A few weeks ago, I promised to post the date of the last Get Born reading. That date is April 5th. Venue is Duff's. Time, if past experience is any guide, would likely be around 9pm.
One of the things Get Born got right, I think, was its attitude towards technology. They maintained a blog, and had a Facebook fan page, but were young enough to take technology for granted -- and by extension, to take it or leave it, to use it for their own ends, rather than allowing it to dictate how they approached their art. They released their work in paper form, often typing it all out on a manual typewriter. They released music, too, on magnetic tape. And they espoused experiencing poetry in real time, with a real poet reciting it -- the preferred and proven delivery method for thousands of years.
Knowing how Get Born approached poetry, and knowing they toured the country by reading in venues run by young people with a similar approach to life and art, makes me wonder if this whole lament about the the book/newspaper/magazine/culture going up in smoke may be more based on hysterics than truth. I've watched the whole debate intensify as e-readers become more and more ubiquitous, and it just makes me tired. It makes me wish that over-30 journalists had the sense in their head that young poets do. Pulpy detective novels in a series, and daily headlines, are great in digital form. War and Peace may weigh less in its e-reader form, but will make your eyes bleed if you read it on a glowing screen. As for poetry, I agree with Get Born that it's best experienced as it was meant to be -- out loud, and straight from the poet's mouth. If you feel like doing some ancillary reading, George Packer of The New Yorker has a great post on this subject ("Neither Luddite Nor Biltonite") that reminds us that truly, it's all about balance. --Stefene Russell
