Days After Inauguration
What's the bird's eye-view around Washington, D.C., on presidential inauguration? Dizzy that there are more people, under their wings, a sort of delirious and happy panic to feel something more than historic? Can they sense something in that panic that makes them feel a bit human, be with them, flock with them? Does flying feel like traps, and walking fresh escape? Do older birds feel like something is invigorated, or re-invigorated down there, an idea, the shadow in a notion? It could be argued that attaching the word 'truly' to the word 'democratic' has reached a point of overused, but that emphasizing this overused can be considered unethical: because there's simply no such thing as over-used in this context, because these mouths are just celebrating, aligning themselves to something what they thought is impossible. There will, indeed, be prognostications of new dimensions, and the polishing of existing paradigms, while old habits remain, like a certain blindness among taxi drivers in many American cities not to let in some people in their backseats, a blindness that doesn't have the positive ring of color blindness. It's the most exciting time to use hyperboles, to chant the greatness of this and that, about a system that works, and takes itself seriously. There'll be inebriations of affirmations, both implicit and explicit, most would be optimistic, but a percentage of them too-optimistic and competes with incisive doubts about the new man in that house of American houses. The normal flow is to, indeed, be get caught in the excitements, to give in to the contagious yes-we-can spirit. What we hope also is that there's power in being skeptical, especially in the depth of this change we think we're in. We hope our eyes do not have the affliction that adores religion of surfaces. The 4th of November 2008 has questioned that religion, and the world has a reaffirmed awe about a country named United States of America, that, indeed, despite its recent history - often observed in horrific, archived footage of Selma, Alabama 1965 - the U.S.A. can be used as a paradigm of having a unified, national spirit.
Colors
Waiting for the traffic light. The reaction is almost immediate to turn left. It's another red light at the next intersection. Before the car reaches that crossing, the light turns green, as the music in the car takes on a bluesy mellowness. Many blues could be the color of the next intersections, taking away the red, yellow, and green. But there's no moon-color to take away this time. It's drizzling. The streets are wet, full of reflections. Car-lights illuminate them deeper into the night.
David Foster Wallace
I may be one of those who discovered him, much later, maybe the last couple of years. And it's really sad to hear the news about his death, especially that he took his own life. The blogospshere and chatlines are, no doubt, talking about him endlessly, this very moment, and the next few months, or years. Below is a link to a transcript of the Kenyon College commencement speech he had delivered, three years ago, in May 21, 2005. I didn't discover this link myself, but from another blog. The piece can be inspiring. And I could feel the humanity, the person in the writer. You could feel he is deeply in touch with his narcissism, but he hasn't forgotten the profound value of empathy. I like him in that speech. I feel like I should finally finish reading his masterpiece, Infinite Jest. But I do wonder about him having the courage to take his own life, where it comes from, the force behind it, the determination to be in the process of getting that rope, tying the knot, and all that. This makes me wonder about Ernest Hemingway, and Sylvia Plath. Hemingway's process was quick. But Sylvia's, too, was not quick. I suppose it comes down to choice, and the profound freedoms choice can give us.
Here's the link:
http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html
(Unfortunately, this link doesn't work anymore. But if you click this link, there's an explanation why it's not there anymore.)
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