Poetry and a Great Worry for Me, 8-7-2010

 I wrote a plan for promoting education with a poetry contest. Each county high school would hold an in-school competition and the winners would then go to an all-county competition.

I worry that my status as a felon and a moral leper will cause immediate rejection of this idea. Then, too, I worry that if there is not an immediate rejection thanks to my status, it will be rejected for its simplicity.

This idea has little to do with poetry, as it does with creativity and showing off that creativity. (This also applies to the related ideas on one-act plays and science fairs). I read little poetry and never wrote very good poetry. But one can write good poetry without the need of any competition. But with my idea, the competition is the thing.

Competition allows the showing off of creativity. Competition gives a wider recognition to the creator. The competition promotes an academic ability in a way most schools and communities give to sports and athletes.

I also see this kind of competition as creating proactive attention to the schools and communities involved in the competition. I see this kind of competition as bringing together communities.

The real problem lies in promoting the competition, so it does help create a larger interest in the academic pursuits of our school. So that it does create community cohesion, and does give attention to how our communities promote creativity in our schools.

Why all this matters is surely apparent, but let me finish with this paragraph from Thomas L. Friedman's “Broadway and the Mosque” (New York Times, 8/4/10):

Feeling the pulsating energy of this perfromance was such a vivid reminder of America's msot important competitive advanatage: the sheer creative energy that comes when you mix all our diverse people and culture together. We live in an age when the most valuable asset any economy can ahve is the ability to be creative - to spark and imagine new ideas, be they Broadway tunes, great books, iPads, or new cancer drugs. And where does creativity come from?

I admit having long believed the real potential of America remains yet untapped by us. Too long we have kept ourselves hampered by racial, sectional, and political divides, as well as foreign distractions. I never did anything about what I saw hampering this country until I hit upon this idea. I think the idea worthy of implementation, for all the reasons given. I also offer it as a partial atonement to the wider world for my misspent life. Please give it a fair try.

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