Arthur Binard Lecture


Last Monday I had the opportunity to attend a lecture given by Arthur Binard, a renowned translater and poet from the United States and who has lived in Japan for over half of his life. In his talk, Mr. Binard discussed words, and how they can have the power to change our own perceptions, and those of the people around us. Mr. Binard talked about how he first realized the full gravity of this after a trip to Japan, where he saw first hand remnants from American nuclear bomb attacks on Japan. He spoke powerfully about how words like "atomic" and "mushroom cloud" have real, intrinsic meaning in this day in age because of the events associated with them, and how their use in advertising and other mundane application can and probably are misuses of these words and phrases. The ideas he presented were very interesting, and it is a shame I wasn't able to make it to his poetry reading on Wednesday.