More Random Thoughts (they're all I'm capable of these days)
My hero Bono said in an interview once: having nothing to write about isn't an excuse for not writing. I'm not really sure what that means. But. I wanted to write something today and really don't have time to think of much original. Seeing as it's finals week.
So a couple of random stories with no commentary from me.
1. Grading isn't as bad when your students are funny. For instance, one turned in an essay with haikus spread throughout it. Just for fun. A couple made me mix-discs to listen to while grading their essays.
2. Did Rush Limbaugh really say / play this? I want to not believe it. I don't know a thing about the source, other than it's a liberal blog. But why oh WHY is this considered funny or acceptable?
3. I read an article yesterday about a planet relatively nearby (20 light years, give or take, away) that scientists believe has water on it. And therefore at least has the possibility for sustaining life. Or the posibility of having sustained life. I can't find a link to it today. But whatever. That's not really all that important to me. I really just want to know how scientists look at photographs and images and know what is what on a planet. They seem to do this fairly regularly and with some accuracy and I have a Biology degree and have no clue how they do it. A methods lesson from anyone?
4. Al Sturgeon should write a book about Christ. The post below this one is amazing.
5. I love the lyrics to the Radiohead song "How to Disappear Completely," even though I don't know what they mean:
That there, That's not me
I go where I please
I walk through walls
I float down the Liffey
I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here I'm not here
In a little while I'll be gone
The moment's already passed Yeah it's gone
And I'm not here, This isn't happening
I'm not here I'm not here
Strobe lights and blown speakers
Fireworks and hurricanes
I'm not here, This isn't happening
I'm not here I'm not here
Most of the time I like for lyrics to make some sort of sense. But I like that these don't. Don't explain them to me if you understand them. I like them the way they are. Peaceful for some reason.
They're even better if you listen to them with the music.
So a couple of random stories with no commentary from me.
1. Grading isn't as bad when your students are funny. For instance, one turned in an essay with haikus spread throughout it. Just for fun. A couple made me mix-discs to listen to while grading their essays.
2. Did Rush Limbaugh really say / play this? I want to not believe it. I don't know a thing about the source, other than it's a liberal blog. But why oh WHY is this considered funny or acceptable?
3. I read an article yesterday about a planet relatively nearby (20 light years, give or take, away) that scientists believe has water on it. And therefore at least has the possibility for sustaining life. Or the posibility of having sustained life. I can't find a link to it today. But whatever. That's not really all that important to me. I really just want to know how scientists look at photographs and images and know what is what on a planet. They seem to do this fairly regularly and with some accuracy and I have a Biology degree and have no clue how they do it. A methods lesson from anyone?
4. Al Sturgeon should write a book about Christ. The post below this one is amazing.
5. I love the lyrics to the Radiohead song "How to Disappear Completely," even though I don't know what they mean:
That there, That's not me
I go where I please
I walk through walls
I float down the Liffey
I'm not here
This isn't happening
I'm not here I'm not here
In a little while I'll be gone
The moment's already passed Yeah it's gone
And I'm not here, This isn't happening
I'm not here I'm not here
Strobe lights and blown speakers
Fireworks and hurricanes
I'm not here, This isn't happening
I'm not here I'm not here
Most of the time I like for lyrics to make some sort of sense. But I like that these don't. Don't explain them to me if you understand them. I like them the way they are. Peaceful for some reason.
They're even better if you listen to them with the music.
posted by Michael Lasley | 12:03 PM
10 Comments:
I'm not sure what they mean, either, but they remind me of this Mark Strand poem, which I totally identify with; a fact I find unsettling.
"Keeping Things Whole"
In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.
When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.
We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.
You're way too kind, Mikey. You must be fishing for a gift when I come visit next week. :-)
BTW, Joe & I have just begun a conversation on the aforementioned post below this one if you guys want to chime in.
Mikey-
You really are random. I totally appreciate it. You're so lucky with your mix-discs. I guess I should assign more creative writing. I hate grading papers. I love teaching, I love interacting with students. I HATE grading with almost every fiber of my being. Of course when my students pay at least $1000 per credit hour and do not know how, as seniors, to use commas or parrallelism correctly....it just, like, gets, like, way old.
We still have 3 more weeks to go you lucky dog. Are you prepping for some real face time with the sun?
JU-
Can you explain why its unsettling? I see this poem as the essence of being and presence, particularly the second stanza. I think it is a much more eloquent way of saying "I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been tryin' to be lately." Either way, it is beautiful.
I think because it doesn't strike me as a poem about presence, but about absence and alienation. About having to always be moving along to keep from disrupting the harmony of things.
BTW, Mikey, I once got a very high grade on a law school exam for no reason other than writing a funny essay.
JU -- I love the poem you posted. I'd never read it before. And I really like your reading of it. It's disturbing that he finds alienation (or makes alienation) sound so peaceful.
Whitney -- thanks. I like being random. Grading is a slow death. But I usually like reading the essays my students write -- I just don't like reading them with an eye toward a grade. Commas are the big problem I find in students writing. Most of my students are in absolute love with commas. (Personally, I'm in absolute love with splitting infinitives.) YES, I'm prepping for lots of sun and beach time. Are you on the quarter system down there? We get out earlier than any other school in the country, I think.
Al -- your being here will be present enough for me. Send me an email at my Pepperdine address. mlasley at. I never check my Syracuse address.
Hey Joe & Whitney, I had an idea. I know Malibu isn't exactly next door to you guys, but what's the chance of you guys running up to P.U. (I love the initials!) one night next week for dinner with me and the legendary Mikey?!?!
There's dinner breaks in the lectures from 4:15-6:15 (singing begins at 6:15, keynote at 7pm). Wed/Thur/Fri would all work? Whatcha think? I would LOVE to see you guys, and I'd LOVE to introduce you guys & Mikey...
If you're interested in the keynotes, Harold Shank speaks Wednesday night (awesome), Dan Rodriguez speaks Thursday night (don't know him), and David Fleer speaks Friday night (awesome).
Whatchathink, whatchathink???
It's disturbing that he finds alienation (or makes alienation) sound so peaceful.
If he finds it peaceful, it must be a Zen thing. Some kind of Buddhism, anyway.
As for making it sound peaceful, it hadn't occurred to me before, but I guess this actually qualifies as a pastoral poem. It's probably the combination of the pastoral setting and the alienated message that unsettles me so much.
BTW, and coming full circle, it doesn't seem to me that he finds the alienation peaceful. ISTM he's saying he can't escape his alienation anywhere -- even alone, walking in a field.
Maybe it's a bit of a Rohrschach test as to whether one reads his "intent" as being to pastoralize alienation and thereby say he's at peace with it, or, OTOH, to call attention to the fact that he's alienated even in a pastoral setting and thereby say there's nowhere he feels he belongs. Or, on yet a third hand, one might just as reasonably read it as Whitney does, as not being about alienation at all.
Anyway, your song lyrics reminded me of it. ISTM that they, whatever they mean, might be trying to get at kinda the same thing Strand's poem, whatever it means, is trying to get at.
Al,
I would LOVE to come IF I could actually predict when I could get there. Joe is on the East coast, so he's out, but traffic between here & Malibu could take a minimum of two hours in perfect traffic (which only happens on Sunday mornings) to 3 hours in "regular" traffic to 5-6 or more hours if there's a problem. One Friday it took us over four hours. The hard part is that you have a limited window and I have to work so I can't just get up there early afternoon. Wouldn't that be fun? I'd love to meet Mikey, too. I just don't think it is feasible for me to do by myself. Mikey, what do you think?
I think you guys should just all come to Hawaii!
JU, I thought the same thing you said about the poem being a sort of Rorschach. Interesting, isn't it?
Travelling to Hawaii would be less painstaking than driving up from SD, that's for sure. I'm free all day, everyday, that week. So early afternoon would work for me, if you can make it. Would love to meet you. (And we can drag Al out of a session and make him buy us something to eat.) But. Yeah. The traffic. I forget about that. You'd definitely want to get through LA before...say...3.
Interesting, isn't it?
Those poets. They're a slippery lot.
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