What People Have Been Saying About the Blender

From: 
Date: 1 September 1997

The usually fastidious New Yorker misspelled 
Toni (not Tony) Morrison's name in its review 
of your site...

From: Carlos
Date: 2 September 1997

Kirk,

First, great thanks for selecting "Broadcasting" for the
September Journal.  It's a piece that flowed out of my head
all at once, and waited years for a little editing, but
has always been special to me. 

I just read your comments on the New Yorker piece, and
although I applaud your decision to place subtle warnings
where applicable, I feel the 'ashamed' statement was
more a description of the reviewer than the material:

"Its creator, Kirk Israel, is not ashamed to post his 
own fiction (thought you may be ashamed to read it)."

To illustrate, I'll give the example of a music critic
in a "trendier-than-thou" 'zine who, writing about a
new release that was very 'pop', but well-played and 
well-produced, said, "I like it, but I wish I didn't."

The fact that the Web is a great equalizer means that
we, as artists, must also assume an editorial 
responsibility usually left to the editors of traditional
literary journals -- do we send our work out into the
universe to 'broadcast our love' willy-nilly, or do we
select a piece for its special qualities (universality,
originality, wit, etc.), to better represent us in
cyberspace and beyond?  Like you, I have no answers, 
but I believe that by keeping the questions handy, I
can exercise some objectivity about the work. 

As Twain put it, "Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgement."

As far as your set of questions regarding maturity, 
in short, are romance and maturity mutually exclusive?
I think not, and I'll quote from Cintra Wilson, a dry
but acute observer of the world:

"Certain people are like big good
anchors in your life that hold you to the
world, that give you a sense of exalted,
meaningful belonging and true
comradeship in the highest sense. They
are co-conspirators, people who get all
the jokes. When someone understands
you that well, you can never truly feel
alone in the world."

(And from another piece, about marriage)

"The worthiest opponent. Somebody
with whom you can relentlessly
wage a War on Truth and Love, a
socko mate with whom to knock
each other's blocks off, then pop
them back on again. Someone who
won't flee from the ring whining at
the first taste of blood. A psychic
animal of the same size and
weight. 'Til death do you part."

I, myself, am in that place, my wedding 
a fortnight hence, and thanks to my
introspection, and the honesty of the 
work I've read here on the Blender, I feel
more ready than ever to embark on this newest
adventure.

Again, thanks, Kirk, for the honor, and
for providing this forum.

Carlos Rubinstein
Bay Area, California
carlos.a.rubinstein@mci.com

P.S. You can find Cintra's terrific columns
and lots of other cool stuff at Salon Magazine,
http://www.salon1999.com

From: Rita Randazzo
Date: 2 September 1997

Thank you, Kirk, for the honor of being included in the
Sept. Blender of Love Digest. It's my first acceptance by a 
webzine, although I've been published in "regular" lit mags.

I enjoyed your comments on love and marriage, Carlos, and
wish you a happy wedding day and success in the great
adventure that is marriage. I've been married (to the same
man, a fellow poet) for 30 years and can highly recommend
it. :-)

Your union will be as strong and as weak as are the two of
you. It will change its nature frequently and surprise you
when you least expect it. I can tell, because you are very,
very, intelligent and unlikely to accept a rut. If you're 
not the type -- paraphrasing your quote -- to run at first
blood, you will learn a lot. My heartiest congratulations to
you both.

From: Rita Randazzo
Date: 5 September 1997

To Ruby in the Dust: Love your work, want to see more. Have
you published a book I could buy?

From: Juli (jaysltd@execpc.com)
Date: 5 September 1997

I didn't read the New Yorker article, so am speaking off the
cuff here, but I get the gist of it from your comments and
those of the others who responded.  The issue of maturity
really baffles me.  Since when are feelings left to be
judged by others?  I think maturity has nothing to do with
it.  Yes, you can have a mature relationship at some point,
however, where love and feelings are concerned, there is no
such thing as mature and sensible.  Feelings and emotions
are irrational, and the person who described the blender as
immature needs to crack their shell and try feeling something
for a change.  Either that, or the person is so bitter that
they are uncomfortable with people having a forum for sharing
their heartfelt sentiments.  Some of the work on this site
is marvelous and, in my unqualified opinion, publishable.  

Some of the work on this site may not be literary genius, but
whose right is it to criticize the expression of someone's
feelings?  My understanding of this site is that it is a place
where people can express themselves, perhaps get some exposure
for their work, but overall, a place where people can go to
share feelings that may not be appropriate to share in other
places.  Our world can be such a dry, uncaring place, to hell
with anyone who doesn't want a corner of it to be different.

I applaud the blender and all the people who submit to it.  I
am not a "regular," per se, but I do visit occasionally and
have even submitted heartfelt prose just to be able to get
the feelings off my chest and see if anyone else had the same
experience.  I pity those who can't deal with that!

Juli

From: Eileen Passmore <wjpass@passmore.vt.com>
Date: 7 September 1997

I've been looking for a poem that is in the movie Four 
Weddings and a Funeral.  It is read in the funeral scene.
I haven't been able to find it yet, and I was wondering if
anyone else would know where I could get it from.

From: Melissa
Date: 7 September 1997

howdy...i just wanted to say that i love this forum for heartfelt 
outpourings from people who have more than just a little to say.
so many viewpoints on so many things--and each one touches a reader
in a different way.  hope to see more good things in the future...thanks.

From: sks1@bryant.edu
Date: 8 September 1997

Love the stuff in Blender Readers.  My boyfriend and I are trying 
a long distance relationship, we don't have much choice, he joined 
the army.  It's depressing in a way to read love poems, but it also 
can feel good cuz it reminds me of him.

From: canweekly@hello-internet.com
Date: 9 September 1997

Dear sir,
We are a weekly newspaper based in tenerife,Spain. Our 
distribution is free to our readers.
We came across your website and found it very interesting
for our readers.  In this regard we would like to ask your 
permission to print some of the material from your pages.
We wuld of course print the source being your website.
We sincerely hope you would allow us to do so.

Best regards

Canarian Weekly,S.L

From: John lennon www.smoky.com
Date: 10 September 1997

this did not help me at all

From: austigem@ozemail.com.au
Date: 11 September 1997

I just want to say i love your "blender of love".
Everything that i have read has been of a very high 
quality and i can associate with every thought and idea.

Keep it up...i will be coming back often!!!!

From: happy@rpm.com
Date: 14 September 1997

you REALLY need a search engine for this site!!  
I know i posted something here, and i have gotten 
responses to it, but i cant find it.  

LOVE the site!

From: goetz@do-net.com
Date: 17 September 1997

Kirk,
I'm trying to understand or dwell 
deeper into a level of romance 
that's not touched very often.  
I feel not very many people are 
able to step to the next level and 
understand the purpose and 
value of romance in a relationship.  
I feel the media and TV has 
put a stopper of what the meaning 
of romance and great healing power 
and self preseverence it can have.  
It seems as if someone can go 
to Walmart and buy acouple of candles, 
stop by the Chinese Restaurant 
and pick up on food to go, then 
pick up a cheap classical tape at the 
local quick mart while you're pumping gas
 into your car because you're 
worried about having enough gas to get to 
work in the morning. Especially 
since you figured that you're going to 
have a late night and won't have 
enough time tomorrow morning to get the gas. 
You get home and  you take 
a quick shower.  You slap on your 
brut aftershave.  Seeing all the 
dirty clothes around the place, you 
gather them up and throw them in  
the closet.  You just realized you 
forgot the wine or champagne, it 
depends on how surface minded you are.  
You run down to the quick mart 
and you buy a cheap bottle of white
 zinphadel with a screw on cap or 
some Aste Spumante dry champagne.  
You get back to your place and you 
wait for her to knock at your door.

I put that together because it 
seems to happen so often.  I hear stories 
from my friends who do just what I 
have described and they call themselve 
romantic.
 
In my mind, romance starts with a 
state of mind.  It starts with having 
an attitude of serving your mate. To 
make them feel as if they're the only 
person on the earth and you were created 
to serve them. The goal is to make 
them feel special. They are worth time 
and thought.  Once that is set, then 
the development of romance takes a whole 
new meaning.  The ending result 
doesn't have to be a night in bed. Sex is 
physical, that's easy to find. 
Opening up our emotions and feelings and 
allowing the other person be able 
to see that and feel it.  Taking the risk 
of being transparent, shows trust 
and respect and a truer understanding of 
the other person.  It allows 
opportunities that can't possibly be 
understood with just a cheap bottle of 
wine and clean bed sheets.

Kirk,  This is what I see romance 
should be directed at.  I'm starting a 
project with my wife to developed an 
ultimate romantic occasion.  We're 
going to ask others their opinion of 
what they consider to be romantic and 
how they would create their ultimate 
romantic occasion.  We're going to 
research some historical romantic idea's 
and ideals. I don't know where this 
is going to take us but I know it will 
be interesting and enlightening.  

The reason I'm mentioning this to 
you is because I ran accross you website 
and you seem to have the desire to create 
romance or support romance.  I would 
like to get your response to this and 
maybe use you as a mechanism to help develop 
a keener focus on romance.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.

Dave

From: Carlos
Date: 17 September 1997

I LOVE Rita Randazzo's work!

Please keep posting!

Carlos

From: Elaine 0216607@acad.nwmissouri.edu
Date: 18 September 1997

Overall, I think this is one of the best sites on the web. I 
really enjoy being able to read other people's poetry and prose
on relationships and such.  I am even thinking about submitting 
some of my own.  Just wanted you to know there was another
person out here who has bookmarked your site.

From: gk
Date: 18 September 1997

it's great and very very mmmromance

From: cvincent@uiuc.edu
Date: 18 September 1997

I really the fact that you have a place for people to express themselves in a 
very simple set of words. That is very cool. I am the
type of person that I can only express myself in simple words. Thank you for
such a graeat please.

				THANK YOU!
   

From: Sara coco@easynet.on.ca
Date: 19 September 1997

Roses are red, Violets are same, my heart is pumping the 
letters of your name.

From: Sharli Colladay
Date: 20 September 1997

Read about your web site in The New Yorker and love it!
One thing I'd like to see are more selections of "classic"
poetry--I really enjoyed the Edna St Vincent Millay sonnet,
for example.
(Please take my suggestion with a grain of salt since
I've only seen your September site--maybe you normally
have more classic poetry on an ongoing basis.)

From: Asa Ach@innocent.com
Date: 22 September 1997

Great Site You Should Be In The Top 1% Not the top 5 !~!!!

From: charlene cvincent@uiuc.edu
Date: 23 September 1997

When writing I would like to know how do you delete 
a page that has been submitted? I want to delete both
poems entitled MY BOO by CHAR-CHAR. I have the very first 
section of the poem missing and I would like to resubmitte 
it in it's correct form.

Thank for creating a page such as this. This page as 
inspired me to wrtie again. Something I had given up
on a long time ago. Thank you!

From: Rita Randazzo
Date: 26 September 1997

Question: What are these blank messages?

Date: 28 September 1997

I just found your page and I LOVE it.

Thank you for the wonderful time...

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