oh...just me: December 2004 Archives

Charles Taylor 1991, via Gerard Hauser 1999:

"The metaphor of moving together through conversational space can be sustained only if that space accommodates the appearance of the individual's I as a source of contribution. The presence of the I, however, invites us to understand the space and the we it contains from our own stance. The conversational partners qua individuals, or relata, must not be subsumed by the relationship or the relationship itself is lost. Their separateness is mutually necessary for differentiation. The relata and relationship, the separate I's and the we, are mutually constitutive of each other's identity within the space they create through conversation. But the I must continually grasp the intersubjective meaning that is always and exclusively a part of the we. Although personal and intersubjective meanings are always matters of perspective, mutual understanding requires that these independent points of view be linked. The we perspective is jeopardized when discourse partners jointly cease to grasp their common space of norms."

I need me some metis.

Stephen told us last spring about the fox and the hedgehog; then David got into it a few weeks ago. Seems the fairytales have the fox ultimately always losing. If such is true, (I'm in deep doo!) The intellectuals would try to have it otherwise.

I'm really psyched about my paper for Democracy, Rhetoric, and Performance. It's gonna be one long sucker, but fascinating (hopefully not only in a solipsistic way).

"What I know about writing has to do with where you put your heart."

"if I knew exactly what I was doing I have no doubt I would not be doing it."

"Why....?" "It adds something to that which is missing, a wholeness, an acceptance that there is more here than what we see."

I've been enjoying talking with my mom more and more. She says her brain is slow, but I think she's figuring stuff out left and right, and facing it. Makes me feel optimistic about my own chances. :-)

I had lunch today with an old dear friend - over a decade by golly! Who at one point (after I made some nonsensical polite "filler" type of comment) laughed heartily at my cultural non-deaf-ness. :-) Then, she said I really am "deaf" though, in the sense of being estranged from family. She was referring to my family of origin, with whom my ties are tighter now than in many, many years, but which never nurtured a deep sense of belonging. She likened this to the experience of that vast majority of deaf individuals born into non-deaf families, and the seemingly inevitable distances that arise because of language acquisition issues and a range of phenomenological differences.

this memoir is intense. No doubt some of it is timing (reading it now) but it would be powerful anytime, for anyone who's paying attention. So, I suspect, is his other stuff.

"When we have done all the work we were sent to Earth to do, we are allowed to shed our body, which imprisons our soul like a cocoon encloses the future butterfly. And when the time is right, we can let go of it and we will be free of pain, free of fears and worries-free as a very beautiful butterfly, returning home to God."

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Overly religious? Nah...the kind of lucidy described by Balibar: "optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect."

"It is Solstice, the longest night, the veil of the year worn thin. It is the night of the universal goddess in her solitary labor; the birth of eternal return, time revolving forward and back."

~ Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath, by Kate Moses (p. 213)

This site, Ancient Origins of Solstice, has a bunch of neat tidbits and links to more info on sacred sites. There's a bit about a Romanian fertility (!) tradition, turta; the architetural site of Maeshowe in Scotland, and lyrics from a song performed by Nowell Sing We Clear. (A tradition I missed :-( this year.)

The Winter Solstice will occur at 7:42 am (EST) Tuesday, December 21st.

Yesterday was a mixed day. The highlight was a breakthrough for a mental health patient who's treatment sessions I've been interpreting for over five years. WOW! The department party was enjoyable, but severely tainted by my memories of last year, when I was accompanied by my family. Alas.

I learned this morning that Mary Frances Platt died in a hospital on September 15. The explanation provided was "complications from disability." Many may remember her for the anger that drove her to fight tirelessly for justice, yet that passion was infectious and transformative. Nonetheless, the moments of gentleness and affection that came after we'd duked out a solution to some seemingly intractable problem are what I remember best. I always thought we'd bump into each other again and find another project on which to work...

A memorial is apparently being planned for this spring in Northampton...

It's been on my mind lately how hard it is to take in critical feedback.