Poem: "A Brief History of Shakespeare"
This poem came out of the March 5, 2013 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from chordatesrock regarding autism and echolalia. Shakespeare kind of turned the idea upside down, preferring the grace of memorized lines to the garble of original composition. The following poem is a look at how the world sees him, how he sees himself, and how he got
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I wonder how the people he left behind feel about the secession. Do they worry about him?
Surprisingly, I am slightly disappointed in this poem. I don't mean to say that it's terrible, but that I'm surprised not to like it as much as Shakespeare's other poems. Perhaps I had been expecting to see more of the way ableist attitudes affected his rearing, and how they may have infected his family and even Shakespeare himself. I had been hoping to see the ramifications of that, and, to some extent, I do...
How does the sort of patriot who fought for the chance to serve his country feel about seceding from it with the people who were his enemies? Does he think he was wrong before?
I'm afraid I failed to understand one of your references. What does "you make that signal with your eyes, lieutenant, not your pants" mean?
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YMMV, though - what was your reasoning behind how you saw the poem?
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Shakespeare is stubborn about wanting to speak in the mode that he prefers, and in that sense doesn't care what other people think. But he's also aware that their opinions can cost him, which can be scary, and he dislikes being thought of as stupid, so in that sense he does care.
Different layers blending through and around each other.
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A soldier is a soldier. He fights whom he is told, and reasons why mean less than bullets in the field. But after the war, two soldiers may go drinking together and trade stories from opposite sides.
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Your example also reminds me how Shakespeare and Backup have related challenges, but different coping mechanisms. Backup sticks with his own words as much as possible, even if mangled, and has the echolalia tamped down to repeating single words or short phrases. He relies on other people to help him along. Shakespeare only seems to have had the one 'translator' and prefers to use quotations. Backup has a list of useful phrases and statements (like "Please wait while I put my thoughts in order") ... I should try to get that onstage at some point.
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You know, it's common in disability circles to be embarrassed by other people who share your condition [ETA: obviously, only if you have a lot of internalized ableist shame]. Will Shakespeare be uncomfortable if he interacts verbally with Backup?
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I'll keep that in mind.
>>You know, it's common in disability circles to be embarrassed by other people who share your condition [ETA: obviously, only if you have a lot of internalized ableist shame].<<
I've noticed that. There are various possible reasons, though. Some of the others will pick up a broader range than just one-to-one.
>> Will Shakespeare be uncomfortable if he interacts verbally with Backup?<<
I'm inclined to think yes, and that it will be mutual, because they have chosen opposite coping strategies. It's likely to feel to each of them as if the other is being lazy or just irritating. Which is a problem, because Router has a perfectly clear understanding of Shakespeare's mode of communication. I think he's actually the first person who bothered to talk back in quotations.
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Yes, now I want to know if there's some way to get Shakespeare onto the 3D3N base. Is there? If not, well, that's what AU fanfic is for, isn't it?
I'm picturing Backup having meltdowns and Shakespeare wanting to just shout him down (does he have any quotes that will work?) in this scenario. It's a shame, and societal ableism in Carina and Orion is to blame. How did they end up fighting, when Carina and Orion clearly have so many shared values, such as marginalizing people who don't fit in?
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I have planned on making that connection, yes. After I've smacked the ends of the jumper cables together a few times with Router and Sam the Gardener.
>>I'm picturing Backup having meltdowns and Shakespeare wanting to just shout him down (does he have any quotes that will work?) in this scenario.<<
Yeah, that's ... disturbingly plausible. Shakespeare will clam up if he feels threatened but I suspect he gets noisy if he just feels hassled. Backup tends to lose language under stress. Shouting him down is like taking candy from a baby, it's just cruel. (See Router. See Router blow a gasket.)
>> It's a shame, and societal ableism in Carina and Orion is to blame.<<
Too true.
>> How did they end up fighting, when Carina and Orion clearly have so many shared values, such as marginalizing people who don't fit in?... )
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(See Router. See Router blow a gasket.)
See the easy-to-mishandle CND-protector-of-childish-PWD dynamic defuse instantly, too, with another PWD acting as the threat.
(Will Router, Case and Port be feeling lonely among all of the autistic secessionists? Will they, perhaps, feel besieged and regret being part of it, or wonder whether Backup should've been taken home?)
What about resources?
By the way, was that poem about the oxygen-breathers and methane-breathers ever sold?
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Possibly. It's going to be rough enough figuring out how to deal with Sam, and then Shakespeare on top of that, and just ... yow.
>>(Will Router, Case and Port be feeling lonely among all of the autistic secessionists? Will they, perhaps, feel besieged and regret being part of it, or wonder whether Backup should've been taken home?)... )
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When I asked about resources, I meant as a cause for the war.
As far as getting to know each other, they have cipherspace for that, don't they? Further, transportation will eat up fuel. It might be better to avoid unnecessary travel at first.
What is this new society's government?
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Ah, okay. It's possible, but I haven't seen anything obvious that they're fighting over yet. It could be territory but I doubt it's a shortage of habitable planets.
>>As far as getting to know each other, they have cipherspace for that, don't they? Further, transportation will eat up fuel. It might be better to avoid unnecessary travel at first.<<
Some people will be satisfied with, even prefer, cipherspace connections. Others won't like being alone or with a tiny group indefinitely. Some people find it easier to get to know each other face-to-face. So they'll probably shift around a little, not a lot.
>>What is this new society's government?<<
They don't have one yet. It's a jumble of anarchy, some consensus, and leftover military organization wrapped around things like "Ask Hootowl" and "Ask Router."
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