, a hard-drinking genius actor. Or even Jesus Christ, for crissake, who according to historian Dominic Crossan was a semi-literate underclass often-homeless peasant who went around screaming "Woe to you hypocrites!" on a regular basis until crucified. His "gang" were hard-drinking working class guys and outcast girls who horrified the society of the time. That's the reality. <br />************<br />We're beaten-down and co-opted, yet we keep going and we're the ones capable of real change. For us, you see, change is kind of a necessity.Pen Petitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-73186119518099803792009-08-21T02:46:32.574-07:002009-08-21T02:46:32.574-07:00I am one of those "Jack London" writers,...I am one of those "Jack London" writers, and I am from the underclass 9and I am STILL poor with NO health or dental care at all). <br /><br />I wrote a 352 page tome, "Classism For Dimwits" which I self-published for lack of real opportunity by a heavy-hitting big trade publishing house (such as the one that made Barbara Ehrenreich a fortune). <br /><br />The voices of those of us who have been kept down at the bottom as a consequence of unearned social class privilege are never acknowledged, recognized, or heard. Instead, we're told to shut up; we're told to stop whining; we're told if we can't get a chance for a middle class job with health and dental benefits so we don't have to walk around with visibly decayed/broken/missing teeth and maybe end up further disabled or premautrely dead from abscessed teeth that our failure us somehow all our own fault for failing to get with the middle class program. Anger is an understatement for how I feel.<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Classism-Dimwits-Jacqueline-S-Homan/dp/0981567916/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250845925&sr=1-2Jacqueline S. Homanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07779679291861072993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-9111654679317734132009-07-28T13:08:36.146-07:002009-07-28T13:08:36.146-07:00Good statement on quality vs. quantity, King. I g...Good statement on quality vs. quantity, King. I get that horseshit all the time. We've got so many more "hits" then you inanity. Well, my response is that Brittany has more than them... and so does Barbey Doll. Fuckin A. I sent an open letter to PEN last March. Not one person responded. PEN New England where I operate refuses to even send a little form response. Check out the open letter: http://wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com/2009/03/open-letter-to-pen-america.html.<br />Best,<br />G. Tod Slone, Ed.<br />The American DissidentG. Tod Slonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08298151154368372719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-64900018285372879782009-04-18T08:06:00.000-07:002009-04-18T08:06:00.000-07:00To J.N.
"C.S." aka Harland has been expending an ...To J.N. <br />"C.S." aka Harland has been expending an enormous amount of time and energy attacking my various blogs the past nine months; so much so that I hope he's being paid for it!<br />(As he keeps telling me, I don't post all his comments. There are just too many to keep up with-- a novel's worth-- and frankly I've had it with the guy's phoniness and endless sophistry.)<br />To "Toast":<br />The wealthy writer is Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket, who's been harassing me for years; most recently panicked over the Paris Review issue, discussed on ATDP. A panicky email from his real identity led me to compare his IP# with that of certain anonymous comments, which led me to uncovering who he is. (The fake letter he concocted in 2005 was done more, er, openly.)<br />No, I don't give up-- and on this issue have a long way to go. But it's merely one step in regenerating the literary rebellion, whose first wave peaked from '01 to '03.<br />You know, Toast, we'd love to have you on our side. If you could drop the fake identity, you'd have a lot of fun on our side of things stirring up the literary mainstream. You know they're a bunch of stiffs. (I've seen them up close. There's nothing there-- Handler and "Harland" are actually the best they've got. The rest remind me of slow-thinking apparatchiks during the final days of the Soviet Union. They deserve to be toppled!)<br />-KWPen Petitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-10750730853935428952009-04-18T05:28:00.000-07:002009-04-18T05:28:00.000-07:00these disinformation agents seem to have a lot in ...these disinformation agents seem to have a lot in common with those sponsored by right wing think tanks what's their connection with PEN? Makes it look like a false flag operation.james nowlannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-39666122610123408902009-04-15T10:55:00.000-07:002009-04-15T10:55:00.000-07:00I'm also still wondering which wealthy writer pani...I'm also still wondering which wealthy writer panicked at your instigation.Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-45949348110289636682009-04-15T10:54:00.000-07:002009-04-15T10:54:00.000-07:00We're all trolls, Kink. I'll give you something t...We're all trolls, Kink. I'll give you something too: you don't quit. You'll go to your grave proclaiming the imminent dawn of a new age, and it won't ever come, whatever it is you're imagining, but you just don't seem likely to quit.Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-66110072356889745182009-04-15T09:28:00.000-07:002009-04-15T09:28:00.000-07:00I'll give "Toast" this:
at least he admitted he's ...I'll give "Toast" this:<br />at least he admitted he's a troll!<br />p.s. Anyone wishing to nominate novelist Bill Blackolive for PEN membership can get contact info from ULA Press. (There's a link to it on the DemiPuppet blog.) He'd be glad to have the notice.<br />Thanks.King Wenclashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13709139159194279478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-89622972685317523352009-04-14T09:04:00.000-07:002009-04-14T09:04:00.000-07:00II. We know we're making progress when the usual j...II. We know we're making progress when the usual jack-in-the-boxes begin popping out of their wind-up music boxes.<br />What this character-- "C.S."-- doesn't understand (or maybe he does!) is that democracy means having input to the decision-making process-- to ensure that grants go to writers who need them; to lobby for access to review outlets for all writers.<br />It means having a seat at the table.<br />That's what the Petition is about.<br />And no, I'm not going to allow myself to get sidetracked or bogged down by discussions, illusory concessions, or stalling tactics.<br />As I said on the ATDP blog, I'm making an unshakeable case for change to the PEN board itself.<br />To date I've barely scratched the surface with my arguments. <br />There's a lot to come.<br />And yes, there are only sixteen names on the petition at present-- but this protest has only begun. <br />The other jack-in-the-box, "Toast," has no patience.<br />He wants a hundred names delivered up in an instant!<br />That's not how it's done.<br />I intend to keep adding names, and adding them, slowly but steadily, as the force of argument continues to build and build until its momentum, its logic, is irresistible-- and maybe at some point the dam will burst and many will join at once. (I'd suggest the bandwagon jumpers get on now.)<br />****************<br />"C.S." acts sincere, though his history demonstrates he's anything but. He's posted on my other blog under several phony names-- he can't be consistent even at that.<br />Presumably he's more than a malicious computer program.<br />We can assume a real person of some kind is behind the falseness.<br />I'll then put the real person to the test.<br />I'll ask him to demonstrate his good will to us.<br />Instead of offering to nominate myself as a member (by what authority? did he clear this with PEN?) he can INSTEAD nominate the most recent signee, Bill Blackolive, for membership and see that he's accepted.<br />This is an underground writer, of some need, who already qualifies for PEN admission, having had two novels published by an independent press. NOT Print-On-Demand.<br />What say you, Ghost? Are you up to it? Demonstrate your cred.<br />(If nothing else, it might get the head-in-sand publisher of said books to acknowledge the usefulness of my tactics.)<br />***********************<br />ABOUT the real identity question-- which, sorry, I'm going to insist on.<br />It's of a piece with the Petition; with the entire literary rebellion.<br />That is: literature making a new start based on character, honesty, integrity. It's a sea change of mindset which says the days of lies, cheating, and other abuses of the system are OVER.<br />-Karl W.Pen Petitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-8453201931870055832009-04-14T08:38:00.000-07:002009-04-14T08:38:00.000-07:00Hmm. You think I can be had fairly cheaply, don't ...Hmm. You think I can be had fairly cheaply, don't you, Harland? (Bissell?)<br />Let's see: I'm to abandon this protest, stop posting, stop readying snail mailings, rip up the many coming facts to follow, based on the assurances of someone who refuses to give his name?<br />Just how stupid do You think I am, anyway?<br />You're offering meaningless token concessions. You're asking me (us?) to rely on YOUR generosity-- you, a person who's been posting against change on my other blog for many months and who refuses to identify himself.<br />What you've been giving with your long remarks here and to my other blog are endless rationalizations for no change; justifications for doing nothing.<br />You've suggested that we might someday be allowed in as members, but warning us (or really, just me) that this would swamp us with process-- this one person, myself, might not actually get in; and then I'd have to lobby about THAT, and perhaps start the petition over again etc etc. <br />Usual bureaucratic tactics.<br />Apparent throughout is that you still treat PEN like an exclusive club.<br />Why does any writer need to be nominated at all? I don't get it.<br />I'd think you'd want ALL writers in PEN.<br />What the Petition is after is to change PEN itself-- not have one or two token sellouts while the corrupt ship continues sailing as is.<br />Change NOW.<br />Isn't this the time in this society for it?<br />If not now-- when?Pen Petitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-50168159619962240682009-04-13T17:38:00.000-07:002009-04-13T17:38:00.000-07:00Can I keep my regular job with its benefits and av...Can I keep my regular job with its benefits and avoid the hefty insurance premiums? I mean, I doubt King will let me join once he's in charge, so maybe I could get in before he takes over. Then I'll be able to benefit from his generous and just distribution of the wealth.Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-20648409187164679202009-04-13T16:54:00.000-07:002009-04-13T16:54:00.000-07:00Toast, you don't want to be a member of PEN. Nobo...Toast, you don't want to be a member of PEN. Nobody really wants to be a member of PEN, not once they find out the group health insurance costs a thousand bucks a month. So much for the "power of unified blocs" that some people place so much stock in. <br /><br />I think it's up to sixteen names now.<br /><br />King wants to be on the board though, and I'm offering to help him with the first step. Let's see if he holds out for the Room at the Top.CShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00204482545250440655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-10500143424495094872009-04-13T13:20:00.000-07:002009-04-13T13:20:00.000-07:00Well, CS, if that's the case, how about sponsoring...Well, CS, if that's the case, how about sponsoring me for membership in PEN? I bet I could make up a list of 15 names and call it a petition. There is, after all, a terrible dearth of troll representation at PEN, a deficit I will not cease to struggle and fight against until, um, I find some other litblogger to taunt.Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-56995543026318743162009-04-13T11:58:00.000-07:002009-04-13T11:58:00.000-07:00I've written you at length -- and, I think, respec...I've written you at length -- and, I think, respectfully -- about your petition and what I think is the matter with it. I haven't seen the comments appear on Demi-Puppets, where I attempted to post them.<BR/><BR/>You really have got to get over the idea that the anonymity of its source necessarily negates the value of an opinion. That is unclear reasoning, Karl W. It is a process of fatal rationalization under any circumstance, but particularly given the context here. I am not saying anything libelous or even remotely controversial about you, and I'm not pretending to the possession of an expertise or credential I don't have. I'm just disagreeing with you. <BR/><BR/>My offer still stands, Karl W. I am very happy to sponsor you for membership in PEN. I would be very happy to protest, as a member of PEN, if PEN declined your membership application. Plenty of opportunities for good press there, Karl W. It would be a most righteous position to assume, far more so than the bullshit idea of seizing control of the board to -- to what? To be on the board.CShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00204482545250440655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-6954877475259220922009-04-13T10:25:00.000-07:002009-04-13T10:25:00.000-07:00Really? Who has panicked at what you said. Where...Really? Who has panicked at what you said. Where can I read about this exciting incident?Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-63825617708525635142009-04-13T10:14:00.000-07:002009-04-13T10:14:00.000-07:00Re the "demagogue" charges. That seems to be the s...Re the "demagogue" charges. That seems to be the standard narrative that's been pushed by anonymous opponents for some time. It's a Catch-22 anyone who makes noise is caught in. Nevermind the facts are very different.<BR/>Also, the idea that because one criticizes corruption in the literary world, one is "paranoid" etc etc is ludicrous. Such statements set up barriers against ANY change.<BR/>At the moment the focus is very narrow-- the PEN American Center organization. I've been presenting on the DemiPuppet blog real facts and evidence. Let's stick to the matter at hand.<BR/>(Beneath whatever ballyhoo I've engaged in over the years have been very strong reports on corruption and decline in the house of literature. Throughout have been attempts to change the subject-- misdirections-- including attacking the messenger. <BR/>If my cause is so marginal-- why have many people, including one of the richest writers in America, been so panicked at what I've said?)Pen Petitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-74622431347231943152009-04-13T10:07:00.000-07:002009-04-13T10:07:00.000-07:00Funny, CS. The irony is that "Toast"'s kind of wri...Funny, CS. <BR/>The irony is that "Toast"'s kind of writer would benefit from the petition-- whose ultimate goal is to open up the literary system to ALL writers. It's too bad that people judge an issue according to what others are doing. By this standard, nothing would ever get done. Change would never occur.<BR/>The keys to any action like this one are patience and persistence.<BR/>I have a great deal of both.<BR/>(P.S. I'm going to again request real identities, please. Thank you.)<BR/>-Karl W.Pen Petitionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02604345345818030586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-5503995010143352492009-04-12T09:18:00.000-07:002009-04-12T09:18:00.000-07:00Ah...so I see.Ah...so I see.CShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00204482545250440655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7420775024627915851.post-47665823192728853422009-04-12T08:54:00.000-07:002009-04-12T08:54:00.000-07:00Nope.Nope.Toasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15239283385268255066noreply@blogger.com