Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn
The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle
Body and Soul by Frank Conroy
Life Before Man by Margaret Atwood

From Continental/Heideggerian Philosophy:
   The part of art historical analysis that I has always given me the most trouble is analysing the “mood” of a piece. My first art history teacher, Mrs. Kennedy, was always frustrated with my ability to formally describe an art piece in prose flawlessly but to have absolutely nothing to say when asked what the mood of the piece was, what it "means". In the same way that I was never satisfied with the methods of literary critique that took all the rhetoric and rhetorical devices together and conclude thereby that the author intends to say “x”, looking at the formal elements of an art piece and saying, based solely upon them, that the artist is trying to evoke “x”, seems to me too naïve and simplistic an approach. It ignores the artist's environing world; where he was schooled, his cultural situation, political and/or economic pressures of the artist's time and place. It, mood that is, is my adviser, Craig's, forte. Though to be fair he knows all the “relevant” personal histories of the artists as well as the pieces. But if I err into the heresy of formalism, then Craig errs 'visual culture'.
   That was last night's conversation though. Tonight the early evening air is cool, and weightless. The breeze rustles the leaves of the houseplants on the window sill and the lights inside our conference room are glowing bright, but not warm. Warm is something lights in the Midwest do when they are surrounded by cold, farmland darkness. In classrooms in the early spring though, lights burn bright and cool. And not so much in puddles but rather in beams. There’s something beautifully efficient about it. It’s not a hard-nosed, no nonsense moment, but a moment with no pretenses. I would have preferred to enjoy the opportunity to take a moment in which to simply exist without pretense, but rather than stretching out in the worn wooden lawn chair in my backyard. I'm semi-scrunched into the Philosophy Department's seminar room with my laptop balanced on my knee and head resting against the cool brick wall.
   The window's curtains are closed. That bothers me. I enjoy the sunset, and tranquil evening atmosphere especially in juxtaposition to our lectures on Being & Time, though I cannot pinpoint precisely why. In any case I'd prefer it tonight since I've been given confirmation that the classmate I appreciated the most, the Classmate Prima for this course, has dropped the course. It's unfortunate but he isn't necessary to my enjoyment of the class and so it's all good. The world continues world, and I'm inauthentically absorbed in what is going on in the lecture. There are no worries despite the absence of both Classmate Prima and the ability to view the evening's progession toward dusk. I shall just have to find other 'distractions' to keep me on task throughout the evening, in addition to LJ, of course. Some of my classmates talk out loud to figure this stuff out, others copiously take notes with such intensity that I worry about their stress levels on occaision. I have to take notes and only half listen. I need to be on 'record' as it were; notes and something else so that I cannot get so lost in the jargon that I'm never going to seem coherent again.

You Scored as Martin Heidegger You are Martin Heidegger. You are a very wordy person that believes we classify objects by their function, and that community is essential. Once we are in a community, then it is possible for us to differentiate ourselves. You also might have sympathetic feelings towards Nazis.   Martin Heidegger 79% Albert Camus 64% Friedrich Nietzsche 57% Jean-Paul Sartre 57% Not An Existentialist 50% Soren Kierkegaard 32%

For the record, I'm not a Nazi, and it doesn't matter, philosophically, that Heidegger was.

From Baroque & Rococco:
    My Baroque & Roccoco professor has got to be the most tangentical of lecturers on campus. The evening’s topic is supposed to be the Dutch national identity and its influence on Dutch art of the period, and yet, somehow we’ve ended up in a discussion regarding American national identity and its foundation in both the Founding Fathers and the Civil War declaration of “fighting to preserve the Union”. All of which to say, apparently, that the Dutch are fond of their cows. (But, hell, for that matter so are the Californians). All because there’s a Hendrik Hondius print, Cows in a River: Call to Vigilance, (1644) with the inscription “Thou Gentlemen Guardians, look out attentively that the Dutch cow shall not be stolen from us.” Rather than having a discussion of the Spanish rule of the Netherlands during the 1640’s, and therefore a call to vigilance as precursor to rebellion and independence, we’re discussing the ugly American stereotype.
    Here’s the problem: America has no national identity. We have no cultural commonalities, the creation myth of the Founding Fathers is as close as it gets. We’re hyphenated citizens, that’s how it works: [gender]-[ethnicity]-[religious affiliation]-American. We’re capitalists; no longer are there hegenomic identities under capitalism. Unless we’re at war or under economic stress, then Americans are hyphenated, only in the face of opposition do Americans pull together as a nation. With all of that to discuss with relation to the American national identity, there’s likely no hope of ever returning to the happy Dutch cows on the projection screen.

With literal rioting in the streets going on due to the G20 summit, the news reported today that...the leaders of the G20 are having trouble finding a time in which to take their 'family photo'. WTF? Seriously? With questions like the IMF, and death of (European) capitalism on the table, the international news media outlets are talking about the iPod Obama gave the Queen, and the 'family photo' that the G20 leaders like any other dysfunctional family can't manage to get together to take. (Actually, they tried twice). Fantastic. The well-informed citizen now knows that the important issues of the day are being addressed. (No wonder there were protests).

The Obama media folks are in top form though. The photo taken to illustrate that a good official photo has proven difficult to take captured Obama as the only smiling world leader present and was immediately taken up as the image of the WhiteHouse.gov feature on the G20.



Don't we have a happy world leader? He looks happier than Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal anyway.

For a full (happier) photo of the world leaders (though it does look to me like it's a composite of several shots actually) click here.

Campus Safety Responds from Calvin College on Vimeo.

Yup. It's important work we do here at Campus Safety.

No, seriously. It's important.

From Academic & Professional Writing:
The worst thing a professor can be is unable to keep track of the life of her course - never knows where on the syllabus the class is, who has turned what in, whether or not the reading assigned is reasonable or not - and I've got one that seems to think this is the way writers are supposed to be. Scattered-brained bohemians are fun when they're not responsible for my course (&/or grade).

I'm suffering for writer's block. There's no such thing really, but I'm suffering from it anyway. I've got notes and points I want to hit, experiences I want to draw on, and no idea how to organise it. I can get other projects off the ground, but this one, the one I want finished, it doesn't work and I don't know why.

From Continental Philosophy:
Be-ing cheered up by Continental Philosophy, and worried by Josh's cough. He sounds like Ben used to and is treating it incorrectly, but despite the snow on the ground, the night sky outside looks like a spring evening and I feel light as a s feather - no stress, no worries. This is all that I want from this moment; open window, cool evening air, and phenomenology.

I've learned something about Josh: he processes out loud.