Why I posted on Medium, stopped posting, will stay a member and still have projects running
(kind of an apology)
For a European non-natural speaker/writer in English, posting on Medium is a excellent exercise. For anybody interested in poetry, satire, politics, anti-racism, and writing as such, Medium is the foremost forum to visit. There are trolls among us, but not too many, because they aren’t fed.
Looking back, I really tried to improve on writing (one lined) poems, inspired by Kathy Jacobs, Harper Thorpe, Mary Holden and many many other poets. I am grateful for that opportunity.
I enjoyed responding to the superb satire of Allan Ishac and Steven Rouach, who warned every day for the disaster of Trump’s election and the Untergang of the GOP. Thank you for the grim fun, gentlemen! Keep going, because the Untergang is going full speed ahead, you know that better than me. Look up: voter suppression, Trump running for 2024.
That same Untergang is intelligently analyzed and permanently documented by umair haque and Caitlin Johnstone. I enjoy most posts by The Atlantic.
I am and was thoroughly teached on racism by Marley K., Herb Dyer, Jr. and many others. Manny Otiko informs us in well-researched and eloquently put articles about the politics of racism and the threat to democracy by the GOP and its affiliates.
Many more great writers should be added, but I want to be short.
So why did I stop writing/responding? In short: humility. I know nothing.
1. To me it is harder and harder to write good poetry in one lined format.
2. I do no longer believe in satire as a tool for change. Especially my shots at satire are harmless.
3. I prefer reading educated writers about racism and politics above giving my opinion. I actually stopped writing about it in my own language because I have nothing new or important to add. There already are too many uninformed, hastily spilled opinions in this world. Social media are the murderer of nuance, doubt and careful discussion.
4. Why am I trying to improve my English anyhow? What was I trying to prove to whom?
5. Most of my posts where responses (second wit), hardly ever original, first wit.
I apologize to my followers. Every now and then someone starts following me (never know why exactly) but I am not delivering any more.
I am still working on two projects though. One is about ‘micro stupidities’: individual unwarranted actions with collective damage. You do know it is dangerous or detrimental to others, to animals, to nature, but you insist doing it. Compare with micro aggressions, indeed. Like littering, smoking in public, speeding in traffic, hunting rare birds, spraying poison in a garden, running on fossile fuel, burning wood, staying an unhibited carnivore. Much obliged to hear more examples!
The other one is about the humanistic code. About a moral system without any gods. Both projects are at risk of becoming moralistic. That kind of slows me down.
Oh yeah: and I prefer to play piano as long as my arthritic hands allow me.
