Category: Philosophical (Page 3 of 4)
From the studio of Ned:
Click on the image above to enlarge.
I thought this was an interesting story and wanted to share.
Click on the photo above to read the article.
Just back from a tremendous week in the Caribbean. By way of a Poetry Post, here’s a review of a new book on T. S. Eliot that seems relevant and interesting. The idea of “the buried life” seems central to Eliot–perhaps, in some ways, to all of us in the Hollow Men. –Shotts
Books of The Times
A Devoted Tour Guide to a Desert of a Soul
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Published: January 16, 2007
T. S. ELIOT
By Craig Raine
202 pages. Oxford University Press. $21.
In a culture that now seems long ago and far, far away, T. S. Eliot was a rock star. The poet made the cover of Time magazine in 1950, and several years later, 14,000 people turned out in Minneapolis to listen to him talk about “The Frontiers of Criticism.†Modernism was the ruling aesthetic inside and outside academe, Eliot was one of its high priests, and his most famous poem, “The Waste Land,†was hailed not only for its groundbreaking technique and glittering shards of language, but also for its difficulty — its density, its allusiveness, its recondite knowledge.
OK, so here is my first post in a while- a two-parter.
I have recently been thinking in systems theories, particularly as they partain to groups like ours. How closely does life imitate art, I ponder. In a system, each part of that system serves a function and hopefully the whole of the system is able to obtain homeostasis, that is to say, a conistancy in functioning. Our group, I would contend has been consistent over time to a degree, and has righted itself here and there over the years. So, when TV shows, movies, and theater is written, one wonders how much of what they are trying to capture could be represented in our little group. What I would suggest is that this may occur more than we think.
An interesting little experiment we might do here is to have each person consider the cast of a few shows and movies and submit them to me. Feel free to add shows, or movies we might all have some degree of familiarity with. What I would be interested in is:
1) how we see ourselves; what roles we envision ourselves in
2) how others see us
3) how well those match.
This may give us some clues as to some of the roles we fulfill with in the structure of our group. Some obvious shows: Star Trek (original and next generation), Lost, U2 (not a written cast, but a group whose members function as a system), Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, M*A*S*H*, the Office. Maybe we want to choose 2 or three to get started. Suggestions? Send them to me this week, and I will tally and report on them next Monday. I am also open to any suggestions on how to better this experiment.
The next line of business is not related with any intention to the first. I would submit that we all look at taking 5 minutes and filling out a Myers-Briggs test. Human Metrics has one that has a number of questions which should provide some validity to the project. This is strictly for fun only, and does not have any problematic mental health implications. This is a test used primarily by psychologists and is a fun way to compare what the test says about personality traits so we might compare how that measures up with observation of self and others. Really not much more than a conversation peice which may give everyone a little insight about themselves and how they function and work, what strengths they might have. I would be interested to get feedback on how whether or not everyone feels the tool is accurate or inaccurate and why. There are several of these on line, and they are not the actual test, but my experience has been that they are fairly predictive in capturing the flavor of the test. This one is a little longer than the others which should help create more validity. There are no right answers just how you feel. being honest with yourself and not playing to the bias that you feel the questionare is seeking is most likely to result in the most accurate tabulations. I took it and will take it again after I post to see if my result is consistent again. I was an INTJ.
Here is one more if you get bored or want to compare your result to another test.I am looking forward to hearing what you guys find out. By the way, Happy New Year to all.
The last couple of days, I’ve been repairing a hole in our dining room ceiling, sanding, priming, and painting. Meanwhile, I’ve had on Minnesota Public Radio and occasionally CNN. Everything is abuzz with list of “The Top _________ of 2006” (fill in the blank with “celebrities,” “movies,” “songs,” “albums,” “newsmakers,” and so on). Most of these, I have taken some issue with–either because I find the selections mundane or because I realize I haven’t digested enough of the music, film, and general culture of the year.
But, this leads me to ask: any “tops” of 2006 you’d like to share and comment on here?
Here are a few, from me:
Top novel: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (actually out in the U.S. from Graywolf Press in 2007).
Top poetry collection: Averno by Louise Gluck
Top movie: The Prestige
Top documentary: An Inconvenient Truth
Top song: “Hamburg Song” by Keane
Top political event: Democrats regaining Congress in November elections. Rumsfeld “resigns” shortly thereafter.
Top global events: Lack of global resolve over Darfur, Sudan. Continued unavailability of clean water to millions.
Top Minnesota event: The state sends first Islamic member of Congress to Washington in November election.
Top celebrity: Bono
And now, looking ahead, it must be asked: what do you foresee in 2007? This can either be predictions of important events or people, or it could take the form of personal New Years resolutions. It’s always such a reflective time. I’m reminded that the month of January comes from Janus, the Roman god of endings and beginnings, with a face looking backward and a face looking forward.
So, looking ahead now, here are a few thoughts and resolutions from me.
In 2007, I expect:
- to see Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Rudy Guliani in the spotlight for the Presidential elections of 2008, as they all announce their candidacies. (I’m already surprised to see John Edwards announce his candidacy, and so early.)
- a withdrawl plan from Iraq.
- peacekeeping efforts deployed to Darfur, through a renewed United Nations.
- the biggest seller in books, by far, to be the new and final Harry Potter.
- the biggest movie, in terms of blockbuster status, to be the new Harry Potter movie.
- to be exhausted by Harry Potter by this time next year.
- additional evidence for global warming.
- one of us to announce a child on the way.
Some of my personal resolutions include:
- to eat vegetarian as much as possible, with only occasional fish when eating out.
- to eat less, eat more healthy foods, drink less alcohol, and drink more water daily.
- to exercise at the Y at least 12 times each month.
- to post and comment regularly on the Hollow Men site, including a weekly literary/poetry feature.
- to work to organize our house better.
- to begin more sustained writing.
- to be in better touch with family and friends.
–Shotts
Last night, Steph and I went to one of her friends’ birthday parties. She was turning 50 and wanted it to be a memorable occasion — it definitely was. She had the Marching Cobras come in and perform. They’re spectacular. At one point in the evening, the members ran up and grabbed everyone and had us dance with them. Invigorating and delightful. At the end, the girl who tugged us into the dancing beat hugged Steph and I and said “thank you so much.” If you ever get the chance to see them, do.Â
I had this funny feeling of coordinated choas while watching them. Take a look at the video below and you can see for yourself. Everyone is sort of doing their own thing, but together it is tighly coordinated. Hard to explain…. If you watched one person doing it, it wouldn’t necessarily be very impressive. Together, it’s amazing.Â
The African-American marching band is fairly famous…it’s made up of young and old, thin and heavyset, and men, women and children.  It was like watching something happen that is simultaneously old and tribal and yet novel and urban. Did I mention it was spectacular? Click on the link above to go to their home page. If you click through the link to YouTube, you can see more videos of them. Here’s a video to see (though dimly) what they’re like performing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyS2z_QlE0Q
On an additional note, I found this video a couple of days ago. It’s been inspiring to me and I get chills every time I watch it (which is often, at least once a day since I’ve found it). There’s a lot of hope I feel when I watch…sadness, too. I wonder how long the locales Matt dances in will be there, and at the same time, I marvel in the wonder and diversity there is in the world. We miss out when we think the American Experience is the cumulation of humanity.
This has opened up a deep longing, and at the same time, a deep satisfaction in me….
Well, October has been a great month for me.
This past weekend, you all know what we were up to.
One weekend ago, some of my K-State friends congregated at our house for a reunion we have once a year, usually in the summer.
Two weekends ago I got the to enjoy the Ozark autumn, with trees just at the cusp of their full fall colors. I went camping with 3 guys from Kansas City I know through our church in the Mark Twain National Forest. The end destination on our hike: the Devil’s Backbone. Below is a photo my friend took while we were on the ridge (it was very backboney).
Click on the photo to see the full panorama….
While we were there, I thought about all things Devil’s Backbone and was reminded of a great movie by Guillermo Del Toro: The Devil’s Backbone. Since this is Halloween night (I’m currently writing while waiting to hand out candy with Steph, the kids keep coming up to our door) I thought the movie buttressed up against my reflections of this October nicely. I recommend this movie greatly. It takes in Spain during the Spanish civil war in 1939. I don’t normally watch horror films. However, the horror from this film isn’t produced by the film’s ghost, but instead comes from the humans caught up in this war. At least, that’s my take on it. It’s a ghost story where the most terrifying element comes from the humans. Watch it, if you’d like. I’d love to hear your reactions on it. The DVD cover stinks, by the way.
Oh, and catch Pan’s Labyrinth when it comes out, also by Guillermo Del Toro. It looks fantastic too. …of course, it has the right to be horrible and I’ll have to take my ringing endorsement (for a film I haven’t even seen) back. I should be more careful.
I recently saw an interview on Sixty Minutes in which an American doctor (working in Darfur, Sudan) accused the Bush administration of refusing to send in intervention forces because they were receiving information on Osama Bin Laden from the men in power. Osama apparently visited the current president to recruit men. When a German doctor was asked what he wanted to say to Americans watching, he said something like (paraphrased), “I have seen men gang rape women, while killing their children in front of them, mutilate and chop up men, and throw body parts into drinking water sources so that it is certain that no one can live there for years. What do you think I should say to my fellow Westerners? History will judge them harshly. They can not continue to lie and say, “We just didn’t know.”
For those of you who have seen the film Hotel Rwanda, this is that all over and maybe worse. I find it ironic that while Bush claims to be such a Christian, he has left Christians in Africa to be butchered — sandwiched between African Resistance movements and Islamist militias. The truth is that we likely wouldn’t even need to use military force, but merely just put some pressure on these people. We’re too busy trying to deal with the nuclear can of worms that we opened and can’t close. We need new methods of negotiation and diplomacy other than intimidation and violence. Every lunatic on the map wants a bomb now, because we then have to recognize the threat that they pose. Did we learn nothing from our bomb shelters in the 70s and 80s?
If anyone has additional information on Sudan, I welcome it. I have a few articles that I copied from my free NY Times emails, if anyone wants to read them. As I said the Sixty Minutes interview aired last Sunday night. I am considering writing a letter to my Congressman in outrage, but I have my cynical doubts as to what difference it may make. Also, I am just slightly into a book by Gene Sharp called the Politics of Nonviolent Action and I already would suggest it to any of you.
We approach our gathering, and I’m enjoying the anticipation. I look forward to speaking with you all. It’s been a long couple of weeks, one of which was spent on the road in New Jersey for the Dodge Poetry Festival (anyone who has viewed Bill Moyers’ special The Language of Life knows the Dodge Festival) and then in New York for a few days. A week away has paid a toll.
First, some housekeeping:
Toby, are you ready for us to descend upon you? Anything we can do, bring, or otherwise?
J.E. and Ned, are you able to be there?
Peters, I assume you’re set to come?
And second, a few things:
I know I’ve put in for a guys-only kind of weekend. I still stand by that, but certainly don’t mean to put any of you in a strange spot–Toby especially–about this. So whatever the configuration, it will be great. Toby in particular, I know you and Steph have had a hard few weeks by now. I hope this weekend is still good for you, and I hope it’s useful the way friendship can be useful to grief.
I look forward to such candid talk. For one, I would like to hear more about our marriages and the ways each of us makes them work. Who would have thought we’d have an HM gathering and talk about our relationships, let alone our marriages? Considering that most HM gatherings centered often on our solitude, perhaps we’ve come some distance. But I guess that’s the vicinity I’d like to discuss–how do you protect your solitude and still remain a committed and loving partner? Certainly some of that conversation can and should occur here on the site–so please do respond here–but I hope we can talk openly about some of these issues. Speaking for myself, in this last year, I’ve found it very difficult to maintain the things that I used to value and still value–solitude, reading, writing, contemplation, running, certain friendships, and so on. While I realize a new balance is being struck with Jen, and one that most often seems only to improve, it’s still sometimes hard not to feel some loss. Peters brought some of this up awhile ago on an earlier post, and it would be great to continue some of that conversation and to hear from Peters on this, since he and I are at least in a similar time frame in our marriages, but also to hear from Ned, J. E., and Toby, who have had some longer time to live within their marriages.
In any case, this is on my mind, and it’s part of what I look forward to. Of course, I also look forward to tea and coffee, walking through the leaves, and catching up on all our eccentricities. Autumn has been in full force here in Minnesota for the last couple of weeks–truly exhilarating around the Mississippi, the bridges, the lakes, our neighborhood and in the parks. It will be great to come down while Kansas City will be in the throes of its autumn.
See you, in less than three weeks — Jeff
Dear friends: Just a note to let you know that at last I finished Gandhi’s autobiography (whew!). Good but tedious at times. It does not even cover the latter part of his life when he really drew the most recognition.
I also recently re-read a book I had first read in NY, called the Ninemile Wolves, by Rick Bass. It is an insightful and well-balanced argument for the re-introduction of wolf packs into the northern United States and Yellowstone, written long before (and perhaps actually galvanized support for) the final re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone. But as well as an engagingly written account of the re-appearance of wolves in northern Montana, almost three decades after they had been driven off by the federal “Predator Control Act”, Ninemile is an example of the new attitude and paradigm shift that needs to take place in how we think of wilderness, bio-diversity, preservation, and our ever-shrinking, truly wild places.
I mention this because of a recent, brief exchange about the Nature Conservancy. For those of you who have seen my painting “Balancing Act” this passage from Rick Bass was part of the creative spark for that image (as well as the cut hill that was the subject theme for the entire series and the Wallace Stevens poem, etc.). He refers to the irrational way in which wolves were demonized and exterminated (hunted, burned, poisoned, trapped, shot at, and beat to death) which will remain a historical fact of the transformation of the west into cattle ranches. The book also features some nice (however small) black and white ink drawings by Russel Chatham.
Is the base of our history unchanging, like some batholith of sin – are we irretrievable killers? – or can we exist with wolves, this time? I believe we are being given another chance, an opportunity to demonstrate our ability to change. This time, we have a chance to let a swaying balance be struck: not just for wolves, but for humans too.
JE — Your card arrived today. Thanks. I have that Nature Conservancy card set too. They are one of the very best charities. The one that I support no matter what, even when I’m down on my luck.
It’s not very good, but I just felt like posting something different…the following is true and I put it in a poem while I was in college.
V. The police called to tell me my car window was reported “found shattered.†I slip on my shoes and white T-shirt and break out of the front door, heavily squinting in the morning sun. I slowly twist my head through where-the-window-should-be to find glass seeding the front seat. I talk to the police officer; taken:
1 rental tape,
26 music discs.
The letter that came this morning:
“Your recent letter came. I have read it and reread it many times. You know you can count on us for prayers for your safety. It’s a problem I have understanding how God answers in so many unusual ways.
Your mother needs you so terribly much. Through her tears is sobbed, ‘I wish he could spend some time with Andrew this summer.’ I really don’t know what else to say.
Congratulations on your graduation.
Love,
Grandma C.â€
Recent Comments