Kitty Girl and Jinx ______________________________1.3 Megapixels

...from the preface of the book "In The Blink Of An Eye", a film editing book (that I am reading for one of my support classes) by the film editor Walter Murch:

Igor Stravinsky loved expressing himself and wrote a good deal on interpretation. As he bore a volcano within him, he urged restraint. Those without even a the vestige of a volcano within them nodded in agreement, raised their baton, and observed restraint, while Stravinsky himself conducted his own Apollon Musagete [a ballet] as if it were Tchaikovsky. We who had read him listened and were astonished.
The Magic Lantern by Ingmar Bergman

Most of us are searching--consciously or unconsciously--for a degree of internal balance and harmony between ourselves and the outside world, and if we happen to become aware--like Stravinsky--of a volcano within us, we will compensate by urging restarint. By the same token, someone who bore a glacier within him might urge passionate abandon. The danger is, as Bergman points out, that a glacial personality in need of passionate abandon may read Stravinsky and apply restraint instead."

Teaching the Humanities

i.
Build a house.
Even if it's the ugliest house
you've ever seen,
build it. Later, you can tear out the windows
repaint the walls, the entrance
way, tear out the wires
and the plumbing along with
some walls to expand
the kitchen into the dining room, or
refurbish the basement with a nice
airport carpet and a
dehumidifier. You might also
haul the junk out of your yard
and fix the hail damage. Roofers
finally have time. Third,
and this is only a suggestion,
get rid of that gigantic
concrete block of a front step and replace it
with something a little more
modest, something wooden.
Stain the deck and patch the pool.
Repave the driveway.
Turn the screen porch
into a bedroom and rent
the attic out to a college student.
Install a new sink in the first
floor half bath. Modular
flooring is popular these days.
Wood burning stoves and
solar panels!!! Anyway,
Fix it up when you have time.
What's important is that you have a place
to sleep. What's important
is the space has been cleared.
a foundation poured.
What's important is that it's there, an idea
any idea, has been made
real. That the process
yields.





ii.
Not all emptiness is equal.
Some space takes work to clear and some clearings
appear, blown over
by a storm or a
flash flood, a forest fire
or tornado. Maybe a glacier melts
and the promised land emerges,
or the previous squatters
get arrested, or die
or burn the house down. It's possible
for a herd of goats
or locusts to swarm and eat every sapling,
bush, and tree branch within a forty foot radius.
Or for a mole to gnaw
at the roots of a thistle blocking the path
of a few pebbles, blocking the path
of a few rocks, blocking the path
of some large stones, so that a boulder hurtles down
the mountain leveling everything
in its path.
Volcanoes are possible.
Meteorites can raze entire
continents. Paul
Bunyan drug his axe down the gut of America
leaving us the Mississippi. In the beginning
there was but a single crow
fighting with an eagle
on a post
rising from the sea.
It's possible
to find the most perfect place
you never imagined, stoned, eating a carrot
change rattling in your pocket cell phone
set on vibrate, but who
would have the heart to start digging here?
Who would have the money to lay forty miles of pavement?
Who would have the fortitude to be so isolated?





iii.
Demolition
is fun, until you have to vacuum up
the glass and find
a dumpster big enough to hold
the spent 2x4s and bent nails.
Not to mention your mud
pit of a yard littered
with Caterpillar tracks and Hardee's cups.
It's going to take a while
for the grass seed to take root and if it keeps on raining
like this it will all just wash
down the hill. It might be a good idea
after leveling out the soil
to cover it with hay and pound
in some silt fencing
at the crease of the decline.
And hey, if you're not going to re-use
those beams, I know a guy
who could take them away tomorrow,
no problem. Same with
the front doors and the kitchen
windows. Construction waste
is as American
as drywall. The good news
is that you don't need to dig
a new well, or re-pave
the driveway. The phone book already knows
you exist. Besides, it's nearly impossible
to bang nails into air
or hike forty miles with a wheel barrow
full of concrete. It might take
a long time but
you're going to have to deal with
the fact of work. Sorry.
I'll come back
when you're done.

...have been enjoying Pitchfork's reviews (9/8 & 9/9 & 9/10) of the recently re-released/re-mastered (whatever) Beatles' albums that are being hyped in accord with the new Rock Band Video Game (no comment)...The reviews are interesting! They're more like mini-essays! Reminds me that I still haven't ever really listened to the Beatles asides from the fact that pretty much every single one of their songs has been played in movies and television and on my father's and friend's stereo throughout my entire lifespan. There was a mix tape that my dad always used to play driving us around in a boxy eighties Camry that had "Eleanor Rigby" (a.k.a. all the lonely people) on it, and as a little kid I didn't really get the lyrics but I did like the song, the strings. In retrospect it seems odd that this mix tape had this and other perfectly lovely but love troubled songs on it such as Diana Ross and the Supreames' "Someday We'll Be Together" and that Roy Orbison song where he sings (in his big beautiful voice) i'm lonely, I'm Lonely, I'M LONEEEEE-LY. Using my 2009 analytical mind I would classify this tape as a break-up sad song mix tape. Why did he keep playing this when we were in the car? Don't get me wrong, I love all that music, but if I were to make a break-up sad song mix tape I'd probably keep it mostly to myself. But I guess that's one way my dad and I are different. Anyway,

All that is to say, it's interesting to read about the Beatles' music, rather than their personalities or fans or as figureheads of an American counter-cultural movement. It's interesting to read about their albums and song writing. It's interesting to put all those familiar songs into a different context. It's kind of like putting a cat into a laundry basket, or a marble into a guitar. Have a wonderful day. I'm back on the Internet after a month off. The semester started last week.

good news. new rat discovered. reported to have "no fear of humans."