Month: May 2011

Tanzen verbotenTanzen verboten

“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoint them.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1774

The rational manThe rational man

“I like to do things that frighten me.  When I’m afraid, I understand more things.” — David Grossman (from “The Unconsoled,” by George Packer)

Hamlet’s question recidivusHamlet’s question recidivus

“On his attaining to nirvana, Sakyamuni became the Buddha, and had no longer to mourn his being within the circle of transmigration, and could rejoice in an absolute freedom from passion, and a perfect purity. Still he continued to live on for forty-five years, till he attained to pari-nirvana, and had done with all the life of sense and society, and had no more exercise of thought. He died; but whether he absolutely and entirely ceased to be, in any sense of the word being, it would be difficult to say. Probably he himself would not and could not have spoken definitely on the point.” — from The Travels of Fa-Hien, Ch. XII (trans. Legge)

Geo. Washington slept hereGeo. Washington slept here

“There is a tradition that when Buddha came to North India, he came at once to this country [Udyana], and that here he left a print of his foot, which is long or short according to the ideas of the beholder on the subject. It exists, and the same thing is true about it, at the present day. Here also are still to be seen the rock on which he dried his clothes, and the place where he converted the wicked dragon. The rock is fourteen cubits high, and more than twenty broad, with one side of it smooth.” — from The Travels of Fa-Hien, Ch. VIII (trans. Legge)

A kind of desertA kind of desert

“Mourning: a cruel country where I am no longer afraid.” — Roland Barthes, 1977.

The Center for Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University publishes an annual litmag called The Healing Muse.  In their most recent issue (#10) they included my short piece, “The Take-Out,” which is the story I’m posting this week.

Dream a little dream of meDream a little dream of me

“The dream of artists–which is simply the dream of friends and lovers, magnified–is to plant themselves in other people’s heads.” — Tad Friend, “Sleeping with Weapons”

Horns of the dilemmaHorns of the dilemma

“Science and literature must both occupy a great place in university education. But the former ignores sin, and the latter knows it only too well.” — The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol. XIV, Ch. 14

Places to bePlaces to be

“All the dreams you show up in are not your own.” — Gil Scott-Heron

You can depend on itYou can depend on it

“If a people is to be judged solely by its crimes and its sins, all the people of this planet are utterly damned.  Such judgments can produce only the deepest kind of anarchy.  The civilized judgment, on which depends all the possibilities of a decent human life, requires that men, while condemning and resisting evil deeds, should be unfaltering in their faith in and their response to the healing impulses of their fellow men.” — Walter Lippmann, 1933

The road not takenThe road not taken

“In the future, to make a fortune will be considered as improper for the head of a big business as for the President of the United States or the mayor of a city.” — Walter Lippmann, 1934

Is this why American schools are a dysfunctional mess?Is this why American schools are a dysfunctional mess?

“In every State it should be a fundamental maxim that the education of youth should be particularly formed and adapted to the nature and end of its government.” — Thomas Sheridan, 1756 (from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol. XIV, Ch. 14)

Job securityJob security

“The history of diplomacy is the history of relations among rival powers, which did not enjoy political intimacy, and did not respond to appeals to common purposes.  Nevertheless, there have been settlements.  Some of them did not last very long.  Some of them did.  For a diplomat to think that rival and unfriendly powers cannot be brought to a settlement is to forget what diplomacy is all about.  There would be little for diplomats to do if the world consisted of partners, enjoying political intimacy, and responding to common appeals.” — Lippmann, The Cold War

How that thing worksHow that thing works

“Love endures only when the lovers love many things together, and not merely each other.” — Lippmann, A Preface to Morals

Oh, come on, let them eat cakeOh, come on, let them eat cake

“Laissez-faire is dead and the modern state has become responsible for the modern economy as a whole.  The task of insuring the continuity of the standard of life for its people is now as much the fundamental duty of the state as the preservation of national independence.” — Walter Lippmann, Godkin Lectures, 1934.

Now for something completely differentNow for something completely different

The story I’m posting this week, “The Congenital Fiance”, first appeared in Caketrain a couple of years ago.  I wrote it some years back, not long before the Umpteenth World War started.  The world wasn’t any younger or more innocent or necessarily safer or nicer in those days, but part of the world that ended on the bright autumn day when the towers came down–ending in the unpredictable way in which worlds end–was the world in which an American could casually engage in street photography with a 35mm SLR without being suspected of being either a terrorist or a government agent.

Which is neither here nor there and has practically nothing to do with “The Congenital Fiance”.

Bargain prices in the Potemkin villageBargain prices in the Potemkin village

“In an earlier era men like John Milton and John Stuart Mill had argued that liberty depended on a press free from censorship and intimidation.  They were concerned primarily with freedom of belief and expression.  But in modern democracies the problem was different.  The press could be ‘free’ and still fail to do its job.  Without accurate and unbiased information the public could not form intelligent decisions.  Democracy would be either a failure or a sham.” — Steel, Walter Lippmann and the American Century

Vote early and oftenVote early and often

“If the voter cannot grasp the details of the problems of the day because he has not the time, the interest or the knowledge, he will not have a better public opinion because he is asked to express his opinion more often.” — Lippmann, The Phantom Public

Or about anything, for that matter?Or about anything, for that matter?

“Most political theory assumed that the average man could, if presented with the facts, make reasonable decisions.  But what if access to the facts was blocked by propaganda, ignorance and willful distortion?  How would this affect the assumption that the average man could make intelligent decisions about public issues?” — Steel, Walter Lippmann and the American Century

The necessary and the sufficientThe necessary and the sufficient

“Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have had enough of it.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (from Steel’s Walter Lippmann and the American Century)

AttributionAttribution

It should be noted here and now (if not earlier) that the Lippmann quotes being posted to this site are sourced from Ronald Steel’s Walter Lippmann and the American Century, published in 1980 by the Atlantic Monthly Press.

Close the barn door, the horse is goneClose the barn door, the horse is gone

“It is labor organized that alone can stand between America and the creation of a permanent, servile class.” — Lippmann, Drift and Mastery

Brother, can you spare a bailout?Brother, can you spare a bailout?

“The curse of great fortunes is the degradation of the poor.” — Walter Lippmann

NeedlingNeedling

“Once you touch the biographies of human beings, the notion that political beliefs are logically determined collapses like a pricked balloon.” — Lippmann, A Preface to Politics

You know, those were different timesYou know, those were different times

“The decade 1840–1850, preceding the rush to the gold-diggings, was an important period in the history of Australian poetry. The development of New South Wales brought about an increase in the number of newspapers, and the newspapers gave opportunities for the publication of verse.” — from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol. XIV, Ch. XII

It’s a job (or it was)It’s a job (or it was)

For two years I worked as a criminal defense paralegal.  As with everything I’ve done since I was twelve or thirteen years old, I did the job with one eye on how I could milk it for stories to write.  Some might call that “bearing witness,” which would be a very nice thing to call it.  Others might call it things that are not so nice, but would probably be just as true.

Last week I posted “Legal Advice,” one of the stories derived from my criminal defense paralegal days.  This week I’m posting “Taking Calls,” another such story.  It was first published a year ago in Cutthroat.

Drink in your summer, gather your cornDrink in your summer, gather your corn

“The days and months are passing; and the years do not wait for us.” — The Analects of Confucius, Book XVII (trans. Jennings)

To be or notTo be or not

“Be clear in vision, quick in hearing, genial in expression, respectful in demeanor, true in word, serious in duty, inquiring in doubt, firmly self-controlled in anger, just and fair when the way to success opens out.” — The Analects of Confucius, Book XVI (trans. Jennings)

Seer suckersSeer suckers

“Farmers without land, workers without jobs, ordinary men and women without hope, all were fodder for visionaries promising the earth.” – MacMillan, Paris 1919

Heathens on the downslopeHeathens on the downslope

“The man who in his youth could show no humility or subordination, who in his prime misses his opportunity, and who when old age comes upon him will not die—that man is a miscreant.” — The Analects of Confucius, Book XIV (trans. Jennings)

The fallacy of misplaced intrinsic valueThe fallacy of misplaced intrinsic value

“Dying used to be accompanied by a prescribed set of customs.  Guides to ars moriendi, the art of dying, were extraordinarily popular; a 1415 medieval Latin text was reprinted in more than a hundred editions across Europe.  Reaffirming one’s faith, repenting one’s sins, and letting go of one’s worldly possessions and desires were crucial, and the guides provided families with prayers and questions for the dying in order to put them in the right frame of mind during their final hours.  Last words came to hold a particular place of reverence.  These days, swift catastrophic illness is the exception; for most people, death comes only after long medical struggle with an incurable condition–advanced cancer, progressive organ failure (usually the heart, kidney, or liver), or the multiple debilities of very old age.  In all such cases, death is certain, but the timing isn’t.  So everyone struggles with this uncertainty–with how, and when, to accept that the battle is lost.  As for last words, they hardly seem to exist anymore.  Technology sustains our organs until we are well past the point of awareness and coherence.” — Atul Gawande, “Letting Go”