It was ironic that the Harvard weblog server was upgraded this past Monday (June 25). I had, coincidentally, planned to announce this week yet another punditry hiatus here at f/k/a — again stopping my commentary, and limiting new posts to haiku and related forms of poetry (with an occasional pointer to a particularly noteworthy article or event, or a prior On This Day at f/k/a posting). However, rather than enjoying new independence offline, I found myself mired for the past two days in a weblogger’s nightmare, scrambling with trial-and-error solutions, a string of formatting catastrophes, and hundreds of broken links. In addition, because the old one was incompatible with the new server, I was forced to choose a new “theme” that would again change the appearance of f/k/a.
With the assistance of Harvard’s friendly TechHelp Team, I’ve solved the most pressing problems, while deciding on a new theme/look for f/k/a that I think is pleasing to the eye and creates a minimum of formatting issues for prior and future posts. Therefore, I can now declare an official 2007 punditry hiatus at f/k/a, and remind you that there will continue to be frequent new posting of “real” haiku, senryu, haibun, and tanka (and maybe even rengay and renku), written by our venerable Honored Guest Poets, as well as our resident pretender dagosan. In addition:
Please come back in a day or two, when I will reveal the new f/k/a-related project that will be monopolizing my time. Thanks for your loyalty and camaraderie over the years. Feel free to pine for more punditry, and savor the poetry.
90th birthday
my dad and I
blow out candles
home again
how easily
my eyes fill with tears
power failure
relearning the language
of flames
summer cottage
the nails
mother straightened
light wind
a maple armada
leaves the shore
ebb tide
seagulls peck
their reflections
kissing time
mountain gorse in bloom
all year
….. by Hilary Tann, from Upstate Dim Sum 2007/1
Speaking of quick pointers, check out:
- “New Poll Finds That Young Americans Are Leaning Left,” New York Times, June 27, 2007.
- Thomas Friedman’s column “The Whole World Is Watching, New York Times (June 27, 2007, subscription req’d, but find extensive excerpts and discussion at The Moderate Voice weblog), where you will learn that technology has made us all public figures, made your past ever-present, and made it necessary to get your “how’s” right. (read more about Dov Seidman’s new book, “How“).