Germaine Greer

I've been nervous about this post. The subject seems a bit overwhelming to me. I feel it's not something that can or should be done in one day. But that's exactly what I'm going to do.

What I'm trying to tell myself is I'm just writing a silly Dina blog post. I don't need to write a whole biography about this woman.

Although I'm nervous, I'm also excited. Germaine Greer seems very controversial. Aren't most feminists? I'm wondering if I'll end up liking her. Loving her? Hating her? I'll probably be somewhere in the middle.

I don't really know that much about her.

I think the first time I heard of her was regarding the whole Steve Irwin thing. She wrote rude nasty things after he died. Whether I agree or not with what she says is irrelevant. I think it was incredibly wrong to write such things so soon after he died. It was incredibly distasteful. Then John Birmingham came along and gave her a well-deserved lashing. But then he said things that I found were rude and inappropriate.

It reminds me of fights within my family. One person will talk to me about another family member behind their back. They'll be venting. I'll be listening. I stand behind what they said. I'll agree with it. And then they say something offensive I don't agree with. They go too far.

Anyway, that's about all I know.

And now I shall learn more.

Hello to Lord Wiki.

Greer was born on 29 January 1939.

Birthday website time!

She's an Aquarius like my dad is.

She's a 7 like me.

The 7 would fit Greer I suppose. 7 is about learning. She seems like someone who learns a lot.

She was born in Melbourne.

Her father was an insurance executive.

She attended the same Catholic school as Rachel Griffiths. Star of the Sea College.

For her University studies, Greer went to the University of Melbourne. She studied English and French language and Literature.

Then she moved to Sydney.

She got involved with a group called Sydney Push. Have I written about them before? They sound familiar. Well, even if I have....it's been awhile and I've forgotten it anyway.

Lord Wiki says it's a left wing group from the 1940's to the 1970's. Robert Hughes was part of the group. I read his autobiography, so that's probably where I've heard of it.

In the 1970's Greer considered herself to be an Anarchist Communist. How is that different from a regular communist?

I shall go and see.

Well, Lord Wiki's explanation is very long and complicated. I read part of it. Basically it's getting rid of wages and sharing everything.

I wrote a whole thing about this on Livejournal once. I imagined a world where we just share everything. One person is good at gardening, so he grows potatoes in his backyard. Another person is good at cooking. She takes the potatoes and makes mashed potatoes. Then whoever is hungry and wants potatoes can come and take some.

The Internet is pretty much like this. We do work for free. We write stories. We write blog entries. We do research. We make videos. And then we read and watch other stuff for free. We get free information. We're all sharing.

I don't know much about the history of communism. I recently talked to my dad who is very much against it. They recently returned from China, and he talked about how things are so much better now, since they've become more capitalist.

He talked about aspects of Chinese Communism. He said it was very anti-intellectual. Books were burned. Farming was valued over all other professions. Scholars were scorned.

When he said that it made me wonder... Could it be that it's not the sharing aspect of communism that fails, but the anti-intellectual aspect? What if there was a communism where all skills and trades were valued? Hey, thanks for building me a house. Now I'll cook your family dinner for two months. And while we eat, Joe will sing and play guitar for all of us.

If a capitalist country was anti-intellectual and burning books, wouldn't it be just as bad as communism?

I see a lot of problems with capitalism. The main thing is it creates and rewards greed. People work at jobs that make them unhappy. Not only that, but they work to create things that are harmful to other people.

Lord Wiki says that some people argue against anarchist communism by saying without wage labor, people would be lazy and selfish. It reminds me of the arguments for children going to school. If children aren't FORCED to learn and bribed and punished with grades; they won't learn. They'll just want to play all day. Jack doesn't go to school. I rarely assign him any work. I rarely tell him what to do. Right now he's on Google Maps doing geography stuff. No one pushed him to do this. Like any human being, he is naturally curious. He WANTS to learn.

Lord Wiki says the response to the arguments about people being naturally lazy and selfish is that even wealthy people, who don't have to work, still end up doing work. They might do gardening. They might knit sweaters. They might paint. They might babysit. Yes, there are some who DO end up just partying, drinking, gambling, and showing their face on Tabloids. But those people would probably still be selfish and lazy if they HAD to work. They'd be the people who always come to work late and depend on everyone else to get the job done. They'd be the ones who steal from the company.

This post really might end up being a whole damn book.

I need to get back on track.

Greer taught at the University of Sydney. She also got her M.A in romantic poetry. She wrote a thesis that won her a scholarship. With that she was able to get her doctorate at the university of Cambridge in England. Ah, something else besides Oxford!

She joined a Cambridge acting group called the Footlights. There's a list of other people who have been part of this group. I'll name the ones I recognize: Douglas Adams, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Clive James, Hugh Laurie, Charles Shaughnessy, and Emma Thompson. The list is pretty damn impressive actually.

How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online  a novel by Dina Roberts 

Greer wrote a gardening column for a satirical magazine. She also wrote for the London Oz magazine. I remember reading about that in Robert Hughes' book.

Greer appeared nude in the magazine. Interesting.

She married a journalist in London, but the marriage lasted only three weeks. Why? She was unfaithful several times. Wow. I mean I can have some sympathy for adultery. I think sometimes it happens. But who can't stay faithful for three weeks?

In 1970, Greer had her book published. The Female Eunuch. First things first. What is an Eunuch?

This online dictionary says it's a castrated man. It can also refer to one that lacks virility or power. I'm guessing the latter is what Greer refers to in her title.

It seems Greer had been teaching when she published the book. When it became successful, she quit and traveled.

She bought a house in Italy.

She went to Africa and Asia.

In New Zealan,d she got arrested for saying certain words. Many people rallied in support of her.

This was all during the 1970's. She was a busy woman.

In 1979, she did stuff in America. She worked at the University of Oklahoma as the director for the Center of the Study of Women's Literature.

In 1989 she was working at Cambridge as a lecturer. She resigned in 1996 because of some controversy regarding a transsexual colleague. She didn't want this colleague becoming part of the fellowship, because the colleague had once been male. Really? That's sad. So, it seems she's not sympathetic towards transsexuals. I have another mark against her.

All right. Now Lord Wiki has a whole little section about the Female Eunuch. He says the book is about men hating women and women not realizing men hate women. I agree with the first part. I don't really agree with the second. And I'm not sure I'd use the word hate. I think men look down at women. They see us as inferior, and treat us either in a cruel way or a condescending way. There ARE exceptions of course.

Lord Wiki says the book caused a lot of fights in households. Women were throwing it at their husbands. I wonder if anyone was seriously injured by this.

Apparently Greer suggested that women should taste their own menstrual blood. Yikes! I have never had any desire to do that. I had been curious to taste my own breast milk. I think that would be cool. Actually, maybe I did try that. I don't remember. I might have tasted a tiny drop. Yeah, I think that's it. And it was so small I couldn't really taste it.

But blood?

Maybe if I was a vampire.

Although I'm not sure if vampires still menstruate. I would imagine that whole process stops.

Greer is against celibacy and monogamy. I think I am too. Although I do like having my own little nuclear family.

I don't think monogamy works, though. I think it's unnatural. I think most people cheat. And if they don't, it's rarely because they are so in love with ONE person that they don't want to. It's because they feel morally obligated to stay faithful.

Monogamy doesn't just create cheaters, it creates dishonesty. And I hate dishonesty.

Of course there's the issue of jealousy. We can't share each other, because we'd all be jealous. But I think jealousy is just a natural evil you have to accept and push away.

Even with friends there are jealousy issues. I'm sometimes jealous that my friends have other friends. I think there's a part of me that wants to be their special one and only....which is so selfish and ridiculous because I have other friends besides them. And I also find myself downplaying my friendships with certain other friends. I sometimes feel that by having friends B, C, D, and E, I'm betraying friend A.

But you know it's all just silliness. You accept you have these feelings. You laugh at yourself, and you move on.

I also think that jealousy is often more about feeling neglected than resentment about sharing a person. I had major jealousy issues in my marriage last year. I think though that it was less about sharing my husband and more about feeling that our relationship was falling apart. If things are well between us, I'm happy to share him. If things are bad, little fireballs shoot out of my eyes.

And with my own friendships.....

I feel if I can follow the Girl Scout rule of make-new-friends-but-keep-the-old, than I'm doing fine. If I start ignoring old friends, because new friends are more exciting; than I know I'm being very bad.

Okay. Stop the tangent and get back to Greer......

She wasn't in support of burning bras. She was against bras but felt if you pushed people not to wear them, that was repression too.

I'm not sure how I feel about bras personally. I never wear one around the house but usually feel obligated to wear them around extended family and friends. I wear them at the lake house when the whole family is together. Once I take off my bra to go to sleep, I rarely leave the bedroom. I'm guessing this is about shyness in terms of being seen by my dad and brother-in-laws. But what about my mom and sister? Would I feel okay not wearing a bra in front of them? I hope so.

I DID breastfeed in front of everyone. So, I'm not that uptight.

Maybe I feel breasts look better when they're all perky instead of sagging. But is that my real feeling, or is it culturally cultivated?

All right. Now Lord Wiki is talking about Greer's other books.

There was one in 1984. Sex and Destiny--The Politics of Human Fertility. In the book, she condemns western sexuality. She criticizes our promotion of birth control in third world countries. She says it's less about concern for human welfare and more about the rich being envious of the fertility of the poor. Huh? Why would poor people be more fertile? And why would the wealthy people be jealous of that?

I don't know. I can see how promoting birth control could be an example of pushing our values on other people. But overpopulation is not a great thing for this world. And I also think many women would appreciate not giving birth to ten children. I can't be against promoting birth control. I would be against FORCING birth control on other people.

In 1991 Greer published a book called The Change: Woman, Ageing, and Menopause. She argues against hormone replacement therapy. She says that women are frightened into doing the therapy with stories of how their health will fail if they don't. I think the medical community does this a lot. If you don't see the dentist every six months, you'll be sorry! If you don't vaccinate your children on this exact schedule, they'll contract a horrible disease and DIE! Sure you can have a homebirth but first let us tell you about all the possible scary things that might happen to your child.

In 1999, we have The Whole Woman. Here she argues against Western intervention in terms of female circumcision.

I have to admit. I agree with her.

I DO believe in intervention when a woman doesn't want this surgery. And I imagine that most women don't. I believe in rescuing women from oppressive cultures when they choose not to be oppressed. But I think.....

What do I think?

I'm not sure.

I do not like the anti-male circumcision attitude that is so virulent in Attachment Parenting Circles. I ran into some of these websites, in my early years as a parent, because we practice attachment parenting. They make circumcision seem like the most violent abusive thing you can do to a baby.

The thing is I am Jewish. I know a lot of Jewish men. Never in my life have I heard a Jewish man complain about being circumcised. I'm sure there ARE some Jewish men out there who protest against the practice. But for the most part, it's an accepted aspect of Jewish culture. Yeah. It hurts. It's not a fun procedure. I'm not sure it's a medically necessary procedure. As someone who no longer follows Judaism, I'm not sure I'd do it again if I had another son. But I don't judge parents who choose to do it. Nor do I judge parents who get their baby's ears pierced. There's so much horrific REAL child abuse out there.

 I think we're being outrageous when we label things such as homeschooling, circumcision, and sending babies to daycare as child abuse. I think we can be against certain parenting methods and decisions. I think we can share our opinions and write/speak about them. But I think it's a bit misguided to become a complete fanatic about the situation.

As for female circumcision. Ouch. I wouldn't want that done to myself. I like all my parts the way they are. But I think it's hypocritical for Western society to point their fingers at societies who choose this practice. Are we really any better? Yeah, we might not formally force our people to be mutilated. But our idealistic view of women's bodies have caused too many girls to self-mutilate via self-starvation and plastic surgery. We live in a society where obesity and eating disorders are simultaneous epidemics. Yeah, it's fine to point our fingers at other cultures. Maybe sometimes we need to. But we also need to point those fingers at ourselves.

In 1997, a biography was written about Greer. She wasn't happy about that.  She said biographies should be written only about dead people.

In 2005, she was in the UK's Celebrity Big Brother. Really? That's funny.

She says she doesn't like reality TV. I don't like it either. We have something else in common. But I didn't go and put myself on a reality TV show. I've never been given the opportunity, though. Maybe if it came up, I'd be a hypocrite too.

In 2000, Greer proclaimed that she never sets foot in Australia without first asking the permission of the traditional owners of the land.

Some indigenous Australians claim that she doesn't truly does this.

All right. I'm done with Lord Wiki for now. I'm going to go read other stuff....well, after Jack and I eat some lunch.

I'm having fun here. I'm not sure I like Greer, but I do like writing about her.
Okay. I'm back. What next?

Here's something from Salon.com

It talks about a story in that biography Greer didn't like. Greer had written a book about her father. One of her classmates visited with their past mutual nun teacher. The classmate complained about Greer brooding over her childhood. The nun said she doesn't want to read the book. I couldn't bear to think that Germaine is so sad. I couldn't bear to read that that wonderful girl is so sad.

There's something beautifully poignant about that story I'm at a loss for words here. I guess I'll just move on.

The essay goes onto say that Greer ended up preaching against everything she learned in Catholic school. Still, the nun continued to see her as a wonderful person. I think that says a lot.

Greer is against pap smears. Really? Wow. I thought they were helpful. I'll have to read her views on this though.

I hate pap smears.

I'm horrible at pap smears.

I get so horribly nervous. I clam up. Then the doctor snaps at me. Relax! You really need to relax. They act completely exasperated with me. Then I end up feeling like a complete freaky loser. And these feelings don't exactly put me in a relaxed state.

This article says she has taken back her whole free love idea.

She also seems anti-homosexual. I was wondering about that when I read about the transsexual thing. Apparently, she believes homosexuality is caused by people not accepting their gender roles. Wow.

Here's an editorial written by Greer herself. It's about a photo of Miley Cyrus done by Annie Leibovitz.

Greer says, The Greeks and Romans liked their goddesses meaty; our preferred Venuses are children.

That's biting, but probably very true. This could explain why so many women have incidents of molestation and eating disorders in their childhood biographies. Too many men like little girls.

Greer says, Kate Moss has been able to earn millions only as long as she could continue to project the body image of a 13-year-old. The appeal of her nude portraits derives from the heart-breaking curve of her narrow hip-line and the tautness of her barely perceptible cleavage, not to mention the sulky innocence of her unfocused gaze.

That's beautifully written and I think it presents a scary truth.

This website has quotes from Greer.

I like this one. You're only young once, but you can be immature forever.

I'm very immature. I often feel like a twelve-year-old in a thirty-six-year old body. I ALWAYS feel that way when my parents are around. When I'm with Jack and/or my friends, I sometimes feel like I'm my actual age.

Here's another quote: Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run?

I can't walk in high heels. I think I'd be a feminist for that reason alone.

I have always been principally interested in men for sex. I've always thought any sane woman would be a lover of women, because loving men is such a mess. I have always wished I'd fall in love with a woman. Damn.

Wow. That sounds EXACTLY like something I'd say. But I think I CAN fall in love with a woman. I just can't bring myself to want to have sex with them.

She does sound a little less homophobic there. Maybe she's less homophobic and more transsexual-phobic.

Here's another quote website.

I like this quote. The older woman's love is not love of herself, nor of herself mirrored in a lover's eyes, nor is it corrupted by need. It is a feeling of tenderness so still and deep and warm that it gilds every grass blade and blesses every fly. It includes the ones who have a claim on it, and a great deal else besides. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

I wonder if that's true. Or did Greer write it while being enchanted by a current love affair?

I like this quote: The only perfect love to be found on earth is not sexual love, which is riddled with hostility and insecurity, but the wordless commitment of families, which takes as its model mother-love. This is not to say that fathers have no place, for father-love, with its driving for self-improvement and discipline, is also essential to survival, but that uncorrected father-love, father-love as it were practiced by both parents, is a way to annihilation.

Of course, it can be seen as sexist. Maybe we shouldn't definite it as female/mother or father/male love. I think I'd prefer the term unconditional nurturing love. It's a love that's pure and unselfish. Some fathers might love their children in this way. And some mothers don't.

I love this quote. Security is when everything is settled. When nothing can happen to you. Security is the denial of life. Amen to that. I like it because it gives validation to my anxiety and insecurities.

See this is why, although I think jealousy is silly, I also think it's natural. I feel jealousy, because I feel insecure. Friendships and relationships always have the possibility of ending. Everyday comes with the chance we will be replaced and no longer loved by the people who love us. For those who feel no jealousy (or claim they don't), I ask how the hell can they be so secure? What are they denying?

I think it's ridiculous to be completely secure that our relationships will continue on forever. But I do think you CAN accept that friendships come and go. You can take a healthy relaxed attitude about that. He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves someone else. He no longer loves me.

I guess the trick is not to become too attached to people. But if we do that, do we run the risk of being cold and detached?

Here's some stuff about her anti-transsexual feelings.

It says that Greer went on a witch hunt against transsexuals--trying to defame them and ruin their careers.

The website has some excerpts from her book.

Oh wait. I might kind of see her point here. I feel crazy saying that. And I do support people being transsexual. I also am against discriminating against transsexuals. But I think what Greer MIGHT be saying is that transsexuality exists because of our forced gender roles. If a male child identifies more with things that are traditionally female, could this encourage him to dislike his own gender and prefer to be female?

Jack has always shown an interest and liking towards things that are traditionally female. He does like male stuff too. He loves The Simpsons, and he has loved Star Wars. He likes video games. But he also likes "Girly" stuff. We have always accepted this and have never pushed gender stereotypes on him. We also have open discussions about sexism. He once had a fit at his cousin's birthday party, because the girls were given purses to decorate and the boys were given Spiderman stickers. Jack fought for his right to own a bright green purse.

I think Jack feels it's okay to like what he wants to like. From what I know of him, he loves being a boy. He's satisfied with his gender, because it doesn't restrict him in any way.

But what about children who are restricted?

No, Billy. Put down that doll. It's a girl's toy.

Boys don't wear nail polish. That's a girl thing.

No Sarah. Don't play that game. It's not ladylike .

I don't know enough about transsexualism, though, to declare that all cases are caused by misguided parenting and sexist marketing. There could be biological factors as well.

In some ways, I'm against transsexualism in a spiritual sense. I believe in reincarnation. I believe we live both male and female lives. With that in mind, I could say I think people should accept who they are. If you want to get rid of your penis and have a Vagina, wait until the next life.

BUT I could look at it in another way. Maybe a particular lifetime isn't about being male or female. Maybe transsexuals are supposed to spend that lifetime learning not to accept who they are but CHANGE who they are. I do believe everything happens for a reason. But it's not always about us accepting things. Sometimes it's about us CHANGING things.

Here's a quote from Greer. Whatever else it is gender reassignment is an Exorcism of the Mother. When a man decides to spend his life impersonating his mother (like Norman Bates in Psycho) it is as if he murders her and gets away with it, proving at a stroke that there was nothing to her. His intentions are no more honourable than any female impersonator's; his achievement is to gag all those who would call his bluff. When he forces his way into the few private spaces women may enjoy and shouts down their objections, and bombards the women who will not accept him with threats and hate mail, he does as rapists have always done.

Oh shit. Give me a break. I can lose all respect for Greer in that one paragraph. Is she actually serious?

I'm not even sure how to respond. The language she uses is outlandish. Gag? Force? Rape?

Here's some information about her pap smear feelings.

She says, Mass (pap smear) screening should be stopped and instead only carried out on the identified risk groups - young women, young women who smoke and those who have been exposed to the Human Papilloma Virus.

I wonder if there's any truth to that. How much of a risk to public health would it be to stop the mass testing?

Here's the infamous essay about Steve Irwin.

It was published on 5 September 2006. That's a day after he died. Shame on Greer for writing this essay and shame on The Guardian for publishing it. It's just distasteful. I don't believe in glorifying the dead. I think we CAN speak ill of them. But for Pete's Sake. Wait a little while! The fact that she wrote this soon after his death...well, to me that's just exploitive.

And yes some people are bad enough to warrant criticism immediately after they died. There are evil people out there. I don't think Irwin was evil. I personally am fond of the guy. Yes, I understand other people's dislike of him. He's misguided at times. He perpetuates Australian cultural stereotypes. He doesn't always make the wisest parenting decisions. But I think all in all, he's NOT a bad person.

He doesn't deserve Greer's selfish wrath. And I certainly don't think his family deserved it.

I wish I could find Birmingham's response. I'm trying. So far I can only find excerpts and commentary.

This has more of the editorial. It's in The Australian which is where Birmingham's editorial was published. But I don't think this is the whole one.

I think he's offensive....which he should be, because Greer totally deserves it. Unfortunately, though, he resorts to very sexist ideas to punish her. He points out that she's childless. That really has no meaningful point.

He calls her a hag.

He calls her a bag lady.

I do love this quote from Birmingham and think he has some very good points. Greer’s greatest contribution to the world was her attempt—through The Female Eunuch—to make a whole generation of women feel ashamed for getting married and having children. Thankfully, most women learned to ignore the shrill bore and made up their own minds about whether to have a family, career, neither or both. I suspect what irks Greer is Irwin was an Aussie who conquered the world but never forgot where he came from. Australians loved him. Who will mourn Germaine Greer when she keels over and dies in her mud-brick cottage in West Buggeryshire?

I think that's biting and mean. But as it attacks Greer (who deserves it), it doesn't attack all other women.

Now I'm going to look at Google News.

Never mind. I don't see anything that looks immediately exciting. This blog post is moving towards epic length.

I still haven't talked about the whole controversy of her declaring Aboriginal men have anger issues. Maybe I should.

Okay. She says they have blind rage.

Here's an interview about it.

Greer says, Aboriginal rage, it is not an excessive reaction to friction but the inevitable consequence of a series of devastating blows inflicted on a victim who is utterly powerless to resist.

I could probably agree with that.

This is totally off topic, but a vein in my leg has started pulsating recently. It's pretty cool but weird. I googled to make sure I have nothing fatal going on here. I didn't find anything scary. So I guess I'll just enjoy it. It's kind of an entertaining distraction while I write. The sensation reminds me a little bit of when Jack was in my uterus kicking away. But I guess this is a little less sweet and cute.

Back to Greer.

Here's a quote from Greer that has probably been worshiped and passed on by Attachment Parents everywhere.

In modern consumer society, the attack on mother-child eroticism took its total form; breastfeeding was proscribed and the breasts reserved for the husband's fetishistic delectation. At the same time, babies were segregated, put into cold beds alone and not picked up if they cried.

As a mother who practiced this type of parenting, I have to say, in this instance, Greer and I are on the same page. I'm not against breasts being used as erotic tools to attract and/or please men. I'm also not against babies in cribs.

 I AM against people who oversexualize breasts and promote the breastfeeding relationship as being perverse and abusive. I'm also against any baby "experts" who warn parents against comforting their crying baby. It's one thing not to go to your crying baby, because you're pooping on the toilet, finishing your dinner, washing your hair, or taking care of another child. It's another thing for a mother to sit there with her heart breaking, not going to pick up her wailing baby simply because she's been told that her restraint will build a better child. I know because one awful day, I WAS that mother.

Here's a review of Greer's book The Whole Woman.

The reviewer says:

Greer's writings usually reflect the experience of educated, White, middle-class women and this book is no exception. However, one does get the impression that, thirty years on, she is conscious of the narrowness of this experience and attempts to draw more broadly from the experiences of women of colour.

Well, that's good. We're all a little bit limited in our viewpoint. We're all a little ethnocentric. At least Greer tries to somewhat overcome that.

I like what the reviewer says here: The bottom line of all this is-there's a buck to be made. The cosmetics industry with its creams (skin whitening creams being very popular in Asia), toners, exercise equipment, dietary supplements, etc., make millions of dollars out of "women's carefully cultivated disgust with their own bodies". I think the last bit of the line comes from Greer herself.

All right. I should end soon. Right?

I'm going to look on Twitter first. What are people saying about Germaine Greer?

Motters says, Germaine Greer clearly took too many drugs in the 1960s. His Twitter links to this article. Oh no. Wait. It's a video. It's really freaky--kind of a cross between The Exorcist and The Ring. If I watch this whole video will I die in seven days? I think so. I'm turning it off.

Loocifer (who thinks he is David Bowie) asks, Has anybody actually ever read anything that Germaine Greer wrote? Ever?

Does reading bits and pieces on the web count? I'm guessing probably not. I should read her books one day for myself. Maybe I will.

A lot of Twitters point to this recent piece written by Greer. I guess I should read it.

It's a letter to the new Poet Laureate. I have no idea what that is actually.

Okay. Lord Wiki says it's a poet appointed by the government.

Really? Wow. I had no idea.

It seems in the United States, we have a poet for each state. The one in Texas is Larry D. Thomas.

Greer has some biting words. When the tabloids pursue you, just say no. You don't have to write anything about any of the royals, if you don't want to. Here I am, an old woman scowling in the gay springtime, hoping against hope that you don't want to. They, needless to say, will not care whether you do or not. They spend more time killing birds in large numbers than they do reading poetry.

Pretty good writing there. Most of the other stuff goes over my head. I'm declaring ignorance on this one.

There's so much more to say. There's so much research that should be done.

But I'm going to shut up now.

How about now you guys share your opinion of Greer. Love her? Hate her? Or are you like me; admiring her for some things and despising her for others?

Read my novel: The Dead are Online