Inherent bias
Hi there, all you non-Centaurs:
My husband has a t-shirt that has a little American flag on the sleeve. It looks like this:
Every time I see it I think that it is wrong.
What about this though—feels slightly less wrong when there’s wind.
So why is “flagpole on the left” a more correct feeling? The wind could be coming from either direction.
I think it’s because English is read left to right.
A veterans’ website says this: “The flag patch is worn backwards to give others the same impression it did when it was first carried into battle. The momentum of the flag bearer would leave the flag streaming behind, appearing backwards to enemies, or anyone else close enough to catch a glimpse.”
Run baby run.
Time is kind of slipping away—I can’t believe we are nearly halfway through October. I took on an editing client and adding a 450 page manuscript to my own novel edits and my desire to finish this novel I’m reading for pleasure as well as the onset of Salons Season for Pen Parentis has left me bereft of free time. ( For the prurient, I’m reading What could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz.)
TWO THINGS OUT THIS WEEK:
Limp Wrist just published an all-villanelle issue! My villanelle “After the Audition” is included. Have a look! I love form poetry, especially the truly complex forms. To me they are word sculptures and are so satisfying.
While I was at the Brooklyn Book Festival, I ran into Joyce Carol Oates. I wrote about it for Medium. There are pictures!
Haven’t had a lot of free time - LadyTeen turned 15 on Friday. At work, I’m making promos for the Salons I run. How do you like this one? Peppy, right?
If you’re interested in hearing the livecast of any of the Salons that I host, you are more than welcome - they are on the second Tuesday of each month (next one is this Tuesday Oct 12 at 7pm ET, just RSVP for the link at penparentis.org/calendar) or if you can’t do a livecast but wouldn’t mind watching or just listening to the recordings, they are they are all archived on youtube.com/penparentis