© Miriam Goodman 2001.
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On "The Idea of Cuba," by Hazel Kahan
21 August 2001
There is so much in Hazel Kahan's “The Idea of Cuba” that jibes with the impressions I formed on a recent visit to Havana. However, among the many vivid images I carried away with me was a rather troubling one. There, in the heat of the day was a block-long line of Cubans waiting their turn to pay in pesos for an ice cream cone while others, with dollars in their pockets, quickly came and went through a separate entrance. If this inequity were merely a matter of afternoon snacks, I would not be writing this letter. But it can be seen on a daily basis throughout Cuban consumer society, a result of the government's decision to introduce the American dollar as acceptable currency. This action, taken as an attempt to jolt an economy severely damaged by a cruel embargo, may succeed. But it has clearly encouraged the existence of a select, monied class. And what that will do in the long run to "the idea of Cuba" is yet unknown.
— Elly Weiss
On Frigate's Aesthetic
March 5, 2001
Just stopping by and reading your newest issue. Just all-around high-quality work, a real treat. You have an angle, an aesthetic, a curatorial axe to grind, however you want to look at it, and that is a wonderful, needed thing. With so many wheel-spinning print journals out there, Frigate is a real argument to get online and get the ideas out there. Hell, I actually feel smarter, whistling with a tune in my head — and perhaps that's the biggest compliment I could give you!
Daniel M. Nester
Editor in chief, La Petite Zine
Editor, Painted Bride Quarterly
Response from Frigate
This is particularly high praise coming from Mr. Nester. We urge our readers to check out his publications, and to look at other journals on webdelsol. He is right about our "curatorial axe." We're glad Mr. Nester can hear the tune we've been playing on our axe, and it's good to think of him whistling a few licks himself.
P.E.
On Frigate's Special Work Focus
January 11, 2001
I liked this little collection quite a bit. For years I worked in a corporate setting and have long been dismayed at how little fiction tended to the world of work. I compiled an anthology of such stuff (which never got published) and have written some stories, read others.A fascinating world, one I am glad to see you noted in your (electronic) pages.
James Reed
Managing and Fiction Editor, The Nebraska Review
Omaha, Nebraska
Response from Frigate
Excerpts from Mr. Reed's excellent anthology are now posted on our site. To read them, click here.
P.E.
On Beth Henson's "Seven Great Films About Working"
January 11, 2001
I would add [to Henson's list] Office Space, the Mike Judge satire of corporate America. But I think her comment that there are few movies about working is right on — we go to films, generally, to escape our lives. But I also happen to think that, for all of our talk about the American work ethic, as a culture we do not value work. How many of us live for the weekends, after all, or look forward more to the "five o'clock world, when the whistle blows." But I think, also, we undervalue work in other ways. This strikes me, for example, whenever I hear a news report that ties higher unemployment to good news for Wall Street investors.
Joseph M. Schuster
St. Louis, MO
Response from Frigate
What does it mean, we do not value work? I love to work: this summer I built a stone wall in my backyard, last week I stacked a cord of firewood for my parents. I write for Frigate, which is hard work indeed. Americans do value work, we are great fixer-uppers, we relax by improving our homes, cars, and gardens. We volunteer. We love to engage in productive activity.
The trouble is that most of us spend the better part of our time working for wages, at jobs which are meaningless, degrading, and destructive in all kinds of ways. Our human creative capacities are wasted and turned against us. We quite reasonably respond with slack. Only in a new world, where we work not for wages but for the common good, does it make sense to talk about valuing work.
B.H.
On Night Shift: Poets on Work, Edited by Miriam Goodman
March 19, 2001
First jobs are always the most memorable even if sometimes the most menial. Here is a poem by a young friend, a keen observer of those who hoist the Tray.
Jack Israel
Frigate contributor
Weight, for Robin
by Alice George
When she was older, one thing she thought of [more than often] was
her time wasted one summer as a waitress.
She spent late hours working at the biggest restaurant on the boardwalk,
where she, being big, served the tables with 10 or more people.
The food was inexpensive and came with complementary cornbread and soup,
which made the place popular for families [grandparents and all].
Husbands devoured fried chicken, wives ate Caesar salad, their children doused hamburgers and fries
in Heinz. She served the tables with the most people not because she was a better waitress.
It was because she was fat and could carry the heavy trays of steaming soup.
The other girls [skinny and appealingly pathetic] were the ones who
went out after work at 1 or 2 in the morning
to snort cocaine and drink with the dishwashers.
The girls [skinnier and more pathetic by the day] would come in for their shift 15 minutes late,
hung-over and filled with stories.
Everyone told the fat girl about their nights because she listened without saying anything
austere. She devoured stories of cheap motels, cheap drugs, cheap vodka.
It thrilled her a little, her fat body tingling.
Parts of it disgusted her, too, and she couldn't tell the difference between envy
and near-anger. Though she could have, she didn't return the next summer.
.79 cents an hour wasn't quite enough to go back to
corn bread, fried chicken, and heavy trays of soup. The only benefit of carrying the trays was
she hoped she had sweat enough to lose a few pounds.
She wouldn't have minded going back to late nights or hot kitchens or rude customers.
Returning to stories that could never come from a fat girl was what she cared about.
Response from Frigate
A poem to answer poems — a response that honors us. We hope that other readers will send their work poems.
P.E.
On Frigate's Celebration of Kenneth Patchen
July 5, 2000
You deserve major, major praise for including Kenneth Patchen in your fold. Patchen gets passed over all too frequently by the contemporary "post-modern" intelligentsia, mostly (I believe) because there's not an ironic bone in his body, and because of the spiritual dimension of his work. What a joy to see him embraced on line (and in such good company).
David Surface
Fiction Writer/Essayist
Brooklyn, New York
Response from Frigate
We are glad to hear from a Patchen admirer, and particularly one of Mr. Surface's eloquence. We hope to publish many more recuperative essays in the future. Please write to editor@frigatezine if you would like to propose a neglected or undercelebrated writer for our consideration.
P.E.
