« May 2007 | Main | July 2007 »
June 30, 2007
My Chance At This American Life
Few people would think that my life provided any poignance or intrigue worthy of popular attention. How much less do I exemplify the sort of haunting, twisted narrative characteristic of Ira Glass’s This American Life? Yet last week, Margaret and I played our parts in an eerie tale of extraordinary synchronicity, or coincidence, or Providence.
It all started at our wedding. Margaret and I had met at Bowdoin College, a mere two weeks into her collegiate career, while I was a senior; we waited to get married until she graduated four years later. Since we were married relatively near Bowdoin, a knot of our classmates crowded the wedding and reception (we had one of those alumni-magazine photos taken), and we received various Bowdoin-themed wedding presents, including a snazzy mirror (like this one) that has adorned our front hall or first-floor rest room in every abode where we’ve lived since then.
OK, enough stage-setting: two weeks ago, while we were cleaning up the first floor in anticipation of the twenty-fifth anniversary of our wedding (hence, the twenty-fifth anniversary of receiving the gift Bowdoin mirror) Saturday pre-reaffirmation party — while no one was anywhere near the first-floor bathroom — the mirror spontaneously crashed to the floor. After 25 years of reflecting our life together, the mirror gave out and shattered.
But not precisely, because the mirror itself didn’t break. Nor, in fact, did the painted-glass illustration of the Bowdoin campus. In fact, it was impossible to tell exactly what was broken (apart from the sawtooth hanging apparatus), because all the broken glass was contained within the protective paper covering that sealed in the back of the mirror.
Well, it was an exceptionally busy day, so we set the mirror aside and worked on the other areas of the public rooms. We enjoyed a spectacular lasagna feast with our wonderful friends, and went ahead with the reaffirmation on Sunday morning.
Having set the mysteriously broken mirror aside in the hurly-burly of occasions and visitors, we tracked it down again a week later and brought it to our customary framery. They agreed with our suspicion, that a glass backing layer had splintered without affecting the mercury mirror. When they peeled away the paper protective layer, though, they found no backing at all for the mirror. Instead, the broken glass seemed to have been confined to the upper portion of the mirror: the painting of the college. But the picture of Bowdoin on the front of the mirror was intact; perhaps there had been a backing layer for the painting?
No; the framer carefully extracted several fragments of glass, and pointed out that the broken bits had themselves been painted. A double layer of Bowdoin? No; the images didn’t match. Then the framer found a large piece and said, “It’s from North Carolina.”
Margaret, who shares my loyalty to the Duke University we both attended, alertly cried out, “Not the University of North Carolina! We can’t have had a UNC mirror spying on our bathroom for 25 years!”
“No,” said the framer, “Here’s another piece.”
In other words: on our wedding day, we were given a mirror with a painting of our college alma mater, behind which picture lay a second painted image — this one, of an institution in which I would enroll five years later, and Margaret twenty-two years later.
The only way this could be weirder would involve a hidden connection to Yale Divinity School (AKMA ’86 and ’87) and Seabury (Margaret, ’03), but since only one of us attended each of those schools, I guess that the mysterious force of serendipity didn’t see fit to add those to our mirror.
Ira Glass, you know where to contact me.
Posted by AKMA at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 29, 2007
Retrospect and Prospect
I’m not sure whether it was a short planning meeting that lasted painfully long, or a a long planning meeting that went by fast. The “long” part involved sitting in on deliberations that bear relatively little upon my areas of strongest interest; I’m not part of the “affinity group” or “community of practice” that ATS wanted to consult (educational technologists). I just don’t have much to contribute to conference planning oriented toward enhancing the cooperation and coordination of seminary-based IT/ET professionals. That’s entirely OK, too. I don’t need to be in on that, and I’m confident that such planning can proceed smoothly and effectively without my input.
The exciting parts that went by in a blink involved, unsurprisingly, the stuff that does animate me. At several intervals, the concerns of educational technologists converged with the concerns of technological pedagogues, and those times came as refreshing gasps of vital air.
For quite intelligible reasons, the get-together concentrated on practical concerns such as encouraging seminary presidents, deans, and CFOs to plan and budget appropriately for the maintenance of their information infrastructure, and for supporting Ed-Techs in their work. The future that the planning meeting examined and prepared for was very much like the present, only with the benefit of advice from an elite cadre of Educational technologists.
With mountains of respect for the work of ed-techs — I’ve filled that role more than once on a casual basis, and it’s a challenging role indeed — my perspective as a pedagogue immersed in the digital world convinces me that we need just as much, and perhaps more, to prepare for a pedagogical environment that has already changed significantly while seminaries have stood aside, and that will change more, more rapidly. The items of special concern to one constituency in our planning meeting stayed fixed at the Web 1.0, or generously at the Web 1.5 level — whereas the digital natives who will very soon be entering seminary take Web 2.0 for granted, and some have begun messing with more adventuresome instantiations of the digital environment. To a student who’s active with Facebook and Flickr, who plays in Second Life or Warcraft, who’s comfortable chatting in text, conversing over a shared audio server (such as Ventrillo or TeamSpeak), at the same time she’s flying to her island in Second Life, a seminary’s installation of BlackBoard not only represents archaic technology, it represents determined irrelevance to her way of daily life.
The sessions of the planning committee reflected plausible preparations for theo-educational ecology that’s gradually disappearing, and efforts to refine our obsolescent technologies oblige us to squander energy on sustaining the cultural ecology within which those technologies make sense. We all, pretty much, agreed on that — and went ahead with a sensible plan for lobbying administrators to budget more soundly, and for enhancing support for ed-techs.
Posted by AKMA at 09:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 28, 2007
Big Thinks
Im spending the day at a planning meeting relative to technology and theological education, hosted by the Association of Theological Schools. Some of the folks I already know, others new to me. If everything works out right, we’ll be hosting a conference, maybe two, about the ways technology can support the missions of ATS member schools. I suspect I’m a little left-field-ish for them — many of the people around the table are Big Proprietary System customers — but they invited me to the table, so we’ll see what comes of this.
Tim said:
Do remind the Big Thinkers that, if big really IS beautiful, the British Open University (not small with just under 200,000 students enrolled!) uses Moodle and other Open Source software. Incidentally Carey with a mere 200 or so also finds Moodle fits the bill, so it is highly scalable.
Also please remind them to pause their Big Thoughts. It is not about systems and technology, it's about STUDENTS!
Blessings,
Tim
--
BTW do visit my new experiment - an audio blog "5 Minute Bible" http://5minuteBible.com/ and if you feel like it leave a comment (audio if you have a microphone on your computer, text if you haven't) and tell others who might be interested...
Posted by AKMA at 10:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 27, 2007
Gratulatory Laudations!
Cheers to Frank, who has been named an Honorary Fellow of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin!
Posted by AKMA at 06:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Type Trove
Ray Larabie, of Typodermic Fonts, has put together a carefully-selected treasury of typefaces for casual use — some are free, and others inexpensive.
For what it’s worth, I can sum up my typographic advice to most people and small organizations (such as churches) in two principles.
- Select one serif body-copy typeface family and one sans-serif headline face family for normal use. Stick with them. Choose something that’s not the most common packaged-with-your-OS typeface; if you can’t afford to buy a typeface, download Frantisek Storm’s Lido STF family. It’s free, and professional, and it’s distinguishable from Times Roman.
- Use other decorative typefaces sparingly, and use them deliberately to mean something visually — don’t just scatter them around ornamentally. Where you need to use several different typefaces, use type that harmonizes with the other typeface(s) in use.
For a while when I was a kid, I thought that the idea was to wear as many different colors at once as was possible. The more different typefaces you use at once, the more likely it is that you’ll look as absurd as I did.
Of course there are situations that defy these rules of thumb. Sometimes one wants a garish patchwork of type thrown together higgledy-piggledy, or an eye-searing contrast between one’s blackletter body copy and Art Deco headers. But really, how often? Never, if you’re putting together business correspondence or a church bulletin. Not often enough to worry about, unless you’re doing graphic design for a rock band or an avant garde arts center.
Posted by AKMA at 06:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 26, 2007
Snapshots
Last night we prevailed upon Jennifer — big puppy-dog eyes, and sniffles — so she posted her photos of the previous weekend’s festivities surrounding Margaret’s and my twenty-fifth anniversary.
Posted by AKMA at 01:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Not That Rage
The way things have gone this year, I shuddered when I read Slate’s headline for a Christopher Hitchens story entitled, “My Beef With ‘Rage Boy’ ” — though a rhetorical cage match between Chris Locke and Christopher Hitchens would certainly yield some blood-curdling polemical piledrivers — but the article isn’t about that Rageboy. Whew!
Chris shot back:
That damn Hitch! I hope he doesn't make me come over there and go jihad on his ass!
btw, you must surely know St. Thomas's retort when asked why he was so fat: "It takes more than one swallow to make a Summa."
bada bing!
RB
Posted by AKMA at 09:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 25, 2007
-ca or -ae
Margaret and I were probing the mystery of the different appellations for Thomas Aquinas’ major work this afternoon. Some sources give Summa Theologica, “Theological Summa,” and others Summa Theologiae, “Summa of Theology.” There are high stakes among Thomists, we gather, but we aren’t sure who lines up on which side, or why.
As we were seeking illumination on this point, we discovered the Vicipaedia, the Latin-language Wikipedia. On the first page today was an article about pong cervisiale, which you Anglophones may know as “beer pong.”
That was startlingly provocative enough, but the illustration brought to mind Margaret’s and my dismay recently to discover that most of America plays beer pong by rules very different from the ones we knew back at Bowdoin. We played (not Margaret, who abstains from both pong and beer) with real table tennis equipment and very basic rules (hit cup, take sip; land in cup, drain cup). Evidently there is now a World Series of Beer Pong played by the decadent variant rules. O tempora, o mores!
Posted by AKMA at 03:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Chapter Seven
The other night as I was lying awake, my thoughts rambled about the popular-music trope of the “book of love.” There’s the Monotones’ classic single, of course (“Oh I wonder, wonder, who boo-pe-doo, who, who wrote the book of love”), but Elvis Costello invokes it in “Every Day I Write the Book” and Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds recorded a single with Rockpile, “When I Write the Book (About My Love)” — subsequently covered by a number of performers. There was a band named Book of Love.
Is there a traditional background for this motif? Biblical tradition alludes to a “book of life,” and there’s the “talking book” tradition to which my radio conversation partner Allen Callahan refers in his book’s title. Am I forgetting a “book of love” tradition from folklore? Did the Monotones give birth to what became an utterly convincing folk-repertoire metaphor?
Posted by AKMA at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 24, 2007
Why We Were Late To Church
This morning while we were waking up, Margaret asked me, “Agoraphobia — isn’t that ‘fear of open places’? What about ‘angoraphobia’?”
He: “You mean, ‘fear of fuzzy cats’? Or are you thinking of ‘Igoraphobia’?”
She: “ ‘Fear of hunchbacks’? Oh, dear; what about ‘angeraphobia’?”
He: “ ‘Fear of wrath‘?”
She: Or “ ‘Al-Gore-aphobia’?”
He: “ ‘Fear of being trapped in conversation by an earnest policy wonk’?”
She: “Oh, dear! Or what about ‘Elgaraphobia’?”
He: “Fear of ‘Pomp and Circumstance’?”
[And as I was typing this, it occurred to me to add, “auguraphobia,” “fear of hand tools.”]
Raisin said:
Ohhhhhh...no fair making me laugh this hard! I'm voiceless and full of plenteous gross and horrid coughing and am bidden to be QUIET and now I am laughing so hard at your post that I am in tears! But these are lovely tears....and a relief after nothing but chest and lung pain for nearly 3 weeks...fie!
Keep those posts coming. But perhaps a laugh alert is in order at times?
Peace!
Raisin
Tripp says
Ah...Yes, perhaps it was liturgaphobia finally setting in after all these years of earns't exposure?
-Tripp
Posted by AKMA at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 23, 2007
Marlins 7, Sox 5
Tuesday night, the kids and I went to New Comiskey to see the ball game. We had a wonderful time, for the most part. The game was close, the teams played decent ball (especially considering how weak the Sox offense has gotten), and the game was tied going into the ninth, the beer was. . . golden.
In the first inning, she dumped her empty peanut shells down my back.
In the third inning, she splattered her soda all over my back.
In the sixth inning, she whacked one of her neighbors, who shrieked even more.
Nate and I figured they’d tire out rapidly, but they were still squealing strong by the ninth inning. The only thing that silenced them was Dan Uggla’s ninth-inning home run, after which they decided the Sox didn’t have a chance, and the whole row left. Those last five outs were the best part of the game.
Posted by AKMA at 08:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Performative Contradiction
Yesterday I wore my “I’m blogging this” t-shirt all day — and I didn’t blog.
Posted by AKMA at 01:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 21, 2007
I Don't Think So
I’d have thought it went without saying, but since “speaking out about the alleged Episcopal priest-Muslim combo” has become a litmus test in some quarters, I will say that I dissent emphatically from the Rev. Ms. Redding’s understanding of Christian faith and priesthood, and from her bishop’s sense that her situation entails an “exciting opportunity.” Indeed, I take it that only by falsifying that which has historically constituted both of these ways of life can one arrive at both/and approach.
I respect certain Islamic specific traditions tremendously, and I recognize and learn freely from general tenets of Islam. If the Rev. Ms. Redding were to convert to Islam, I’d be able to see reasons for that change of path (though I cannot but regard it as a sad detour from the truth, for someone who has tasted the heavenly gift, and has shared in the Holy Spirit). Claiming that God’s triune identity is dispensable (contrary to the Christian side), though, and that Jesus really did die on the cross and rise from death (contrary to the Muslim side), seems to amount to a callow Sheilaism.
So, were I in a position to counsel the Rev. Ms. Redding — assuming that the facts reported reflect the situation reliably — I’d suggest that she take some time, examine her heart, learn more about what it means actually to live as a member of the Body of Christ and about what it means to submit to Allah, and in the meantime to avoid making public professions of matters about which she’s still in discernment. I’d strongly advise her to avoid exercising any sacerdotal responsibility. I’d pray that Bishop Warner return to the promises he made at his accepting the weighty office of the episcopate.
And if Prof. Webb actually said, “It’s a matter of interpretation. But a lot of people on both sides do not believe in interpretation,” he should be ashamed of himself. Nobody “doesn’t believe in interpretation”; it’s impossible to do without interpretation. What people discountenance is “using ‘interpretation’ as a fig leaf for disregarding clear and explicit, contradictory doctrinal claims without advancing an explanation as coherent and profound as the claims themselves.”
The Young Fogey says,
To sum up: putting it very charitably Dr Redding and her bishop are wrong.
To be fair I think the valid criticism on conservative sites (not the insults, ad homimem etc.) was directed to liberal ones that famously are dedicated to news on the Episcopal row. It seemed hypocritical of them not to report it, especially since the people in the story proudly made it public! It's not necessarily a litmus test: there are lots of good sites that don't report on this stuff.
Anyway, well put and thanks.
The young fogey
Posted by AKMA at 12:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Strategic Plan?
As Seabury considers alternatives in realizing its long-range plan, perhaps we too should consider recruiting a Formationator. . . .
(My favorite part is the opening sequence, where two seminarians are agreeing that a whole litany of classical heresies are more pastoral, more affirming, more inviting than true doctrine.)
[I should add that my attention was called to this clip and to the Arian Catholic Church by Rick Harris, to whom I herewith tip my hat, twice.]
Mark observed,
That might be a highly effective way to ensure that the customary is followed in all chapel services.
[Though Seabury already has in place a highly-effective enforcement mechanism]
Micah added:
I'm not surprised that you posted the Catholic version of this joke. But this time the Protestants pre-dated it by a while. Witness the magic that is John Wesley - Chapel Linebacker.
[I hadn’t known about this one; the parallels are striking. The source critic in me wonders about the coincident motifs; did the seminarians at Mundelein omit mention of, at least, an inspiration for their endeavor?
Micah responds with the possible answer to the source-critical question (and answer that would not have occurred to me, since I haven’t seen commercial TV for years).]
Posted by AKMA at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 20, 2007
On Vapors
Many aspects of online life commend themselves to thoughtful attention right now, and I might even be motivated to put my oar in if we actually had more engaged blog discussions such as we used to have on olden times. (What’s different? Well, for just one factor, all of us have so many more, divergent online friends to keep in touch with, our energies have been splintered more than when the “us” about whom we seem to be speaking was a lot smaller.)
But I’m exhausted. The stress of the school year, which had settled cozily into by neck and shoulders, has begun a lazy unwinding act. My tenuous attention span permits me to accomplish fifteen-second tasks, or longer tasks that require only tangential attention. I’m subject to sudden weariness, aches and kinks and clumsiness (more so than usual, he rejoined with anticipatory asperity). Simple errands feel as though they require an all-encompassing effort.
On the other hand, relief is coming. Margaret says I look better every day, and my reading list promises stimulating, engrossing food for thought. I may declare email bankruptcy, or in a fit of resurggent energy, actually do something about my backlogged communications. For now, though, if I seem listless or sluggish, please consider me burned out and exhausted, and know that I’m trying to do the things necessary for pulling back together.
Posted by AKMA at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 19, 2007
Mean
It’s been months, now, and the furore has died down. Kathy Sierra has issued a joint statement with Chris Locke; she no longer lumps him and Jeneane and Frank in with whoever was allegedly sending her anonymous emailed death threats. Life goes on.
In the interim, Shelley points out that Tara Hunt (proximate target of “the mean kids”) has raised the question of reality-testing the actual dangers involved in last winter’s dust-up. Is anyone actually at any greater danger if they participate in public life online? To be fair to Kathy and to what Tara herself said earlier, there’s an extent to which “actuality” can be deployed to excuse abusive threats; if vulnerable people hear a threat, they need to take it more seriously than do people who are insulated from danger. Still, even vulnerable people can overreact. Part of their friends’ role is to help them tell the difference. Tara now wonders whether Kathy might have been better served to hear that she didn’t need to be afraid.
In a related retrospective deliberation, have you noticed Blogarians en masse adopting Good Housekeeping speech codes, as Tim O’Reilly suggested they do? Clue: I don’t see a badge, a credo, a promissory note, or some other public asseveration of good behavior on the home page of Tim’s own blog (maybe I missed it). At the time, some observers suggested that badges of good citizenship wouldn’t solve the problem, wouldn’t provide a workable framework for inculcating respect and civility.
In the interest of not repeating an incident that has cost several people a lot, it would constitute a great favor for us all if reporters, online writers, opinion-makers, and fanboys and -girls gave this event more than casual consideration. If anything would strengthen the sense of shared civil norms, it wasn’t pledges and badges. It’s the kind of relationships of mutuality that Tim himself drew on to help defuse the fireworks, and that subsequent conversations between the principals strengthened and extended, that engender more civil discourse.
Posted by AKMA at 03:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
From IP To Corruption
Lawrence Lessig is changing the trajectory of his leadership efforts from “copyright reform” to the corruption that makes reform necessary. By “corruption,” he doesn’t exactly mean “bribery of public officials,” but more the corrosion of the political system that presses so consistently toward extending copyright, when (to quote from Lessig’s paraphrase from Britain’s Gowers Commission) “a government should never extend an existing copyright term. No public regarding justification could justify the extraordinary deadweight loss that such extensions impose.”
Cheers from this quarter; Prof. Lessig embodies the best qualities of the activist academic, and his cause is sound, his heart is set on an ideal. “Corruption” won’t go away from Lessig’s opposition, but even if he only shines sunlight on infected political tissue he will have done plenty.
Posted by AKMA at 01:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 18, 2007
arXiv, Nature, Theology?
David notes that Nature has launched Nature Precedings, an open access preprint archive comparable to arXiv. Still awaiting word on when someone will support an open access theological preprint archive. . . .
Posted by AKMA at 10:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 17, 2007
Twenty-Fifth
Zeroth 
Fifteenth-ish? 
Twenty-third
Twenty-fifth!
Posted by AKMA at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 16, 2007
What a Night!
A bunch of our friends came over tonight to celebrate with us, and more would have if they could have. The family — Nate, Si, and Pippa, Jennifer, Juliet with John — gathered, and Laura came to be with Si, and her parents Doug and Carol; Michelle and Frank, with a dessert cameo from Stephen; Trevor and Susan; Trish and Tripp; Kristin, John, and Grace; Sarah, Clay, and Luke, all joined us for lasagna, cake, brownies (all with gluten-free options), and gelato. What a joy it was for friends from different eras and different locales and different generations and different theological outlooks all gather and spend a voluble evening bouncing ideas and memories around! Friends — what a great invention!
Now we’re lounging around while Margaret makes a late grocery run, David pulls into town, and we drift off to our various bedrooms. Tomorrow’s the service at St Luke’s; Nate will play the prelude, PIp and Si will sing in the choir, Sarah will preach, friends will gather again (those who are not themselves preaching), and we’ll reaffirm our vows before God and the people, all over again.
Posted by AKMA at 09:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Excused Absence
Big lasagna dinner at our place tonight — haven’t had a thought worth blogging all day.
Posted by AKMA at 04:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 15, 2007
Honest, Those Ears Look Like A Mane
The Disney Corporation has filed suit against Iron Age “pirates” for what it termed “anticipatory copyright violation” in the case of the recently-discovered Mickey Mouse brooch ornament, as reported on the Discovery News website.
“The claim that the perpetrator cannot be held liable because Disney had not yet copyrighted Mickey Mouse misunderstands the nature of intellectual property. If Disney had not refined and rendered more humorous the two-round-ears visage, then Iron Age forger wouldn’t have had Mickey Mouse to serve as the evolutionary goal of his craft.”
When confronted with archaeologists’ claim that the brooch does not represent a cartoon mouse, but a lion, Disney executives responded, “If it’s supposed to be a lion, why does it look so much more like Mickey? The comparison to a lion only strengthens our case, because proves that the unidentified copyright violator had no natural-life model for his work. Instead, he carved a crude facsimile of the universally beloved fantasy figure whose image Disney owns in perpetuity.”
The lawsuit asks damages based on fines in contemporary currency, deflated to Iron Ages rates, then subject to compound interest for 1100 years. If the government of Sweden does not turn over the perpetrator — or his legal heirs — Disney will hold the entire nation liable.
When asked what Disney would do if the lawsuit fails, counsel indicated that Disney would appeal to the United Nations to pass the quickly-drafted “Cher Copyright Pre-extension Act,” which stretches copyright backward in time for 1100 years or the lifetime of Cher (whichever is longer).
[Hat tip to Boing Boing for the background story]
Posted by AKMA at 05:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Um, Hi!
Nate and Jennifer are here, we’re rearranging the household for tomorrow’s pre-service dinner, and of course we’re gearing up for the reaffirmation service Sunday morning.So I’m busy and distracted, and enjoying the unscheduled-ness of my second day of leave time.
Posted by AKMA at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 13, 2007
What Grants Do We Need?
In a couple of weeks, I’ll be in Pittsburgh participating in a meeting whose point is to support and, ideally, enliven technological practices in theological education. As I’ve thought about the meeting, I it occurred to me that I would bring more valuable information to the meeting if I weren’t relying only on my own ideas. So: How might an education-support organization best enhance the engagement between theological education and technology? If it sounds like The Disseminary, I’ll be lobbying for it anyway — but what other priorities should be brought to the table? What benefits theological education most, and what dead ends can you help us avoid?
Posted by AKMA at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Message From Future Margaret
(Apologies for this context-dependent joke, to readers who have not been watching The Office, as Margaret and I have been.)
Mark says:
This one's hardly The Office dependent. Pick a Sci-Fi genre and you'll probably find an instance of a message from the future like this one.
I like it, though it does leave one to wonder... What happened to necessitate the sending of the message?! :-)
Posted by AKMA at 01:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 12, 2007
Twenty-Five
While Margaret and Pippa have been running errands and attending meetings downtown, I’ve been wrestling my last few grades into order. This morning, though, Pippa decorated the kitchen in honor of Margaret’s and my wedding anniversary today:
Now, a few more grades, a few episodes of The Office.
Michael and David say:
Congratulations in twenty-five years. We're always happy to keep up with the Adams on your blog/
David Hefling & Michael Dudley
Quincy, MA
[Great to hear from you — maybe sometime during our east-coast sojourn we can reconnect. I hope the parish is thriving . . . .]
Posted by AKMA at 08:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Missing Rorty
Some smallish pockets of the Web have shared grief at the death of Richard Rorty; not, so far as I can tell, as wide and deep a mourning as lamented the death of his French counterpart, Jacques Derrida. While it’s silly to rank philosophers — as though their value could be weighed out in carats — I’d wish for Prof. Rorty more appreciative response. More to the point, I wish that fewer people were so willing publicly to disdain his standing, as though the nation were overrun with philosophically-minded sales managers, copy editors, and small-animal veterinarians who out-thought Rorty in their free time. Professional standing doesn’t make all the difference in the world, but when one calls into question the institutional discernment of the community of professional peers, one had better bring some strong arguments to the table. Jürgen Habermas, frequent opponent of Rorty on topics philosophical, allowed that “Among contemporary philosophers, I know of none who equalled Rorty in confronting his colleagues - and not only them - over the decades with new perspectives, new insights and new formulations.”
Rorty exemplifies many of the qualities I most cherish in an intellectual, and some that irritate me. In those areas where we part ways, he may (after all) be right; he’s not the only atheist on the block, nor even the smartest, and certainly (thank heaven) not the most derisive. He made one of the strongest arguments for liberal democracy that I can imagine, even as I wince at reverence for the idols of liberalism. Rorty offered the world his greatest gifts: a capacity to diagnose overinflated claims about truth and reality, an appreciation for American philosophers in the strength of their cultural context, an unswerving dedication to justice and “the general welfare.”
I will miss him — as an articulate writer, as a clear-sighted philosopher, as a judicious opponent of theology. I learn discipleship more from challenging intellectual, ethical adversaries than from scornful yea-sayers.
e says:
thank you for posting this. no longer connected to academe, i would not have known.
--
e
Posted by AKMA at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 11, 2007
Premature Exhilaration
I ordinarily feel a wave of relief when the academic year ends, but the prospect of my full-year sabbatical leave has filled me with so intense an intoxication that I’m having a hard time bearing down and finishing the Easter-Term grading. The weather is lovely, and soon I’ll be totally free to let my mind wander, to follow whatever interests catch my attention, to shake free and stretch out.
But I really really really must finish grades now.
Posted by AKMA at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Intermedia, Post-Renaissance Style
On our trip to the Art Institute, Margaret and I delighted in this painting of Job, which the title card identified as an anonymous Spanish work from the early seventeenth century:
(Job is saying “Noli me condemnare,” “Do not condemn me,” from the Vulgate of Job 10:2: “I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; show why you judge me so.‘ ”)
The way the painter adopted lettering that looks like metal type tickles us pink. What does this imply about the way the anonymous painter thinks about speech, about print, about communication? Would a brush script not have sufficed? What models did the painter have — perhaps only the blackletter banner-lettering from cheirographic and woodcut Bibles? Did he think that by emulating a Roman text metal typeface, he rendered the image “modern”?
(Cross-posted to Beautiful Theology)
Micah points out:
Good catch, AKMA. It sure is an unusual use of text. But have you (or your other readers) seen Jan van Eyck's Annunciation? A similar thing, with the words of the angel coming out in a stream, but Mary's words in response are printed upside down, so God can read them. What does that say about text and the location of the Holy?
Hi, I followed links from MeFi to Accordian Guy to your page, and
encountered this statement:
The way the painter adopted lettering that looks like metal type tickles us pink. What does this imply about the way the anonymous painter thinks about speech, about print, about communication? Would a brush script not have sufficed? What models did the painter have — perhaps only the blackletter banner-lettering from cheirographic and woodcut Bibles? Did he think that by emulating a Roman text metal typeface, he rendered the image “modern”?
You've got the sequence backward. Roman Monumental was formalized
over 2000 years ago. See any temple in Rome, for example the
Parthenon or arches in the Forum. At that time there was no cursive.
Pre-500CE, even handwritten script was all capital -- I've seen
examples in museums. During medieval times, cursive evolved to
facilitate writing with pen and ink on parchment. Mechanical type
came along just as the Renaissance was blooming, with its conscious
hearkening back to the high Roman era. That is why you see fonts from
the 1500's and 1600's developed in the classic roman style, for
capitals at least.
In my opinion, the artist correctly used all capitals to emphasize
that the picture came from _ancient_ times, *not* modern. If he had
used a medieval gothic or brush style, it would have seemed
unenlightened.
Ted
--
Ted Stern
lgtedstern at gmail dot com
Frango ut patefaciam -- I break so that I may reveal
[Thank you, Ted — that’s a terrific point. Of course these letters reflect Roman inscriptional style; my orientation toward the modes of illustration more typical of manuscripts and blockbooks, and my familiarity with the subsequent development of type design, distracted me from what you recognized. Marvelous, marvelous.]
Posted by AKMA at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 10, 2007
Got That?
“Hold the newsreader’s nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers.”
Posted by AKMA at 03:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 09, 2007
Close
Not a power brick coffee heater, a USB hub/coffee heater Found via Shelley’s link to USB devices for geeks.
Posted by AKMA at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Explicating Meaning
During my annual review with the Deans yesterday, I alluded to my frustration with the “real meaning” reflex. You know, when someone makes the claim to tell you what this or that really means. It functions as a an authority claim (or a discussion-ender): “What this Greek word really means is. . . .” or “You said X, but you really mean Y.”
Back in the 80’s “real meaning” struck Jeffrey Stout as a cardinal instance of a term that cries out for what Willard Quine called “explicating”: We fix on the particular functions of the unclear expression that make it worth troubling about, and then devise a substitute, clear and couched in terms to our liking, that fills those functions.” (Word and Object (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), pp. 258-59, quoted in Jeffrey Stout’s “What Is the Meaning of a Text?” NLH 14 (1982): 1-12 — unavailable on JSTOR). Since the rhetorical function of “really means” depends on the fact that the alleged “real meaning” is somehow in question — otherwise, why else would one say it? — we could probably advance an argument or two by eschewing a claim about “real meaning” and substituting a more precise characterization of our interest in pinning down meaning in the particular context in question.
Posted by AKMA at 10:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
From Whatever Quarter
I suspect that Fearsome Pirate and I advocate markedly different theologies, ecclesiologies, and liturgies, but his eight-step program for church growth makes sense to me. (No offense meant to people who actually like singing Earth and All Stars.)
Posted by AKMA at 08:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 08, 2007
Fantastic Yesterday
Margaret and I celebrated our pseudo-pre-second-honeymoon (that is, “a week at home while Pippa is away at choir camp, before we celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary next week, but not by any means a real vacation or second honeymoon”) by taking a day in downtown Chicago at the Art Institute and Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. We had a glorious time, and I commend both activities enthusiastically, especially combined, with a simple dinner of omelette and salad at Maxim’s (where, despite the reviews, we were served a quite suitable dinner at a reasonable-for-downtown price by a friendly server).
The Art Institute — words do not suffice to sum up the banquet of treasures to be found there! Margaret and I wore ourselves out strolling from room to room, but we could hardly stop. I will say that, among all the stunning beauties we encountered, none struck me so forcibly as Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait; were I ever to live in a space with a masterpiece of art, this is a painting whose effect would take a very long time to become routine to me. I didn’t see any of the Matisses that I most love, and although I have long admired Monet, the paintings I saw here — marvelous and intensely lovely as they are — didn’t pierce my soul as did Van Gogh. Chagall’s White Crucifixion stood out in the same numinous way. Margaret cited some of the Picassos (the casual way in which oe can say, “some of the Picassos” about one’s local museum’s collection itself flummoxes me) as particularly compelling; she also loves Joan Miró’s The Policeman (larger, darker photo here), among other Miró favorites. She envisioned an exhibition that juxtaposed surrealist paintings from some of the images from the International Gothic and Renaissance styles.
Footweary and heavy-legged, we settled in at the Chase Auditorium and laughed uproariously at our favorite radio personalities. It’s well worth a visit, if you’re in Chicago; we didn’t even see our very favorite panelists, but Adam Felber, Roxanne Roberts, and Paul Provenza bantered at the highest pitch of wit. Peter Sagal and Carl Kasell presided with great good humor, and the live-in-auditorium version entertained with various slips, gaffes, and non-compliant ripostes that you won’t hear on air. (Email me if you want to know who won before the program airs.)
Now if only I hadn’t dropped my wallet while I was down there — but, thankfully, a security guard found it and it’s waiting for me at the Chase Tower. Looks like another trek to the big city.
Posted by AKMA at 12:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 07, 2007
Intelligent Design
What’s all this about people trying to banish intelligent design from our schools? Frankly, I think that we could all use a lot more intelligent design. For example:
Why do approaches to airports always offer you a choice between “arrivals” and “departures” (I know, I know, there’s a classic bit in Big Trouble about this) — why don’t the signs say “Pick Up” and “Drop Off”? The arrival and departure signs at Midway are way too small, and they’re positioned so that you have to play chicken with a concrete barrier as you peer forward and decide which sign applies to you, and aligns with which fork of the road. That’s certainly not intelligent design.
Posted by AKMA at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Reinventing
When did “reinventing” become not simply a possibly-good idea, but a social norm? I’m troubled by the currency that “reinventing oneself” has attained, with its concomitant resonance of repudiating history, continuity, responsibility (even “accountability,” however much that may irritate Dave).
I harbor no animus against trying anew, or changing direction, or amendment of life; the trope of “reinventing,” though, sounds ominous to me.
Dave says:
AKMA, I think you misunderstand my views on accountability. I think your reservations regarding the currency of "reinvention" are well-founded. Now, I do have serious views regarding whom one may be accountable to, and on what basis; but I don't think those are inconsistent with your reservations, though you haven't really offered many of the reasons for your reservations. I simply imagine they are similar to mine.
In a similar vein, I have always regarded the claim of being "born again" to be a similar repudiation of history and responsibility, and have generally not held those to have claimed such an experience in any higher regard on the basis of that claim. Most often, nearly the opposite in fact.
On the other hand, I am quite sympathetic with a view I heard expressed by the noted philosopher Cher, who disclosed in an interview that she is accountable to two people: herself and God. Which is the response I embrace when certain self-appointed "authorities" of some "communities" try to hold others "accountable" for something they find unacceptable.
So, it's somewhat complicated, and I generally prefer to use these terms in well defined and rigorous contexts. Otherwise they become mushy, meaningless or even dangerous. But with those somewhat vague caveats, I'm not at all irritated by your use of the term.
Unaccountably yours,
Dave
[Dave, I suspect both that I haven’t fully understood you and that in many respects we’re quite in agreement. If I recall our past discussions correctly — and the odds are against that — I’m willing to apply a sort of graduated version of accountability across varying degrees of relationship, and you argue that accountability (rightly understood) admits of few if any such gradations (“only to herself and God”).
To take a trivial recursive example: I cited you here because I would construe it as a breach of the odd, somewhat tenuous, long-distance, respectful friendship we share if I were to use the term “accountability” without acknowledging that we’ve been around this bush before, and that neither of us has persuaded the other. Your courtesy and persistent insight would, I suspect, impel you to a comparable gesture even if you didn’t call it accountability. I’d be interested to know what you would call it, and how you’d differentiate it from my “graduated accountability,” and even why, if it’s not too presumptuous to ask.]
Posted by AKMA at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 06, 2007
Fluid Media
Another thing I’ve said before: the survival mechanism for paying artists who participate in media subject to digital reproduction comes not through unsustainable, intrusive, obstructive digital-rights mechanisms, but through lowering the price of legitimate copies to the point that it’s more bother to obtain an illegitimate copy than to pay for a legit copy.
If any time I want to watch a high-quality digital version of an episode of The Office I can download it for a dollar, or fifty cents — so the cost of my archiving and saving (and storing and being able to find again) that episode is greater than the cost of my putting down another four bits — what would be the point of so-called piracy?
Posted by AKMA at 10:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack