The Has Been, The Will Be And a SASA-Inspired Rhyme

Back after quite a break. Just a brief recap of the past few weeks:

Music listened to (including, but certainly not limited to): Mostly Belle & Sebastian, Andrew Bird, Pandit Nikhil Bannerjee, Ivy, Public Symphony and of course, Pink Floyd.

Books read (strictly non-academic of course): The Art of Captaincy by Mike Brearley, Black Zodiac, poems by Charles Wright, Maus, graphic novel by Art Spiegelman and a few others here and there.

Classes to be taken over the next couple of months: Moral/Immoral, Natural/Unnatural (Philosophy), Hegel: Political Philosophy of Right (Fundamentals/Humanities), Econometrics (Ugh), South Asian Civ. II. (South Asian Languages and Civilizations).

Given my penchant to go on indefinite breaks, these two links should keep you entertained: Prem Panicker's blog and Amit Varma's blog, both of which are excellent if one is passionate about cricket and mildly interested in the ongoing US Presidential run-up.

I plan to watch a number of movies this quarter, given Doc Films' excellent line-up; Doc Films, incidentally, is the student-operated campus movie theater. Expect plenty of film reviews over the following weeks, given the aforementioned line-up and the absence of certain parties from Chicago.

I have been driven to pen verses now and then, most of them rather contrived and self-important. However, for what its worth, here is one that I was inspired to write at a SASA dance practice. Clarifications available upon request:

Silhouettes on my lampshade
Reflecting the naive radiance,

Outside

Sigh...turn the blasted light off
And lets bask in the frosty darkness of

illumination.

The spatial form is important to me, even if it may appear a trifle odd. More to come.

Smile.

On Facile Durkheimian Rituals

I'm afraid that my return to the blogging sphere is on a rather peeved note, indeed, a wholly depressing note.

Five people- four of them students- were shot dead at Northern Illinois University (NIU) a week ago. The gunman then proceeded to shoot himself as well.

As expected, reactions to the shooting included the token candlelight vigils, book of memories, etc. The University of Chicago student community participated in these rites of 'collective effervescence' (a reference to Durkheim) with plenty of gusto.

Firstly, one gets gets the sense that people only participate in said rituals because they truly believe that it is the natural thing to do. We now have a culture based solely on perpetuation, without a thought given as to why we do what we do.

Secondly, these rather empty Durkheimian rituals become the public face of the reaction to the awful events that they commemorate; in this there is a real danger. We need real action and real change, not these facile, feel-good demonstrations. There seems to be a very selfish air of self-affirmation driving it all.

Its a harsh reality, but a reality nonetheless. Perhaps a little less self-righteousness and a little more true action will go a long way towards preventing further incidents like NIU from occurring.

Smile

Sonnet XXVII from Part Two, Sonnets to Orpheus

A wonderful little sonnet by Rilke from Part Two of Sonnets to Orpheus:

Ah, the knowledge of impermanence
that haunts our days
is their very fragrance.

We in our striving think we should last forever,
but could we be used by the Divine
if we were not ephemeral?

This translation is from the Selections from Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus , translated and edited by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.

Quite beautiful really.

Smile.