Mary Novaria

 PUBLISHED IN  Patriarchal Poetry Slam: Amanda Gorman's Poems Surpass Criticism Photo Credit: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo FF2 Guest Post by Mary Novaria FEBRUARY 12, 2021 Historically, people watch the Super Bowl for one of two reasons. They are football fans, or they want to see the ads. Sometimes both. This year, we had a fresh and compelling motivation to tune in when Amanda Gorman became the NFL Championship’s first-ever poet. Talk about winning the Super Bowl! The poet created “Chorus of the Captains” as an ode to three frontline workers who were named honorary Super Bowl captains. The poem lauds Los Angeles educator Trimaine Davis, Marine veteran James Martin, and Florida ICU nurse Suzie Dorner, who performed the opening coin toss, for their extraordinary leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Once again Ms. Gorman captivated the nation and proved last month’s inaugural triumph was no fluke. Social media gushed with admiration, just as it had a few short weeks be...

The vitriol that is spread under the cover of social media anonymity is quickly infecting the rest of society. March 7, 2017  by  Mary Novaria   Featured on The Good Men Project Getty Images I’ve heard it said that folks who spew malicious attacks and toxic name-calling on Twitter are hiding behind relative anonymity—that they would never look someone in the eye and repeat face-to-face the same nasty, ugly venom, they type out to the world in 140 characters or less. Whether that theory is true, and I’m not convinced it is, doesn’t matter. Words are currency. Whether delivered via social media, a phone call, email or text, or in the presence of others, the words we choose and way we use them speaks volumes about who we are, both individually and as a society. ◊♦◊ So when I see the headline,  Longtime Trump Adviser Calls Critic a “Stupid Ignorant Ugly B—–, ” it gets my hackles up. Although some of his most profane and poisonous tweets wer...