Entertaining Thoughts

We're Back!

2009-08-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, after months of legal wrangling, court depositions, exorbitant lawyers' fees, threats of bodily harm and injury, bribes, blackmail, the silent treatment, an unfortunate episode involving a live chicken, a dirty sock and a blender, accusations of fraud and mismanagement, mass hysteria, crying, pleading, whining, hunger strikes, and so on...

Entertaining Thoughts is back. You can thank the federal government bailout plan. I'll be putting your hard earned tax dollars to work. I hope not to disappoint you, but I'm not making any promises.

I'm Not Saying I Agree With It or Anything...

2009-03-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

... but a friend of mine has started up a new political party which I personally find very thought-provoking, if not terribly convincing.

http://tlmldp.blogspot.com/

Those of politically delicate views or who are otherwise humor-impaired might do well to avoid it.

My Top Ten Favorite Books

2009-03-20T05:03:00.000-07:00

1. Ficciones (Borges)

This collection of short stories is not only the finest example of prose in the Spanish language, but quite likely one of the most important literary achievements of the twentieth century. I’ve read and taught most of these texts dozens of times and they continue to dazzle. In an ideal world, I’d drop a few pages from Ficciones and replace them with a couple of stories from El Aleph, Borges’s follow up collection of tales, but this is about as good as it gets.

2. Don Quijote (Cervantes)

I had put off reading Don Quijote as long as possible before I took my MA exams. Because it was, you know, a classic, which meant that reading it would be good for you in the same way that eating your spinach or exercising is good for you. Needless to say, I was absolutely floored not only by the richness of Cervantes’ masterpiece, but how totally enjoyable it was to read. This book has only gotten better in the four hundred years since it was first published.

3. Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)

I’m not generally a fan of psychological fiction but Crime and Punishment is simply stunning. This is Dostoevsky at his finest.

4. Neruda (any good anthology)

Neruda was to poetry what Picasso was to painting: he was incredibly prolific and wrote seemingly effortlessly. There’s some dross among the gems, but no other poet has so excelled in mastering so many poetic idioms and making them his own. I love it all, from his early love poetry, to his avant-garde stuff, to his poems of outrage (and even the bloated excess of poems like “Alturas de Macchu Picchu.” Only Neruda could get away with such stuff—sorry Octavio!)

5. Collected Poems (Yeats)

I love Yeats, theosophic warts and all: from “The Happy Shepherd” to “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” to “The Second Coming” and on and on… I’ve memorized more of Yeats' poems (or tried to) than those of any other poet.

6. Dune (Herbert)

I just finished rereading this for the first time since high school. I was simply amazed at the scope of Herbert’s vision and his tirelessness in creating not only a new mythology but a totally coherent yet radically alien history, culture, and technology for his worlds (which turn out to be, I think, not so far removed from our own as we would like to believe). And for a sci-fi writer (no, I don’t mean to be damning with faint praise), his style and facility with language is impressive in the extreme.

7. Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price (selections) [Joseph Smith]

Joseph Smith didn't think of himself as a writer, of course. He tended to think of himself as a translator of ancient texts. And that is part of the immense appeal of his religious vision. I concur with Harold Bloom's appraisal of Joseph Smith: he was an authentic genius in the creativity of his religious thought and is utterly without parallel in American culture. His brilliance lay in his astonishing capacity to repurpose ancient Hebrew scripture and boldly inscribe the history of the Americas into a Biblical framework. It is too bad that so many of Joseph Smith's detractors and defenders alike get caught up in sterile debates about whether or not there were horses in Mesoamerica or where the Garden of Eden was located. Infinitely more valuable and interesting is Joseph's radical rethinking of the Judeo-Christian tradition and his uniquely American and uniquely prophetic voice.

8. The Name of the Rose (Eco)

Had Borges written a novel, it would have looked more or less like this. I remember reading The Name of the Rose as an undergraduate and seriously considering changing my area of study from contemporary Latin American literature to medieval studies. That’s really saying something.

9. Philosophical Investigations (Wittgenstein)

I took a course on Wittgenstein as an undergraduate and for many years afterward proudly identified myself as a Wittgensteinian. Everything about this book is fascinating to me: the problems Wittgenstein identifies; his totally idiosyncratic and intense way of addressing them. To read Wittgenstein is to watch someone thinking and to be obliged to think along with him.

10. Being and Time (Heidegger)

I hated Heidegger for a long time. More accurately, I grudgingly respected him because I knew I was supposed to (see Cervantes, above). Even a course that I took at Cornell dedicated exclusively to Being and Time didn't change my mind. It wasn't until I read some very good secondary material on the work (by Dreyfus and Wrathall) that I began to realize that Heidegger is likely to become indispensable to my future work.

Texts not quite making the cut: The Transfiguration of the Commonplace (Arthur Danto), Blindness (José Saramago), Sailing Alone Around the Room (Billy Collins), The Riverside Shakespeare, The Backslider (Peterson).

In Which My Influence Over the Basque Government Comes to an End

2009-03-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

The EAJ-PNV, the only governing party Euskadi has ever known, appears to have lost its grip on power. I hope it wasn't because of the scandal of my friendship with President Ibarretxe. Suffice it to say that Patxi is not in my Rolodex and Arnaldo is keeping a low profile these days.

He Didn't Get the Gig with the Zeppelin Tribute Band...

2009-03-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

... but he did get a job with a nice Korean pop band. In Mormon-lingo, you would say that this drummer is really magnifying his calling. Watch the whole thing.

"I Thought They Were Dancing!"

2009-02-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

[Disclaimer: my posting of this video should in no way be taken to imply that I am making light of either epilepsy or dogs.]

North Korean Propaganda Art

2009-02-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

[Translation: “Though the dog barks, the procession moves on!”]

[Translation: “Let’s extensively raise goats in all families!”]

Images courtesy of http://calitreview.com/875

Some things I really miss about Spain, France, and the Basque Country

2009-02-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

My Funny Valentine

2009-02-15T14:55:00.000-08:00

This poem began as a paean to your virtues,
A hymn to your body, brain, and being.
Sparkling images, each coolly reflecting your light,
every phrase and beat a gem your figure had cut.

But by the second stanza something had gone wrong.
The words lay crabbed and stricken on the page,
my thoughts confused, my metaphors limping along,
the whole thing lurching toward disaster.

When suddenly a sly tercet made a virtue of necessity,
my words' impotence became a tribute to your ineffable grace,
and my shortcomings served only to set off your perfection.

But now, at the end, I see irony cannot do you right,
and my words, as before, cannot utter your name,
not even in failure, not even in absence, not even.

Return of the Cyberpunk!

2009-02-06T16:01:00.000-08:00

A former MA student of mine, Mike Wilson, was back in Provo after defending his doctoral dissertation at Cornell. For the last few years, Mike has been living in Chile with his family, where he has not only been teaching literature in the university system but has begun to develop a writing career of his own. His first novel, El púgil, has been warmly received and widely reviewed by a number of important newspapers and media outlets. In fact, Mike is very much at the vanguard of contemporary Chilean sci-fi and we were able to persuade him to give a talk at BYU on Southern Cone science fiction, which was absolutely fascinating. Kudos to Mike not only on his successful dissertation defense, but for having secured a tenure-track position at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Of course it's not like I've had a hand in Mike's success in any significant way, but it's been fantastic to see a former student go on to great things.

This is Not a Political Statement or Anything.

2009-02-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

I just think it's kind of freaky.

25 Things You Might Not Have Known About Me

2009-02-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a big Facebook fan. I check in maybe every two or three days or so. But I had been "tagged" by friends and asked to post a list of twenty-five random facts about myself. For the benefit of my readers without Facebook accounts, here is that list.

1. The right side of my body looks almost exactly like the left side. On the outside, at least. I don't know about the inside.
2. I think you have to admit that Chariots of the Gods gives you a lot to think about.
3. I have never eaten human flesh and I have no desire to do so.
4. I am not very good at making lists with more than 17 items on them.
5. My favorite day of the week is Thursday. Favorite time of the day: 5:21 pm.
6. I once dreamed that someone confused me with Judd Hirsch. I decided to just play along.
7. I used to wear a t-shirt with a picture of Wittgenstein on it.
8. I am fond of pointing out the parallels between Strange Brew and Hamlet. Just ask me.
9. If you get a couple of drinks in me, I get pretty wild. Wait. That's not me. I don't drink. Never mind.
10. I'm married to a woman who once arm wrestled the bass player from New Order. She won.
11. I guess I like Mickey Rooney okay but not as much as some people do.
12. I don't own a cell phone and I don't know anybody who does.
13. (This is an unlucky number so I don't have to do this one)
14. It's kind of hard to explain, but there's something about chocolate pudding that I find immensely satisfying.
15. I have eaten roasted guinea pig and enjoyed it. I have also eaten live guinea pig and didn't like it as much.
16. I have been known to wear a lady's suit to work (wait, that wasn't me. That was Michael Scott).
17. I have an unshakable testimony that Arrested Development is the greatest television show of all time.
18. When I was very young, I used to watch boring shows on PBS because I was afraid no one else was watching and I didn't want the people on TV to feel bad.
19. I sent Roddy Frame a wedding invitation. He couldn't make it but he sent a nice card (no money, though).
20. When I was about five years old, I would marvel for hours at the fact that my hand would move just because I would think of moving it. I still marvel for hours at this.
21. If the temple recommend questions are ever changed to forbid drinking Diet Coke, I'm going to have a hard choice to make.
22. I don't get the point of "texting." So that's what, like typing with your thumbs? Is that supposed to be funny?
23. I have finally come to grips with the fact that I probably will never make an NFL roster. I knew it was unlikely I would ever be drafted since I never played anything beyond Jr. High football. But a guy can dream, can't he? I guess not.
24. I can read with my eyes shut. That is very hard to do.
25. I have a short attention span, which has now been maxed out.

Gone!

2009-01-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

Eva finally got her hair cut yesterday. She had been growing it out for quite some time but she had decided she wanted to make a donation to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that creates wigs and hairpieces for children with a medical condition that causes them to lose their hair. She took right to her new look and, although I'm biased, I think her new style looks great.

Ghost Image Capture

2009-01-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

I retrieved this image from Eva's camera and tweaked it a little bit: I have no idea what it is but I like it.

I Know I'm Starting to Sound Like a Broken Record ...

2009-01-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

... but if you lived in Utah County and voted for Obama, you'd know what it feels like to be besieged by subtle, and not-so-subtle, accusations that your political and religious views are not only incompatible but contradictory. To which I can only respond that I found this account of the participation of Elders Uchtdorf and Ballard in President Obama's National Prayer Service quite moving (not to mention feeling somewhat vindicated).

[update on Jan 22]
To sum up:
Elder Ballard: "I left with a feeling that the people of America are going to unite behind this new president and his administration and that we need to pray for him."

Rush Limbaugh: "Four words: 'I hope he fails.'"

Happiness is a Best Friend ...

2009-01-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

... who totally knows what it feels like to be missing your two front teeth.

Eva's (Inadvertent) Photo Montage

2009-01-21T12:28:00.000-08:00

LDS Church Leaders on the Day's Events

2009-01-20T17:51:00.000-08:00

Elder Uchtdorf, who attended the inauguration with Elder Ballard, said the following:

"It was inspiring to be an eyewitness to this peaceful, impressive transfer of power and the swearing-in of the first African-American president. We pray for President Barack Obama's success in these challenging times and join in his expressions of hope and optimism."

For more on the story, click here. Of course it's pretty boilerplate stuff, given the church's strict political neutrality. But if Elder Uchtdorf is anything at all like the vast majority of Germans, I suspect he would be capable of personally expressing his support for Obama's presidency yet more forcefully. I've got no privileged inside info on this: I'm jus' sayin' (I won't venture a guess on whether we'll start to see Joseph Lowery-type benedictions in General Conference!). Of course I would be happy just to see ordinary LDS church members show a similar degree of thoughtfulness and appreciation for the truly historic events of the day, whatever their political persuasion.

The Right President at the Right Time

2009-01-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

I had to let my class out early this morning and we pulled the kids out of school to go home and watch the inauguration together. Incredibly, BYU scarcely even recognized that the inauguration was taking place and offered no accommodation to students and faculty to view the proceedings or even alter previously scheduled events and classes. And the kids' school--ostensibly a civic-minded school--did absolutely nothing to take advantage of the opportunity for their students to witness history in the making. I guess it was better that we got to view the inauguration ceremony as a family anyway. President Obama's speech was (dare I say "predictably"?) eloquent: I think that few presidents in recent history have so thoroughly appreciated the art of oratory and so mastered its potential to bring listeners together. There is a sense in which a nation such as ours--in which we are not bound together by ethnicity or race or religion--requires us to continually reforge the bonds that give us a common, shared identity as Americans. Presidential rhetoric plays an essential role in this ongoing project (I continue to believe that it was not just president Bush's policy decisions but his inability to master the rhetoric of leadership that proved fatal to his tenure). There's no doubt that there are tough times ahead but I'm absolutely convinced President Obama is the right man for the job.

Is This Tomorrow?

2009-01-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

Well, technically it's the day after tomorrow. But you get the point.

Maggot Cheese That Tries to Eat Your Eyes!

2009-01-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

(could there ever be a cooler blog post title than that?). Somehow, this story, posted on boingboing.com, really spoke to the 14-year old in me. Here's the scoop:

"Casu marzu is an illegal Sardinian cheese that is served riddled with writhing maggots that try to jump into your eyeballs as you eat it. Casu marzu is considered toxic when the maggots in the cheese have died. Because of this, only cheese in which the maggots are still alive is eaten. When the cheese has fermented enough, it is cut into thin strips and spread on moistened Sardinian flatbread (pane carasau), to be served with a strong red wine.Casu marzu is believed to be an aphrodisiac by local Sardinians. Because the larvae in the cheese can launch themselves for distances up to 15 centimetres (6 in) when disturbed, diners hold their hands above the sandwich to prevent the maggots from leaping into their eyes. Those who do not wish to eat live maggots place the cheese in a sealed paper bag. The maggots, starved for oxygen, writhe and jump in the bag, creating a "pitter-patter" sound. When the sounds subside, the maggots are dead and the cheese can be eaten."

An "illegal Sardinian cheese." I just love the idea of cheese on the wrong side of the law. Buon appetito!

Before Jack Bauer, there was this:

2009-01-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

The Tornado-Punch, courtesy of MacGyver.

Mikel Laboa hil da

2009-01-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's not exactly news now, but it happened last month when my blog was on hiatus and I've been meaning to post about it. In December, renowned Basque folk singer Mikel Laboa passed away. It would probably be fair to say he was the Basque Country's Pete Seeger or perhaps even Bob Dylan (appropriately enough, his final concert took place in 2006, when he opened for Bob Dylan in Donostia at a concert for peace). His signature piece was probably "Txoria txori" ("A bird is a bird"). Originally a popular folk tune about a bird that couldn't fly, Laboa's interpretation of it during the last years of the Franco regime turned the song into a political allegory for the Basque nation. It has become one of the most familiar and beloved songs in the Basque Country and I confess that I find it tremendously moving (I used to sing it to my kids at bedtime, so they'll either grow up loving it too or having vaguely troubling recollections of their father trying to sing).

Here are the lyrics:

Hegoak ebaki banizkio,
nirea izango zen,
ez zuen aldegingo.
Bainan honela
ez zen gehiago txoria izango,
eta nik txoria nuen maite.

Here's a rough translation:

If I had cut its wings
It would have been mine
It would not have flown away
But, it would have been a bird no longer
And I loved the bird.

This is the original version of the song from 1974:

Txoria Txori (from Bat Hiru).mp3 - Mikel Laboa

And here is a full orchestral version from 2000. I'm usually not a fan of such arrangements, but I think this is really effective. Note how the fragility of Laboa's lone voice stands out against the powerful backdrop of a large choir of united voices: it underscores quite nicely the aesthetic and political dimensions of the song.

Txoria Txori - Mikel Laboa

It's Probably Good There's No Sound

2009-01-01T06:34:00.000-08:00

Here's some super-8 footage that I recently saw for the first time in, oh, thirty-five years or so. My aunt and uncle's wedding reception in 1972 featured a number of talent-show acts: lots of singing and dancing relatives. So, here's my dad and I dressed up in Basque costumes singing an old folk song, "Jeiki, jeiki." If memory serves, and as the visual evidence would suggest, I was petrified with fear. We were followed by some cousins that actually were talented: they belonged to the Boise Oinkari dance group. Feel free to remix with the soundtrack of your choice.

Later in the evening, my aunt and uncle performed a Jewish folk dance (they had both been in folk dance groups in college). I was only five at the time, but I had always dimly remembered this. Watching it again, so shortly after my uncle passed away, has only made it more poignant.

Okay, I'm Back.

2008-12-31T07:42:00.000-08:00

No, it wasn't the countless letters and e-mails that persuaded me to reactivate my blog. It wasn't the singing telegrams, or the handwritten letters by sick children, or the non-violent protests outside my place of residence. When it came right down to it, I guess it was just that briefcase full of small, unmarked bills. That's really all it took to get this blog up and running again.

Going Out of Business Sale

2008-12-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

Not that this blog has ever had many readers--and not that I ever wanted it to--but I've decided to close up shop, at least for now (consider it just the latest casualty of our faltering economy). All blog entries are now 50% off, and if you purchase at least three, I'll throw the fourth one in for free.

Thanks for shopping with us!

Was Obama Responsible for the Success of Prop 8?

2008-11-06T05:10:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe not directly. But consider this interesting argument, advanced by Farhad Manjoo in yesterday's Slate.com: Obama galvanized record numbers of black voters across the country, including California. The African-American community strongly opposes gay marriage by a much greater margin than any other ethnic group (and certainly more than whites). Had Obama not inspired historic numbers of blacks to vote, there's a very real chance that Prop 8 would not have passed.

Food for thought.

My Political Dilemma

2008-11-05T05:45:00.000-08:00

Nearly two months after I donated to the Obama campaign, my magnetic bumper sticker finally arrived in the mail. Yesterday. The day of the election. So, do I put it on the car now, after the election? Or does that make it look like I'm gloating?

We had an election party last night. The kids got to stay up to watch the election returns come in and they enjoyed it as much as I did. Alex would cheer like it was a football game when states were called for Obama.

I must say I was really impressed with the careful attention the kids paid to the election. Simon's class had a mock election yesterday and he was one of the few that voted for President-elect Obama (sounds nice, no?). He said he talked to a number of kids and asked why they voted for John McCain. According to Simon, they all said, "that's who my parents are voting for." He was very proud that he had specific reasons for voting for Obama. First, "I like that Obama wants to help the poor people and not just the rich people." Second, that he thought it was good to have a black president. Third, "I really like Joe Biden." In fact, that third reason seemed to really be the clincher for him (and I don't think he was just picking up on my visceral dislike of Sarah Palin): he really loves Joe Biden. And, come to think of it, don't we all?

As for Eva, she didn't manage to stay awake until the election was called. So, the first words out of her mouth this morning were, "Who's the new president?" She ended up being very happy it was Obama (she had been a John McCain supporter before, but she seems to have switched. Apparently she was unfazed by all the William Ayers business).

Life is good.

Beautiful Day - U2

It's Not Swan Lake...

2008-10-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

... but it's certainly graceful and entertaining. This is a dance that Eva choreographed herself and performed with another girl from her dance class (I love that Eva is giving instructions during the performance itself). The video was made by Eva's dance teacher.

The Real Reason I'm Voting for Obama

2008-10-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

(Make that: the real reason I voted for Obama. Three cheers for early voting!). No, it's not his cool intellect and steady presence. No, it's not his economic policies or the good will that his election would generate for the US throughout the world. Forget all that trivial stuff. It's this:

I vote for the guy who cleans up after himself after he gets some ice cream at the local burger joint. That's my kind of guy. (photo from http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0810/callie-bp.html)

If You Think My Taste in Music Is Abrasive and Pretentious...

2008-10-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

... I'm generally quite happy to agree. However here's something that might be pretentious--it is "foreign," after all--but it's not abrasive. Souad Massi is an Algerian singer who relocated to Paris in 1999 after receiving death threats for playing pop music with a political edge. Her album Deb has been on my playlist recently; it's not exactly challenging stuff, musically speaking, but it's nice. Here's a track entitled "Yemma." As always, if you like the music, support the artist by purchasing a legal copy of their work (click here).

Yemma - Souad Massi

When It Comes to Cardboard Boxes in the Wild...

2008-10-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

... suffice it to say that Simon is a cold-blooded killer. Alex was invited by a friend to go to a BYU football game yesterday, so Simon and I went up Hobble Creek Canyon so he could practice his mad archery skills. So, how does he stack up to his dad? Let's just say you can call him "Little Nephi."

Two Hot Dogs, Hold the Mustard

2008-10-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

The regular reader (singular! You know who you are!) of my blog has long since figured out that, in addition to my obsessing about the political horse race, I have this thing for really off-the-wall music. So, it's about that time again. I don't know why, but I find this track by the Montreal-based trio Les Georges Leningrad absolutely fascinating (much to the chagrin of my long-suffering family). Here's an excerpt from a track called "Caamckne Nechn," from the album Deux Hot Dog Moutarde Chou (available here). Consider yourself warned.

Caamckne Nechn - Les Georges Leningrad.

Bombs Away!

2008-10-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

It took more than a month, but we finally got an opportunity to celebrate Alex's birthday with a visit to Hill Air Force Base. I took Alex, along with three of his best friends, to the Air Museum on the base and they had a great time (Alex took over one hundred photos of the aircraft). After spending a couple of hours there, we headed back home, where the boys had pizza and cake.

Two Thoughts on a Sunday Morning

2008-10-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

1. I'm disappointed to see the McCain campaign try to score cheap political points by insinuating that Obama is a socialist. There is no term more abused nor less understood by the hard-core Republican base. But for McCain to make such an accusation after he had just signed off on a 700 billion dollar federal bailout is just loony. To be sure, Obama's economic policy is leftward of McCain's. But to accuse him of being a socialist is like a guy with 7 houses telling a guy with 8 houses that he ought to live more modestly.

2. I can't think of too many ways the reasons for my support of Obama's candidacy differ from the extremely articulate and thoughtful endorsement offered this morning by Colin Powell on Meet the Press. WMD debacle aside, here's hoping that there's a place in the Obama administration for a man as talented and eloquent as Powell.

The Birth of the Cool, or Miles Davis for President

2008-10-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

We just finished watching the final presidential debate. To be honest, I respect John McCain in many ways. But he's just no match for Obama. Here's the deal with Obama: he's Miles Davis, circa 1950. Totally cool, totally collected, always in control. This was a masterful performance. I manifestly do not agree with all of Obama's positions. But there's no question that he would be a more steady presence in the White House than his opponent.

Jeru - Miles Davis

If You Can Spare Two Hours Between Now and November 4 ...

2008-10-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

... watch this extraordinary Frontline documentary on the 2008 election (the whole thing is available online as a stream). I happened to tune in last night half way through the first hour and was mesmerized. I haven't yet seen anything as even handed and insightful as this documentary (not to mention the impeccable production standards and first-rate photography). Whether you lionize Obama (or hate him) or think McCain is the bee's knees (or can't stand the guy), your views will undoubtedly become more nuanced after watching this program. You won't find much here about their policy positions. But the program offers a fascinating perspective of the two men as politicians, conducting political campaigns. I'd love to see this become required viewing for anyone casting a ballot on November 4, whatever their political persuasion.

Celia Cruz Would Have Been Proud

2008-10-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

The Queen of Salsa would have been proud of the Laraway family yesterday: an early freeze had been forecast for last night so we ended up harvesting our tomatoes earlier than we would have liked and ended up creating our own salsa assembly line.

Before...

During...

And After...

John McCain Has Been Courting the Black Vote

2008-10-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

That's "black" as in "black helicopter."

But now he's not sure if he's supposed to want it.

I find this all tremendously disheartening but unsurprising. I think many Americans fail to appreciate how toxic the right-wing populism of Fox News, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh really is. Heaven knows that there's a place for thoughtful conservative voices in our political culture: I daresay we need them now more than ever. But the Fox-Rush-Hannity trifecta represents the dumbing down of conservative thought in the US. It's a shame, really. The NY Times' own token conservative, David Brooks, has lamented precisely this de-evolution of conservative thought. But it's not just that the Fox-Rush-Hannity crowd dumbs down complex political ideas: it's that they (a) lead their devotees to believe that by listening to their programs they therefore know all they need to know about any given issue; and (b) demonize anyone who disagrees with them. The result is a pernicious echo-chamber culture whose inhabitants become absolutely unhinged when dealing with anyone that doesn't share their world-view. Of course one can find equally unsavory things on the political left as well. But the rhetoric at Obama / Biden rallies hasn't become nearly as incendiary and borderline violent as it has with the McCain / Palin crowd. Thoughtful conservatives should be just as dismayed at this kind of thing as liberals.

Phillip Luque, 1950-2008

2008-10-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know that I'll ever meet a better man than my uncle. I'll replace this clip with something better as soon as I get more video footage.

Now for Something Really Scary...

2008-10-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

It's now October, which means it's time once again to drag out that classic cut, "It's Halloween" by The Shaggs. The Shaggs were three sisters that formed their own garage band in the late 60s and somehow managed to find their way into a recording studio and cut a number of tracks. The result is the essence of homemade / outsider music: utterly amateur and utterly fascinating. If you've never heard The Shaggs before, you're in for a treat. It's not just that they're bad: there are thousands of incompetent bands out there. It's that they're bad in such an intriguing way. It's as if you were to come across some Martians who had never heard music before and you handed them some instruments, gave them a five-minute lecture on what pop music was, told them to write a song and that you'd be back in an hour to see what they came up with. "It's Halloween" is a pretty fair sample of what you'd get.

[only a 30-second clip seems to be available. But that may be all you can take anyway.]

Its Halloween - Shaggs

I Have a Six-Year Old Girl...

2008-09-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

... who now likes to draw fighter planes. Would you guess that she does or doesn't have older brothers?

John McCain Rolls the Dice

2008-09-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Literally, that is. I can't say that I'm surprised at these revelations. In hindsight, it all makes sense: Sarah Palin, the "suspend-the-campaign" debacle: the man is a compulsive gambler. My only question is whether this sort of news will have any effect on the cultural conservatives who so vehemently oppose gambling as a moral vice. I've got a hundred to one that says that this won't have any impact on them at all.

Ain't That a Kick in the Head...

2008-09-28T05:46:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Simon's soccer season is over now. Since his team never had any practices, it wasn't particularly onerous for us as parents/chauffeurs: just two hour-long matches per week. He went out with a bang, scoring three goals in his last game (including, I must say, an impressive shot with his left foot). He had a great time and was sad that competitive soccer is done for the year.

Y Not?

2008-09-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hiking up to the "Y" on "Y Mountain" in Provo is one of those rituals in which locals are expected to participate on a semi-regular basis. We had been negligent on that count for quite some time: neither Michelle nor I had made the hike since we were students here years ago and the kids had never been. So, we went.

While steep, the trail is much more developed now than it was back in the early 90s. It probably took us 45 minutes or so to make the 1.1 mile hike, where we were rewarded with some nice views. A guy took off on a hang glider and Michelle was able to snap a few pictures of that as well.

Good exercise, and a good experience overall. I'm looking forward to doing it again in ten years or so.
.

Gavin Bryars: The Stars Gleam, Even from the Gutter

2008-09-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

Gavin Bryars is an English avant-garde composer and bassist who has moved in a number of jazz and experimental composition circles since the early 1970s. One of his most striking works, "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet," was composed in 1971. Bryars had worked on a film about homeless men in London, a number of whom would sing snatches of songs, usually while inebriated. He ended up with some unused material, including a 13-bar clip of a tramp singing a gospel song consisting only of the following refrain: "Jesus' blood never failed me yet / Never failed me yet / Jesus' blood never failed me yet. / That's one thing I know / for he loves me so." As the story goes, Bryars improvised a chordal accompaniment on the piano and, while working on the piece in a recording studio, created a loop which would play continuously. He slipped out for a while, and when he returned to the studio, the loop was still playing and everyone within earshot was listening intently or quietly sobbing. He composed a number of variations on the piece, including a 27-minute long orchestral version and numerous shorter versions, including one that features a vocal overdub by Tom Waits.

In an ideal world, I'd be able to post the entire 27-minute version, but you'll have to pick that one up for yourself. Here's some of the shorter version with Tom Waits, courtesy of imeem.com:

Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars & Tom Waits

This is an odd and powerful work. One might expect the repetition of the 13-bar loop to become burdensome or oppressive. But it doesn't. The irony is palpable: a homeless man with nothing left to lose repeats again and again the line that Jesus hasn't failed him. But as the song wears on--and again, this is more evident on the long composition than on the short one I'm posting here--the listener comes to realize that the voice is not diminished in its repetition but rather becomes increasingly powerful, until it's clear that in a sense, the tramp's right: there is an element of grace in his voice and perhaps even his life that exceeds anything we could have imagined. I can think of few recent works more spiritually illuminating or deep.

Borges once said that the problem of beauty in our world is not that it's too rare but that it's too common. Bryars' magnificent piece shows Borges may well have been right.

The End of the End

2008-09-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

If you cannot in good conscience vote for anyone but John McCain this year, DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO. Trust me, just trust me. You'll be much happier if you don't. All kidding aside, I can't say that I take any pleasure in this at all. I never thought it would feel so terrible to be vindicated.

Watch CBS Videos Online

[additional note, added on 9/26: apparently I'm not the only one who is beginning to feel sorry for Ms. Palin. I've been snarky enough about her candidacy. But it's impossible not to feel bad for a candidate so desperately out of her depth and who is probably a fine and decent person who has been put in an untenable position].

The Beginning of the End

2008-09-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

... of the McCain campaign, that is. Hopefully not the financial infrastructure. I happen to disagree with McCain's critics that claim he wanted to avoid debating Obama. McCain in fact had called for more debates than Obama would agree to. So I don't think he's running scared. But I think he is definitely trying to cut a dramatic image of a reformer who would put Country-Above-Politics®. By rushing off to Washington, he wants to burnish his image as someone who is in fact profoundly aware of the significance of the current crisis and try to undo some of the damage from his infamous statement last week that the fundamentals of the economy "are strong."

But I think McCain's histrionic performance probably marks the beginning of the end for his campaign. The wheels are coming off. And he continues to demonstrate he doesn't think that Palin is up to the job of assuming a more prominent role in his campaign: she is to be seen and not heard. I have a funny feeling that right about now senator McCain is regretting passing up a vice-presidential running mate with real economic chops (farewell, Mitt, we hardly knew ye...) in favor of Ms. Moose-Kill-Eye-Candy.

"Our Brand is Crisis" in Five Words

2008-09-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

"Carville does Bolivia; Bolivia explodes."

"Juno" in Five Words

2008-09-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

"Pithy brat learns to love."

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Sub-Prime Loans

2008-09-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

[click to enlarge]

... or one trillionth of the net worth of Senator McCain's fleet of vehicles. As one wag put it, "Now, who's the rich, elitist candidate again?"

Alex's 12th.

2008-09-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

Grandparents by the dozens were here (well, at least four). Priesthood Ordination. Presents. Chuck-a-rama (no arugula, unfortunately). Good times, indeed. Alex passed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday and did a great job. Am I really old enough for all this?

No pics (negligent parents).

Why My Views On Politics, Even if They're Right, Probably Aren't Worth Very Much

2008-09-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

You've probably already come to that conclusion on your own. And, the truth is, I don't take a deep interest in politics for the simple reason that I'm generally too inconsistent in my views to be much of an ideologue. Now, I happen to think that inconsistency in one's political views may be a virtue, as long as it's the right kind of inconsistency (the wrong kind would be: hypocrisy). So, let me say a word or two about my political philosophy and offer a brief apologia for writing so many political posts of late.

Aristotle, helpful as always, noted that politics is more a matter of practical wisdom than scientia. Other disciplines, such as those that we would today call the physical sciences, may and indeed must deal with objects of scientia, but there is no such object corresponding to the governing of the polis. A good Aristotelian leader is one possessed of practical wisdom, endowed with a talent for solving particular problems in particular circumstances. The art of politics consists in identifying, prioritizing, and addressing those problems. There is no magic algorithm for doing so, and the ideological purists on the left and right fail to appreciate this simple point.

As it turns out, I've lived in one of the most politically liberal cities in America (Ithaca, which at the time boasted the country's only socialist mayor) and the most conservative (Provo, no explanation necessary). And neither is exactly a paradise or a hell on earth. In point of fact, they aren't terribly different in terms of quality of life, although I think I found Ithaca somewhat more tolerant and family-friendly than Provo (the reason, I guess, is that my family's kind of conservative lifestyle and our exotic religious views made us somewhat subversive and counter-culture). So it's hard for me to accept the premise that "if only the Republicans/ Democrats were more dominant things would be oh-so-much better." Well, I doubt it. So, party politics, ideology-driven politics, "principle"-driven politics: that stuff doesn't mean much to me, at least at the crude level of presidential and congressional elections (now, political theory in a deep sense is another matter entirely).

Neal A. Maxwell was fond of quoting C.S. Lewis to the effect that some people like to run around with fire extinguishers in times of flood. That strikes me as a good enough definition of an ideologue. The purists who believe that Democrats are for big government haven't bothered checking how recent Republican administrations have done on that count, and those that believe that Democrats are against big business don't know what they're talking about either. Both parties are ideologically schizophrenic and that's fine. If you're going to vote for one or the other, you should do so because you believe that your party has a set of priorities consistent with your own and that their leaders are (at least relatively) wise and capable.

If I've been hard on McCain and Palin, it's because I don't think either shares my priorities and the latter, at least, is ideologically driven in dangerous ways (at least she raises enough red flags for me that I find her candidacy very troubling). It should be obvious by now that I think they both fall short, far short, on the "wise and capable" meter as well. So, you can feel free to disagree with my political priorities and my assessment of the merits of the two main presidential tickets. But don't tell me that you're voting "on principle" and expect me to do the same. You lost me there with "principle," which in my view is a synonym for "ideological" (which is not, of course, to say, that the converse of "principled" is: "without integrity." Au contraire).

Coming in a future post: what is wrong with Mormons' tendency to identify with the Republican party.

John McCain es un idiota.

2008-09-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

Does John McCain (a) know that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is the current president of Spain? and (b) know that Spain is in Europe? It appears that the good senator is having a hard time distinguishing between the usual suspects in Latin America (Chávez, Morales, Castro) and the current Spanish head of state. In a recent interview with Cadena Ser radio network, McCain didn't seem to have the faintest idea who Zapatero is and thus waffled on whether or not he would meet with him as president of the United States (click here for an audio interview with McCain in Spanish). Now, it's okay that a politician doesn't spend his day texting and swapping viral videos with every foreign head of state in the world. But for heaven's sakes, Spain has had a significant role to play in the Iraq saga and should at least be on the radar screen of someone that wants to govern the United States. To be sure, Zapatero has his share of extremist detractors that would link him with the Latin American hard left (of course, for those people, anyone to the left of Pope Benedict is a commie and even he is a bit dubious at times). And Zapatero's relationship with Washington has been decidedly cool during his tenure. I happen to think that Zapatero is an idiot as well, for reasons I won't go into here. And, well, yes, he could pass for Mr. Bean's stunt double. But if he's an idiot, and if Hugo, Evo, and Raúl are idiots, they are so for different reasons. And there's no question that diplomatic protocol would dictate that Zapatero should be received at the White House.

So, here we are with a presidential ticket that thinks a refueling stop in a foreign country counts as a visit and is hazy on the difference between Spain and Latin America. Heaven help us.

... In Which All of Alex's Wildest Dreams Come True

2008-09-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

I pleaded and pleaded for a B.B. gun when I was a kid. Did I ever get one? No. Am I still bitter about it? Maybe. Did Alex get one for his birthday? Yes. Was he thrilled? What do you think? Am I a bad parent? Perhaps. Am I popular right now within my own household? Polls show me rapidly gaining ground among the younger demographic.

As fate would have it, this morning I ran into an old, old comic book that I had forgotten about. Note that I had apparently begun to fill out the paperwork at the bottom of the page before my mom shot me down, so to speak.

To My "Fiscally Conservative" Friends...

2008-09-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

As Ricky Ricardo used to say, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do..."

[http://greenberg-art.com/.Toons/.Toons%20recent/FiscalConservative.html]

"The 'Bush Doctrine'? You Mean His World View?"

2008-09-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

What is this? An outtake from "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader"? Please, please, please tell me that this is a joke and that there is no chance that this person could become the most powerful political figure in the world. I mean, seriously, there's no chance of that ever happening. Right? Right?

Here's one blogger on how Palin probably crammed for this interview:

"I can just imagine a note card in her pocket.
Side A: 'Terrorists'
Side B: 'Hell bent on destroying America'"

I guess the positive spin on all this is that John McCain clearly believes that America should be the land of opportunity for absolutely everyone. Think I'm exaggerating? Lest you be tempted to explain this away by saying, "Yeah, but she's smart. She can get up to speed on foreign policy quick enough," here's James Fallows' take on what this slip tells us about how Palin might govern.

[update on 9/13: apparently some commentators have tried to make the point that the interviewer himself is unaware of what the term "Bush Doctrine" means and that Palin's request for clarification is perfectly appropriate. It's true that Gibson doesn't distinguish between preemptive military action in general and what's novel about the Bush Doctrine. But if you think that Sarah Palin had this sort of nuance in mind when she asked for clarification, you're ... --what's the word?-- oh, yeah. Deluded. Your clue should be her question whether "Bush Doctrine" means "Bush's world view." Go back and watch the clip and read Fallows, linked above. There is no room for respectful disagreement on this point: anyone arguing otherwise is just being obtuse or disingenuous. If you're a Palin fan, it's better to accept the criticism, cut your losses, and move on].

Popularity and Moral Authority

2008-09-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

It is being reported, to the surprise of absolutely no one at all, that people throughout the world strongly prefer Barack Obama to John McCain. What, if anything, does this mean? In practical terms, perhaps not much. Such stories may even hurt Obama's popularity at home. Should this sort of data point be of any interest whatsoever to an American voter?

A case could be made that such things should be irrelevant to American voters. In the first place, it seems there's no reason to think that citizens of Panama or Indonesia or Italy would know much of anything about the policy positions of either candidate or that they are directly affected by them (although the latter point is perhaps more difficult than ever to make in a global economy). Indeed, American voters themselves are often woefully uninformed about the issues which most directly concern them: why should we think that citizens of other countries would have opinions worth hearing about our own presidential elections? In the second place, it could be argued that in competitive global labor markets, citizens of other countries might take an interest in a weaker, rather than a stronger, United States.

Of course Americans have generally given very little importance to foreigners' views on US politics (remember how John Kerry may have actually been hurt by his popularity with the French in 2004?). But should that be so? With respect to the first question--the degree to which foreigners are knowledgeable about the candidates--I don't have any firm basis upon which to draw conclusions. But I can say, having lived in Spain for some ten months between 2004 and 2007, that the foreign press covers American presidential politics extensively. The days leading up to the November 2004 presidential election were filled with almost non-stop coverage on the main television stations there. Take it for what it's worth, but my gut feeling--supported by admittedly modest anecdotal evidence--is that foreign observers are generally much more sophisticated and informed than we give them credit for in the US. Certainly there's no question that they're better informed about our domestic politics than we are about theirs (quick: who's the Canadian Prime Minister? The President of Mexico? The Prime Minister of Italy?).

With regard to the second point, I think we citizens of the US sometimes misunderstand anti-American sentiment abroad. I daresay--and no, I'm not gonna back this up with evidence here: I've got more important stuff I should be doing now!--that envy or resentment of the U.S. is fueled less by our economic prosperity than by a vague sense that the US has become politically, militarily, and culturally hegemonic and that the US perceives itself to be above international law and unanswerable to anyone or anything other than its own interests. That may be wrong. But it's certainly not good that such a sentiment is so widespread. I believe, and I suspect that I could back this up had I the time and the inclination, that we have unquestionably lost a great deal of what might be called our "moral authority" over the last eight years.

"So what?" some of my readers might say. "Who cares what foreigners think about us?" Well, I do, for one. As maudlin as it might sound to some, I think Reagan's "city on a hill" metaphor is inexplicably powerful and that it speaks to our "better angels." A real tragedy of Iraq in general and Guantánamo in particular is that they tarnish that image of a country guided by ideals rather than brute political calculation. I don't envy US diplomats assigned to convey to Russia our disapproval of their attempt to reassert control over Georgia. That's the sort of task that becomes more difficult when our rivals can gleefully point to the hypocrisy (whether perceived or real) of our own foreign policy. The point is not that popularity entails moral authority on any given issue: it is indeed possible to imagine a government taking a morally principled stance that is widely unpopular, just as one can admire a certain vice-presidential candidate's decision to keep a child rather than abort it, even if one does not share that candidate's policy views about the matter of abortion (and I'm definitely not making a point about abortion one way or the other here). But rather I'm claiming that moral authority is not altogether separable from perception: one must be generally perceived to be acting not in one's own self-interest (or at least not exclusively so) but rather in terms of a higher principle. In a nutshell, I think there's ample evidence that the US is widely perceived to be incapable now of acting out of anything but naked self-interest and I think that that perception is unlikely to change if John McCain is elected.

To be sure, foreigners may be spectacularly wrong about Obama: if he were to be elected they may decide that he's as bad, or even worse, than Bush (a logical possibility, if difficult to imagine). But to the extent that one cannot claim moral authority without being perceived to merit it, it stands to reason that we should take an interest in what others think of us. It would be too crude to say that we need to elect Barack Obama to make up for eight years of George Bush. But it wouldn't be entirely wrong either.

I'll blog some other time on the implications of the "war on terror" in terms of the popularity of Obama and McCain and the question of moral authority. Tune in later. Or, not.

My Ad from the Personals

2008-09-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

You: an irreverent, edgy novelist with an eye for detail, a penchant for overstatement, and an astonishing imagination for coming up with great backstories.

Me: a guy who happened across a great scenario that cries out for novelization. Read on.

From today's Deseret News: "Cedar City police have arrested a wheelchair-bound man they say stabbed his brother-in-law in the face with a ballpoint pen as they were going to church."

Desert Island Disc: The Venezuela Joropo (Victor Feldman)

2008-09-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

My dad had a great record collection when I was a kid. Looking back at it, it was a weird collection. Some of it was kind of predictable given the day and the age: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Roger Williams, The Limeliters, Stan Getz and João Gilberto. I loved all that stuff and have a soft spot in my heart for some of those albums to this day (Getz/Gilberto was one of the first albums that Michelle and I bonded over, having discovered that both our fathers had had it in their collections). But there was a lot of unusual stuff as well for an American music collection back then: The Sounds of Paraguay, Los Tres Caballeros, albums by Amalia Rodrigues and The Soviet Army Chorus and Band.

I don't remember that when I was a young kid those albums were actually played much in our house. But I managed to finagle them all from my folks, and along with the albums, I acquired something of my dad's decidedly offbeat penchant for all things foreign and/or exotic. One of those albums, The Venezuela Joropo by Victor Feldman, became one of my all time favorites. Victor Feldman was a respected jazz pianist whose resumé included gigs with such luminaries as Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley. In the mid-60s, the bossa-nova craze was in full swing and American artists were looking to Latin America for musical inspiration. While most were turning to countries like Brazil and Cuba, Feldman ended up looking to Venezuela, of all places. Venezuela's musical history was different from its neighbors: it had been influenced less by African musical trends than other countries and its colonial Spanish roots were better preserved. It was, in short, an unlikely place to seek inspiration at a time when bossa nova and samba were all the rage.

But the album, a mix of original compositions and traditional folk tunes, makes me wonder why more jazz artists never picked up on the potential of Venezuelan folk music. Here's a composition by Feldman called "Caracas Nights:"

Caracas Nights - Victor Feldman

And here is "Pasión." Ethnomusicologist Robert Garfías wrote the liner notes for the album and said the following about this cut: "Certainly the most amazing piece on the entire record is Victor Feldman's composition "Pasión."Although it is an original composition by Feldman it captures as much of the true flavor of Venezuelan folk music as can be heard in "El Gavilán" [a traditional joropo that Feldman also recorded]. The performance retains the tight, synchronized rhythmic quality of Venezuelan music throughout, but it is the natural ease and the strong Venezuelan flavor of the tune itself which makes it practically impossible to distinguish from traditional Venezuelan music."

Pasi�n - Victor Feldman

The Venezuela Joropo has long been out of print and has never been transferred to CD. So I was delighted a few years ago to get some software that allowed me to digitize my old albums. This was the first one I chose: not a moment too soon because I would have certainly worn the album out. Here's to you, Pop!

Should Have Brought the Video Camera...

2008-09-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

Simon's soccer team played their third match of the season. Their team has been up-and-down this year and things have been decidedly low-key (a mixed blessing): no pressure, no crazed soccer parents (not counting Michelle, who can shout a lot louder than her innocent façade would suggest!) but, on the other hand, no practices and not much instruction per se beyond whatever the coach and parents yell during the match.

But Simon played beautifully today. He scored three goals in the first half alone, before resting and playing defense in the second. It wasn't long before other parents were whooping and hollering when he got the ball. Okay, so I'm a suburban soccer dad. You gotta problem with that?Here's "Simon and Goliath" (Simon's #2 in the red). Guess which of the two ended up leaving the field in tears?

Here's Simon kicking his second goal. Nice pic, Michelle!

Light. Sweet. Crude.

2008-09-06T05:37:00.000-07:00

No, the title of this post does not represent my summary of the Republican National Convention (although two of the three adjectives do seem à propos) but rather the following clip from Jon Stewart. Enjoy and/or despair.

From Big Tent to Three-Ring Circus

2008-09-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

The buzz this weekend was that there may be another line you can add to Sarah Palin's impressive resumé: the rumor was that she may be a moose-killin'-trash-talkin' -good-ol'-girl- former-beauty-queen mother-of-five-married-to-an-Eskimo-creationist grandma. Now, if this kind of claim could be substantiated, I'd be the first to admit that her motives for protecting her teenage daughter from public embarrassment would, arguably, be noble (if not slightly twisted, from my perspective). But--and I underscore that this kind of speculation is just that, speculation--then it would demonstrate a remarkable capacity to blatantly lie to the press and even those closest to her. Not to mention the fact that she would be politically naive enough to believe that this kind of story wouldn't eventually be outed. I don't know how this will play out and I'm sympathetic to those that claim we should refrain from subjecting the personal lives of politicians and their families to undue scrutiny. But it's another thing altogether when part and parcel of your political message are the details of your own rosy-hued "personal story." And hers is a personal story worth paying attention to.

[update at 3:30 pm on Sept 1: it now turns out that while this rumor was probably false, the campaign has announced that her unmarried 17-year old daughter is currently pregnant. I tend to agree with Obama's statement that nobody outside the family has any business mucking around with this issue. But it can't be good for the Republicans that they're getting this much soap opera drama only three days after the announcement that Palin was McCain's choice. If this kind of decision on McCain's part in choosing Palin in the first place--the "maverick" shooting from the hip, advisors and pundits be damned--well, then I think I've seen all I need to see of the governing style he would bring to the White House].

I'll just say one more thing about Palin, at least for now. I don't know what LDS church members will make of her but I think it's fair to point out that one of the items that has been touted to sell her to the socialcons is her former leadership of a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This, of course, is an organization that very pointedly does not allow members of the LDS faith to join. In fact, they made a show recently of stripping a high school athlete of an award once they found out he was Mormon. John McCain sure made the right choice if he was determined to appease the evangelical socialcons that had threatened to stay home. There's nothing they would have hated more than to see a Mormon on the ticket.

As for McCain, there was a time (about eight years ago, to be precise) when he really did seem different from other Republicans, when his candidacy seemed to betoken an uncommon willingness to work with colleagues across the aisle for the common good (remember the old "Straight Talk Express"?). But the crude calculations involved in his selection of Palin is disappointing in the extreme. In fact, those calculations are so transparent--"let's throw a bone to the evangelical nutcases and see if we can pick off a few Hillary supporters as well"-- that you almost have to believe that he intended for his motives to be regarded as both transparent and crass. And that would represent, for me, a willingness to make contemporary politics postmodern in a brand new way: maybe this is the new Straight Talk Express after all.

For the sake of comparison, consider Obama's selection of Joe Biden. I confess that I felt a certain disappointment when he announced his choice. Certainly, Obama made this choice as the result of a kind of political calculation as well: Biden helps with the Catholic vote, he helps with the blue collar vote, he helps with those worried about Obama's lack of experience. But Obama at least intended his choice to be construed as one that was principled. And, in some sense, it is. If anything were to happen to Obama, I don't think there's any doubt that Biden would be capable of competently assuming the presidency, and I think both Democrats and Republicans would agree on that much.

But here we have McCain, choosing a former beauty queen and darling of the socialcons, not caring that his motives simply are just what they appear to be: winning the election, no matter the cost. And that, my friends, is the true postmodern spirit. Who'dda thunk that a crusty old war veteran would be breaking ground like this? Give the wrinkly old white guy--to cite the ever-relevant Paris Hilton--his props.

In a not-altogether-unrelated item, take a gander at this clown from the "Christian"-oriented organization, Focus on the Family. Isn't he witty and droll? Do you suppose that this guy's finely honed comedic chops include an appreciation of irony? Nah, probably not. (That's not to say that the Republicans have the market cornered on such trash).

Roughing It

2008-08-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

If I ever get stuck in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a pocket knife, some duct tape, and a piece of string, I want Simon and Alex with me. Here's Simon with a bow and arrow that he and Alex made from a couple of sticks.

So, how does the improvised bow and arrow actually work? Well, let's just say that grilled stray cat tastes better than you might think.

This Just In ...

2008-08-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

Senator John McCain has just announced his vice-presidential running mate, 44-year old Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has served all of 18 months in that position, subsequent to serving on the Wasilla City Council and, later, as mayor. Rumor has it McCain had wished to choose a Chinese gymnast but was dissuaded by advisers because the Constitution stipulates that the candidate must have been born in the United States.

Shoshone, Idaho 1972

2008-08-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Are You Ready for Some Football!?

2008-08-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Alex's flag football season started today. His team lost but he had a pretty good game, with one interception and a sack. Here he is in hot, or at least warm, pursuit of the opposing quarterback:

I guess it's good that at this age the sport hasn't become ultracompetitive. Check out the kids on the left side of this picture. It's the ol' slap and tickle play.

Pentsatze Entretenigarriak (bertsioa euskaraz)

2008-08-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ongi etorri nire blogera, “Pentsatze Entretenigarriak”! (bertsio berezia euskaraz). Nire izena David dut. Literatura latinoamerikanoa profesorea naiz. Hemen gaude Euskal Herrian iaz.

Simon pilotari ona da.

Hau da nire alaba, Eva. Sei urteak ditu.

Hauek nire semeak dira, Simon eta Alex. Eta nire emaztea, Michelle. Zenbat urteak ditu? Ez dakit. Gaztea da: oso gaztea. Eta ni? Ba, oso zaharra naiz: berohegeitabat urteak ditut. Besarkada handierantz gure familia gernikan. Ez dakit euskeraz, baina ikusten ari naiz. Hizkuntza zoragarria da: gustatzen zait. Gero arte!

Deseret Island Disc: "Flowers of Evil" (Ruth White)

2008-08-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know much about Ruth White. She was a synth pioneer back in the 60s when electronics were just beginning to be exploited by serious composers. She released just two albums, I think: "Flowers of Evil" and "Seven Trumps from the Tarot Cards." Both vinyls are hard to find these days: a copy of "Flowers of Evil" just went for $50 on eBay. But it's not hard to see why connoisseurs and historians of electronica are rediscovering White's work. "Flowers of Evil" is a tour-de-force of late 60s electronics: Baudelaire's poems provide a perfect backdrop for White's experiments. Be warned: these are not the happy-go-lucky synth stylings of Perry and Kingsley, with their assorted space-age whooshes, bleeps, and farting sounds. While there's still a bit of cheese here (at least to the 21st century listener), some of this stuff is genuinely creepy. And of course Baudelaire lends himself beautifully to this kind of thing. Here's "The Clock."

The Clock.mp3 -

(I guess I have a thing for musical interpretations of Baudelaire. During my first year at BYU, a roommate got me into French artist Mylène Farmer's album Ainsi soit je. Here's her version of "L'horloge." Somehow it hasn't aged nearly as well as White's version, which came out nearly 20 years earlier).

Lhorloge - Mylene Farmer - 1988 - Ainsi S

No, This Blog is Not Defunct. It is Still Funct.

2008-08-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since a new post and my excuse is that we've been traveling so much. Last year, of course, we were in Spain and the Basque Country from early July until mid-December. This year we've been catching up on visiting family. We made three long-ish car trips to Idaho, California, and Washington this summer. By my count that means that we put the following mileage on the odometer:

Idaho: 800 miles round trip
California: 1500 miles round trip
Washington: 1600 miles round trip

That's nearly 60 hours and 4000 miles of driving this summer, or half-way to the moon (more or less). And, of course, we picked the summer of record-setting high gas prices to do it. But it wasn't really that bad. The kids are old enough to travel pretty well now and I listened to podcats of Hubert Dreyfus' course on Division I of Heidegger's Being and Time on my iPod.

The last trip was nice: it had been three years since I had been in Wenatchee and Paul, Michelle's dad, had just retired after many years of teaching Sociology and Philosophy classes at Wenatchee Valley College (I inherited a hefty box of some of his old philosophy books. Bless you, Paul!). Michelle's siblings were there, including her brother Dan and his family, from Ohio. More pictures to come.

Heavenly Voices from Knieper and Ligeti

2008-07-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

It's easy enough to imagine how a composer might aim for the sublime within a cultural and music framework that allows for a full, lush exploitation of familiar melodic devices. But what do you do when you're a composer writing in the latter half of the twentieth century and those same devices--indeed, familiar notions of tonality--have become problematized (to use an ungainly word from literary theory)? How does one evoke from the human voice something approximating a (postmodern) sublime?

Heaven knows I'm no connoisseur of contemporary works for vocal ensembles. But a couple of tracks have been figuring prominently in my music rotation these last few days and they certainly seem germane to such questions. Oddly enough, they are both from movie soundtracks. The first is from Jürgen Kneiper's soundtrack to Der Himmel über Berlin [Wings of Desire, directed by Wim Wenders in 1989] and the second is a piece by György Ligeti's featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey [Stanley Kubrick, 1968].

Here's a 30-second clip from the piece by Knieper:

04 - Die Kathedrale der Buecher (The Cathedral of Books).mp3 -

And here's Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna":

Ligeti: Lux aeterna (2001: A Space Odyssey) - Various

What I find appealing about these pieces is the way they find a place for the human voice while nevertheless setting it against a complex backdrop which at first blush seems inimical to it. In Wings of Desire, the hushed speaking voices in "Die Kathedrale" are meant to represent the thoughts of library patrons as they are silently observed by invisible angels. Our vantage point--as listeners and viewers of the film--approximates, but does not presume to occupy, a kind of god-like vantage point on the scene. We see the library patrons' activities in the film--and we hear their thoughts in Knieper's composition--against a backdrop of otherworldly, cascading voices: but there is no synthesis, no final harmonization or reconciliation of those voices into a single, unified chorus. Or, more accurately: the angelic voices towards the end do coalesce in a melody, but not by eliminating the whispered individual voices that continue to percolate just beneath the surface.

As for Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna," it is a relatively uniform tonal background that sets off the individual voices that fade in and out. These distinctive voices assume jagged tones that are never quite reconciled with the long choral lines beneath them. But there is something undeniably transcendent to which the music somehow gestures, as if that something held it in orbit, as it were, but were not itself directly perceptible. Okay, I'm up in the clouds now. But when it comes to angels and space ships, what else do you expect?

At any rate, I highly recommend purchasing these albums here and here.

In Our Lovely Deseret

2008-07-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

I know the feeling. Oh, I know the feeling.

One more reason ...

2008-07-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

... to run, not walk, away from the Republican party. I'm no fan of Mitt, but these people are scary.

Memories of a Simpler and Stupider Age

2008-07-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

This scan is from a 1958 Donald Duck comic book. Simon found this ad highly amusing: "Dad, the message is all about safety and these kids aren't even wearing helmets." Of course, this ad was from a time when "seat belt" to a kid meant their mother's right arm.

Desert Island Discs: Moving Pictures, Part 2

2008-07-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

At a time when so much of our music is digital and an album cover is nothing more than a postage stamp-sized .jpeg, it's easy to forget how much the album cover and inner sleeve used to be crucial to experiencing the music itself. I've always loved the clean look of the album cover of Moving Pictures (see previous post): slick, glossy black, red lettering, and a lush cover photograph that manages to be both playful and artistic (note the three arches and the three columns, which echoes the composition of the band itself, a trio. And in case that interpretation sounds far-fetched to you, the photographer has pointed out as much about the shot). The photos of the band members on the inner sleeve are memorable as well: I used to spend hours listening to the album and reading every word of the liner notes and studying the pictures. The photographs by Hugh Syme seemed to capture in beautiful black and white images something of the precision, grace, and fluidity of the music.

Ah, the music. Just about every album I've ever purchased has had at least one or two good tracks; the best albums have maybe three or four with some other fine tracks besides. Each of the seven tracks of Moving Pictures has been, at one time or another, my favorite on the album. The opening synthesizer splash and tight bass and snare drum of the opening of "Tom Sawyer" gives way to some power chords on guitar that sum up the album as a whole: tight, powerful, and somehow both dark and optimistic at the same time. The track features the synthesizer as much as any cut on the album and, although it was released in 1981, it's amazing how non-dated it seems (compare that with any other use of synthesizer from the early 80s). The drumming throughout is astonishing and, surprisingly enough for those that only know Neil Peart by reputation, always tasteful and restrained (for more evidence, see "The Camera Eye"). But the drum fills coming out of the guitar solo ..., well, I still am floored by their authority.

Tom Sawyer - Rush

"Red Barchetta," based on a futuristic story by Richard Foster, is a wonderful track. There's no better song to drive to. I especially love guitarist Alex Lifeson's use of natural harmonics. The ones that follow the line "has been his dearest dream" are absolutely perfect: they evoke the very dream mood that the lyrics describe.

Anyone who has played, or wanted to play, drums or bass guitar has to find "YYZ" enthralling (maybe now is the time to raise your hand if you are strong enough to avoid the temptation of playing air drums during this track!). From the tune's opening 10/8 time signature to the call and response of Geddy Lee's bass and Neil Peart's drums, this is a simply remarkable tune (for a somewhat technical description of the structure of the piece, click here). Alex's solo is absolutely perfect: vaguely Middle-Eastern sounding and incredibly fluid, there's no doubt he was listening to jazz guitar great Allan Holdsworth when the album was made: lots of left-hand hammer-ons and pull-offs and it is put together in such a graceful way that I think it really expanded the vocabulary of rock guitar.

YYZ - Rush

I'll briefly mention one other tune, saving side two for another time. "Limelight" is one of the songs which, along with "Tom Sawyer" and "The Spirit of Radio" (from Permanent Waves) garnered the most radio airplay for Rush. The opening riff is simple, powerful and elegant. The guitar solo may be my favorite Alex Lifeson solo ever. It is a total change of gears from the rest of the song. It is open, introspective, and expressive and, with its final note fading into feedback (which is sustained through an entire chorus), perfectly gives voice to the lyric about Neil Peart's misgivings and ambivalence about the trappings of fame.

Limelight - RUSH

Speaking of lyrics, while I am the first to admit Neil Peart has had his ups and downs as a lyricist, there's never been any doubt that, at his best, he is more literate, articulate, and ambitious than virtually any other rock lyricist out there. For example, "Tom Sawyer"'s lyrics catch the vibe of the kind of libertarian individualism that was a frequent theme throughout much of the early work of the band. Many songs have been written about the "rigors" of the musician's lifestyle but absolutely none is so eloquent as "Limelight" in capturing the ambivalence it engenders. "The Camera Eye" is likewise pitch-perfect in evoking the energy and vitality of the cityscapes of Manhattan and London. I'm nothing if not discriminating when it comes to lyrics--I'm a literature professor after all!--and this album is a gem all the way through. My students know that I'm merciless with a red pen in hand and there's virtually nothing in this entire album that I could improve upon.

I'll have to say more about the other tracks--"Witch Hunt" and "Vital Signs"--in another post. For now, suffice it to say that I've listened to this album hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. After twenty seven years, there's still no other rock album I'd rather listen to.

Desert Island Discs: Moving Pictures, Part 1

2008-07-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

[It seems that the poetry well has dried up for now (I can almost hear a sigh of relief!) so I'm introducing another semi-regular feature: my desert island discs column. Each entry will discuss one of my favorite albums. Of course, I'm aware that in doing so I'm certainly not helping to temper the blogging world's collective narcissism (as if that weren't the general raison d'etre for blogs, after all). But if it's fruitless to try to counter aesthetic narcissism per se at least I can hope to improve in some minor way the general level of taste and discernment out there (so, I'll save my discussion of Iron Maiden for another day)].

Album #1: Moving Pictures (Rush, 1981)

We all have a soft spot in our heart for those albums that came along at a crucial time in our musical development. Most of the time this happens in the teenage years, when we are learning what we like and what we don't and suddenly music comes to appear terribly important, often for reasons totally unrelated to the music itself: our own little (often semi-rebellious) identities are being formed; our friends come to exercise greater influence over our taste and preferences; we become dimly aware of social issues, and so on. Most of the music we discover at such a time will later come to seem shallow or uninteresting or irrelevant once the collateral issues have changed. And we tend to listen to that music later with a bit of nostalgia and vague embarrassment.

Nothing could be farther from the truth with Rush's eighth studio album, Moving Pictures, which I still find absolutely exhilarating to listen to. I still vividly recall hearing it for the first time. I was not quite fourteen and a group of us scouts were headed up to the mountains for a week-long camping trip. One of my friends had brought a cassette player (the old, bulky rectangular kind used for dictation) and a homemade copy of the album, which he played over and over again in the car. I'd never heard anything like it: the music was grating and loud and the singer didn't so much sing as shriek in a shrill falsetto. Coming as I did from a world in which ELO and Styx were pushing the musical envelope, this was like some kind of musical meteor falling from the sky and landing by chance on my (mostly empty) head. I hated it.

Fast forward a month or two and another of my good friends who had also been on the trip subscribes to one of those mail-order record clubs, where you get ten albums for a penny and commit to buying six more in the next two years. Unsure of what to get, he orders Moving Pictures. The records come and we play them incessantly as we play--you guessed it--Dungeons and Dragons. And when I join the same record club a few weeks later, I order it as well. And thus am I initiated into a world which I haven't really left. To be continued...

No, My Mind is Not for Rent. And Please Don't Put Me Down as "Arrogant."

2008-07-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

Perhaps there are great morals to be drawn from this clip: astute observations into the nature of our postmodern moment. But I will leave it to you, gentle reader, to make them.

At least they're not Milli Vanilli.

There's a New Sheriff in Town

2008-07-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's Pioneer Day today, which is a holiday unique to Utah. It's the day when everybody gets patriotic and puts up their American flags to commemorate the 1847 arrival of Mormons in Utah, which was then a part of Mexico because the Mormons had to flee the US to escape religious persecution. Makes perfect sense to me.

Anyway, here are a couple of old photos from my childhood that I came across. You probably think that this was just a cowboy costume I was wearing, with a couple of toy pistols. But you'd be wrong. For I killed a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

It Took Months...

2008-07-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

... but I finally finished Les Misérables. No, not the Broadway musical. No, not one of the umpteen film versions. No, not the video game. No, not Orson Welles' 7-part radio series. No, not the Japanese anime version. No, not the 26-part North Korean animated series. No, not the puny little abridged version, with its paltry four hundred sixteen pages.

Yes, the 1,232 page beast. You know, the one with the 60+ page asides on the Battle of Waterloo, the two or three chapters of opining about how the excrement of Parisians is not sufficiently valued for its array of wondrous properties, the long disquisitions on criminal argot and the admirable absurdities of monastic life. Oh, yeah, and the one with that Jean Valjean / Cosette story.

So, what did I think of what may well be the most famous novel in all of the history of French literature?

It was all right.

Well, I guess I can say a bit more than that. It is almost difficult not to read the book as a truly (if inadvertently) postmodern novel. Of course it's not postmodern in the way Don Quijote is postmodern (or modern, or premodern, or all of the above or none of the above. Take your pick). But it does seem almost postmodern in the way it gleefully pushes the form of the novel to the breaking point, snaps it, and keeps on going like nothing happened. Philosophy, history, military tactics, aesthetics, religion, it's all grist for Hugo's mill. "That's just the modern novel," you say. "Just look at those long-winded Russians or Proust." Well, yes, they were loquacious too. But if nothing else, Les Misérables confirms once again that the birth of the novelist is the death of the editor. I guess the thing about Hugo's novel is that there's so much of it. Put it this way: it wallows in excess in a way that has at least a whiff of the postmodern about it. And speaking of smells, I think that his extended discussion of Parisian merde may entitle us to identify Hugo as the father of contemporary cultural studies (you may think that a laudable or an execrable achievement).

But the story, man, what about the story? Talk about a flawed masterpiece: eloquent and insightful descriptions side-by-side with the most banal armchair pontificating I've ever seen. But, yeah, the rube in me liked it. The academic in me would need to do a lot more work to figure out why.

Future Generations of Anthropologists ...

2008-07-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

... will study our culture and wonder why we harbored so much hatred for cheerfully decorated cardboard boxes hung from a piece of string.

Eva had a great birthday. Is there such a thing as a bad day that includes watermelon-shaped cake, ice cream, candy, presents, lots of friends, grandparents and cousins, and a water fight? Do I even need to answer that question?

Granddad's 95th...

2008-07-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

Why We Call It "the Ranch" ...

2008-07-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

A Bird in the Hand

2008-07-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know what they say about picking up baby birds. But we found this little guy in the middle of the street. The kids really went into parenting mode to take care of it. We finally realized there wasn't much we could do so we placed it under a nearby tree where we had seen mature swallows, hoping that they would somehow take over (I'm enough of a Darwinist to know how things probably turned out). But it was a nice picture. Coming up soon: photographs of puppies, butterflies, and rainbows. I wear the wimp badge with pride.

(The photo is from the blog of friend and former student Lindsey Wilkins. Thanks, Lindsey!)

Nire Aitaren Etxea ("My Father's House")

2008-07-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

"... nire aitaren etxeak / iraunen du / zutik" ("My father's house / will remain standing"). Those are the final lines of the most famous poem by Gabriel Aresti, the Basque Country's most important poet. I came across this photo of the Jayo house from Bolibar in the Basque Country. It has probably been centuries since any of my ancestors lived here, but it is nonetheless the house from which my great-grandmother's family took their last name. I'm not sure when the black and white photo above was taken, but the house is barely standing now--physically speaking, at least--and is almost completely covered with vegetation. The snapshot below was taken in 2005.

Deer Paradise

2008-06-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

I imagine that if deer could dream of heaven, this is what it would be like for them: miles and miles of salt as far as the eye can see. This picture was taken at the Bonneville Salt Flats, not far from the Nevada / Utah border (we had stopped on our way to California).

Monday Poem--"Philosophy"

2008-06-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

Philosophy, I believe,
is the attempt
to justify systematically
the beliefs we already have.
(Just don't ask me
to justify that claim.)

"In Loco Parentis"

2008-06-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

Isn't it touching that I can be more than forty years old and Phi Kappa Phi, the National Honor Society, decides that I'm still not quite old enough to make decisions about my own health insurance so they go over my head to talk to my parents? I guess I should just be glad they care.

I must admit that I'm a little embarrassed about belonging to the organization at all (it's a long story about how I came to be a member but suffice it to say it would have been impolite for me to decline the invitation). It calls to mind Groucho Marx's old line about not wanting to belong to any club that would have him for a member. But it's not like they're as selective as they'd like to make you think. I attended the opening banquet and it was packed with literally thousands of students who had shelled out something like 50 bucks for that line on their resumé, along with a handful of professors who, I presume, were there for the warm Sprite and the cold chicken.

Enjoy the Silence

2008-06-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for films that are: (1) foreign; (2) long; (3) boring. That said, I got the trifecta with Philip Groening's 2006 film, Die Große Stille (Into Great Silence). It's a nearly three-hour long documentary about a Carthusian monastery in France: there's no narrative and very little dialogue. Groening was given extensive access to the monastery and the result is a kind of poem-film of one striking image after another. Paradoxically, the images are almost all banal: the camera hones in on the monks preparing a meal, or turning the page of a hymnal, or shuffling along to mass. But each is invested with a kind of spiritual significance and Groening admirably finds the poetry in the ordinary activities that for the monks constitute a kind of worship in their own right.

Monday Poem--"Heidegger in Space"

2008-06-23T05:47:00.000-07:00

I dreamed last night
of Heidegger in space.
I don’t mean to say
that he was hacking his way
through to the clearing of Being
but rather orbiting the earth
with the space shuttle crew:
the mission’s metaphysician
on call at all hours.
He sits by the portal
and stares outside
mouthing unintelligible truths,
thinking terrible thoughts.
“Das Nichts selbst nichtet”
—he solemnly intones—
and who could not help feeling,
staring out into the endless void,
the immensity of nothingness?
It is that same nothingness
which tightens his throat
and almost brings a tear
to his oracular eye.

Well, the rest of the crew,
as it turns out,
has no use for his
pencil-moustache,
his slinking around,
his dark sayings,
when there are gauges to check,
and tests to run,
and an interstellar lavatory
that must be cleaned.

So, without a word,
they lure him
to the escape pod.
Weary of his drivel,
they strap him in,
eject him into space
and watch in silence as,
still talking,
still taking
the measure
of the fourfold
of Earth and Sky,
Gods and Mortals,
he slowly rolls round
in earth’s diurnal course
already beginning
to forget the dearness
of rocks, and stones, and trees.

Monday Poem--"This Poem Began"

2008-06-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Summer = Climbing Stuff, Getting Tackled, Playing with Cousins

2008-06-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

It also means hot-air balloons and parades. It's almost enough to rob me of my cynicism and smart-aleckiness. Almost.

They Say that "Everybody's Working for the Weekend:" Now See Why

2008-06-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

Walter Ruttmann was an important German filmmaker whose best known work was Berlin: Symphony of a City (1927). He also dabbled in avant-garde composition. Here's a sound collage called "Week End." It's definitely dated in some ways, but I find it strangely appealing.

Week End - Walter Ruttmann

"Europeans already looking beyond Bush presidency" ...

2008-06-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

... reads the headline for the AP story. Well, it may not be as simple as that, but it is a happy, hopeful thought for a Sunday morning nonetheless ...

Monday Poem--"Opening the Books"

2008-06-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books … (Revelation 20:12)

When the final trumpet sounds,
when the graves yield up their dead,
when almighty Jehovah himself appears
in majesty and splendor,
I wonder what would happen
if He could find no book for you,
just a glossy magazine,
mostly ads,
recipes for holiday leftovers,
tummy-tightening exercises,
and tips for driving your man
wild in bed.

I smile at the thought
and then, with a glow of slow gratitude,
I realize that my own book of life
is no book either
just a perforated insert card
for your magazine,
an advertisement for your advertisements.

Perhaps, I think,
when the final echo
of the final trumpet blast
has faded away
we'll still be together
on a coffee table
of a waiting room
in the clean and quiet office
of the great God
of Heaven and Earth.

Marathon Man

2008-06-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

Simon, along with his friends Jon, Jaxon, and Brandon B., made the paper for having run a marathon (in small increments) at school over the course of the last couple of months. Needless to say, it took quite a bit of dedication so we're pretty proud of him.

Here's a brief article from the local paper; a full report may be found at CNN.com and other major media outlets.

Babylon the (Not So) Great

2008-06-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

I don't think I ever expected when I chose this career path that I would be dabbling in Babylonian studies. But I guess that's what happens when you work on Borges. I've been writing a book chapter about Borges's story, "The Lottery in Babylon," so I've been up to my eyeballs in Babylonian history and culture. Here's a couplet from a long poem, which, like many Babylonian literary texts, deals with the problem of theodicy in a particularly vivid way. Consider yourself warned.

ina ru-ub-si-ia a-bit ki-ial-pi
ub-tal-lil ki-i immeri (udu.nitá) ina ta-ba-ás-ta-ni-ia

Translation:
I spend the night in my dung like an ox,
And wallow in my excrement like a sheep.

Any questions?

Monday Poem--"Red Patch"

2008-06-02T18:08:00.000-07:00

Now suppose that I am looking at a bright red patch.

I may say, "this is my present precept;" I may also say,

"my present precept exists;" but I may not say, "this

exists," becaue the word "exists" is only significant when

applied to a description as opposed to a name. This

disposes of existence as one of the things that the mind

is aware of in objects. (Bertrand Russell, "A History of

Western Philosophy, 1945)

"Red patch, here, now"

I tell the doctor,

rolling up my sleeve,

doing my best

to avoid self-diagnosis.

"Itching, here, now," I add,

trying to elaborate,

which is not to say

that there is, in fact

anything that itches.

For all I know,

my red patch is all in my mind,

in a manner of speaking

(and which emphatically does not imply

that I in fact have a mind).

The doctor, if there is a doctor,

nods, smiles, writes on a pad,

sends me on my way.

"Red patch, not here now,"

I am now relieved to report,

as I open the mail

from the doctor's office.

Drawing the bill

from its envelope

I can't help thinking,

"white patch, here, now,"

wondering if precepts of bills,

like regular ones,

must be paid with regular money

or whether precepts of money

would suffice.

But I, if there is an I,

think not.

"No more pencils, no more books..."

2008-05-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

My kids inform me that they would like their ritual marking the end of the school year to include shaking up cans of root beer and then throwing them up in the air and hoping that they explode.

If that's all that goes on at the end of the school year throughout their lives, well, I can live with that.

"Many Things are in Europe..."

2008-05-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

"... such as reindeer, the Eiffel Tower, and bagpipes." Well, I guess that just about covers it. (Needless to say, we didn't write the script!). Here's some footage of Eva's final kindergarten program.

Peter Aidu, playing Steve Reich's "Piano Phase"

2008-05-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here is an astonishing bit of artistry from Russian pianist Peter Aidu. Steve Reich is a minimalist who composed a number of pieces using tape loops that were played at slightly different speeds, which resulted in each track weaving in and out of phase with the other(s). The effect is uniquely dissonant and vertiginous. Much the same effect is produced in this piece, which was originally composed for two pianos (and, it goes without saying, two pianists). I'm not aware of anyone else that has played it simultaneously on two pianos. The recording is from www.archive.org. Just in case you don't believe that's one pianist without any special effects, here's a video of another performance of the work, courtesy of http://www.top-40.org/top09/top09.html (I prefer the audio-only version, but it's interesting to see Aidu actually playing. Come to think of it, if you're a really adventurous soul, you could play the audio clip and the video clip at [almost!] the same time and double your phase-shifting pleasure!).