Rally vs. poetry reading

I was involved in an exchange with a fellow respondent on Lou Harry's A&E blog on the Indiana Business Journal website. (Check the April 7 entry.) Lou blogs about the Culture Matters Rally scheduled for noon, Monday, April 20, on the Circle in Downtown Indianapolis. After reading a few exhortations to be there, I mentioned that I'll be around the corner from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. attending a poetry reading at the Artsgarden. Shouldn't I receive credit for attending an actual arts event?

A respondent named Steve wrote: To JL Kato: No, that will not count as being present. You need to be on Monument Circle so that when the news media captures images it will not look as if we couldn't garner a large crowd. Go to a poetry reading some othere time -- or better yet, the Arts Council should reschedule that event for another day entirely. Present means being there. Physically, not just in spirit.

A few days later, I replied: To Steve: I've decided to attend the poetry reading at the Artsgarden instead of attending the rally. Doing otherwise is like a sick patient missing a doctor's appointment so he can attend a seminar on health care. If I had not made this commitment, then, yes, I would be on the Circle. But I need my poetry fix.

To JL Kato: With all due respect, I think you have it backwards. the arts in Indianapolis is the sick patient and the poetry reading is the seminar.

Hi, Steve: As someone who has organized poetry readings, I know it can be a thankless job. As someone who has been fortunate to be invited to read at literary events, I know how important it is to have an audience. I'm not going to throw away the efforts of the organizers and readers of (the) Artsgarden event. That said, we're really on the same side. So, how can I help (albeit not from 12:15 to 1:15)?

By the way, T.J. Reynolds and Mijiza Soyini are the featured poets in the Artsgarden. They will rock the mic. Their appearance was arranged by Indiana Poet Laureate Norbert Krapf, who will be hobnobbing with fellow state laureates in Rhode Island that day. Michael Collins will fill in as host. See you there.