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Robert Frost
Dec. 15th, 2012 08:00 am“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It finds the thought and the thought finds the words.”
-- Robert Frost
-- Robert Frost
Dec. 15th, 2012
bit of a rainy spell
Dec. 15th, 2012 08:45 amA bit of a rainy spell. Nothing heavy, but it is certainly enough to keep the cats inside. There is also a nice autumnal coolness outside. Great reading and writing weather. And, yeah, Pop is away for another weekend two-nighter. I cannot ask for more, at least not without stepping off into Fantasy Land.
I got into an amusing exchange on LJ over the Connecticut school shooting. It may not be of the best character to make light of such tragedies, but I do have that dark perversity of spirit and am given to sardonic wit.
The original post teed off on the White House position that now was not the time to get into politics and policy debates The LJer essentially asked, "If not now, when?" She was anxious to get into this serious debate.
We have gone around this track any number of times over the years, and in my jaded cynicism, I anticipated and sort of took the right-wing posture, albeit in an ironic vein, and I responded, "I'm sure the gun people would like to have this serioius talk, too, so that we might finally get a handle on these violent video games and movies and porn, and maybe start bringing prayer back into the schools and Christ in Christmas and Jesus back in this country's life."
Another LJer took me perhaps seriously and replied, "So everything but regulation on the kinds of guns these people can get a hold of then..."
I said, "That does seem to be the Republican answer, and we have been through enough of these crimes that it seems unlikely that this will turn the debate around. America is still sort of Cowboy Land, I guess. Their best answer seems to be: if teachers and administrators had guns, they could have stopped or abridged the tragedy."
He said, "Of course, I'm sure teachers and administrators already have enough stress in their job without having to worry about being trained in combat."
And then I said, "Oh, we are not talking about invading Iran. How much training does one need for this? There's a bad guy shooting kids; you practically just point and click. Like a video game. ;)"
We didn't make this world; we just live in it.
(Source: Talk Politics)
The original post teed off on the White House position that now was not the time to get into politics and policy debates The LJer essentially asked, "If not now, when?" She was anxious to get into this serious debate.
We have gone around this track any number of times over the years, and in my jaded cynicism, I anticipated and sort of took the right-wing posture, albeit in an ironic vein, and I responded, "I'm sure the gun people would like to have this serioius talk, too, so that we might finally get a handle on these violent video games and movies and porn, and maybe start bringing prayer back into the schools and Christ in Christmas and Jesus back in this country's life."
Another LJer took me perhaps seriously and replied, "So everything but regulation on the kinds of guns these people can get a hold of then..."
I said, "That does seem to be the Republican answer, and we have been through enough of these crimes that it seems unlikely that this will turn the debate around. America is still sort of Cowboy Land, I guess. Their best answer seems to be: if teachers and administrators had guns, they could have stopped or abridged the tragedy."
He said, "Of course, I'm sure teachers and administrators already have enough stress in their job without having to worry about being trained in combat."
And then I said, "Oh, we are not talking about invading Iran. How much training does one need for this? There's a bad guy shooting kids; you practically just point and click. Like a video game. ;)"
We didn't make this world; we just live in it.
(Source: Talk Politics)
Hamlet (3,3) Words Without Thoughts
Dec. 15th, 2012 06:26 pmWe still have yet to close out this scene between Hamlet and Claudius. Hamlet has left to see his mother, but Claudius is still down on his knees trying to pray to his Maker, to our holy Father in heaven. And we learn that he has failed to pray, after all.
Claudius
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
As Mr. Rosenberg remarks, “[Claudius] is in fact brutally damaged. As a man accepting judgment beyond the grave, a doom stipulated in this play in the person of the Ghost, Claudius now anticipates the eternal damnation of his soul in hell. He cannot even pray. [...] Claudius’ dread of his confirmed, unforgiving future must leave a heavy wound that his character armor can hide, but never heal.”
We can also appreciate the added note of tragedy behind Hamlet’s delay to execute his revenge. As it turns out, he could have dispatched Claudius’s soul to hell, after all, and be done with it. Of course, he could not have known this, which gives us this tragic note.
Nevertheless, as I have expressed before, there is another utility in holding off on the killing of Claudius, besides letting the play go on longer. If Hamlet had killed him at this point, would he not be subject to some jeopardy? Wouldn’t the royal court and the people see him as a treasonous assassin, fit for execution himself rather than succession to the crown?
In any kind of trial, the Ghost of the elder Hamlet cannot testify, and we only have the word of Prince Hamlet’s friends, but none of them heard the Ghost’s story, not even Horatio, even if people were willing to accept the reality of such a ghost. The only thing that the people know is that Hamlet had an intensely personal grudge against Claudius. This would not help him at the trial.
The event that makes Hamlet’s vengeance righteous for everybody to appreciate is Laertes’s dying testimony in the final scene of the play. In this light, Hamlet rather saves his own soul (that is, his public reputation) by delaying his revenge until a more ripened moment. Though, I have not seen any official critical support for my position, and I could be off base; I just do not see how.
Claudius
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
As Mr. Rosenberg remarks, “[Claudius] is in fact brutally damaged. As a man accepting judgment beyond the grave, a doom stipulated in this play in the person of the Ghost, Claudius now anticipates the eternal damnation of his soul in hell. He cannot even pray. [...] Claudius’ dread of his confirmed, unforgiving future must leave a heavy wound that his character armor can hide, but never heal.”
We can also appreciate the added note of tragedy behind Hamlet’s delay to execute his revenge. As it turns out, he could have dispatched Claudius’s soul to hell, after all, and be done with it. Of course, he could not have known this, which gives us this tragic note.
Nevertheless, as I have expressed before, there is another utility in holding off on the killing of Claudius, besides letting the play go on longer. If Hamlet had killed him at this point, would he not be subject to some jeopardy? Wouldn’t the royal court and the people see him as a treasonous assassin, fit for execution himself rather than succession to the crown?
In any kind of trial, the Ghost of the elder Hamlet cannot testify, and we only have the word of Prince Hamlet’s friends, but none of them heard the Ghost’s story, not even Horatio, even if people were willing to accept the reality of such a ghost. The only thing that the people know is that Hamlet had an intensely personal grudge against Claudius. This would not help him at the trial.
The event that makes Hamlet’s vengeance righteous for everybody to appreciate is Laertes’s dying testimony in the final scene of the play. In this light, Hamlet rather saves his own soul (that is, his public reputation) by delaying his revenge until a more ripened moment. Though, I have not seen any official critical support for my position, and I could be off base; I just do not see how.
a kitchen-sink shampoo
Dec. 15th, 2012 06:49 pmI did a kitchen-sink shampoo tonight, wanting to save the full shower for tomorrow. I think my chances are pretty good that I can go out on a walk tomorrow afternoon. The Dallas Cowboys have a game at three and the weather should be moderate. It's still a bit of a gamble; there's a 30% chance of rain.
Funny thing, though. When I went to my bathroom to finish drying my hair, as I was looking at myself in the mirror, I felt like I could still be in my early or middle twenties, still fresh from college. I was in the middle of ruminating again over my epic life-failure and thinking about how my old salvation fantasies never rose beyond being fantasies. With the cold and wet water making my hair look so black, and with the chill of it invigorating me, I just felt like I was that kid again, and that my life could still be rescued, that I still have my whole life in front of me. I felt very young. And this lasted for a few minutes.
Funny thing, though. When I went to my bathroom to finish drying my hair, as I was looking at myself in the mirror, I felt like I could still be in my early or middle twenties, still fresh from college. I was in the middle of ruminating again over my epic life-failure and thinking about how my old salvation fantasies never rose beyond being fantasies. With the cold and wet water making my hair look so black, and with the chill of it invigorating me, I just felt like I was that kid again, and that my life could still be rescued, that I still have my whole life in front of me. I felt very young. And this lasted for a few minutes.
