The Glade 4.0

She was a delightful woman.

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Not a fan?

I enjoyed reading her work and hearing her speak. She had a great voice at her peak. Her experiences as revealed in her writings were those of a bright, intelligent person growing up in a difficult time. The civil rights movement benefited from her work, and the rest of the USA that bothered to pay attention were educated and shown the depths of racism and bigotry in general. Her works will be taught for generations, both as literature and history, the latter mostly dealing with examples of the writings of the American Civil Rights movement.

She had been ill for some time. It is hard to regret someone being released from. Failing body. May her spirit fly free.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

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Holy shitsnacks!

lol

I had the opportunity to meet Maya Angelou on multiple occasions. I will not go so far as to say she remembered my name, but she was a poet, scholar, and speaker; so I attended more than a few conferences at which she was speaking or presenting or simply attending. I was fortunate to have a few one-on-one conversations with her about literature and voice (in the poetic sense). I have immense respect for Maya Angelou and her contributions to the literary canon. Some of her poetry is schlock; some of it is sublime. The same can be said for any poet. She was Poet Laureate of the United States. I cannot say that meeting Maya Angelou left me gobsmacked like I was the first time I met Philip Levine, but Philip Levine is one of my idols.

All of that said, the thing that strikes me the most about Maya Angelou to this day is how approachable and humble she was in person, at least with me. She was a delightful woman. My comment was meant to remind people that Maya Angelou was a person, too; and there are people who remember her more for who she was than what she did.

I guess I can best sum up my opinion of Maya Angelou this way: she published a poem in 1983 that condensed all the substance and meat of her autobiography into a single stanza. Said poem stripped itself of any uniquely American or African American encumbrance. It simply became a poem about walls, seen and unseen, boundaries, and freedom. I cannot say I'm a fan; I identify with Maya Angelou's earlier poetry in a lot of ways. I regret that politics overshadowed the eloquence, simplicity, and craftsmanship of her work in later years. I regret that she became a symbol far, far away from what she truly loved. But Maya Angelou was a brilliant woman, a gifted poet, and a truly kind human being; and the world will be a somewhat dimmer place without her. So I leave you with that stanza which crystallizes the human experience.

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Wow, talk about self-obsessed.