"The global economy is like a zebra roller-skating through a Volkswagen factory in China on the Fourth of July and it's snowing." – Max Eichler, parodying Thomas Friedman in an article on Qaddafi's reading habits at the Atlantic Wire website.
Category: Quotable
Caveat: 삼일 운동 – “the whole human race’s just claim”
Happy Independence Day.
We herewith proclaim the independence of Korea and the liberty of the Korean people. We tell it to the world in witness of the equality of all nations and we pass it on to our posterity as their inherent right.
We make this proclamation, having 5,000 years of history, and 20,000,000 united loyal people. We take this step to insure to our children for all time to come, personal liberty in accord with the awakening consciousness of this new era. This is the clear leading of God, the moving principle of the present age, the whole human race’s just claim. It is something that cannot be stamped out, stifled, gagged, or suppressed by any means.
– from the Korean Declaration of Independence (from Japan), March 1, 1919.
I was thinking this pertinent especially in relation to recent events in the Arab nations. My understanding is that the leaders of the March 1st movement in Korea were at least partially inspired by Woodrow Wilson’s “Fouteen Points.”
Caveat: Atentado Celeste
LA POESÍA ES UN ATENTADO CELESTE
Yo estoy ausente pero en el fondo de esta ausencia
Hay la espera de mí mismo
Y esta espera es otro modo de presencia
La espera de mi retorno
Yo estoy en otros objetos
Ando en viaje dando un poco de mi vida
A ciertos árboles y a ciertas piedras
Que me han esperado muchos años
Se cansaron de esperarme y se sentaron
Yo no estoy y estoy
Estoy ausente y estoy presente en estado de espera
Ellos querrían mi lenguaje para expresarse
Y yo querría el de ellos para expresarlos
He aquí el equívoco el atroz equívoco
Angustioso lamentable
Me voy adentrando en estas plantas
Voy dejando mis ropas
Se me van cayendo las carnes
Y mi esqueleto se va revistiendo de cortezas
Me estoy haciendo árbol
Cuántas cosas me he ido convirtiendo en otras cosas…
Es doloroso y lleno de ternura
Podría dar un grito pero se espantaría la transubstanciación
Hay que guardar silencio Esperar en silencio
– Vicente Huidobro, 1948
He estado meditando sobre poesía, sobre permanencia, sobre silencio. Por eso… y ¿qué hago, acá?
Caveat: Knowledge governs ignorance
"A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." – James Madison
Caveat: el regalo de su color fogoso
Oda al tomate La calle se llenó de tomates, mediodia, verano, la luz se parte en dos mitades de tomate, corre por las calles el jugo. En diciembre se desata el tomate, invade las cocinas, entra por los almuerzos, se sienta reposado en los aparadores, entre los vasos, las matequilleras, los saleros azules. Tiene luz propia, majestad benigna. Devemos, por desgracia, asesinarlo: se hunde el cuchillo en su pulpa viviente, es una roja viscera, un sol fresco, profundo, inagotable, llena las ensaladas de Chile, se casa alegremente con la clara cebolla, y para celebrarlo se deja caer aceite, hijo esencial del olivo, sobre sus hemisferios entreabiertos, agrega la pimienta su fragancia, la sal su magnetismo: son las bodas del día el perejil levanta banderines, las papas hierven vigorosamente, el asado golpea con su aroma en la puerta, es hora! vamos! y sobre la mesa, en la cintura del verano, el tomate, aastro de tierra, estrella repetida y fecunda, nos muestra sus circunvoluciones, sus canales, la insigne plenitud y la abundancia sin hueso, sin coraza, sin escamas ni espinas, nos entrega el regalo de su color fogoso y la totalidad de su frescura. - Pablo Neruda (Chilean poet, 1904-1973)
En México, su país de orígen, se lo dice jitomate, palabra azteca. Es la fruta perfecta, en mi opinión. En Corea, es fácil encontrar tomates locales de invernadero en cualquier mes del calendario, y aunque no son muy buenos, son mejores que los muy bien “viajados” (digamos californianos o mexicanos o chilenos) que suelen encontrar en gringolandia en época de invierno.
Caveat: Mr Fancypants Technocrat Economist Blogger
"I'm not really sure the other side of the culture war cares what Mr Fancypants Technocrat Economist Blogger Ryan Avent has to say." – so says Blogger using pseudonym "Gulliver" at The Economist, on the way the debate over high speed rail in the US has devolved into another battleground for the unending red-blue culture wars.
Caveat: …entre o céu e a terra
My entry earlier this morning started me thinking about Leonardo Boff. He is one of the most charismatic humans I have ever met in person – that was 24 years ago. From his website, a compelling quote is easy to find:
"Hoje nos encontramos numa fase nova na humanidade. Todos estamos regressando à Casa Comum, à Terra: os povos, as sociedades, as culturas e as religiões. Todos trocamos experiências e valores. Todos nos enriquecemos e nos completamos mutuamente. … Vamos rir, chorar e aprender. Aprender especialmente como casar Céu e Terra, vale dizer, como combinar o cotidiano com o surpreendente, a imanência opaca dos dias com a transcendência radiosa do espírito, a vida na plena liberdade com a morte simbolizada como um unir-se com os ancestrais, a felicidade discreta nesse mundo com a grande promessa na eternidade. E, ao final, teremos descoberto mil razões para viver mais e melhor, todos juntos, como uma grande família, na mesma Aldeia Comum, generosa e bela, o planeta Terra." – Leonardo Boff. Casamento entre o céu e a terra. Salamandra, Rio de Janeiro, 2001. pg 9.
Caveat: Maybe a humanitarian concern
Nixon tapes, quoted in the New York Times article, December 10, 2010: “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy,” Mr. Kissinger said. “And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” “I know,” Nixon responded. “We can’t blow up the world because of it.”
Caveat: The Governator’s Legacy
“The less you’re concerned about getting credit, the more work you can get done,” – Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Unilke many, I've never been of the opinion that the governator was insubstantial. He's a smart dude, and a highly unconventional politician. And I think his disavowals of overweening ambition, while disingenuous, are somehow at the same time sincere – if that makes sense. He's ambitious – but it's out of a genuine belief that he could "make a difference" from a political standpoint, as opposed to it being strictly a project of self-aggrandizement.
Nevertheless, I feel that Marc Ambinder's autopsy on the governatorship, now that the man from Muscle Beach is departing office after 7 years, is a bit on fluffy side, journalistically. Perhaps this can be forgiven – journalists who meet or interview the governator always seem to be incapable or resisting the man's undeniable, almost magical, charisma.
The things – the accomplishments – that Ambinder wants to give Schwarzenegger credit for are things that I think would have happened regardless of who was governor. Possibly, they'd have happened even if Gray Davis had remained governor. They are things that have been "on the mind" of California's body politic. The most long-lasting "changes" Schwarzenegger has overseen: the alteration in elections processes that will (hopefully) end partisan primaries and gerrymandering; the checking of the power of the unions; the long-term investment in alternative energy projects or public transportation infrastructure (and actually, I'm sceptical this last will really pan out – it's too easy for money to get removed or rerouted from projects of this sort). Each of these, while advocated actively by the governator, could just as easily have come to pass regardless of who was sitting in the Sac.
I'm far from optimistic about my birth-state's future as a well-functioning polity. But I think the governator reflected (and still reflects, as he moves on) a zeitgeist that includes a fundamental collective self-awareness vis-a-vis its worst dysfunctions. I will always be interested in – even fascinated by – California politics. But, personally, I'm an adoptive midwesterner and, subsequently, mostly committed to my expat lifestyle, at this point.
California is an embarrassing place to have been born. Does that make me one of those "self-hating" liberals? Maybe, except that I still characterize myself as a libertarian, or even as an anarchist, more than as a traditional liberal. I believe in the importance and value of government, but I think it works best when the body politic remains highly sceptical of it. I actually think Schwarzenegger would agree wtih me on that.
Caveat: Waldo
Almost as good as Fitzcarraldo.
Haha.
Caveat: Let us go and post an entry
More internet zaniness, from someone called copperbadge. Really quite impressive – a commenter said: "You've given Love Song a modern voice, for the intarweb generation, but the sentiment seems the same."
I will reproduce the first stanza here:
THE .DOC FILE OF J ALFRED PRUFROCK
with deepest apologies to T.S. EliotLet us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a laptop, put in sleep mode on a table
Let us go through certain half-deserted streets
The blinking-light retreats
Of restless nights in free-wifi cafes
And public libraries with internet
Streets that follow like messageboard argument
of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming blog post
Oh, do not ask, "What, yaoi?"
Let us go and post an entry.In the room the players come and go
Talking of their scores on Halo.
Caveat: Wednesday’s Child
My mother reports that I was born on a Wednesday. I'm not sure about all the woe. I suppose I've had my share, but can I say I've had exceptional amounts in comparison to my other-day-of-the-week peers, on average? Not necessarily. Or is that just revisionism?
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Caveat: Practice
I couldn't think of what I wanted to write in this blog. Sometimes I just don't have anything I feel like sharing. I went surfing through my more private journal of notes and observations, looking for something to write here. I found the following unattributed quote, from a while back. Did I make it up? Did I hear it somewhere?
What is sleep? Just practicing being dead. Everything requires practice.
Caveat: what the teachers are themselves
“No printed word, nor spoken plea can teach young minds what they should be. Not all the books on all the shelves – but what the teachers are themselves.” — Rudyard Kipling
Caveat: Boredom, Precisely
"Boredom is your 'fuller life' calling you, and your fear of hearing that call."–Gary Zukav
Yep.
Caveat: Dubyaisms
Two of my favorite Dubyaisms:
"I think we all agree, the past is over." — George W. Bush
And:
"I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity." — George W. Bush
Caveat: Quack
I am listening to A Prairie Home Companion, Saturday night broadcast on MPR (which I listen to at 8 AM Sunday, over here west of the date line). There's a skit retelling of "The Ugly Duckling." Lots of good duck puns. The best: "All these duck doctors are quacks if you ask me."
Caveat: What you shall do
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body." — Walt Whitman
Caveat: Miscellaneous Quotes
"A Freudian slip is when we say one thing, and we mean a mother."–Rob Long
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."–Winston Churchill
"…doors open to anyone with the will and heart to get here."–Ronald Reagan, on immigration
Caveat: Soul mate
Tuesday was the 10th anniversary of my estranged wife’s suicide. That sounds strange: “estranged.” I feel there would be something dishonest to simply write: “my wife’s suicide” – because if she hadn’t died, we’d be divorced by now – I have no doubt. It’s only on technical grounds that I’m a widower and not a run-of-the-mill divorced guy.
But the imperfection between us was not a perfect imperfection. Which is to say, there were important, significant, good things between us. And I miss those, sometimes. We had agreed, early on, that we were not “soul mates.” Which was something we both, nevertheless, believed in. Which meant that we knew that ours was an imperfect match. But we were friends – even best friends, for a long time. We could talk about stuff. Or argue about stuff.
Some time back, surfing around the internet, I ran across the following quote, embedded in someone’s blog:
“People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that’s what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that’s holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down the walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
This is a definition of “soul mate” that I find challenging. And interesting. Yet… by that definition, there is no doubt that Michelle was, in fact, my soul mate.
[Shown above, one of my favorite pictures of Michelle, with her son (my stepson), Jeffrey, at her University of Minnesota graduation. She had become a chemical engineer, earlier that day.]
Caveat: Heard on the radio
Listening to NPR, Sunday morning (well, that's Saturday afternoon in NPRland). "American Routes."
Interviewer: "What drew you to country music?"
Musician: "I'm a white man."
Caveat: Pet Pop Star
We were in the 4th grade class. We were practicing the following simple dialogue pattern: “Who is he/she?” “He/she is ___. He/she is my ___.” For example: “Who is she?” “She is Mary. She is my sister.”
My co-teacher has put up some possible “people” and some possible “relations”: for the “people,” there were pictures of various famous people or characters the kids were sure to know the names of, including Einstein, Hermione (as in the Harry Potter character), and others; for the “relations,” she provided “aunt” “uncle” “brother” and “sister.”
So there is a 4th grade girl who has the English name of Hannah. The teacher pointed at the picture of 정지훈 (Jeong Ji-hun), a Korean pop star and actor who sings under the pseudonym of “Rain” but also uses his real name for action movies. He’s considered quite handsome in Korea. The girl’s English is excellent – probably the best in the class.
The teacher asked, “Who is he?”
Hannah said, unhesitatingly, “He is Jeong Ji-hun. He is my pet.”
Caveat: “God’s Right”
This cartoon summarizes, perfectly, my feelings about the immigration debate.
When those who oppose immigration, legal or illegal, have each taken the time and made the effort to learn at least one Native American language, and have considered the merits of Native American spirituality and culture and “walked a mile in their shoes,” only then will I take their arguments about the need to “control” immigration, and their sanctimonious arguments about “rule of law,” at all seriously.
Until then, I think Herman Melville (160 years ago!) summed up the only, truly ethical stance on immigration quite succinctly, when he wrote: “If they can get here, they have God’s right to come.”
Period.
Caveat: Cynicism is hope
I overheard Miguel Syjuco, a Philippine novelist, being interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio. He said: "Cynicism is the last refuge of the hopeful."
Brilliant quote. And that's… why I'm a cynic. ^_^
Caveat: Io ia
Vicente Huidobro, en su poema "Altazor," juega con formas sumamente experimentales. Sus ultimas lineas:
Io ia
iiio
Ai a i a a i i i i o ia
Caveat: English Teachers
A person dies and goes to Heaven. St Peter asks, "Who is it?" The person replies, "It is I." St Peter says, "Go to Hell, we already have enough English teachers."
Caveat: President X
I have seen so little discussion of Obama's character that I find genuinely plausible, at a core level.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, blogging for The Atlantic, recently, finally managed to strike a chord for me. He writes:
"My sense, in reading about Obama before he was a national politician or even a politician at all, is that this kind of cultural conservatism is genuine and not a ploy. There's a section in The Bridge where, having graduated from Columbia, Obama becomes a kind of ascetic and basically tries to remove himself from all the worldly things that tend to tempt men. It reminded very much of the kind of thing you see black men go through in prison, the most obvious being Malcolm X. Indeed, I've always thought there was something of Malcolm in Obama–the mix of humor and sternness, the notion of re-invention, the cultural conservatism."
The implication is that far from being the kind of left-wing liberal that the Right caricatures him to be, Obama is a kind of "radical centrist," which, in the long run, they should be much more worried about – because he's the embodiment of what happens when "by any means necessary" meets head-to-head, and then merges, with pragmatism, ambition and perhaps, even, compassion. Indeed, maybe Obama's a sort of "compassionate conservative."
Caveat: On Marxism
Just a brief thought. I often describe myself as a marxist. I'm careful to use a small "m". The way I see it, it's a philosophical stance more than a political program – a way of analyzing the world with a focus on economic forms and causes, and with an interest in how ideologies interact with class (and social) consciousness. It is not – and for me, at least, never has been – a set of prescriptions about politics.
In fact, politically, I have tended to lean somewhat libertarian, although as that ideological current gets more and more hijacked by the "tea-party" right in the U.S., I grow less comfortable with the term. Lately, I've been thinking of myself as an anarcho-syndicalist, which is really just code for the libertarian left.
For those who confuse philosophical marxism with, for example, Soviet history, Terry Eagleton makes an important point when he says, "What perished in the Soviet Union was Marxist only in the sense that the Inquisition was Christian."
[This is a "back-post" added 2010-05-23, from handwritten materials]
Caveat: The utility of masks
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."~Oscar Wilde
This is relevant to language teaching, since speaking a new language requires a type of disinhibition ("hibition"?) very to similar to that required by truth-telling.
Caveat: Projects
“There are projects for the dead and there are projects for the living. Though I confess sometimes I get confused by that distinction.” – Jim White, lyrics from his song “Still Waters.”
I’m pretty confused. Need to focus on my projects, regardless.
What I’m listening to right now.
[Youtube embed added 2011-08-02 as part of my background noise project]
Caveat: 행복찾기
최근에 본 광고판 “행복찾기”고 말하고 있었어요. 찾아 봤어요. 그렇지만, 행복을 찾을 수 없었어요.
Caveat: Funnier than it is
xkcd #688: "self-description" 
Caveat: 행복하는 것이 중요해요
I have a little book where I occasionally will write down little aphorisms, that I hear or that I make up. I found the germ of the following that I’d made up last fall. I’ve made some changes to it and thought it sounds very… aphoristic.
“I have made the realization that happiness is not a mental state. It is not something that is given to you, or that you find, or that you can lose, or that can be taken from you. Happiness something that you do. And like most things that you do, it is volitional. You can choose to do happiness, or not. You have complete freedom with respect to the matter.”
Really, I should point out that this insight partly derives from studying the Korean Language. In Korean, the predicate “to be happy” is “행복하다” literally means “to do [or to make] happiness”. When you say “행복해요” (“I am happy”) what you’re really saying is “happiness [I] do.” “행복한 사람” (“a happy person”) is literally “happiness doing [who-is] person” (taking into account the almost exact reverse word-order compared to English).