Thursday, May 21, 2009

Milestones.

Somewhere under the piles of clothes on my floor that haven't been moved for at least three weeks sits a diploma that I received from our college president on Monday.

Friday, May 8, 2009

More poetry?

Scaffolding
Seamus Heany

Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

Make sure the planks won’t slip at busy points.|
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

Yet all this comes down when the job’s done,
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

So if, my dear, there sometimes seems to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me,

Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall,
Confident that we have built our wall.


I know nothing about poetry,

but I really enjoy this one:

I Hear It Was Charged Against Me
Walt Whitman

I hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy
institutions,
But really I am neither for nor against institutions,
(What indeed have I in common with them? or what with
the destruction of them?)
Only I will establish in this Mannahatta and in every city of
these States inland and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel little or
large that dents the water,
Without edifices or rules or trustees or any argument
The institution of the dear love of comrades.




I just don't understand how he could be so anti-alcohol. He was probably a closet drunk.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Theses.

It's a weird point to reach academically when you finally have to come to your own conclusions about something. I came to that point in my thesis, where I read so much about a particular subject that there would be small but important disagreements among authors about a particular topic, and I had no choice but to choose the ones that I thought made the most sense and go with it. But saying that a professor is wrong, especially one that has authored a book on a subject and teaches at a prestigious school, is a weird feeling. Defending that criticism in front of other professors is even weirder.


Anyway, I passed thesis orals this morning.

Monday, May 4, 2009

A New Blog

Because really, there's not enough out there these days, is there?