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No, they didn't write back, but they are probably now following you and tapping your phones. Good job!— September 18, 2009 2:58 p.m.
No Place For The Poet
"I wonder why we don’t have our own version of The New Yorker here." Are you talking about San Diego? Seriously, you wonder?— September 18, 2009 3:19 a.m.
Beach Cruisin' for a Bruisin'
You may be right, AG. --And what's that tiresome engigmatic reply? "Don't worry, go furry?" :) I still think gofurry is SurfPuppy.— September 18, 2009 1:15 a.m.
¡Viva Mexico!
el dio Diaz indeedy! Happy Independence, gringo!— September 18, 2009 1:11 a.m.
Body Worlds at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
refried: I always wanted a t-shirt depicting Socrates seated at a writing desk, painfully prodded on to write by Plato, standing behind him. There is a great illustration of this Derrida's "The Postcard" (La Carte postale). I don't recommend jumping in with that, though. "Of Grammatology" is probably the best place to start. I can't wait to have some leisurely lunches, and restart my own brain in some discussions of it with you :)— September 18, 2009 1:05 a.m.
Body Worlds at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
You get it, then, Dr. Frankenstein :) However, Eleanor, though plastinates are beyond human reaction as well as action (save the skateboarder and the apocalyptic horseman, perhaps), the irony of the situation is that rather than honor the memory of the donors, the author dishonors them with clumsy presumption and willful ignorance. I stand firm on that. Honor the wishes of the dead--in this case, to be considered an innovative and immortal teaching tool.— September 18, 2009 1:02 a.m.
Body Worlds at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
Ah ha, I see, refried. I think we must consider that the intent of the plastination exhibit is not to reveal the soul; in true postmodern form, it is all about revealing surfaces and angles. The Victorians were more about trying to dissect and preserve in order to reveal some essence of soul. As for the weary addictions to essence and presence, and the idea of (neo)platonism (yes, the parentheses are necessarily stuck to the vehicle, as it is certain that Plato was not a Platonist), I urge you to consider visiting M. Derrida very soon. :)— September 18, 2009 12:43 a.m.
Body Worlds at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
This is almost animistic of you, refried ;) You are somehow playing around with the idea that the soul somehow 'sticks' to the vehicle?— September 18, 2009 12:16 a.m.
Body Worlds at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
I actually presented on plastination at a literary conference at Berkeley, as I might have written you when we talked about this before. The exhibit itself becomes almost banal as a teaching tool, or even as edu-tainment; the interesting thing to me is how it marks a potential change in our dealings with death, and how it confronts our denial of and discomfort with human death as a physical fact, in this instance of its refusal to disappear, and its enduring on display, in some way like all the accidentally preserved detritus of our society. We provide not much archeological evidence for distant future generations--we are too much here, and repetitious at that in the non-decaying objects that bespeak our lifestyles. (Imagine your existence tallied only in terms of all you've ever saved or thrown out (!) I can see why you like it, but I read this piece as being rather willfully naive; instead of tackling the difficult questions raised by the spectacle of plastination, the author chose to remain not only whistling--but praying--in the dark. I feel that rehumanizing the plastinate in this way, and praying over the remains, did dishonor to the person who provided his body as specimen; people who donate their bodies to this cause are not often devout Christians, and feel more strongly about advancements in medical science than they do about the ritual of burial. That said, I would not want to walk into a von Hagens's exhibit and see a loved one. Is it Jeremy Bentham, philosopher, who stipulated in his will that his funds would cease to a certain foundation, if they did not wheel out his stuffed body for annual meetings? Now that's gumption :)— September 18, 2009 12:12 a.m.
Body Worlds at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
I understand what you're saying, magics, but it shouldn't be a personal choice or right when we are continually and needlessly polluting the earth with toxic burials and the air and earth both with eco-unfriendly cremations. As the author of this article proves, the living have a deep impulse to ritualize burial, and then erase all physical signs of death--it is a need that is hygienic but also psychological. Plastination is philosophically interesting because it flies in the face of these practices, while articulating an actual (but not so new--idea's been around for centuries) "use" for the human body in death. I like the idea of "eco-burial," where they bury you without cremation, and just wrap you in a simple white sheet, and put you in the ground. However, the idea of one's body being useful after death is the most comforting to me, whether it be through organ donation, testing cars or other products for safety, studies in decomposition for criminal justice, or an afterlife as a teaching specimen or sideshow plastinate :)— September 17, 2009 10:15 p.m.