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March is Women's History Month!

To The '13.7' Community: I Love You, Man!

Two hundred and eleven comments and counting — about poetry! We here at 13.7 have come to understand what the hot-button issues are for most people. The strongest responses happen in reaction to posts about religion and science, animal welfare, diet and children's issues.

Then — unexpectedly — my post on the relationship between science and poetry launched a vibrant and compelling discussion about the nature and importance of poetry.

One usually gets the feeling that poetry has become, well, kind of unimportant for modern society. For those who love and are moved by its forms, it can feel kind of lonely. But, clearly, poetry is doing OK if a blog post on one of the nation's most respected news sites can generate a firestorm of deeply felt and closely argued commentary.

Take that, you horrible, nasty, disheartening YouTube comments!


You can keep up with more of what Adam Frank is thinking on Facebook and on Twitter: @AdamFrank4

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Adam Frank was a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. A professor at the University of Rochester, Frank is a theoretical/computational astrophysicist and currently heads a research group developing supercomputer code to study the formation and death of stars. Frank's research has also explored the evolution of newly born planets and the structure of clouds in the interstellar medium. Recently, he has begun work in the fields of astrobiology and network theory/data science. Frank also holds a joint appointment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, a Department of Energy fusion lab.