Comments on: Toni Morrison

By: sam

sam — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:15:13 +0000

Jeff,

For someone who is very critical of Ms Morrison, why do you bother to tune in to hear her if she makes no sense every time she speaks.Shouldnt you be doing better things with your time than listening to her, how about you go write a book yourself!!. If just about everyone can get a Nobel, I wonder if you have any? or maybe you have a Pulitzer or one of the numerous other awards than she has garnered over the years. People like you are just “flies at our feasts” you live to tear down other people and their works hopeing to bring them down to your puny existence, and insecurities. I wonder why you even bother to tune in to NPR and programs like this that encourage discourse and dialogue, shouldnt you rather be listening to Rush and the likes of you at Fox network spewing vitrol and choking in your own bile.
Embrace life, you may be shocked that it isnt such a terrible thing afterall!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:14:11 +0000

Everytime I hear this woman speak, it confirms to me that just about anybody can get a Nobel. I just don’t think there’s much substance here. There have to be about a million other people who could talk more intelligently about censorship. More often than not, she seems to talk only about when her own books were censured. Quite the ego. Whatever!

By: Mary Kay

Mary Kay — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:14:29 +0000

I listened twice, as the local NPR station repeats broadcast at the end of the day. I am fortunate to have learned about Toni Morrison from a daughter taking an English lit seminar at UCLA. She passed her books on to me with notes in the margins from the class discussions. I have read most of Toni Morrison’s books & re-read some. I appreciate the way she explores the multiple ways in which the most positive human intentions may go awry. I applaud Ms Morrison for her insight into human nature & her courage to speak the truth. That encourages me to explore our experience at a deeper level and to speak the truth. Thank you, Ms Morrison!

By: Mara Fusfield

Mara Fusfield — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:53:02 +0000

Ms Morrison–just to give you correct information–because Catholics only recently started reading the Bible: the original sin was NOT getting knowledge–it was PRIDE — thinking that one could become God or like God–it was the sin of Satan that is what caused his fall. It is described in Isaiah as well as in Genesis. Thanks

By: Katherine Gotthardt

Katherine Gotthardt — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:42:21 +0000

Thank you for airing this incredible interview! Morrison’s themes of freedom through written expression and attempts to stifle disturbing messages resonate through my mind, soul and keyboard.

I wish I could have asked about censorship and blogs, how blogs can turn the writer into a political and/or social target. This has happened to me in Prince William County, VA, and so I am curious to hear others’ experiences.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:42:58 +0000

This is a Brilliant episode of On Point~ Toni Morrison is an inspiration. I’ve not yet read her work, but now will.
I agree with her totally here, and I recommend everyone listen to this interview and send it to everyone you know. It’s that valuable, that important.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:29:54 +0000

Thank you for this interview. I just came from teaching a basic composition class at a community college in Brooklyn. As a creative writer, I have experienced the sense of agency and control over one’s circumstances that can come from writing about them.

I would love to know if Ms. Morrison can recommend any ways to awaken students to the power and gifts that can come from articulating one’s experiences?

Thank you,
Lisa

By: nora

nora — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:03:42 +0000

Thank you for bringing Toni Morrison into this day. Unfortunately I left the radio on and heard the next guest too.
I am inspired by ms. Morrison’s responsibility.

By: Expanded Cpnsciousness

Expanded Cpnsciousness — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:26:12 +0000

Maya Angelou’s voice is endlessly beautiful, too.

By: Emily Corwith

Emily Corwith — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:22:35 +0000

The most beautiful woman with the most beautiful voice …

By: Mari McAvenia

Mari McAvenia — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:06:54 +0000

As a writer, myself, I not only enjoyed every word spoken by Toni Morrison during this segment, I completely endorse the pragmatic reasoning she employed to back them up.

The quote from Franz Kafka, at the end, was the first thought I had at the beginning of this show. How’s that for literary symmetry?

By: Expanded Consciosness

Expanded Consciosness — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:03:55 +0000

Re: Toni’s last point, her fear that those who elected Obama will fail by sitting back and waiting for him to fix the problems (health care, etc). What exactly should they be doing that they aren’t? Any specific ides?

Great interview.

By: Jeremy Baker

Jeremy Baker — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:01:18 +0000

Bring back Toni Morrison for another show!

By: john oleary

john oleary — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:56:03 +0000

…..Well done Toni Morrison at 78…
Irish music survived because it was banned by the British..
As I write this I hear the man ask the question about cultural acceptance of OPRESSION IN SOME CONTEXTS ….
NOTICE WE IN AMERICA ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED A FREE AND OPEN DISCUSSION OF THE THE WARS ONCE THEY HAVE BEGUN..
Qf course I refer to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Great show guys .
john

By: Mary Ellen Stumpf

Mary Ellen Stumpf — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:51:30 +0000

Ms. Morrison:

Your searing insight and depiction of the horrors of slavery in “Beloved” was so heartwrenching, I had to put down the novel and have yet to finish it. Have others had this problem? If so, I think this speaks directly to the power or the written word you and Tom are speaking about today.

By: Mark Beatham

Mark Beatham — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:51:03 +0000

What about the potential conflict of art and politics? Isn’t it like a one-way street? You can get to politics with good art (good art can be political), but you can’t go the other way. The reason, it seems to me, is that art embraces irony, while politics needs to smooth it all out. And what about Harold Bloom’s claim that Toni was a budding great artist until she got enlisted into politics? Song of Solomon was her last work of art.

By: Ronald Johnson

Ronald Johnson — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:22:47 +0000

Did Tom really just say “from whence”? Hello!

By: George Holoch

George Holoch — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:41:42 +0000

Please ask Ms. Morrison to address the issue of censorship and frequent self-censorship induced by the apparently now widely held belief that believers in one or another form of religion have a right not to be offended.