Why must we have an identity?

heidik — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 04:18:56 GMT

I hate those theorist, academic types, and even the not so academic types, who feel the need to categorize and label themselves. It's as if they don't have enough confidence in their own work to let it stand on its own. I just decided to drop a writing class because the teacher is obsessed with black women writers. Why can't she just promote, read, and like "good" writers. Why must they be black females to be worth her while? A friend of mine in the academic world has an exhaustingly long list of words to identify himself. And he makes mention of these words as often as he can. He'll slip in to conversation where ever he can that he's a Marxist-feminist and expand the list as the conversation lengthens. Is this because his work can't speak for itself? Is this because he feels these labels earn him entry in to the secret halls of academia? Well, I think its bullshit! This need to create identity is absurd. I thought we we're humans. I thought the whole idea of being a great thinker, writer, artist, is that you transcend the world of labels. You create art, not make it fit in a little envelope labeled "feminist". I don't introduce or promote myself as a Latvian, Jewish, Brunette, roman-nosed, wife. I'm just a human being. Do poets have to be lesbians for a lesbian to relate to, enjoy, or benefit from that writer's work? No! So, get off your P.C. high-horses about your freakin' "identity" and read some "good" poetry, not some "Latino" poetry.

It took 30 years, but...

heidik — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:14:25 GMT

I'm coming out of the closet. No, I'm not discussing my sexual orientation, I'm admitting that I've been a life long voyeur. I'm a pleasure receiver, but not a giver. I have read your blogs. I've been to your poetry readings. I live & breathe literature. I enjoy art and I fill my ears with your music, but I have never given back. I've always surrounded myself with creative people. Yet I have never been willing to expose my self to the same vulnerability as you have. I've decided this is fucked up and selfish. I read, philosophize, and converse, but to put it in writing leaves wounds wide open for others to prick with needles and prod with sticks. The self-criticism is painful and the fear of what "they" may think is debilitating, but it's been 30 fucking years and I'm not going to be a coward anymore! I'm ready to take it. Perhaps my poetry is mundane and trite. Perhaps my prose are full of cliches and maybe even painful to read, but fuck it...I'm going to participate. How selfish to take in and never give back. How sycophantic and cowardice to receive and ponder, but never contribute. So here it comes. The writing is a flowing and the creative juices mixing. And fuck it if that means I'm vulnerable. Fuck it if it may never be as good as yours. Fuck it if everyone can see it. I've been told recently that "Fear is the mind killer"

Rantings & Such

Why must we have an identity?

It took 30 years, but...