America's New Favorite Past-time

Elite-bashing. A term that encapsulates many of the problems I have with American culture. Susan Jacoby has written a beautiful article on the subject in the Times. And I quote:

"During the past few months, I have received hundreds of e-mail messages calling me an elitist for drawing attention to America’s knowledge deficit. One of the most memorable came from a man who objected to my citation of a statistic, from a 2006 National Geographic-Roper survey, indicating that nearly two-thirds of Americans age 18 to 24 cannot find Iraq on a map. “Why should I care whether my mechanic knows where Iraq is, as long as he knows how to fix my car?” the man asked.

But what could be more elitist than the idea that a mechanic cannot be expected to know the location of a country where thousands of Americans of his own generation are fighting and dying?"

Read more here...

"Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?"

A great Scientific American article by Sean Carroll, who is at UofC. Definately worth a read if you are interested in time asymmetry, the origin of the universe, or cosmology in general. Excerpt:

"[The] scenario, proposed in 2004 by Jennifer Chen of the University of Chicago and me, provides a provocative solution to the origin of time asymmetry in our observable universe: we see only a tiny patch of the big picture, and this larger arena is fully time-symmetric. Entropy can increase without limit through the creation of new baby universes."

"...A striking feature of our observable cosmos—the arrow of time, arising from very low entropy conditions in the early universe—can provide us with clues about the nature of the unobservable universe."

Read more...

Debussy

I've found a new battle cry in an article by Debussy's imaginary critic, named Monsieur Croche (Mr. Eighth-note), who Debussy used as a mouthpiece in the Revue blanche:

"Remain unique!... unblemished! Being too influenced by one's milieu spoils an artist: in the end he becomes nothing but the expression of his milieu"

"Search for a discipline within freedom! Don't let yourself be governed by formulae drawn from decadent philosophies: they are for the feeble-minded. Listen to no one's advice except that of the wind in the trees. That can recount the whole history of mankind..."

21st Century America(ns)

How to Define Yourself in a World of Definitions

1. Research
"I have a mind!" should be the first words out of your mouth. Second should be, "And how shall I use it?" with a healthy, dramatic pause for the audience, who mercifully gasp holes in the air. Go out there. Observe. Choose role-models. Throw them away. Choose others. Place yourself in unorthodox situations and work your way through with that courage you've been waiting to use. Throw some of that youthful instinct on the burner, toss some broccoli or orange slices in there with a pinch of enthusiasm, and take a whiff. What's it smell like? Terror? panic? death...? Not a chance. There should be a spiral of smoke circling from your concoction thats tinged with a fresh sprig of parsley-scented opportunity. Now take it and...

2. Bend the Rules
"Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness" as the saying goes. I prefer "demand adherence." if the irony is not immediately apparent, let me just add that i'm one of the most lily-livered idea-men out there; if only i could drop the social obligation and take a page out of the objectivist handbook I would be allll right. Innovation is the name of the game and if you don't have dreams of Greatness then hand the reins over to your non-existent ego, sit back in your carriage pulled by two surging steads named Nescience and Oblivion, and enjoy the ride.

3. Persona
"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character" and character breaths life into the fabric of our modern reality. True character can be found in the work of Brauer or Frobenius, but our character comes from negation and a healthy suspicion of society. Re-creation, in the literal meaning of the word, and rediscovery, as psychoanalysts breath it, both lie beneath the warm, comforting covering of the self. The uncovering happens in step 1, harvesting comes in step 2, and profits flow here, when your exuberantly unique personality is established and nationally recognized. Craft every thought with a pre-thought and dominate yourself with deliberate ease. This is the Schillerian moment when the two impulses flow as one from without and within, ebbing and flowing with balance, ever intertwined, complementing each other. Cash it in: sell your self on the stock exchange and watch your stock grow.

4. The Part
Play the Part. Your Persona that you created in the previous steps steps into this all-star role with confidence and poise. Sharpened by experience, enlightened by Truth, protected by dignity and ego, experienced by protection, truthed by sharpen-ment, ego-ed by enlightenment, dignity protected by ego, truth sharpened to enlightenment through experience, and ..... and loved by all.

Coffee Breath

I'm sitting in Unicorn reading the newspaper, listening to Shosta 4, and suddenly the humor slaps me with gusto. A large man wearing a thin mustache and holding his belly laughing with deliberate power. In a sinister way I think. That's what's coming through my headphones, molded from earwax; if that doesn't steel your breath to a deep metal-hue then I'm not sure what will. But then again who am I to pass judgement.

Love in the time of Boredom

I once told friends that life around me tasted bland, like my mind's tongue had turned into a dusty piece of cardboard. I feel now that I was right. But I can't help from thinking how hackneyed my feelings are, how utterly and exactly average. At the risk of sounding like I need gallons of self-pity poured down my throat, i recall a time when I went to the doctor in high school for a check up and was confused to hear that I was exactly average height and average weight; someone please tell me I have average sentiments as well. Thankfully I have been successfully bred to have a violent gut-reaction to average-ness, so that I feel horrible about it. In a society where labeling is a thinly-veiled substitute for intellect and value, the paradox seems to be lost on everyone including me, or, rather, its simply accepted and brushed under the rug.

What is needed is a firm, irrefutable passion to walk through the door wearing robes of thyme and singing odes of joy at the top of its translucent lungs that fill the entire room, wall to wall. I need to drown in an endless golden pond, going down and down to its depths weighted by my own, seeing singing fish holding lutes with their mouths full; a lightness like day-dreaming. Mmm... cloudberries. I'm glad I no nothing of poetry. Imagine the trouble I'd get in if I did.

I just read that McCain proposed forming an organization of true "democratic" states to promote and protect the democratic spirit, something he says the UN is hopelessly failing at. Discuss.

Spring Inspiration

or lack there of. This spring quarter ranks unmistakeably and prominently among the tired and soiled dregs of the past 5 years of college quarters. Outside the sun shines, flowers blossom, trees regain foliage, hyped students fresh from their winter hide-aways run around on fields of new grass throwing flirtatious glances at one another. Impervious to all the world's reinvigorated sparkle, I sit thinking of things I should be thinking about, not doing any of them. And there are indeed important things that need to be done right now (as I write about doing them), like making sure the Registrar knows that I'm graduating next month.

but it ruffles the feathers of my equanimity. i dont picture myself as the lazy, unmotivated type, but that's exactly what I have become over the last few weeks. it would be a cop out to lay the blame on senioritis, but what else is there. I am tired of the classes, the homework that doesn't lead anywhere, that seems so incongruous to what I feel. and online TV doesnt help at all. its probably the best worst part of the internet. i'm looking forward to lausanne where internet connections are scarce and email isnt the default crutch i lean on everytime i'm in my apartment. with graduation just around the corner, lets all hope for a gentle end to this chapter.

Summer list addendum

Reading This Side of Paradise has added some members to my reading list [1][2]:

Rupert Brooke: Collected poems
Joyce: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses
Tennyson: suggestions?
Rousseau: Discourse on Inequality, Social Contract
Shaw: Pygmalion (maybe)
Fitzgerald: The Beautiful and Damned
Oppen
Faulkner: A Fable
T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land