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Loosening Family Ties
re: #8: Christian, I assume by your post that Mr. Brizz might be out on the street. Will you keep us posted on him, and let him know that we can arrange for him to stay at our condo's guest suite for a few days? I'll email you. re: #10 and 13: monaghan, I've seen enough of your posts to form the picture of a bitter and judgemental type who likes to argue for argument's sake, and cannot seem to learn anything from others. Case in point would be your back-and-forth a few months ago with paul, who frankly kicked your butt every which way to Sunday on a debate over the legalization of marijuana. Instead of bowing out gracefully when you were beaten, you continued to throw out ad hominem attacks rather than meet his thoughtful, carefully laid out arguments with the same, or at the least, thanks for putting much more into his posts than you did your own. Now you are attacking John Brizzolara for no reason, and it is a bit hard to discern your purpose. Is it jealousy over his writing, and the fact that he has good friends and a loyal readership? Lost a battle yourself with addiction--or perhaps feel you won a battle, and have the right to be smug about it? Or just more of your typical, aimless moral outrage? Not sure, though you excel at the latter. You and Herr Doktor Burwell should start a misanthropist's support group. Oh, and have a "blessed" day, monaghan ;)— November 12, 2009 11:50 p.m.
A Fear of Cold and Dark
Yeeaah, I'm pretty much tired of this crap, too. Clearly, you are incapable of carrying on a rational conversation, goat3fish. I worked with most of the people you mention, know of them all, and wonder if they can stand to be around you, frankly. Consider this conversation over. Oh, and rickeysays? If you consider that an "academic bitchslap" has been administered, you'd probably best find that bottle of lithium lurking in the back of your own medicine cupboard.— November 11, 2009 4:49 p.m.
Supreme Court Justice Asks: Who Passed Bribe?
Is a "trough feeder" a pig, and so perhaps Puppy's way of indicating that russl is a police officer? JUST a guess ;)— November 11, 2009 4:01 p.m.
Symbiosis
re: #26: We must have posted at nearly the same time, Cuddle. I will chew and savor these words best I can without a translator--Lorca rocks!— November 11, 2009 3:52 p.m.
Symbiosis
re: #24: Yes, I wish I could read both of them in Spanish. I do find the translations by Ken Krabbenhoft to be worthy, as far as my meager translation studies, and lack of Spanish, allows me to judge ;) re: #25: Right on, AG and MsG. I look forward to rants of any kind from both of you--and no--we will not be silenced by the small minds or petty concerns of the jealous or brain dead. ;)— November 11, 2009 3:51 p.m.
Loosening Family Ties
re: #1: What he said, Mr. Brizz. You will be read.— November 11, 2009 3:47 p.m.
Symbiosis
"...often, addressing problems head-on is not the way to solve them. Rather than seeking answers directly (while dwelling on a level where they do not exist and cannot be found) raise your energy and consciousness level until you are elevated to the domain where they readily present themselves -- where they come to you." Very well put as usual, AG--and I too am very glad to see Grant back! Hi, MsGrant! :) I am going to keep these words in mind too--as 'head on' has not always been the best way for me, either. As you know, I'm trying to restart my own failing 'career' path, and need all the inspiration I can get! And speaking of inspiration, that dance performance was amazing, and I love the words you wrote to accompany its themes. Both remind me of Pablo Neruda on solitude, who has also come to mind recently after Pike wrote an ode, and Goat3fish started a conversation about opposites. This is your blog, so I won't include my ode in response to these words: In its search for self-expression music sought out the choir's coral hardness It was written not by a single man but by a whole score of musical relations. And this word which I poise here suspended on a branch, the song that yearns solely for the solitude of your lips to repeat it-- the air inscribes it at my side, lives that were lived long before me. And you, who are reading my ode: you've used it against your own solitude. We've never met, and yet it's your hands that wrote these lines, with mine. ========= I look forward to working with you in future, to bring out all of the talents hidden in that kernel, split over and over in that marvelous personage we call antigeekess ;)— November 11, 2009 2:18 p.m.
A Fear of Cold and Dark
I'm not sure if the battle rages on in the Literature department at UCSD or not, but when I was there as an undergrad, there was a struggle for power between well-meaning parties of differing pedagogical opinion, and basic ideology over what a literature department should constitute: Some felt that literary theory should not be taught, and that it would be at the expense, and even ghettoization of literatures of indigenous peoples, such as native Americans, and the burgeoning bodies of work, of non-canonical writers (meaning, non-American and non-British). Because literary theory derives not only from a tradition of criticism of drama, poetry or prose, but from perspectives from philosophy, anthropology, psychology, psychoanalysis, sociology, translation studies, and history—I believe now, as I did then as an undergrad myself, that it is important to continue teaching, and to teach more of these perspectives, as they have evolved over time. Goat3fish may abhor narratives of the so-called “Enlightenment” era, beginning with Descartes and continuing on through the southern poets who did great damage to our idea of what works should be “canonized,” namely, the “New Critical Poets,” who favored “old dead white guys” and poetry over prose, but I think they should still be taught, and contextualized, so that students may understand, at the very least, how contemporary writers effectively challenge these narratives, and incorporate struggle against them to form new poetics. A program that is inclusive of as much as possible can better prepare a student to evaluate for him or herself where s/he would like to take a stand in society and in the realm of literary study. To denounce all of academia is not only easy, it just makes no sense. Goat3fish, the irony here is that your only possible audience is academic—not many others are likely to pursue your own theses, or be able to contextualize them meaningfully, in the way you would like. Here is a link to Poe’s prose poem, “Eureka,” which contains his theory of the “cosmos,” and his theory of vision, which has influenced artists and writers beyond his role as the so-called ‘grandfather’ of the detective story, or mystery/horror story. While it is important to be aware of intellectually inherited racism, or “subliminal” racism, as goat3fish is calling it, and to trace out such themes within any piece of literary production, we need to keep ALL of the themes of its philosophical heritage in mind: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/eureka.html A question for goat3fish: Have you ever considered using elements of the ‘deconstructive’ reading method of Jacques Derrida as a tool to uncover “subliminal racism?” What other methodologies or ways of reading have you explored, and can you perhaps lay out the basic features of your own methodology for us?— November 11, 2009 1:49 p.m.
A Fear of Cold and Dark
Ok, I have a lot of work to do, but am going to take this a little more seriously, because I think goat3fish's theses deserve some attention. I’ll ask that in return, the invective, namecalling, and accusations of racism and academic ‘puffery’ stop, as they are not only way off the mark, they are more importantly, of no use to a productive discussion. Some people here might not be aware that there is an underlying tension between goat3fish's and my own points of view ;) Goat3fish, let me know if I have not characterized this situation to your satisfaction: I think you were a student at UCSD, whether you were enrolled or not. Perhaps you rail against academia because it was not a good fit for you, and you felt that your struggle against what you see as institutionalized racism in literary discourse went unheard or was perhaps criticized. Perhaps you did not receive the kind of feedback you wanted for your work—I can only guess. It’s up to you how far you want to contextualize your attitudes toward academia, and your own history. I’ll lay all of my own cards on the table, as I have absolutely nothing to hide, and am proud of my activities and achievements at UCSD. I write under my real name, and you can feel free to research my activities there: I belonged to a group called “Diversity in Action,” and we lobbied hard for stronger, better articulated affirmative action programs, as well as institutional changes to the literature department, to make it more open to non-canonized works. I also worked as a tutor for the OASIS center, and for the UCSD Bridge program, where we taught and mentored students of underprivileged or underrepresented backgrounds, so they might gain entrance to the university, in the programs of their choice. It might interest you to know that while my general education included a full range of literatures and theory taught under the aegis of generally Marxist-flavored “cultural studies,” I ended up as a kind of bricoleur, or literary jack of all trades, because my interests in a wide variety of literatures and critical perspectives led me outside of any traditional department’s confines. I won the highest possible departmental honors, and my thesis on the nouveau roman won the department prize for the undergraduate honors thesis. I am currently a grad student in comparative literature at NYU; though serious illness has prevented me for some years from even starting my thesis, I am recommencing work on it now (on the 1960s-early 70s writing of American artist Robert Smithson, specifically his play with boundaries of genre).— November 11, 2009 1:47 p.m.
A Fear of Cold and Dark
Wait, Goat3fish, you can't leave without impressing upon us your particular brand of transcendentalism. After all, what shall we do with the large gap left, now that we are no longer allowed to read Poe? ;( Oh, and could you please give us a list of other books we should burn? Thx. One last request: Will you be my personal fumber, and follow me around like a parasite, and troll all my comments? It would do much to reignite the sense of self worth that you have so badly damaged today with your stunning denouncements of "weak" and "feeble." Folk here might appreciate it if you are a little more succinct, but I say, rant on! Being a poor scholar, I can't pay you, Goat3fish, but of course, being a gentleman scholar yourself, you understand. Wink, wink, nudge nudge. Yours hopefully, Mistuh SD— November 10, 2009 2:55 p.m.