Hobo Shorts

And by that, i mean, the shorts from a cigarette. Not questionably clean boxers.

Trying to clean.

At times, it's overwhelming. But one thing I learned from zen master Grass--clean to clear your mind.

Who knows, a day late and a dollar short I may actually get something done and turned in.

This week, on the scholastic front--and I suppose most others--my performance has been weak.

Though, I'm truly shocked that I don't feel worse, given that I drank almost five liters of beer.

I'm slow to forgive, slower yet to apologize, slowest to admit my faults; which are myriad.

I too know what it is to lie, cheat, steal, the criminal, the late-knight onanist, the fiend not wanting. I too have seen the gates of hell with my own eyes, and know I deserve it.

But for all that, I say with Calvin, that it is by grace of god that I am allowed a moment in this fallen world.

Grace, it seems a theme lately.

Weintraub (also a theme) always admired Burke's formulation "the unbought grace of life", which seemed to me always a tautology. But Zizek says that there-in lies profound truth.

Well, the spirit is a bone

the autobiographic

this is not what you think it is.

far more borring.

Weintraub. the man with two watches.

the man who could lecture on a phrase. "and words had changed their meaning"; haven't they always.

well, he did it. and i can't remember what he said.

it's a shit-poor memorial to a great man. and i mean that, in spite of the gym placement test.

memories half remembered. time spent with him and not with dillan. well, you've got to do something, if you're not watching the mcgloclan group.

and words had changed their meaning. ninety minutes, he made it dance the way that lacan made petite object a dance.

the man, confusing. never understood. spqr, role playing games, romans on the moon. and how don't we know. the seas named in latin.

they say there's water there.

Columbia and related matters (with a brief excursis on Straussianism)--oh, I make myself laugh

Used to hang at a Columbian hipster bar (you can find anything in NY).
Very good place. Had the wildest thing--a little terrace that hung
over the bar. Bands would play on it.

Went to a Halloween party there. My costume was Obe Won--the Ewen
McGreggor one. One day Sir Alec Guiness. He's my favorite.

Of course, the best one is Empire. Love the "you're not my father" bit.

And who doesn't like the incest aspect.

First day of class, if I make it. Have an afternoon appointment, and
school is 60 miles by train.

Well, if not today Thursday, which is the class i really want to take.
E. Ann Caplan--not that that means anything to you, but she's a kick
ass scholar. Real gem (and I don't mean the rock-star cartoon, though
she is that). She sent me to theory camp. One day I'll go again. Can't
get enough Dominic LaCapra. Who can?

What can I say, I was raised by a historicist (academically speaking).
Though, he misrepresented himself. Claimed to be a 19th century-style
german historicist. Which he was, in a way. But his training was as a
Straussian.

You might remember them. Very influential in the early Bush
administration. I believe Rumsfeld was one. Among others.

Scary stuff. Strauss believed in what's called the ``Straussian eye.''
Believed certain people could read right. Others only believed myth.
Undemocratic. But loved Gunsmoke.

Have you read the 9/11 commission report? Makes the Tower commission
report look like Aristotle's Nichomachian Ethics (yes, i've spent too
much time in school. studied greek and latin, no less. Read with David
Green, of the Committee on Social Thought (``we think in groups'').
I've studied too many things--classics, history, art history, writing,
20th century novel, 20th century poetry, briefly film (though i have a
kick-ass paper--terminator and aliens, both films about abortion),
critical theory, textuality, german idealism... the list goes on and
on).

Well, gotta let you go.

Enjoy Columbia. Good drugs there, though don't get caught up with the
Cali cartel.

Bogeta-- good avenues. Caracas--good beaches. The mountains to die for.

Gets chilly.

hugh millers

when we were studying the middle age, weintraub did the most amazing thing.

he took a will and made it move.

the main protagonist? hugh miller.

he was an ordinary guy. chopped wood or something. maybe wife and kids. little house, grew vegetables.

but then weintraub made him move. what happens should hugh die? what would become of his wife and lands?

it was incredible. we spent some time on that document, as we had on so many others. he could spend hours on mere words.