2 20 5655 https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/71ad9c8b520828fa5a5867912c913008.pdf 71f5f5b6e61ac5322c9dc4f973e25cf6 PDF Text Text THE The St. John's College Student Weekfy Volume )(X1/, Issue 16 A FL Annapolis, Maryland January 20, 2004 Ferreting Out Febbies by Julie Janicki and Cathy Keene Staff Writer and Edito»-in-Chief, respectively After the 3:30 bell concluded our first week back from schooi we found ourselves seated in FSKAuditorium, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the January Freshman for their personal Movers andShaker.rpresentation. Having been assigned to write on the College's new arrivals, we were ready and waiting to ask questions and have our curiosity about the Febbies appeased. Unfortunately, only three of the newcomers showed up for the meeting. The first to arrive was Giulia Giordano from Two representatives from your school newspaper in the NPR press room, Des Moines, Iowa. Santa Rosa, California. At age 19, she comes to St John's full of certainty and optimism - her mother, sister and friend have all made their way through the Program, and thus inspired her to several contenders for the Democratic presiden- do the same. She is enjoying making her way tial race across the country and b!ing the infor- through the Iliad, and says that she looks forward mation they gathered to you. In a journey that to the Greek, and eventually, the French tutorials. the press room of theNPRMedia stretched from Des Moines to Dover, from Ann The Meno, Shakespeare, and Dante are also on her Moines, Iowa. Outside, it's a frigid Arbor to Ashtabula, from Cedar Rapids to Con- list of favorites. "Everybody's been friendly so humidity eighty-seven percent, cord, from Muscatine to Milford, Ms. Townsend far," she states. "This is absolutely the place for a fifcy percent chance of precipitation; in- and Messrs. Brockett, Method, and McCracken me." sprawied a motley collection of campaign traveled miles, miles, and more miles in an orShortly following Ms. Giordano was Paul spondents: MSNBC, ABC, Fox News, nery'91 Buickl/...Sabre, never ceasing in their quest Burks, a 19 year old from Cincinnati, Ohio. Al, the New York Times, the rf:7ashington Post, to experience firsthand the rigors and rewards though a little on the quiet side, Mr. Burks was Ga4f!JL. of the campaign trail. obviously enthusiastic about entering his freshow, I know what many of you are thinkPerhaps none of you have ever attempted to man year. A little over half-way through the first OurGadf!y? A :reputable, nationally recog- obtain a press pass to a nationally televised po- seminar reading at the time of the interview, he is newsgat_hering organization? Tell me an- litical event Well, neither had the Gadfly. It's sur- · amazed at the lengths that Homer went to in oue!" :Kids, I know it's a shock-but it's prisingly easy. Our first success occurred in Des naming everyone in the Iliad, and he eagerly anoiit DWu newspaper leapt spectacularly Moines, at the Iowa headquarters of Dean for ticipates getting into the Socratic dialogues. When national stage this winter, much to its America, just before the rally at which Senator asked what he liked most about Annapolis thus ~~~/ ~ • . > rise. Four intrepid/ fetishistic reporters Bradley endorsed Howard Dean. Two of our far, he replied, "It's really nice having everything i~-~ve1yschool braved life-threatening con- reporters approached the press sign-in desk so close together- especially conside!ing how big nstant proximity to one another, and "'What organization are you with?" asked the Annapolis is overall." e of !eal actual paid reporters to stalk Febbies continued on page 7 National 'Fly continued on page 7 Goes National �THE t1rGADFLY Editor-in-Chief Cathy Keene Executive Editor Ian McCracken Production Managers A&E Editor Martin Anderson Anderson Tallent Melissa Thomas Inside News Layout Mary Townsend Shoshana Goldstein Outside News Sports Editor Hayden Brockett Mike Malone Business Manager Katy Courtright Contributing to this Issue Jonathan Badger Nick Colten Jackson Ferrell Robin Hugens J.A.M. Julie Janicki Max Kronberg J.P. Mcintyre Joseph Method Leo Pickens Judy Seeger Beth Siekera :Missy Skoog Laura Traina Christopher B. Utter Founded in 1980, the Gadf!y is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St. John's Santa Fe campus. Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s)and do not necessarilly represent the opinions of the Gadf!y staff. The Gadf!y reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and thought-provoking newspaper which circumstances at St. John's permit. Letters of 200 words or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit. Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most cases. The Gadf!y is not obligated to publish all submissions and will not print anonymous submissions except under special circumstances. Deadline: Sunday at noon, unless permission for a delay is granted in advance. Submissions will be accepted as long as they are legibly written, but typed copies, diskettes, and e-mail submissions are greatly preferred. Please e-mail submissions to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com. 2 Gadfly Mailbox Marriage and the State Dear Gadfly. I wonder if these quistions might be helpful in getting at the core of the problem concerning homosexual marriage: Why do our governing institutions grant ''benefits" to married couples? What is it about coupling that merits the favor of the community? Why are married couples favored in a way that bachelors who happen to live together are not? Why should a married couple receive benefits that a woman living alone does not receive? Sincerely, Jonathan Badger Tutor Defining Marriage DearGCJ#fa, We are writing in response to :Miss Pisha's December 16 answer to our December 9 letter. We are happy to restate and expand upon the ideas thatwe put forth in that letter. We defined marriage as an "exclusive, lifelong, monogamous union of a man and a woman, for the mutual good of the spouses and the procreation of children." We will gladly oblige :Miss Pisha by explaining why we choose this particular definition. Her main contention seemed to be thatwe defined it solely as a union of a husband and wife. We choose this definition because we view marriage as the building block of society. A marriage between a man and a woman is a complementary relationship, which is usually reproductive. In essence a man and a woman are different physically and emotionally and through their differences can support each other in ways that people of the same sex cannot, as well as producing children in the simplest and most effective process known to man. A family is a society in itself: as it exists within a particular culture and society but does not depend on it for existence; rather, the society depends on the family for its continued existence. A hallmark of totalitarian states is the desire to destroy the nuclear family unit based on the union of husband and wife, as loyalty to the family threatens loyalty to the state. We would like to explain why we consider the legal definition of marriage to be of import. If the state is going to recognize some relationships as marriage to the exclusion of others it is necessary to have a legal definition. For example, there is a legal difference between cohabitation . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . More on Paper Towels and marriage, though the relationships may be appearing to be the same. We consider the marriage of a husband and a wife to be the best environment for raising children, and that the state has an interest in the conditions under which children are raised, and thus that this is an issue of interest to the state. Even if the state were to declare that same sex marriage is possible, we do not think thatit is morally correct or that the state necessarily is able to dictate morality. :Miss Pisha wrote, 'There are various differences between unions and the people in them that make them not 'the same' such as variations in ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, and so forth, all of which do not prevent the consensual union of adults from being recognized in this society." :Miss Hugens would like to answer that because her fiance was born and raised in India, is older than her, and has a different cultural background than her, she thinks that the differences between them as individuals and between their relationship and most other American couples are obvious. That said, she considers that their relationship would be enormously different if he was a woman! Our main concern is not for legality; but is for morality and the idea that people look to what is legally sanctioned by the government as being morally correct. If the government decides to change its basis for the extension oflegal benefits then we agree that all who fall under the new: definition should receive those benefits, but we believe that the government cannot change · and wrong. Sine RobinH MissyS In Case Thu Haven't Heard Dear members of the polity, By now you have probably heard that,,.· nior resident has been dismissed. Th rumors about, which I cannot even att dispel, because I cannot discuss matters · ing personnel decisions. I would be glad, ever, to listen to anyone who would speak to me about this, and am always able to discuss questions of College po · do not impinge on the privacy of oth Dear Gadf!y. My sister contracted bacterial meningitis in infancy, and the resulting brain damage left the right half of her body permanently paralyzed. In light of her real suffering, I am not convinced that Ms. Kaplan has offered us a sufficient explanation of why she tolerates a campus that refuses to deter the spread of bacteria to a reasonable standard. Not all bacterial infection is as threatening as that which my sister faced, but I can safely say it's all nastier than fictional emotional trauma. My own informal survey of Maryland universities has found that University of Maryland College Park, MICA, ~d J?hn's Hopkins aren't as easily daunted by troagmary personal demons as our own office of student services; they all stock paper towels. I would note that environmental concerns are valid, and that hand blow-dryers and circular towel dispensers are hygienic and environmentally sound compromises, but I deemed both to carry too high an upfront cost for a school '. that chooses to slash basic necessities from its · budget. Furthermore, I would recommend all ~o-J ohnnies to petition our Print Shop to re~e before they ask us to discard our paper :~els: a green Print Shop hurts no one's th. Ms. Kaplan is right about one thing: I not the man for this fight. I live off-cam. I can avoid the substandard conditions ur dormitories. However, I hope that my have generated enough of a groundswell ire campus-dwellers to tread on Te"a and get something done. Furthermore I very certainly am put off every time ~ d?~tory bathroom with damp hands, ttally moved to write into the Gacif!y Ms. Kaplan's article on her policy change to offer mere lip service, assuring phaners" of the world that she undereir pain, yet offering no real solace, a enon I see mirrored in both her sarer to me and her proposed solution pus students. (If it is the responsi.dorm tenants to provide their own eonditions, I do not know why the ers to supply them with either soap water, as both are readily available in make great holiday gifts.) I am still Ywhat I now see as a trend in our ·ce, and I hope a bigger man on I will make something happen o~y hope that this letter, sub!:blicatio1:1 called the Gacif!y, has ···· 0 upsetttng to those in author- I ity. While I'm certain Socrates would back me up, I shan't be as unfashionable as to reference "obscure ancient texts." Sincerely, JP Mcintyre The Genius vveasel Replies to Greg Yatarola To the Gadfly. Though I probably shouldn't bother to respond to Greg Yatarola's ad hominem response to my series of articles on G.W. Bush, I vowed to "no longer allow an extreme view to have the last word (see ''The Voice of Reason" 12/ 6)," and therefore feel obliged to write. I have two overall complaints with Mr. Yatarola's letter. The first is the tone of the letter. I believe that it is possible that (within certain limits) to have a fairly respectful discussion of political topics and that in general one should strive to do so. With his comments like "genius weasel,'' Bill Clinton's ''hagwife," and the suggestion that people with a strong aversion to Bush have a psychiatric disorder, Mr. Yatarola seems uninterested, unable or unwilling to be civil. My second overall problem with Mr. Yatarola, and actually with many people who complain of "Bush haters," is their likening ''Bu~h hating" with "Clinton-bashing," usually 1n the context of, ''We got out of hand before, don't repeat our mistake and trash the current president." I believe the comparison, however, is wrong and stifles discussion. The obsession that people of the right have with the Clintons is a completely different creature than the animosity toward Bush. The Clinton critics (if they can fairly be called such) spent tens of millions of dollars and a h~f-dozen years pursuing any hints of illegal or :tmmoral actions on the part of the Clintons. Nothing comparable exists today with Bush~ess you count the lawsuits aimed exposing Dick Cheney's secret energy meetings or the Sept. 11 th Inquiry Commission, both of which the White House has stonewalled. I'm not a Clinton apologist, just as Mr. Yatarola is not a Bush apologist. I didn't think much of him and would have had him impeached for perjury (though I also think it was unjust and hypocritical the way that he was hounded). If Mr. Yatarola were to come forward with convincing evidence that the Clintons "eat live puppies," I would be appalled-though no more appalled than I am by Bush's execution of the mentally retarded. I agree with Mr. Yatarola that a profound change took place in the Bush's life around his fortieth birthday, though unlike Mr. Yatarola I do not think that age 40 falls within the rang~ of"youth and early adulthood." I would also be glad to give Bush credit for realizing that he had a problem and changing his life; however, Bush does not claim any personal responsibility for this change, and therefore I can't applaud him for it. I also think that, though rare, such transformations fall short of being miraculous. Were Mr. Bush to suddenly acquire the articulation and intelligence of Bill Clinton-as well as a virtuous character (something neither man possesses)-that I might call miraculous. One of the things that I think makes Bush so mediocre is his unwillingness or inability to express coherent thoughts that do not take the shape of sound bites carefully crafted by his handlers. As for character, what character? People sometimes say he's a man of character but I honestly don't know what they mean'. Regarding leadership, all that he offers is petulant intransigence, an inability to admit any mistakes, and an aloofness from policy that has resulted in bureaucratic in-fighting and an incoherent plan for the economy, domestic security and the Afghani and Iraqi occupations. Genius Weasel continued on page 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 3 �Genius Weasel continued from page 3 Nothing leads me to think that Bush is "someone with a good heart" -Unless we're talking about the fist-sized muscle in his upper thorax; nor do I think that he has "the ability to make the right decisions as my leader." As Mr. Yatarola himself states (and which I second), "on the whole I consider this administration so far a disaster." What more need I add, other that in almost all particulars, I afso think that this administration is a disaster? I don't blame Bush for coming into politics only after failing in other endeavors-in part because he didn't take to it late in life, but rather had an unsuccessful foray into national politics fairly early on (in 1978, when he was 32). What does trouble me is Mr. Yatarola's description of politics that I feel betrays all sorts of unfortunately prevalent attitudes toward our government. Though I also "deeply mistrust anyone who has been scheming for power since youth," I think that it is a mischaracterization of many people who pursue public office. As a citizen of a democratic republic, I want no one "ruling over us," be they named Hilary or George. Rather, I want people who take seriously their role of public servant, and who work on behalf of the public and not simply to accrue attention, power and/ or money for themselves, their families, friends, and wealthy supporters. I don't know what Mr. Yatarola is thinking when he says that he would prefer a chief executive of the most powerful nation in history "whose life does not revolve around politics." If Bush prefers watching baseball to watching "political talking-head shows," I won't blame him (I prefer to watch neither): What worries me, however, is that Bush seems far more interested in having a fit and well-exercised body than a fit and well-exercised mind. Mr. Yatarola asks the question, "How has he managed to fool so many people?" I think that the answer is easy: many people are fairly easy to fool and most people are easy to fool when they want to be fooled. Most Americans, myself included, would prefer not to believe that our presidents are unintelligent, incompetent, immoral and/ or criminal, and this inclination is all the stronger in difficult times. To come to accept that a president isn't as good as you want him to be can be difficult; in part, I suppose, since it would suggest that something is wrong with our system of government, which by extension might be seen as something wrong with us, inasmuch as we 4 identify ourselves as Americans. I think that given the choice between a painful truth and a comforting falsehood, most people will opt for the latter most of the time. Furthermore, once we've been conned, I think that we tend to want to stay conned because to change our opinion would cause us not only to have to accept the original unattractive truth,tbut in addition we would have to acknowledge that we were duped. This unhappy situation often leads further and further reaffirmations of the initial con and a greater emotional investment in it such that a renunciation becomes all the harder. On the specific point of the military buying that Bush is "a soldier's president," I don't think that soldiers are exempt from being conned anymore than civilians. Having never served in the armed forces, nor spoken to many who have, I can neither confirm, nor deny any special capacity on the part of servicemen for detecting phonies. If in fact the majority of servicemen share Mr. Yatarola's same aptitude for distinguishing "a politician from a warrior," I am inclined to believe that this ability to 'tell shit from Shinola' (a phrase I picked up in military school), is exaggerated. As far as I'm concerned, one of the chief characteristics of a warrior is a willingness to face physical danger. In the two occasions that I am aware of that called for some courage on the part of Bush, he ran and hid. The first occasion was during Vietnam, in which he dodged the draft-then went AWOL from the National Guard. Even if a person believes that it was morally right not to fight in Vietnam, and that dodging the draft was proper, it can hardly be seen as brave do have done so. The second instance that called for courage, albeit one where the risks of physical harm were much smaller, was on September 11th. Instead of returning to Washington DC immediately (or at least after all the airplanes were accounted for), Bush fled to Air Force bases in Louisiana and Nebraska. It could be argued that Bush's brief Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad was a show of courage, but the tremendous secrecy and security surrounding the trip, reduced the level of risk to the point where it seemed, atleast to me, no more dangerous than any of the other journeys Bush makes. The question of whether a president is a warrior or merely a politician is not of principal importance, though; rather, I think that it is better for a president to be judged "a . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . soldier's president" by his administration's policies toward servicemen and veterans. In light of this, I think that Bush is no soldier's president. The administration was set to allow temporary increases in combat pay to lapse, but reversed itself due to criticism by military families and veterans groups. The administration also sought to restrict health care coverage for veterans and has recently suggested that it raise veterans' drug co-payments in order to reduce next year's deficit. Then there is the Iraq War, which is being more and more revealed to have been founded on deception-at the very least on self-deception. Nearly 500 U.S. servicemen have died in Iraq and several thousand have. been severely wounded. How many soldiers have been wounded is unclear l;>ecause the Defense Department either does not keep a record of casualties, or does and refuses to acknowledge that it does to reporters. Access to military hospitals for journalists is also tightly restricted. The number of casualties is probably aggravated by the insufficient numbers of troops deployed in the Iraq campaign, which, by spreading our troops thin, has likely encouraged attacks by insurgents. Bush does not, however, at least publicly, seem to acknowledge seriousness of the insurgency or the inadequate troop levels; instead, he taunts the insurgents to attack coalition forces by saying, "bring 'em on," and he argues that increasing violence on the part of the insurgency is actually a sign of progress. I will not conclude by stating that Mr. Yatarola is in need of psychiatric help or divine intervention. I do think though that he ought to refrain from suggesting that those who disagree with him are in need of such things. Such an attitude kills discus- . sion and prevents the possibility of a ch in opinion, either the other person's or o own. http://www.sjca.edu/user, gadfly In conclusion, vote for Elihu Dietz ... uh ... yesterday ... or ... you should have voted for him ... or ... when you did vote, vote for him then ... or ... we don't understand Time. What, Then, is Time? J.C. Dear J.C.: Why don't we get off on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? All of my friend's colleges are of£ . Manwhois Askingreallynicelyfor Lotsofrespectfor Civilrights Of Lotsofblack Menandwomen Xylophone Dear J.C.: Where's my pal Andy Baisch? I haven't seen him around in a while. Friendly Understanding ofNuisances Dear F.U.N.: Senior Class President Mike Malone was unavailable for comment, but other sources say that he's in Thailand. Visiting Ranson. We think. But we know that he's definitely not on campus right now, because [CENSORED. -Ed.]. J.C. rich in African-American heritage, and we have to stop him. At any cost. Except the cost of letting Amy ''The Token Girl" Taylor win the election. She works at Oceans II, which is ridiculously pronounced "two," and not "eleven." Anyone who doesn't know the Arabic numeral system has no place running our school. Also, she is a vegan, which sounds kind of like virgin, and we don't want someone who is a virgin telling us how to raise our kids, what sexual practices we can engage in, or which Senior RAs we can "dismiss." [The Jews' Clues boys have no idea what the President} powersan. -Ed.] Dear J.C.: , Who are you voting for in Yesterday's election for Student Delegate Council President? Student President And Long-time Disciple of International Nudist Games Dear S.P.A.L.D.I.N.G.: We here at J.C. have worked long, hard urs thinking about this important issue. er many moons of deliberation we have ·ded to officially endorse the p;esidency Mr. Elihu "Tolerably White" Dietz.Now, knowwhat you're thinking: he already lost. we want to send a message to the chiln, because they are our future, and that sage is this: Never give up. Never Surrender. Do we really want our children to grow under the administration of Brian ''Even "ter'' Jones? For God's sake (the real God, pagans), the man comes from OklaWhitey is trying to take over our schooi Dear M.A.L.C.0.L.M.X.: Considering our school's rich heritage, mentioned in our previous response, we have no idea. Our editors have advised us that we will probably getin trouble for anythingwe say on this matter, like thefaathat there are few black students at this school, and that apparently justifies this abuse, because the administration cynically believes that any protest would be woefully under-attended. We are in so much trouble right now. J.C. ].C's Shaloms Shalom to Carter Moore for bringing it all back home. Shots? Shalom to Constantino Diaz-Duran, for becoming a G.I. Shalom to that freshman who left, what'shis-name. Shalom to Will Whittaker, for making us uncomfortable for the 17 Slh "straight'' week. Never Fear! Back issues ofthis year's Gadfly are available! Send your requests to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com lte 'll send you an unbound copy in Campus Mail as soon as we can! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 5 �Febbies continued from front page Lecture Review: How Do Accidents I-Iappen? one yells.Jack sets down his flute and rushes over. 'Tm a doctor," he says. Jack is one man, but both a doctor and a flute-player. Jill is one woman, but both an audience member and a heart patient. This twoness is what makes an accident possible.This corresponds with Aristotle's description of chance and fortune in chapter five of his Physics, though once again Mr. Harrell did not directly point to this. An example of chance or fortune, Aristotle tells us, is when "someone gathering contributions would have come for the sake of collecting money, ifhe had known; but he came not for the sake of this, but it happened to him accidentally to go and to do this. And this was not through frequenting the place for the most part or out of necessity, but the end, the collection, though not belonging to the causes in him, is among choices and things that result from thinking." In other words, the man is both a collector of contributions and some other thing which motivated him to go to the place. The twoness is responsible for chance or fortune. An accident is, therefore, caused by the multiple lines of causation in thi.ngs, lines which are completely real and in no way dependent on consaousIt ness. seemed earlier that the reality of accidents implies a less rational world. Yet pen. Thus, when a bridge collapses accidentally, we head for an engineer, who would laugh at the idea of a groundless event. In order to rid the world of the same accident, he must learn about its causes. Thus, if the question "How do accidents happen?" could be answered, they wocld no longer by Daniel Schwartz Staff Writu Mr. Harrell has deceived you all. Those who participated in his lecture entitled "How Do Accidents Happen?" thoughttheywere merely joining him in the "thinking-somethingthrough" of an idea: the accident. His lecture happen. Perhaps the idea of an accident is not even costarted with common sense herent. Certainly, no experiobservations and examples, ment will ever produce one. presupposing only a group of By its nature, an accident hapminds willing to look at the pens apart from design. It evidence with him. His lecture seems, from thjs, that acciseemed merely to build from dents are not real. Aristotle, that evidence as anyone might however, replies: "Of course do when thinking through accidents happen." And Mr. the issue for the first time. Yet Harrell adds, ''And isn't he I came away from the lecture right?" Accidents are what not merely with a new underhappen occasionally, sudstanding of accidents, but also denly, contingently. ,vith a new understanding of Is an eclipse an accident? Aristotle's philosophy. Mr. It is unpredictable. So what? Harrell's deception was a sucHow did this accident happen? It is still caused. Is it an accicess: he smuggled an increddent that a man is a doctor ible illumination of Aristotle into a lecture which, in fact, hardly mentioned and a housebuilder and a flute player? Perhaps this combination is unexpected. So what? Though the great philosopher's name. The lecture began with a degree of com- he is all three, each one is still caused. But in one sense, they are uncaused. The three mon sense never before seen on Friday night. .An accident, Mr. Harrell observed, is what hap- skills were learned pens by accident. It is what happens to hap- separately, and thus are pen. For example, two friends happen to run separate[y caused. All into each other at the store.John drove there; three skills were Joe walked.John needed cigarettes; Joe needed learned, one a time. milk. This is an accident. They run into each They were not caused other; they collide. Literal collisions can serve as merely by his being a examples of accidents, too. Tripping on the man. Thus, we have stairs and falling to the ground is an accident. the makings of an accident: one thing Spilling one's drink is an accident But what makes these accidents? Afrer all, -\vhich is sin:iultathey are not uncaused. Indeed, they are necessi- neously a number of ties. We live in a world where everyt.hing comes other things. And here irra ti on from somewhere, where nothing is truly the hidden Aristoteabout groundless, where cause can be traced back to lian argument of the Answer: there are no accidents. Or are there? tiple lines cause, revealing that the seemingly accidental lecture begins to causation? actually could not have been otherwise. If this emerge. In Metaphysics 1015b20, Aristotle describes how things can be list of everything that Jack is would be is so, if the world is more rational, does the accident not seem to be less re:;iJ? And if acci- one accidentally. Many accidental states or attributes, dom and endless. He is a man and things besides, all at once. With this, dents are real, does the world not have to be says Aristotle, belong to the same independent Harrell smuggled in-once again with thing. And, though Mr. Harrell in no way pointed less rational? actually revealing his source in Aristotle Suppose the accidents described above are directly to this idea in Aristotle, he nevertheless Metaphysics 1007a15, "It is indeed iropO really accidents, but that, though necessary, their had already given a wonderful argument in its fasible to enumerate all the infuijty of ac necessities are unseen. Does a more rational vor. Suppose our doctor,] ack, is playing the flute at dents," and Physics 196b25, "To one . but less known world imply that accidents seem infinitely many things accidentally belo more real, but are less real? If the world were a concert. Jill, a heart patient in the audience, becompletely known, accidents could not hap- comes ill. "Is there a doctor in the house?" some- 6 . THE GADFLY . . " • • " • • • • 0 0 • • • • • • • • • • 0 • 0 • • • • 0 Arriving just in time to witness the traditional melee demonstration, Neal Sakash of Charleston, South Carolina was the youngest of the trio. An early entrance at 17, he says that he was sick of wasting time at high school and wanted to start a new life at St. John's. Regarding his impressions of Homer thus far, he feels that the work is interesting overall and that the battles were more than a little graphic. He has yet to find anything about the campus that is vastly different from his expectations and is pleased to find that "St. John's is so diverse - everybody seems to be an individual here. What's also nice is that nobody seems to be fake." This guy really looks like a Niko! As we were then short on febbie profiles, I, Cathy Keene, then set out single-handedly on an evening search for more January Freshmen. Exploring the halls of Humphreys, Campbell, and even the depths ofRandall, I could only come across two more febbies, both of whom were diligently studying. The first one I found was lounging in the coffee shop during a study break, enjoying some pleasant company before heading back to Barr Buchanan. Ms. Serena Washington, a friendly 19 year old from Gainesville, Florida, said she's been having a great time so far. ''Everyone is excessively nice here, much more so than I expected. I've been having a lot of fun." Ms. Washington says she chose St. John's because it seemed to be the only school she saw Serena Washington's from Florida! Here's Paul Burks! Paul Burks, everybody! Neal here's only 17 • and he votes! One quality necessary to a national news repo1ter is the ability to think on one's feet. Our clever correvoluntee.L Sheepishly, the reporters muttered spondents, with no preparation whatever, began something along the lines o:C " ... college print to enact a cunning ruse. ''Do you think we can get publication ... " "Then you're press;' replied Ian [l'vicCracken] to get those to us?" said one ro the lady. "Sign in here. How many?" "Four;' the other. '1 don't know ... what about Melissa they said, vlith renewed confidence. She [Thomas]?" replied his co-conspirator. ''No, I don't handed over the passes, and the Gadf!y was think she's in the office right now." "Right. Of way to national recognition. course. Well, we'll get them to you," said our resoWith its newly established credibility, the lute representative, turning to the pleasant Iowan. to try for a bigger prize. Two Bestowing upon the officious one a winning smile, :;tringers remained behind to the two tumed to leave, seemingly stymied. other two ran down Another useful tool for any correspondent on the national beat to have is a father who knows chill, to the location of the NPR how to use both Microsoft Word and a fax mashortly after the chine. Back at the rally, one reporter called on his. ey rally. Sporting their new press passes, · That worthy :indiViduil pulled the Gadf!y logo· off · strode confidently up to the lady in charge the Web site, added the fearsome foursome's dentiais. "Do we need to pre-register names and "titles," and fa,"ed the sheet to the NPR " event?" they asked, old hands already. Media Center. When our reporters arrived at the · ·but maybe we can fit you in;' said the check-in, they found everything in order. They ant Iowan at the desk. She called over a flashed their ID's, received their passes, and were in. €officious who demanded a copy They staked out a table behind Becky Diamond, credentials. "Hmm ... we don't have Kerry's MSNBC correspondent, set up their comnus," said one of our reporters. "Is puters, connected to the wireless network, and ywayv.re can get them to you?" ''Well, staunchly began typing, Lrying to look as if they get your office to fax them to us," said belonged. Despite a few odd looks, and a worrying sant Iowa.," conversation between some official-looking people National 'Fly, continued iron page 1 that set itself apart from the otl1ers; she has not yet been disappointed. "I think St. John's is the college that can teach me to tlllnk more logically and argue better. The Program is very exciting. I really love it here." The last newcomer I encountered was 20year-old Niko Oilgerdt, a New York state resident. He had also been hitting the books pretty hard when I disturbed his study, but I got the feeling he kind of enjoyed the break. ''I've been out of school for awhile, but I knew I needed to get back. I guess the design of the Program really attracted me to this school." He, too, is surprised by the friendliness of the students and the activities offered on campus - sailing, in particular. "I can't wait to start sailing during the spring. It sounds like so much fun." Giulia Giordano looks like a girl we all wen! to high school with! who kept pointing in their direction, the St. John's press corps remained unmolested Becky Diamond even allowed us access to her power strip. Things continued like this all through Iowa. The Gadf!Y collected press passes from every event they attended, with no problems at allJ Our jaunty journalists attributed this to the inherent kindliness oflowans, until, discovering that they liked this politics stuff, they decided to follow the campaigns to New Hampshire. TI1ere they encountered a new breed, equally welcoming. As long as they were polite, nattily dressed, and confident, there seemed to be no event, no press box, no access denied our curious columnists. In many cases, they were inches from the candidates, jostled on all sides by writers familiar to us all, hands thrust doggedly in the air, shouting their questions with only a vain hope of receivmg an answer. You, too, could go on such an advenrure. Now that the Gadf!y is a nationally recognized, credible news source, the path is clear for any of you to join the paid members of the fourth estate in fulfilling their profound charge. Do it for the rewarding a..'Perience. Do it for the glory of your school. Let not your colleagues have labored in vain. Remember: the Gadfly is open to all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 7 �- The Democratic Presidential Candidates: by Hayden Brockett and Joseph Method The Democratic candidates agree on the core issues. Each has a plan for universal healthcare, each supports campaign reform and each supports some repeal of the Bush tax cuts. They differ only slightly in their criticism of the war, with only Kucinich calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Edwards has attempted to distinguish himself from the pack by refraining from attacking Bush, but the other candidates see this as missing the point: the major appeal of a1!)' Democratic candidate is that he is not Bush. The unifying theme of the debates has been: "you win if you nominate the Democratic candidate who is electable." In a somewhat bizarre turn, each of the candidates with even a shade of plausibility (Dean, Kerry, Clark, Lieberman, Gephardt) is now positioning himself on the basis of electability. That is, they are arguing to the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire that they should vote for them based on whether they think the rest of the nation will vote for them. Something like this is always a consideration, but the self-referentiality of this primary campaign has been surprising. The positioning is subtle. Lieberman is claiming that only a Centrist Democrat can carry swing voters. Kerry cautions voters not to nominate a hothead (Dean) and instead pick the experienced legislator who can go toe-totoe with the President on security ("I know something about aircraft carriers for real, and if 8 this President wants to make the election about national security, I have some words that even he will understand: bring it on"). Clark's position is that only a four-star general can defeat a wartime President. Dean's audacious argument is that an unabashedly Democratic agenda combined with direct, plain-spoken rhetoric will add 3 million voters to the Democratic party, thereby breaking the national political deadlock. The mass media has been playing up the ostensibly bitter rivalry between the candidates, noting the tendency of the candidates to attack Dean as ifhe were the Republican incumbent. In particular, Lieberman and Kerry have portrayed themselves as safe, strong candidates in contrast to the supposedly unstable Dean. In the televised debate a week before the trip, most of the candidates addressed their questions to Dean, calling him on his public gaffs. Kerry and Dean went several rounds in the radio debate over their tax plans. In their stump speeches, Ketty and Dean make these arguments more or less explicitly, but only in their summations. The candidates are afraid ofleveraging their campaigns on a comparison to another candidate. More importantly, most voters aren't interested in the nuances of grand political strategy, and will instead pick the candidates that they like. This is the reason why the campaign has gone in the direction that it has: the other candidates are attempting to convince Iowa and New Hampshire voters that their instincts may be wrong when it comes to picking a nominee for the nation. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Gadf!ywas able to attend six events in two states over the course of 5 days , seeing 6 of the eight candidates and getting in-depth impressions of the three frontrunners. Clark Wesley K. Clark was the last candidate to get in the Democratic primary race, his entry being delayed by the inconvenient fact that he had previously been a Republican. Minor details taken care of, Clark decided to skip Iowa because he got in so late and to concentrate on New Hampshire. The Gadfly caught up with General Clark at a pancake breakfast ofhis own, this one in a Hanover, New Hampshire frat house. Yes, the Ivy League boys of SIG PHI BPS (heathenishly pronounced 'phi') got together and decided to invite a presidential candidate to the house. A few notable highlights-the pancakes were admittedly fluffier than Dean's, but the Gac!ffy suspects Bisquick. Also, despite being in New Hampshire, and a scant two miles from Vermont at that, the Clark pancakes were flavored with Aunt Jemimah. The frat house was packed and the Gadf!ywas unable to push its way into a position where it could hear and not be cold at the same time, so it decided to beg off until the next day's pancake breakfast in Milford. Clark does play the political personality game well. He smiles, he's genial, he stays on message. His message, at least in the stump spe~ the Gac!ffy was able to hear, consisted mos A First-Hand Account of criticisms of the Bush administration and broad promises that he will do better. This was the day after he had promised that a Clark administration would "take care of America," guaranteeing that another terrorist attack would not take place on his watch. His assurances, spoken in a slight southwestern twang, all returned to the campaign's current tagline, "anew standard ofleadership for America." The VFW crowd loved him, but it was impossible not to be reminded of another gray-haired, smileyfaced half-southerner running for president. Clark's natural wit and charm shone most plainly in Milford when he turned to faith. "Down South, we talk about religion," he reminds the New Hampshire audience, as if excusing himself for his main selling point...being from Arkansas. Launching into the jokes 'With the speed and rhythm of a stand-up comic, he continues, "my dad was Jewish, and my Olother was Methodist. So they compromised and I was raised Methodist. Then when I was \~, my dad died, and we moved to Little lock, so it was time to pick a new church. I the one with the prettiest stained winwhich was the Baptist church, so then I Baptist." Trust established, Clark headed the kill. "Now the other party, they act etimes like they have a direct connection, know?" One deep-throated God imitalater, and here it comes: being a Democrat ut real Christian virtues! Ha! Take that! e best a Democrat has done about reliputting the audience at ease with his own comfort (only someone comfortable with religion can joke about it~ and then socking them with the Sermon on the Mount, to which the Dems' policies have sole claim. The Clark campaign is hoping to run along lines very similar to those used by George W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan-floating above policy and most politics, the specifics of which can muddy voters' perception of a candidate, on a raft of blithe optimism and what is con temporarily called character. Clearly General Clark is far more intelligent than his Republican competitor, otherwise he wouldn't be as easily packaged as he is now. By making a few proposals to the left of Dean-families of four making less than $50,000 would pay no income tax, and $6,000 for the first two years of college for each families earning under $100,000-Clark hopes to establish his liberal credibility and then run against Bush on hope and a fuzzy Sense of security emanating from his epaulets. Such a strategy would be pretty unassailable, but for two things-Clark's own waffling over Iraq and a couple other positions that his advisors hadn't perfectly gotten into his head, and the fact that he's promising to fix everything in a year when Howard Dean is running against him. Dean's most memorable line ("the biggest lie people like me tell people like you at election time ... ") cuts the legs out from under candidates who won't talk straight and invest voters with a sense of their own responsibility. Clark and, to a certain extent, Bush think that America wants a paternal president. Whether the electorate has passed the age of majority, however, remains to be seen. Kerry Our first Kerry event was a sharp contrast to the NPR debate. The Gadf!y arrived at the small union hall a little late, and found the candidate standing in an aisle between about six rows of chairs, wireless microphone in hand, pointing at nothing in particular as he worked through the lines of his stump speech. There were few reporters and no video cameras from the networks. Kerry's audience was blue-collar, composed mostly of middle-aged working class men; the Gadf!ys reporters were probably the youngest people in the room, excepting perhaps a few Kerry volunteers. According to Becky Diamond and the rest of the media, Kerry has a difficult time connecting with real live voters, so the Gadf!y was on the lookout for a New England patrician's airs to put off a corn-fed Iowan or two. As usual, the mass media has made a caricature out of a very real, yet somewhat complex phenomenon. During Kerry's speech, the mood of the room was definitely subdued in comparison to some other rallies the Gadf!y saw; but his listeners were attentive. And it wasn't just that they were a well-trained Iowan audience, clapcontinued on page 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 9 �continued from page 9 ping without hesitation or complaint whenever Kerry delivered a line asking for applausethese people were serious and interested in really weighing what he had to say. Kerry, in turn, offered himself to the audience for examination. ''I want you to give me your gut test," he told his audience before taking questions. "I want you to get to know me. I want everyone in this room to come away convinced." To the cynical, his was just a calculated move that couldn't backfire and proof that Kerry isn't comfortable enough in his own skin to persuade individual voters. But anyone who has watched him speak andshakehandscansee that tricks like promising to stay at an event till every question is answered are meant to overcome the perception the audience is already primed for, that of Kerry being aloof. Kerry himself can press the flesh just fine and is warmly personal one-on-one. The source of his rhetorical habits, born of a more private and, indeed, senatorial disposition than most presidential candidates, is what accounts for the peculiar tenor of a crowd once Kerry has worked it. He can instill confidence in private, drawing one in to his capacious grasp, and paying close attention to the person in front of him. In public, however, he feels he must rely mostly on his calculating faculty, since the distance between him and the crowd is longer than the intuitive length of his own long arms that he's used to trusting. Some public speakers play a role in front of the audience; others try to flatter the beast by playing for its affirmation at every turn; some start of faking it a little and warm up to the crowd, drawing them in to engage their reason. Kerry leans more towards the latter example, but mostly because he just talks seriously at a crowd for long enough to convince them Probably in an effort to compensate for his rhetorical deficiencies, in the two events at which the Gat!f!y saw him, Kerry castigated Bush more harshly than Dean did. He excoriates the President on the environment, education, the economy, special interests and the war, arguing that Mr. Bush has based his presidency on division and defamation of his enemies' patriotism. ''But the people know," he says, with the 10 most self-assurance of any of the statements he makes. ''You don't have to tell them;' for example about how tough times really are, or how the Bush administration deceptively names its legislation. He speaks about people struggling to pay their bills, and tries to touch on the everyday realities that they face. In the NPR debate he brought up Angela Runkle from Des Moines one too many times, drawing a loud chuckle from the press corps. And while he could use a little help putting these personal examples forward publicly, his sincerity is unquestioned. Senator Kerry has a universal health care plan, claims that his partial repeal of the Bush tax cuts will not harm the middle class, and pledges to revoke every one of Bush's environmental executive orders. But his main theme tends to be national security. He mocks the idea that Bush plans to run on defense. "He doesn't have anything left. Not jobs, not the environment, not education. So of course he's going to run on national security!" Kerry, a Vietnam veteran who went on to found Vietnam Veterans Against the War and testify before Congress in opposjtion to the war, claims that he has the credibility to debate the president on national security. His position, shared with other Democrats, is that real national security measures in the wake of September 11th were inspecting cargo and going after Osama bin Laden, not invading Iraq. In New Hampshire, in front of a much larger and friendlier crowd than Cedar Rapids, the Senator is asked about what he would do to bring peace to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. His answer draws a big response: he has already spoken with former Presidents Carter and Clinton about being a special envoy to the Middle East, and received favorable responses. But an even bigger response when he gets angry at President Bush for criticizing the patriotism of those who don't agree with his policies. Then, he points to his experience with the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, anq, to his book which predicted a mega-terrorist-event. ''You want somebody with foresight," is his message, and also someone with p~spective and experience. In New Hampshire, Kerry was in his home base ofNew England. Itmade a difference. In Iowa, Kerry could come across as a grave, important-perhaps self-important-man who could point to a prior record of service. In New England, Kerry's "record of service'' could be more than a phrase. For Kerry's New Hampshire supporters, Kerry's service to his constituencies in neighboring Massachusetts was an impressive argument for the man. At the NH event, the IAFFF, or firefighter's union, presented Kerry with an insigniaed leather jacket. A speaker from the union told a story about how Kerry had received news while en route to Burma that 6 firefighters had died in a fire in Worcester, MA andhad turned his plane around. to comfort the families. Similarly, when Kerry spoke of his support for veterans, veterans throughout th room cheere loudly. It was de that Kerry's po · cal career in N England had b built with bonds . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . testament to character would 'play w Iowa and elsew ifit could be The difference between Dean and Dean touches like a New England touches, not to comfort, but to comm maybe to reassure by his competence. touches like an honorable man touches; veys respect and knows just where you relation to him. Both approaches middle America. The question: which more? Also, both men are angry at Bush: out of a sense of decency, Kerry out of sense of honor. Dean given the convenient maxim, the taller man alwcrys wins. Dean and Bush are not so far apart (Bush is slightly taller), but Bradley's gigantic frame placed Dean in danger of becoming another Micheal Dukakis (many attribute Dukakis's 1988 Presidential election loss to a single ill-considered picture of the small man peeking his head out of a tank). The Gadfly is fairly certain that some thought had been put into this by the Dean campaign staff. A series of rapid maneuvers ensured that Dean was not shown up by his own endorser. Observe: Dean handles well in his stump speeches before smaller, more intimate audiences. In In modern television democracy, there are Muscatine, IA, Dean adtwo types of campaign speeches: Big MMedia dressed a mixed crowd of Events and stump speeches. Big M Media supporters and undecided, events are staged explicitly for the national memany of them employed in dia. They are more tightly scripted than the more the defense industry. Unlike informal, locally attended stump speeches. his supporters in Des Stump speeches are just as much media events, Moines, many in the room since their limited attendance (only as many were likely hearing his full sell people as can be squeezed into a small speakfor the first time. The big ing hall) and the busy schedules of the candihair-raising moment in a dates, mean that the cozy atmosphere of these Dean event is when Dean events must be conveyed into the homes of turns to address the war and voters whom the candidates cannot.visit with national security. Dean has their persons. Also, the national news media to steer through the ambivauses the footage from these events for its news lence most Americans have cycle, ever-alert for contradictions in the candiabout the war: support the dates' statements or shifts in their campaign troops, dislike the casualties, mategy. 1. While speaking, Bradlry stands want to do the right thing for Senator Bradley's endorsement of Howard on a plaiform. the Iraqis but also to look out · J)ean at the Des Moines Dean for America head- 2. Bradlry steps off of the platfor America and its economy, ~ers was a Media Event. The Gadfly stood form after giving his endorsement. avoid another September f flh. In the roped-off area reserved for the media, 3. Dean steps onto the plaiform Muscatine, Dean draws on a · d the crowd. Dean and Bradley had just and shakes Bradlry's hand. local defense issue, the in from New Hampshire, where they 4. Bradlry steps back. outsourcing of the ''Rock IsWe did not alter this picture in made a similar announcement (the one any way, we swear. land arsenal'', to demonstrate y carried on national television). Before But in yet another Gadfly a practical national security event, the crowd of supporters, drawn in exclusive, a picture was taken, confirming: improvement. This gets part from AFSCME (American Federa- Howard Dean is a very short man! great applause. Dean follows up by connecting of State, County, and Municipal EmployDean's main points remained fairly consis- national security and patriotism to veterans' was asked by the Dean campaign people tent throughout the three speeches we observed pay. This gets even greater applause. 'se their signs at the beA woman asks a question about immigraduring our trip. He and then hold them ·openly attacks Bush tion, saying with hesitation that of course, she as a failure in the ar- appreciates the Hispanics, they're wonderful eas of the environ- people, don't get her wrong, but there aren't ey loomed over the ment, the economy, enough jobs to go around, are there? (Dean impossibly tall. He education, and the has an "earned legalization" plan-illegal imfhis failed 2000 Presiwar, and blames him migrants without criminal records will be bid, saying that he had for creating a divisive granted amnesty). Dean's answer is in the spirit a true Democrat, in suppolitical environ- ofhis pledge to unify and not divide Americanniversal healthcare. He ment. He then he acknowledges the woman's concerns about the list of Democratic touches on specific is- jobs but points out that immigrants don't leave .tes, but said he presues in greater depth, their countries because they hate them, but in ean because, he said, pairing a cited Bush order to seek better opportunities for themrunning a· strong, failure with a detailed selves and their families. He links reforming campaign and was proposal to remedy the WTO and NAFTA and "globalization of getic about being a the failure. Dean worker's rights" to the preservation of jobs in t. Bradley said some rattles off an impres- America. He then asks any Native Americans harsh things about sive laundry list of in the room to raise their hands and says, ''Evt Bush (because he solutions while bash- eryone else is an immigrant. Immigrants, they're then formalized his ing Bush, which is the best people in the world. Everyone else Note to tutors: "flipping pancakes" is perhaps part of why stayed home." not yet vulgar slang. e the moment The most rousing portion of Dean's stump Dean has been reprethe subject of sented in the media speech is not his attacks on Bush or his several speculations: how to handle Dean as a negative candidate without a solid posi- promises to give the President "a one-way ticket · t differential? Height is con- tion. back to Crawford, Texas!" Dean events, some. factor in Presidential elections, continued on page 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............... . THE GADFLY . 11 �continued from page 11 thing that doesn't come across in print quotations, feel positive, because they are infused with energy from the indefatigable Dean. Angry and negative aren't necessarily synonyms here. Dean's campaign is surrounded by an aura of grassroots, populist-even rabble-rousing-energy, that makes it (for what it's worth) the sexiest of the three campaigns. On the ground, Dean comes across as being a detail-oriented candidate, more so than Kerry or Clark. Often he speaks quickly, as though he is thinking that there's a lot to get out in a very limited time. He talks about reform of No Child Left Behind (no unfunded mandates), the merits ofhis universal healthcare plan (each Democrat has one), his security agenda (it involves purchasing Russia's nuclear stockpile), reversal of Bush's executive orders on the environment (a crowd pleaser), and repeal of Bush's large tax cuts. Dean's speeches, probably carefully rehearsed but having an impromptu, off-thecuff feel, are peppered with trademark phrases. These include: .. .so we can send President Bush on a one-wqy bus trip back to Cra»ford, Texas! .. .for all those people who are sick and tired of feeling like the American flag is the sole propertJ of John Ashcroft, "Rush Limbaugh and Jerry Falwell Dean was attacked at the NPR debate most harshly on his tax plan, which calls for a full repeal of President Bush's $2 trillion tax cuts. The Governor argues that these supposed cuts actually forced insurance providers and state and local governments to raise costs for the average American much more than the $304 tax cut that the average taxpayer received. He makes sure to defend himself in the debate, but his opponents score points by essentially repeating, "yeah, but you want to raise taxes on the middle class!" Dean ends every event with hisyou have the power speech. It is worth repeating, as you are likely to be over-exposed to it ifDean wins the primary. It goes like this: "The biggest lie that people like me tell people like you at election time is that if you vote for me, I'll solve all your problems. The truth is, the power to take back this country is in your hands, not mine. And that is exactly what we're gonna do." The phrasing and the effect of the last sentence, filled with practiced cadences, is hard to conceive if you have not seen the mischievous/ cocky/ winning grin that is also Dean's trademark. Gadf!y staffer Hayden Brockett does a good impression. 12 african-american, I've had the hardest time raising money from corps. Grass roots more. Official transcripts of the debate are available, so To Dean: [Should we] Get back with UN? instead we rffer some snippets ofthe unedited Gad- WOrld? fly notes. Dean: Sure, problems with UN, etc. Human rights commission to Syria, yeah, but To Gephardt: people feel powerless. How you gotta work with them. can we fix it? To Kucinich: Would you cut something? We need campaign reform. I led MPentagon! Living wage, WPA, univ. preFeingold. I brought McCain in to get people to vote. Republicans less vigorous on re- k, univ. college,energy, cancel WTO and form. People have given up. Republican party NAFTA.*Then Cooool jazzzz cuts in.* selling country to highest bidder. I will To Dean: Date for UN handover. How change perception. To Kerry: Any issue that needs amend- stable? Not stable enough. We shouldn't have ment? gone in. We will pull out precipitously. Al Maybe ... campaign funding a big one. I have refused PAC money. Paul Wellstone Qaeda is there. They will be established there. and I wrote a law. Ran an election with par- Greater danger. Elections, representative tial public funding. Greatest period of crony governing council. Constitution unlikely. Karl Rove's doing. Not responsible to giv~ deadline. To Gephardt: You felt sure that there would be WMDs. Why not? I didn't just listen to Bush. Many people saying, the same thing. You can't pull politics in. Keep the people safe. If they are never found, we need to examine why intel w wrong. So we can impro it. To Braun: Does it mat Mr. Liebennan participated in the debate we attended. This is him ter? If they are found? afterwards, being interviewed by reporters, which included us this time. Admin has no credi ity with this issue. Th. capitalism. Everyone in america knows what's wrong, the [special interest] feeding interfere and miss the point entirely. Inste of searching out Bin Laden, doing the · trough. portant thing. Instead, duct tape and ter To Kucinich: People are resegregating, how do we take alerts and whatnot. Well, it's done. We to come out as soon as we can. In a way care? Tragic, first take care of schools. early day- allows for reintroduction of civil socie To Kerry: How do you blah islamic care. Fully paid [university] college education. Pakistan has misled the world. Pre · So people can pull themselves up by bootlied to my face. That's why we put san straps. Lieberman: [Separation] of church and We can be tougher with Paki. We can p state, freedom of religion, not free from re- harder. Musharraf overthrew govern ligion. Wha? Right to worship or not wor- Their interests and ours don't coinci Dean chimes in: We won't have b. ship. ''As an endowfI!ent from our creator", discussions with N. Korea. N. Korea even not to believe. But Democrats have been too timid to talk about faith. Faith source ing to get a nuke. And they'll sell it, damn. That's endangering us. of strength. Kucinich: We have to consider, the To Braun: [Should we] Abandon eleccal nukes made us lose cred. I wo toral college? Yes. Needs to go. Kiwis! How do we in- the way on non-prolif treaty. That's vigorate our democracy? As a [feminist] secure the world. Transcript, continued on NPR Debate . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lecture Review continued from page 6 composed. Reason made it that way. Accidents that push us off course from the straight line So what?] ack doesn't look random or end- · of reason are really no problem, after all. less ..He has a composed life. The infinity of I did disagree with parts of the lecture. This the list looks finite in Jack. The randomness first emerged when I returned to Mr. Harrell's of the list looks ordered in Jack. Reason is a example of an eclipse. Is an eclipse an accident if way of putting things in order. Socrates was it occurs where no consciousness can even know at once a so-called corrupter of the youth a ~t ~appened? Mr. Harrell's argument implies that philosopher, and a man who was put to deafu. 1t ts still an accident. Accidents are the results of Reason can order these facts, telling us that multiple lines of causation in each thing, and because he was a philosopher, he was deemed those lines exist whether or not a consciousness a corrupter of the youth; and because he was perceives them. To me, however, it seemed that, deemed a corrupter of the youth, he was put apart from consciousness, everything is necesto death. sary, nothing contingent. The world only seems Yet accidents also put a road block in the to depart from necessity when it is not fully otherwise straight path of reason, forcing it grasped by a consciousness. to In this sense, real accidents imply a . But I couldn't yet explain what was wrong less rattonal world. Yet it doesn't seem that with Mr. Harrell's account. Then it hit me. Accioverall, this is truly a point against reason'. dents, according to his argument, are departures Reason is ever-correcting; that is why we write fr~~ essence. This leads him to say that they math in pencil. Though a conclusion of reaexistmdependentlyof consciousness. Yetitleads .'<son, once done, is done, it is, in another sense me to say precisely the opposite. Essences exist , ~ocable. Think of the senior essay here at St'. only by virtue of man's capacity to relate things 'John's. The finished product reads like a to one another and abstract. Something is essen¢might line from beginning to end. Where tial only to someone and for some purpose. the corrections go? The month of work Those who say that treeness is essential, not to e essay consists of speculations that reach someone, but rather to the tree's being a tree, ends, formulations that prove faulty, arforget that a tree's being a tree implies a class of ts that are refuted I tis a relatively "haptrees, and a class is a tool of someone and for " process; yet the finished product is tum: some purpose. So the essential is still essential to someone and for some purpose: the purpose of classification. When we say that a tree is no longer a tree ifit loses its treeness, we are talking about treeness as essential to men for the purpose of classification. Essences are tools men use to gras~ and classify the world. They exist epistemologically, not metaphysically. Without men there is no classification. Without men around to relate two trees to one another conceptually, ~ose trees do not have the same essence. They Just are. Thus, there are no departures from essence without men; there are no accidents without men. Despite this disagreement, I still find Mr. Harrell's account partially true-twoness still does seem to have much do to with accidentg..:_.. and definitely worthy of consideration. This lecture was a great success. It was loaded with Mr. ~~ell's classic humor and engaging s~~e of wnttng. More importantly, however, by givmg ~hat amounts to an Aristotelian argu~ent without actually bringing in Aristotle, but instead presenting his own thought process from the most basic observations on up, Mr. Harrell made Aristotle accessible and understandable. While I ultimately disagree with some parts of bo~ Aristotle's and Mr. Harrell's argument, I credit the lecture for helping me to understand an~ explain more fully why I disagree with Aristotle on this point. Warning: Thieves Go to the Eighth Circle of Hell Just Thought We'd Let You Know That 720cups 400 knives 400spoons 400forks and 300 bowls have gone missing from the Dining Hall since last semester. Any of these items may be returned to the Dining Hall at any time. Say "Hello" to Vanni Fucci for us. Assistant Dean's Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 13 I i' I I: I I �The Gad.fly Funny Papers La Commedia by Christopher Utter Staff Writer l\!Ir. Tuck's lecture this past Tuesday was not the sort of thing one would usually review, even if one were so inclined to write lecture reviews. It was, in his own words "one of those yellow note talks that a faculty member gives year after year." So to "review" it would be akin to reviewing a tutorial. Nevertheless, it was a most worthwhile event, and so I will here summarize Mr. Tuck's main points, in lieu of criticism. The talk began with a summary of two theses: first, that there is no adequate English translation of Dante, as is evinced by the fact that nearly all editions find it necessary to print the Italian on the facing page; the original language is indispensable. Second, it is, perhaps, the most untranslatable seminar reading, but we all know enough Italian to get at least a sense of the intended mearung. The title is not the "Divine Comedy," but rather, "Commedia," ai<d this is probably more of a category Dante used than a title in the modem sense. The word "divine" was added in the fifteenth century as a term of praise, not a description of the subject matter. Dante himself described the reasons for calling his work a comedy in a letter to Can Grande: first, it fits the original definition of comedy, which is a story that begins in confusion and ends in resolution. Second, the style of comedy is low ar1d hun1ble, and DaJ.1l:e chose to w-rite this work in the vernacular. The comedy is written in the Tuscan dialect, which is the progenitor of modem Italian. Unlike Chaucer (whose dialect is the ancestor of modem English) Dante was responsible, in part, for the dominance of his manner of speech. He was one of "Le Tre Corone" of 14th Century F1orence (the other two being Boccaccio and Petrarch) responsible for the profligation of F1orentine Italian. There ate many Latinate word forms and sentence structures, making the work difficult to read, even for native Italians. In addition, 14 the language increases in difficulty from Hell to Paradise, using more fabricated or borrowed words, in part to emphasize the inexplicability of what he saw there. Some semantic points that came up are as follows: The three parts of the story as a whole are called "cantiche" or, in the singular, one "cantica." There is one "canto" but many "canti." Dante was the first to use "canto" (song) as a part of a poem. One mustn't say, Dante wrote this. "Dante goes to Inferno," because we are not Italians, and so, since we translate the rest of the work, we should be consistent and call it Hell. Dante's numerology is significant. There are thirty-three canti in each cantica, and one introductory canto; the number of the trinity is built into the very structure of the poem. The sixth . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . canto of each book has to do with politics: Florentine, Italian, and Global. The numerical center of the poem, from canto fifteen through seventeen, is a discourse on the theory oflove, the center of all human action in the comedy. It is crazy to count numbers in the Republic, but not here. The poem is written in endecesillabi (having eleven syllables per line) because in Italian the penult is most commoPJy stressed. There are a few instances of "rime tranche" (truncated, ten syllable lines) and "rime sdrucciole" (twelve syllable). But tlus is all somewhat unimportant for our purposes. Something more crucial is the "terza rima" rhyme scheme, especially for getting a sense of the flow. This structure, invented by Dante (note the obvious numerological significance) follows a pattern of A-B-A-B-C-B, etc, each letter standing for the sound at the end of a line. This is the main reason for the work being so untranslatable. The Sayers translation is an attempt, but it sacrifices lite._rali~; for stmctw:al accuracy. Pinskey is as close as any attempt has gotten. The most useful translations are poetical prose, or straight prose. Notes are extremely important. One cannot truly say he has Dante if he hasn't understood any of it. The best notes are in the Dm:11-ig, but the Singleton is excellent as well. Following these recommenc elations, Mr. Tuck and 11r. Tallent read canti three and one in Italian as an example of the flow oE rhythm and rhyme. As stated at tl1e beginning, I cannot 'review' tllls lecture. It was, however indispensably instructive, and a worthwhile. exercise as long as Dante remains a part of the Program. T~ME IN MABEL ~s EXCITIN WORLD OF EVERYTHING THAT IS VIRTUOUS AND GRANT~.~ ~~t,J~!!:l' I'm >l! liJil~ '1f Jlmt'll' "'hyr :1:•11 00¥>11 ·~~@;ill~~ ~~>lim!"!if! ~ M-~- l:'i!!l ~:r11~~ ~-~~. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 15 �THE GADFLY St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 Transcript, continued from page 12 Notes by Leo Pickens Athletic Director If men should be praised whenever thry peiform great deeds, how much more should women be extolled. Giovanni Boccaccio Yeah, what he said-I'll buy that And look, let's face it: in basketball, a pass that sets up a teammate's score, though perceived as simple, is one fine deed. Are you with me? Knowing just how to hit the open man can be also be viewed as a work of art, and in the women's league this past week, I\11iss Katherine Weil of the D.C's was all about displaying her artistry, feeding her teammate l'vfiss Chelsea Stiegman repeatedly down low in the paint for the easy score. Due to her great assists, ]\;fiss Weil helped lead the D.C.'s over the tough Furies this past Friday. Oh, it also earns her Athlete of the Week honors for the women. The men's regular season b-ball league is off to one hot start, as those of you who have been following the action down at the Temple can surely attest Three games, three nailbiters. Due to the reallocation of the kitchen staff, it's an all new league, and the Spartans, though tossed early from the Holiday Toumy, with the recent addition of Mr. R. Johnson, are now a team to be reckoned with, as shown by their narrow victory over the Waves this past Saturday. Now that he has a bot1ufide big man and another scoring threat to take some of the defensive heat off him, the Spartans' freshman bonus baby Mr. Logan Smith can now do his creative thing as a swingman. And boy, can he produce, or what? And I mean in all phases of the game. For his great all around play this past weekend, Mr. Logan Smith is named Athlete of the Week for the men. 16 Gephardt: Saudi support for madrassas in Pakistan. 2 attacks on Mush. Dangerous. Our president not pursuing hard enough. To Gephardt: Where do we get off lecturing on madrassas? They manufacture terrorists! Saudis support! Lieberman: Fanatical islamic terrorists. Osama wants Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. We gotta look out. Kerry: India issue. Bush negligent on proliferation. We should have purchased all loose Nukes. Should have taken initiative, to make sure that nukes don't fall into hands of terrorists. I have most cred. Dean: Civil war within Islam. Bush keeps siding accidentally with radicals. We need to stop teaching hate. How do we get them to stop teaching hate? Dean: Don't buy oil. Braun: We did the same thing with Germany and Japan. Kucinich: We don't have cred to talk about peace. We need non-prolif. Etc. No more fear. Lieberman: SOmething about riding a tiger so it don't eat ya. Marshall plan for Muslim world. . THE GADFLY . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conan: Taiwan wants to secede, will you side with them? kerry: wait, but you Kerry: One China policy. A good policy. At same time, no president could allow to slip backwards away from democracy. Constructive ambiguity. No way china can push. tell taiwan not to secede. Lieberman: no, stand up for democracy. president shouldn't have knuckled under on missle issues. lieb: errm ... Red Hot Classical! to dean: how can you take my money back? Dean: We gotta balance the budget, and pay for all this stuff. Education and whatnot. The tax cut doesn't count when you figure in other things. education increases, medicate. Lieberman: You're gonna tax the uu.uu.u;.:."•b class, man! Kerry: Yo, none of that decreases tax den, it raises it. Dean: What John said is hogwash. way of doing things works. Kerry: No. These people in Iowa afford it. Not hogwash. The obligatory gratuituous smoking picture, t in front of Chuck & Larry's Transmissions. Chuck and Larry are the salt of the earth. The checked over our engine for free, and told us about the plight of the small business owner. absolutely no irony, we thank Chuck and L.ar for their honesty and friendliness. II you are in Des Moines, Iowa, be sure to look them � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 16 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keene, Cathy (Editor in Chief) McCracken, Ian (Executive Editor) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol XXV Issue 16 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-01-20 Description An account of the resource Volume XXV, Issue 16 of The Gadfly. Published January 20, 2004. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. 25 #16 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Subject The topic of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/5edf00962d0513d6d099180a880efea8.pdf a9c730ebc9652e9d63f0d49a5baadc7e PDF Text Text HE GADFLY The St. John} College Student Weekfy Volume XXV, Issue 17 Learning the 1 -Steps by Ervin Romero Staff Writer If the sign I saw posted inside of McDowell is correct, then the first meeting of the CDA will be heldontheeveningofWednesday;January28from 6:30 to 7:30 pm in McDowell 35. According to the sign, everyone is welcome to come. Acr_ording to the sign, CDA stands for Chemically Dependant Anonymous. "CDAis a 12-step program dealing exclusively with the problems of addiction to any substance," said the sign. The sign did not say what it meant by any chemical substance, but I assume it meant things like alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, LSD, mescaline, psilocybi.n, aderoi vicodin, percocet, nicotine, codeine, oxycontin, that cold medicine for people with low blood pressu._re, a._nd anything else that could posstblrnetyouhigh andhas beengettingyouhigh awhile now. The first 12-step program was founded by a cilled Bill W some time in the 1930's. His .•B;fOup,Alcoholics Anonymous, was meant to help ·• ~holies stop drinking: In 1939, the big blue book • . Of .lilcohohcs 1"\nonymous was first published It tl1arked the first appearance in print of the 12-steps '}:lfAlcoholics Anonymous. These 12-steps have .;;~used by countless other 12-step programs fiom ··;;~farijua.n.a Anonymous to Over-eaters Anony'.j~ons. In case you are curious about what these •!~e steps might be, I have copied them down ~f~Jlm my own copy of the blue book ~•t'( t Wemve admitted to ourselves we were powc!;~ll~s over akohol--that our liveshad become un- ;i;~blF ' ~~l~';?· Carn: to believe that a Power greater than .,:~es could restore us to sanity. . .;Made a decision to tum our will and our lives ·lb the ca1-e of God, as we understood Him. .J\.fade a sean:hillgand fearless moral inventory Annapolis, Maryland January 27, 2004 The 'Seniah Huntah' by Christopher Utter Staff Writer Oy! Chris "the seniahhuntah" Utter heeah with a veery important bulletin about this dang'rous and most sehvage of animals, the seniahl Wunce a year they go into theiah gestation peeriod, dooring which toim you (Yes, even you!) can observe theiah woild and wacky behaviah! But don't geet too close, 'cause dooring tlns so coll'd "eesay wroitin' peeriod" they have a teendancy to geet antsy, and ye never Junior Nick Colten practices "gorging" for next year. know whot they moight do! Whoy, Oy had an auntie who had both 'er arms bit off, just 'cause she eesk'd one whot it Neentendo ees a common woy this primitive wos plannin' to dew aaftah graduation! species relieves streess whoil wroitin'. The fehst one oy came across coll'd 'imself Just when oy thought it was sayfe, a thahd Moik Malaun. This one looked especially mean, seniah popped round a pillah! Croiky! Foindin' and oy was roight! Aaftah asking 'im whot he seniahs is easiah than danglin' a baiby in frahnt 'ad been doingwhoilstwroitin' 'is eesay; 'e said, of a croc! Thees neext one's name wos ''I'm going to play an eight year old in video Eandahsahn Teallent. He said he had been games and not let him win, just because I hate amusin' 'imself boy scannin' the 'Yahoo Most little kids. And tl1en he'll throw a hissy fit, which Popular News Photographs' weebpaige. He will just encourage me more. Oh, and I'm going faound pictchahs of a deepfrawed cow brain, a to give alcohol to minors; the administration Christian newdist colony in Flahrida, a Dominiseems to hate that." Croiky! This one's reedy to can baabe with two heeds, and has aalso been kill if eever oy saw one! following tl1e preesidential eleection. He wos Crauching slowly in the oonderbrush of the surproised to leahn, espeecially aftah a recentveesit doining holl, oy spotted anothah one not three to Italy; that "no one can doubt the word of feet awoy! Thees isn't uncommon, seence theiy America." Oy have to agrawyweeth 'im theah. ahhknown to travullin sullen, speechless packs, Roight tl1en anothah seniah came ovah with pahticulahly dooring theeah gestation peeriod. the veery eight year old Moik was gonnah beat! The neext one was coll'd Shahleen Taylah Baahns. This one, Courtney May, claimed she had, "just She told me that she's been "wasting time going popped him out," dooring the eesay wroitin' on E-bay, playing 'A Boy and His Blob' (a peeriod. Golly! Oy'd heahrd that these creatchahs Neentendo gaime), and working out my salva- incubated theiah young for eight yeahs, but oy'd tion with fear and ferment." To wheech Moik nevah seen it until then! Tnat wos enough for reployed, ''Well, I'll be shooting midgets with a one daigh, sao oy coll'd it quits. rocket launcher." Well, blauw me down! Deed The next daigh oy retahned to find a whole oy coll this one mean or whot! Eencedently, new bunch of the blightahs in theah usual Seniah Hunter continued on page 5 Concert Review, page10 �THE ..-.GADFLY Editor-in-Chief Cathy Keene Executive Editor Ian McCracken Production Manager A&E Editor Shoshana Goldstein Anderson Tallent Sports Editor Mike Malone Inside News Mary Townsend Outside News Hayden Brockett Contributing to this Issue Aaron Brager John Peterson Gillian Brockett Leo Pickens Marhsall Derks Dave Prosper Constantino Diaz-Duran Ervin Romero Anna Frazier Jerry Salyer Erikk Geannikis Judy Seeger Ben Strickland J.A.M. Amy Taylor Julie Janicki Stephen Joyce Jacob Thomas Max Kronberg Christopher B. Utter Will Whittaker Joseph Method Founded in 1980, the Gacif!y is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St. John's Santa Fe campus. Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s)and do not necessarilly represent the opinions of the Gacif!y staff. The Gacif!y reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and thought-provoking newspaper which circumstances at St. John's permit. Letters of 200 words or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit. Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most cases. The Gacif!y is not obligated to publish all submissions and will not print anonymous submissions except under special circumstances. Deadline: Sunday at noon, unless permission for a delay is granted in advance. Submissions will be accepted as long as they are legibly written, but typed copies, diskettes, and e-mail submissions are greatly preferred. Please e-mail submissions to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com. Gadfly Mailbox On Horses and Carriages Dear Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog I quarrel wifu your definition of marriage. I would suggest fue following modifications (my changesinitalics): marriage is, ideally, an "exclusive, lifelong, monogamous union of two people, for fue mutual good of fue spouses and fue mnturing of children." Let me explain fue two changes I propose. FttSt,yourinsistencefuatasolidrelationshipcan only be built between aman and a womanis based on specious reasoning. You say that a man and a woman can support each ofuer "in ways that people offue same sex cannot," yet you fail to detail exactfy whatthesewaysare.Ms.Hugensmentionsthather fianceis different from her geographically; culturally, and in age, yet she insists that her "relationship would be enonnouslydifferentifhewas awoman!" Ms. Hugens, besides fue loss of your fiance's ability to penetrate you, how, exactly; would your relationship be different if he were to become a woman today? Would you no longer be able or willing to care for each ofuerin sickness? Would you forget all the times you shared? I doubtthatyoufeel intercourse should be the primary facet of a rela- tionship,sowhatdoeshedoforyouthatnowoman could ever do? My second dispute with your definition has to do withhowchildtm are handled in your definition of marriage, whichis why I suggest "nurturing" in place of "procreation." My conjecture is that you chose this wording because you do not feel that gay and lesbian couples are good parents---m fact, you even state that "the marriage of a husband and a wife l!s] the best environment forniisingchildren." I do not know whether a man and a woman togefuer are better equipped to raise cbildren 1han a same-sex couple-simply put, I do not know enough about psychological fueoryto feel comfortable making an assertion eifuerway. However,! do feel safe aveningthatthe bestway to raise cbildren is to let fuem have untonditional love from fueir parents. Many offue fuotisands of children put up for adoption in very unpleasant orphanages each year never feel this love. Even ifyou maintain that all same-sex couples are worse parents 1han all male/ female couples, which I cannot see youdoing,isn'tfuelove a child would receive from a same-sex couple far better fuanno love at all from an orphanage? So, shouldn't loving same-sex couples be encouraged to adopt children? Ordo you feel that same-sex couples cannot feel and give love? Yours, AaronB~ Just One Question Dear Gadf!y, Now that I see that Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog are ''happy to expand upon the ideas" they have about relationships, I would like to ask them just one question. They say that fue "physical and emotional" differences found between a man and a woman allow them to "support each other in ways that people of the same sex cannot" How so? For a man that has been in love with another man-and who hopes to someday marry his Aristophenic half-their answer to this question is crucial. I just need to know if I am doomed to a life ofless-than-human love and less-than-human happiness! I need to know, so that I can at the very least imagine what it would be like to be so blessed as to descend from the androgynous human! Immensely grateful for your enlightenment, Constantino Diaz-Duran Differentiating Between 'Marriage' and 'Union'· DearGa4/!y, I want to begin bypniisingMs. Hugens and Ms. Skoog for being willing to present fueir private political and efuical beliefs for fue rest of fue polity to see; it takes great courage to put oneself out on a limb in fuemannerin which fuey did, and at least as much courage to define publicly a hotfy contested ten:n. Their efforts have inspired me to do the same. While I think fuey did an excellent job ofarticulating what fue word "marriage" means to fuem (and probably to a few ofuer people out fuere as well), I hope fuey don't believe that fuey have produced a definition for the word as it is understood and used in American society today. The word marriage, in fact, has two definitions (which I am aware of): most commonly, it is used in reference to fue (hopefully) lifelongandmonogamous church-sancfhned agreement that two people enter into for their own good and for that of any children fuey •thappen to raise, which, in fue case ofheterounions (111 all states), bestows upon fuose ·~and fueirheirs certain civil benefits. Ofcourse, refers to an identical, fuough non-religious, union which bestows fue same legal rights. I genuinely believe fuat most of the problems gay marriage stem from fue fact that fue reliand thecivil union (being as similar as fueyare) thesamename. Thesimplesolution,ofcourse, separate fue names. I.et fue religious union be marriage (since we have all been brought up ood to associatemarriagewifu church), courthouse counterpart civilNltion (since one associates civil going-ons of one sort or anwifu rourfuouses). Homosexuals could fuen · access to civil union, like everyone else try,wifuoutthepeskyproblemof necesthat union "marriage." This wouldn't silence fue outcries of all opponents of since fuere are, and will continue to be, ofchurchesinAmericafuatperfonnsame , but I imagine (or, at least, hope) that 1o do so will be upheld as long as congress law prorubiting the free pmctice of relilongas theFirstAmendmentisnotunderlike Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog will find a church which upholds fue same · · nofmarriagethatfueypossess (if already), and rejoice in fue factthatfuey ttywhere fueyare free to believewhatare compelled orwish to believe. t, however, convinced that Ms. Skoog s would be satisfied wifu the mere Of marriage and civil union. I may be DearJC: I've been reading all fue letters recently in the Gat!f!y about gay marriage. I've been wondering, can you people get married? Sincerely, Judas Priest DearJP: The following answer will be in two parts, based on our inability to understand what you meant in your poorly worded question...you idiot. Part I If by "you people," you meant Jews, fuen clearly we can, for ifyou trace back the origin of marriage you will see that fue Jews invented it. No one had ever thought of an idea even remotely like marriage until fue Jews came along. Before fuat, fue heafuens were all about bumpin' like bunnies. Check out fuis marriage in the world's bestselling short story collection, THE BIBLE. One of the first marriages ever recorded took place in 2,345 B.C. when fue well-bearded Rabbi Shmuel Garklavs married Jacob to Leah. Soon thereafter, in 1,234 B. C. [People lived real long 'n 'st"!ff back then. - Jews' Clues Research Foundation] Jacob was married to Rachel, his emergency backup wife. Some, however, are offended by the argument that the idea of the concept of the thought of the notion that fuese unions might be considered marriages. As the Philosophers say. "[J\1arri.age is] fue exclusive, lifelong, monogamous union of a man and a woman." 1 Yet the steamy Rachel-Jacob-Leah triangle is neifuer exclusive nor monogamous. I don't know what the "Philosophers" have against God's Chosen People, but we think their vicious attack is completely unwarranted. {And people with completefy unwarranted vicious attacks go to one of those Hell Circle Thingies. - Jews' Clues Research Foundation) Part II If by "you people," you meant us, the authors, then clearly we can't. First of all, despite popular beliet;JA.M. GewishAnonymous Man) isn't gay, never has been gay, and never will be gay. He thinks that man-on-man love is the fastest way to one of those Hell Circle Thingies our Research Foundation keeps telling us about. Speaking of our Research Foundation, we need your support. The Jews' Clues Research Foundation is made possible by generous grants from fueAmeri.can Cancer Society and PE.T.A., a not-so-generous grant from the Hodson Trust, and readers like you. To be able to continue to bring you quality advice and wholesome humor, you must send all of your money to us via Campus Mail, right now. Our Research Foundation is woefully ill-funded, under-educated, although exceedingly attractive. We think they (we) make up all of fueir (our) research, so please send your money in a sealed envelope to us (us) at: Max Kronberg Campus Mail Donors will receive a surprise gift package, maybe of gum, and their name in the next issue ofJews' Clues. Also a handsome coat, possibly stolen from Nick Colten. Secondly, Max is in a committed relationship with Tyrone Gaylord, who studied interior design with the renowned Bernie 'The Toolman" Taylor. Max says, "I'm the pitcher." Sincerely, J.C. Union continued on page 4 2 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jew's Clues continued on page 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 3 �. Union continued from page 3 completely mistaken (andifl am, ladies, I do apologize), but I also get some sense from their most recentletterthattheymightalso be opposed to the nation-wide legalization of same-sex unions altogether, despite the fact that those unions would be wholly separate from any particular religious beliefs. They say that they chose their definition based on thefactthattheyviewrnan:iageasthecomerstoneof society. Whileitisnotin anywayapparenthowtheir definition follows from this, I must say that I agree with the building block bit whole-heartedly. Children who are.raised by loving, nurturing guardians, who set good examples of ethical behavior and morality for them, have a much greater chance of becoming constructive and positive members of their community. Tbisis somethingabout which I simply have no doubt I don't have any statistics to back.my claim up, but I have known enough loved and unloved childreninmy life to believe that it is true. Now, while a marriage of a man and a women might hypothetically in itself be the best environment for raising children, it is irrefutable that this is far from being the casein the real world. I grewup :in Marshall County, West Vttginia (an extremelypoor and depressed place to come ofage:in), which either has the highest rate ofdomesticviolence:in the country, or did when I lived there. It also simply must haveoneofthelowestratesofchildreariogbysamesex couples (it is, after all, rural West Vttginia). In other words, there were a whole lot ofheterosexual couples providing bad environments for their children. Thelegi.timacythat same-sex civil unions would provide would also allow more homosexuals easier access to adoption services, giving more unwanted children the opportunity to grow up :in a loving familyinsteadof afosterhome. Certainly, anyone as concerned with our country's children and the.irwellbeing (and, by extension, thewell-beingofourcountry) as Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog appear to be, must be aware that by opposing same-sex unions they are indirectly acting against the betterment of many children's lives. What, after all, is more important to the upbringing of a child, parents with love in their hearts, or parents with compatible genitalia? As to the claim (or rather, the statement) that the biological and psychological differences between men and women some how simply make them better suited for the comforting and support of each other, I must say, respectfully; that I see little grounds for it Yes, men and women are different from each other, but I don't think the most likely 4 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . explanation is that their differences arose forthe sake of comforting each other. Though I can't (despite all my inherent pretension) pretend for a moment to be at all well-versed in either the fields ofhuman psychology or evolutionary theory, I imagine that men and women came to be the distinct creatures they are so that each, on a basic animal level, might :individually best do their job (beitbaring children or hunting antelopes) to help the human species survive and flourish. The fact thatthis makes men and women quite different from each other :in many ways is, most likely, just an unfortunate side effect (I also imagine that comparable differences might be found amongst male and female penguins, for example); one which, however, probably accounts for why we don't always get along or see eye to eye. Honestly, if the sexes were specifically c:mfted to balance and support each other, one imagines they would do a better job of it. Women wouldn't complain that men don't understand them, and men would never complain about how weird women are. I don't think the idea that men and women have horrible communication problemswas put:in ourcollectiveheads merely by television programs, movies, and program books like Middlemarch. Anyone who doubts this could comb the campus unril they found some female member of our communitywhoserelationsbipwas cunently sailing rocky seas, or simplytllk to any guy. I think the stnJight marriages that manage to succeed Q.ess than halfatthis point,ifrve got my numbers right), do so because of the love that the partners share; a success which is bom despite their many differences, not because of them. I amnot,:in anyway, trying to saythat same-sex unions have a greater chance of surviving and prospering (or raising healthy, happy children) than those ofstnJightpeople, simply thatthe arguments which Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog have given against the possibility ofequal success appear, at least to me, to be relarively groundless. Regardingthefaintimplicarion thatAmerican society might somehow be undenn:ined by samesex unions, I suppose we could all look for examples of theirreparableharm to Westem Civilization which may have been caused by such unions in Canada or any of the European countries which have granted homosexuals access to the same legal rights as the rest of their population, something which (at least to this fan of the US Constitution), seems like an example of a government sidingwith right over wrong Jacob Thomas Speaking Out on the Alcohol Policy Dear Gar!ffy, As an RA, I have had a special perspective on alcohol, an issue that recently has made an ascent as a problem on campus; it has always been a problem, and the student polity needs to realize that it will always be a problem. Unfortlln.ately, it has come to a point where we no longer see what the prob- lem realfy is. Don't Be a Butt! Please use the cigarette receptacles provided on campus, especially on the Quad. Ms. Blythe l%ods and M1: Nathan Stalnaker of Buildings and Grounds spent ten hours last week clearing and remulching the garden area ofthe Quad, only to find it littered with cigarette butts by Wednesday ofthis week. Please be considerate ofthe B +G crew and the community in general by putting your used butts in the 1·eceptacles provided. Dear J.C.: Why did you answer only one question week? Dear Editor: This is an exercise in flawed logic, and we confused about how we can, could, or sh. answer this question. J.C.'s Shaloms Shalom to Webster Ye. We haven't seen in days. Shalom to Judy Seeger. We have been ing to "totally;' but didn't know we'd :!llll; yet Shalom to Cathy Keene. She rocks, worlds. Shalom to that freshman :Mitch. Your hurts our eyes. All of them. Shalom to our previous Shalom. We . the ambiguity at the end. 1. Defining Marriage: A Letter to the 2004 Missy Skoog, Robin Hugens. • There has been a big to-do about drinking on the quad, we are no longer allowed to drink during lectures, glasses have been broken and left on the quad, and the legitimacy of weekly New Year's parties has been called into question. Furthermore, there have been some alcohol-related mishaps, including an alcohol poisoning, damage to school property, and public urination-mishaps about which we, from time to time, receive a reminder from the Assistant Dean's Office. And as everyone probably knows by now, Mr. Baisch was fired for a party in his apartment after the Atomic Waltz, thrown ~at night by the Dining Hall, Club Ass, ~d the Office of Student Services. Though it is not the sole development ncerning alcohol this year, the events of at night have seemed to solidify the alco1 problem on campus in the minds of y; it is easy to think that the administrais out to get us. Yet the problem of hol on campus is not now and never been "us" versus the administration; the problem of alcohol on campus is that ge people drink. For dire legal and cial reasons, the school cannot legally that in any way-it is a real possibility t. John's could be forced to have a noance policy. Although at this point in our administration cannot just allow · g, we are in a delicate situation of our own discretion; that is to say our t Dean, Director of Student SerSenior Residents, and Resident Assis.do not have to bust students for alcoon-sight, although we cannot have just-let-it-go" attitude. When alcobecomes problematic-because of tion or irresponsible behavior-we t. Baisch is my friend, and I like him h, and I felt as though his attitude ol was generally coherent with the and desires of the polity; yet his r at the end of the semester may warrant termination. But of course, it has must ask us to keep our heads up, to take been said that Ms. Kaplan could have turned responsible measures so that the a blind eye. It has been her opinion that she administration's hand is not forced. If we could not just ignore a party given by an drink underage or if we help people drink administrative figure where underage stu- underage, we need to know that it is not dents were allowed to drink. It is hard to our right; if we do not behave in a trustweigh these two arguments, and it should be worthy manner, we won't be allowed to do hard; this is the practical implication of the it anymore. real problem concerning alcohol. Thus I ask the students to become reAt what point must "authority figures" sponsible again. I ask the administration to act? (Who, for that matter, should enforce forgive us for our trespasses. I ask Reality to our alcohol policy? Security? The Assistant throw more coffee-shop parties, and I ask Dean? The SRAs? The RAs?) No one wants the administration to give Reality as much the job of "busting" people, and every per- leeway as it can. I ask the sophomores to son who is in a position of authority can be pick up New Year's again, as it was before forced to deal with problems that arise in this year's little invitation of sale. I ask the relation to alcohol use. And that is the real juniors not to get depressed and irritable problem of alcohol on campus. Irrespon- during Kant, Newton, and Faraday. I ask sible use will force the hand of the school Mabel to write comics that are funny. I ask to come down; if we as a student body can- Ryan Varnum to buy some Cinnamon Toast not regulate ourselves, cannot keep our Crunch ® for the Dining Hall. I ask that "misbehavior" under control, then we will sophomore to stop snoring while I'm tryno longer be able to pretend that we are being ing to study in BBC. given a special privilege. Let us join hands and move forward, not So then, can we, as a student body, be backward-upward, not forward-and altrusted to regulate ourselves? I am afraid ways twirling, twirling, twirling toward freethat the administration might have been dom! forced to answer a bemused, "no." And I Together we can persevere through such cannot blame them. We have sold alcohol at trying times. New Year's, we have left behind both glass Long live Jew's Clues. and bodily waste, we have damaged polity Sincerely, property, we have let our friends drink themWill "Uncle Billy" Whittaker selves into danger, and alcohol has been known to get in the way of schoolwork. On Seniah Huntah continued from front page the one hand, I find it hard to blame the feedin' spot. The one coll'dNick Gaaghklaus said administration if it looks like they have behe's been downloadin' '.A Boy and His Blob' gun to crack down on our behavior. Yet on with "mixed periods ofBacchic revelry andheavy the other, we have been making improvedrinking, followed by meditation." Anothah ments, and it is possible that the responses one, Johanna Thraw, has "mostly been playing of the administration may have gone too spider solitaire, watching the Mr. Bean movie far. (which is really bad), sleeping, and earing chocoThis is, I think, an issue that deserves lates." Foah out'a'faive seniah's agree, chocolate's discussion: when we tolerate or invite unthe beest thing tow'eatwhoilst "\NToitin' an eesay. derage drinking, we are putting ourselves in (The athah one prefeahs beef jeahky.) the way of a' danger of unpleasant responses. Oy was about to creep awoy, when anothah Who should enforce alcohol policy? When one came outa nowheah! Will Whittacah said he should it be enforced? What steps should and his fellow seniahs have just been "sitting be taken to enforce it? What can those who silently, staying extra long at meals, wondering drink illegally do so that enforcement is less whether life is worth the struggle, trying not to of an issue? wear the same pants three rimes in a week [actuIn considering the place of alcohol on ally, Gaaghklaus eadded that one], regretting the campus, I have come to the opinion that it fact that we pissed away the first week of essay must have a place on campus. We, however, writing. Why the hell didn't I see that!" Croiky! cannot imagine that this will be a comfortOy had no oidea these creatchas could be so able place. And as an RA, the last thing I meelancholy. Whoy, imagine urinatin' for a whole want to have to do is police the kids on my week! Well, that wos moy cue to leave, so that's floor or need to physically stand between oil oy've got. Thaynks for readin'and g'day 'rill them and alcohol. Pursuant to that end, I neext toime maites! . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY 5 �to fling causing, I believe, far greater harm to the look to what is legally sanctioned by the government as being morally correct''? I would agree with moral fabric of society as all uninhibited promiscuthe first statement, since many laws are broken every ity does, than their marriage could ever do. Homosexual sex will happen no matter the restrictions day on the basis of individuals deciding that the placed onit. Outlawing it only drives it into the dark state has no moral control over them. Were people Dear Gatfffi, and releases it from all restrictions of society, thus l'vfiss Skoog's and I\1iss Hu.gens' defense of het- to say that the state has no say in momty, however, . allowing breeding grounds for diseases such as erosexualmarriage is, tomymind,laclringincertain the two men in Texas would never have been caught . AIDS. That.AIDS se=s to have arisen in homorespects. I cannot do what they have done-pro- making love to each other in their own bedroom. sexual communities does not indicate 1he depravity There are a couple of very good reasons for alvide such a complete definition on what I believe to ofhomosexuals but only the depravity of a society be such a complex subject--but I can provide an lowing homosen1al civil unions. I choose the term civil unions because I believe that marriage is,in fact, thatwould say to a group, in effect, have sexvvith as admittedly fragmentary account of what I believe. many people as you can for you will never be alThe contention that a man's and woman's relation- under God, not the state. A person is no more lowed the possibility of a sanctioned stable relationship works better than any homosexual relation- married by the gaining of a marriage license from ship within society. Providing a monogamous outship because they are complementary to each other the state than by living with each other. Only God let for its expression can only aid society and the both physically and emotionally, to me, cannot be may join two people such that they become one. individuals within it, cutting down on the level of substantiated First, the divorce rate among hetero- 'Whether this can only be done in a church I do not suicide and drug abuse among homosexuals flung sexual couples and the kind ofill- thought-out mar- know since I cannot pretend to know the mind of away from societal bounds. riages that so quickly end and make up the majority God The first good reason to my mind is simp~' I must admit that I can see nothing that would that of following the fourteenth amendment. J\farof tabloid titillation indicates that heterosexuality harm marriage by allowing homosexuals to marry; has no bearing on the happiness or success of a ried couples gain certaii.1 privileges that are denied to marriage. Second, I cannot come up with a single homose,..'l.lal couples such as rights of visitation. even the equation of homosexual marriage and heterosexual marriage would not seem to cause a..ny example of a totalitarian government that frowns That a homosexual is unable to give to the person harm to anyone or even marriage itsel£ All I see is on marriage other than, ifwe take it to be totalitar- ofhis or her choice certain privileges and rights conthe benefits to society, homosexuals, and marriage ian, Plato's &public. Homosexuality, in fact, is far cerning their person is in violation of equal protection since the law does allow that privilege to hetero- itsel£ I believe that by allowing homosexual marmore terrorized in totalitarian societies than marriage we will fi.nally see the benefits of marriage in riage for the very reason that Miss Skoog and :Miss sexuals. stark contrast to what had been before. I have no My second reason relates to the domestication Hugens give. Marriage does provide certain stability problem with a church decidingthatitwillnotpreto society by first taming the impulse to promiscuity of sex that marriage provides. Homosexuals have side overthe~oes ofhomosexual couples but and therefore taming the anarchic power ofundo- long been thought to be far less monogamous than I can see no reason for the state to do the same. their heterosexual counterparts. 111is, of course, is mesticated se_'\.'Uality. not completely hue, though like all stereotypes it has My third issue deals with a certain confusion I have with their letter. How is it thatthe state cannot a grain of truth within it. Without the possibility of : "necessarily... dictatemomty" even though "people ID2.rriagema..ny homos<:A'Ullls have flitted from fling Ideas I Have Had Another Vtew on Gay Marriage In Case mu Didn't Know Dear members of the polity resident on campus, I told a student this rooming that I would send a note to the Gac!f(y reminding you that if you. '.YJould like to 1:1~1ve a guest j11 your room~ for more than three days, you need to have my permission. The full text of the requirement, with all the details, can be found on page 33 of the Student Handbook. I can think of two reasons for this rule: 1) We need to know who is in the dorms in case of a fire or other emergency; 2) We cannot allow people to stay on campus who might put students and/ or the College at risk. What the Handbook doesn't say is that getting my permission is no big deal. So far I have speedily and cheerfully granted every request that has been made. Please help protect us all by following this rule. Sincerely, Judy Seeger Assistant Dean 6 THE GADFLY . . . . . . . Take Advantage ofActivities Dear polity, Ifyou are faculty and would like to organize an event (eg, play,musiail, orchestra, museum or other event in Washington, DC or Baltimore) to ~uuva.·· . ment a tutorial, lab, seminar, or preceptorial please Student Activities is meant to serve as a resource for students and faculty. If, as a student, you would like to take a group of students to a play, musical, orchestra, museu.m Director of Student or other event in Washington, DC or Baltimore, Senior Resident please let me know I can organize transportation and may be able to get you discounted tickets. If you would like to take a day trip to Washington, DC or Baltimore, please let me know: I can organize transportation. Ifthere is some other place or event to which youneed trnnsportation, pleaseletmeknow Dear polity, TI1e offerings ofStude:nt.A.ctiviri.es dependinkrge Hello! I am Amy Taylor, and I am the part on students who suggest activities to me. Some · DC president. Please feel free to come to events are organized at the beginning of the year : with concerns so that I may determine whe without student suggestions, but Student Activi- or not the DC can help, and questions a ties acts upon the suggestions of students over the the Delegate Council. I will be asking del course of the year The service is what you make of to collect polity opinion on some issues it, so please take advantage of this resource. the next few weeks, so don't hesitate tot The President Speaks Pea_ Amy Ta.r;i by Joseph "Joe" Method Staff Writer With darkness descending, I come to the stark realization: I have failed to leave my mark on this community. It wasn't for lack of trying. Okay, it was for lack of trying. But, I assure you, it wasn't for lack of dreaming. I have dreamed the impossible dream. I have been told it was stupid. From the moment I set foot on this campus, five (oh, sweet lord) long years ago, I began to scheme. Yeah, I thought, this program here, they got it worked out real good, but that doesn't mean it don't need some :innovatin' (I was a real hillbilly back then). And so I retired to my Paca dorm room and set to thinking. That was my Freshman year. It takes me a while to get the old mental juices flow:ing. But my Sophomore year, that was when something started to catch hold Something was rattling around in there, some noble and subfune thought. Around about J\ilay, the fog cleared and my notion came into dear view. With tears of joy I express my long-gestated, hard-bi.rilled conception to my friends: No more metaphysics. ''J'vfetaphysics is harmful folly;' I declared. 'Tuian's nature being political, we should only study politics and speculative fiction. If we Meno, we can fit in 1984 and William seminal cyberpunk novel : J'c'PurM.,,,70 "'r Also, we should read more -- "That's stupid, Joe," my friends said. Perhaps, but I decided to take my Sophoyear again to find out. During my se: <.c:'mA•t·•~ off I spent my time as an "indepenresearcher" at the Library of Congress. uncovered some startling facts about ·.~.\...,CilJelle an.dits "Program" (notice, people and psychopathic robots). ered a little book entitled "In Search 'be.ral Education: the St. John's Experi;" This obscure volume has surely been .ressed by the powers that be. (Otherit would be common knowledge that d Bucha..'1an. had very different intenr the Progran1. It was to be a true (in the sense of a "program" of ercise or of an installment of Ken excellent Civil War documentary on fliberarion from metaphysical specu- Yelse would they recommend the deent of a tutorial on the gasoline en- g.ine? What else could be intended by their suggestion for a post-graduate St. John's fib1 institute? Surely, this was what Scott Buchanan meant when he said, "St. John's was meant to be a Trojan horse within the walls of the educational establishment." Something had gone terribly wrong at St. John's in the years since Barr and Buchanan left the college. The change can be observed over the course of Convocatum Est, a collection of convocation addresses starting in the 50s. At first, Dean Weigle speaks freely of the responsibility of students to be active participants in society. Over time, however, he begins to sneakin phrases like "this beingknownapnon'' and "the potentiality of the actuahtyis--ofcourse-only an actuality in potential." Barr and Buchanan's "Trojan horse" had become infested not by noble 'filhaian" pragmatists but by continental philosopher.rl I retumed to schoolloaded for bear with new ideas to shake up the establishment. Within weeks, I had arranged an appointment to meet with the politically powerful "StudentCommitteeonlnstruction'' (SCI), a kind of puppet think-tank. My plan was to convert the lapdog of the administration into a ferocious attack hound harnessed to the cause of civic awareness. I kept my innovations under close wraps until the day of the meeting After waiting most of the meeting while matters of"importance'' were discussed, I distributed a handout detailing my revolutionary initiatives. I then sat back to let the effect take hold "What if this?" asked.Maya "toadie" Alapin. ''I think you had better explain yourself;" offered Mary "running-dog" Townsend. "Well," I said, "it's really quite simple. Described herein are three proposals forraisingthe political consciousness of the polity. Their combined effect is to break the intellectual stranglehold that tutors' so-called 'wisdom' and 'experience' has over us. For example, my first proposal is for there to be a student lecturer. Every year, a student will be chosen at random to deliver a lecture to the entire school... " "'That's stupid, .M:r. Method," saidJustin ''I'm with Trotsky" Lanier. "Perhaps," I allowed ''But my next proposal is pu_re genius. We reinstate the Sunday night political talks given by Barr and Buchanan, but instead it's more like a polity forum. I realize we already have a political forum, althoughI'mnot sure we can trustthatlogicalpositivist, Colten, but !his will be more like ... more like a thing. It11 be ... Biblical, you know? We discuss speculative matters for five days of the week, we get drunk on the sD..'i:h, and on the seventh we rest. Umm, politi- caDy.'' "Sounds stupid, but we're listening," said Jillian "reactionary" Sico. "See, it has rules and everything. The idea is to teach us to be on guard against manipulative or false arguments, like those that talk about dualism and essence. You know. So there's audience participation. It'll be LD debate format and there'll be a panel of tutors and students. Whenever someone is speaking, the audience gets to keep him in check by shouting out critiques. There are four available critiques: 'Rhetoric,' 'Evidence,' 'Sophistry,' and 'Ad-hominem.' \Vhenever anyone detects empty wordplay, the absence of evidence, the strengthening of the weaker argument, or personal innuendo, they get to shout out their objection." "Mr. Method," began Mark "prole-basher" Ingham sententiously," that you should waste our precious time by bringing this asinine scheme into this hallowed private dining room-" "Rhetoric!" I shouted, triumphantly. "You know, I think he put this crack-brained plan together ten minutes before the meeting," commented Jill "fat cat" Delstin. ''Evidence!" I retorted. "Look, I can demonstrate to you why your proposal won't work, by a simple reductio ... " announced the disembodied voice of Peter "wasn't present" Hughes. "Sophistry!" I declared, pre-emptively. "You're a moron,'' said the SCI in eerie unison, and ejected me from the room before I could point out their logical error. I was ready to give up in despair, when I remembered that the SCI hadn't heard my last proposal. Perhaps my other ideas had been stupid, but this one would definitely wow even that secretive dosed-door cabal. I burst back into the private dining room just as the meeting was drawing to a dose. "Hey, if we bump Meno--," I got out before someone-I think it was Sico-clubbed me from behind. Since then I have resigned myself to not making a difference on this campus. Some people just don't want to be helped. For the most part, I keep my ideas to myself now. Sometimes, I confide in my friends. I can always count on them to give me their honest opinions. They tell me they're stupid. Perhaps. . . . . . . THE GADFLY 7 �Exploring for Errant Eating Equipment: Summ.er ~athemati~s ti.on him about the trµant tableware. After a few moments of heated argument, I punched him ... in anger. Inmy defense, hewas being kind ofa jerk. I don't know what bis problem was, anyway. I decided to skip dinner in favor of getting to bed early (tracking down tardy trays is terribly taxing), so I trotted over to Barr Buchanan for a good night's rest Of course, I could've headed back to my apartment, butl decided that the Gat!bofficewould bewarmerfuanmyapartment Well,onsomenights, back campus is wanner than my apartment Sunday mom1ng dawned rather gloomy, and I found myself questi.oning whether this search for silverware would ever end I exited the buildcups. ing to see front camAll missing. pus covered in snow, We have active terrorand thus found my ists on campus! They're tryfirstrealclue: traytracks. ing to keep us from eatYes-the dining hall trays had once again ing! Although I briefly debeen used as sleds. bated calling in to inform Perhaps this would those working under lead me to the culprit! HomdandSecurityfuatwe Following them eahave an ongoing attack gerly, they eventually The Melee Club has stooped so low as to against decent United took me to the gym leave tableware in the Gadfly office. States residents right here Rather suspicious of For shame! at St John's College, I dean attack (this had cided that the enti.re process would go more been labeled a "medium-rare day"), I carefully crept smoothly if I could hand in the suspects mysel£ into the building. Therefore, after completing various homework asHere I found the thieves. TheMelee Chili. signments on Saturday, I bundled up anO. headed All of my hours of work had led me to those over to campus to investigate these heinous crimes. on campus widely known for making weapons of I anived on campus just as brunch was begin- minor destruction. littered about the gym amongst ning. I can't convey to you how angry I felt at the Styrofoam and duct tape were the remains of dinknowledge that under the noses of the watchful ing hall property. Forks were being used as arrowDioingHall staff; more cafeteria artifacts were being heads, spoons were bent around sword hilts for a taken for ungodly purposes. What upset me the decorati.ve touch, knives were used as ... uh, knives. most, however, was hownobody seemed to care! I And the trays-the trays were being painted with mean, come on-how can people eat at a time like crests and then implemented as shields in jousting this? Dining hall products are missing! You people matches. It was almost too much to bear. Even as the are selfishl The spoons are being held hostage right now, and they're probably dU!f-that's a double FBI came to take away the indignant criminals, I whammy. Hey, Dave Canti.ne-you can eat once couldn't help but noti.ce one thing-despite the you find the forks. cemetery ofceramics, there were no rups to be seen. Leaving the site of such shameless apafuy,I made Myjobisnotyetdone. Therearestillsevenhunmy way to thenext obvious locati.on for clues about . dred and twenty rups to account for. the frittered forks - the practi.ce rooms of Mellon Don Stone ckimsthathe always retums them. Hall. Although things first seemed to be quiet and But you know what I hear when he says that? I hear excuses. orderly, I was soon party to an outrageous display of anti.-American sentiment Aidan O'Flynn play(Author} note: This enhre article isfictitious and meant ing the viola. Sure, it looked innocent enough, but onfy to be siljy. Ifyou been off ended l!J this ... plea.re try truth be known, I've never trusted bis beady little to be offended l!J something elre, instead. I'm just a quiet eyes. So, I went into the third practi.ce room toques- woman, trying to live a quiet lfe. Leave me alone~ by Julie Janicki Staff Writer Given therather turbulentpoliti.cal atmosphere oflate, I must confess that as an American, I've felt somewhat useless. With over a month until I can vote in the Florida primary electi.on and not much time on my hands for more than my usual volunteer activities, my pride as an acti.ve citizen has somewhat lessened Imagine my reliefwhen, after picking up a copy of the Ga4ffe last Tuesday, the Assistant Dean's office provided mewith the means to reestablish my patriotism ... albeit on a smaller scale. 300 bowls. 400 knives. 400 spoons. 400 forks. 720 w 8 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :Intensive 1n Annapolis Dates: May 31-August7, 2004 Place: St John's College, Annapolis Instructor: MW Sinnett, tutor, SJCA Text: Tom Apostol, Calculus, vols. I & II : Topics: Techniques in integral and clifferenti.al · calculus,filfinite sequences and series, elementarylin: ear algebra, vector analysis inn-dimensions. · Eligibility: Members ofthe College who have : completed theJunior Mathematics Tutorial. Cost $500 fee+ $250 for books . Accommodations: Plans are underway to pro. vide spaces in the residence halls for interested stu. dents. Details will be available shortly. . Description: The course is intended to provide : familiaritywith calculus and vector calculus for stu. dents who wish to pursue study in mathematics, : the physical sciences, or engineering followiDgtheir · graduati.on from St John's College. It will consist : oftwo daily lectures separated bytime for students' · reading and work on assigned problems. Attenti.on : will be divided as time permits between techniques · of problem solving and rigorous proof of funda. mental theorems. Weekly exams will allow assess: ment and documentati.on of students' progress. : As with language intensives, upon which this pro- " · gram is modeled, participati.onis notconsistentwiih : concurrent employment and/ or other study. · Application: A note expressing interest and a : depositof$100 toward the purchase of the books · is requested by March 22, 2004. Formoreinforma.; : tion, you are invited to write: Mr. M. W. Sinnett, St. John's College P.O.Box2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 · Ghosts of No-Man's Land by Jerry Sal.yer, G.I. belches out thought-mock:ery-fufinite "different'' perIf the enti.re student body of St John's spectives on Jacobinism, the Cult of Never-ending was struck dead and the cadavers heaped up Modem Man happily argues about primaries as Progress and ''I'm OK, You're OK" likegarbageinfrontofFSK,youmightsaythat ifreal politi.cal principles were at stake. (They aren't) (I'm not OK) that would be less than 1/100th of what He believes "causes" and candlelight vigils can (You ho not OK, either.) Douaumont represents. substi.tute for choosing between uncompromising (Andifyoudon'tlikeit, tough;demonizingmewon't \Xi'hichin tum---you~htsay-represents religion or genuine atheism. (They can't) change anything) less than 1/50th of the war as a whole. 'My life has substance," Modem Man tells him''FOR CIVIUZATION. LIBERTY COUN1RY." Youmlght; assuming you are the sort of self (It doesn't) Between what those words meant to the martyrs / jackass who crams reality into a Procrustean His visions are the distorted reflecti.ons from suckers ofthe war and what they are chanted for today lies bed of tabulati.ons and logic-symbols, who funhouse mirrors; the media-entertainment com- ada!kdesolategulf--4decimatedNo-Man'sLand counts men as if they were no better than plex spews outa steady diet ofmanufacturedlifeRegarding this gulf; one mlght hogs, who sees the Sisti.ne Madonna as less Sept 11th-a-thons, Iraq, the "electi.ons"-to distract (A) Observe: Who cares? Thryh> not here now. Or, than a sack ofpotatoes. him from the past, the future. The war memorial (B) Deny it One:mlght claim that the eight-and-a-half Whenmenti.oned by such, the War-that to St John's alumni caught my attenti.on one day. million soldiers butch~sifhogs-under said ban- is, the decay and suicide of Christendom-is The Great war-- forgotten war; nerwould be proud to look upon the faces oftheir homeAfter a couple ofcenturies ofunrestmined tech- lands today, upon the Modem's cherished lifestyle, upon devoutly recited as an unfortunate hiccup in mlogical development and Enlightenment phi- us, their heirs. That their ghosts regard us with approv:U- "democracy" 's struggle towardDesti.ny. But-come to think of it-just who exlosophy, European/Western civilizati.on concluded ratherfuan with thehon:ified awareness fuattheir sacrifices actly are the ghosts, the shadows of •·.•its downward spiral by-1lllturally enough--blow- were perverse jokes. netherbeing, here? ' :ingits brains out The (A) Observerwould be honestly expressing how Modern Man, after all, is the one founded The war catalyzed St Petetsburginto ''a time for Modem Man feels about his dead ancestors, and his unupon Nothing: no eternity, no roots, no con'.~a.change"-ie. delivered Russia over to a cadre of born descendants, and reality. If I can l' paw it, it has no text-only Now, ''livingin the moment" He ·•. lunatics;itleftembittered Germany ripe existence; show me these ghosts, these ancestors, these descendants. denies the existence ofabsolutes-this mlght dogma ofPeoples-Create-Their-MagnificentThe (B) Oaimantwould be either ignorant, or a liar. reproachhisunlimited ~andhewor­ -Morality (seem familiar?); left England and Granting for a moment that the Great War really did as insecure impotent shells. Anditprodded happen, many of its participants would have seemed ships posited abstracti.ons. His noti.on ofjilia revolves around pointless, Seiefeld-ish, cock· further along its mutati.on from agrarian familiar to Johnnies-many more than 452 hailed from tail-party banter. . toimpersoruilmerointileleviatban. (Ameta- "Greats" programs. (Classical educati.on was not always Heis on a pilgcimage-nottowardJ\1ecca, hosis better illustrated by Kafka's works, than an eccentric novelty for reactionary misfits and wannabe Jerusalem,Delphi,Bethlehem;nottowardaf!Ybbes.') bohemians.) thing-but rather f.lJJJr!Y, as far away from the WhatremainedfullowingthewarwasnotWestThese soldiers went from the intellectual and sociallife divine----and the correlati.ve human---ru; pos. · · ati.on. It was a giant's corpse-which we ofuniversity to acting out scenes fit only fora slasher fihn: sible. The very suggestion thatthere:mlghtbe live upon, even as it rots. from gettinginto drunken debates about V:trgil to getting OURHUNDREDF1FIY-1WOOFOUR splattered by the fat-sticky brains of trenchmates whose a natural norm ofhuman-ness is an offense ANSWERED THEIR COUNTRY'S heads suddenly disappeared in mid-shout From discuss- to bis supreme will, even while he proclaims 1HEREISNORECORD1HATONE ing Meno and Confessions over cigarettes to inhaling chlo- that humanity everywhere is essentially the same. IN HISDUIY'' rine gas and then cougbing-harder, harder, harder-till He seeks to affirm bis freedo:m and indiare heirs to August 1914: of making the green froth bubbled up from lungs and skin blossomed vidualism by remaking himselfas a newcrea"Safe fur Democracy;' of the spectacle of to putrid-blue and eyes tumed cloudy-glassy. From run' PartyandPompejan Party bickering over ning Sunday afternoon races round the quad to shrieking ~ creature simultaneously as solitru:y as a sit on the throne of Superstate, who will out jt'.11lf or Motherwhile their legs got hack-sawed offin speck of plankton aimlessly floatingin ocean's cold vold, and as hive-minded as blank-gazed lnmll111tl.·les how to live, what to buy, what hospital tents. (Ran out ef morphine, pal, sorry.) replicants popping from gestati.on pods. and practi.ces it will permit them to hand Contrasted to other.American WMS-eVenVletnam-So-come to think of it-maybe the their children. itis too clifficulttowru:p World War I into a myth suitable ghosts of the past are doing fine, as is. There thank Wilson's liberal ideology for in- for the Regime-the questions raised are too intertwined crusades, forarrogantwars to forever with the Empire's reli§o--so Willie McBride sinks to the are worse fates than being forsaken by Man. " ... THE ALMA MATER WITH furtheironyof a bureaucmtic-an:na- bottom ofcollecti.ve unconscious. DRAWN SWORD, WITH HEAD . z~constructed to defeat Evil But physicality is stubborn and cannot be skepticized CROWNED WITH THE LAUREL away-:tegatdless ofwhat Descartes tells you Nor cov- BOWEDINMOURNINGOVERTHOSE .also blessed us with the perfecti.on of ered up a la Sartre's efforts to shush reports of Soviet OFHERALUMNIWHOSENAMESARE ie. Republicrati.c Party gibberish mass-murders. INSCRIBED ON 1HE SHIEI.D" · American Dreams and Civ:illibFor at the ossuary of Douaumont, France, are the Mourning ftom a Regime which devours towns tangible, irrefutable remains ofanonymous soldiers who Hurm. up suburbia, gobbles down fanns and perished atthe Verdun Offensive, February, 1917. The dead are in God's hands, I hope. nutrient-factories, masticates families Six hundred and thirty cubic feet of Tetris--piled bones In any case, maybe theyaren'tthe ones you out "hberated'' production-consumpcomprise the evidence of130,000 boys and men. 130,000 should be mourning over, sister. chews up faiths and philosophies and human stories-give or take a few. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 9 �---------------· John Lennon's 'Imagine' and the 'International Com1nt1nity' by John Peterson Staff Writer Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Little faces dumbly singing along to words they don't understand. Words of nihilism, words of groundless pessimism masked in the spirit of love and understanding. l\1.isguided quasi-communistic mush. This is the face of Amnesty International and the theme of its new advertisement campaign. It features kids of all races singing or mouthing John Lennon's 1979 hit, "Imagine." The ad, as far as I can remember, uses nothing else, just this song and its message of universal togetherness. What does this mean? Does it mean that "Imagine" embodies the scope and purpose of Amnesty International? Do they stand in opposition to religious belief and national borders as obstacles to world peace? A meaningless existence? The abolition of private ownership? Hedonism? Surely not ... The greatest progress for human rights and freedoms have come from, among other things: 1) private ownership and free-market economies, and, following from this, 2) overwhelming military success as a result of advanced technologies. More debatable is the claim that 3) strong religious belief is also a cause of the strong governments that have advanced the higher goals of humankind. In any case, there certainly is no necessary relationship between religious belief and the regular violations of what we now call "human rights." But history has shown us that the presence of one or even two of these elements is not a true safeguard against brutality. However, when there is a powerful economy that has a powerful military, which it is willing to use in the defense of the good (based on religious belief), then the cause ofhuman rights is most advanced. If Amnesty International's mission is ''Working to Protect Human Rights Worldwide," then certainly they don't really mean it when they use John Lennon's idiotic song, right? We are just to take it as a vague suggestion, a thoughtlessly-used background track for an organization with an irreproachable agenda, right? Maybe not. What does Amnesty say about Saddam Hussein? How about the United Nations and the International Criminal Court? How about the "international community" that Bush and his administration has allegedly spurned, to the detriment of world relations and the cause of human rights? Where did they stand when the call for the use of force came? Where did the United Nations go when they were attacked in Iraq? Whose rights does Amnesty International call out for the protection of? (He looked so miserable. We showed him on TV being examined by American doctors. \Vhat great shame for dictators and pride-stuffing murderers. What great triumph for a powerful and just army to have the monster in its claws and reduce him to the bewilderment of a flashlight in the mouth, rubber gloves on the hands, a clean shave, some vitamins.) What can Amnesty say? Shouldn't have chosen that footage. Two terrible regimes toppled in two years, and where was the international community? Criticizing the American "occupation." Calling for Saddam Hussein's rights to be respected, to give him an international court, no death penalty. Meanwhile the American aggressor has freed millions from his rule, in a fast and clean war, which aimed to minimized damage to the country and its inhabitants. Who is prc)te1cru:ig human rights? It is those who believe there is something "to live o:r die for." It was quite a pleasure to sit down and rela,"'1: to the sounds of the Left Bank String Quartet. The program consisted of pieces by Mozart, Allanbrook, and Bartok, which sutprisingly went together well, and made for quite an enjoyable evening. I am always a sucker for Mozart, but was surprisingly pleased to find that--once I got over the initial shock of the change from the pleasant four-four time to something else-the images that the String Quartet No. 6 by .Allanbrook (a fo:rme:r tutor of St. John'$) conjured up in my imagination an experience similar to what I only suppose an acid-trip might be. The Allanbrook was what made the evening the most memorable musical performance this academic year. The sounds, the dissonance, and the demonstration of instrumental versatihtywere exciting and new to my classically trained ears, but as impressive as Allanbrook's cacophonous piece 10 was, it was not11ing in comparison to Bartok's masterpiece. At the intermission, I, still wishing to hold to my classical violinist snobbery, or just snobbery in general (I am not quite sw:e wilich), I found myself spe,ving out anti-postmodernism garbage to my FSK-Auditorium neighbor. Speaking knowingly about Mozart's construction and style in relation to Allanbrook's left me concerned as to whether or not I would be kicking myself for sitting through another twenty to forty minutes of"noise" (which is what I was resigned to call it at that point). Once the lights were down and the musicians in place, the magic began! Bartok did not just write something that even I, with enough practice, could play, but he used those instruments as plows, and the musicians like asses. The iillegro Pizzicato so impressed me that I will never speak ill of Postmodernism again-if that is what Bartok and Allanbrook are. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mozart used the violi..ns, viola, and cello show how effortlessly one may look playing string instrument, and how beautifully sour1d. 'J:1l1ereas Bai"tok md}Jlanbrook works that demonstrated that instruments so much more potential. There is a fear or dain for dissonance, which Allanbrook Bartok flagrantly shun, which appears present Mozart. When a student complained about h "ugly" dissonance was J\.:fr. May replied, "'!: your dissonance like a man!" That is exactly these composers did! Like soldiers going ' war for something they believe in, though may fear for their lives, each one cheers, and bravely where they are led. When all was done, and the Auditori emptied I realize that sometl1ing spectacular ft the Left Bank String Quartet, a part of the. Theater "Camber'' Players, lingers on: an in , ration and appreciation of a new genre of DC Budgets are Due by Erikk Geannikis DC Secretary amnesty international Concert Review: The 'Magic' of Postmodernism by Gillian Brockett Staff Writer Gadfly Funny Papers that. .away;;:!~ now, but: t!>.at do.in'] A!lid :r I wHl .;.<Jd up e"i<a~t ~~$1$.t<!! of wnii'!: J. $ha;.1l6 do. we don 't <!!Ve.~ :i:.~.~fl!i IU'OUD.d t.o h~lp ~ whisk tJ:iblf.l Hello, polity. This is Erikk Geannikis, your Delegate Council Secretary, writing to inform you about budgets. All dubs' budgets are due on Friday, February 6"', in preparation for the DC Meet~ ingon Wednesday,Februa.iyll"'.Submit1hebudgets to me personally or through campus mail If you are a club archon submitting a budget, you must be prepared to attend the DC Meeting on the 11th and possibly the meeting the following week on the 18th.. (All archons who have submitted budgets will receive campus mail reminders from me.) Under recently imposed budgeting procedures, the Delegate Council evaluates all club budgets in a sort of "packet," as opposed to laboriously dealing with each request individually. If you fail to meet this deadline, you will not be included in the Budget Conglomo-Pack and will probably not receive all the funds that your dub needs, if any at aR Ifyou have never submitted a budget, there is a handy model budget outline that will make your process wonderfully easy; and you can request one from me through the mail or in person. Please be careful to follow the instructions exactly, as this appears to be a very formal process that we do not want to botch. I also nowpossess documents regarding club charters and generalpolityprocedures,soifyouareinterestedin chartering a dub, or better understanding life and policy here, make sure to see me as well. Other than that, I would like to say that I am happy to be working for you, the polity; on the Delegate Council and I. would be more than happy to answer any questions at any time. Have a great semester everyone, and please, avoid involving yourself in mindless basketball-styled end-of-cigarette rituals and dehberatelyplace your butts in the proper receptacles. Art on Campus: The Railway by A."lnie Frazier Edouan:l Manet's first choice of occupation was a far cry from the work for which he ultimately became known; he trained as a sea cadet However uponfuilingexaminationsforthatprofession,l\1an~ began painting full time. His earliest representation onpaperofwhathesawinlifecamewhenhisuncle taughtl\1anet to draw as a child At the onset ofhis serious painring career, Manet spent time absorbin!! he could from the art of Velasquez, Goy~ Tittan, Tintoretto, and Rembrandt As was surely the case with many Frend1 paintersinl\1anet's time, he sought the acceptance of the PansJan Salon. The Salon was the official place where new work was displayed in Paris during l\1anet's time. The Salon took place first every other year, what Railway, continued on back page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 11 �THE GADFLY St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 by Leo Pickens Athletic Director We were rowing on flat water and in the middle of a forty it was this exploding, all envelopingfaeling, just the most wonderful feeling I've ever had... cranking on itfor all my life, just as hard as I could... I remember thinking, I am God. It sounds bizarre. That's what I thought. I am my own God... and if I died on this next stroke because I burst a blood vessel in my brain or my heart from pulling so hard, I don't care, because this is the ultimate. Olympic Oarswoman Carie Graves The Red Rose Crew The men's basketball league is all topsyturvy now following this weekend's pair of upsets. First, the hard-charging, fast-breaking, and pressing Waves' bee team opened up enough of a lead for their A team brothers to hang on-just barely!-in face of a fierce Guardian A team comeback. And then the Druids, with a lot of help from their classy new A team point guard, Mr. Juan Johnson, and the hot hand from downtown of Mr. Pratt, upset the Spartans in yet another nailbiter. Kudos to the hot hands on the A team aside, the game was really decided, once again, by the Druid bee teamers. Mr. Robert Hurst of the Druids led the charge for maroon, and for his great game, Mr. Hurst is named Athlete of the Week for the men. On the women's side of things, we now of have a tie for the league lead, with the resurgent D.C.'s defeat of the Furies this past Friday. The Daughters of Camilla field a pretty strong team all around, but one of their key players has got to be Miss Becca Ross. For her great all-around play week in, week out, Miss Ross is named Athlete of the Week for the women. Railway, continued from page 11 12-Steps continued from front page 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to anotherhuman being the exact nature ofourwrongs. 6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects ofchatacter. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our short- comings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such peoplewherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result ofthese steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affiUrs. I don't know who is in charge of the CDA or who posted the sign. But if I did, they wouldn't be so anonymous, would they? I think it's kind of cool that it's really mysterious. But I also think that theCDAissomethingthatcouldhelpmanyof our students. 12 then annually, in the louvre's Salon Carre. Tohaveapaintingacceptedwasaseriousaccomplishment for any painter; positive words from the Salon helped an artist's career g3in momentum. Manet's style was revolutionary. He proclaimed that there were no lines in nature and thus cast off the customary habit of outlining figures. Instead, Manet gave shape to his forms with color and shadow. His organic way of depicting natural things on canvas influenced the impressionist group, of which he did not wish to be considered a part. His impressionist friends, Degas and Monet in particular, requested that Manet display his work with theirs, but he refused, electing to wait each year for the acceptance of the Salon. Manet's The Rai~is exemplary of his organic style, as there are no harsh outlines to be found in it, just changes in color and a liberal use of shadow. His style is evidenced most in the garments of the two girls and in the pages of the book the older girl holds. 1he edges of these things are approximate, the folds in the fabric gradual 1he face ofthe older girl has the same softness to it, each feature blending smoothly into the next, with much resemblance to THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . transition. Some things are lost ~ Manet's translation; so parts resemble life less rately than others do. young girl's arm, for· outstretched and fence, looks unifonn less. There is hardly a bend in it, no sign of 1he older girl's hands produce the same lack of joints, the stillness of the fingers, their bulbous appearance. However, similar to the ness of the older girl's face, on the young · subtle progression from cheek to chin and neck, with the absence of outlinlng, is as · any part of the painting strives to be. Thoughobjectsinnaturearenotso their outer boundaries as Manet is about his paintings, there is something about nique that gives more of a feeling oflife than a painting rife with outlines and 1he fluidity of his changes in color and suggest movement, things that are deed, these girls look as though theywere by a photographer rather than posed and ated about by a painter, which seems to Manet wanted � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 12 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keene, Cathy (Editor in Chief) McCracken, Ian (Executive Editor) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol XXV Issue 17 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-01-27 Description An account of the resource Volume XXV, Issue 17 of The Gadfly. Published January 27, 2004. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. 25 #17 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Subject The topic of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/1b3bae69c82c368e533a39c46eff5078.pdf 3ca4cdd6bccafa3d2eda99d6177949c5 PDF Text Text THE GADFLY The St. John} College Student Week!Y Volume XXV, Issue 18 AnnapoliJ; Maryland February 3, 2004 Phenomenology of the Absurd A Humorous Dialectic by Ian McCracken and Joe Method Executive Editor and Staff Writer 1vfessrs. Method and McCracken ought to be working on their senior essays. Instead, they have spent much time and effort working out the following systematic account of humor. Is this funny? Is it a joke? Or are they stupid? Maybe a little evil? They don't know. Or do they? Perhapsyou will come to know in the final moments of the dialectic. Perhaps, by reading this, you have become a participant in their joke. How do you feel about this? There are 17 moments in the dialectic of Funny, which is the development (or the coming-into-being) of the Absurd. Please recall that each concrete moment contains within itself (through an inward shinini,) the moments of which it is a sublation. Thus, one must ensure that the moments, as logically separated, are not held in a merely exter11al relation to the other, but rather are facing 011e '4/fother within that selfsame concrete unity_:the newfou11d-immediate Joke. Together, the . :_:_moments (the definitions of the Joke and ':their determinate negations) and their pass::~g-in_to-each-other and sublation into the '\newfound-immediate constitute the .rystem of DIALECTIC OF FUNNY-that is, the ;;i!lbsurd in its concrete unity. 0 ; §1 The Mundane makes the beginnlng, because it existence as well as the undetermined, immediate. Mundane is. Things just are. Things they ought to be because they are as they be. Is this hard to understand? Don't Sid Phipps works hard to clear away the snow. Some of us wish he wouldn't. Not that we're not grateful; we just like to sleep. Mr. Phipps probably does too, come lo think of it. See? Everybody winsl How to Close the College by Cathy Keene Editor-in-Chief Between recent bad weather conditions and last week's actual and rumored College closings, many students and staffmembers alike are wondering who makes the final cancellation decision when the snow and ice become just too dangerous to ignore. After personally partaking in several of these mid-week arguments over possible class cancellations, I made it my mission to find out who was responsible for ending my snowday fi..111 and making me go to language in the morning. Thefirstthingllearnedwas that Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft actually has nothing to do with closing the College; studen!s--<juickly dispel this vicious rumor, and leave the poor man alone during snowstorms. It is actually Treasurer Bud Lecture Review, page 5 Billups' decision to cancel classes. (E.ditorS Note: This infarmatio11 is sul:y'ect to cha11ge, as I rece11t(y learned that Mr. Billups is cum11t/y i11 the process of semi-retiring from his duties as Treasurer. His parltime job will now i11clude being an overseer qf both the A11napolis and Santa Fe catnpt1ses. To better ft1!fl!I this responsibility, Mr. Billt1ps will be sharing a11 office i11 Mel/011 Hall with Vice President Jtjf Bishop, who also helps to ma11age both campuses, starli11g this week. Until a committee decides on hi:S perma11e11t replacement, Mr. Steve LJ11hard will be acting as the College Treasurer. Tberefare, at this time, at!Y i11Jormatio11 co11cerni11g Mr. Bill11ps' dttties ntqy be applied to M;; Li11hard.) lvfr. Billups typically checks the weather conditions around his ncighborhood and listens to evening forecasts before going to bed. If the Closing College continued on page 4 Brain 'leasers, page 9 �'"fHE ~GADFLY Editor-in-Chief Cathy Keene Executive Editor Ian McCracken Production Manager A&E Editor Shoshana Goldstein Anderson Tallent Sports Editor Inside News lv!ike Malone Mary Townsend Outside News Hayden Brockett Contributing to this Issue Nick Colten Erikk Geannikis Robin Hugens Joseph Method Charlie Pashayan John Peterson Leo Pickens Dave Prosper Sasha Robins Dan Schwartz Beth Siekiera Jen Silgals Missy Skoog Ben Strickland lvfichael Sullivan Lauta Traina Ryan \Tarnurn Webster Ye Founded in 1980, the Gadf/y is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St. John's Santa Fe campus. Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s)and do not necessarilly represent the opinions of the Gadfb1 staff. 'l'he Garfffy reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and thought-provoking newspaper which circumstances at St. John's permit. Letters of 200 \Vords or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit. Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most cases. 1'he Ga1f/y is not obligated to publish all submissions and will not print anonymous submissions except under special circumstances. Deadline: Sunday at noon, unless permission for a delay is granted in advance. Submissions will be accepted as long as they are legibly \Vritten, but typed copies, diskettes, and e-mail submissions arc greatly preferred. Please e-mail submissions to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com. 2 Gadfly Mailbox Questions Concerning Marriage of a union between a man, a woman, and another woman. 11tls so-called "steamy RachelJacob-Leah triangle" however is inaccurate, however, as all students who've completed the Dear Gadfly, The real question conceming homosexual first week of sophomore year know. Rather, it relationships is not whether the state should was a union for the procreation of children legally recognize them, but whether it is pos- between a man, a woman, that woman's sister, sible for homosexuals to be married. 111is ques- and two of their slave-girls. By failing to provide a complete account of tion is best looked at by examining the followthe family, Max Kronberg and his anonymous ing questions: Are a man and a woman the same? If not, co-author neglected their duty as advice columhow are they different? Why are they different? nists to provide their readers with guidance Do these differences contribute to them hav- from the more than 4,000 year-old tradition of ing different roles? If the relationship between which they are heirs. How can we ever expect two people of the same sex is different from young people to become morally upright adults the relationship between two people of the when such exemplars are not held up fo_r emuopposite sex, why is there a desire to equate lation? Is it really any wonder that people today them by calling them both marriage? \Xlhat is have such confused and ungodly notions conthe purpose of sex? Can procreation be sepa- cerning love and marriage? rated from sexual intercourse? \Xlhat is the conI suspect that most allegedly pious men sequence of separating procreation from sex? nowadays would refuse to marry the woman Is sexual intercourse solely for the sake of plea- they love, simply because they mistakenly spent sure a denial of a fundamental aspect of the their wedding night having intercourse with people involved? Does any one person deserve her sister. Furthermore, how many so-called to have a child? What does a child deserve and religious women would so respect their whose responsibility is it to give this to him? husband's God-given command to "be fruitDoes a child have the right to be the fruit of an ful and multiply" that they would offer them act of love? Does a child have the right to be the reproductive capacity of their raised by a mother and a father? Does a child handmaidens? 'lery few, I hnagine. Recently, President George W Bush has said have the right to live in a loving household in which the basic necessities are provided? Does that he would be willing to support an amenda child given up for adoption have the same ment to the U.S. Constitution in order to derights as a child born to a married man and fend traditional notions of marriage. As he is a godly man, I am somewhat surprised by the woman? President's description of marriage between "a Sincerely, man and a woman" (emphasis added). It only Robin Hugens goes to show just how far modem innovaMissy Skoog tions have perverted our sacred institutions that even good men like I'vlr. Bush end up promoting ideas at odds with those in The Holy Bible. If only Justice Antonin Scalia were in a position to meet with the President and remind him of the importance of not using evolving Dear Gadfly, standards to interpret our great texts. It's a re~-<> Thus far I'd been able to keep myself above shame that the Bush Administration is a liti~- -, the fray, but an utterly shameful display of gant in a number of current Supreme Court_:: ignorance in last week's issue compels me to cases, making private meetings between Justice: weigh in on the latest controversy to occupy Scalia and senior members of the Administrll"' ,, the pages of this paper. The controversy in tion unetliical. Furthermore, Justice Scalia could question is of course that of homosexual have made helpful suggestions to the Presi_: marriage, and the offensive writing, not sur- dent regarding specific provisions for the De~-­ prisingly, being]ews Clues. fense of Marriage Amendment. The authors of that column depicted the Since the Justice is unable to offer any sug:, family of the Patriarch Jacob as one consisting gestions, I will offer my own modest propos ' Taking a Stand for Traditional Family Values . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . ' . . . . . . . First, I think that the amend1nent should Is it to brag that\ve made it through the concert, holiday meal or extended family gathering). Baoverturn all the individual state bigamy laws, as one might brag having made it through sur- sically what I am saying is that it would not thereby allowing modern-day Jacobs to marry gery without shedding a single tear? take an extended period of time for a few their Rachels, even after they've consummated 11y two favorite composers are people to deplete tl1e supply. their union witl1 Leah. As the la\v stands, a Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Forget the All I ask is that the dishes be brought back man in that position would have to get a di- music tutorial for a moment; forget the science to be put into circulation again, not right away, vorce in order to marry the woman he's worked of music. Let's make this as simple as possible: though they would go through an extensive so hard to possess. Do we really want the gov- their music makes me feel good. Go to the mu- cleaning/ srutltizing process first. This process ernment encouraging this sort of immorality? sic library and listen to the record of would retire about ten percent of the items for Secondly, I think that this new amendment Rachmanlnoff's Vespers, for instance (I say the vanous reasons. ought to contain a partial repeal of the 13th record, because it is the only completely satisfacIn closing I enjoyed your passage greatly. Amendment, allowing married women to own tory recording I have discovered). Once you lis- All I ask is that when dishes get taken they get handmaidens. I think that we can all agree that ten to it, perhaps you will Wlderstand what I brought back. a complete repeal of the abolition of slavery mean when I say that, when listening to it, I feel Sincerely, would be immoral, not to mention unneces- like I am having sex with Rachmaninof£ That is Ryan Vatnum sary--especially if the President is able to per- the greatest compliment I can pay to a comGenetal Manager suade Congress to enact his "guest worker" poser, for sex is at once a physical and a spiritual Parkhutst Dining Services program. experience. It is a mental and physical union beLastly, I think that the $1.5 billion that the tween two people with common values. My President proposes to spend this year in order compliment to Rachmaninoff means that I feel to promote marriage among low-income like I experience his passion, his energy, his mind, couples should be made into an annual expen- through the plysica/ medium of Ills music. diture. I believe that the money ought to be lvfusic is a translation of the mind into the The ongoing debate in your pages on the given away as grants to modem-day Rachels physical medium of solllld in order tl1at it be subject of marriage.unfortunately serves to whose families might not be able to provide experienced by the listener as an end in itsel£ highlight the deficiencies in the Program's them with handmaidens as wedding gifts. In Either 1\llanbrook and Bartok failed to trans- course of logic. Should \Ve not have learned addition to supporting traditional family val- late their minds into sound or they succeeded. I to argue by now? Too many issues and ues, by allowing our Rachels to rent (and if my would guess that they failed. \Xlhy? Just ask this points have been presented to address each proposed amendment is ratified, ow11) their own question: if they succeeded, what does that im- one in turn; luckily, however, not all of them Zilpahs, this wise and compassionate use of ply about their minds? are really relevant to the question. the people's money will help to stimulate the Sincetely; As far as I'm concerned, the real issue is economy and provide exiting new possibilities Daniel Schwartz over the definition of marriage. A syllogism for the entrepreneurial spirit of the American cannot be constructed without defming its people. premises; so before we can decide whether Sincerely, such-and-such a marriage or kind of marNick Colten riage is or should be moral, or legal, or a Dear Ms. Janicki: good idea, anyone entering the argument I thoroughly enjoyed your article, "Explor- should be expected to provide a definition ing for Errant Eating Equipment'' in the most first. And it seems that the real question is recent edition of the Gaq(fy. I compromise with not, "Is homosexual marriage a good idea?" Dear Gadfly, my guests all the time on this issue. I also but "Is homosexual marriage possible? Gillian Brockett's concert review left me rather understand that through day-to-day operations Does the idea even make any sense?" _confused. Here is what I gather from her review: utensils do get thrown away, destroyed, lost, The debate arises because there's talk of the music was memorable; the music was dissotaken by extraterrestrial civilizations for study, the state redefining marriage to include ho, nant. The music was pleasant; the music was and generally; are not available to my guests mosexual relationships. It is possible, of _:_-c~cophonous. The music was relaxing; the muwhen supply runs low. The quoted numbers course, for the state to do such a thing. It is ·,:.~ -,,5-1cwas like an acid trip. of missing implements are actual new pur- possible, of course, for the state to redefme ·- : , . I do hope I am not alone in regarding an acid chases of the said items. To date this year I human nature to include ducks. The gov~('-'.:;-:tl'tp as an undesirable and unpleasant state. I also have bought 300 bowls, 400 knives, 400 ernment can do all sorts of wacky things. ,_:>-:::~ope I am not alone in thinking that there is spoons, 400 forks and 720 cups (120 plates are The people who \Vant gay marriage think :< ::~oniethlngwrongwith music-if one can call it currently on order). This is not unusually high that they are fighting for a civil rights issue :;\;:-::tl,iat--that literally hurts one's ears. due to the amount of meals we serve on any like suffrage or desegregation. But the people ;: _ -'the deeper question on which an evaluation given day and we are in the second half of the who don't want gay marriage think that the ·:~:~s concert rests is: what is the purpose of school year. whole question is like Caligula and his , ic? Why do \Ve attend so many concerts at To put this into perspective, most house- horse-he can call it a general all he wants, s college? Is it to find a non-chemical substi- holds have service sets for 16 (minus those but the darn thing is still just a horse. foran acid trip? Is it to appear erudite? Is it one or hvo plates that get broken and your 0 woff one's musical knowledge afterwards? mother doesn't find out about it until the next Marriage continued on page 4 Analyzing Marriage in a Logical Manner More on the Missing Dining Ware Is an Acid Trip a Good Thing? . ' . . . ' ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' .. ' . . . . ' ' THE GADFLY . 3 �Marriage continued from page 3 Can gay people experience love for each other and for children? Sure-who ever really denied it? I can love my friends of the same sex, too, as well as other people's children. But marriage according to the traditional definition-the definition accepted by nearly everyone at nearly every point in history-is not just about love and caring but about nature, and especially the natural complementarity of the sexes. Nearly everyone also knows that while men and women are very different, and that these differences often lead to conflicts and misunderstandings, they also are the preconditions for the sort of relationship that marriage is, as opposed to friendship. But let's leave the warm fuzzies out of it. The real point is that only a sexual relationship between one man and one woman is fruitful, that is, naturally producing children. Although a gay couple can love or raise children, it cannot have children. The children are not those of the couple, but of one member and someone else, or of some other couple. All this talk of foster and adoptive homes and the best way to care for certain children is talk of how to better the situation of children already out of their natural and best context-being raised by their own loving parents. Should gay people be allowed to adopt children? What does that have to do with anything? Gay people cannot haw children, not because of the government or an oppressive society, but because the biological preconditions for a natural human famil}~ According to the traditional definition of man1age, marriage is about sexuality and the family as dictated by nature. Why don't we change our definition of marriage? Why don't we change our definition of human nature? We can call ducks and horses human beings and admit them into society; but then some members of society will be rational and functional and some will ... still be ducks. We can call certain gay couples "married," but these particular marriages ,vilJ not have and not be what other marriages do and are, and neither society nor state can change that. Bringing up the divorce rate, abuse rate, heterosexual infertility problems, personal feelings and experience, etc., are all beside the point. The fact that many human beings are irrational, born mentally defective, or choose not to exercise their reason does not erase the difference between humans and ducks. Nice and happy gay relationships might be nicer and happier than cruddy marriages, but nice and happy homosexuals do not thereby trans- 4 late into married homosexuals, unless we have already altered our definition. And isn't that what the argument is about in the first place? The DC Budgets are now due Friday, I\1iss Skoog and lvliss Hugens have preFebruary 13, one week extended from the sented a definition of marriage. It is, at least, original deadline announced in my letter to not their own, but in line with the accepted you and in last week's Gadf(y. Now that you definition in our society until extremely rehave another week, there are no excuses. cently and most societies throughout hisPlease send them to me in campus mail, or tory, derived from human nature and the give them to me in person. Lend me some common experience of (at least) '\vestem civisugar, I am your neighbor. lization. They have been attacked, but few of the attacks even tried to show faults in Erikk M. Geannikis DC Secretary their definition. They wanted a new definiPinkney 209 tion. One or two alternatives have been suggested, arbitrary and without foundation Closing College continued from front page except for personal preference. Perhaps homosexuals should be given more privileges weather is expected to get worse during the night, by the government and perhaps not. But to 1vlr. Billups wakes up at 5 am and drives on maclaim the government is even competent to jor and side roads all throughout Annapolis. If change the definition of mardage is already he finds the roads safe for travel, he allows classes to beg the question, to assume that mar- to go on as usual. If the roads are unsafe, or the riage is simply a societal construct without snow or ice accumulation is getting worse, :Mr. roots in human nature. Is homosexual mar- Billups contacts Assistant Dean Judy Seeger. She riage a good idea? If the word still means then notifies the Switchboard, the Security Ofanything, homosexual marriage doesn't fice, the St. John's College website, and various make sense even as a concept unless emp- television and radio stations about the closing. tied of all meaning. And for the govern- "We typically try to make a decision as close to 9 ment to erase, by fiat, the difference between am as possible," said Ivlrs. Seeger. "Now that men and women, between "relationships" more staffmembers and tutors are living farther and marriage, between rational animals and away from the College, we have to cancel school ducks, seems unwarranted, and perhaps more often. You just never know how the dangerous to our society as a society of in- weather is going to get." For information on a particular College cantelligent human beings and of families formed by nature. Anyway, I haven't heard cellation, check the Switchboard (ext 0), Security (ext. 2000), College website (wwwsjca.edu), Chanany good arguments for it yet. Sincerely, nel 11, FOX45-TV, WB54, and radio stations Michael Sullivan A'02 1090 am orl 500 am. Attention Club Archons SCI Forum Classroom Construction: On the Wqy Classes are Put Together This Thursday, February 5 Lunchtime-Private Dining Room All students and tutors are invited. Copies of the original letter, "Pensees on the 'Bad' Class Bug" by Justin Lanier and Jillian Sico may be found in the Library. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lecture Review: Introducing Introductions by Webster Ye Staff Writer Last Friday, the College was presented ,vith an introduction to lvfaimonides (1v1oses ben Maimon) by Ralph Lerner of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. .I-Ie addressed the three major works of Maimonides: Commentary on the Mishnah, Mishneh Torah, and Guide for the Perplexed. Mr. Lerner concentrated on the fact that although 1\1aimonides is known and studied principally for his role as a codifier of Jewish law, he was far more influential in perpetuating and keeping intact the "divine mysteries" that ancient rabbis had purposely concealed from the people. Mr. Lerner then attempted to reveal the brilliant mind of lvfaimonides and his method of thinking by analyzing and exploring the introductions to his three major works. The lecture began with a "sketch" of I\1aimonides' life. J\1aimonides was born in Cordoba, Spain-at that time under the rule of the Almohad Caliphate. Shortly afterwards, he was uprooted from Spain and after many resettlements, settled in Cairo, Egypt. He was not only a rabbi (a teacher in the Jewish faith), but also a doctor and a leader of the Jewish community in Cairo. Mr. Lerner explained that by 1100 i\D, the Jewish faith faced several major problems: the language in which many of the definitive writings were written, Aramaic, Was no longer widely spoken nor understood; the Jews, separated by the Diaspora, \Vere rapidly losing religious cohesion due to their lack of understanding of the ancient laws and judicial interpretations; and the interpretations on the Torah (the Mhhnah) were of themselves unwieldy and fraught with too much information on particular cases. As such, Maimonides began to take on a monumental task of first comn1enting and offering a "study guide" to the Mishnah (the Commentary on the Mishnah), ;-;<;;-';'uQeventually a thorough review of all as- pects of Jewish law with his even more imp1·essive reworking of the Torah-the Mishneh Torah. The Comme11tao1 011 the Mishnah was addressed principally to the rabbis-that is, those who were most concerned with interpreting the interpretations (the Talmud-the compilation of the Mishnah or original com- mentary on the Torah, and the Gemara-a commentary on the Mishah). Maimonides with his use of "muscular I-:Iebrew" was able to shed new light on the commentaries by taking oral traditions of the Mishnah and the Gemara and setting them down in Arabic (the common language for Jews at that time). In this work, Maimonides attempted to present the ethical decisions in the Ta/mud in a simplified and "understandable" manner, so that the ne\V judges would be able to comport themselves in a "moderate" fashion. This attempt to "develop sharp-sightedness" among the judges apparently succeeded-J\1r. Leiner felt that this 'vork was a preview of the tremendous legal acumen that I\1aimonides was to really show in his Mishneh Torah. J\1aimonides' commentary on .the Torah (or Mishnch Torah) was absolutely breath- taking. In fourteen books, Maimonides organized all of the Je'\vish commandments into topical areas and then grouped the commandments for different areas of Jewish life-so that any question on any portion of life could be answered by the works of lviaimonides. As opposed to prior rulings involving only particular aspects of an action, this work was written in a universal manner so that all 1nembers of Jewish faith could understand what was required of them. Mr. Lerner likened the Mishneh Torah to Aristotle's Plrysics and Metaphysics as an example of rational systemization, and superb philosophical inquuy. Yet, for I\ifr. Lerner, the highlight ofI\1aimonides' works was his Guide for the Perplexed. This guide, which Maimonides had intended as a simplified guide to the "divine mysteries" of the Jewish faith's many parables and homilies, eventually became a work intended for only the special individuals with unique intellectual capacities. This work, as opposed to the prior two, was intended only as a work for the elite teachers of the Je\vish faith. Maimonides' sole goal was to retain the divine mysteries in the homilies and parables and preserve them for posterity. This work was not meant for the public-and to achieve that, I\1aimonides had to use the very same methods of parables and homilies in order to preserve the integrity of the divine truths present in these mysteries. The "Introduction to Maimonides" was very informative, especially for a person not acquainted with Maimonides prior to this lecture. Mr. Lerner was constrained to offer only brief sketches of the very full-bodied works due to the time limitations; yet he succeeded wonderfully in presenting his interpretations of the interpretations of I\1aimonides clearly and in an organized fashion. 1\lthough J\1aimonides is not studied in the Program, Mr. Lerner certainly made a compelling case for why someone should investigate further this extraordinary figure. . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 5 �Phenomenology continued from front page §2 The Mundane meets its other with the subversion of its expectation. The Mundane is-not. The Mundane meets with its negation, in the Not-Mundane (which is not to say, the extra-mundane). What the Mundane ought not to be, is. And this is wrong. But equally it is not-wrong, because it is. The 1v1undane and the Not-Mundane confront each other in mutual negation without hope of resolution. 1bis confrontation can be demonstrated in picture-thought: A man walks down the street. I-le does 11ot see the ba11a11a peel. He slips andfalls. The man should see the banana peel and avoid it. Because the man does not see the banana peel, he does what ought-not-be-done, namely,fal/s dr!wn. Suddenly, what ought not be, is. How does one respond? Example: The ma11falls down. We laugh. Should we have cried? I-le appears hurt. §5 The sublation of the Gag and the Serious is the Sarcastic. The Gag and the Serious are contained as moments in the Sarcastic. The Sarcastic is the Joke. In oth.erwords, the Sarcastic is a Joke because it is Serious. The disjunct is between what ought to be funny and what-is funny. That disjunct is itself funny, and §7 The sublation of the Sarcastic and theAdualjy-Serious is the Inscrutable, which we come to know as the Cryptical!JSarcastic. The Cryptically Sarcastic is the Joke. The disjunct is between what ought to be sarca~11c and what is sarcastic. Our inability to deode shunts us up to a glorious ne\V stage of the Funny. Example: The ma11 lies there. l"Ou laugh. He does 11otget up. He may be dead. You cry. The man spdngs to his feet and takes a boiv. Now you laugh. He gotyou! AlSo: l"Ottrfoend callsyou an idiot and then glares atyou. You laugh. He continues to glare and sqys, I hateyou and wish you were dead You cry. He laughs. Now, you laugh. §8 The C1yptically Sarcastic seeks its limit, and end to the Joke, which can only be found in an act of submission by one of the two parties, an act that neither party is likely to allow. It is a battle to the death. The Cryptically Sarcastic is the notJoke. So he's bellg inscrutable, right? Maybe not. After all,Jokes are funnier the longer they continue, right? But he could have ended the] oke without your know~ ingit--or, worse yet, the Joke might never have existed in the first place. How do you know? More importantly, how do §3 The sublation of the lvfundane and the Not-Mundane is the Gag. The Gag manifests itself in laughter. The Gag is the Joke. The disjunct is the Joke. In the dialectical moment, it is revealed that the Not-Mundane is the limit of the Mundane; that is, the Not-Mundane is the determinate negation of the 11undane. The Joke is -a newfound-immediacy that contains both the Mundane and the Not-Mundane as inwardly shining moments within it. We recognize the disparity between Our previous conceptions ofwhat ought-to-be and wh~t­ is. At this point the dialectic (which concerns itself with irony generally) diverges into two separate strands, only one of which is taken up ~1ere. Their distinction is characterized by the choice: to cry or to laugh? The former option c~aracterize~ Dramatic irony. The latter charactemes Comedic irony, and is the proper response to the J~ke. You laugh at the man who falls down, because he dtd not see the banana peel but also: when confronted with the question, 'Wlzy did the chicken cross the road?"you laugh at the unexpectedfy inadequate answer; namefy: to get to the other side. §4 The Gag is just as well the not-funny. The Gag is confronted with its other (theS~ous). The Gag is the not-Joke. The Senous opposes itself to the Gag, and yet contains withinitself the Mundane and the not-Mundane facing each other in a state of inward tension. %at's go- you respond? Example: The man lies there. You laugh. He does not get $tp. He mqy be dead You try. He does not move. What do you do? Get help? is in fact a higher, more concretely and inwardly ri.ch stage of the Funny. In its historical develop- you. You laugh. He continues to glare and sq;1s, l hate ment these moments are generally unfolded in you alld wishyou were dead l"Ou cry. He gets up and time,'such that the presentation of the Serious heads far the door. §9 precedes the disclosure of the Joke. The S arcasticalfy Harmonious, beillg the sublaExample: The ma11 falls. The man faked injury. He springs to hisfeet and boJJJs. Also: l:'Our bestfri.end tion of the Inscrutable and the Scrutable, is, because of its inward differentiation, a far richer callsyou an idiot. He doesni mean it. Fu111ry. stage of the Absurd. This stage m~s the first §6 The Sarcastic is just as well the not-Joke. Ne- qualification of the relations of subiect and ob-_ ject, Lord and Bondsman, teller and audience._ gation. Because the teller of the Joke, from all appearThe Sarcastic is the not-Joke. We do not know whether the Sarcastic is, in fact, the Sarcas- ances, is unwilling ever to bring the Joke to fruition, the audience must either resign themselves tic or the not-Sarcastic (theActualfy-Setious). We to permanent alienation from the teller, orenterare rendered uncomfortable by our inability to into the Joke themselves, thereby crea~g a state distinguish between the two. It is as if the notMundane has reasserted itself. Will there be con- of mutual recognition or reciprocal action. The Sarcastically Harmonious is the Joke; sequences? Oh no. The disjunct between the life that you and yo~ Example: The manfalls. The man does 11otspring to his feet. He mqy be dead Also: Your fn'end calls Joke-partner are living and the actual :Vorl~ is _-_: Funny. The two participants in the Joke unagme ing on here? 6 Also; Your friend callsyou an idiot and then glares at you an idiot and then glares atyou. This mqy be the end ef a beautiful relationship. "vhat an outside observer might think, and laugh at that observer. Example; The 1lian lies there. }'Ou sq;~ Are you httrl? He does not get up. He mqy be dead You .rum111on tears to your ryes. He does not move. You ironical/y call a11 ambula11ce and sqy, God, l hope he makes it through. 111 the ambulance, he sits up and )l{)U highfive. Also: l"Our jn'end callsyou a11 idiot a11d thenJ!!ares atyou. You callhim a moron and spit Oil the table. Your friend heads far the door. l"Ou shout efter him, Good n'ddance, nitwit! Yott sit in silence, Ji1mi11g.' Your friend bounds through the door with a big smile 011 his face. You both laugh. §10 The Sarcastically Harmonious is confronted with its negation, a struggle far meaning. The Sarcastically Harmonious is the not-Joke. We desire some kind of understanding regarding what kind of thing is going on. There is a terror of dissolution of one or both of the parties--the Joke runs the risk of crashing back down to the level of the 11un- <lane, i.e. there will be consequences. One of the parties may be left holding the Joke, while the other party is confronted with reality. Example: ]11 the ambulaJice,you watch as the EIVITs i11serl an IV needle into the man} arm. Another EMT is wanning up the defibrillator. l'Ou mutter, 'Game} over, " mall. He does !lot move. Also: You sit in silence, Jumi11g: Moments later, a bdck sails through the window, with a note attached nadi11g: "I willgetyou. " §11 Sublation of Sarcastically Hrumonious and the struggle for meaning is the Perverse. The Perverse is the Joke. That one might carry out a Gag far enough for its consequences to significantly affect the future is, in a wholly new way, the Joke. The struggle for meaning and the Sarcastically Harmonious are contained as moments within the Perverse. When the Joke does not end, tl1e struggle for meaning results in a lack of meaning-thus, the consequences of tl1e Joke, which used to be the limit of the Joke (e.g. when someone is hurt, the Joke is over), are folded into the Joke itself; thus, by t11e unwillingness of the participants to end the Joke, it becomes richer still. Example: The man takes the shock! Then he raises hisfist i11 the air and screams 'awesome'! l"Ott hi,JfJfive. The ma11 fatizts, and his heart-monitor jlat!ines. The EMT shakes his head You laugh. I ca11 ~believe we did that! You think. U7e role! Also: A bn'ck sails through the window a11d hits you in the head, with a 11ote attached mading: 'I will getyou. ' The note is written in blood l"Ourfn"e11d reenters the room and sits down in the chair oppositeyou. Yott shake yourftiendS hand, congratulati11g him 011 his 'wackiness: Then you pass out. §12 The Perverse, and the willingness of the participants in the Joke to deny the Mundane, is confronted with its negation, that is, the Feehiig ef Shame. The Perverse is the not-Joke. You feel shame for laughing. Don't you? I mean, it's really sick. You think, Did we just do that? What Phenomenology continued on page 8 Thoughts on Marriage by John Peterson Staff Writer A man may do what he likes with his soul, whether he wants this sovereignty or not. His body is protected by his country, which also protects his contracts with ot11er men and grants him certain rights. It may take his freedom from him, or these tights from him; it may throw him in jail or feed him to lions._ But his soul is free. He may be married, to God, to a woman, to a man. He may marry himself to hatred, lust, or greed. 'Whatever he does in his soul concerns the state but could never be governed by it. The union of two others, a man and a woman, can be accomplished without the sanction of the church or state. The same is true for a man and a man, or a Woman and a woman. While these unions ~eempirically different, in that they have ilifferent component parts, i.e. man-woman, rttan-man, woman-woman, they are in one 'fespect the same: a human-to-hwnan conhection. As to the psychological differences -::\-: -J~f these relationships, it does not concern :::~:~estate to cite these explicitly, but my inclic:;;-{/L-~_(ltionis to say, men and women are differ<<f,::'-~~t._ and different combinations of them ,;;;\\'ill produce different things, both empiri(babies) and psychologically. The state has an interest in the nature of these relationships. Incest relationships, for instance, are not in the interest of the state. Nor are manboy relationships, or man-girl, or woman-boy. The state makes empirical observations and makes laws in accordance with them. Further examples: polygamy, prostitution, and promiscuity. The latter case is one that is unenforceable and inconsistent with the country's laws. However, we do allow the government to sponso! information programs, for instance, about abstinence. We don't allow adultery laws, but we do allow state-promotion of monogamous, opposite-sex relationships. There is a difference between the la\vs, and their supporting arguments-let's call them "preludes." In our case the preludes to our laws are unwritten. Laws touching on morality have tradition as their preludes. Homosexual sex is not illegal; it is not even condemned by the state, in the way that nnprotected sex is, for example. Gay people are a part of society; there are "gay" clubs and "gay" magazines and people who are defined simply as "gay." There are also "gay rights." Strangely dependant on gay rights is the belief that being gay is something that one is bom with. Tbis is designed to transform what was once a "lifestyle choice" into something analogous to skin color; "gay rights" then becomes like "civil rights," a just, hard fought and hard won struggle for equality by a long oppressed class of people. But this is laughable. The cause for gay marriage, the number one issue for the gay lobby today, is but weakly supported by gay people themselves. This is not to say that they do not support the idea, but that the support is tepid. What plight is there in the politically unrecognized love between same-sex partners? What misery? What shame? "When state courts all around the country begin to tear down and restructure their marriage laws to allow for gay "marriage" or "civil unions," the losses and gains for our society Thoughts continued on page 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . 7 �The Perverse Universalized is the Joke. teenth level, by God! You're some kinda funny. You've given up on morality. You live for the That tum towards Earnestness and Sinceri(Jiwas kind of people are we? My friend is now crippled J oke--the Joke is what-is. Morality might exist, really just you shoving your innate sense of the for life! Sure, it was funny at the time, but was if anyone could ever escape the Joke, but they're Ironic do\vn into the depths of your mind. What it? Or are we just stupid? trapped in it, so what's the use? I'm a Joke, you need is a reconciliation. The World may be a Example: The mall faints, and his heart-Jnonitor you're a Joke, everyone's a Joke. You and I as such big Joke, but it's still the World. Example: DiJg11sted 1vith yourself, yott enter a Jlatlines. The EMT shakes his head 1-0u laugh, then don't exist; only the Joke is. The disjunction lies tJpe/ve-step program. 1.7att add a thirteenth s!ep as ajoke question that laughter. Yott feel shame, and prqy to bet\veen the hopelessness of morality and the and inadver/ellt!J' save millions ef lives. l7a11 co11sider: )'Our maker far forgiveness. Also: You shake your inevitable quest for it friend's hand, congratulating him 011 his 'wackiness.' Example: At these bars, you drink yourself 1i1to U7as it ajoke? l'Cs. And 110. Also: Yott realize that Thenyou pass out. Your last thought is, I a1n a11 idiot. oblivion. You h'ke this idea: 'drinkyourself into oblivion'; you have neglected your theatrical ambitions far too §13 it reminds you ef a movie;1011 once sam l7au chuckle. /mtg, a11d audition far Cats. l7au think, 011/y idiots The sublation of the Perverse and the FeelAlso: You ay aloud, '117/!Y is life so sad? 1171!)1? Oh? audition far Cats; then, )'Otl j,tt rave reviews far your U11derstated'portrqyal ef Rum Tum Tigger. You real ing of Shame is the Perverse Consciousness. The IJ7!zy?" and break into a song-and-dance number. iZ! in mtrospect that the character had hidden depths. self-awareness of one's own neglect of all that is §16 I¥'hat does this all mean? _A.s unity of the subgood and pure is a realization of the disjuncThe Perverse U11iversaliZfd faces its negation, jective and objective idea, the idea is the concept tion between what one ought to be and what Hope. Hope is not a Joke. The Perverse Universalized is a not-Joke. of the idea, for which the idea, as such, is the obone is. The Perverse Consciousness is the Joke. When everything is a Joke, the poverty of the ject, and for which the object is itself-an object You think, ''I am that which I ought not be." situation proves the existence of moral serious- in which all determinations have come together. A little hopelessness creeps in here. 1'ourimmoral ness. 1bis desperate yearning for the lviundane This unity, therefore, is the Absohfle Tritth a11d behavior is the Joke. Some might call this Self causes the Mundane to reassert itself entirely over All Truth, it is the idea that thinks itself and at Hatnd, but that moment is yet to co1ne. 'I11e the Joke-there are no Jokes anymore. (Tills this stage, moreover, it is as thinking, i.e. as logjcal disjunct lies between the idealized self and the corresponds to the doctrine of immediate per- idea. 'TI1at is,J oke is Life, and Life is Joke. End of story. self as one has come to know it through one's ception). despicable-but funny-actions. Example: You like this idea: 'drink yourself into Example: 17Dufeel shame, andprqy tojl()llr maker oblivion'; it remti1ds)'OU ef a movieyou once saw. Disfar forgiveness. Your 'heartfelt' words become the gusted with your.reIf far being so shallow, )'Otl enter a The Gadfly Presents ... 1 punchline to your favorite story to tell at bars. _!\lso: twelve-step program. Also: Yott cry aloud, Wf:?Y is life 17au pass out. Your last thought is, I am an idiot. so sad? rV!zy? Oh? IVl~p?" and bmak i11to a so11g-a11dLater, efteryou recover from your head traun1a, you da11ce number. You realize that; 1u have 11eg/ededyour o give your friend a shard ofyour skull to 1:vear as a theatrical ambitions far too long, a11d feel like trying Jnedallion. again. You audition far Cats. Phenomenology continued from page 7 Fun Facts! §14 §17 The Perverse Consciousness is confronted by its negation, that is, Se!fHatmd. The Perverse Consciousness is a notJoke. Butwait-this is you we're speaking about! You're the sick one here, not everyone elset You're the only one who's given up on ideals. What's it feel like, being a Joke? It feels bad, don't it? Example: The 'heartfelt' words ofyour prq;•er become the punchliHe to your favorite story to tell at bars. There, you drink yourse!f into oblivion. Also: Later, qfter;1ou recover from your head trauma, you give your friend a shard efyour skull to wear as a n;edallion. That shard was a piece of you, a11dyou YI 1 never, ever get it back. You cry aloud, Wl:?Y is life so sad?" The sublation of the Perverse UniversaliZfdand Hope is theAbso/ute Joke. 'TI1erefore, the Joke is the not-Joke (the Wor!a). The disjunction lies between thought and feeling. Inner and outer become one. In the fifteenth moment, there was only the Joke. In the sixteenth moment, there was only Earnestness. Between these two, in their connection, in their tmity, lies true existence; that is,J oke and Earnestness were the two sides of the Absolute Joke. Because we are reduced to a tautology, A=A, we are equally forced to say that the Joke is the not-Joke, and that both are contained as moments within the Absolute Joke, which therefore encapsulates the \Vorld. The Absolute Joke is the Joke. When you thought that everything was a Joke, you weren't very moral, were you? You were kind of a creep. TI1e phrase, ''Consequences be damned!" had no meaning for you, because there \Vere no consequences outside the Joke-such a thing could not exist. But when you were Earnest, you were kind of a sap. It would be different if you didn't have a sense of humor, but as we know, you do, in spades. You can laugh at Jokes on the fif- §15 The sublation of the Perverse Consciousness and Self-Hatred is the Peroerse U11iversaliZfd. It is characterized by a complete acceptance of the unreality of the Mundane. The Mundane collapses into its opposite, the Joke. The Perverse has inco.tporatedits limit and, as such, has overcome its other in an act of fratricide. 8 l . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The average bra size today is 36C. Ten years ago it was 34B. The most shoplifted book is the Bible. Humans are the only species on earth that have face-to-face sex. The animal responsible for the most human deaths worldwide is the mosquito. A "femtosecond" is one quadrillionth of a second. The hundred billionth crayon made by Crayola was Periwinkle Blue. National Pi Day is March 14, at 1:59. (3/141:59). The most popular fruits worldwide, irt order, are: 1. 1bmato 2. Banana 3. Apple 4. Orange 5. Watermelon The only place where a flag flies all day, never goes up or comes down, never flies half-mast and does not get saluted, is the moon. One in every ten people live on an island. ~There are 92 known cases of nuclear bombs lost at sea. Brain Teasers of the Week by Charlie Pashayan Staff Writer Greetings, super-sleuths! Time for this week's installment of the Gadf(y's notorious logic puzzles. Put your thinking caps on, and be prepared to take a mind-bending journey to the very edge of probability. All you have to do is figure out the perfectly reasonable justifications underlying the seemingly bizarre situations described below. If you start to get discouraged, just remember the most obvious explanation is always the best. You've Got To Be Kitten Me! Q) One time over dinner, Patrick Perjury was regaling some friends with the humorous tale of a cat he once knew that was so badly behaved that eventually the only name it would respond to was "damn it!" All the other guests snickered with delight, but Logical Lenny was not impressed. How did Lenny know that Patrick was telling a lie? A) Because no cat responds to any name, and besides, Patrick's story is just a rehash of an old Bill Cosby routine. The Sweet Tooth Q) Bargaining Barry walked a"\vay feeling like a champ after paying "only" $350 for a piece of candy. Why was he willing to pay so much for candy? A) Because she was very attractive, for a prostitute. In fact, she normally charged $400, but Barry was able to negotiate a .$50 dollar discount on the grounds that ~er name was not capitalized. Nn Shirt, No Shoes ... Q) Peter Propriety didn't remember to on any pants before going to court to on his own behalf against a charge ,,~fin,,deo:er1texposure, but this didn't hurt case one bit. Why did his sartorial scar.f fail to elicit comment? :'.A) Because Peter is from a parallel unie in which pants do not yet exist. Ce, it would be impossible for him tO ember" to wear them, and his ne·cting to do so would have no bearing on his guilt or innocence with regard to the offence of "indecent exposure," which in this universe is a term that denotes the failure to cover the top of one's head at all times when in public. Hats hadn't been invented yet either, though, and as it happens Peter is completely bald. Fortunately the jury saw this as an extenuating circumstance, and he was granted a full pardon, along with a coupon entitling him to a lifetime supply of free ice cream sundaes, effective as soon as ice cream sundaes are invented. Laughing All The Way To The Bank Q) Maureen Manslaughter works as a teller at a bank. A man wearing a ski mask and holding a gun comes up to her desk and hands her a note. She hesitates for a moment, then shoots the man in the face. What did the note say? A) "Please help me. I have become i~­ fected with a particularly virulent strain of Ebola, and the course of the disease is approaching its gruesome and inevitable conclusion. My tongue is nearly paralyzed and my vocal chords have deteriorated to the point that the only sound I can make is a kind of indecipherable subhuman gurgle, which is why I am forced to make this request in writing. Though the mask I'm wearing might seem inappropriate for July, I as- sure you that it is far more presentable than the one that lies beneath, which is to say the grizzly remains of what was once my face. I am rotting from the inside out, literally coming apart at the seams. After about 45 more minutes of excruciating pain, each passing second feeling like a lifetime of agony a thousand times more horrendous than the one before, I will explode like a viral grenade, spewing bloody shrapnel out into the populace, and thus initiating a chain reaction of infection that could decimate, indeed exterminate, the whole of civilization in a matter of months or even weeks. For the love of humanity, this must not be allowed to happen; and for the love of God, I can endure this misery no longer. I recognize that my life must end as soon as possible, but being a practicing Catholic I cannot pull the trigger myself. Hopefully though, God isn't paying too much attention to the contents of this note, and, given the apparent circumstances, my death will read more as a botched robbery attempt than an outright suicide. It is therefore up to you to save my soul, to save the life of yourself and of everyone you know, and to preserve the hope of all the future generations of mankind. You inust take the gun that I am holding (make sure to tell ·me when you get to this part of the letter) and shoot me in the face. Incidentally, you'll probably want to call down some serious bleach; and before you ask, no, I did not have sex with a monkey. Signed, I. P. Freely (no relation) PS- Tell her I love her." So, did you get them all right? If so, I'm sure you can't wait until next week's edition of Brain Teasers. If not, don't despair. Logic isn't everything; the world needs ditch diggers, too. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 9 �Thoughts continued from page 7 will be subtle. Are the laws that go ones of oppression? TI1ey \Vere laws that tacitly supported an institution with a tradition of morality and religion, but also of power and influence. "Marriage," so recognized is only one small part of our system of recognition of traditional institutions. This particular institution worked by natural forces~sexual desire, love, partnership, but also moral standards, standards that deemed homosexual sex unnatural, irreligious, and immoral. We do not (fl fl(' as arts-and-craftsy as you want, Just don't ex~ pect everyone to understand your dress made (,()Aries(March21-April19):Buy ofleftover holiday garlands. Reading of the Week: A Book of Artrageoils Prqjects by Klutz Press Reading of the Week: The Official Pokemon Handbook by Maria S. Barbo Vi'11taurus ~.§corpio (April 20-May 20): get married. rm sorry, "gay" is another empirical observation. People should be allowed to get married. 1vfen could get with men, even if they were not gay. These distinctions all become meaningless. I am not opposed to the laws being changed in this way. It is not as if it \vill destroy the Church (it is already dead in this respect). After all, I can still have the same psychological relationship -with a woman as I did before. And homosexuals could always have a marriage of this sort. But now they will be ruvgnized. As David Sedaris a i;f.rntini http:/ /www.toothpastefordinner.com legislate morality. The ultimate goal of their proposed refo1m is to make a non-moral statement that denies almost all empirical distinctions and all psychological ones (effectively making a moral statement). What's the point of that? If you are interested in reality, tb_en the gay marriage agenda is not for you. If you are inclined to make a claim about proposed changes in 1narriagelaws, don't base it on whether or not you like gay people. It has little to' do \vith marriage politics. M. F. K. Fisher BEATING FROM HERE, (October 23-Novem- Samuel Huckins. Reading of the Week: The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, }.lfichael Chesworth Ar$-Sagit~atius (November 22-De- Swimming Wonder Monkey Days by Laura Traina and Beth Siekiera cember 21): http:/ /www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/ Your mission, direct from the stars: discover a Reading of the Week: Building a Web Site For Dumn1ies by David A. Crowder, Rhonda ~d:apritmm (December22-January 19): Try a new shampoo this week. If you're not satisfied, return the product in thirty daysj and watch how the store clerks laugh and refuse to refund your money. Reading of the Week: The Hair Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Hea/tf?y, Beautiful Hair Forever by Susan Craig Scott Guly 23-August 22): At lunch the other day, someone told me about a poison that smells like almonds and can be slipped into wine without the drinker noticing. In short: beware of Reality beer. Reading of the Week: Deadly Doses: A WriterS Guide to Poisons (Howdu11it Series) by Serita Deborah Stevens, Anne Klamer .A... t)irgu JITTERY ANO WEIRO, AND !CAN HEAA 'tOUR HEAAT 21-July 22): little brighter. Reading of the Week: The Arl of Eating by Leo MAYl!E YOU SHOULD LN OFf' TllE:CX)l'FU FOR AWHILE. UTil.f D\JOf. VOOVE BUN Crowder Qune Febbies are a good source of protein, just ask the College president. Use them to supplement your Cafe Randall diet, and watch how your performance improves and everything seems a ~ by Ben Strickland, GI way to get this song out of people's heads. Reading of the Week: what? Deep down, liberal activists want you to say, gay people shouldn't be ashamed of themselves. They are the same as everyone else. 111ey are good people. This is not a question that the state, or the laws, can ever really answer for them. But this is precisely what they want, a pronouncement, once-and-for-all, that gay people are OK. The primary basis for their argument is that the government should not (May 21-June 20): Cash- ews are the nuts of the gods. f@lftaru:Er JohnnieLand ber 21): The stars say you deserve lots of hugs this week. Collect them a twill, especifilly from Watch out for random patches of ice. Just because the forecast calls for warmer weather doesn't mean they're gonna stop dumping ice cubes on die front campus walkway. Reading of the Week: Holidqys On J., by between two people. So go ahead, you gay people (September 23-0ctober 22): This is a good \veek for Llbra creativity. Be a cute kids-style t-shirt in your size, and watch as the compliments come pouring in. Febbies: This is a great \Vay to meet new people!* Legally speaking there is really no defense for granting marriage licenses only to heterosexuals. J'vfaybe if women did not have the same rights as men, marriage between men (or women) could be disallowed. But now there is no reason ever to make a distinction between men and women. The law effectively destroys the ability of the state to make an empirical observation of gender. A marriage can only be L Ill libra by Jen Silgals Staff Mystic legislate this morality by recognizing marriages politically, but we certainly support it. 10 Gadfly Funny Papers Ptolemy Stone Horoscopes ~'Aquarius Ganuary 20- February 18): Be extra careful about packing for class this week. Your Language notebook is the same color as the one you use for 1tfath, and we wouldn't like you to make that mistake again... Reading of the Week: The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools ShonldTeach by I-Ioward Gardner (August 23-September 22): Big Fish looks like a good movie. You should go see it, and then report back to me on how it was. Or at least get off campus and do something. Reading of the Week: GO WATCH A MOVIEll (Don't sit there and read! Especially not Seminar!) . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~=tl Pi SCe S Chris and Shoshana, we TIJeGllllflyllfasJ1$ lit Slraws really need to fill this space! VVhat should we do? - ~ x Pve got it, Ian! Let1s create our own comic strip! x ~ (February 19-March 20): If someone calls you a dumb blonde, don:t_:~ get discouraged-there are plenty of other Pi--'i sees -with other hair colors who are just as bad:' off as you are. Good Idea! x Reading of the Week: See Capricorn. *paid for by kidsurplus.com ' ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 11 �THE GADFLY St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Notes by Leo Pickens Athletic Director I launched my own rf!)uvenation at the age of45, when, even with a successji-t! medicalpractice, I began to feel I was not living afull life. I starled to run and stqyed with it simp/y because it was something I could do, even though I was born c/unt.ry and had a crowded work schedule. Almost from the beginning, new and wonderful things happened: I felt more relaxed; I dropped a Jew excess pounds; I slept better; and I found my dqy's run was becoming a kind of retreat. S uddenfy, I was more acute/y aware of the sight and sounds, the touches and tastes, the pains and pleasures of my life. A.r I ran myself into better health, I was also rn11ni11g myse!f into better ideas. From George Sheehan's Running to Win Athlete of the If/eek honors for the women go to the gym rat and Fury, Miss Kelley O'Donnell. Though the Sad Daughters of Night are in a bit of a slump of late, this has not dampened in the least the uplifting and enthusiastic play of this senior b-baller. And she does a lot of the unsung fundamental things well: plays solid dee, sets good picks, makes good passes, and cleans the glass. (One assumes she's been doing a little writing on the side, too, for the past few weeks.) The Guardians pulled off two victories this past week-one in handball, and the other in basketball. In both games, this all-around jock was key in their wins. I'm talking about the big man in the middle on their bee team, :Mr. Crane. This frosh bonus baby has also willingly donned the <gloves of ignorance,' i.e. takes on the wickedly challenging role of goal tender in handball, and this past week did a great job to boot. For his solid, unselfish intramural performance this week, 1v1r. Crane is narnedAthlete ef the J.f7eek for the men. You .Make the Call Last week's quiestion waS no't ai1sWered correctly until half-time of this past \1/eek's game between. the Guardians and the Druids, When Nate Whltinan-Came up with the following call: if a defensive player reaches_or step_s a,'?=os_s_ the_bo_un~ line tq_ take-possessio~_of the b_all_in th~ offellsive inbounder's hands, it_is anifldire~ttechni~ cal foul, and the offensive team receives two free th.ro\1/s, plu~ the pall out ofbound.s ~t the spot of the foul. Now for this week's puzzler: A playedntentionally slaps or strikes the backboard causffigthe backboard to or vibrate while the ball is in flight during a try, or W°hile the ball is tot1ching the backboard,_ is on_ pf'in fu~_basket, ()t in'_t.hecylinder. First one to me with the right call goes to the -Bookstcire on, me:-_ (You maY< leave your response atx2558). tin& Sonnet for the New Adam IVhti-h 2vay I fly is hell,· myseif am helL There is no JEWZ KLEWZ this week, clearly because of the tragic events of 2/01, when the Panthers lost the Superbowl. (Yes, Max is a Panthers fan.) However, for this week only, if you write in with a question to: Max Kronberg Campus Mail you will receive a free surprise - perhaps a City Dock Gift Certificate or a visit at 7:00 AM by a Super Soaker™ Mi\XD 5000. Paradise Llst IV 75 As Eve let slip the thread she should have sown, Newborn sight set Adam's eyes ablaze, Revealing what was dark as what was known, The garden free as unrelenting maze. In post-lapsarian days he could be found Among the ancients, pondering the fray; Then sinking down to sleep as if a mound Of flowers swelled upon him where he lay. Though sight of time's black sails approaching make Mortal Icings accurse that tomb of fire Kindled at the fall by wife and snakeWhen Adam laid himself upon the pyre, He bumed into that deathless Dionysus Who said to Ariadne, "I am your labyrinth." The Gadfly regrets the mistake. 12 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -Sasha Robins ' � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 12 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keene, Cathy (Editor in Chief) McCracken, Ian (Executive Editor) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol XXV Issue 18 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-03 Description An account of the resource Volume XXV, Issue 18 of The Gadfly. Published February 03, 2004. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. 25 #18 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Subject The topic of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/355e878ef88afef938da77cc615e9433.pdf b37fa609d6f57fdfe264a1b848c124a5 PDF Text Text THE GAD FL The St. John's College Student Week_& Volume XXl"; Issue 19 Annapolis, Maryland February 10, 2004 Budgets Won't Budge by Cathy Keene Editor-in-Chief Middies march on St. John's. Hey, wait-are those two guys holding hands? Civil Obedience: Middies Read, Talk Last Tuesday, about seventy people parin aJohnnie-.Middie joint Seminar David Thoreau's On Civil Disobeexpenence for all - Johnnies got to talk Midshipmen, and vice versa. A team of one tutor and one professor, headed seminars. For almost all members of Seminar, the experience went well. Yet "1•1.·''"'"L'° were some interesting disconnects hipmen were slightly put off-balance to the Johnnie custom of addressing their family names, and Johnnies thrown off-balance by the ipmen's attempts to answer explordi:i:ectly. The difference in schools' education styles also came to the Ivfidshipmen seemed to be used ing out and saying exactly what they ht about a certain issue, while the 'e style of attempting to explore the meaning of a statement resulted in some awkward moments. However, in spite of these minor roadblocks, most Seminars seemed to go extremely favorably. The most important result of the joint Seminar, of course, was that students from both schools could meet different people, and have an opportunity to meet new friends. Thoreau's work was thought-provoking, and both student bodies approached this work with the utmost effort. Afterwards, the post-Seminar gathering was a really festive occasion as :rvliddies and Johnnies attempted to find out who their fellow Seminar members were. The polity owes Ms. Rachel Hall and the St. John's tutors a great deal of thanks for spending the incredible amount of time necessary for putting together this event. In the future, it is quite possible that there will be many more joint Seminars for Johnnies and l'vfiddies to participate in.Johnnies should take advantage of this great opportunity to match wits with our neighbors and to get to know them better. In flipping through this week's Ga4f!y, you're going to notice, if you haven't already, various articles regarding last Wednesday's Delegate Council meeting and its effect on a few of the clubs at St. John's-primarily Reality and the Swim Club. If you're unsure as to the specifics of this matter or the final decisions made by the DC, please read this news story before you get to the other opinion pieces written on this topic. I've tried to make this piece as evenhanded as possible. I present to you the comprehensive facts. The Treasurer gives the Delegate Council a set amount of money at the start of each semester to help fund chartered clubs. Every club that requests funds for the upcoming semester is required to submit a requisition form to the DC Secretary within the first few weeks of the semester. After the requisition deadline passes, the DC undergoes its budgeting process, voting on the amount of money given to each club. i\ny money that is left over after bu.dgeti..'1.g i.s put into another fund, rightly labeled the "emergency fund," that can be used until more money is obtained for the following semester. At the start of last \Vednesday's DC meeting, there was $1844 left in the emergency fund. While this may sound like enough money to last until next semester's budgeting process, beginning February 18, this is not actually the case. Both Reality and the Swim Club requested emergency funds necessary for the success of each club. In Reality's case, they needed $2150 in order to hold one of their biggest events of Budget continued on back page Jews' Clues, page 3 .,.,..- I an Morochnick on Reality, page 7 �Gadfly Mailbox ADFL Finding Music Everywhere Editor-in-Chief Cathy Keene Executive Editor Ian McCracken Production Manager A&E Editor Shoshana Goldstein Anderson Tallent Sports Editor Iviike J'v1alone Inside News Mary Townsend Outside News Hayden Brockett Contributing to this Issue Jerry Salyer Gillian Brockett Dan Schwartz Beth CavanaughBeth Siekiera O'Keefe Greg "Rook" Singer Rachel Hall Ben Strickland J.A.M. Jacob Thomas Julie Janicki Laura Traina Max Kronberg Webster Ye Jackson S. O'Brien Founded in 1980, the Gadffy is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapofo; campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St. John's Santa Fe campus. Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s)and do not necessarilly represent the opinions of the Gadf!J staff. The Gadf!y reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and thought-piovok:lng :.J.L\1.i~~;;papcr Yv'l~ch ciLcurr:- stances at St. John's permit. Letters of 200 words or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit. Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most cases. The Gadffy is not obligated to publish all submissions and will not print anonymous submissions except llnder special circumstances. Deadline: Sunday at noon, unless permission for a delay is granted in advance. Submissions will be accepted as long as they are legibly written, but typed copies, diskettes, and e-mail submissions are greatly preferred. Please e-mail submissions to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com. 2 Dear Gadf!y, Daniel Schwartz's letter responding to Gillian Brockett's review of the recent concert left me baffled. I am curious as to how someone who purposefully "forget[s] the music tutorial" and "forget[s] the science of music" somehow feels himself to be in a position of authority not only to define music, but also to inform us that two of the most talented composers of the 20th century have failed at composing. It strikes me as if someone who decides to "forget Newtonian physics" should then tell me how ballistics should work. l'v:Ir. Schwartz's definition of music leaves a lot to be desired: "music is the translation of the mind into the physical medium of sound in order that it be experienced by the listeners as an end in itself." I ask Mr. Schwartz, whose mind? I believe that he is implying the mind of the composer, but I would find such a definition unsatisfactory. I cite a personal example. The other day, I was driving in my car (with the stereo off) with the windshield wipers on. As I drove down the bumpy l\faryland Ave. road, the sound of the bumps created a repetitive syncopated beatwith the beat of my windshield wipers. In the distance, a car hom sounded sevev.J times. Perhaps I am being naive, but I honestly believe that I experienced something musical, vvith both tonality and rhythm. I ask Mr. Schwartz, whose mind was being translated? Further, the mind can be a very specific thing to translate. Strauss' symphony "Thus Spake Zarathustra" was composed as a musical companion to the philosophical work by Friedrich Nietzsche. I first e~lJe:cienced the symphony while watching the film 2001: A Space Otfyssry when the introduction to tl1e symphony is played in the opening scene with the chimps and the obelisk. I hadn't heard of Nietzsche by that point, and watching the film certainly did not make me think about him, yet it still had a profound effect on me. According to Mr. Schwartz, this may be considered a failure, and ifhe has, so be it, and maybe there is a deficiency in my soul for appreciating failed music. A more reasonable explanation I think is tl1at the only person's mind involved when listening to a piece of music is his/ her own mind. It is only in the hands of the listener that a piece can be said to succeed or fail, as it is with all art. Ifi\fr. Schwartz is incapable of appreciating the subtleties and nuances of Jews, sitting in a room. Shmuel would be all like, "What's up? Are you Jewis-oh, of course you are. I'm in the Jewish Student Organization. So, what do you tl1.ink those dudes in Christian Fellowship are up to?" A.llanbrook and Bartok, so be it (iillanbrook's pantonal compositions are too complex for me to truly appreciate yet, but at least I am trying), but this is no reason to insult their talent and question the states of their minds. Let Ms. Brockett describe her "acid trip" then. So long as she appreciated the pieces, it is not up to anyone to question that. Then Jewy Hoffgoldbergsilverstein would look up from his Joe Sachs translation of the Ta/mud and he would be all like, "Probably just sitting around, I dunno ... hey, could you pass the lack of salvation?" Sincerely, Jackson S. O'Brien Is Mindless Parrotry Really a Good Thing? Dear Gadf!J, At first, I wasn't exactly sure how to respond to ]\!fr. Schwartz's letter about my concert review: Fortunately, everyone I talked to on campus seemed eager to give me suggestions. My first thought was brevity. "Dear Gadf!y, in re: J\ifr. Schwartz's letter of last week: Ick." But I didn't feel that that quite dealt with "the deeper question" at hand. One friend suggested something like, "I was surprised that Mr. Schwartz chose to discourse on two subjects, acid trips and tlJ.e human act of intercourse, with which he is clearly unfamiliar." But, no, that would be catty. And it would be wrong to dismiss with insults even Mr. Schwartz's admittedly strange ideas. After all, they were seriously meant, right? These possibilities seemed inadequate, however, when another friend informed me that Mr. Schwartz had acquired his theories about music, his "favorite composers," and even some words which he used to describe them from the texts of Ayn Rand. It was then I cided that the make the best response. In his letter of last week, Mr. Schwartz understood and misquoted my article. He thet! used these misinterpretations to insult me to imply that this school's study of music is · sincere and mistaken. ]\fr Schwartz had agenda, and it wasn't just that we should · to lectures and not concerts on Friday nlght. ~ after asking us to "forget the music tuto and, presumably, anything we might learn th N1r. Schwartz presented the entire pohtywitl1 argument that was not his own. Gillian P.S. Full disclosure: I promised to so my brother wouldn't kick Mr. Schw Dear Jews' Clues: Why is there no Jewish Student Organization at St. John's? Are they trying to tell us something? With regards and latkes, Mitch Hoffman Right off the bat, you're the worst contribuwe've ever had the misfmtune of dealing 11-ie previous holder of the illustrious \Xlorst Contributor Award was ~--~···~·-'~., who, in a previous issue, worst acronym we'd ever seen. (XyloReally? You couldn't think up anything tcl-;2.:n x1,,u;.;1JiJ11c,· to a new potential mate, Boy #3, commonly known as Potential-Boy #1. There are a few problems. Potential-Boy #1has an identical twin brother, Boy #4. Boy #4, however, is currently dating Girl #3, who we want to have date Boy #2 instead. We would have to engineer a breakup between them, thereby causing Boy #4 to become PotentialBoy #1B, or Potential-Potential-Boy #1, as he could almost as easily go out with Girl #2 as Potential-Boy #1 (that is, Boy #3). Further complicating thin.gs is tl1at Potential-Boy #1 identifies as bisexual. As such, he may be drawn towards dating Boy #2 (or perhaps another boy, Potential-Gay-Or-BisexualBoy #1). If Boy #3 succeeds in dating Boy #2, we would therefore lose Potential-Boy #1, and be forced to move Potential-Boy #1B up to Potential-Boy #1, although he would still remain Boy #4. Then, you, Mitch Now, Potential-Gay-Or-Bisexual-Boy "Idiot" Hoffberg, #1has the widest variety of possible mates. would say, "Do you He could go out with Girl #2, Girl #3, Potenguys want to play Mo- tial-Boy #1, Boy #4, both Potential-Boy #1 nopoly?" But nobody and Boy #4 simultaneously, or, Potential-Girl would answer, if we as- #1 's roommate, Girl #4. He would have a hard sume correctly that you don't have any friends. time dating Potential-Boy #lB, due to his hetPeople don't like people who play Monopoly. erose:i,.'Uality, but Potential-Gay-Or-BisexualQuit being so obsessed with money. God, you Boy #1 doesn't give up easily. He is actually Jews are all the same. very adept at seducing straight guys. He dated But if you're interested in starting a Jewish Formerly-Straight-Boy #1 for a few montl1s, group on campus, we recommend starting a who, coincidentally, is Girl #3's brotl1er. So, we Jewish Cooking group instead. Damn, you probably need to get him out of the picture, people sure do make some killer matzoh balls. perhaps by having him date Potential-Gay-OrAnd I love finding afi.komen. For those of Bisexual-Boy #2. you that don't know, an afi.komen is a big-ass What should I do? Jewish cracker, which is hidden once a year. Whoever finds it gets tlle jackpot. (Ag~in with Sincerely, the money!) This concludes our history lesAaron Brager son, or whatever it was. In conclusion: you stupid, we smart; cracker good, Jews like money. DearA.B.: \Vere you raised in a barn.? You, on the other hand, didn't even come with an acronym. Were you raised in a barn? Sincerely, J.C. Sincerely, has realized that this phrase can be used time, in practica!!J airy situation. Try it.J Secondly, we can't understand your quesn, because of your horribly poor grammar. , when you have a third person plural pro("they"), it needs to refer to a previously tioned plural noun. You didn't bother . g of that, did you? It's as if you only e to this college because you heard we don't tests or grades. Well done. It's people like that are causing our college to be taken by idiots like you. ~vay, what would a Jewish Student Gratton do? It would just be a bunch of J.C Dear J.C.: I have a problem. I'm dating a girl (for her privacy, Girl #2) who I would like to break up with, so that I can go out with my former girlfriend, Girl #1. Based on some info, I think that Girl #1 will go out with me again, but only after she breaks up with Boy #2. One of her conditions, however, is that she can set Boy #2 up with Girl #3, who I will sometimes refer to as Potential-Girl #1. This made me think that if I break up with Girl #2, then as an act of condolence, I should introduce her J.C's Shaloms Shalom to Nick Colten, for using sarcasm in his article "Why I Hate George W Bush, Part CVXI." That's original. Shalom to Potential-Gay-Or-Bisexual-Boy #2 for helping me wash my car tlus weekend. Shalom to Max Kronberg and J.A.l'd. Oewish Anonymous ]\fan) for the worst Jews' Clues yet. Man, was it weak. The lack of column last week was better. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 3 �Support for a Definition Dear Gadf!y, l'vfiss Skoog and I'vfiss Hugens have been the flag bearers in the debate over what marriage is since they offered their definition in a recent issue. I would like to offer, further, an voice to support their definition. Men and women are different. This, I suspect, is not being challenged by proponents of homose1n1almarriage. The simplest argument rests on this premise. Since a man is not the same as a woman, a relationship between a man and a woman is different than a relationship between two men. If we deny the difference in the relationship, we have also denied the difference in identity of man and woman. I would also like to insist on a distinction between the terms "marriage," "union," and "relationship." Marriage is not simply a lifelong relationship between two people that love each other. It is a union. A union is a specific kind of relationship; it is a bringing together as one. There is far more involved than love. The relationship must be complementary. And further, a marriage is not simply a union. It unites one man to one woman for the rest of their lives. To my knowledge, no one has claimed that there can be no relationships between people of the same gender; this would be ridiculous. The claim is that this relationship is not, and cannot be, marriage. Sincerely, Beth Cavanaugh~O'Keefe In R.esponse to Mr. Sullivan Dear Ga4fjy, I feel compelled to respond to Mr. Sullivan's letter since it obviously addressed mine on a couple of points. I don't know if this response will reach him, but I must at least attempt to communicate with him, since certain aspects of his letter have led me :recently to become very concerned for him. That is to say, that I would find the snide nature of his remarks amusing, if I didn't fear that it was merely the icing on a very toxic cake. I agree with him when he claims that the main issue at stake is the definition (or definitions) of marriage. Once we settle that, I think most of our problems are solved. I also agree that if one is to make any sort of argument regarding a subject, one must start with a definition of the principle terms. This is where I began my entry into the discussion, likewise with Ms. Skoog and ]'vis. Hugens. What surprised me about Mr. Sullivan's letter, then, is that at no point in it did he do the same. He used the term traditional mam·age, and referenced its definition (saying that, according to said definition, "marriage is about sexuality and the family as dictated by nature"), without ever bothering to actually give us this definition. Perhaps, however, he expects us to intuit the definition from the above quote, or even use that quote as the definition, poorly presented as it may be. I shall assume this, since it seems more respectful of Mr. Sullivan as an intellectual to do so. He certainly wouldn't lecture us about the necessity of definition in any sort oflogical debate, and then just plain forget to include a definition of his own. That would be sloppy. Marriage, for l'vir. Sullivan, appears (I can only assume) to be a union between man and woman for tl1e sake of vaginal intercourse and the birtlillJ.g and raising of whatever children might spring from that union. He may also wish to imply something about this union being a natural one, but "sexuality ... as dictated by nature," is a bit redundant, so I will keep it out of the definition. He certainly hasn't given us any reason to assume that any sort of sexuality can be unnatural. .His letter also pays the slightest lip service to love, but we can most likely ignore that part as well. After all, he has suggested that we "leave the warm fuzzies out of it." For the record, I personally would hesitate to do so. I wouldn't, for example, dare say that hair or fingernails or kneecaps are unimportant to the idea of man (though certainly we could have a particular man wid1out ar1y of these). This is me, though, not Mr. Sullivan. Anyway, if this is his definition, why should we accept it? On what grounds can he claim to say it is "traditional?" On what grounds should we accept it as such, and on what grounds should we, furthermore, accept it as a definition that is in any way relevant to a discussion of marriage in America today? He does not, as far as I can tell, give us any reason to do so. Simply saying that a definition is one we should use does not, of itself, make such a statement true. He must know this. Then there is the matter of the definition itself; it frightens me. A marriage is to be defined purely on the grounds of whether or not the people involved in it can have vaginal intercourse and produce offspring from that act. Sure, love is nice, caring for children is nice, but those are irrelevant warm fuzzies. The matter at hand, the "real point," is that particular form of sexual relation which might produce children. All that matters is the act of breeding. Man, therefore, is just an upright animal, no different i..n this respect from either ducks or horses. Rationality need not apply. Obviously, it follows that homose}..'Uals cannot engage in this union, ergo, they cannot be married. But why stop there? There are many other human beings which we cannot allow to marry if the word is to still hold any meaning. Paraplegics, the elderly, and people who, through some unfortunate turn of events, have been rendered sterile, infertile, or otherwise incapable of producing offspring through sexual union must also be kept from the alter. The very idea of marriage (as Mr. Sullivan attempts to present it) would be underniined if they were allowed to wed. This all follows logically, and, for the record, scares the living hell out of me. I can only hope that I have either somehow missed part of his unstated definition, or he has simply not yet bothered to thi..nk said definition all the way through to its necessary conclusion. If not, if this is his actual belief, than as a human being, I truly pity the man. The phrase human nature is another undefined term which Mr. Sullivan loves to throw arow.'ld, like Pollock with Pis aluminum paint He uses it to support several of his arguments (as well as his final conclusion), once more without condescending to tell us what he means by it. I would be hesitant to allow its use if a professor of sociology or anthropology were thrm,ving the word around like so much sand, Why on earth should anyone accept :i\fr. Sullivan's understanding of what be 311 i..'1s8nely complex science, when he even proud enough of that understanding share it with us? Unless it turns out that he some Mozartish child prodigy in the study the origins of human behavior patterns, is no reason at all. He returned several times in the letter his nice sounding Caligula metaphor, haps failed to realize that the same argume could have been (and probably was) used fo justify opposition to suffrage or abolitiof)_~ (What reason do we have to equate a wowatl with a man, or black folks with white? A hor:>· is still a horse. No earthly law can cha..nge that. This either illustrates the illegitimacy of thos movements, or of the argument itself. It a seems ever so slightly sophistical to indirec compare same-sex marriage to the actions of Caligula. If he wants to clain1 that the actions of homosexuals are perverse, he should simply say so. I don't mean to harp on the errors I perceive in Mr. Sullivan's letter purely for the sake of harping (especially when my own may be far from perfect). I do so simply to remind bim of a fact he may have forgotten in his time away from this college. If you are going to lambast the arguments of others in a public forum, you had better make sure your own logic isn't a damn sight worse. A horse, after all, is a horse, a duck a duck, a man a man, and a hypocrite a hypocrite. to the poor logical education he received at St. Johns, and not to any actual lack of intelligence on his part. PS: I have yet to hear any of Justin Timberlake's new songs, not because tl1ey don't exist, but because I have chosen not to listen to them. Sincerely, Jacob Thomas Save the Birds Lastly, I must make it clear to .Mr. Sullivan that Dear Ga4fjy, I'd like to salute the anonymous I did not attack Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog. Nor did I witness anyone else attack them in tlus pa- Johnnie who broke a window in the King per. I did read several responses, though. (To call William Room to free the birds trapped in them attacks is, to put it politely, laughable. As if the netting at the top of the columns in they were assaulted just minding their business front of BBC. While my own views on on the quad one day, instead of offering their own animal rights aren't as strong as his (or unsolicited opinions in response to someone else's hers), this was a laudable act of civil disarticle.) I found no faults in their definition, and I obedience. Obviously the destruction of will say now, as I said before, that as a personal college property is regrettable, but the afdefi...'1.ition (one, which articulates their own idea firmation of college virtue outweighs the of what marriage should be), it is both coherent cost of a mere window pane. Even when and articulate. I responded to their letter because I well-meaning, the workings of authority feared that it might be misconstrued as an at- are sometimes either too slow to react or tempt to define marriage as we as Americans use it too cumbersome to respond to the needs today I posited my own definition (Marriage: a. of the people. When the values deep the hojJejiJljy lzjelong and monogamous church-sanctioned W1th111 us conflict with the established rules qgreement that two people enter into for their own good of social order, the individual with courand for that ef any children thry might happen to raise age acts according to his convictions. The which, in the case ef all heterosexual unions, bestows one who sacrifices his individuality to folthose people and their heirs certain civil benefits. b. low the letter of the law is little more than identical, though non-religious, civil umon which be- a coward, and less than a citizen. as an alternative, and gave reasons for preferring it. I gladly accept any Sincerely, Greg "Rook" Singer o:nnme:nt.s. (from Mr. Sullivan or anyone else) that to cnuque or otherwise improve upon it, as sure it's not perfect. To call it "arbitrary and 'WTm,rmt fou..ndation except for personal prefer" however, is to not really say anything at all eqruvalent of a school yard tau.nt, basically. c;i;'r fml'netfune: thought a college graduate would be Since Mr. Sullivan does not take the effort Dear Ga4fjy, in anyway more arbitrary The Seminar between St. John's and the don personal preference than that of Ms. Naval Academy on Thoreau was another md Ms, Hugens, nor how their definition success. There were about 70 people who :l.tne with the accepted definition in our soci- participated, and everyone seemed to en'' derived from human nature, and the com- joy their Seminar. Thank you to the tuexperience of (at least) western civilization" tors, Mr. Sinnett, I\1r. Black, Ms. Tobin e absolutely no logical grounds which I c~ Mr. Cohen, Mr. Miller, and ]\fr. Berns wh~ disagree with him on; conversation is an took time out of their already busy scheds.sibility: It is not an argument which he pre- ules to lead each Seminar, and thank you here, simply empty words. Perhaps, out of to all the students who participated. s, I should simply attribute tlus deficiency Sincerely, Successfol Johnnie I Middie Seminar Rachel Hall 4 To All The Members of the College Community Re: Senior and Master's Essay Oral Examinations FROM: The Office ofThe Registrar Senior and Master's Essay Oral Examinations begin on Monday, February 23, in the King William Room and will continue through Thursday, Mard1 4. Examinations will resume after Spring Break on Monday, March 22 and go through Friday, May 7 . The Oral Schedule will be posted weekly on the Registrar's bulletin board in the basement of McDowell, on the bulletin board on the main level of the Barr-Buchanan Center, in the Bookstore, and Library. The first week's schedule will be posted on Wednesday, February 18. Thank You. Aristophanes Says: Go to the BIRDS!!! Wednesday, 2/11, 7:30 pm King William Room A Reading Featuring: Tutors Kirby, Locke, May, Paalman, Petrich, Pfeffer Merrill, Renaut, Sageng, Seeger, Tobin, and Tuck. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 5 �More Illogic from the Delegate Council Premise 2: Organizations ought to get money in proportion to student participation in them. Logical conclusion: The DC ought to have divided the $1850 between Reality and the Swim Club in proportion to student participation in them. The DC's conclusion: It's logic! Run for your lives! Premise 2: The Swim Club requested money that the DC had decided to use for Reality. Logical conclusion: The Swim Club could Last Wednesday, the Delegate Council conhave been given money that the DC did not sidered two emergency budget requests: one yet have. from Reality for its Lola's party, and the other The DC's conclusion: Beer deserves special from the Swim Club. Having recently studied treatment logic in~ sophomore language, I thought I Premise 1: The Swim Club could have been might point out some of the contradictions given money that the DC did not yet have in the DC's thinking on this issue. The DC claimed that, since the Swim Club (above). Premise 2: The DC thinks that beer has grown such that it now redeserves special treatment (above). quires sixty dollars each weekLogical conclusion: The Swim the club now has over thirty Club would get more money if they members-it can no longer fund were to swim in beer. the club as much as it used to. The DC's conclusion: The Swim The DC suggested that Swim Club members pay ten dollars Club would get more money if they were to swim in beer. each-every month. After all, the Premise 1: The Swim Club was DC claimed, it is not the DC's not given money that the DC did not job to let people swim for free. But apparently it is the DC's yet have. Premise 2: Reality was given job to let people party for free. money that the DC did not yet have. Reality's Lola's party came out of Logical conclusion: Something in last Wednesday's DC meeting with over two thousand dolthe nature of Reality earned it this privilege. lars-exactly the amount it had Ben Closs, brother of Tall Steve and thrower of kegs during Reality events. Premise 1: Something in the narequested, while the Swim Club ture of Reality earned it that privilege left with a mere sixty dollarsPremise 1: The DC ought to have divided (above). when it needed three hundred. Reality is granted an enormous amount the $1850 between Reality and the Swim Club Premise 2: Both clubs desperately needed of money each year, it is claimed, because neatly in proportion to student participation in them funds. Logical conclusion: Need is not the factor everyone on campus takes advantage of its (above). Premise 2: Over six percent of the campus that earned Reality its privilege. parties, and a larger organization ought to get is a member of the Swim Club, while at least Premise 1: Something in the nature of Re'° more money than a smaller one. Premise 1: Larger organizations ought to six percent of the campus does not partici- ality earned it that privilege (above). get more money than smaller organizations. pate in Reality events. Premise 2: Reality asked for more mon~ Logical conclusion: About six percent of than the Swim Club. Premise 2: The Swim Club is a larger orgathe $1850, or about $111, ought to have been nization than it used to be. Logical conclusion: Smallness of budget Logical conclusion: The Swim Club ought given to the Swim Club rather than to Reality. quest is not the factor. The DC's conclusion: Can't do math-too Premise 1: Neither need nor smallness to get more money than it used to. The DC's conclusion: The Swim Club much beer. budget request is the factor (above). Premise 1: The DC gave Reality over two Premise 2: Either need or smallness ofb ought to get less money than it used to. Premise 1: If it is not the DC's job to let thousand dollars. Premise 2: The DC had about $1850 avail- tor. people swim for free, it is not the DC's job to able. Logical conclusion: The content of let people party for free. Logical conclusion: It is possible for the clubs' activities is the factor. Premise 2: It is, apparently, the DC's job to Premise 1: The content of the clubs' ac ' DC to give a club money that it does not yet let people party for free. Logical conclusion: It is the DC's job to let have. ties is the factor (above). The DC's conclusion: Same as the logical Premise 2: Reality is an organization people swim for free. Premise 1: The DC had approximately conclusion, except nobody's sure, since they've gets people drunk. Logical conclusion: The DC favors g $1850 that needed to be divided between the never read their own Constitution. Premise 1: It is possible for the DC to give people drunk. two organizations asking for money, Reality a club money thatit does not yet have (above). and the Swim Club. by Daniel Schwartz Staff Writer 6 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morochnick's Dose of Reality VICTIMS! by Julie Janicki Staff Writer volved, and this requires not only a delega- by Ian McCracken tion of power, but also people to delegate · Executive Editor We were six seniors piled into a Ford Fopower to. Althoiigh the tried and true parAfter the turbulent atmosphere sur- ties are always nice (such as Lola's, the date . cus, on our way to the President's house to rounding Reality after Wednesday's DC auction, and Seducers and Corruptors), what : turn in our essays. We were feeling pretty good; meeting, it seemed as though a wizened will really draw students to parties is the ex- · we'd :finished the damn things, after all, which : took a while, and then we'd managed to wangle perspective on the clubpectation of something differ· a ride to Kinko's, which actually wasn't that as it currently stands and ent. Morochnick pointed to the : hard, since all we did was call our friends. Then as an organization as a success of this year's Prom as · we went to Kinko's and waited around for our whole-would be a helpechoing the themes that his : essays to print, and that was a half hour at ful addition to the latest class was so famous for. What least, and by this point it was like quarter past debate. As such, I turned also makes these factors work : eleven, but we had the copies in our hands, to last year's Lola's artogether is the raw energy that · and we thought nothing else could possibly chon, Ian Morochnick, comes from the club itself. Af- : gowrong. for some insight into the ter setting up an event, archons All this driving to Kinko's and back inpolity's most recognized need to be ready to party hard : volved some minor transgression, since Amy club. I was interested to and draw people out on to the . Taylor decided to come with us, and so had to find out how Reality has dance floor-looking "stupid" : lay down on top of the three people already in progressed over the last is worth the reward of putting . the back seat. It never occurred to us that anyfour years, what makes a good Reality, out an excellent party. one would bother to pull us over for that-at and what kind of role Reality serves on So then the question seems to be: is this this point in the story, our assumptions were campus. year's low energy Reality the fault of the supported by evidence. According to Morochnick, Reality class? In this case, the answer would appear We zipped back to campus to drop off Amy tends to change with the character of to be "yes." Through a refusal to delegate . and pick up Joe Method, which meant we had each class-there isn't a "real progres- responsibility and, in some cases, turning . to stuff six people into Martin Anderson's little sion" from year to year. Personally, he away help (such as Blake Kiltoff's DJ-ing at : car again, but it turned out okay with Mary does feel that this year has demon- Reality functions), the club has become the . Townsend on Hayden Brockett's lap, since norated a Reality of lesser quality than project of too few students. "I don't want : body wanted Hayden to sit on their lap. I was t year, although he has continued to to say it's been bad. It's great that they have . stuck in the back comer, and I hadn't changed joy the functions. For my part, I have all this energy themselves," Morochnick : or anything, so I was dressed less than reputaecho this sentiment. It seems as stated, "but more participation is definitely bly. Martin was driving-safely, for once. We Victims continued on page 8 ough the campus has been relatively called for." Therefore, besides the aforementhe dark as to Reality functions, and tioned uses of innovation and originality aven't felt compelled to go to any of of themes (as in, not just producing alcoparties to represent the sophomore hol and music and then expecting people to s. The quality of last year's Reality, show up), Reality can be improved upon rochnick believes, comes from the simply by getting people involved. that they had at least ten juniors Finally, what remains is my question as · cipating at any given point, and to the role of Reality on campus. Is there e was a great deal of interest from really a need for an organized society to plan ass as a whole. Furthermore, each campus-wide parties? Morochnick definitely tion was run by a different student, thinks so. Given the intensity of the Proestablishing variety. In contrast, gram, Reality functions as the "ultimate reof this year's juniors seem disin- lease for the campus," and it's the one time ted at best-Morochnick has two that we get to pretend that we're all at "a r roommates who know less real school." He believes that our parties and t Reality functions than he does. dances are our frat parties, and that they are owledge and participation seem our clubs. The kind of release you get from the foundation of a successful a Coffee Shop Party is completely unobtainexperience. Originality and in- able at, say, a waltz party. Furthermore, he n can only be accomplished as a states, "it's healthy for people to be blitzed." Would you pull this man over? of different people getting in- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 7 �l_- Victims continued from page 7 took off for the President's house with thirtyfive minutes to go till midnight. We were going up King George toward Annapolis Street, stuck behind some slowmoving cars, when we passed a cop skulking in a Navy driveway. We weren't speeding or anything, but it was pretty obvious that we had too many people in the car. Nevertheless, we were surprised when he pulled out behind us and flashed his lights. I mean, we're pretty harmless-looking kids, and we're driving a Ford Focus, for Christ's sake. It's even green. So we sat there, figuring that he'd let us go once we explained that we were on our way to graduate from college and we had only thirty minutes left to get there or our lives were basically over. He knocked on the window and asked for l\1artin's license and registration, and Martin explained to him why it was necessary that we break this little law and how momentous the occasion was and everything, but the cop didn't care. "How many people do you have back there?" he asked. My skin started to crawl. Cops, man. We opened the door and he glared at us. "Don't you care about your own lives?" he asked in a "bring it on" tone of voice-apparently the "military" accent inspires fear in less preoccupied lawbreakers. Mostly, it just made me hate him more. NoDoD pig shines a flashlight in my face and gets away with it, except tlrnt I had more important things to do that night. Hayden, fresh from the Gorgias, bit back the argument Socrates gave Callicles. We all, in fact, decided that dialectic was not the best course in this particular situation. After perfunctorily berating us for endangering ourselves, the cop went back to his car. We couldn't figure out why our sob story about graduating from college hadn't worked, and we had like twenty minutes to go, and, for God's sake, we were only three blocks away. We thought maybe if we sent Melissa to talk to them, since she was the least weird-looking of us, it would help, but she was worried about getting shot. Since we were so close, we talked about making a break for it, but l\fartin said that his record was clean, so we figured we'd be out of there quick. No, sir. That cop made us wait for like twenty minutes. Not only that, but another cop car pulled up behind the first, lights flashing! The polity van passed us twice, carrying numerous happy seniors to the St. John's College Film Society Presents: President's house an.cl their futures. What the hell had we done? Finally we figured it out. Martin was driving. He's kind of swarthy, and he hadn't shaved, since he'd been writing his essay, so we realized the cop thought he was of Arab descent-naturally, being of the military, the cop thought he was doing his civic duty by detaining this potential havoc-wreaker. We were pretty outraged, some of us ironically, some seriously. I was one of the ones who was outraged ironically. Finally the cop let us go, but not before giving Martin a fifty-five-dollar ticket and telling us again thatweweregoingto dieanditwas our fault. \Ve got to the President's house in one piece, though, with ten minutes to spare. Hayden told J\frs. Seeger what had happened, but she thought it was a joke: 'Was one word of what you just said true?" The President didn't believe us either, but Mary set him straight. So, don't look like a foreigner aroundN avy cops, because theywon'tunderstand that you're Latvian. Also, when you get to be seniors, leave yourself enough time to get to the President's house, because there isn't as much as you think, and don't carry a gun when you go. Keep your noses clean, kids. With Apologies fo:r the False Start Last Week ... This The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser Thursday, Feb. 12 Lunch at in the (Private Dining Room) February 14, 2004- 8pm FSK Auditorium The $3 Students - $4 Ge:neral }~chnission Herzog's film is based upon the true and mysterious story of Kaspar Hauser, a young man who suddenly appearsinNurembergin 1828, barely able to speak or walk, and bearing a strange note. He later explains that he had been held captive in a dungeon of some sort for as much of his life as he could remember, and had only just been released for reasons unknown. With thought-provoking results, his benefactor attempts to integrate him into society. SCI is hosting a Forum on Classroom Construction: The way students are put into classes,and why. Al/students & tutors are invited to attend. [Copies of a relevant article that appeared in the Gadfly last fall a~e available at the library desk. It will be used as a conversation starter.] Sticks and Stones: On Lee Harris' "Intellectual Origins of America-Bashing" by ]euy Salyer, GI material harmonies in music, in a strand of DNA, are at least as significant as the pricetag of a Stradivarius, as the physical parameters of A~G, C-T pairs. Maybe; but I doubt it. As the old saw goes, you can lead an ideologue to reality but you can't make him think.) But Harris' tagging "America-Bashing" onto extreme Leftists is not why I decline the title. Philologically, I would be better called Ravenous Capitalist-Socialist Hybrid S chizophrenical!J Arguing with Itself on How Goliath Corporations, Centralized Government Will Slice Up Humanity-Basher. Much as I wince when I hear "America" invoked, I acknowledge that America is a real place of dirt, stones, grass, trees, mountains, and deserts, with real inhabitants-some few who even possess residual roots not yet sacrificed on the Altar of Progress. I hate Americanism, but respect America-but that's not why I decline the title "America-Basher," either. WARNING, says Harris: the AmericaBasher "sees no difference between left and right," and does not admit "reform in any normal sense." Well, let's consider: Mammon the Elephant subsidizes the fastfood industry, subsidizes agricultural empires, despoils nature, sponsors "Patriot Acts" and "Terrorism Information Awareness" networks that give the Orwell estate grounds for a plagiarism lawsuit. l\!Iammon's "defense" establishment defines communities instead of protecting them; Mammon gave us the Homeland Defense Department-which begs the question of what the vast bureaucracy and billions spent on the plain-vanilla "Defense" Department were for, if not to defend our Homes and our Land. ofiraq, coincidentally when Its avatar was under scrutiny for banging the hell out of I reject being called an "Americahis intern. And buried in the "trash bin Basher" ... now why is that? of history" are a couple hundred thouWell, for one thing, the polemic is not sand Japanese women, children, and eldaddressed to me; my convictions Harris reerly-whom Moloch turned into radioacgards too trivial to attack. Any social system tive charcoal briquets not because militaryI could admire-Southern agrarianism, defeated Japan still threatened America, but Christendom, Greek city-states, because Harris' predecessors targeted anConfucianism's divine order, etc.-Harris cestral Japanese wa as "feudal," something would casually dismiss as: "feudal regimes to be destroyed and replaced with Amerithat the world has long since condemned to canism. There are no peace treaties under Marx's own celebrated trash bin of history." the New Order, only Progressive Crusade: Yes, we have both kinds of music here: unconditional destruction of the enemy's Country and\Vestern. Harris' Either/Or is "backward and reactionary" way of life, Globalist Capitalism, or Globalist Marxism. followed by reconstruction of his society He excommunicates all others: anyone who in Americanism's image. This, ironically, cherishes family, regional independence, heriin a war waged against a genocidal psychotage-vice economics-follows "fantasy path who arrogantly proclaimed a new, ideology," and desires to "roll back the immortal fuich. Everyone's favorite murclock." derer of the "backward, reactionary" instiHarris' '~'\.merica-Bashers" are left-wing tution of family farming-F.D.R.-took radicals who blame the September 11th attime off from founding the TV.A. to tacks on US military activity. In his rebuttal scribble Novus Ordo Sec!orum beneath the Harris obliquely explains Americanism: All-Seeing Eye on $1 bills, just to make '~'\merica is the sine qua 11011 of any future clear what the New Deal is real(y about. progress that mankind can make ... (its But I am not Faust; I never signed any progress) requires an entire social order to New Deal. You don't have to sign, either. shelter and protect it." (Not unlike how fleas Resistance is feudal-tied to "obsolete" nowitlessly shelter and protect bubonic tions of loyalty to kin, to heritage, to To understand Harris' idea of transcendentals-but it is not futile. You '."nroo,,.,,,,. .. he (correctly) admonishes Leftneed not swallow the l\!Iodern Lie: "yay, ists: attacking America is biting the hand the One-World Quest, yay, Imagine, yay, Ithat feeds them, the American Machine is am-an-Individual-(i.e., Consumer)." to "any conceivable standard of The officially-sanctioned "choice" •u.c,t:Hnen1e1n recognized by Karl Marx." Democrat, Republican-is meaningless; (That is Americanism-Republican, the real choice is whether-like most-you ·.•:v.•.,,.,c:rn,uc..ra111c. Libertarian: Man as Economic embrace Economics as re!igio, or whether• ..,.,,..,"''· solely defined by material goods l\i{oloch the Donkey uses Hollywood/TV like me-you decide I don't give a rat's ass f'"J\."-"·"'~· consumes. If Harris or his coto wage unending, self-righteous kulturkampf what standards of "progress" Karl Marx would .ho.rts ever bothered with real science-as with an efficacy no conqueror-armed with or would not have recognized. /:)pposed to Marx's hollow abstractions- mere phalanxes, Panzers, or gee-whiz tactical WARNING: The America-Basher seeks ~qybe they would grasp that the Universe is drone-bots-could conceive of in his wettest "Not to advise, but to condemn." b.Q11Jld o_,.. · · _ , ,_,nc1·p les as HJ.e ffa bl e, m t angt·ble dreams. Moloch condones your reading the Mea culpa; I condemn the American ~Love Itself: The warping of time and space Bible, so long as you contrive Howard DeanIdol. In Harris' terminology I cannot "ad. gravity. -. the mass-energy symmetry that esque, New Order-approved answers from it. ·.ves the life-giving Sun ... the chaotic, un- It bombed Bosnia, Somalia, a Chinese Em- vise" Rupert Murdoch, Paul Wolfowitz, t~dictable flow of information through bassy, and-for Donkey-supporters who have Ted Turner, Larry Flynt, the producers of . nisms, through ecosystems. Mqybe he forgotten, and love saying Don't Blame Me, I Must-See sitcoms and Voyeurity-Televiuld realize that-to real science-the im- Voted For Moloch-It also banged the hell out sion, the brainless popstars who program children with hedonistic drivel. Nor could America Bashing continued on page 10 8 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 9 �America Bashing continued from page 9 I have "advised" Hermann Goering, or the publishers of Stalin's Pravda. I have no "reform in a normal sense" to offer such people. So whence comes my rejection of the title America-Basher? From a concept faded from the comfortably-numbed minds of globalists: humility. I have no right to be set alongside real America-Bashers, "backward reactionaries" like Richard \Veaver, Flannery O'Connor, the Fugitives of Vanderbilt. Me-next to "Russia-Bashers" Solzyhenitsin, Dostoevsky the Underground-Note-Taker? Me, alongside England-Bashers Sayers, Eliot, Lewis, Waugh; France-Bashers Hilaire Beloc, Antoine de St. Exupery? Germany-Bashers Herman Hesse, martyred Colonel Clauss von Stauffenberg? The "Rome-Bashing" early Christians, the "Israel-Bashers" Moses, Samuel, John the Baptist? Make no mistake-these were "Bashers," all of them. Bashing societies maddened by lust, by greed, by a hunger for control. Accepting the moniker '~\merica­ Basher", I would feel like an embarrassed, bewildered squire sitting at the Round Table. To Harris, to all globalists: Get this straight Bolshevik-Wannabes hanging out in coffeeshops-impotently moaning about Starbuck's and playing Che-Guevera-make-believe-are notyour enemies. Nor are terrorists. I am your enemy. And there are rank after rank, row after row of spirits behind me. Spirits of men and women whose boots neither of us would've been fit to clean. Spirits who bide their time-after all, they have all the time in the world. But one day they will raise a great shout which will tear down the rapacious, dehumanizing Novus Orda that you worship, brick by orick, smp:id lie by 3tu.pid lie, and your mighty masters will scurry away with their tails between their legs. This is not fantasy, it is reality; a Reality you are not man enough to understand. Your "realism" is that of a cow sniffing at a copy of Beowulf--or the diagrams of an Atom Bomb-and finding only something it cannot eat. W!ARNING: You must not listen to America-Bashers; if too many of you do, you might undermine Progress; you will endanger the Precious. Hah. Globalists are false kings, but they are true prophets. I do not shun the epithet "AmericaBasher"- I aim to earn it. 10 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . A Tale of Two Clubs by Webster Ye DC: Paca-Carroll St. John's College is lucky to have a strong tradition of student govemment. The Delegate Council has been endowed by the administration with extraordinary powers to advance student life at St. John's - one of the most important powers being the power of the purse. Each semester, the Delegate Council receives between $12,000-$15,000 from the College to appropriate to various chartered clubs and organizations. The budgeting process typically takes up three to six weeks, depending on the number of clubs requesting funds. Last semester, the Delegate Council carried over a surplus ofa little more than $1,800. Herein begins a tale of two clubs - one, large and politically powerful; the second small and politically powerless. The large and politically powerful club is Reality - a club that has brought many fine social events to this campus and provided Johnnies with great parties for more than three decades. Last semester, Reality asked for and received approximately $1,800 from the Delegate Council. This semester, due to a shortfall in membership dues, Reality asked the Delegate Council to grant an emergency budget request of $2, 150 (or more than $350 over the total a.c'Ilount of left to the Delegate Council) for Lola's. Reality, at the same time, has launched an extensive membership dues drive in the Dining Hall with membership dues set at $30. Without this amount of more than two thousand dollars, the CA'}Jenses for Lola's - decorations, casino equipment rentals, food, etc. could not be paid for. Lola's - one of the most important social events of the second se~ester, ·\voLtld ha-ve to suffer S'=V~r~ fu1.?JJ1ci9_l difficulties. At the same time, the Swim Club registered an emergency budget request for $300 to pay for swim passes for its membership. The Swim Club, with about 30 members, attempts to go swimming atleast once a week at a nearby Anne Arundel County swimming pool. The Swim Club, which had $500 from Spring Semester 2003 in its accounts, had exhausted its funds due to a sudden increase in membership last semester. Its archon, l\fr. Paul Patrone, even had to pay $90 out ofhis own wallet so that the Swim Club could pay for its swim passes for the month of January. Each week, the club sends about 15 members to the swimming pool (which charges three dollars a person). The ti.liree hundred dollar budget re- quest was supposed to tide the club over until the normal budgeting process began. ]\;fr Pickens' athletic department did not have anymore funds to spare for the Swim Club. Without the money, the Swim Club also would not be able to continue its activities - depriving its thirty members of aquatic exercise. For the February 4 meeting of the Delegate Council, the agenda listed Reality's budget request, but not the Swim Club. According to l\fr. Geannikis, the D.C. Secretary, Mr. Patrone had not submitted his budget request as an "emergency budget request." This was in spite of the fact that ].\fr Patrone had clearly stated that the Swim Club was in dire financial trouble. Accordingly, members of the Swim Club who resided in Paca-Carroll complained to me, their Dele,,,aate Council member, and asked for my assistance in gaining some emergency funds for their club. The first action that ]\fr. Patrone and I undertook was to ask Ms. Seeger if her office had any ability to garner emergency funds for the Swim Club. However, she could only offer a Business Office loan if the Delegate Council would guarantee the loan's repayment (which, it turned out, the Delegate Council would refuse to do). So, on February 4, at the Delegate Council meeting, I spoke up for the Swim Club, and asked that the Delegate Council give the Swim Club 1ts needed funds for continued activity. The Delegate Council, already faced with a large budget request from Reality, agreed, in its wisdom, to give the grand sum of sixty dollars (or a little more than a week's worth of operating e:x.'Penses) to the Swim Club. Reality would receive the remainder of the $1,800 balance for Lola's. My feelings on tllis issue are ambivalent. Oa one hand, Reality is one of the few truly campus-"\vide clubs, and its production of Lola's is one of the highlights of the social calendar. On the other hand, the Swim Club, whicl1 was ask" ing for a tiny fraction of Reality's budget request, seemed also to need the money greatly. I feel that· · my fellow Delegate Council members were right ·; in asking if the Swim Club members could agree to mount a more aggressive revenue drive, but': that they <:ould have spared a little more money than sixty dollars. The Swim Club will soon be out of funds again, and the Business Office loart. will probably not occur because the Delegatt;! Council may not agree to pay the loan back dur ing the normal budgeting process. Yet the im portant issue that this little budgetary tiff lli Gadfly Funny Papers l ohnnieLand ...,. by Ben Strickland, GI Swimming Wonder Monkey Days Mabel's finally reopened the portal to Dimension X The battle between Light and Darkness has begun! Mabel must really have some evil agenda to be employing the likes of Shredder! Wf-Ll.1 H\ 'f">1t~ \"'ou "f"HE C..!JTE ONt~ Af...t;:°"''T ~,,.~ ··-svs-r~ v11~n'b"' ~r " ~oL1"" F%1'"'1 o~~~ (s~" '-"1':f" lw.i:!>lll<~ It's worse than you think. She's polluted his mind witl1 her simian charms and turned him into.. ' Shameless Advertising vlan! Don't look! ! !IMO Ail£. Yo\f? Afll'O W.l'V'o"f'$ ~!~' ~"' M\" I! y~,, ~~-K. ... .. YoUM IN Lt.H;:.ff.E:r IU,S~ "llt\$ ·~ '04~. C:.l~l.i;. ~~ 'Vtr..1'v~ ATl'\eA,"'f"S ... [•c~i'! I .~i~I$~ F9'1., YCl.l..1 WA'!'.,. . '(ll'llJ f'"~N <:- 11""1 ... Webster continued on back pa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 11 �THE GADFLY St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 Budget continued from front page the year-namely, Lola's; forthe Swim Club, they needed $692 just to continue swimming This resulted in a great DC dilemma over who would receive the money. On the one hand, the emergency fund wouldn't even be able to cover the entire Reality request. Even if the entire amount were granted to them, the DC would need to break up its payment: $1844 this week and the remaining $306 after second semester's budgeting. ·while this would immediately deplete the emergency fund, more money will be added as soon as the second semester budget kicks in, and the College will get to have Lola's. On the other hand, since participation in the Swim Club has increased, they have used up all of the funds they received since last year. Unless they get more money from the DC, members are going to have to pay for their own access to the Riva Road Swim Center or simply stop swimming. I\fembers of the DC, like many members of the polity, seemed evenly divided on this issue. No one wanted to have to shut down the Swim Club for any period of time, but everyone also kept the popularity of Lola's in mind. "\X7e want to do as much for the Swim Club as we can," said Secretary Eri.kk Geannikis, "but we just don't have enough money to please both clubs. And while it might be a tough decision, Reality events benefit the whole campus, not just twenty people." Archons from each club expressed dissatisfaction ·with the situation, but no further cuts in their requests could be made. ''We just need emergency funds, because our big fundraiser of last semester never really got held," said Reality Archon Elizabeth Hohn during the meeting, referring to the Meat Market party that got cut short by a fire alarm last November, only earning them $100 before getting shut down. "In addition, we weren't aware that we were supposed to pay for Lola's with last semester's funds," explained the other archon, Janae Decker. ''We are already trying to cut down on the cost by not having a live band and ordering fewer decorations, but there is really nothing else we can do. As the College's most all-inclusive club, we definitely need a large amount of money." Swim Club Archon Paul Patrone is in a similar situation. "There is just no money left in the account," he said at the meeting. ''I submitted a regular budget request several weeks ago, thinking it would get reviewed immediately. I didn't even know about the emergency fund until quite recently. Now that Swim Club attendance has risen from seven to about twenty people a week, the funds have quickly drained. Swimming is going to stop this week unless I get some more money. My goal is not to fight against Reality; it's just to keep tl1e Swim Club alive." After much debate, t11e DC decided to grant the Swim Club $60-enough for 20 people to swim one time. The remaining $1784 was given to Reality to begin preparing Lola's, a party that cost $3500 last year, according to previous Lola's Reality Archon Ian Morochnick. Reality will receive another $366 when the new budget goes through. Until the DC can give the Swim Club more money, they suggest that members try to fundraise or pay membership dues, just like the old Swim Club did, says senior Stuart Bannan. Webster continued from page 10 lighted is the question of which clubs should get funds. Reality is large, and no member of the Delegate Council will go against a request for more funding because of the political backlash. The Swim Club is large compared to most clubs that ask for money, but quite small in comparison to Reality. I therefore ask my colleagues in the Delegate Council and in the Polity the following question: "Is there a better and more equitable way of appropriating money to clubs?" In Spring Semester 2003, Reality asked for more than $16,000-theyreceived$8,000. That staggering number amounted to over half of the DC budget that semester. Is it right for Reality to receive that much money for social events? Its membership dues (at $30 a person, approx. 200 members) could arr1ou.nt to over $6,000 a semester. Is it necessary then to spend more than $10,000 (say $5,000 in dues plus $5,000 in nc. money) for these parties? Will there be any money left over for the small clubs that enhance life here on campus also, albeit on a smaller scale? Please write to me and your dorm's Delegate Council representative to express your opinions on this issue. 12 Begone Dull Care! Once again, Judy and Tony Seeger, Chester Burke, Herny Higuera, and Jon Tuck will be pick.in' and singin' in the Great Hall to enliven the winter doldrums. Among this year's features: Judy and Tony reenact the Wife of Bath's Tale, Henry gets blisters on his fingers, Chester adds yet another instrument, and Jon explains the Western Canon. Love songs galore, both happy and sadbring your sweetie! Saturday, February 14 at 2:00, in The Great Halt The Dean provides cookies! Kids are welcome. Join us to sing along-or just to listen. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 12 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keene, Cathy (Editor in Chief) McCracken, Ian (Executive Editor) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol XXV Issue 19 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-10 Description An account of the resource Volume XXV, Issue 19 of The Gadfly. Published February 10, 2004. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. 25 #19 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Subject The topic of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/0a9ddff3bf08ea872453fc79775bd1b4.pdf 34ec5544a6e0d588baf1e0b905f380a5 PDF Text Text THE GADFLY The St. John's College Student Weekjy Volume XXV, Issue 20 Annapolis, Maryland February 17, 2004 The Liberal Media and the Franklin Cover~up by Ian McMurtry Do you remember the feeding-frenzy sun-ounding President Clinton's sexual shenanigans? How every lurid detail was eventually exposed, culminating in his televised apology, the subsequent impeachment process, and the publication of the independent report which was about the size of a telephone book? Do you remember the moral outrage, the collective indignation and disgust of our nation, mired in a quagmire ofpartisan sludge politics that played out on the news every night? After sixty million dollars of taxpayer money was spent investigating Clinton's se:inral history, he was revealed as a sleaze, but the Republicans in Congress faredlittle betterin the end, for Larry FlyntofH:mkr magazine revealed rnany in their ranks (see Rep. Bob Livingston or Sen_ Bob Pack"Wood) to be just as sexually debauched as Clinton. However, this article is not about treading over the st21'.0 ground of Republican moral hypocrisy, but rather an investigation into the hypocrisy ofthe media Believed to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party; the US media in the late 80s i;>aid scant attention to one of the most shocking · •··· md potentially damaging scandals in 1he histoi:y of · American politics, known as the Franklin Cover-up. <On June 29, 1989, the Washington Times (a bastion . oflibe:ralmedia) came outwith a front-page article .':entitled ''Homoserual Prostitution Inquiry En' ?nares V1P's With Rq,cran, Bush." ,·<+ < The contents of the article outlined a develop~ Federal investigation into a homosexual prosti'. ~'';€ti.#onring and its politically elite clientele. This illicit · · Was not of the more glamorous Heidi Pleiss #lg , but instead was based around child prostiOne of the biggest Washington players in scandal was Craig J Spence, described in the le as a "Washington socialite and international consultant." As the article continues, ''Jvfr. espentupwardsof$20,000amonthformale tes who provided sex for him and his .jtwas Mr. Spence who arranged thenocturCover-Up continued on page 9 · Issue: Cloudcuckoland's Finest Why Students Need to Read More Aristophanes by Cathy Keene Editor-in-Chief Joining a somewhat stupefied crowd of students for last week's dramatic reading of Aristophanes' Birds, I encountered several of St. John's most distinguished tutors saying, and, in some cases acting out, things my simple student mind could barely register. Watching Ms. Locke, for instance, read from a roll of toilet paper, seeing ]\fr Tuck dress up like a thug with a giant yellow and black umbrella, and hearing J\!Ir. May ask for someone's underwear, were only some of the incredible things that went on at the reading-all in the name of literature. The Birds tells the story of two Athenians searching for an escape from the corrnption and confusion of Athens. Upon leaving the city, they seek out the mythical king-turnedbird Tereus, begging him to help them form a new city. Through the course of their adven- Lecture Review, pg. 7 tures, they make a pact with the entire bird kingdom, thereby establishing Cloudcuckooland, a heavenly city between gods and men. While the Birds is not neatly as political or risque as Aristophanes' infamous Lysistrata, performed by a similaf assernblage of rutors last spring, it draws from government and bathroom humor to entertain its audience. The tutors did an excellent job \vith the performance, incorporating various props and Johnnie jokes into the hilarious dialogue, much to the students' amusement. The audience was giddy with laughter throughout most of the play, especially during one of the final scenes with Ms. Seeger. (i\J.though I don't have the forti.tude to explain that part of the production, any student who was present for the reading will know what I am referring to.) Overall, I'd say the performance was a great success. I look forward to next fall's reading. Jew's Clues, pg. 11 �,- - - THE tt.PGADFLY Editor-in-Chief Cathy Keene Executive Editor Ian McCracken Production Manager A&E Editor Shoshana Goldstein Anderson Tallent Sports Editor l.\:fike Malone Inside News Mary Townsend Outside News Hayden Brockett Contributing to this Issue Stuart Bannan Nick.Colten Constantino DiazDuran J.A.M. Max Kronberg JP Mcintyre Ian McMurtry Charlie Pashayan Leo Pickens John Peterson Ervin Romero Anna Schall Dan Schwartz Greg ''Rook" Singer Sam Spalding Michael Sullivan Christopher Utter Amy Youngkin Founded in 1980, the Gacif!y is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St. John's Santa Fe campus. Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s)and do not necessarilly represent the opinions of the Gacif!J staff. The Gacif!y reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and thought-provoking newspaper which circumstances at St. John's permit. Letters of 200 words or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit. Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most cases. The Gacif!y is not obligated to publish all submissions and will not print anonymous submissions except under special circumstances. Deadline: Sunday at noon, unless permission for a delay is granted in advance. Submissions will be accepted as long as they are legibly written, but typed copies, diskettes, and e-mail submissions are greatly preferred. Please e-mail submissions to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com. 2 Gadfly Mailbox Factors in Marriage Dear Ga4f!y, I think we can recognize five factors as being the main contributors to a normal, heterosexual union of marriage: a bond of friendly respect; a passionate, erotic love for one another; a mutual, familial trust of one another; the ability to procreate; and a complementary male-female paring. Insofar as husband and wife are roommates, too, they must have a friendly relationship towards one another. Anything less would lead to constant bickering, a sure sign of an unhealthy marriage. Without passionate, erotic love, husband and wife would be unable to satisfy one another as lovers, and the marriage would obviously suffer. Without the ability to procreate, the marriage is an incomplete thing, lacking in the most fundamental endeavor of life. Finally, a male-female pairing affords the couple a chance to offer their offspring male and female role models, to complement each other, and to help one another see things in a new way, all of which are inarguably virtues of a strong mamage. Unfortunately, a gay coupling only includes three of these facets. Consequently, I believe it is fair to legally classify a "gay marriage" as 3 / 5 of a real, heterosexual marriage. I look forward to the day when some politician bravely endeavors to amend our United States Constitution, expressing a historic distinction between what is a legitimate whole, and what falls short of that whole by exactly 2/5. Truly such an amendment would not be an unthinkable indignity to be repealed in utter shame by a future generation. Please tune in next week when Samuel George Morton helps us fill a woman's vagina with BBs, proving the universal unity quotient of heterosexual marriage. Sincerely, JP Mcintyre An Apology Ignored DearGxf!y, Ms. Brockett} resjxmse to nry letter regirding her cvncert rniew stunned me. I thougpt I had expmsed nry own opinittn in response to her rniew-hardfy something ofan unusual sort here at St. JohnS--yet she attacked me in return. I laterfound that Ms. Brockett} response waspar'fia/9' due to a misinterpretation of part of nry letter, so I wrote a letter to herpersonafb, hoping she would write ffJ the Gat!f!y on her own to correct her envrs. She has not done so. The following isftvm the letter that I sent to Mr. Brockett: Ms. Brockett, First, let me apologize forcarelesslyphrasingmy letter in response to your concertreviewin a way that you took to be insulting: It was entirely unintentional. According to your brother, my third paragraph wastheinsultingpart.Hetoldmeitckarl.ywasmeant toimplythatyouweremore concemed with showingoffyourmusicalknowledge than with considering the deeper questions about music. While I see now--ocly after an argument with your brother followed by a re-reading ofyour article and the two letters---how you can rightly have thought that is what I meant, it is not what was intended. I gathered from your review that you did not enjoy the music at fust-youcompare the composers to soldiers goingintowareven attheendofyour article-but that, upon reflection, you came to appreciate it The questions of my third paragrnph were not meant to refer to you They were meant to showthat,iftheexperienceofthemusicitselfisunenjoyable, then I could find no plausible alternative purpose for listening to it Amoreprecisewayto ask the questionis: isitallrightto find pleasure or value in reflecting on music, when none existed in the listening? You answered, "Yes." I answer, "No." I was just trying to get across this intellectual disagreement Perhaps I did it carelessly, perhaps I was uncleatFor; that I applogize, and I will try to be more aware in the future. However, I do not believe any of this jus · the response you sent to my letter. Your claim my letter parroted the words of Ayn Rand is your friend is wrong, and you should have so textual evidence from Ayn Rand to support her claim before presenting it in your lettei: no such evidence exists (almosteverythingAyn said about music is contained from pages SO of the latest edition of The "Romantic Mt11tffar!o · want to check). While I agree with Ayn Rand TchaikovskyandRachmaninoff aregreat ers, and while I discovered them through silly to say that I acquired my favorites They are my favorites because I enjoy lis them. One of her favorite TV shows was Angels, yet that is not one of my favorites. Furthermore, even if my ideas about wbilecertainlynotcopiedfromher'",.,..·,tw·100---a respond to a large or small degreewith those Rand, there is no reason to bring that fact· discussion other than to insult me. Ewa . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . whole letter was one long quote from Ayn Rand, pointing out that fact does not answer any of its reasoning and is indeed an ad hominem argument You claim that I "misunderstood and misquoted'' your article. I would beinterestedinhearing how so. I apologize if this is true. (My understanding ofyour article is above in the third paragraph.) Next,Idonotunderstandhowyougottheidea that I think this school's study of music is insincere or mistaken. The point of my asking the reader to "forget the music tutorial" is that one does not need the tutorial to say whether music is enjoyable to listen to. I think music is about an experience. However, I also think one needs the music tutorial to know how to analyze w{!ymusicis enjoyable to listen to,in order to analyze that experience. Sincerely, Daniel Schwartz Rnok's IlOAtTil<; ofthe Vl-eek In recognition of superior contributions to theiloA.tcr: This week's IlOAHTJ; award goes to the entire staff of Facilities, B&G, and Security, attd also to Parkhurst Dining. In the month ,lince the second semester began, these kind ,'Jouls have worked harder than ever. When 'tnowstorms and freezing rain hit and classes to be cancelled, B&G was out there in early morning hours and sub-zero cold shovel snow and spread sand. When we ed mud, snow, and sand indoors, Fas was there to clean it up to keep our spaces immaculate. And we never a meal because the staff at Parkhurst d the elements to get us fed. Moreover, tter what the conditions were outside, "ty was always there to keep us safe. philosophers (and perhaps especia!!J phers) need someone to take care of odies when their minds are up in the . We need to make sure these memour community know that we don't em for granted, that we care about 'lltld thank them for their hard work. maybe even try to make their jobs a sier, because it's their daily devotion hn's that makes it possible for us to the environment we covet so much. OAZTIJ;points to Ryan Varnum, Sid Kim Kimball, and Paul Mikesell for g hard to keep things running ly throughout the winter havoc. Thank You, Greg "Rook" Singer . Understanding Marriage Logically Dear Gadf!y, Marriage is [a]. [This relationship] is/is not [a]. [Ibis relationship] is/is not marriage. This, in very simple logical form, was the essence of my previous letter to the GadJ!y. The argument was merely that we must first agree on the definition ofmarriage before we can decide whether a given kind of relationship falls under the meaning of the word; and this should be done by investigating the nature of the thing, not by government fiat. I thought that the content of the letter should make it clear that I was substantially accepting the definition offered by Miss Skoog and Miss Hugens, which I called the "traditional definition." This definition asserts that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, oriented towards mutual help and support and the procreation and education of childten. That this is in fact the traditional definition of marriage that I did not find controversial at all; in any case, whether or not this definition is basically the one which has been held by nearly every society at nearly every time cannot possibly rigorously be proved in such a short space, nor should it need to be. The fact is obvious to anyone with even a very limited knowledge and awareness of history. Mr. Thomas' answer to my letter was very helpful in delineating the roots of our disagreement, however, which apparently goes much deeper than the subject of marriage. For one thing, it is clear that he believes that marriage is merely conventional, while I believe that it is natural. More fundamentally, however, it seems that he is a nominalistwhile I am a realist; that is, at root I believe that many things have natures, and he believes that none of them do. If I am right, then the definitions of things are not decided by majority or government rule or personal feelings but by investigating the things themselves and finding the truth about them; if he is right, then the definitions of things are finally arbitrary and personal. Thus I think there is such a thing as human nature, and that a human being is easily defined as a rational animal, or more fully, an organic material substance endowed with sensation and reason. The civil rights and suffrage movements· fought against injustices which were about human nature. Skin color and gender are not essential differences, but rather essentially concomitant properties. Blacks, asians, women, etc., are just as human (i.e. rational and animal) as white men; the things that separate them from each other are peripheral and accidental so far as the definition of humanity and, say, citizenship is concerned It is therefore unjust to use such things to exclude people from human or civil rights. Likewise, there is a certain human institution or relationship which has obtained throughout human histo!}; whereby one human of each gender comes together in a sexual and social union, oriented towards mutual personal benefit and the engendering and rearing of children. With the children produced, this relationship, called the (immediate) family, forms a discrete and individual social unitwhichis by necessity the building block of all larger societal structures. This is simply a fact. Until now this relationship or institution has always bom the label of"marriage." It has a nature, a phusis, an essence, which dictates its definition, a definition which would be as arbitrary and foolish to alter to include other sorts of human relationships as it would be to redefine human nature to include other animals. Ineithercase, thenewmeaningwouldnotchange the nature of the thing defined; it would simply render the words in question useless. Just as things have essences and natures, things have properties. A property is something concomitant to the essence and connected with it but not included with it. It is a part of man's essence that he have (at least habitual or potential) reason; without it he is not man. It is a property of human nature to have hair, nails, and the capacity for laughter; these stem from his animality and rationality and are not mere accidents. Nevertheless a hairless, humorless, mentally retarded man is still a man and a hairy, clever, shrieking monkey is not a man. It is precisely the same with marriage. A loveless, childless marriage is unfortunate, impaired, and defective, but still a marriage according to my definition-to believe that such a situation automatically dissolves or invalidates a marriage is to confuse the property with the essence-while a loving relationship between two gay men and their adopted children is, by definition, not a marriage, and a family only in an equivocal sense: for one thing can have properties in common with another without sharing its essence. To insist that both situations are substantially the same and to call them both marriage, whether by gove=ent decree or no, is to insist on changing the meaning of the word (a meaning already eroded in the modem western mind by decades of contraception, easy divorce, promiscuity, and a radically nominalist and relativist worldview), but it will not change the nature of the thing described. A prohibition on "gay marriage" is only a recogniLogical Marriage continued on page 4 . . . . . .· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 3 �Logical Marriage continued from page 3 tion that the state cannot alter a thing's nature. A prohibition on interracial marriage, in contrast, can never be justified by an appeal to the nature of marriage itself or human nature, because skin color is not essential to marriage the way gender is. Likewise, laws dictating an age of consent beyond puberty will always be convential and somewhat arbitrary. I apologize that this letter has gone to such length, but the challenge presented by l'vfr. Thomas seemed to demand a somewhat fuller explanation than my first letter. Nevertheless, the nature of this challenge, especially the venom and sheer volume of its personal attacks, demands (to my regret) that I lengthen my response by a few more words. First, as to logic. After having received such a savage indictment of my own logical skills, it occurred to me to wonder if l'vfr. Thomas has heard of the fallacies of ad hominem and the Straw Man. Certainly his overblown rhetoric seems to be much more concerned to make me look like an evil narrow-minded bigot then to actually address my argument. I do not believe that my letter really earned me his pity, nor his consistently derisive and condescending tone, nor his lables of toxic, sloppy, a hypocrite, etc. N evertheless, if I invited such treatment by a somewhat light and conversational tone and a few poor attempts at humorous illustrations, I hope that tJ1e pres~nt letter will rectify matters by presenting my views in as clear, precise, unfunny manner as possible. I see no reason to furt_her reply to l'vfr. Thomas' personal charges, nor make any charges of my own. I am attempting to put forward an argument, not make any statements about my feelings, religious or moral views, or opinions about other individuals. Why Mr. Thomas felt the need to do so, or how he thought his derision might substitute for refutation, seems unclear. Again, my purpose is to offer a reasoned position, not a refutation. Refutations take longer, and I have taken enough of the Gadffy's space already. As I've indicated, I think the root of the disagreement lies in divergent conceptions of truth and the reality of essential natures, although certainly people are led to hold both specific opiruons and general philosophies for nonphilosophical reasons, not least among them passion and a desire to justify one's life. A newspaper debate has to stop somewhere. Still, if anyone would like further clarification or discussion, I can be reached at furor_poeticus@hotmail.com. Sincerely, Michael Sullivan A'02 4 Regarding the DC Dear Gadffy, I almost made it. For more than seven semesters I have enjoyed your publication without ever taking such exception to an article as would compel me to write a letter to fue Editor. But now, less than a week after completing my senior essay, I find myself once more in front of a keyboard after reading the three articles by Ms. Keene and Messrs. Ye and Schwartz in last week's issue. The articles were about last week's Delegate Council meeting in which the Council awarded money to both Reality and fue Swim Club; they ranged in style from the laudably impartial (Ms. Keene) to the pafuetically spiteful (Mr. Schwartz), but the one thing they all had in common was the presence of incorrect or misleading information. As a former Delegate Council president and former Reality archon, I feel fue need to set the record straight for bofu organizations. Ms. Keene's article was for the most part fair and correct, save for one misleading section. She reported, 'Both Reality and the Swim Club requested emergency funds necessary for the success of each club. In Reality's case, tlley needed $2150 in order to hold one of their biggest events of the year-namely, Lola's; for the Swim Club, they needed $692 just to continue swimming.' The nature of the necessity of the funding for either club is quite different. Reality needs that money to hold Lola's, which is a fundraiser. After providing for the free food, entertainment, decorations, and gaming, Reality ·will likely have more money than they did before. Without Lola's, Reality would have less money with which to host later events. The Swim Club, on fue oilier hand, needs money on a per week basis-if emergency funds were denied, the Swim Club would be unable to provide free swimming for its members only until the regular spring budgets are awarded. l\fr. Ye claims that 'no member of the Delegate Council will go against a request for more funding because of the political backlash (italics added).' What political backlash? There are no political entities in this college besides tl1e Delegate Council and the students themselvesif the DC fears a backlash, it could only be from the students they are charged to represent. Mr. Ye also claims that 'in spring semester 2003, Reality asked for more than $16,000tl1ey received $8000. That staggering number amounted to over half the DC budget for the semester.' This is just plain wrong. Reality planned total expenses of$16,770 that semester; we only asked the DC for $7, 725 and were awarded $6011.69-39% of the total budget tlrnt semester. These amou.-its are on record witl1 the DC secretary. Mr. Ye insinuates fault with fue DC secretary, Mr. Gear.nikis, for not entering the Swim Club budget as an emergency budget request. TI1e DC constitution makes no provision for such a thing. I am not entirely sure of how to address Mr. Schwartz's article-I do not need to address his allegations that the DC cannot do math or that they are too drunk to conduct their business, but behind his outlandish claims (meant to be funny?) is a solid basis of misinformation. Mr. Schwartz claims die DC 'lets people party for free.' Each student pays dues, currently $30. Last spring the DC paid for about $6,000 of more than $16,700inoperatingcosts - about 36%. Mr. Schwartz also claims fuat the DC members have never read fueir own constitution, and implies that they were operating outside of it. Had Mr. Schwartz read the constitution, he would know that nothing in it prevents fue DC from awarding funds that have been allocated to the DC but not yet delivered, as were the Spring 2004 fu..nds. He would also know that none of the money the DC gives to Reality goes to alcohol (see Fifth Act of Council). A logical conclusion is only as sound as its premises. Sincerely, Sam Spalding Some Advice for Mr: Schwartz However ente1taining it may be to read Mr. Schwartz's articles, (and it is entertaining, the way a Fox reality show is entertaining), I don't tllink that it is appropriate for any person to write to a public forum explicitly to solicit negative emotions. If this v.ras not Mr. Schwartz's goal, I apologize, but it would take much to convince me of tl1at. Sincerely, Toby Burress Respect Authority Dear Gadfly, I am writing in response to Mr. McCracken's article oflast week entitled "VICTIMS!" I realize this is a strange fuing to do considering how all of the occupants of the vehicle are not only seniors but also good friends of mine; Martin Anderson and l\1elissa Thomas are even my housemates and the said Ford Focus is my frequent means of conveyance. I am tlle last person to ever want Martin to involuntarily send more money to local government! However, I must object to the explanation made by Mr. McCracken that fuey were detained from the Presidents' house because Martin looks like he is of Arab decent. Although this is sort of fue case, and I am certainly not privy to the mind of the officer, there can be many other reasons why the group was held. Impugning the professionalism of the officers pseudo-publicly and speculating, as the article did, seems to me out of place and ill-informed. I have had the honor of working closely wit.h Dear Ga4f!y, Though I usually know better than to involve myselfin these kinds ofperpetual flame wars, I feel I must respond to the general attitude that ]\;fr. Schwartz displayed in the past few issues. He has ity, as well as to others. I don't think that this can be a point in question. There is no way to construe his pot-shots at Mr. Allenbrook and Bartok as critical .. They were insulting There is a way to construe his.' · recent opinion piece about the Delegate Council as :·' critical, but! don't believehemeantitto be constroCc .:. tive. I think it's clear he meant to insult. If ~vli Su.1.\vattz's all11 is to effect ch@1ge Gn ~-' pus, he should attempt to convince his readers, not alienate them. Ifhis aim is, for some reason, to be. disliked and despised by many people who do not even know him, he should at least attempt to b disliked for tl1.e same reasons as the heroes ofhls favorite novels, who ·were despised because of theiJ:. •· excellence, not because tl1eywere antagonistic. aim is merely to :infuriate, then I cannot suggestatJ.r Exciting News for Pool-Players modification to his attitude or behaviorthathe should make. enforcement for many years through variactivates and jobs. Just last summer I had opportunity to accompany an officer on his .e;ntire shift one night. I saw first hand that it was policy of at least tl1e Anchorage Police Dee,.~u.....,.u •. to double-team stops as much as posHaving two officers respond is simply a of safely. It is worth considering what officer might have fuought as he peered over-full car packed with dazed scruffy twenty-year-olds, Arab-looking or on a back road of Annapolis. Now I acknowledge tllat l\fr McCracken was . "ouu:aged ironically" by the incident, if all this is a bit out-of-line, for his sake I ogi.ze. I do, however, want the others who have been "seriously outraged," as well as at tlu~ school who might automatically L unfavorably to police officers, to tlllnk a bit .ore attacking the people who keep diem safe. Sincerely, Stuart Bannan Runningfor DC To the polity, To tlle politj~ If youhaven'talreadynoriced already, you prob-ably won't be interested, but as lono- as I'm the 0 one tl1at's supposed to tell you, (and I'm a week late asitis), Ihavefa:citingNews, everybody, to be followed shortly upon by some Important News. Excitingly; the pool room is now unlocked, open 24 hours a day; andin Humphrey's basement. It is stocked with three (3) cue sticks, a new felt top on the pool table, a baker's assload (13 cubes) of chalk. And an unspecified number (8) of what may once have been cue sticks, but have since been reborn as Peacekeeping Death Batons, with which co-archon Vishal Sheth and I will meet out rough justice on anyone who causes undue change to the numbers mentioned above. Also receiving punitive Death blows will be anyone caught breaking the following important rules: -Do not leave the door to Humphreys open. -Do notlock the bathroom after you leave it as cl= as it was when you entered. -Do not make excessive noise, particularly after My name is l'via." Kronberg, and I am running for tlle open seat on tlle Delegate Council for Campbell Even though students tend to joke about theDC,itis an t:Airemelyimportantpartof St. John's, as the recent controversy regarding distribution of funds to the Swim Club and Reality clearly shows. With problems such as these on the table, Campbell needs a representative who is willing to hear bofu sides of the issue and offer a reasoned opinion for discussion with the DC. I would like to be this representative. I have immense respect for the institution and the individuals that are the DC. I understand tlut it is a difficult, time-consuming job, and I'm up to the task. I am a social, approachable man who understands the desires of Campbell residents, and is willing to hear what they have to sar Thank you for your consideration, and remember to vote tlnsweek. Sincerely, Max Kronberg My Confessions dark -Do not smoke in the pool room. -Do not drink obviously in the pool room. -Wait, I mean, 'Obviously; do not dri.nkin tlle pool room.' -Do not invite any strangers into the pool room. Legitimate guests maybe cl1ecked in at Switchboard or Security, or possib~' just fobbedoff as prospective students. -Do not set off the fire extinguisher unless there is either a fire burning down Humphreys, or $175 buming a hole in your pocket. This is because the pool club will be fined $150 if the fire extinguisher is used for no reason. I also like gettingmoney fornothing, and $25isa11icenumber. The pool room's current state of blessed unlockedness is a direct result ofthe fact thatwhatevernefarious deeds you in the pool-playing community have planned for our equipment have not happened yet. Likewise the shortness of the list of rules. If in time these liberalities should reveal themselves to be oversights, I assure you they will be corrected .Also, watch out in the Ga4f!y Funny Papers for Billiards l\:Iade Easy; starting either this week, next week, or possibly never depending on whether I decide to go to class ever again. TIU.s hilarious comic strip will serve to illustrate the rules above, as well as anything else having to do with pool that I think is furu1iz As I am running short on space here, I guess I'll just have to leave it to the next three weeks of reader hate mfill to debate the metaphysical consequences of fueGac!f!yFt1m!J!Paped containinganythingI think is funny: Sincerely, Charlie Pashayan Dear Ga4f!y, j\fine is a soul in distress. Perhaps I should not reveal my anguish to the polity, but the Catl10lic in me yean1s for the confessional. I mnfess to you, JJ!)I brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through JJ!)I own fault in JJ!)I thoughts and in JJ!)I words, in whatI have done, andin 1JJhatI havejailedwdo. But tlut's not tl1e point of tins letter. Sorry for the digression. I confess tlutmy heart is tom, pierced by a dagger that cames angst. I have learned recently that I will never be able to enjoy a :fully "complementary" union with another human being I am cui-sed to live an unhappy life because, you see, I am a man who is in love with anotl1er man. For years I fooled myself, thinking that there was more to me than a penis. I believed-stupid me-tluthumans were more than just glorified primates. My ignorant parents taught me that there i~ more to a person than what tlle body conveys. I tllought I had a soul. Now I am told fuatno such thing exists. So why; tllen, do I feel tllis agony; this inner pain? Why do I continue to feel as though I have an identity, when it has been clearly stated tlut there are only two kinds ofhumans? \Vhy can't I see that the only people who differ from me are those of die female species? Why; by the dog, can't I put it throu.gh my thick skull that only a woman can complement me? They are everywhere, so why don't I just smite one and carry her back to my cave? I don't know where to ttun., and I don't know what to do. So I humbly ask the blessed Virgins, and all the angels and saints, and you, my brotlm:s and sisters, to pray for the healing ofmy imaginary soul. Amen. Sincerely, Constantino Diaz-Duran . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 5 �Another Look at Gay Marriage Dear Ga4f!y, Forthepastseveralweeks,Ihavefoundmyself in a position to have white, educated males tell me which freedoms ofmine are logical and worth recognizing. Though, initially, this situation seemed inherently strange to me, I had to remind myself that I am, in fact, devoting four years of my life to the study of dead white men, and I can only remain faithful thatthe rime for greater diversitywill come. That's whatlhave been told that graduate school is for...the opportunity to studywomen andAfricanAmericans. I can only assume, consideringthe dated opinions andfactuallyincorrectstatements that have been expressed throughout these past few weeks, that this group must also include homosexuals. To begin, my principal concern with Mr. Peterson's assertions is that some of themarefactuallywrong [e.g ''homosexual sex is not illegal'' and "the cause for gay-marriage is butweakly supported by gay people themselves'], but I hope that these mistakes merely stem from ignorance rather than malicious intent There are some opinions of his, though, that I would like to ask him about Mr. Peterson, you inform me that my beliefin the biological pre-determination of homosexuality provides me with a ''laughable'' argument in which I claim to be fighting for my civil rights. I suppose, Mr. Peterson, that I have beengrosslymistakenin my assumption that the fight for civil rights would include a1!J discriminated-against group trying to obtain the same freedom and protection under the law granted to every other citizen bythe bill ofrights. Even ifyou do not accept the biological argument for the cause of homosexuality, I assume thatyour fondness ofyourbasicrightsisnotperturbed bythe realization that you were not bom with your particular religion, your particular beliefs, or anythlng else that remains frivolous because it is merely chosen. I do agree with you, though, Mr. Peterson, when you inform us that one's support for gay marriage should not rest on whether or not one likes gay people. No, it has to do with whether or not you are willing to stand up for your fellow human beings in order to help them win the rights that you have the luxury of taking for granted. My chiefcone.em, though, is with the comments of Mr. Sullivan, who mentions that, "for the government to erase, by fiat, the difference between 'relationships' and marriage, between rational animals and ducks, seems unwarranted, and perhaps dangerous to our society of intelligent human beings ... "Youassertthateven the idea of gaymarriageis imposSlble simply because" ...marriage accorclingto the traditional definition -the definition In Defense of Mammon and Moloch: A Response to Jerry Salyer's 'Sticks and Stones' . by John Peterson · Staff Writer . . ''.America" as an economic and social ideal is : not what you aim to bash. Your reply to Lee . Harris' "Intellectual Origins ofAmerica-Bashing" (Policy Review), though quite entertaining, was irrelevant. You say that "the real choice [is not between Democrat and Republican; it] is whether-like most-you embrace Economics as religio, or whether-like me-you decide," etc. Is that not a choice? You have decided and that is good for you. So you may not call back the forces of secularism, hedonism, and relativism ... so what? When you "tear down the rapacious, dehumanizing Novus Ordus that [we] worship, brick by brick, stupid lie by stupid lie," what will you replace it with? We "need not swallow the Modem Lie," true. What is wrong, then-that the lie exists? That capitalism perpetuates ugliness and stupidity and vapidity in the place of real substance does not mean that the substantial is not available to you. You may still have "convictions." Or is it that you wish to sanction them authoritatively, restricting religious belief while similarly restricting the products and services that are available, thereby preventing the constant appeal to the so-called 'lowest common denominator'? God the King of France oppressed the majority of his people, taxed them heavily to support his own excessive luxury, frivolity, and immorality. Now these things are available to all of us, thanks to the political organization of"Mammon the Elephant'' and ''Moloch the Donkey." We can thank God for that. With regard to this political leader-false god parallel, it is laughable. Should we to look to our political leaders as sources of true doctrine? It is that we do not do this that sets us apart from the "democratic" Islamic Republic of Iran, for example, and its hilariously Platonic "Council of Guardians" which may reject any candidate for office before or after election on the basis of his being a 'bad Muslim.' Their government is "Islamic," yet their piety is no more pious than ours, and their citizens have no real rights in addition. It is true that Harris' definition of what constitutes ''.America" is narrow and is assumed as simply an economic system with universal aspirations and appeal, but in the context of his article it is valid because it is in terms of Another Look continued on back page 6 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . Grenke on Kant on Political Realism by Christopher Utter Staff Writer global politics, where 'America-bashers' are those who feel that ''.America is responsible for the evils of the rest of the world." These evils are not those of spiritual emptiness but of actual measurable economic poverty. Harris shows how the "global ffiimiserization thesis," or the ''Baran-Wallerstein revision" of Marxism, which is propounded by Americabashing elites like Noam Chomsky, is actually representative of the socialist utopianism that Marx rejected. This thesis is one that updates Marx's model of a worker's revolution against their capitalist oppressors within a single country with a model where the modernized world, including the working class of that world, represent the oppressors, while the Third World are the oppressed working class on the verge of revolution. Harris writes, "This explains the otherwise baffling valorization of 9-11 on the part of the left-by which I mean the enormous world-historical significance that they have been prepared to attribute to al Qaeda's act of terror." Harris is responding to these false characterizations of terrorism as a universal threat to the system of capitalism and liberal democracy, not to your quaint love of those rustic regimes of"Southern agrarianism, Christendom, Greek city-states," etc. Perhaps he is a globalist and can only see America-bashing as derived from some alternate-globalism, too narrow a category to include general stupidity, affluent boredom, or in your case, indignant self-righteous' intellectualism, too smart to fall into real antiAmericanism (as Harris defines it), but tod educated to embrace America wholeheartedly: You are too deep-too aware of too things to realize when there realJy is an ' ther/ Or," as in this case--and so vague in response to this Either/Or that you pro · one of your own: either the ''New Order" a "Progressive Crusade," destroying all that familial, particular, local, or customary, and placing it with the universals of consume · and moral positivism, or "Reality;' the "U verse ... bound by principles as ineffable, intangible as Love Itself. .. " You are also too cool-too cool for Political Forum, which offered a discussi Lee Harris' article and meets every Tues 4:00 in McDowell 31. This Tuesday: Gro Prolegomena. I had a conversation withDeanF1aumenhaft theotherdayaboutlectures,inwhichheremarked upon the essentials ofwhat makes one effective. Itmust be clear, not too broad.in scope,reinfon:ingwithout becoming repetitive, :ind only thusly willit be able to hold an interested listener's attention. :Mr. Grenke's lecture on Friday made excellent use of all these necessary rhetorical devices, and so his point was clear and my interest, for one, was piqued. The subject of the lecture was "Kant's Critique of Political Realism," a subject that I am sorely under-qualified to examine, only being a sophomore. And so, for me, it served as more of an introduction to Kant (and Machiavelli as well, although from a slightly biased point of view, of course). ]\,fl: Grenke describedmot:alists as being impractical. They see what ought to be by examining a different world from our own, a better world. There are arguments to like them (they are nice, optimistic people, in general), but also to "wink at them" atthe same time. They are ttubbom, unbending fools, and "losers in ev.et:yday life." We may admire them, but not •!htougb. emulation. We like what they say, and ?ttwe "know" it cannot be. . Theirwindow, said:Mr. Grenke, is situatedin · tower. Consequently, all they see is intanstuff that can be molded to any shape. not a mere idealist, but an idealist among ts. For example, a founding principle of philosophy is that lying, under a1!J ismorallywrongand to be avoided _sts .. Furthennore,he claims that morality mmtemational politics, a claim, accord.Mr. Grenke, thatis in direct opposition to opinion. Kant's set of morals is so rigortit repels other morals. To him the core · is duty, whose command is unconDutyis the "condition ofa will good in A will, then, is good only through its own i.e., it is good in itsel.£ :is actions have the good alone as an end, ofconsequences. This leads to the quesanyone.ever has or everwill do a act :Mr. Grenke claimed that this is is important to Kant, but only the of moral perfection, the ideal All he "~world" is that true morality is and lS held as an ideal .e pointed out two advantage~ to . First, only in the real world can one find sources for morality, and thus what is for law a priori. Second, duty is simpler and purer in a world of get closer to the moral ideal than ifmoral principles are applied in every act ideas. Kant's project is to change the material world through application of the purity of his moral philosophy. !ejects this. All good thatis not in good character is Kantis not deluded; he does recognize the troubles ofthe world This fact leads him to ask the fundamental question: should humanity be loved or spumed? The answer to this question is in another: will man's progress be toward the better? Ifthe answer is yes, we should love the race; ifnot, not . F~r Kant the good is defined. The ultimately good thing ts the good will His "kingdom of ends," ie., what he "sees out his window," is akin to reality, but is without conflict, andisintelligtblewith absolute necessity. He admits that it is only an ideal, but that one should always accept an ideal as possible and practi- cable. The pure thought ofduty is a better incentive than any other toward this ideal The true value ofmorality for Kant is its incentive. But what is it, Mr. Grenke asked, that gives moral purity such power? Reason is the simple answer. This forces the end outside of us into the realm ofwhat is good for society rather than the individual Kant claims that there is no man who, when confronted with human goodness, does not wish to possess it His third formulation for the categoricalimperative is the progenitor of the "kingdom of ends:" '1\.ct in such a way that you treat humanity, Whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never · simply as a means." Humanity, then, is called bynature to corilmunicate within itself; and so all social intercourse must be truthful, for ifit is not a contradiction arises. Kant thus uses the law ofnon-contradiction to prove the fallaciousness of any anti-social or self-destructive act . Em~cy, then, would subvertmorality. Kant an illusion. He is, though, extremely prudent To illustrate this, :Mr. Grenke cited.Kant's "six ar1icles of ~tual peace." With this p~ the moral politiaan may delay progress until the polirical orderwill beun~ bythe change. He advocates acceptance of unmoral acts if the end is good-for example, an illegally instituted constitution. But he is not Machiavelli, of course. Men still cannot lie. He remains an idealist, but is not stupid. Prudence is a duty for Kant, so long as it does not conflictwith the duty. Kant agrees with Machiavelli's view of the world, and yet he claims that the political realist makes the world thatway. '1\s they are;' said:Mr. Grenke, should read, "as we have made them." Political moralists get into politics, directly or indirectly, and force their theories to be self-fulfilling Proof of this is in Machiavelli's Pnnce, chapter 14. Armed and unarmed men cannot work together, and so one must arm. But this leads to suspicious neighbours, and so danger builds. These principles make progress impossible. Another of Kant's criticisms is thatpoliricalrealists cannot see the future, and cannot know what will happen based on the past This argumentin no wayjustifies abandoningnecessarymorality. The only wayrealistscanseethefutureis bycreatingitthemselves,as:Mr.Grenkepointedout Thisonlystreagthens Kant's point Why then, asked :Mr. Grenke, can Kant not do the same? Why could he not have written an a priori future, and produced his predictions? Since evil changed the world, good must be able to as well. ~ut this_use oflogic can seem rather cold, and yet, seenm the light of its relation to people, Kant's denunciation oflying gains credence. Itis indecl prudent, in the strictest sense, not to lie. Kant asks laterwhat the ruin really is that realists predict will follow fi:om observing morality. The loss ofwhat is most valuable is the only answer. So what is ruined by following morality? States and The opposite of an ide3list is a realist Machiavelli, possessions? It is more·important, according to said :Mr. Grenke, is Kant's opposite.. He looks at the Kant, to avoid doing evil than to save one's body or world as he actually sees it out his window. atthe street country. What are polirical realists afraid of losing? level Realists abandonmo~tyas an end ~d focus on The world as it is. But is this worth savmg? Even politics. 'Pursuing virtue leads to one1s demise, while realists sayitis an undesirable state, thus_leadingto a vice is the path to security. According to :Mr. Grenke, . clear contradiction. Kanth,ts thus shown that realKant believes "political moralists" cannot strictly exist, istl! are not realistic--4hey are, said:Mr. Grenke, idealfor they abandon morality. For Kant mo!ality is pri- ists who support an unsupportable ideal Machiavellicouldrespondthatliumanfreedom ~~d politics secondary. Machiavdli, though,is perSlStent ln the belief that politics is not well served by carinotexist,orthatamereideal~otpersuade,or. something along those lines. But Mr. Grenke did morals because theideal is so far from reality, and so leads to ruin. By lowering one's sights one can actually not think this likely._ It would be far~ that he would simply use obscuring dialogue and sophistry to lead his opponent to confusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 7 I �Why I Hate George W. Bush, the Final Installment (Which includes the chance to get a free cup of coffee if you read it1 Cover-Up continued from front page nal tour of the Reagan Wbite House." A July 26, arhington Tzines reported on 1989 article from the IJ7 ]\;fr. Spence further, saying that, "Oncel\1r. Spence's influence with the Washington power elite appeared since their policies are not so favorable to the tionist politics and a fairly recent episode of by Niel.: Colten almost limitless, demonstrated by his ability to arwell-to-do, neither the wealthy nor the major- bel-llnd-the-scenes advocacy of an accused crossStaff Writer ra_nge midnight tours of the Wbite House. The ity of Democratic supporters are willing or able bumer. On the other hand, white racism isn't Times has con:furoed that Mr. Spence =ged at I'd been putting off the writing of addi- to send in the same amount of $2,000 checks what it used to be (though it is still all too least four midnight tours of the \Xi'hite House, common), and so white racists aren't as imtional accounts of why I hate George W Bush that Bush receives. including oneJune29, 1988,on which he took with and his administration for several reasons. The second form of politicking consists of portant a voting bloc as in the past. So Repubhim a 15-yr-old boy he falsely identified as his son." Partly it's because Junior year is as hard as I was deceptive language (often outright hes), and licans are now hoping to do with Hispanics Mr. Spence was eventually arrested on seemingly told, though even more enjoyable; partly out exploiting the ignorance, fears, hatefulness, and what they did with poor, rural whites-draw unrelated cocaine and weapons possession charges. them away from Democrats. They do so by oflaziness, or at least the necessary discipline the unrealistic hopes that people have. The igHe committed suicide awaiting trial to be very productive most of the time; and norance concerns many things: history, eco- appointing right-wing Hispanic judges and then Anothermajorplayerin the Franklin Cover-up accusing the Democrats of being racist for oppartly because I don't really wish to dw~ll on nomics, geography, the dubious careers of Bush was amannamedLawrenceE. ''Larry''King,Jr.As posing them. The cynical hypocrisy of this the all of the awful things that he and his adand other members of his administration, etc. arising staroftheRepublicanParty (he was the vice ministration has done in the past three years- The fears too are many-and in some limited move is made especially clear by the fact that in chairman of the National Black Republican exercising his power of recess appointment, in part because when I do so, I can't help but cases, even warranted; they include fear of: forCouncil), Mr. King oversaw the rise and fall imagine what harm he could do with four eigners, people of other races, homosexuals, Bush did not help an Hispanic judge circumof the Franklin Community Federal Credit more. economic uncertainty, and dissention. Some of vent the allegedly race-motivated obstruction Union, based out of Omaha, Nebraska. In ofDemocrats; rather he chose the beleaguered Simply put, this current administration is the antipathies that are taken advantage of are November of 1988, the F.B.I raided the almost certainly the worst that we've ever had toward: foreigners, other races, homosexuals, Judge Pickering. FC.F.C.U on suspicion of emb=lem.ent. It I could go on and talk a length of the conin this country. It has all that was bad in the last government, liberals and people of differing turned out tlut more than $40 million had stant dissembling of George W Bush and the four Republican presidents, without any of the religious beliefs. been stolen from the F.C.F.C.U. members of his administration-pick an istheir good traits (which admittedly were few). Sometimes these emotional manipulations Unfortunately, white collar crime was just sue and I can probably point out an example It took these bad points-such as fiscal irreresult in very bizarre combinations such as a the tip of the iceberg. When the Nebraska of their duplicity, but the thought wearies me. sponsibility, military adventurism, valuing the person who constantly complains of the corleg'!Slature launched their own special investiultra-rich and corporations above all others- ruption and incompetence of "the govern- Furthermore, this is all been a little too selfgation in conjunction with the F.B.I's probe, and surpassed all its predecessors combined. ment" and who is fiercely supportive any ac- indulgent for me (I firmly believe that seeing "within weeks, the Nebraska Senate, which Furthermore, it has added to these vices a muntions taken in the name of national security one's name in print is always a little self-indulinitially opened the inquiry to find out where gent, so I don't think that self-indulgence is a ber of its own (or ones that it has so perfected (so long as the commander-in-chief is a Rethe money had gone, instead found itself fault in a wnter per se). If some have enjoyed they deserve to be called its own): a perpetual publican, of course)--even to the point of takquestioning young adults and teenagers who said war, a messianic (or even apocalyptic) religios- ing a "love-it-or-leave-it" stance. Since the aim the series, and I know that some have, I'm that they had been child prostitutes. Social workers ity, contempt for civil liberties, and a complete of these manipulations is neither the good of glad. If it's irked some-and I know that it has, ~d state child-care administrators accused King of subordination of policy to politicking. citizens individually or collectively, but rather well, I'm petty enough to enjoy that, too. It :turu:Jing a child prostitution ring The charges grew The latter feature is perhaps the most im- the cynical pursuit of power, fostering intellec- was my plan to defuse the term "Bush-hater, the former police chief of Omaha, the pubportant because in many ways all the other tual incoherence (or "double-think" in at which I probably failed; as well as to hopestate's largest daily newspaper, and sevfully cause some of his supporters to reconfaults of the administration either spring from N ewspeak) is not a failure, but a triumph. ·. <) etal.otherpoliticalassociates ofKing, findingthem.it or are shaped by it. This focus on politicking This divisive hate/ fear mongering is of sider their support-at which I also probably ::l:Ye • · selves accused ofpatronizing the child prostitution failed. takes two forms, though often they meet in course not solely a Republican thing; Demo'mrg'(Geo& Bush.· Thf U>?authv"'lizedBiog·apfry, Chapinstead of writing rnore on why I thP .;::a..._-<1'1).P auolic'l r," The fust is ~11 ovenvhehr11 crats do it 10 some degree over issues iike civii -"- "" 1: >t<;1: XX[) Ivfany of the children in this ring were ing support for large corporations and the very rights and abortion. However, to the great G.W. Bush, or the Republican Party gen; ~ted from the Boys Town Center, also basedin erally (of which I'm sure I'll still write wealthy. The second is the majority of Repub- credit of the Democratic Party, they did aban·. i, Qmaha,Nebraska_ about at some point), I'd be very inter- . . lican voters who are persuaded to vote against don-at the expense of their electoral domi(' (During the commission's hearings on the their own interests by means of deceptive and nance-the oldest and ugliest way of dividing ested in hearing from members of the, ;.~,,<f~invesrigation, therewerethreekeywitnesses divisive rhetoric. our country, racism. Sadly for both itself and polity who like either, why they like them. provided much of the testimony against Mr. The first form of politicking consists of a for tl1e country as a whole, the "party of Lin- As an incentive to my any interlocutors, I and company One of the most important variety of often complicated (and therefore difcoln" warmly embraced race-baiting refugees offer to buy him or her a cup of coffee f;sses was a young girl namedEulice Washinga soda. This offer stands for the rest ficult to easily follow) ta_x policies that strongly suchJesoe Hehns and Strom Thurmond. Julie Walters, a Boys Town official, interviewed the semester-money and time-permit~ favor the very wealthy and multinational corAnd racism is still a potent tool of Repuband in her handwritten report to the Neporations. The latter also receive highly.favor- lican politics as can be seen in Bush's judicial ting. Lastly, lest you be put off by the tone~ Senate, she wrote that, "3/25/86. Metwith able regulation (or deregulation), subsidies and nominees. On the one hand, they are still mak- my writing sometimes takes, fear not,- : [Sorenson] and Lisa for about two hours am quite capable of being pleasant wit~ choice govemment contracts. In exchange, the ing cryptic appeals to prejudiced whites, parbrir fNeb.] questioning Lisa for more details people who, at times, I differ stron~l corporations and the wealthy funnel a sliver of ticularly in the South; Bush did so witl1 his sexual abuse ...Lisa admitted to being used as this largesse back into the campaign coffers of recess judicial appointment of Charles with. I trust that Ms. Erica Naone an . te by Larry King when she was on trips Bush and his fellow Republicans. The same Pickering, who had an early career in segrega- Mr. Simeon More by, will vouch for that. ·s family. She started going on trips when she in case you don't believe me. thing can happen ·with Democrats, though ~~-..., 8 was in 10th grade. Besides herself andLarryihere was also Ivirs. King, their son, Prince, and two-three other couples. TheytraveledinLu:ry's private plane. Lisa said that at these trip parties, which Larry hosted, she sat naked 'lookingprettyandinnocent' and guests could engage in any se.'rual activitythey·wanted (but penetration was not allowed) with her.. Lisa said she first met VP George Bush at the Republican Convention (where Larry King sang the national anthem) and saw him again at a Washington, DC party that Larry hosted At that party, Lisa saw no women ('make-up was perfect-you had to check their legs to make sure they weren't women}" According to the commission report, on December 30, 1988,Eulicewas interviewed by F.B.I agents Brady, Tucker, and Phillips. During the interview, she "indicates that she attended a party in Chicago with King and the male youths. She indicated George Bush (Sr.) was present. She indicates that she set [sic] at a table at the party while wearing nothing but a negligee. She stated that George Bush saw her on the table. She stated she sawGerngeBush pay King money, and that Bush left the party with a nineteen-year-old black boy named Brent Lisa said the party George Bush attended was in Chicago in September or October 1984. According to the Chicagp Tribune of October 31, 1984, Bush was in Illinois campaigning for congressiorutl candidates at the end of October." Furthermore, in Mrs. Walters' report, ''Lisa was given four polygraph tests administered by a state trooper at the StatePatrolofficeonCenterStreetinOmaha.1bestate trooper, after Lisa's testing was completed, told [another foster parent] he tried to 'break Lisa down,' but he was convinced she was telling the tru.tl1." In the face of this gruesome reality, tl1e powers that be responded with radical ground control in the fonn of a media assault on Eulice and the other witnesses. TI1e biggestpaperinNebraska, the Omaha Herald, in collusion with local law enforcement, as well as the F.B.I, systematically destroyed their credibilitj~ through anotl1er kepv:itness, Troy Bonner Despite Bonner's inittil. videotaped testimony, he eventually changed his story to the commission, and testified that he and witness Alicia Owens had conspired together and con- cocted their entire story, and tlut the testimony of another key witness, Paul Bonacci, was also bogus. Any hope for the witnesses' vindication was obliterated when the head investigator ofthe commission, Gary Caradori, died witl1 his son in a mysterious plane crash. \1(7ith the organized opposition discredited and intimidated, the capitulation of the commission was a forgone conclusion. For her testimony,A.licia Owens was sentenced to 15-29 years for perjury: .i'vfr. King received a 15 year federal prison sentence for defraudingtl1eF.C.FC.U, and several other businessmen implicated received much smaller sentences for the solicitation of prostitutes.No other charges were made. Several years later (m 1994), with the encouragement and legal guidance of Republican State Senator John DeCamp (who by tl1is point had devoted himself to freeing Alicia Owens and generally e..-posing the Franklin Cover-up), Troy Bonner surfaced again in an attempt to set the story straight once and for all. On tl1e day ofhis court appearance, however, Troy left Nebraska, and has not been heard of since. To sw:illowallof this might be too much to ask of most people. Chalk it up to crazy conspiracy theory by some wack-job who lus too much time on his hands. Despite the torrid intrigue, and surreal plot lines which screams fabrication, the truth in the Franklin Cover-up is omnipresent, and frankly, indisputable. On May 3, 1994, the Discovery Channel (once again, the paragon of biased liberal media) was to aira documentarywhich exposedmuch of the Franklin Cover-up. Predictably, the documentary was a.-'Ced at tl1e last second under extreme political pressure, and the rights to the documentatywere purchased by an anonymous person who ordered all copies of it to be destroyed. TI1is order, however, was not rnrned out to the fullest degree, for State Senator John DeCamp eventually received a copy of it, which he tl1en forwarded toretiredF.B.I chiet;TedL Gunderson. Needless to say, this documentatyis now available for viewing at www.thelawparty.com/ Franklin.Coverup/ franklin.htm, as well as other vital information about the Cover-up. During the investigation, l\fr Balac..~ t.1ie.labor secretaty's liaison to the \Xi'hiteHouse, said in the June 29, 1988 Washington Times, that "Henry Ytnson (one of the federal investigators) said a high-level officialis going to try to block the investigation and may succeed." Regardless of who tried to block what, beitinNebraskaorin Washington DC, the fact remains tlut the Washingtmz Cover-Up continued on back page . . . THE GADFLY. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 �gu~sher to your birycle and launch out your window, ·using the well-documented JetPower offire extinguishers (Misuse ofFire Extinguishers: $150+; Bicycle Improperly ParkedinDorm: $75; WmdowScreen Removed from Wmdow: $25; Screen Damaged: $50; Broken Wmdow: $30+; Screen Missing: $125). Uefortunatefy, as you gloriousfy sail through the air toward McDowell, your cell phone gloriousfy plummets downward, where it wondrousfy shatters on theq~ad(TelephoneDamage: $50; StudentBody receives letter about broken glass in quad). S efefy land on the roof ofMcDowell, and gentfy slide into the bell tower (Presence on the Roof of Any Building: $100+). Donifar;getyourfavorite ckJor closer. (Removing Door Closer: $75) And the Winner is ... by Ervin Romero Staff Writer would only be sending bad vibes into a community that is already rife with the worst vibes. We have so many bad vibes vibrating around I was going to write an article in response to some stuff that I saw going on in the "Gadfly." It all that no one is able to have fun at parties or started when a certain young lar:fy wrote a concert enjoy a lecture. So instead, I am writing an arreview, which was vicious/y attacked with a scathing ticle that is intended to send out good vibes response ry a certain young man. She responded to and to make everybody feel just a little bit the response with a scathing and rather humorous groovier. Llke God, I have ranked every member of response of her own, lest her older brother be farced to take matters into his own hands andfight a duel with the St. John's College community. "So what," the young man who first responded. If this duel had you might be thinking, "doesn't everybody taken place, my money would have been on the older have their own rankings?" Yes, but mine are in brother, but on/y if scratching were allowed. S ad/y, print so they matter. But you will be glad to this duel did not take place. What did happen was know that I have also appointed myself voice that the young man took offense to the response of of the people and as voice of the people I the response written ry the young lar:fy. And so he speak for all the people when I say that the wrote a personal letter to the young lar:fy in which he top-ranking member of the St. John's College threatened to respond to her response via a response community is none other than everybody's faofhis own unless she would write a response in which vorite person-Mr. Bryson Finklea. My sincershe apologizedfar herfirst response. Also included in est apologies, Mr. Blaustein. I think that everybody agrees that Mr. that letter was the gentleman/y gesture to offer a potential apology far his first response, but on/y if Finklea is the best person on campus. If anyshe first responded with the aforementioned apology. body should be allowed to ride a huge white How do I come into the story? That's what I'm horse all around town, it should be none other asking myse!f. But here is how I think it happened. than Mr. Finklea. He is a gentleman and a The young /ar:fy showed me the letter at dinner. She scholar, an athlete and a born leader. Seriously, asked me far advice as to how to respond. I told her at you guys should write letters next week extolfirst to print the letter because it was clear proof that ling even more of his virtues. I know Mr. Finklea because he is my team the young man is indeed an @$$hole. But the letter captain. He has led our Spartans to first place in was too long and confusing. So then I told her to write a petry, but rather hilarious response in which she the basketball rankings. He is the inspiration would lampoon the young man as some sort ofper- and the motivating force behind the Big Blue verted vitrylfiend. She said that as a respectableyoung Machine. On the court he hustles, moves the lar:fy she could not get herse!f to write such boorish ball around, and always crashes the boards. Off prose, but that I could. And that is how I was re- the court he offers his teammates encouragement and sound advice in his gentle and pacruited to write this response. So there I was all week long trying to come tient manner. I would say that the biggest reaup with the perfect phrase to describe the sod- son the Spartans are the best team is because omy of a record. I wanted to use the word they play as a team, and they play as a team "victrola" because it sounded like a funny word. because Bryson leads them like a team. You could tell a lot about a man's character I wanted to make light of the fact that only a by the way he carries himself inside the temple, "needle prick" could successfully copulate with a record. But then I thought of the 45s and but you could tell a lot more by the way he their bigger holes. But I haven't seen a 45 in carries himself outside the temple. Bryson carages, so I really didn't know if the hole could ries himself superbly, spreading his good vibes accommodate an average man, and I wasn't everywhere he goes. Wherever you may come about to go try it out for myself. So as I was across him, he greets you with a smile and a holding the 45 in front of me, I thought, sincere word. And he has a firm handshake. Mr. Finklea is also a servant of the commu''What will this response really do other than nity. He is a math assistant, and I know that he possibly seriously injuring me?" So I will not write the response. I sincerely was once a lab assistant. From what others have apologize to the young lady to whom I prom- said about him, he was and is great at both of ised my nefarious services. I too cannot in good those jobs. He is an intelligent and patient conscience write such boorish things because it teacher, never ceasing in his assistance until one 10 understands. I'm sure there are a number of us who would have given up on Newton long ago had it not been for the help ofI'vfr. Finklea. Some have said that Mr. Finklea is descended from the gods, but this is not so. Although he does have the strength of two men who each have the strength of one Mr. Finklea, thus making him twice as strong as himself, Bryson is a regular human bem'g just like you and me. The fact that he is human makes him an even better man, for he serves as an example to us all of what we could be if we shared the good vibes in us all. I'm sure all of you have a great story to tell about Mr. Finklea. Like I said before, you should write in to share these stories. It is important that we know about the good that goes on at this school and Bryson Finklea is a great part of the goodness of the St. John's College community. For the curious, here are some of the rankings: 1. Bryson Finklea 2. Ian Blaustein 3. Anton Barba-kay 4. Mr. Ludwig 5. Mr.Salem 6. Mr. Goldberg 7. Mr. Braithwaite 8. Mr.Lutz 9. Josh Weinstein 10. Mr.Harrell Honorable mention: Jordan Ganaan Know Your B~ights) Pt. II How to get a Happy Ending.from the Volunteer Escort Service The Student Handbook, or, as we call it, Harry Potter and the Handbook of Students ' decrees: How to break Mr. Sterling's record in Three Minutes Two ~s efter school ends (Vacating Dormitory Late: $50 /day), wake up hung over inyour waterbed (Alcohol Violation: $100+; Use of Water Bed: $25/day) nexttotheprospieyou slept with (Being Irresponsible or Exploitative in Relation with Prospective Student: about $250). To get them out of your room, pull the fire alarm (False Fire Alarm: $150+). They sqy that they'll meet you later tonight, but they were terrible despiteyour inebriated state. Seriousfy,you've had betterfrom the Volunteer Escort Service. Thanks, Jews' Clues! To avoid them, you attempt to move from F.andafl 201 into the McDowell Bell Tower (Unauthorized Room Changes: $50; Unauthorized Entry ofBell Tower: $100) withyourpet Yourpetm'!)' not be Ms. Alexander} ckJg; or, if it is, it must have just been walked on campus (Pet in Room: $100; see Dogs p.26). Moving is strenuous, so beforeyou leave, light a cigarette inyourc ckJrm room using the exposed elements ofyour hotplate (Prohibited Smoking: $25+; Hot Plate with Exposed Elements: $25). The smoke detector makesyou angry, andyou ckJn i need that on moving~: break it (Misuse of Smoke Detector: $150+). Dropyour cigarette in the hallw'!)', starting a bigjire (There is no fine for starting a fire. Rock 'n' Roll). For reasons of safety, students must not walk .alone in the city, or on the back campus After Dark™or on the lower back campus at anytime. .. A Volunteer Escort Service is provided to walk < m drive home at night students who live off campus. Consult Assistant Dean if you need .this ['JService. f1 · Jews' Clues defines a happy ending as a "consual, savage, intimate, tender, yet legal, enunter nbbed for her pleasure." To achieve this, must first know your target At least three to months of stalking are advised. (For more stalking, see Harry Potter and the Chamber s.) We have no idea exactly who is lame ) enough to volunteer to drive drunks at night, so stalk well. , we here at Jews' Clues recommend a strict of emotionaljy cnppling blackmail Callyour escort while drunk inyour on-campus room, and refuse to respond to, or even acknowledge uest, ask if it's because you 're too fat Make cry loudfy into the phone and punctuate your 'h heart-wrenching sighs. A fictional dead re/a'/ or unrequited love will ckJ wonders. Example: . great-gran4father never loved me. (Heartg sigh.) Probabfy because I'm too fat!" e you've gotten this hottie to your room, Now's a good time far a daring escape. That room set: escorts are easy as Hell You just need was mes-!)! atryw'!)' (Failure to Clean Dorm Room: !'hem. Payments should be sent promptly $35+). Spr'!Y paint "prospie go home" on allyourfurniture (Graffiti: $75+) and push it into the burning Max Kronberg hallw'!Y to make sure the prospie ckJesni return (MovCampus Mail ing College Furniture: $50; Obstructing Hallway: payments will not be tolerated. $75). To f!y to freedom, strap your hanr:fy fire extin- Total fine: $8,090+, and Rock 'n' Roll Giving Mr. Sterling a reason to enable you: Priceless How to rediscover the joy ef ama- teur athletics in a congenial setting According to Harry Potter and the Handbook of Students, students are able to rediscover the joy ofamateur athleti.cs! In a congenial setting! Through Athletics and Recreati.onal Resources, students can do that thing. You, know, with the joy and the congenial setting. Oh, and the rediscovering of amateur athleti.cs. Thanks, Jews' Clues! Tune in next week for Know Your Rights, Pt. II, Pt II. J.C's Shaloms: Shalom to Nie Zakheim for trying to start a Jewish Student Organization. Anyone who wants to be a part of this opportunity, or latkes, or both, should contact her immediately. Shalom to Amy Taylor for endorsing Max Kronberg's candidacy for the DC. Max, however, is wary of receiving this endorsementation from one who proclaims to be a vegan, which is s~ gl~riously close to virgin. Ever since that special rught last year, Max has refused to listen to anything virgins have to say. Unfortunately, Rachmaninov refuses to return his phone calls. Shalom to Draco Malfoy, who also refuses to return Max's phone calls. Shalom to Ms. Alexander. You have an awesome dog. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 11 �THE GADFLY St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 ates by Leo Pickens Athletic Director PfD;sica! plqy and illegal contact have inhibited the game of skill envisioned ry James Naismith. For the game's 1velfare, a collective decision must be made to coach, plqy, and officiate in accordance 1vith the mies that govern such plqy. Most importantly, officials must call each and every game under these rules; however, coaches must teach in accordance with these rules and demand that their plqyers adhere to them. From the NCAA Basketball Rule Book, 2002 It's still a very tight race in the women's league. \Vith only two more games remaining, it's still anyone's league. The Furies reclaimed their share to first place this past Friday with a Another Look continued from page 6 accepted by nearly everyone at nearly every point in history- is not just about love and caring but about nature ... " I would like to ask you, l'vfr. Sullivan, to clarifywhatyouintended to assertvvith these statements, lest we are to believe that you still consider African-Americans (by fiat of this country's long held belie~~Te) to b-~ ~/} hUG."i41, _Al~, ~vh~t, ex2ctl;i were you trying to prove with your example of Caligula and his horse, saying that I can callitwhateverI 'Arant "but atthe end of the day, the dam thing is still just a horse?" But, alas, M:r. Sullivan, I would like to extend my questions to the two females who have most politely contributed to the Ga4f!y on this issue, though I do realize that the traditional definition of women-the definition accepted by nearly everyoneatnearlyeveiypointinhistory-isofalesser, politically incapable sex who is only fit to be dominated. Never fear, Mr. Sullivan, I will certainly remember to keep in mind that I may call whomever I =ta legitimate, free voting, politically and socially worth-while human being, but at the end of the day, the 'dam thing' is still just a woman. 12 close victory over the Nymphs. And one big reason for the Furies' triumph was the solid play of senior guard Patti Koscinski. Miss Koscinski is doingwhatwelove best all those unsung fundamental things that make her teammates look good-setting the best picks in the league, playing tough defense, setting up the offense, and man, some of her passes come with a whole helluva lotta hot sauce on 'em, don't they? For her great play this past week, and all season long, Jv!iss Koscinski is named Athlete of the Week for the women. Speaking of things we love: how about the tenacious, non-stop hustle of underdogs? Now granted, we try not to bestow the very prestigious moniker Athlete of the Week more than once to any jock during their undergraduate years, but look, after Mr. Malkiel's gritty performance this past Sunday during the oneon-one tournament, in which he won both A & B divisions (and surprised a whole lotta folks in the process) and played six games, four of them back-to-back, how can we let policy stand in the way? For his great performance this past weekend, Mr. l\falkiel is named Athlete of the Week for the men. l\1s. Hugens and Ms. Skoog, you ask if a homosexual relationship is the same as a heterosexual one, if the production of children can be separate from St:.'{, if a single person deserves to have a dllid and, finally, you ask what a child deserves and "whose responsibility is it to give it to him?" Yes, I believe that a homo sexual relationship is primarily the same as hete..rose.'lJ.?1 one, ?.:n.d; yes\ I b'::lieve tb_,_,~.t tl1ere- is a pointto sex outside pro=tion. I realize that these assertions are at odds with your religion's definitions and beliefs on the subject, but I'm sorry, it is not your religion's place to decide my rights and place a limit on my freedom As for the other two questions, I do not think that your religious laws should dictate what I, or my future children for that matter, do and do not deserve. For the record, though, I would like to thank Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog again for writing what I believe have been some of the most polite letters that have recently been published, and I have no intention of insulting anyone. If I have been rude in any way, it is simp~' because I feel that an overly tempered rep~r would be inappropriate for adcLressing opinions and beliefs that I see as ultimately dangerous. . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Franklin Cover-Up continued from page 9 T1mesreported on the Franklin Cover-up, not once, but at least nineteen other times. The information was out there, but it simply received no air-time whatsoever. There was a total and absolute media blackout. A liberal media would have tom Bush, Sr. and Ronald Reagan to shreds over this scandal, but as we all know; this did not happen, primarily because we do not have a liberal media in this country, or for that matter, an independent media that actually reports the truth. Instead, we have a media that receives its talking points from the people at the top of the illuminate food d1ain in Washington D. C, and the truth is tl1en filtered and manipulated to fit these talh i � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 12 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keene, Cathy (Editor in Chief) McCracken, Ian (Executive Editor) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol XXV Issue 20 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-17 Description An account of the resource Volume XXV, Issue 20 of The Gadfly. Published February 17, 2004. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. 25 #20 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Subject The topic of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/27d9482f1c37f31d30f95b5404be6e32.pdf 503d04d528757083050f57484310491a PDF Text Text THE GADFLY The St. John} College Student Weekfy Volume XXV, Issue 21 Annapolis, Maryland February 24, 2004 Pensees by Sean "The Devil" Valles As I perused the latest issue of the Gadfly, cringing at the shameless bickering that Blythe Woods by Deb Streusand Staff Writer Blythe Woods is a fun person to talk to. She laughs a lot, especially when faced with questions like "what's the strangest thing you've seen in your time working at St. John's!" Answer: she can't think of anything particularly strange, but she fondly remembers last year's igloo. Or "anything you want to say to the College, since you've got the floor?" Answer: nothing really, but she does wish people would stop throwing their cigarette butts into the gardens. The gardens? Oh, right, you probably ' want to know what that has to do with it. .You see, Ms. Woods is in charge of landscap:ing and gardens here at St John's. She started taking care of the plants in FSK as a conemployee of St. John's, back in the mists 1988. In 1992, she began working the outside gardens and landscaping afCollege had problems with the previoutside gardener. She became a regular employee soon after that, needing a ,,,,,~.,.u;·,lrjob instead of a contract because she Cool Lady was expecting her daughter, and started working here full-time in 2000. When asked about her favorite part of the job, she says, 'Tm really enjoying learning about the trees, and taking care of the trees." Sounds like fun, right? I'd rather be outside than inside most of the time, and plants are cool. , . so how do you get a job like that? Ms. Woods, who is originally from Pennsylvania, has always liked to be outside. She says her major sort of evolved into horticulture while she was Lrying to decide what to study at Penn State University. While looking through the Blue Book (apparently some sort of catalogue from which one picks out courses to take - what a crazy concept) she fmm.d all the individual courses she wanted to take, and discovered t11at they fell into one particular major ... "and that's how I got into horticulture." She's gotten to k._now quite a few students in her time at St. John's, working wit11 the Volunteer Garden Club and w:itl1 a number of student aides. This year she has five student aides, which is sometlling she says has really changed since Blythe Woods continued on back page · Issue: The Great Comic Books, p. 4 ~ fills the pages, I came to t11e staggering realization that the Gadfly's readership cannot simply stop "debating" (to thoroughly abuse ilie term), it can only be redirected to a more scandalous topic. I do not discount myself from this truism, but often resent it nonetheless. To this simple end of changing the subject, I have compiled a list of problems/ complaints that I have, and present them in the mere hope of stumbling upon a topic of conversation, however inane, that does not revolve around definitions of marriage or further fellating Dan Schwartz's already enormous sense of self-importance. 1) St. John's College has a planetarium and a pendulum pit, but not a pool (anymore). Dammit, even my high school had a pooL 2) I dunk Nick Colten is stalking George Bush. This worries me. 3) Jew's Clues has neither its own weekly newspaper nor it's own sect of Judaism. This should be remedied. 4) Jordan Ganaan only received honorable mention on Ervin Romero's polity rankings. He is awesome. 5) Use of the Gadfly for evangelical purposes. Can I be the only one who feels dirty after reading letters to the editor that all but quote directly from eitl1er Papal missives or ,-\.yn Rand's sacred corpus of best-sellers? 6) Sam Spalding does not write more articles. His articles tend not me:i:ely to i:n1i.tate professionalism (as is the case in so many otl1er articles) or, well, just plain suck, which ranks two thumbs up in my book. Pensees continued on back page The Real Power of the DC, p.10 �THE .,_GADFLY Gadfly Mailbox Gay Marriage Again Editor-in-Chief Cathy Keene Executive Editor Ian McCracken Production Manager A&E Editor Shoshana Goldstein Julie Janicki Sports Editor Christopher Utter Inside News Mary Townsend Outside News Hayden Brockett Contributing to this Issue Chris Bea John Peterson Erin Callahan Beth Siekiera Erik Geannikis Deb Streusand Mark Ingham Jacob Thomas Nora Kelleher Laura Traina Joseph Method Sean "The Devil" Valles Charlie Pashayan Webster Ye Gabrielle Pastenkos Founded in 1980, the Gatff!y is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St. John's Santa Fe campus. Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s)and do not necessarilly represent the opinions of the Gatff!y staff. The Gatff!y reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and thought-provoking newspaper which circumstances at St. John's permit. Letters of 200 words or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit. Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most cases. The Gac!f!J is not obligated to publish all submissions and will not print anonymous submissions except under special circumstances. Deadline: Sunday at noon, unless permission for a delay is granted in advance. Submissions will be accepted as long as they are legibly written, but typed copies, diskettes, and e-mail submissions are greatly preferred. Please e-mail submissions to sjcgadfly@yahoo.com. Dear Gac!f!y, :Mr. Sullivan's original letter was one of the most condescending and offensive things I have ever had the displeasure to read. It was an insult to homosexuals in general, for it indirectly implied that the actions of said individuals wete perverse, and insulting to me personally, inasmuch as it snidely questioned my ability (and the ability of other people who had taken part in this conversation) to carryanintellectualdiscussion. It called my ideas groundless and arbitrary without bothering to give a reason why they might be so. I was offended and responded in kind (the manner of which may be questionable). Since, however, :Mr. Sullivan has chosen to take his leave in a more polite manner, I can only return the favor and do the same. A few brief points about intent and I too will be done. I was not trying to paint :Mr. Sullivan as evil or bigoted. The goal of my over-blown (1 prefer bombastic) rhetoric was to show how his own definition, in the manner he presented it, was doing a fine job itself It was crystal clear from the tone of his letter that his was the same definition that Ms. Hugens and Ms. Skoog held as true, but not in anyway apparent from its actual presentation. He seemed to be proposing that the only relevant element of marriage was the sexual act that produces offspring, which is not the argument which the ladies he claimed to be defending were putting forth. Why did I harp on this quality ofhis letter? Because he had lectured us all so heavily about the importance of definition, while his own, as he put it forth, was either laughable or truly frightening (when he had not intended it to be either); thus the charges of hypocrisy and sloppiness. I was not claiming that he was an awful human being, only that he had constructed an awful argument (all while telling people they had done the same). For the record, ifhe did believe that marriage is just about the act of reproduction, he would have my pity and deserve it. Likewise, he has it if he is too arrogant or naive to realize that this conversation has, in its entirety, been about personal beliefs and opinions. Why, furthermore, would I question the legitimacy of the claim that the marriage of one man and one woman for the sake of mutual comfort and the rearing of children (or however else we want to phrase it) is the only real definition ever employed through human history? I had thought that this would be apparent. There is, for example, a certain human practice called polygamy, which was to be found nearly everywhere at nearly all times in-recorded history. It is well documented in the Bible (as the knockaround guys at Jews' Clues kindly pointed out), andis not uncommon in our modem age. These facts, to quote :Mr. Sullivan, are "obvious to anyone with even a very limited knowledge and awareness of history." Other than the involvement of men and women, there is nothing in polygamy, or arranged marriages (another widespread institution in antiquity and modernity) which partakes of the definition he now claims to support. This is not an argument for gay marriage, but one against certain imaginative efforts to limit the history and reality of marriage. Of course I believe that marriage is conventional (if that is the only alternative to natural). How, after all, can any human institution be by nature? Coupling (even permanently) may be natural, but we have already said that two people who live together, love each other and produce offspring, are not, by those actions, married. Institutions are as artificial as the nests which birds construct, even if it is in the nature of birds and men to act as we do. Thus, we can speak about marriage as being traditional or not. We do not speak about the traditional methods of respiration or mastication, for these things a:te natural. Lastly, I would like to thank Mr. Sullivan fu~ having the pomposity to tell me what I do attd do not think, to explain why his beliefs are supe;: rior to the ones he has put in my mouth why, further more, I am partially responsib the erosion of the sacred, catholic (which I in the most literal sense) institution of Since :Mr. Sullivan believes he is beyond a tions ofhypocrisy or carelessness, I will r fully assume that this is some subtle, witty to illustrate the fallacy of constructing straw :Mr. Sullivan was not just presenting an ment. He gleefully told people their were flawed and baseless (when his own from perfect), that their ideas were wro beneath discussion without bothering to saywhy. This,notanystatementshemade gay marriage, history or human nature, him my ire and derision. Was I right in r ing the way I did? Probably not, but I am a man, and I strike when I've been struck. I apologize to anyone who has had to. through the letter page of the Gac!f!y th two months, and I apologize to Ms. having to see my name in print yet again. · with :Mr. Sullivan that this debate has gone on for too long, though I don't believe that either he or I have any right to say so. Jacob Thomas The Ivory Tower Keep Thur Receipts Dear Gadf!y, I would like to sincerely thank Mr. Geannikis and Ms. Rose (DC Secretary and Treasurer) for putting together the DC budget packets. The immense amount of effort that they put into making the "budget-a-mania" packet understandable is to be commended. I would like to encourage the polity to take an interest in the DC's budgeting process which begins on Wednesday at lunch and dinner in the private dining room. I have heard numerous complaints about the "hypocrisy" of the Delegate Council and the "corruption" that the DC has in giving money to certain clubs. Those people should attend the meetings and try to get answers to their questions about where their money is going. That said, I echo Mr. Spalding's letter from last week, in saying that none of the money that the Delegate Council :~s to alcohol purchases. However, the lack financial accountability by all clubs should considered as an important item - all club ans may want to keep track of their re"pts so that any possible question about alalcohol purchases can be quashed. In response also to :Mr. Spalding's letter, I that 39% of their budget was paid for by bership dues. Also, it seems like Reality's ses will be remarkably low this year; they only asked for a little more than $8,000 from the DC for the entire school year t $1850 for the fall semester, and an t probably close to $6,000 for this se). Yet this raises a question - why is so dependent on DC funding? Perhaps t be possible to scale Reality's events so that the budget requests do not seem compared to the small clubs on camwever, any question of scaling down ents to meet financial constraints runs "political backlash." The "political "is simply that- do the members of Want to go on the record as opposing social events on campus? Nobody o do that, but at the same time, Reality P ensure that more people are paying Y 40 people have done so for this semester) or if not, to find out more ways to make its social events more welcome to everybody on campus. Otherwise, Reality has to explain why there are numerous clubs dedicated to being the anti-Reality (such as Mabel the Swimming Wonder Monkey) in terms of providing non-alcoholic social events at the same time as Reality events. If Reality is as campus-inclusive as it proclaims, all members of the polity should work together to make those events as fun as possible for everybody. The image of Reality may be distorted by many individuals (such as :Mr. Schwartz), but the tradition of Reality being the club for all Johnnies is a strong one. I do not want to become a participant in the Gadf!y flame wars, but I feel it is necessary that a campus-wide organization should become more inclusive and financially transparent in reality, rather than in speech. Webster Ye Oh, Come On Stu, I was totally being facetious, man. See, the joke was that of course we were doing something illegal, and ofcourse the cop was justified in pulling us over, but we were on a journey of such self-import that his collaring seemed unfair. I felt that my offer of an utterly ludicrous explanation and my whimsical tone adequately alerted readers to the irony. My skin did not, in fact, crawl, and I in no way braced myself for action. I got nothing in particular against the guy who pulled us over, except a vague incidental resentment. Let's not kid ourselves, though. Racial profiling does happen. Cops do it all the time. An ACLU report that came out at the beginning of this month states that six out of every seven law enforcement agencies in Texas report searching blacks and Latinos at higher rates than Anglos following a traffic stop. Such actions are wrong, and blind defense of the police when we know they make decisions based on race will never eliminate that discrimination. Blind defense of the discriminatory acts themselves can only serve to fosterfurther discrimination. Now, my natural impulse is to give the cop who pulled us over the benefit of the doubt. I have no evidence whatsoever that his actions were racially motivated. You, however, have no evidence that they weren i'. Of cours~ we shouldn't automatically assume the worst about people, but neither should we automati- caf!y assume the best, especially with regards to police and elected officials; we should, if anything, be more critical of those in power. Sincerely, Ian McCracken More Gay Marriage Dear Gac!f!y, ·No one can de~~marriage for me, just as no one can tell me how to live my life. The only definition of marriage I need to hold in common with anyone is the legal definition. It does not matter what someone else thinks the natural definition is, or what marriage traditionally has been, or what someone's religion tells her is right. The word has been appropriated by our society to describe a civil union between two people. This appropriation is not an erosion of the meaning of marriage; just because everyone does not hold a beliefdoes not mean it is invalid. I define my relationships, and while it would be fruitless and absurd to insist that no one judge them, no one has the right to control them. If I want public recognition of the commitment I am making to my girlfriend, I deserve it, regardless of what other people believe about marriage or men and women or homosexuality, just as I can receive public recognition of my commitment to any man, regardless of who approves of my choice or who thinks the relationship is wrong. I can get married five times, and legally my fifth marriage is as valid as someone else's first, even if I plan on getting divorced, even if I do not plan on having children, even if our relationship is not for our mutual well-being. My relationship has been publicly recognized and my partner and I have been given certain rights and privileges because we asked for that recognition, not because our relationship fits someone else's ideal. Others are entitled to think whatever they want about my lifestyle, but I alone decide it. I alone decide how I want to make myself happy, or unhappy. To say that homosexual relationships can never be called marriage is not to say something simple about the nature of marriage, but to say that homosexual relationships do not deserve the legal and public recognition that heterosexual relationships get, the legal and public recognition that we call marriage-not just civil union, butmarriage. I can ah:eadymarryanyman for any reason, for money, a joke, or love. This is not an example of the moral erosion of our society; this is an example of my freedom to live as I please. I should also be able to marry whomever I please. Gabrielle Pastenkos 2 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY. 3 �Give the Guy a Break That's Right, Comic Books for real. While the term comic book may be Befure I get to 1he heart of 1he matter which has by Chris Bea something of a turnoff, don't be too quick drawn me to write in, let me start out by prnising Dan Schwartz. Arriving at St. John's this past August, to write off anything wi-th art, speech 1hisman,1hroughhisWOJkat1heG'atf.bi,1heObjec- the portion of the Program I was most ex- bubbles and burly men in spandex as "kid's 1ivist0ub,andgenernlcliscus00n,bo1hinandoutof 1he cited about was definitely Seminar. Getting stuff." You might actually be surprised. classroom,hasfertilized1heseedofendlesssatire(aswell a chance to sit with 20 people my age and Comic books(or if you prefer, graphic novas intcllectual clispµte). I personaily fEel he should be discuss the great works of history was prob- els) are quite full of potential for thoughtrecognized furhisverylmportintrole. ably what most attracted me to this school. provoking, intelligent seminars. For exGroerausly,selflessly,andwi1houtbattinganeyi;he · After looking at the reading list, I was ample, Watchmen deals with issues like vigihas1hrownhirnselfinto1helioo'sdenrepratedlyover1he startled to notice some major gaps in the lantism, religion, 'noble lies' and even good course of his stayatStJohn'sfur1hesakeof ouroollective · list for senior year. Sure, we've got Tolstoy, parenting. Well, maybe not so much good · Freud and Dostoevski, but where were parenting, but still, it's interesting reading. senseofhumor. Jndeed,heisidealfur1hepb:1hepeifu:t Miller, Moore and Gaiman? I mean, if we're In any case, getting back to the point of st:mightman. Heis more devoid ofa sense ofhurnor, going to look at the greatest in literature, the article, I'm writing this to let people andstickstopreposterousideasmorefumly1hananyoae but leave out the authors of Sandman, The know about the 'Program' and to tell everyIhaveeve.rhad1hepleasureof encountering Sotoyou, Dark Knight Returns and one two specific Dan,I sayfuankyoufurkrepingus onour1Des. Watchmen, what would things. One, hopeNow1heartidefmrespondingto(G'atf.bi 2/ 7/04) : we actually be able to fully Mr. Throop and was placed veiy prominently on 1he ~ p;ige of our · bring away from our four I will get a charter in wreklypaper. I presume 1his is because it was about an · years and almost front of the DC beupro.iOOus, tutor-on:hestratedevmtinvolvingaprognu:n $15 5,000? The thought fore spring break. aufuor(automaticPOOrityA,natun!Jl0. Itdid,however, of not having answers to Frankly, given my restrike me as veiy appropJ]are, bo1h to 1he rest of 1he eternal questions like luctance to get off my installmentandto1heGafbls:reo:otperlOnnanceon1he "Could Batman beat Suass, I don't know if whole,tbatitbepacedfuere. Iseemstome1hatasenseof : perman in a fight?" and it'll be done in time, humorhasbeenlackioginmanyof1heru:ridesandletters- . "What really is but if it's not, there'll inoflate. 1hisisnottosayallbyanymeans,butcertiinly : Wolverine's origin?" was be a charter after break. terrifying, to say the least. aportion tenifyiagenoughfurmysensi1ivespirit If you like what When1hisatrituderomesupindismssion,1hetopic I think we can all agree you've heard, show evmtuallytumsto1he:reo:othotirems,suchaslastyeais that something needed up, be supportive. If sizzlingRithui:Jnpary,orfueam:entlybrimstooe-diarg to be done. you hate the idea that Sa-ne-Stx MtJ1'TiaJ! and, of c:our.;e, Tm Notmious Mr. My roommate, Zach someone would be as Sclnwnz: Thesefirefights,Icanonlyassume,lastsolong Throop, and I decided to vulgar as to suggest a because 1hepeoplewbowritein eifuerenrer1hedispute should er the burden seminar on comic lareoraresimplyrelen1lessandofuenciseunoccupied ourselves. With that, the books, show up, Inanycase,asER Wbite\VlUte, '1\.despotcloesn't groundwork was laid for shoot us down. Hell. write a letter to the.· fuu: eloquent write1s preaching fu!edom-he Jears a the creation of the Great drunkmpoetwbomayrnickapke1hatwilltlkehokl." Comic Books Program. With an impressive Gadf!J; gay marriage and budget conce Humorisafurmoreeflicientmeanstopen;ua00n1han reading list encompassing all the genres of make for bland reading. The second · argument, for the simple reason of accessibility: sequential art, Mr. Throop and I set about to announce the next seminar in our Aristophanes' C1.wdrtypifies fuisadvantage, bringingfue arranging what we hoped would be the first gram. Wednesday, March 3 in Mellon 1 mnrempoou:yissueofSocrateswithinreachof1hemost of many Great Comic Books seminars. Our we're going to be having a seminar on rommon of men Certainly it did not provide much starting point was clear. Alan Moore's first three issues of Transmetropolitan by materialfurlengthydiscussion.wilhoutonealreadyhav- Watchmen would serve as the reading for ren Ellis. These first three issues are inggainedsomeunderstindingofSocrares,but1heim- the inaugural seminar of the Great Comic lected in the trade paperb portanceof1hematterspreadsitself1hickon1hea00ience. Books Program. Posters went up and the Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street. H Itisinescapable. : word went out. And so, one Wednesday in fully we can get copies in the bookstore So for gooclness' sake people, lighten up. Take 1he October in Mellon 106, a handful of people the way, the bookstore has been incre tirnetoleamframl\fr. Schwartz, 'causehe'snotgaing gathered to discuss one of the greatest · helpful with our previous seminars), b not, contact Mr. Throop or myself and anywhere He's one of anokibreed;afun:eof nature graphic novels of all time. Now, I know what you're thinking. should be able to help you out. Al'S Alongwifucockroaches andStyrofoamcups,fmsure he'lloudive1herestof1heplanet · "Comic book seminars? Is this guy for real? you've got any questions or comments, : Wait, this is that guy in the 'Frodo Lives' something in campus mail and we'll hat, isn't it?" Well, in short, yes. I am that help you out. We'd love suggestion With warm regards, guy, and the Great Comic Books program is what to read next. ]. Tayloe Donahue 4 THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . Your Friendly Neighborhood Maryland Shuttle Driver since 1996, made many interesting remarks by Webster Ye Staff Writer Many Johnnies, due to the lack of oncampus parking, park their cars at the Navy Stadiu111 off Rowe Boulevard. The Navy Stadium parking lot offers parking for incredibly cheap prices $50 for three months is one deal that is hard to pass up. The combination of cheap parking, decent security (the parking lot is right next to an Annapolis courthouse with lots of police cars), ready accessibility to many major Annapolis shopping (such as Graul's, Annapolis Mall, and downtown) makes it near unbeatable for those of us )wt lucky enough to snag an on-campus !ll'king permit. Yet, the greatest problem rJohnnies parking at the Navy Stadium is _e convenience factor - it is about 10-15 utes walking distance away from camThe road to get there (Rowe Boule) is not lit at night, and a walker usually to walk next to traffic zooming along at ds of 50 miles per hour. This makes gerous (those crazy Marylander drivers certain types of migratory weasels in their o-mobiles) in periods of the day (say morning or late at night) to get your er fear, the Annapolis Transit Service ! City of Annapolis operates a free e service that has two locations near ollege (one at the bus shelter just off mer from the library on College Ave., er is opposite Mellon Hall on Calvert t runs with decent regularity and . As such, there is no excuse for getu,r car towed from Campbell parking .Monday morning. ntly, I interviewed one of the regular rs on my way back to campus: Mr. McClure. He has been driving buses about his passengers, including such notable ones, as: "students from your school always have a book next to them," and "only 30% of all passengers ever say 'hi' or talk to me." A hard worker - Mr. McClure works two jobs for a combined total of16 hours-Mr. McClure said that "bus driving allows you to be the first face many tourists visit" and that it allows him to develop a good rapport with many of his daily customers. Since over 70% of the stadium shuttle's passengers are employees of the state of Maryland or the Anne Arundel County government, he has grown to know many, so much so, that he is often able to tell a person's mood from seeing them every day. Many of his passengers discuss daily news items with him. Often, the chance to see new faces is one of the major highlights of the job. Yet, Mr. McClure is not new to the mass transportation scene -he was one of Maryland's greatest truck drivers prior to his retirement (he was the proud recipient of Maryland's State Truck Driver of the Year award). Mr. McClure's job, which may seem boring to some, is far more that it seems. Often, the greatest thing that he has is time to think- a true luxury that many in the world outside of St. John's do not know (and which John Kavanaugh's "leisure" concept proclaims to be of critical necessity). In fact, because of the ability to really talk to people on the stadium shuttle route, the positions to drive the shuttles are often the most coveted in the entire Annapolis Transit Department (the positions are often awarded by seniority). Because of this, Mr. McClure is delighted to have the opportunity to meet new people and find out more about his routine passengers' lives in his daily piloting of the Navy Stadium Shuttle bus. So, for those Johnnies riding the bus, feel free to strike up a conversation - it might be as interesting as a Canterbury Tale. Commission Votes in Favor of Public Funding by Erin Callahan The Governor's Study Commission on Public Funding of Campaigns in Maryland, dubbed the Stenberg Commission for its leading member Carl Stenberg, was formedin2002 to determine the benefits and drawbacks of a voluntary public financing option for Marylad state elections. Last Wednesday, the Commission voted in favor of public financing. Why was this decision reached? ''We wanted a system that would begin to reduce the influence of big campaign donors on officials," Carl Stenberg commented last week. Legislators Virginia Clagett and John Hurson in the House of Delegates and Paul Pinsky in the Senate have proposed a pair of bills based on the current system in Arizona to reflect the Stenberg Commission's recommendations. The three main points of the bills are as follows: :In order to qualify for public funding, candidates would have to prove broad community support by collecting a large number of $5.00 contributions in their district. Once successful at raising those small contributions, candidates would receive $100,000 for a Senate race and $80,000 for a House of Delegates race, which is enough to wage a competitive campaign. ·If publicly financed candidates are outspent by privately financed competitors, the publicly financed candidates would receive offsetting funds to keep pace, up to a certain point. For the four year period beginning with the 2006 elections, all this would cost about $27 million. That sounds like a lot, but it only amounts to $6.75million a year, which is 0.03% of the annual budget, or $1.30 per Marylander per year. That sum could be raised simply by imposing a surcharge on repeat speeding violators and drunk drivers. This would also save tax payers more over time by curtailing corporate tax loopholes that currently cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars every year. .Are these bills likely to be passed? Well, over thirty lawmakers in Annapolis are now Public Finance, continued on page 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY 5 �·The Island and the Issues by John Peterson Staff Writer Johnnies who are sensible do not discuss current events. For one thing, 'politics,' which is usually what is meant by 'current events,' is an arena that participates as much in truth and virtue as a yogurt advertisement. The scope in our consciousnesses of what an 'event' is, if it is 'current,' is created by those whose job it is to report them as such. In search of events, newsmen look to those whose job it is to give news. Whether these are antagonistic to the newsmen (rarely, because it is not in their interest) or are effusive in their reports, what follows from this is a society that has no dearth of so-called 'events.' When these events are reported with emergency (almost always), the event becomes a 'crisis,' subject to immediate consideration (i.e. outrage) and change. This process, also known as journalism, goes hand in hand with politics, because politicians are those with the ability to change things. Thus politicians, political groups, and corporations all cater to the mechanism of journalism and its 'current events.' Even this college has a "Communications" office. In fact, it is almost impossible to operate these days without some sort of "Public Relations" department. Companies, when something goes wrong or changes, need to be able to report these changes to the public. Reporters come to them for news and then report it. This happens to such an extent that one often sees a flashy "news report" that amounts to an advertisement for a new product. However there is a greater use for Public Relations in the political sphere. Companies who compete with each other essentially communicate through the press. Lobby groups also communicate disfavor with or support for companies and organizations through the political/press mechanism. Crises are generated not by actual danger and necessity, but by the magnification of all mundane goings-on through the press and their access to the public. Ordinary people sit every day in front of the television as dramatic story after dramatic story is blasted at them in 45-second intervals. What makes it worse, and any truth or thing worth knowing all the more remote, is that 'news' is falsely draped in the holy shroud of 'objectivity.' Journalists are asked not to use their minds as ordinary citizens with common sense, but to be specialists, essentially paper- 6 pushers who receive press releases and turn them into 'news.' Even if news could be written fairly and delivered even-handedly, the mere selection and designation of press releases as 'events' is a subjective process that inevitably favors the incitement of the feeling of imminence and urgency. 'Health reports,' 'News reports,' reports in general-they all urge caution, or outrage, or fear, or something, rather than nothing at all, which would be better. Daily sports reports and financial reports, while less emotional, are still quite dramatic and almost require repeated (daily) attention, and people look forward to these things everyday; they feel as if they have missed out if they do not have this information, however useless or insipid. Celebrity news is more ridiculous and little connected to reality, but people tie their lives to celebrities nonetheless, and place huge emotional stock in J-Lo and Ben, for example. Most 'interests' play up this exploding power of the media. They rely on 'news' as their avenue for supporters. Basically, theywish to make people who care nothing at all for some situation into people who are adamant for change and see an injustice where they saw none before. Politics, through the media, creates fervor where there was only apathy, not simply by 'informing' and 'keeping you updated,' but by screaming at you, creating buzzwords and little snippets of rhetoric to repeat over and over again (and hopefully make you repeat), and tormenting you with an endless barrage of facts, images, and emotional appeals. 'Issues,' or 'current events,' are created this way and soon gain a large following of people who are attracted by the rhetoric and the nonsense. It becomes difficult to tell who are the base supporters of a political movement, who may have some substantial reasons or actual suffering or compassion as their motivation, and who is an idle pedant, 'getting involved,' 'being concerned,' or 'speaking out.' There often is something real to be addressed behind all the hoopla of a current event or a political issue. However, the fact is that journalists have to report and legislators have to legislate and they need these events and issues. But most of them, we do not need. Many Johnnies do not like to talk about politics or current events. Someone who is excessively concerned with some issue like this is . engaged with it out of proportion to reality, which is usually inaccessible in this arena. We . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cannot engage in a true dialectic, we can only spout recycled (counterfeit) opinions at each other, for the most part. Anyway, even if truth were accessible in these matters, it is much more accessible by other means, like the Great Books, for example. A Johnnie who is apolitical, in the vulgar sense of the word, is not an: idiot; he is usually a sensible person. This is why it is so shocking to see such madness at St. John's over something like "gay marriage." This thing, this political thing, is so inaccessible that we see we cannot even make a way into saying what it is, because it is merely a catch-phrase generated by those who seek to change the laws by creating 'concerned' citizens. It becomes a thing that we can discuss, as ifwe knew what it was, when we have not said what it was at all. Would we go about using "intuition" or "intelligence" or "intellect" in Seminar as the vulgar do? No, we define our terms, and only then can we say something real, when the interlocutors are speaking about the same thing. Socrates would not be happy with us at all. Contributors to the Gac!f!y have made attempts to define what "marriage" is, but these attempts miss the point. They give a good definition of marriage, but not of "gay marriage." This thing, "gay marriage," is not defined by the combined meanings of "gay" and "marriage,'' but by something entirely different, which has its existence only in the politicomedia sphere of manufactured hysteria. Though our laws may create a sort of technical injustice, which may be worth considering, ids nearly impossible as citizens to say meaningful things about this, as we are bombarded with rhetoric and tears over "discrimination" and appeals to natural rights that are assumed. Rightfully, we are distrustful of arguments'• about "nature" and "right" by those who spend their lives spinning tales and excitement·· over mere nothings, and we are justified with leaving those arguments to others who mal have less interest in real knowledge. St. John's is best when it is an island, sh tering real learners from a sea of'current even and 'issues' that float around by the wind · is their substance. Politics should only be concern insofar as it is "the art of caring souls" (Plato's Laws). I urge all of you to up this senseless debate over "gay marri and all of its corollaries. Dean Brann Reaffirms Our "Radical Venture" by Mark Ingham This is the title of the article that we will be discussing at the annual Tim Pomarole Seminar on Liberal Education. Some of you will be excited to once again attend this annual event. Some of you will be wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Others haven't even read this far. First of all, let me tell you about the legendary Tim Pomarole (A '98). He was so passionate about liberal education that, as an RA, he gathered together all of his men of Second Campbell for ... a liberal arts seminar! One of his freshmen was Tim Carney. Tim later became chair of the Student Committee on Instruction (SCI). In honor of his inspiring RA, he began a tradition. Every year since then, the SCI has hosted the Tim Pomarole Seminar on Liberal Education. Note: according to Miss Townsend, Mr. Carney is now 'working for the rightwing columnist, Bob Novak. We are all immersed in a nebulous and ~-shaking experience referred to as Ltb·.~Education for lack of a better name. What · Liberal Education? Does St. John's offer a liberal education that is consiswith traditional ideas of liberal educaAre we still engaged in the sort of eduthat the founders of the new program d be proud of, or would they be rolling in their graves? What could we read to- gether to help us think about these questions? Do you ever pause to ask such questions? Now that I mention it, are you interested? If so, come join the Tim Pomarole Seminar on Liberal Education. Once in a while it is nice to pause for a moment from our breathless journey through the deep (or perhaps shallow) waters of liberal education and reflect on just what it is that we are doing. As customary, the reading is available at the front desk of the library in the little SCI basket. This year we are reading an article written by Miss Brann way back in 1991 when she was Dean. In this article Miss Brann argues that "St. John's is not an aca~ demic institution" and that "we do not prepare students to make a living." She will also argue that we are "not a participatory democracy" and thatwe have "no administration." Who could we possibly find to lead a seminar on such a controversial reading? Mr. Tomarchio? Yes, Mr. Tomarchio! And of course, Miss Brann herself All members of the polity (which is not a democracy) are welcome to attend, including tutors and members of the administration (that we do not have). Again, copies of the reading are available at the Library Front Desk. Tim Pomarole Seminar on Liberal Education Where: Conversation Room Date: Tuesday, March 2 Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm. St. John's College Film Society Presents: Decasia (67 min) . e Film of Her (12 min)February 28, 2004 - 2:30pmFebruary 29, 2004 _8:00pmFSK num - $_3 Students - $4 General Admission Decasia - A hypnotic meditation on uty and ~evitability of decay created from snippets of deteriorating filmlaid over a ony by l'vfichael Gordon. (www.decasia.com) The Film of Her - In this exquisitely film, a search for the picture of a woman obsesses a clerk at the Library of Congress. SCI Minutes for February 19, 2004 by Nora Kelleher SCI Secretary In Attendance: Ms.Delston Chair Ms.Kelleher, Secretary, Ms. Flemin~, Senio; Representative, Mr.Ingham, Junior Rep.,Mr. Lanier, Junior Rep., Ms.Beall, Freshman Rep., Ms. Keim, Freshman Rep., Ms. Duffy, Ms. Hughey-Commers, Mr. Method, Ms. Sico, Mr. Stone, Ms. Taylor Absent: Mr. Stalnaker, Senior Rep., Ms. Gilman, Sophomore Rep., Mr. Utter, Sophomore Rep. The SCI meeting began with a review of last week's lunchtime forum on classroom organization. It was agreed that the discussion was helpful, and the presence of the Dean Assistant Dean, and Registrar was useful ~ shedding light on the different possibilities and difficulties of changing the way that classes are put together. There was a good tum out, which made the forum a good place for students to voice their concerns and personal difficulties with problems related to classroom dynamics and core group placement. Next, we reviewed the upcoming SCI events, which include the Tim Pomarole Seminar on A Liberal Arts Education (March 2,2004 7:00 ~m, Conversation Room), Plato in the Springtune, Student-Tutor Potluck,All College Seminar, and the Tutor Panel Forum. We then started brainstorming on topics for the Tutor Panel Forum. Possibilities include: Approach to Historical Context in St. John's classes, On writing and the role of essays at St. John's, a "talking school", St. John's students in the 21st century, Feminism and gender issues. Perhaps the most popular sugg~stion is a discussion on marriage. Opening Wlth the question ''Is marriage good for the soul?", we would hope to touch on such issues as gay marriage, which has been a controversial topic in recent gadfly articles, marriage as it relates to an academic/intellectual lifestyle, and perhaps reflect on how marriage has been portrayed in St. John's readings. Examples include Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Virgina Woolf's To the Lighthouse, and George Eliot's Middlemarch. We are still open to suggestions for forum topics; the final decision will be made at the next SCI meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 7 �&%27 That Man is a Radical U sagist! My Opponent is a Language Fascist! A Gadfly Debate by Joseph Method by Ian McCracken I hesitate to bring this to the attention of the polity, but I feel a sense of duty. I must warn you: the man voicing his misguided notions in tl1e opposite column is, in fact, a radical usagist. Do not be deceived by the empty rhetoric of this colloquialistic menace. accusation is more than warranted. This man is prone to cliche. You may hear him use phrases such as My opponent is a small man. He strives with every fiber of his being "every fiber of his being," or "unsuspecting populace," or some such to impose his narrow conceptions of "proper" English diction, gram- platitude. He will also "stylistically" contradict himself at frequent intermar, and pronunciation onto an unsuspecting populace. There is no vals. He has no regard whatever for the basic tenets of English diction, play in his soul. He will not abide the glottochronological reality that is grammar, and pronunciation that allow for the possibility of commulanguage drift. As you can see from the photo opposite, he is also a nication; his is a world in which no meaning is possible, in which we are large man, and will use physical force to assert his rigid will. He lives in expected, through some as yet undiscovered faculty of divination, to a world of syntactical ossification, :rhetorical antiquarianism-in short, "feel" the intention of each other's speech. He flits through an everhis prescriptionist tendencies lead him to worship at the altar of a changing universe of purely temporary significance in which truth, if dictionary god, he who is called Noah Webster, who hands down word such a thing can there exist, is constantly determined and redetermined meaning from on high. My opponent, that paladin of verbal righteous- by whim and caprice. This man, this impious fool, would watcl1 calmly ness, serves his oppressive deity witl1 mailed fist and forked tongue, all as society, weighted down with the senseless anarchism of "descriptive" in a vain effort to forcibly return society to a mythical order of crystaldenotation, sank into a roiling sea of gibbering noise. This lized sound and frozen concept. We must oppose this atavism with view of human intercourse must not stand. our words-if need be, with our very lives. I will demonstrate. That man maintains that the word "nonplussed" ' I wiJl demonstrate. lviy opponent denies the people's right to rede- does not, in point of fact, mean what 1t means, simply because the fine the word "nonplussed." Consider the sentence, "He was non- vulgar are too ignorant to consult a dictionary-in other words, that plussed by his friend's offer of a peanut butter sandwich on misuse has redefined the standard. Were I to say, "I was nonplussed by' \Vonderbread." My opponent would have you think that the subject Bob's sudden public removal of his drawers," that man would cllliID' of that sentence was "shocked into silence" by this offer, simply because that I was uninlpressed by Bob's antics, when, clearly, I meant that I was\ the almighty Webster defines "nonplussed" as "a state of utter perplex- struck dumb with confusion and dismay. Simply because the wo:. · ity." But who uses it tl1at way anymore? Not the BBC! Common usage begins with the common prefix, "non-", that man assumes, stupi clearly suggests that "unfazed" is tl1e generally accepted synonym. To that "to plus" is also an English verb. Not so! .i\.ctually, the wor bolster his position, my opponent consults his dusty etymological dic- derives frorn the Latin "11011 plus", mea.,.'ling "no mere" or "no fur. tionary to disclose this shocker: "nonplussed" derives from the Latin ther." The "non-" is not simply the application of an English conve1} "non plus;' meaning "no more." Well, I for one am convinced-not! tion-it is essential to tl1e very concept! It is not merely a negad The meaning of this word has been tried in the court of public opin- phrase, but a rich, expressive, predse term that occupies a singular nic ion, and no dated Roman usage can overturn itsdecision. But wait-I in the language. Nevertheless, that one over there contends that nes . overhear the prattling of my opponentimbecility should supply the rule, if so mercurial a determination even do so. Communication, in his eyes, becomes a comical waiide tluough t11e entropic wilderness of "consensus reality." Despite A lot of people don't know this about my opponent, but he truly is a language fascist. Now, I don't throw around accusations of linguistic intolerance lightly, but in his case, I think we can all agree that such an Joe Is he done yet? I will give you another example of hi s mmdl ess · .. oppos~~on to ~e evo~~tion-that is to say, progress-of language. The v.:,ord,_ tousle, as m, After ~,e.stling me _to the floor, my doting uncle ai.fect1onately tousled my hatt, 1s, according to Dictionary Truth pronounced "tou 'wl". Can anyone at all connected to modem Am ' · li£ . . . encan _e =agme himself utt~ring these bizarre syllables in public? Try it. The only respect you will gain will be granted to you by a handful of tweedy philologists, pedantically sucking on their meerschaum pipes. Everyone else will wonder, "tou 'wl? Isn't it t:Us \•l?" And they will be nght, according to the only meaningful standard there is: actual spoken usage. The people who pronounced it the "proper" way lived and died a hundred years ago. How long will be we be haunted by the superannuated prescnpt1ons of our ancestors? How long must we abide this tyraany? My opponent is not from this time. He belongs to an age that never was-a romanticized era of "precision" and "propriety" of usage that today we recognize as naught but a sinister Shangri-La of the mind. Sln1ster, because this illusory land of definitional milk and h oney too long obscured the reality of actual spoken language. We now know this fantasy realm for what it really was-an oppressive system for preservmg the patriarchal prerogatives of an inbred clan of dilapidated scriveners and withered root-stem cataloguersCanit be true? My opponent loads the cannon of the people} logos and po111ts 1t back .at himself! "tr'tf)-ne"~ I laugh with pro1oun d JOY r · h . . · W en I hear this s:unpleton's invitation to duel. "n'm-ne"- I say it without s_hame, with t11e full support of popular consensus and with the swelling knowledge that within this empty brownshirt's empty ndicu1e1s contatned the seed ofhis own destruction! For what man will be fool enough to say "tr'i::mt"? And yet the one word is derived from the other--only the most extreme and reactionary perversity could mainsuch vary111g pronunciations of related words. But perhaps my :0P•t>o:ne11j·' to clarify matters by reverting to the Greek wp()(VVO<;You nave had your tune, lvfr. McCracken-make way for the fu"trr ':.-ne''. Does it hurt? Good. Ian pathetic cries ("Tyrant! Despot!") ' I stand firm , secure 111 my un d er. . . . standing of the ongm of this most needful word. If the feckless utterances of dolts are all that d et ernune th e structure . and content of a tongue, we might as well speak only in grunts. In fact the term "ton~e" would cease to have any meaning whatsoever (which: apparently, isn t a problem for him)-if we can just make up words, there would be no discernible difference between "English" d "S kri "I I an ans • himt . could be speaking "French" right nowl• Tn f:a ct , according to i. 1 di , I am. · But let us iest no further-this is madness!· nrr cannot we vagate blindly through this interminable labyrinth of our own con. struction and hope for any purpose to our lives! One day we will wake up and find that "a whole nother'' has become an acceptable phrase! He :ould h~ve you believe that 1t aheady is! Pray tell, what exactly is a nother, Mr. Method? A small woodland creature? A waterborne craft? A logical fallacy pertaining to gameshows? How long must we endure this decay, this reversion to glossolalia? Are we but animals with no regard for or conception of linguistic hygiene? Answer thes~ ch_arges, fickle fool! Will I be able to understand you when you do? I'vfight I not confuse your reply with the raucous cawing of a jackdaw: the bray111g of a frightened ass? Stand up and be judged! Stand-bu; wa1t! I have overheard, amidst the tripe spewing from that man's diseased maw, a whole nother epitomic nugget of his follY·1 Thi s 1s not · th fir · e st tune I have _heard such filth-he says it in seminar as well, and yet does not , his · thin.kin " hide ,, face in shame! When he writes "tyranny" , h e 1s "g nr,,:.-ne ! What a rube! What a nail! Simply because the word tyrant 1s pronounced (in the proper as well as the vulgar) "ri'r~nt" he assumes that all related words are pronounced in like m armer1 cre-' · 1 tln. Booby! I rest my case. . b That is, without doubt, the most asinine "remonstrance" it has ever een my profound displeasure to witness. You are an idiot I\/li J\,f,,,·"hnrl J • ~ . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___._._..._,,.,,..... No, Mr. Method, I meant "1d 'e-M", as in "stupid". Or perhaps you would prefer "sti:i'p1d", you insufferable fathead? Ifiam sru Pi , th en so be 1t. I hereby redefine this neologism in the ~d · e of the people: "glorious protector of freedom." I wear this mot shame w1th pride, no t un1ik H ester Prynne in Hawthorne's in1mor.,_, · -e 1J1e Scarlet Letter. You ~'.111't do that! ~~u can't just make up words! Here, I'll make up a word: perglump1ate ' pronounced "di:im" • St1"ck th at 1n your can. 1 non. e peop· - will never meet W1 1 a weapon they cannot themselves le ·tl . ]mate. Yes, we perglumpiate with literally infinite gusto but what re we speechify ltregardless of whatever perilous affect which · ' efully is to be brought by the chastisements of "The Man" ve~ fla mmable or 1n fl ammable they mav be.-vou see J\fr . , ~n, Iknow the language of the people, and so I will be spared. ' ' " trtne comes for you to be thrust against tl1e wall. Mav \Vebster soul. ' . His own participation in this venture belies tl1e halfwit's self-contradictlon. By lus own admission, his words have no real meaning. In fact, by means of_ the parapsychological facility he claims we all possess, I have deterrruned that he has been in agreement with me all along. He has sown the seeds of lus _own destruction, and I have reaped tl1e reward. Feeble,. pathenc twit-your world denies itself. vi 0 ur f:atu ous , " ,, . argument relies on its opposite to exist! You cannot but have recourse to linguistic standards, and are, ultimately and eternally, an ass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 8 -'~ yvu mean id-i-ote, from the French "alone"? 9 �The Real Power of the DC by Hayden Brockett Outside News Editor A couple of weeks ago, the Gacijlyprinted an article that began with two blatantly untrue sentences. "St. John's College is lucky to have a strong tradition of student government." Now, I'm sure that this article's author, Mr. Webster Ye, thought that he was making true statements, and I should say for the record that I do not take issue with him personally or witl1 his honesty. Nonetheless, there is no sense in which what he said in the words I quoted can possibly be true. I would have left well enough alone, however, trusting in the discernment and apathy of most students at this school, if we hadn't all been witness to some pretty heated debates in the Gadf/y which made me suspect that some people might be in danger of thinking that ilie DC is, as iliey say, important. I haven't been around here iliat long, a mere three and a half years, and I'm well aware that the murky history of St. John's student life is preserved only in the scarcely read newspaper archives and in ilie perennially decaying oral tradition. Yet in all my experience with the DC, in all my reading of the Gacijly and Collegian archives, and in every story I have heard passed down from times before mine, the DC has taken either one of two possible incarnations. It has sometimes been, when run by sensible Johnnies who distribute funds as fairly as they can and then go on with their studies, a quiet and well-humored weekly meeting and little more. At regular intervals, however, certain public-minded prima donnas try to mold the trappings of modem American politics onto the DC's business, and for a -w}ill.e out student gcve111ment :is t..11-e fccus Public Finance continued from page 5 signed on as cosponsors for ilie bills, and, altllough Governor Ehrlich has never supported public financing in past years, Republican Party state chair John Kane "sees no problem with it." "It is about being able to raise money and get your message out tllere, and there are just as many Republicans as there are Democrats who struggle to raise money," Kane told the lf/ashi11gton Post last week. So, we shall see, but. the future of campaign fmance reform is looking bright. *Thanks to Progressive l\faryland for this information. Gadfly Funny Papers of heated rhetoric and public ridicule. ('Witness the Polity Court fracases of 2001-2002 and 19781979 .) In both cases it is, qua student government, a joke. To have a "strong tradition" of student government simply isn't possible at a school of this size and of such a constitution. l'vforeover, even if we did have a strong tradition of student government, St. John's College would not be in the least bit "lucky" for it. The beautiful promise of our city is that conversation and consensus will be the order of our lives, and that tedious procedure and pointless principles will be kept to a minimum. Practical decisions are made here by rational creatures who honestly tty to aim for what is best, that is, by men unwilling to give over ilie burden of judgment to the clumsy slavery of rules, except when absolutely necessary. And the best thing is, these rational creatures are not students. Our school does not subscribe to the fallacy of student self-detemlination for its own sake. (Ask 1vfrs. Kronsbergwhat happened when the Black Panthers came to inquire about why our students were so apolitical.) Tutors and college employees take care of the tough practical judgment while we students, busy with tlle task of getting liberally educated, enjoy our dearlypurchased leisure. Part of our leisure as students is, undeniably, what might be called recreation. That's why we talk with our friends, throw pottery, publish a newspaper, and, yes, even establish clubs. Recreation is important, but the means by which we do it is only important secondarily. How iliese means are defined and funded is in turn oftertiary importa._11ce, and it is the wise DC member who makes that his business as a student delegate, VVinston's View by Tobin Heuingshaw But wait one might say, the DC establishes Polity Law and plays a crucial role in gathering and debating student public opinion. To this I reply that the phrase "sleep-study;' used in preference to a simple request to be quiet, is more a convenient reminder of common courtesy than it is the first of the polity's two laws. Likewise not destroying public property is an easily recognized sign of civic virtue-that this prohibition is enshrined in Polity Law carries little weight. And if we are truly grown so big as to speak of students' opinions in tlle singular, tllen we are in a truly sorry state. It was only furough a legalistic oversight on the part of the a<lnlinistration, and a failure of the students' conversational self-policing iliat the D.C. came to debate ilie place of Ayn Rand's objectivism at this school. If we were a healthier community, we would not have recourse to parliamentary devices to answer our public questions, nor would we worry quite so much about which club gets how much money. 1fs. Brann, in her days as Dean, used to write in to tlle Gacijly at the beginning of each school year to tell that polity that, as usual, her office was open for furee kinds of business: "1. Real 2. Realer 3. Realest." The first sort, she explained, was office stuff; the second, living and its complexities; and the realest things were books and the program Such a detemlination is worth remembering and defending. Although I feel confident that most students and tutors still see it by habit and find debates about milk and cookies or swim card fees, if iliey know of them at all, tedious and laughable, we should guard against giving the D.C. more credit than it rightly deserves. ' < • .l\ND TO 5LJT w You T8\ y ~ YOU'RE LOOI, LIKE .4 ff!Jl3f AIO~h* THE EVERYONE FOf\ THE N,m~E UTERMfY VER~10N of rmr. Sl.i@Sfi'f~ll; IHf NAME THERSJTE.S, I view, alas, the trappings of her soul, She speaks witl1 all her words of genuflect, Finding stockings filled with jet-black coal, End-gaining naught but utter disrespect. In loving her as close as loving far, \'\!hat time should I believe? When should I go? My love inside this girl feels quite bizarre, Occuning pre or post, does Kant yet know? Trascend my gaze in books of ancient Greece, Astonished by what I'm about to find. J\Iy tluobbingwoe alive embarks to cease. For Pythagoreans rewrote the Rhind. Left witl1 no option, days are finally done, ForI view life inside room 101. 10 . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 11 �THE GADFLY St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 DC Minutes by Erikk Geannikis DC Secretary Wednesday, February 11th 2004: Present were DC President Amy Taylor; Secretary Erikk Geannikis; Treasurer Carry Rose; Polity Attorney Natalie Rinn; Delegates Mary Ruffin, Mary Duffy, Laura Mangum, Stuart Bannan, Laura Manion, Brian Jones, Webster Ye, Melissa Thomas, Hayden Brockett, Ian McCracken, Lord Thomas Burbridge. Delegate Will Whittaker arrived late. 11:49 - President calls meeting to order. Treasurer's Report: $0, $365.43 owed to Reality. Checkfor$13,644 on the way. 11 :51 - Presentation of candidates for Freshman Representative to the SCI: Paul Wtlford, Erica Beall, and J\.1iriam Kein.11 :54 - The floor is open to questions. 12:11 - Candidates leave, SCI ChairJill Delston gives the DC her recommendations. 12:21 - Motion to vote on the SCI reps "right now," seconded. Motion carries. I'vfiss Delston leaves the room. The DC elects IVliss Beall and Miss Keim to the SCI. 12:25 - Motion to make the voting on the Chess Club charter an RVI, seconded. Motion cames. 12:26 - The charter for El Club de Espanolis presented by Freya Thompson and Lee Branner. 12:37 - Motion to change the voting for the Chess Club from RVI to EV1, seconded. Motion carries. Motion to make voting for El Club de Espanol's charter an EVI, seconded. Motion cames. 12:39 - Motion to delay the voting on the Student Woodshop charter and to re-open discussion, seconded. Motion canies. Motion to table said discussion until next week, seconded. Motion carries. 12:41 The voting on the charters for the Chess Club, El Club de Espanol, and the Rock Room Community takes place. }J.l three charters pass. Wednesday, February 18th 2004: Present were DC PresidenL\my Taylor; Secretary Erikk Geannikis; Treasurer Carry Rose; Polity "\ttorney Natalie Rinn; Delegates Mary Ruffin, Mary Duffy, Laura Mangum, Stuart 12 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . Bannan, Laura Manion, Brian Jones, Webster Ye, Melissa Thomas, Hayden Brockett, Will Whittaker, Lord Thomas Burbridge. Delegate Ian McCracken anived late. 11:48 - President calls meeting to order. Treasurer's Report: $0, check for$13,644 yetto be deposited. 11 :49 - President switches the first two items on the agenda, discussion is re-opened on the Student Woodshop with Matt J\fangold. 12:05 - Motion to make the Student Woodshop's charter an EVI, seconded. Motion cames. 12:06 - The Book Arts Club charter is introduced by Elihu Deitz. 12:11- Motion to make the Book Arts Club's charter an R\'1, seconded. Motion carries. 12: 12 - SCI Chair Jill Delston introduces l\fas l\fargaret Fleming as a candidate for Senior Representative to the SCI. 12:15 -Motion to make Margaret Fleming an EVI, seconded. Motion carries. 12: 16 - President discusses the budgeting procedure with delegates, two meetings are scheduled for Wednesday February 25th, one at 11:45AJ\f a.'ld another at 5:45PM. 12:22 - Voting on the Student Woodshop's charter and on IY1iss Fleming's pending election to the SCI takes place. The Woodshop's charter passes, and IVliss Fleming is selected as the Senior Representative to the SCI. Pensees continued from front page 7) Ian McCracken does not see the correlation between breaking the law and confronting law enforcement personnel. I still haven't decided ifI think this is very funny or an indictment of the sophomore logic unit. 8) The college attracts many "partial" minorities (i.e. myself), but almost no "full" minorities. I think this is eerie but significant and so I propose the creation of a club/ support group for the polity's 'ambiguously brown' members. 9) Current events are fervently debated at a college that shares a single newspaper in the coffee shop as its primary source of outside information. I have to say, this one baffles me to no end. 10) The administration seems to be surreptitiously (I love that word) trying to turn our beloved stronghold of Bacchic revelry into a dry (or at least drier) campus. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! That's all for now. I can only hope that my desire to circumvent the ideological and egotistical car-wreck that now fills the pages of the Gadf!J is in some way shared by some other members of the polity. Correction Blythe Woods continued from front page the beginning of her time working here - she didn't have any at first, then only a couple, so five seems like a lot She gets to know them, and their friends, and then ... she makes a gesture which indicates something like "it goes on from there." She very much enjoys talkingto the students. So while you're walking around campus, look for Ms. Woods's blue B&G jacket, light brown hair tied back, and friendly smile, and the next time you see her, stop, say hi, and talk to her for a bit. It's not certain what kind of things she'll have to say, but it's certain she'll laugh a lot and so will you. It's good to talk to a person who knows what she enjoys doing and is doing it in a place she likes. "I've been a regular employee for over ten years now, and so I've gotten to appreciate what St John's does, and enjoy what St. John's does. I like it," she says simply. Last week, the Gadfiy ........... '."'~''.···· glected to credit a letter garding gay marriage. letter was written and s mitted by Ms. .. Youngkin. We at the Gad apologize wholeheartedl and unreservedly for ou critical error. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 12 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keene, Cathy (Editor in Chief) McCracken, Ian (Executive Editor) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol XXV Issue 21 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-24 Description An account of the resource Volume XXV, Issue 21 of The Gadfly. Published February 24, 2004. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. 25 #21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Subject The topic of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/1a7091e7ec6fcdd1769026cf668abc52.pdf 3e78efc2e50c5b651f63a255eca92326 PDF Text Text The St. John's College Student Week{y Volume .XXV, Issue 23 Annapolis, Maiyland March 30, 2004 The Iraqi Blog by John Pete1·son Staff Writer If you feel like you do not know anything about Iraq and its situation today, or even if you think you do know, it is worth a closer look. The problem is, how is one to know anything? The print and television media in this country is intent on mocking and deriding complex problems that require study and understanding. In reporti..J.g news, Lhey are on the whole incompe:tent Does anyone have on how the Iraqis It is not unusual for these to be the only way for us to hear about such events, since (especially if they are in favor of Americans); they often go unreported in the American press. Most of the time, however, the posts are just humorous retellings of the bloggers' daily lives: "One of the doctors at our residence turned out to be quite a fanatic. Two days ago we were or Fox News, or Washington Post; it blogspot.com, a '(.f:l"1¥reb:s1te that hosts "web type that before pot.com. For instance, giraq.blogspot.com.'' re are perhaps two to three dozen Iraqi in operation today, posting every few weeks, or montl1s, depending on ber of bloggers and how busy they are. g medium, if you are unfamiliar witl1 it, been used by teenage kids for the g to each other of their personal inanipfaced in such an enviromnent as Iraq, can be a fertile ground for political depersonal anecdotes. Oftentin1es, many . bloggers -.v:ill relate different personal rs v.>ith some common eYent, such as a t demonstration (often witl1 pictures!). watching a movie on J\IBC-2 and there was a brief kissing scene. He was seated in front of me and I could see his face redden. "Turn the channel!" he bellowed. Someone turned it quickly. He then proceeded to give them a sermon. I just gave him a scornful look. He was the one who put up the Khomeini poster in our living room, someone had brought it to him from Iran, on its back was written 'Dear Dr., I'm sorry but this was the best one I could find."' ~1ealingiraq], 2 / 11/04 "Healing Iraq" is run by a 25-year old Sunni named Zeyad. He was born in Iraq but has spent time in England, and is now a dentist. He says, "I had become frustrated w:ith the negative me- dia coverage from Iraq so I decided to start a blog myself to present the positive side which was not getting enough attention." Of the Iraqi ''blogosphere," he says, "Our collective voice and efforts are reaching wider audiences day by day exposing them to the situation on the ground by people whose lives are involved and directly affected by it. We are intent on healing Iraq from decades of abuse and to make it through these difficult times into a new phase of democracy, freedom, and prosperity." The bloggers who support the .Americans (most of tl1em) are not simple about it-tl1ey know that their project, this "New Iraq," is a difficult one. "\'i/e got some amebic concept, some cal.lit freedom others call it chaos, I call it a fuzzy dream of democracy." [geeinbaghdad], 8/2/ 03 ''We're on our way to democracy and freedom, but we must be aware, if these two words used randomly or without certain rules, we'll destroy our country instead of building it." [ttaqataglance], 3/16 / 04 But, these bloggers fee~ no one is more prepared for this task than the Iraqi people: "Iraqis made up their minds without any pressure from any power and they [are] leading their country forward and they're coopernting'ivith the coalition and tl1e GC not becauc"e tl1ey're forced to do sc;. Iragis now have tl1e freedom of speech for the first time since decades and after they tasted freedom they will never accept to he slaves Blog, continued onpage 7 �DFI~ Editor's Note Editor-in-Chief Cathy Keene Production Manager A&E Editor Shoshana Goldstein Plato in the Springtime This issue will be very, very short° First of all, the sophomores are writing their essays, due Monday, which pretty much absolves them of blame this week for the Gadf!y's content, but doesn't help the production of the issue anyo Second, the seniors really don't care anymore I mean, we care about the Gadf!JI, obviously, as much as we care about anything, but we've only got like six weeks left, and there's this indiscriminate apathy that pretty much totally pervades our interactions witho things Luckily, one senior (meo Can you guess who I am? No, not Hayden) really doesn't have anything else to doo Our trusty Gls came through with a couple pieces, thank Godo Also our junior. But hey, it's eight more Gadf!Y pages than you would have had if we had given up and gone to bedo Executive Editor Ian McCracken Julie Janicki Sports Editor Christopher Utter Inside News 0 Mary Townsend Outside News Hayden Brockett Contributing to this Issue 00 Blake Kiltoff Max Kronberg ].A.Mo John Peterson Leo Pickens Jerry Salyer Ben Strickland 0 Immaterial Thoughts Founded in 1980, the Gatif{y is the student weekly distributed free to over 500 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus as well as tutors emeriti, members of the Board of Visitors and Governors, and the offices at the St John's Santa Fe campuso Opinions expressed within are the the sole responsibility of the author(s)and do not necessarilly represent the opinions of the Gatif{y staff The Gatif{y reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish the most thoughtful, informative, and tl1ought-piovokiIJ.g ncw·spap..::r -'\;vh:ich circumstances at Sto John's permit Dear Gadf!y, I recently wrote the following, and having had the chance to reread these tlloughts while sober and awake, I think they are worthy of your publication. Something caught my eye outside the coffee shopo I was by the billboard on tl1e northwest side of l\kDowell Hall, glancing over tired posters when my peripheral vision's suggestion of graffiti drew my focus to an article by Gene Weingarten titled ''Aisle Be Damnedo" The sign had been disfigured by an anonymous penman, who suggested the foJloW1_ng change: "o .it collapses like a soufflein an earthquake" to "0 0.it collapses like a souffle in a pin factory" (paro 5)0 I began to think of the degree of innovation necessary for this alteration to come to the mind of any critic as well as the accuracy with which the comparison underlying any such sh"'lUle must be selected. In this case, I appreciated tlle manifestation of the former in tl1is marginal note, while I did not detect the corresponding degree of the latter. I decided that, although a souffle peppered witl1 pins seems to capture the idea of s11dde11 collapse more wholly than a souffle violently shaken in an earthquake, that this simile is not actually approp11ate to the idea of collapseo 0 Letters of 200 words or fewer have a better chance of being published than those longer than this limit Letters submitted will be edited for grammar, punctuation, and spelling in most caseso The Gadfly is not obligated to publish all submissions and will not print anonymous submissions except under special circumstanceso Deadline: Sunday at noon, unless permission for a delay is granted in advance Submissions will be accepted as long as they arc legibly written, but typed copie:;, diskettes, and e-mail :;ubmissiom are greatly prefcrredo Please e-mail submissions to sjcgadfly@yahooocomo 0 2 Seminar! A Viewer's Guide Gadfly Mailbox will meet on alternating Wednesdays and Tuesdays, beginning Wednesday, March 3 7, with Mr. Tipton & Plafo s "The Lovers" from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm. 1 To convince myself that my suspicion was not founded lunacy, I checked a number of souffle recipeso I came across this command in the directions for an Orange Souffle: " °bake in a [very hot] oven for 60 to 65 minutes or till a knife inserted near center comes out clean°" This proved to me that souffles are able to withstand blows from knives, and so evidently, a souffle in a pin factory would not suffer collapse so readily as one quaked by the eartho But while I'm talking about stabbing souffles, I ought to mention my thoughts on gay marriageo I just read Rousseau and while I'm neither a genius nor even Swiss, I may be part Aust11an and so justifiably cocky Therefore, I will boldly assert that Rousseau agrees -.vi th me when I say that, speaking in terms of the natural state of t_h.ings, marriage is only a convention that deviates from nature, and so questioning whether or not things are natural to marriage, or rather wondering about the nature of marriage, appears analogous to wondering about the beauty of evilo In other words, the only definite answer to this question's must be relative to the object inquiry or subjective to a person's conception of that objecto Since marriage is a convention, or an outgrowth of civilization, tl1e civilized man's conception of marriage will determfu~ what is "natural" to it, in this subjective sense;; of natureo But since love is a myth propagate by women to keep men their subjects, a marriage is conventionally an institution love (never mind the other elements long as this one is true), marriage is narur<U1} means toward this same endo Therefore, marriage is abhorrent to the nature of 11age as far as w0men are concenzed, except, course lesbianso 0 0 0 by Jerry Salyer Staff Writer 0 In a recent effort to supplement funding for some campus beautification projects, I assisted in a collaboration between GI's, Johnnies, and Turner Entertainment Say hello to the newest reality TV show: Seminar! We took a group of students to a deserted island and ran them through a semester's worth of classes, with a twist: at the end of each class, viewers were polled to vote a student-who was judged to have performed poorly during discussion, or in "campus" life---0ff the islando The show perhaps lacks the humanity and pathos of Fear Fcutor, but it has shown potential: Episode One: This installment consists primarily of a debate over what sort of rational, Kantian-based ethical rules should comprise the island society's constitutiono Two precepts become key-1) every member of the island society should have an equal say and 2) no one should be bumed alive, regardless of how much of a pain-in-the-ass they areo There is near unanimous acceptance, with but a single dissenter: "Hold on, now, let's not be too hastyo as St Thomas sayso o:' Goodbye, Reactionary Catholic Monarchist (i\lthough test-audiences in Texas did respond S(llll•~wJtlat positively to seeing that finally there an intellectual who didn't succumb to bleed0 0 0 Episode Two: Around the campfire, the l3nde;l1llJLgly Earnest Objectivist wins a Pyrrhic struggle to establish that "The Fou11,,:#'11:tlt,1eaa is a Great Book" a struggle which rl'°°'"'l"P' into "How about: The Fountains a Good Book" then to "The Fountainis an OK Book, you guys gotta give me 0. 0 0 , lute Truths: America lost the Cold L!7aro Everyone-except me, ef course-is a soulless pod-replicant, and Of course S oylent Green realfy is made out ef peopleo .Duho Episode Four: The viewers' sympathy for the Troubled Goth-Chick evaporates when it turns out that her home is unbroken, her boyfriend never dumped her, the real reason her dog died was because she was too lazy to feed it regularly, and last-but-not-least, all ofher "muse-inspired" free-verse depressive poetry consists of a plagiarized synthesis of"Staind" lyrics and lines from popular comedy movies: the voices won i let up with their questions what isyour name what isyour mission what isyour favorite color questions, questions, and it's been awhile since i 've been free from questions someborjy make the voices stop Or: you are my man-whore i am your she)ohn inside you re ugjy, ugjy like me ofar a male madam Episode Five: The Principled Vegan departs not by vote, but by emergency medevac: he has developed a severe case of diabetes, induced by a diet based solely on sugarcane, the only edible plant life on the islando He maintains a very ethical outlook on his affliction, pointing out to the audience at homeas he is loaded by stretcher onto the chopperthat perhaps his ilfuess is a just and righteous punishment 'Ylfter all, what right have ive humans to wantonfy butcher innocent cane-sta!ks-mere!JI to satisfy our insatiable sucrose-lust?" Episode Six: The WholesomelyHomeschooled Protestant Girl leaves ofher own accord, following the discussion of Bryond Good and Evil a discussion which has led the Pale Hairy Nihilist to suddenly realize-with a flash of ubetinsight-that the ma11ifestation of his Supreme Will no longer includes the wearing of pantso This twist also causes the departure of the Socially-Well Adjusted Hot Agnostic Girl-the two voluntary exodi from the island providing evidence for the connection between morals and aestheticso (I11e end of the episode reveals the Nihilist as the second contestant to be mcdivaced out, due to a severe case of chafing caused by the 0 0 0 t" ... Finally, at the end of it all, he gets his peers to : dgingly acknowledge tl1at The Fountainhead is, 'l~ast, (in a loose sense of the term) an actual ok"o c~ecause of their herd-mentality resentment > "°d his highi:r rrjnd--o:!: maybe because they ~orry for him for being rnthlessly mocked all fjine-the audience gives the Objectivist the hoo cisode 111ree: 111e Fanatically ,\nti-J\Iodemaranoid is voted off; •'1ewers have grown 9f his rather morbid worldvievv; which to always return to 111ree Revealed ,\bso- THE G,\DFLY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 tropical sea-breezeo the details of which I shall not elaborate on.) Episode Seven: The Science-Literate GI loses his bid for primacy by overplaying his hand during a diatribe against Lucretius' materialist interpretation of tlle Cosmoso He disillusions the folks at home when he is forced to admit, on camera, that he only passed computational physics as an undergraduate by sucking up to the Homely Lonely Smart Girl at the terminal next to him The final straw is the fact that tl1e bulk ofhis scientific "knowledge"--continual references to "matter-antimatter mixing", "space-warps", "time-dilation"- bears a suspiciously strong resemblance to Star Trek dialogueo I believe it is Pascal who says: 'Juste parce que vous etes un 'geek' ne signifie pas reellement que vous etes intelligent" Episode Eight: Here the Enlightened Secular Humanist takes a diveo A discussion on TS Eliot turns into an argument about the connection of faith and art, and he is challenged to name great works that do not somehow tie in themes of God, salvation, damnation, or eternity. He freezes up, draws a blank, and awkwardly suggests Beavis and Butthead D0Amm ca, and The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Cheeseo Final Episode: The Wannabe Bohemianmucl1-loved till now-annoys viewers into giving him the boo to during a single five-minute monologue he gets carried away and uses the words/phrases "oppression of free thought'', "the St John's Way'', and ''Eastern ideas which we Westerners can't understand" over 30 tirnes, apieceo This leaves, as victor, A Guy Named Tedwho, as it turns out, is not even a student, and is only on the island due to a clerical mix-upo He actually works the counter at the Subway's just off Church Circleo When asked what he will do with his million-dollar prize, he replies t11at he plans to buy his own franchise, take his wife on a long-overdue honeymoon to Tahiti, and put his kids in a better school district At first the show's producers want to disqualify him, but on reflection~in their own little "seminar", so to speak-they conclude that tliings have turned out for the best, in this best of all possible pseudo-Worldso For once, I think a group ofT\' producers have made the right decisiono • 0 0 0 0 0 ° 0 0 0 0 THE G~\DFLY 3 0 �Dear J.C.: Guess who's back, Back again, J.C.'s back, Tell a friend, Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back ... Y'all act like ya don't even rem=ber How J.C. was mad crazy and used to offend ya Ya laughed when we joked but ya choked on our shaft of insults, cause we got our results, by not sparing or caring but daring to say, ''You're totally worthless, be you black, Jew, or gay!" It's the return of the... "Oh, wait, no way, you're kidding, they just didn't say what I think they did, did they?" And Andy Baisch said... Nothing, you idiots! Baisch got misled! We got Steve Joyce instead! So don't fear, we still here, we haven't gone queer, And you better be scared: we'll be here for years. Dear J.C.: How often, on average, is an R.A. fired? Not Another Zionist Idiot Dear N.A.Z.I.: · - The College tends to fire Resident Assistants every two to three weeks. There is a long, arduous procedure that must be meticulously completed before an R.A. can be dismissed. This procedure consists of: On a side note, Jews' Clues is now seeking qualified applicants to fill the position of"Max Kronberg." Applicants should send a resume, and three letters of recommendation, to: Max Kronberg Campus Mail Qualifications: 1. To better serve the polity, we would like to expand our multicultural employee base. This will help us make fun of a wider diversity of people, efficiently and courteously. And we can be immune to prosecution, because we can be all like, "Hey, look, we's Eskimo Grrlz! So it's cools for we be trashin' dems turkeys, yol" Will you write my Enabling Essay for me? Plagiarist Having Understandable Qualms Dear P.H.U.Q.: No, we won't. J.A.M. Qewish Anonymous Man) has already turned his essay in, and doesn't want to hear anything about the Program. Ever. Max is in the middle of a weeklong breakdown (breakdown, breakdown, whoo! whoo!), during which he has become convinced that God not only hates him, but is also actively trying to destroy him; 1.fax's new plan is to run away, too fast and too furious, such that God will not be able to catch him, as long as he goes right ... NOW ['Now" was4:00 AM on last Thursdcry morning. - 2. Applicant must be able to type at at least 30 Words per Minute. 3. Applicant's ancestry must contain a hilariously large amount of Eskimo. 4. Applicant's breasts must be hilariously large. 5. Applicants must be able to explain the difference between Eskimo and Innuit. And they have to get really innuit (ar ar ar). 6. Applicants must love stupid puns as product titles, such as: a. the "Super Aeneis" video game syst=; b. the "Euclidding Me?" book of jokes; c. the "1fandelae" desensitization cream; and d. the "Wonton" extremely heavy soup. 7. Amy "the toolman" Taylor need not apply. -J.C. 1. If any student, tutor, campus employee, state legislator, goon from King Properties, or waiter at Chick & Ruth's complains, the R.A. will be called in to the Assistant Dean's office. 2. The complaint must have merit; for example, "Hey, look, we's Eskimo Grrlz! So it's cools for we be trashin' dems turkeys, yo!" 3. If the complaint is found to have merit, or, alternatively, if the complaint is not found to have merit, the R.A. will be dismissed. If the R.A.'s initials are in alphabetical order, he will be banned from campus. 4. The RA. is called either (a) irresponsible, or (b) a sleaze. 5. At this point, the R.A. goes out and smokes a cigarette. 6. The R.A. is promptly rehired. 7. In two to three weeks, the procedure is repeated. Please, on behalf of the entire College community, complain about your R.A. more often. It will facilitate this necessary process. J.C.'s Shaloms Shalom to Marshall Mathers, for not s out. Shalom to Tim Allen, for your terrible, terrl television show; still, "toolman" is a ous NA:ME!@#$$!@#% Shalom to Steve Joyce, for not selling out. ., Shalom to Max Kronberg. iVaya con Diosl And ... BIGGEST SHALOM EVER Hayden Brockett and ~fary Townsend on th recent engagement. Ed) 4 . THE GADFLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amurrica by Hayden Brockett Outside News Editor to America's democratic heritage. Since that Tallent. Plenty have hated her jingoism, her day, it's pretty much become a cliche that resolute ignorance, her frequent hypocrisy, and I'm a little reticent to become the third man America is in trouble. The saying has been many despair ofit every getting any better. After in the Jerry Salyer-] ohn Peterson rant triumvi- beaten to death already, and even in these pages having listened to Howard Dean, however, and rate, but Ian McCracken says we need filler, so (thanks Colten!), but I'll repeat it once more: read All the Kings Men, I mean to give a deat the same moment when America stands fense of this damn place, the accursed home I'll do my best. I was disappointed with Mr. Method's and poised to take up empire, she is riven in two, · of most of us young fools, and the most powmy article two months ago, in which we de- divided deeply on what to do with her pre- erful, headstrong, and glorious nation currently scribed our encounters with the Democratic eminence. But to speak of our "sick polity" is on this Earth. More so than any other nation in human frontrunners and made some thinly-substan- not just to predict the fashionable analyses of tiated speculations about their chances. And it public intellectuals, the twentieth century half- history, America is a product of its own invenwasn't just that I didn't like Mr. Method say- breeds that try to do America's thinking for tion. It's a truism to say as much. Our laws and government tie ing that John us together, not Kerry "touches shared history, [people, I preethic identity, or a sume] like an honcommon myorable man thology. Modern touches." What revisionist conthe hell does that servatives can say mean, anyway? what they will No, I was disabout our appointed that Anglo-Protesneither Mr. tant heritage. The Method nor I were fact is, white ahle to describe adAnglo-Saxon equately Howard Protestants esDean or his camtablished a govpaign. Circum~ ernment so abstances, such as bestract that anyone ing seniors in with an underuary, were partly standing could blame, but we show up and pare also hindered ticipate, at least in the second generation. But in making itself up out of its own n important. Dean's campaign was her. Everyone can see that there's a problem, reason, essentially telling itself what it was and ped up so closely with what is deeply and many diagnose its parts, citing voter apa- would be, America gave a curious role to pubwith America and yet so illuminating thy, the for-pr9fit press, television, corporate lic speech and placed unique limitations on its at America could be, that unless you go greed, et cetera. But what is America's illness? use. To repeat: America is the only country where tin the attempt to describe it, you'd bet- Was she ever well? Does it make any sense to what we tell ourselves about ourselves, and at st say, as we did, that it's the sexiest of talk this way? paigns Qoe again). In this article, I am It is always easy to get angry at America. the moment, is essentially the thing that makes to try to name what it is in the Dean Much of it is so ugly, so crass, so false. And us a nation. Public speech is America, and that makes i\merica want it so bad, it's not just fast-food restaurants as far as the America is an idea, in the way France or Enit will probably never know it. eye can see, or the fact that it's hackneyed to gland are not. It wouldn't be around if a bunch cll, it's Election Day ... in your sick ppl- complain about them: America has long had of people hadn't gotten together and decided 'd one tutor before a class on the morn- a proud and steady export of citizens who to write out the plan for how they would live. November 7, 2000. Deriving the full can't stand the provjncial, bourgeois, medio- It is our public speech that most makes us ts of both philosophy and foreign citi- cre existences into which they were born, yet who we are, qua American citizens. Without a . , he said it well before September 11 tl', can never, try as they might, escape its indel- spoken sense of .what we're about, Americans the Patriot Act, even before it was ible effect on tlleir characters. Eliot, Faulkner, Amurrica, continued on page 6 how embarrassing that day would be James, Cassatt, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 5 �Amurrica, contnued from page 5 would feel lost, disparate, with little to hold us all together. It is the quality and honesty of this public speech that keeps our gigantic city healthy, and more and more people are realizing that our public speech, which is not unaccustomed to crassness and prevarication, seems to be in danger of dying out altogether. Wait, how is that possible? And what does allthis have to do with crazy ol' Howarci I)ean? Well, you may not know it-and in fact if you haven't heard a whole speech of his, you probably won'tbut the main attraction of Howard Dean's campaign was words. This is pretty surprising, considering that since TV showed up, images have become the dominant medium of how America presents itself to itself. Pictures of President Bush clearing brush on the ranch, of John Kerry skiing, or of happy smiling children do more vote-getting than what candidates say. The pictures on TV work on us, beneath our speech-making faculty, to tell us things about character in vague, sublogical terms. The result is that the very force which made our crazy experiment happen-the resolve to yell and argue about what we all should do--is no longer shared between the viewers and the image makers. Arguments between Americans on public matters become exchanges of soundbites and talking points, but no one has the ability or the time to question these thoughts Dr. Dean's unique brand of rhetoricplain, deliberate, and direct-and the fact that it clearly springs from his real character, which is honest, intense, and earnest, is an aberration in American politics. He laid it out straight to his audiences, and his specific proposals were predicated on that very same simple practicality. He was different from other mediacreated "straight-talkers" like John McCain because he wasn't making an image out of his plain calculation, but just said it all out loud. Also, his speeches were most passionate, and most successful, when he talked about the decline of "community" in American life. His simply naming that widely felt but roughly articulated sense of disconnection with our 6 neighbors, and the fact that for a while his voice gained such a stage, are what made his candidacy so strange and so hopeful. But he was destined to fail as a presidential candidate, although his impact on the zeitgeist is not gone by any means. He didn't fail simply because he couldn't talk well on Tv, however. He failed because he, like many so-called educated people today, he doesn't understand the other half of America's love for words, which is her deep distrust for them. He spoke of "sending George Bush back to Crawford, Texas where he belongs," but failed to understand why half the country wants to vote for a man from Crawford, Texas. This country holds at its core the tension between human understanding and the more complicated and troublesome reality of things. It is the triumph of the Enlightenment, a place where rational forethought could frame a government on a piece of paper, and where wealth ever new would husband invention and .man's mastery of nature. America was plopped down on a virgin continent, and founded in a bountiful wilderness that mocked by its nature and size the power of language~mere wordsto ever make sense of it. The Indians worshipped this land for a god. We, its penitent rapists, are torn to this day between America's faith in the power of reason to get it right eventually, and our deep, inborn knowledge-derived from the land and held even now by those who live close to it-that talk is cheap. Words just don't mean much when you've crossed a thousand miles of prairie, only to come upon the Rockies jutting up out of the ground. Or when your life's savings and your family's sustenance are washed away by the Mississippi. People who write in newspapers and talk on television these days, wordsmiths or word-fetishists all, forget this truth. But then again, they have no idea why two-thirds of this country is painted solid red on Election night. The pale, thin answer, "values," mystifies everyone. I'll tell you why George Bush does so well in this country-it's because he doesn't like words. He's scared of them and stumbles over them constantly. People who live in the South and West don't necessarily trust smooth talkers, and they don't necessarily trust in rational foresight's ability to solve every problem. That's why Bush's smirk-in the face of liberals' uppity intellectualism-and bravado-in the face of irrational danger-appeals to a good half of America. And that's a good thing! At least, that is, George Bush's success is born of something that is essential to America and without which America wouldn't be half as good as it is today (which · wouldn't be much, you've got to admit)c America is on one side the pinnacle of the Enlightenment, of modern trust in the. understanding's power to analyze, to range, to say everything. Yet it wouldn't come about, and wouldn't have been a to save Europe when it did, if we didn't as Americans, have a deep-set and pra distrust of speech. And I would argue that's the source of our particular free which despite all the empty praise it's ten recently, is a real and worthy tra ours. A man can say anything he wan America, from Hare Krishnaism to ra humanism. That's what you get when country's so damn big that no one chance of holding it all in his mind. talk is cheap, it's plentiful, and anyone to think what he wants, even if he that there is truth and that the truth is pursuing. Only in America could .f school such as ours,. which, as we m put it. charges itself with looking ba \\'estern civilization and trying tom of the damn thing. · THE G,.mFLY · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · • · · · Gadfly Funny Papers Visual Puns! Blog, continued from front page to anyone again, not for terrorists for sure and even not for the US or any coming government if they felt that the US or the present or future Iraqi administration is working against qis' interests. I'm sure that if Iraqis felt that US or the GC are not respecting their rights ey will go out to the streets in millions not sands to voice their complaint." themodel], 3/26/04 "Iraq the Model" is a particularly good blog. name seems to be taken from the (Ameriidea that Iraq can be the model for a true ocracy in the Middle East. It is run by brothers (two dentists, one doctor) in d. Their views are strong: e might say that this war will never md we'll be obliged to fight more, lose blood and spend more money. And · you on this but the question here is d the war in the first place? Remem. They declared the war and they atNew York and they will attack againif left free. They're betting on therelucfear of some nations and they were encouraged by the decisions of some ted European countries. The more to them the more intensely they at. g tributes will only strengthen the 'insistence on their war. As for those twho put the task oh the shoulders UN, those want nothing but hiding from the challenge. When could the a crisis? The UN is a total failure and handing responsibilities to her is fleeing from these responsibilities." Recently one of the brothers has been posting a series called "Days I Will Never Forget," and they are basically journal entries from the days since the United States gave 48 hours to Saddam to leave the country. They are more exciting than any "embedded" reporter's offerings. In a,recent post (2/26), one of the brothers fielded a comment from a visitor who wondered whether the optimism of Iraqi bloggers represented the views of the Iraqi people: ''I won't say that we represent all Iraqis, but we do so as much as we care for their interests and participate in building a better future for them. And we are optimistic, that's right, but we do not exaggerate things. Our optimism comes from our daily life observations and from logical prediction of events and their consequences. I'm not trying to pretend that we're sharp-minded bright thinkers; we're normal Iraqis with some patience and some reason." There are some anti-American blogs, but they represent a cqmmon sort of ambivalence. For example, there is "Where is Raed?" run by a blogger called "Salam Pax." Because of his anti-American views he has been made famous by some one, and has a book out with trans6:ipts from his website [dear_raed]. His site is very good, and funny: "I frikkin' met an Ayatollah! A real life Ayatollah, I watched him eat a banana and then he put his hands on my shoulder and prayed tliat I get married soon, my mom was beside herself witl1 joy and I just couldn't stop laughing. The heretic faggot getting a blessing from an Ayatollah." 3/6/04 ''I have been tuning to AFN IRAQ much more often than the radio we Iraqis are supposed to be listening to [SAWA]. They played Rage Against the Machine's Testify: 'I'm empty please fill me/ Mister anchor assure me/ That Baghdad is burning/ Your voice it is so soothing/ That cunning mantra of killing/ I need you my witness/ To dress this up so bloodless/ To numb me and purge me now/ Of thoughts of blaming you.' It is a bit scary to have a military radio that plays this song here in Baghdad ... It is so very American it gets disorienting. And the little public announcement things in between songs are almost Monty Python-esque if they weren't meant to be dead serious. Example: '[Sound of vehicle, a humvee I guess, in the background] Female voice: I am really tired I haven't slept well last night. Ooh look ... can you hold on to my [some weapon or other] while I take a picture of this. [Sound of snoring] Female voice: Is sergeant (so-and-so) still sleeping? He had a tough night. Darth Vader voice: Being on military convoy is a serious situation, always wear your seat belts, and maintain speed and distance. And always stay alert.' There are little Arabic lessons thrown in here and there to "learn the local language and be part of the world around you". Today's words were Hello, Good morning and Good-bye. I would have thought that after a year here we would have moved to a bit more complex vocabulary." There are many other blogs, some of.-\merican soldiers in Iraq ([bootsonground], some of foreign contractors, and many other Iraqis of different ethnic groups, experiences, and views. One blog will take you to the ot11ers. Enjoy! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE GADFLY . 7 �THE GADFLY St. John's College P.O. Box 2800 Annapolis, MD 21404 AUTOGRAPHS otes by Leo Pickens Athletic Director The Rowing Club competed in their first regatta of the spring season this past Saturday, the Casperson Cup, against the crews of Washington College and Hopkins. :Miss Stickney, in her very first singles race ofher career, rowed to victory in the women's singles. Mssrs Malone and Finklea were victorious in the men's pair. But the crewbee that really proved his toughness on this day was Mr. Coy, bowman of the men's Varsity 8. With about 400 meters to go, Mr. Coy caught an horrific crab, which sent the handle ofhis oar into his throat, nearly knocking his head off. But Mr. Coy valiantly recovered, and finished the race stongly. Commented he after the race, "Well, I guess my singing career is finished." For his great effort,. and wry aplomb, Mr. Coy is named Athlete of the Week for the men. Athlete of the Week honors for the women is shared this week by two seniors who have demonstrated that it is never too late to come out and get involved in intramural play. Talking about :Misses Conner and Fleming, who, though they have not played before this season, are making important contributions to their bastketball teams during March Madness. You can see the two of them in action in the women's March Madness finals this Tuesday. lOu Make The Call: A player on team A, during halftime of an NCAA basketball game, walks outside the arena, and lights up a cigarette. You are the ref and you spot her. What is the ruling? First one to me with the right call goes to the bookstore on me. 8 THE G~\bFLY I / / fi /.! '/ i u .... ' ......................... . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. 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Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Vol. 25 #23 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Subject The topic of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/b4fc76c68c6d164a23d36c81d23ba68f.pdf e0af96c16f760b12f984990196924c19 PDF Text Text �4 / . CONTENTS THE METHOD OF APOLWNIUS John Ritner 1 SONG Pierre Gagnier 4 A HERO'S TALE RETOLD Eve Gartner 5 PROBLEMS WITH KANT, PROBLEMS WITH FAITH Richard Miller 23 EGG, BEAT HER John Keith 26 HO ENI AUTOS EN HEAUTO Joe DeGrazia THE MIRROR HELD UP TO NATURE George Iannacone SPRINGTIME Gretchen Berg PLAYING WITH IMAGES Susan Maguire 44 FOR FRANCES SCHOLARSHIP H. Stephen Morse 46 NEGATION, WILLING AND THE PLACES OF THE SOUL William O'Grady 47 MAKING MUCH ADO ABOUT "NOTHING" Jim Bailey 56 •i -----. ~.~.~~.~~ _________...__ . 81 �1 ENERGEIA: The activity in which anything is fully itself. The Method of Apollonius John Ritner STAFF Kathleen Bergren Ann Burlein Barbara Cooper Christian Holland Susan Maguire Martin Marklin Richard Miller Alexandra Mullen Joe Sachs Merle Sokolik ~ ~ ON THE COVER: Many thanks to Gisela and Laurence Berns for their kind permission to reproduce this print. In an examination of the first book of Apollonius' Conics, two relationships are of particular importance: that between the cone and planes, and that between description and definition or naming.· The particulars of the structure of the work are further clarified by considering the relationship between the three conic sections. Only when the work is considered in the light of all three of these relationships together is it possible to obtain a clear understanding of the structure and intention of Apollonius' work. Apollonius starts by defining in his first three definitions a conic surface, a cone, and a right cone; he then proceeds to define in the last five definitions diameters and axes taken in a single plane. The cone and planes seem set in opposition from the ver:y beginning, but by proposition three he brings cone and plane together by cutting the cone with planes; and he continues this process through proposition fourteen. Ih propositions eight and nine, he constructs the three conic sections without defining or naming them, and this points to the second relationship: that between describing and naming. Before Apollonius names each section, ' it is important that we be able to find one diameter (proposition eight) for each, know that an ellipse is not a circle . (proposition nine), and know that a hyperbola and a parabola can be increased . indefinitely (proposition ten). Thus we have a certain description without naming or defining. Then in the defining propositions eleven through thirteen, Apollonius describes how each section is constructed from the cone, and then he defines each section in terms of a parameter. Only then does he give each section a name, for the names are not descriptive of the curves themselves (they are not called "elongated circles" or "curved angles" or any such thing), but rather the names are determined by whether square figures on the ordinates are equal to, greater than, or less than the rectangles made up of parts of the diameter and this mysterious parameter. In short, the parameter ~y be said to be the true definer of the sections, for "it never changes for a given section and a given diameter, while the parts of the diameter and the· ordinates do indeed change in size. By using a parameter to define sections which have been cut from the cone in different ways, each section is so defined that we may remove it from the cone. We start wit}). several lines which are in the cone but outside of the planes of the sections, and with these lines we determine one single line, the parameter, which may be included in the plane of the sections. Thus, given the parameter these ~onic sections may be thought of and analyzed as plane sections, something far easier to do than considering them in the cone. Accordingly, after proposition fourteen defines opposite sections of a hyperbola and guarantees their similarity, Apollonius dispenses with the cone and deals exclusively with the derived sections, until he reconstructs the cone in proposition fifty-two. In proposition fifteen, he constructs another diameter, in fact a conjugate diameter, and this is even proven in the proposition. But he does not name his new diameter. It seems 1 �1 I diameter as "the straight line drawn from the center parallel to an ordinate, being a mean proportional to the sides of the figure and bisected by the center." In regard to the opposite sections which are examined in proposition sixteen, this definition makes even less sense, and the contrivance about mean proportionals seems pulled out of the air; but a little thought about proposition fifteen, which employs the same contrivance to construct the second parameter, reveals the aptness of this contrivance. Quite independently of this contrivance, we can prove that· this new diameter ED is a mean proportional to the sides of the figure AB, AN i made up of the old diameter and old parameter. To prove this we need only prove that rectangle AN, AB equals the square on ED, and this follows from the facts that rectangle AN, AB equals 4 times the area AP; area AP equals the square on CD; and 4 times the square on CD equals the square on ED. Thus the position of these two propositions is no mistake, and neither is their frustrating seeming incompletness. Fifteen is left without a second named diameter until Apollonius can prove that all the lines going through the center are diameters; and the picture in sixteen remains incomplete until he can conclude Book I by constructing the conjugate sections in propostion sixty. These two propositions also point out the close relationship between the hyperbola and ellipse, for the same mean proportional contrivance is used for both, and both have conjugate diameters, even though this at first makes sense only for the ellipse. The propositions from seventeen to forty-five deal with the sections out of the cone and at first glance seem to have little relevance or importance. We soon find out that their function is to explore the characteristics of the sections and especially of their tangents and unnamed new diameters. We also constantly see the hyperbola and ellipse being taken together in the same proof, while the parabola is usually taken alone. Often Apollonius: will prove something for the parabola and f that the half of the proof was dealing most importantly with certain properties or descriptions, namely, of the relationship between the old figure (eidos), made up of the old diameter and parameter, and the new figure, made up of the new diameter and parameter. Yet the second part of this proof, the bisection of GW, begs that ED be called a diameter, just as FG was called a diameter in the porism to proposition seven. We shrug and pass on to sixteen, in which he constructs a conjugate diameter for opposite sections of a hyperbola and even names it: what is important here is a definition and not an exploration of certain properties. But what does it mean for this line XD, which does not even touch either of the opposite sections, to be called a new diameter? The definition exists, but a full account is lacking, begging for a proposition sixty to complete the picture. It is significant that at this point Apollonius introduces three new definitions. The first two rather routinely deal with the naming of the center of the hyperbola, ellipse, and opposite sections, but the third one is interesting. It defines the second G . . Pn0Pos1T10x l n N 2 ,I .; ·I . then the equivalent for hyperbola and ellipse. This he does in propositions forty-six and forty-seven, when the propositions assume new interest with the general proof for construction of diameters. Using what he has proved about tangents and other properties of the sections, he proves that any line drawn through a parabola parallel to the first diameter is itself a diameter, and any line drawn through the center of an ellipse or hyperbola is a diameter. But he still refuses to call them diameters. Only in forty-nine after he contrives a parameter, does he call this new diameter a diameter, for only then does he have the complete picture of a removed section. From the beginning, he constructed a parameter before he removed the section from the cone, and even defined the sections in terms of the parameter. So it is only logical to require a parameter for this new diameter before naming it a diameter, despite the fact that a parameter is nowhere required in the original definition of a diameter. Further, the parameter is the link back to the cone. Proposition fifty-two constructs a parabola with a given diameter, vertex, and parameter, and no proposition after eleven is used, but the ordinates must be at right angles to the dia~eter. Proposition fifty-three is the general construction proof, given any angle between the ordinates and the diameter, and it depends upon that proposition forty-nine which determined the parameter. The parameter also assumes importance as the finite line whi~h helps determine the axial triangle around which the cone is constructed, from which cone the parabola is constructed . Propositions fifty-four to fifty-eight construct hyperbolas and ellipses, following the same order of parabola-hyperbola-ellipse which was established in the beginning; fifty-nine constructs opposite sections; and finally, sixty constructs the never-before-seen conjugate sections; and most of the'se propositions depend on the paramete~ . proofs. Indeed, only the constructions of the sections with ordinates perpendicular to the diameter are-not dependent upon the; parameter proofs, in fact depend upon no proof after the defining proofs eleven through thirteen, for only the original diameter determined by the axial triangle is used. It is characteristic of Apollonius' method to wait to do any constructions until he is not limited to a special case, and to save these interesting constructions, including the conjugate sections, until the end of Book I. In general, the necessity of starting with a cone to construct plane figures produces a mathematics more complex than Euclidean geometry. To deal with these conic sections outside of a cone and in one plane, it is necessary to have a parameter which is determined by the cone, but which can also be put in the same plane as the conic sections. Thus the parameter is the key for the first important relationship in conic sections: that between the cone and the plane. And the parameter is so important that Apollonius defines the sections in terms of it, and he derives their names from figures drawn on the parameter, rather than assigning names more descriptive of the shape of the curves, such as elongated circle. Once the parameter has enabled him to remove the eections from the cone, Apollonius deals with many of the properties of the sections, but he does not name new diameters until he has found their parameter~. In. this way he maintains safe ground, either dealing with a figure still in a cone, ·or talking about diameters only when he has their defining parameters. In this way, the parameter is the link in the second important relationship: that between description and definition or naming. Apollonius may describe properties of the conic sections in the earliest proofs and describe properties of new diameters in the middle proofs, but he can define and name the sections and new diameters only once he has their parameters. And just as in the 3 �beginning the parameter was the link from· the cone to the plane, so its importance is emphasized once more at the end of Book I, when it proves to be the link from the plane back to the cone. In this way the cycle from cone to plane to cone is completed; and given the role and importance of the parameter, the method of Apollonius in Book I seems logical and 'even inevitable. A Hero's Tale Retold Eve Gartner Song Pierre Gagnier By bell, by bell, by change, By roll and rise of form, From form to flow -- the rock, The threshing cliff (this bone Of mountain interposed) -Threshes the stars. The souls Are threshed from their husks, By water, rock and wind. 1982 4 r I ' body brutally torn and scattered throughout the labyrinth, she offered hiin a gift of love, a clew of thread. But it was more than thread: it was his life and he took the gift in the spirit of love. He must not forsake it for it would lead him out of the labyrinth and he would. be freer when he left than when he entered. So Theseus, whose only hope of freedom was the thread, entered into the labyrinth as into a prison. As he passed through the walls he recalled his past conquests, and relived them each one by one. He walked through the corridors, unwinding Ariadne's gift, knowing that many lives, including his own, depended on his ability to re-trace his steps through those halls.' As he entered the center of the labyrinth he was imprisoned with the minotaur. His blood did not run coid. He was not afraid. He knew that either it must die or he would. Theseus grabbed the minotaur by the hair and this monster--half-man, half-beast--clawed at his face and chest. They wrestled. The minotaur quickly obtained the advantage, but Theseus struggled to get himself on top and finally stabbed the minotaur between the eyes. The hero got up and fled the labyrinth, tracing the thread he trusted would take him to freedom. But as Theseus bravely followed the gift of love, he realized he did not know if the monster. had truly been slain or was merely wounded. Had he been freed of it forever or only given a reprieve? Androgeus, man of the earth, came away victorious from all his contests at the festival. He was the son of the King and he was the best, until the envious Aegeus s~nt. the Marathonian bull to challenge th.is youth of Crete. His muscles were taut, his mind alert as he prepared to wrestle the beast. But the bull did not know the rules, did not care and charged young Androgeus while he stood thinking his brave thoughts. He had no warning; he merely died. Deeds like Aegeus' do not go unpunished and to avenge his son, Minos ordered that seven young men and seven young women be sent each year from Athens to Crete to be fed to the minotaur. Every year as the boat set off for Crete, the chosen youths of Athens knew they would not return and as they set sail they looked back in horror at the city that had ordained their deaths. The third year of this atrocity came, and Theseus, worthy son of Aegeus and hero like no other, volunteered to join the condemned fourteen and try his hand at slaughtering the minotaur. Theseus had no choice. His life was the slaying of monsters, the freeingof men. The boat left Athens with black sails under the condition that if Theseus ,lived and was victorious it would return with white ones. Minos anxiously desired to see the young Athenians who would nourish his monstrosity. So the fourteen youths and maidens and Theseus their hero lined up before him. His daughter Ariadne stood by his side and as she watched Theseus--his shoulder, his thighs--she blushed with love. Unable to stand the thought of this beautiful soul· perishing, of this young * * * * * This story has no author. 5 I pass it on �to you as it was passed to me. I do not know the truth of all I say for I was not there, but though the details may have changed through time, the spirit of the hero Theseus remains. The life of his spirit depends on this tale, on its telling. When we stop recounting his story, Theseus will die. in small ways over time in order to express better the daring, the heroism, the grief. The story-teller, unlike the witness, is not present at the occurrence and thus is not responsible for·accuracy-for the small details, for the literal sequence of things. His absence is a gift of license: he must only be faithful to the spirit of the deeds. Phaedo is Socrates' witness; Plato, the maker of his myth. As Phaedo recounts tqe list of those present at Socrates' death, we learn that Plato was ill. He, like a maker of myths, is not a witness to what becomes his story. In this dialogue it is Socrates and not Plato who has authority. We look to Socrates to inspire in us our opinions and beliefs. This is his dialogue. As Plato himself says in his second letter: "For this reason I myself have never yet written anything on these subjects, and no treatise by Plato exists or will exist, but those which now bear his name belong to ' a Socrates become beautiful and new." (314 c 2) Plato's absence gives Socrates dominion over his own story. Cebes asks Socrates why he, who has never written poetry before, began composing verses in prison. Socrates tells him of a dream he has had frequently in which he is told to "engage in the Muses' art (mousiken) and practice it." (60 e 7) Philosophy, it had always seemed, was the greatest of the Muses' arts and so he had nothing to fear. As his death neared, however, he considered that his dream had meant making "what is ordinarily called music." (61 a 9) So not wanting to displease the gods, he began writing verse. Thus he wrote a hymn to Apollo, whose festival had postponed his death, and then considering that a poet, if he is really to be a poet, must compose myths and not speeches, since I was not a maker of myths, I took the myths of Aesop, which I had at hand and knew, and turned into verse the first I came upon. (61 b 4) I Socrates, the new Theseus, spent his last day with fourteen friends. The followers gathered at daybreak at the court where the trial took place and then walked together to the prison where Socrates was held. They were not in the habit of meeting so early, but the impending death of their beloved teacher and friend demanded special attention, and the earliness of their arrival ensured that they could spend an entire day with Socrates. The fullness of their final day calls to mind Aristotle's observation in the Poetics that "Tragedy endeavours to keep as far as possible within a single circuit of the sun, or something near that." (1449 b 13) Is Plato suggesting that Socrates' death is a tragedy? Let us see. The story begins with Echecrates questioning Phaedo. His first words ring out "Autos, £ Phaidon," and Phaedo echoes back "Autos, 2_, Echekrates." Phaedo speaks in the manner in which one who had seen the death of Androgeus would describe that slaying. He is a witness to an event and not a teller of stories. He saw the death of Socrates, he was there: The "Autos" resounds letting us know that Phaedo himself will present the account "as accurately as he can." (58 d 12) Androgeus died and the minotaur was fed on Athenian youths until Theseus slayed it. These are the facts of Theseus' heroism, but how do they become the myth of Theseus? An event occurs, a lifetime passes, but it is not a story. A man relates an incident to a friend and still there is no story. A story condenses the event to bring out its power, changes it 6 The. taking of a story and making it into another story is at once a creating and a not-creating. How do Socrates' versions of Aesop's myths differ from Aesop's versions? And Plato's telling of Socrates' story: what does he add that Phaedo's account leaves out? In some ways Socrates' description of his verse-writing is reminiscent of Plato's myth-making. Each takes what already is and re-shapes it to meet his need. If Socrates' re-telling of Aesop's stories was the composition of music, is Plato composing music when he tells us the tale of Socrates? The dialogue contains neither chords nor octaves--it is not in verse--but there is a true music in its form. Plato makes Socrates start off slowly, for Socrates must not shock his followers with new ideas, but instead plays for them the same arguments they've heard before. He has an ear for timing and feels the urgency to say certain things before he dies but must wait for the proper moment so that they have the right effect. Socrates has individual modes of addressing each man and expects different things from each of them in return. From his fourteen friends he will not tolerate tears, but from the servant of the Eleven he accepts tears graciously and even remarks on the nobility of his weeping. And from the fourteen individually also, there will be different objections and different responses, and Socrates will treat each uniquely. As the dialogue builds up to its final resolution, we are carried by its music. assert that philosophers practice dying all their lives and thus welcome death when their time comes. Cebes cannot understand how a man as wise as Socrates could "leave us and the gods, who are, as you yourself agree, good rulers." ( 63 a 11) Socrates quickly admits that he must defend himself "as if we were in a law court. " ( 63 b 3) This reminder of his recent trial pains but also comforts Simmias and Cebes · who expect to hear a speech similar to what they've already heard in court. They want · to be re-assured that their teacher is the same in dying as he was in life. They want to be certain that the man whose life they've tried to model theirs after does not regret the things he's said and done. Socrates says he will try to b'e more convincing this time than last time; but when he changes his view from that of the Apology, that death is either "a virtual nothingness" or "a change and mi.gration of the soul from this to another place," (40 c 7) to his statement in the Phaedo that' "I would assert as positively as anything about such matters that I am going to gods who are good masters," ( 63 c 1) Simmias and Cebes do not appear to have heard the . "as anything" which rings so clearly in: our ears. Before Socrates has a chance to defend his view, the first dissonance sounds as Cri to warns Socrates not to talk so much because talk warms the body which retards the effects of the poison and thus prolongs life. It is an absurd warning, but Socrates cannot ignore the image it presents of the cold body quickly succumbing to the spreading poison, nor can we forget that this is more than an apologia. The dialogue is not a defense, but a teaching. Socrates' arguments are not meant to justify what he has done, but to show young men how to think and ask questions about the things that matter to them. As Socrates begins his reasoning, he refers to his followers as "tois dikastais," (63 d 8) as justices, the.name he rightly gives to his just supporters in the Apology. (40 a 3) By using it again here, he lets Simmias and Cebes know that As Theseus entered the labyrinth, He began to unravel the thread. He walked slowly, remembering all the deeds of his days, for though he knew what awaited him, he did not know how he would conquer it. * * * * * Socrates' first dialectical step is to 7 �4 what he is about to tell them, he says because they are his true friends and champions. As they are friends, he will talk to them about what is on his mind; but since they are not aged men, how much will they understand of what he now faces? Old men do not talk to young men about death, they talk to them about life. They do not confide in them their fears or hopes for th'emselves in another world, but rather talk about what they have done rightly or wrongly in this world. They counsel and give advice and reflect on what they've learned. _ Let me propose that Socrates uses the assumption that philosophers desire death as an occasion to say something about life, and not as an argument to defend his choice to die. Let us see what way the arguments in this dialogue address the questions of young men who are on the eve of living in the world without a teacher for the first time. The core of Socrates' lengthy argument defending the notion that philosophers desire death comes from the idea that'the body and the senses--hearing, seeing, feeling, desiring, fearing--obscure thought, and therefore realities, by deceiving the soul. Thus the soul of the philosopher, loving truth, hates the body and does all it can to avoid it and its illusions. Since Socrates defined death as the separation of the soul from the body (64 c 4) , it is this state of death that the philosopher strives toward. Socrates begins to test Simmias on ·the truth of what he's said. He asks Simmias if "we say" (phamen) there is such a thing as absolute justice, and Simmias responds "we say" (phamen) there is. ( 65 d 4) Clearly Socrates is calling into play Simmias' familiarity with one of his favorite ideas--the forms. This is the time to talk about ideas they've shared, not the time to raise new hypotheses. Socrates must help Simmias recall what they have spoken of together, to remember the best things they have done together. He wants Simmias and Cebes to remember these arguments because they are the currency of their friendship.__ These conversations have brought them -together, but once Socrates is gone, Simmias and Cebes will need to begin new arguments on their own. They will try to follow the intellectual path of Socrates, starting off with safe but simple accounts which evolve into more ingenious arguments. Simmias and Cebes will need - a starting place for their philosophic inquiries. Perhaps the arguments of which Socrates seems intent on reminding them can serve this purpose. Once Simmias agrees that they say there are such things as true justice, beauty and goodness, Socrates asks him if he has ever reached any of them with his bodily senses. His answer, of course, is no.· Socrates goes on to elaborate the attributes of the man who could know such things. Several times in his - account he retreats from certainty, saying such things as: "the man who approaches each thing, so far as possible, with the reason alone," (65 e 8) and "who removes himself, so far as possible, from eyes and ears" (66 a 5) and concludes with "Is not this the man, Simmias, if anyone, to attain to the knowledge of reality?" (66 a 8) Simmias, apparently not hearing the uncertain "if anyone," chimes in "That is as true as true can be, Socrates" (Huperphuos hos alethe legeis). (66 a 10) Though Socrates' manner is calm, his hesitancy to assert anything definitely carries over to his own future. He admits that when he gets to where he is going he will, "if anywhere," (67 b 9) find that for which he has been striving. Though Simmias and Cebes are not yet ready to hear these doubts from their teacher, he cannot deceive them with false confidence. Socrates knows about their doubts and thus the argument he tells them is similar to what they're accustomed to hearing from him. In Book Five of the Republic, for instance, he says: Well, now. This is separate them out. side I put those of were just speaking, 8 how I On one whom you the lovers esting that in a dialogue in which Socrates maintains that the body gets in the way of learning, he makes our bodily experience the instrument of learning. If he were truly trying to exalt the unencumbered intellect, why wouldn't he have made an argument l,ike the one - he makes to Glaucon? of sights, the lovers of-arts, and the practical men; on the other, those whom the argument concerns, whom alone one could rightly call philosophe~s ..• The lovers of hearing and the lovers of sights, on the one hand, surely delight in fair sounds and colors and shapes and all that craft makes from such things, but their thought is unable to see and delight in the nature of the fair itself. (476 a 9 - b 6) * * * * * As Theseus rounded a turn in the corridor, he caught sight in the distance of the minotaur'& tail. He shuddered slightly at what lay before him. This account of the body's interference in the pursuit of true knowledge resembles the one given in the Phaed,Q •. and this resemblance must comfort Simmiai:i" ·and Cebes · who do not want to believe that death might change what they've always thought to be true. The argument in the Republic, though, has a different appeal from that of the Phaedo. In the Republic Socrates tells Glaucon that the root of the dichotomy between body and soul lies in the twoness of opposites and therefore the ' oneness of each member of the pair. The deception comes because each is one but shows itself as many through its conjunction with actions and bodies. The true philosopher, he says, is the one who sees the thing in itself apart from its union with the physical world. (475 e 476 c) The argument invites Glaucon to consider what makes something unified and what makes a unified thing appear diverse. Socrates' argument is an appeal to Glaucon' s reason, to his ability to understand and see through the apparent deception that bodies cause. In the Phaedo, on the other hand, Socrates appeals to the bodies of Simmias and Cebes for confirmation of what he has told them. His argument depends on their having bodies so that they may recognize the power their bodies have over them. When Socrates says, "For the body keeps us constantly busy by reason of its need of sustenance," (66 b 9) it is not our reason, but the immediate experience of our appetites whi:ch assents. I_t is inter:~ Cebes agrees with most of what Socrates said, but matters concerning the soul, le observes, are subject to much disbeli~. Men fear that the soul is not immortal, that when a man dies his soul also _perishes. In Cebes' apprehension. Socrates catches his first glimpse of the minotaur which awaits him, of the true monster to be conquered which is the fear of death. Cebes calls for two distinct responses--arqument and proof--to allay his fears of the soul's dispersal. He does not merely want assurance that the soul exists apart from the body, but also that it will continue to have both power and intelligence_ (~ esti ,.!! he psych@ apothanontos ~ anthr~u kai tina dunamin echei kai phron~sin). (70 b 4) This is a strange request, for in what world do dunamis and phron~sis flourish? These are the attributes of the soul functioning on this earth. They are the striving toward and the practical knowledge of a soul acting in an imperfect world rather than a· world of entelecheia and nous. Cebes sets ""\iP the two distinct questions which will concern them for the rest of the dialogue--whether the soul is immortal and whether death is something to be feared. As we will see the two are wholly connected. Before Socrates begins to argue for the immortality of the soul, 9 �he reminds Simmias and Cebes (do they need reminding?) that these ideas and questions are of the utmost concern to him. He warns us not to get too caught up in the arguments and forget the circumstances under which they take place. He lets us know that these arguments are not a game, but the questions they ask raise the most serious problems any of them could face. If we are still supposing, though, that Socrates is trying to teach these young men something pertinent to their own lives, why does he begin to discuss the immortality of the soul? What effects will the soul's immortality have· on the way Simmias and Cebes act in this world? Socrates attempts to show the immortality of the soul by convincing Cebes that opposites come from opposites, and therefore what is living comes from what is dead. This conclusion must show, Socrates claims, that our souls existed in another world. The argument has Pythagorean origins, and so Simmias and Cebes, two Pythagoreans, are probably familiar with its premise, while Plato familiarizes us with this argument at the beginning of the dialogue when Socrates is released from his fetters. Rubbing his newly-freed leg, Socrates observes that pleasure and pain do not come at the same time, but one inevitably follows after the other. Socrates' speculation contrasts sharply with Phaedo' s observation to Echecrates immediately before, that "a very strange feeling came over me, an unaccustomed mixture of pleasure and of pain together, when I thought that Socrates was presently to die." (59 a 6) Socrates likens his notion to a two-headed beast which sets the stage for Cebes to ask about his verse-writing, as well as introducing us to the idea of many-headedness which appears again later in the dialogue. As Socrates begins his proof that opposites come from opposites, Phaedo does not mention that at that moment he is experiencing the contrary feeling of opposites mixing within him. He does not tell his friend that the thought of his death fills him with both pleasure and pain simultaneously. Phaedo is persuaded by Socrates to agree with something that a moment's reflection would tell him isn't true. The discussion, which begins with the example of nobility and disgrace and other absolute opposite entities, quickly changes to a discussion of relative opposite qualities. The emphasis turns to processes Qf generation and becoming rather than being, although Socrates makes no attempt to examine the middle increments of generation which occur before the opposites emerge. When at the conclusion of this argument Cebes quickly adds that the theory ·of recollection is further proof for the pre-existence of the soul, it is clear that the opposites from opposites argument was not convincing. Further proof is needed. But Socrates is in a battle and the individual blows do not matter. All that counts is that the campaign as a whole be victorious. As with the previous argument, we are introduced to some of the reasoning of the recollection account earlier in the dialogue when Simmias and Socrates discuss the existence of the forms. In this context, though, Simmias does not recall the recollection hypothesis and thus himself needs to recollect. Cebes helps him. The hypothesis first appears in the Meno where it is used to show that the soul has already learned everything before it enters the body. The theory is thus an answer to Meno's query, "How will you look for something when you don't in the least know what it is?... [Even] if you come right up against it, how will you know that what you have found is the thing you didn't know?" (80 d 4) Socrates answers that you will recognize it because the soul once possessed all knowledge, and so when you see the truth, you will recognize it because the memory of it exists within your soul. In the Phaedo, in response to a wholly different question, Cebes presents the theory of recollection as Socrates did in the Meno, but now Socrates is not 10 I • satisfied with the explanation and must elaborate upon it. His first elaboration takes the theory out of the realm of the forms and brings it into our world with the example: "Well, you know that a lover when he sees a lyre or a cloak or anything else which his beloved is wont to use, perceives the lyre and in his mind receives an image of the boy to whom the lyre belongs, do you not?" (73 d 5) Socrates does eventually bring the idea of abstract qualities into the discussioni but whereas in the ~ our understanding of the abstract entity enabled us to recognize the physical thing, in the Phaedo, we obtain our knowledge of the abstract form from our knowledge of the physical. "Did we not, by seeing equal pieces of wood or stones or other things, derive from them a knowledge of abstract equality?" (74 b 7) We know that the forms must exist in our souls when we come to the realization that things in this world fall short of what they might be. Socrates asks, "Do not equal stones and pieces of wood, though they remain the same, sometimes appear to us equal in one respect and unequal in another?" And when Simmias agrees and then also agrees that absolute equals do not ever seem unequal, Socrates concludes, "Then those equals are not the same as equality in the abstract." (74 c 3) The world is imperfect and our recognition of that tells us that we are aware of perfection. It is through our senses that we perceive that "all sensible objects strive after absolute equality and fall short of it," (75 b 1) and thusit is our senses which tell us that the forms live within us. The argument concludes by saying that we are born with a , certain knowledge which we acquired before our birth, thus showing that our souls must have existed in another ·world, the world · of the forms. The recollection account in the Phaedo differs greatly from the account in the Meno. It appeals to the experience of Simmias and Cebes with tangible things like cloaks and lyres and not with their recognition of mathematical truths. The· argument is at once a reminiscence of past times and past discussions, a reassurance that Socrates still believes the things he once held to be true and .an occasion for us to wonder why this recollection, in contrast to the recollection of the Meno, is inspired by sensible objects. ~ Socrates asks Sinmias. if all men can give an account of these' things and Simmias sorrowfully admits that though he wishes it were true, "I fear that tomorrow, at this time, there wi11 be no longer any man living who is able to do so properly." (76 b 10) This fear, thouqb perhaps selfish, is based on the realization we all have when faced with the death of a dear friend, the realization that they have something no one else has. At this moment, Sinmias is only thinking of himself, only thinking that he is losing the man who taught him to see the truest things. As Socrates continues to conclude the recollection argument, he is a dying man recalling with his close•t fiends the things that· were best in his life. * * * * * As Theseus entered the center of the labyrinth, the minotaur's eyes beckoned in challenge. Simmias and Cebes each become convinced that our souls existed before we were born, but they still have the fear of dispersal, the fear that the soul is a breath which will fade with a man's last words. Socrates teases them about their childish fears, and Cebes the child dares him to persuade them "not to fear death as if it were a hobgoblin." (77 e 5) Still lightly Socrates tells them to sing charms every day to charm away their fears. We are immediately reminded that this dialogue is Socrate•' song, and Cebes, too, recognizes Socrates as his charmer of fears. "Where shall we find a good singer of such charms, since you are leaving us?" Cebes asks. (78 a 1) Socrates replies in earnest this time, telling them to search 0 11 �, everywhere for such a charmer. He knows that the fear of death is not a childish fear. He knows it is the fear of death which gives power to tyrants, the threat of death which keeps men from acting justly. Socrates must do all he can before he dies to allay their fear of death. He must show them that the danger of death need never determine their actions. In order to assuage their fears, Socrates asks them what things naturally suffer dispersion, and then, he adds, we must see if the soul is that sort of thing. They decide on two types of being: the first--non-composite, unchangeable, invisible1 the second--composite, changeable and visible. The forms fall under the first heading, but things like cloaks are always changing and thus fall into the second category. After some discussion they draw the tentative conclusion that "[the] soul is more like the invisible than the body is, and the body more like the visible." (79 c 1) Cebes, under Socrates' tutelage, determines that the soul has a kinship with the forms and the di vine and thus will be "entirely indissoluble, or nearly so." (80 b 11) This emerges from its context, but in many ways it is utterly different from Socratic thinking. In the Sophist the Eleatic stranger tells Thaetetus that: uncertain in a dialogue where most of the questions raised are about immortality of the soul, yet the forms are assumed from the beginning to be everlasting and timeless. We fear for our souls but have faith in the eternality of the forms. If there were a true kinship between souls and forms, would Simmias and Cebes have anything to fear? Perhaps another way to understand this argument can be found in a pun. Socrates makes Cebes agree that the soul is invisible (aeides) and pure and divine and thus enters the · realm of the pure and everlasting, which is Hades (Haides). Puns can be deceptive because frequently the maker of the pun has a true and meaningful idea when he begins to speak it. The pun seductively enters his mind, and though it is not exactly what he meant to say, before he knows it, it has rolled off his tongue. The speaker gets caught up in the sound of his own words, (in the coincidental (aeides/Haides) and loses the original intention. I do not mean to suggest that Plato sacrificed his meaning for the seductive effects of language, but perhaps the thought process of the maker of puns can be a model by which to understand what Socrates does. Maybe Socrates does not really believe that souls are like forms, but rather that they approach being like forms. (In the opposites from opposites argument the emphasis was on processes of becoming, but there he talks of purity rather than purification. Ought it be different?) This would make sense in the context of its being an essentially Pythagorean argument, for the Pythagoreans believed that man progressively purifies himself in a process that is never completed in life. Perhaps Plato blurred the distinction between purification and purity, between souls and forms, leaving out the middle ground of approach. In a certain way, the process by which souls come closer to being like forms is a non-active activity. Souls approach forms by contemplation which is an activity of stilling, a momentary unchangeability during which we come closest to being If knowing is to be acting on something, it follows that what is known must be acted upon by it, and so, on this showing, reality when it is being known by the act of knowledge must, in so far as it is known, be changed owing to being so acted upon--~11d that, we say, cannot happen to the changeless. (248 d 11-e 4) Here it seems that what is changeless cannot be known, for knowing is a change. Can it be that the forms are changeless and thus not knowable? Even the premise that there is a kinship between souls and forms seems 12 divine. In this way, the motion that Socrates may have chosen not to mention is a non-motion, the approach, a stopping to think. It is interesting, though, that Socrates omits contemplation. Why does he do this? Socrates presents a predominantly Pythagorean argument to two Pythagoreans, but leaves out the process of becoming which is characteristic of that school. Must not he be inviting them to scrutinize, inviting them to search for what he has left out? That type of scrutiny is for later, though, for the time when Socrates will no longer be there. In his absence, he leaves them this argument which does not quite work, as something on which they should spend more time. For now, though, the true battle with fear of death must continue. Let me pause for a moment to look back. The first three arguments in defense of the soul's immortality do not convince me. I assume, though, that Plato did not intend for his readers to be convinced. Socrates' arguments are, like Ariadne's thread, gifts of love. They are gifts to men who will be struggling with something alone and who need confidence that they are heading in the right direction. Simmias and Cebes will soon be facing the trial of living a good life without the guidance of their teacher. These arguments are Socrates' gifts to them so that they may follow this type of reasoning and it will lead them rightly. They are gifts which Simmias and Cebes can keep with them always as reminders of Socrates, for the arguments themselves are reminiscences into the past. When Socrates finished talking there was a long silence and Phaedo tells Echecrates that his teacher was "apparently absorbed in what had been said." (84 c 1) We know nothing of his thoughts but that they were of the utmost seriousness, for he tells Simmias and Cebes, who were conversing between themselves, that they may raise any questions they have about these matters, but "if you are considering anything else, I have nothing to say." (84 c 7) Simmias acknowledges that both he and Cebes have questions to ask, but they were afraid to trouble Socrates with them for fear of displeasing him in his present misfortune. When he says that, Socrates laughs (egelasen) -as both Simmias (64 a 12) and Cebes (62 a 11) had each done once before, when neither of them was in.the mood to do so. Socrates' laughter is the opening measure of his song of death, his gentle music in imitation of the calling of the swans. "I, too, am a swan, " his laughter says, "and my laughter heralds my death as the swans sing in their prophetic joy." Socrates' laughter evolves into words,, and the words are in meter so that he does not lose the song-like nature of his story. He sings to Simmias and Cebes about Apollo's birds, the swans, who like their master are endowed with gifts of prophecy which enable them to see fnto the blessings of the other world. They sing for joy and not for sorrow, and their song welcomes death. Socrates' song is his joy too, not only for what it portends, but for what it is. He revels not only in the story his song tells, but in the telling itself. Does Theseus only look forward to having slain the minotaur, or is there also joy in the actual slaying of the beast? Socrates' song is sung not only· in anticipation of what awaits him, but in the knowledge that the ·song itself is a creation of a better future. Unlike argument which is meant to persuade, Socrates' swan song is meant to seduce Simmias and Cebes into believing that their teacher has seen into the future and knows that death is not to be feared. His song guarantees them of his happiness, for it is the music of laughter. It is not reasoned, but emotional. Socrates charms their fears by lulling them away with tales of animals who are wise and sing in their wisdom. This charming away of the fear of death promises to make Simmias and Cebes lead better lives, for it is the fear of death which threatens to destroy the Socratic tradition of acting rightly for its own sake rather than having one's actions determined by the rewards and 13 �, -punishments which will come from them. In this way the song which proclaims a joyful future plays an important role in the implementing of that future. In Cebes' request that the immortality of the soul be proven, he seems 'to be talking about the soul' s immortality on earth, an immortality of ideas and traditions, an immortality of a way of life. The conquering of the fear of death is part of the struggle to ensure the immortality of the Socratic soul on this earth. Thus this song of laughter is the instrument of Socrates' warfare. Simmias is eager to begin, eager to share his question. But first he confides that he thinks it either very difficult or impossible to decide upon these things during life. One must either learn the truth, he says, or take the best doctrine he can find,and,"Embarking upon it as upon a raft, sail upon it through life in the midst of dangers, unless he can sail upon some stronger vessel, some d\vine revelation, and make his voyage more safely and securely." (85 d 1) Nothing, I think, could be closer to what Socrates feels. Simmias claims that the soul is a harmony which is invisible and incorporeal and divine. The lyre and its strings are bodies and therefore mortal, but what happens when the strings are broken or too tightly strung? The soul, the harmony, must perish. The remains of the body last a long time and then finally decay, but the soul--a mixture and harmony of the elements which compose our bodies--is· the first to vanish. Socrates suggests that Cebes raise his objection before anyone tries to answer Simmias. Cebes still worries that the soul will disperse when the body dies. His fear, he says, can best be expressed by the figure of a cloak, as Simmias' was by a lyre. (See 73 d 4) Which lasts longer, he asks, a man or a cloak? A man weaves and wears out many cloaks in his life, but he dies before the last one perishes. This, however, does not mean that the cloak is stronger than the man, but merely that the man has worn out many cloaks and died with the last one still * * * * * intact. So it is with the soul and the body. The soul lasts a long time and wears out many bodies and is constantly weaving anew that which wears out, but when the soul finally has woven its last and perishes, it is still wearing its last body. The body then quickly decays, · but it has outlived the soul. We cannot know which body will be the last that the soul weaves, but like the weaver who finally weaves his last cloak, the soul eventually weaves its last body and dies. Why does Socrates ask that these two objections--the objections of the lyre and the cloak--be asked together and then refuted together? In Cebes' short account of the soul as a weaver of cloaks, he uses forms of the verb apoluo ten times. It is this word which represents his greatest fear. We cannot forget that it is the festival of Apollo (ApollC5) which gives Socrates the reprieve, Apollo to whom Socrates writes his hymn, and Apollo Socrates claims to serve. Can it be mere coincidence that the symbols of Apollo are the lyre and the bow? Apollo is the god of archery, music and prophecy. It is said of his arrows in the Iliad: At the outset of their struggle, the beast appeared to be winning. When Socrates had finished listening to Simmias and Cebes, he sat surrounded by fourteen stunned men. Even Echecrates just listening to Phaedo recount the incident says, "Now I must begin over again and find another argument to convince me that when a man dies his soul does not perish with him." (88 d 6) They all needed to begin again, to re-think things through, to see if Socrates could confront the fear of dispersal, the final threat. Now you lie in the palace, handsome and fresh with dew, in the likeness of one whom he of the silver bow, Apollo, has attacked and killed with his gentle arrows. (Book 24 - 757) His arrows, though gentle, symbolize his distance. He is, as one of his epithets calls him, "far-shooting Apollo." If there is a connection between the lyre and the cloak and the lyre and the bow, the difference they point to is the opposition between the remoteness of the Apollonian bow and the closeness and protection of the Socratic cloak. The lyre, though, is something Socrates and Apollo share. The music Socrates plays is divine, his prophecies divinely inspired. Part of him is close and present and of the earth, but part of him is with the gods. 14 his feet. He had not just one enemy but two, and even Heracles could not handle that alone. He killed the crab and called his charioteer Iolaus to come help him. It was no longer a matter of pride. All he could think of was that the beast must be killed. Iolaus immediately set fire to a neighboring forest, and with flaming brands he seared the necks of the Hydra as its heads were lopped off, ensuring that no more could grow in their stead. Heracles' task was almost complete. Eight of the nine heads lay at his feet, but the ninth, the immortal head, stared confidently at the hero in challenge. Heracles tried in vain to perform the impossible but finally came to realize his limitations. That head would live forever. - Resignedly, Heracles buried the breathing head under a rock. He would die without seeing it killed. •, Heracles, son of Zeus, wore the armor of the gods when he undertook his labors. He carried Hermes' sword and Apollo's bow, and as he stood in battle, the golden breastplate he bore belonged to Vulcan. Word of Heracles' heroism had spread throughout the land and so he was called on to slay the nine-headed Hydra which dwelled in the marsh of Lerna. The beast would emerge from its abode and wreak havoc on the land, killing cattle and ravaging the country. Defeating it was no easy task: not only was it immense, but one of its nine heads was immortal. Heracles mounted his chariot driven by Iolaus, son of Iphiclus, and they rode to the marsh where the Hydra was said to live. When they arrived, Heracles stepped down from the chariot and went in quest of the many-headed beast. As he approached the springs of Amymone, the hole in which the creature lived loomed before him. He did not move any closer, but shot fiery darts at the hole until the Hydra emerged. It was more gruesome than he could have imagined, and as he grabbed onto one of its arms, it twisted itself about the hero's legs. Heracles beat its heads with his club but to no avail, for when one was crushed, two sprang up in its place. As he stood hopelessly clubbing the heads of the monster, a huge crab began to bite at * * * * * Heracles' strength lies in his ability to seek help, in his capacity to abandon pride for the sake of worthwhile accomplishment. If Heracles had not called on Iolaus, the beast which threatened would have devoured him. The triumph belongs to Heracles, but without Iolaus it would have be.en nothing at all. II Socrates' method of attack differs from that of Heracles. Though he might have divine gifts, they are not armor. He consoled Simmias and Cebes by listening to their fears pleasantly, gently and respectfully and soothed their doubts about his future by acting toward them as he always had. Whereas - his friends met earlier than usual at the courthouse that day, Socrates' habits did not change. He stroked Phaedo's head and played with his 15 �--,-- important than maintaining his pride. hair. Could any of the fourteen men assembled there truly believe that this seventy year old man facing death within hours, listening quietly to friends and playing with the hair of a beautiful young man, was eager to leave this life? As he strokes Phaedo' s hair, Socrates asks him if he will cut it off tomorrow in mourning. When Phaedo nods Socrates gently corrects him saying "You will cut it off today, and I will cut mine, if our argument dies and we cannot bring it to life again." (89 b 8) What would they be mourning? What is an argument such that it has a life? The life of this argument is the life of Socrates' soul, that of intellectual pursuit and virtuous action. · If the argument dies with Socrates, if moral 'virtue vanishes in the face of tyranny, in the face of those who have tried to quell it in him, then Socrates' soul will die. The immortality of Socrates' soul is the immortality of the way he has lived his life and questioned other people about the way they have lived theirs. The fear of death threatens all this. The immortality for which Socrates argues is the immortality of the dunamis and phronesis of the soul--the striving toward and the moral rightness. Argument immortalizes Socrates' soul, for it is in argument that men will continue to ask what virtue and knowledge are, while those who stop questioning will fall prey to the demands of tyrants. The fears and arguments of the Phaedo concern themselves with this world, for the greatest danger that could befall Socrates' soul is being forgotten on this earth. The continuation of the argument is the immortality of his soul. If the fear of mortality ends the argument, then that fear must be conquered. Socrates asks · Phaedo to lead the battle, saying he will help him as Iolaus did Heracles. Phaedo retreats from that responsibility preferring to play Iolaus to Socrates' Heracles. It is all the same, Socrates assures him, knowing that there is no time for discussions of heroism. It does not matter anymore who does what, only that it get done. As Heracles first had to kill the crab which threatened to prevent him from facing the true danger, so must Socrates destroy misology, the hatred of argument, before addressing the real beast, the fear of the soul's dispersal, which is the final reason to fear death. Misology, like the crab at Heracles' ankles, impedes facing true dangers head-on. Confrontations with the most serious questions cannot take place outside the forum of argument, and thus misology is a threat to all serious philosophic inquiry. If Simmias and Cebes come to hate argument, they will have no means by which to address their fears of the soul's mortality. But, if Simmias and Cebes can be convinced never to abandon argument, Socrates can be more certain that his way of life will not perish. Misologyr Socrates says, resembles misanthropy. We come to hate both arguments and men when we think they are perfectly good and true but later find out otherwise. Arguments, like men, are very rarely all true or all false, but we must never revile argument totally, believing it to hold no truth whatsoever. Individual arguments are like single blows struck in a battle: neither is of much importance in itself--each matters only in the cumulative effect. So must we not look for proof in a single argument, but in the discussion as a whole. We ought never to think argument unsound, but should rather realize our own lack of preparation for understanding it. Socrates tells Simmias and Cebes to strive * * * * * Not even Heracles could take on both the Hydra and the crab, and so he called for Iolaus to come to his aid, knowing that winning the battle was more existence elsewhere prior to entering the body. Though he addresses only Simmias' objection, he asks the opinions of both Simmias and Cebes in regard to the recollection account. The bringing of that theory into this argument must have more significance than the refutation of Simmias' idea that the soul is a harmony. He is, I think, testing their affinity for one argument, making them choose between two things which individually seem right. He challenges their ability to revise old thoughts in the light of new ideas. Simmias and Cebes are united in their conviction that it is the best argument given so far, and Simmias goes on to add that he would be surprised if he ever felt differently about it. Socrates plays on Simmias' admission and immediately points out that the harmony account conflicts directly with the recollection argument~ because, in order for the soul to be a harmony, the body would have to exist before the soul so that it could come together in such a way as to create the harmonized soul. When Simmias sees this conflict, he unquestioningly gives up his theory without considering that it might be right and the recollection account wrong. Why does he give up so easily? Why is he afraid to surrender a theory that had once seemed certain but now conflicts with a new idea? Socrates will not let him abandon his account yet and submits another argument against it, hoping that Simmias will attempt to defend his thesis. Socrates objects that the soul can never be more or less of a soul, but there can be different degrees of harmonization, and thus Simmias' analogy collapses. Simm.ias again agrees with Socrates that his account fails, but his acquiescent response is not what Socrates wanted, and so he tries once more to provoke Simmias into argument. Socrates' third refutation of the harmony account is based on the idea that the soul presides over the body and thus cannot be controlled by the corporeal in the way that harmony is determined by the lyre. He chooses an example in support of the dominion of the soul from the ·for this understanding "for the sake of all your future life, and I because of my impending death." (91 a) As he prepares to £ace their objections he warns them: "But you, if you do as I ask, will give little thought to Socrates and much more to the truth." (91 c) He wants them to stop pitying him and themselves and pay close attention to what is being said. They will need these truths for the rest of their lives, and he will not be there to remind them. They have gradually been weaned from hearing only about the past and now must face something new, something they can keep with them to help· carry on the Socratic way of life. As Socrates restates the doubts of Simmias and Cebes, I am struck again "by the question: Why are these doubts expressed and refuted together? When the objections lie side by side we easily see the lyre and the cloak in opposition to the lyre and the bow, but is this comparison with Apollo all that Plato intends by this uncharacteristic structure? Perhaps a clue can be found in Socrates' own words when he suggests that Cebes gives his objection before Simmias' objection is addressed. Socrates says: "Then when we have heard them, we can either agree with them, if they seem to strike the proper note (~ ti dokosi prosaidein), or, if they do not, we can proceed to argue in defense of our reasoning." (86 e 4) The unusual ordering displays a sense of music, a desire to hear the properly struck note--the note to which Socrates must respond by saying what he wants to before he dies. He listens to these objections and searches for that impetus, for he does not want merely to speak unconnected thoughts. He wants his ideas to flow from Simmias' and Cebes' fears as the proper response in a piece of counterpoint. With. both of their objections in front of him, he will have a clearer idea of where he must take them so that they may yield the fruits he hopes they contain. Socrates asks both Simmias and Cebes how they feel about the recollection argument as a proof for the soul's 16 17 -- �dialogues, quoted out of context,. but rather its context adds poignantly to our understanding of what Socrates faces. Our knowledge of Odysseus amplifies what we know about Socrates; for Socrates, at that moment, is Odysseus. He is a man who has traveled and told the tales of his travels. He has encoun.tered men and gods and learned from both. He stands at the gates of the union he has sought for many years, but as the moment of surrender nears, both Socrates and Odysseus feel apprehension. Plato lets us know that he will no longer play games by the seriousness with which he quotes Homer. Irony needs time and there is no more time. Socrates' song, mirrored in Odysseus' agony in the fore-court, draws to its portentous climax in the awareness Socrates shares with Odysseus that the effect of much of what he says will depend on how he utilizes the little time he has left. twentieth book of the Odyssey. As Penelope lay alone in her bed weeping for her husband, Odysseus bedded down in the fore-court of his house unknown to all but Telemachos and Eurykleia. He heard the voices and laughter of the women who had shamelessly slept with the suitors and wanted to kill them all then, not to let them pass another night with the men who were devouring his property. And he thought about the suitors themselves-could he conquer so many? In this yearning to act and his uncertainty in how to act, He smote his breast, and thus he chid his heart: Endure it, heart, thou didst bear worse than this. (Book 20 - 17) Socrates gives this as an example of the soul overcoming the desires of the heart. The soul is a ruler and far more divine than a harmony; in this way the reference to Homer concludes their discussion. At that moment in the Odyssey from which Plato quotes, Odysseus faces much of what Socrates does in the Phaedo. As Socrates has sought death, so has Odysseus longed for Penelope. Each of them, though, has perhaps taken a longer route than necessary to get there out of love for what the world has brought them. For each, one task must be performed before he achieves his goal: setting his city in order. (This cannot be done entirely, but each can make a proper beginning.) Both Odysseus and Socrates realize that their efforts will be more successful if they wait for the right time. Odysseus understands that the slaying of the suitors will be more powerful and shocking if he waits a little longer, as Socrates knows that Simmias and Cebes will be affected more by his words if he waits until they are prepared to hear them. Each must make his heart endure this restraint. The citing of Homer fits in perfectly with Socrates' story. There is no irony. It is not, as is so common in the * * * * * Only one head remained, the immortal head. In this mood of approaching the end of a long odyssey, Socrates begins to address Cebes' objection, calling his friends together to "charge the foe in Homeric fashion." (95 b 9) Let us not forget that the most important step in Odysseus' battle against the suitors was revealing himself as who he was. All else followed simply from that. Before we look at Socrates' response to Cebes' objection, let us think about what it means to say that the soul is a weaver of cloaks. Cebes describes it this way: For if the body is constantly changing and being destroyed while the man still lives, and the soul is always weaving anew that which wears out, then when the soul perishes it must 18 necessarily have on its last garment, and this only will survive it, and when the soul has perished, then the body will at once show its natural weakness and will quickly disappear in decay. (87 d 10) A cloak is not unique to one person but can be shared by several. Many may wear and be protected by the same cloak, as a group of men may share in and agree with the same argument. Socrates arms himself with argument as Heracles does with Vulcan' s golden breastplate, for it is with his cloak of argument that he defends himself against the tyrants and sophists. Socrates' arguments are the weavings of his soul which he wears like a cloak. When he dies, his last cloak will outlive him, and it will be the inheritance he leaves. Simmias and Cebes and the other followers will wear it and make it theirs. They will adopt his arguments, his way of life, but· that cloak will not last forever, and when it starts to tear, they will need to know how to weave one anew. They cannot continue to live off what Socrates created. If the tradition is to be kept alive, it must have new growth, new life. Each soul must learn to weave its own cloak. Before Socrates begins his refutation of Cebes' fear that the soul will ultimately perish, he finds himself in thought. He begins by saying that he will tell them "my own experience" (96 a 2) with investigating the cause of generation and decay. His story is an uncovering, a stripping down. He reaches back. to his first intellectual pursuits and tells of a young man filled with questions about heaven and earth and bodies and why they come to be. This is what he has been· waiting to tell them. He has been waiting to give them a model of how to begin a philosophic inquiry, starting naively and working without a teacher. Socrates wants to ensure that when he leaves them they will not be without the means to continue the lives they've started. As Socrates' story unfolds we learn that his confusion with the questions of physical realities became so great that he abandoned his quest. He then began to search for the cause of the way things are and looked for someone who could teach him that the cause is rational--which Socrates interprets as meaning that things are this way because it is best for them to be this way. He thought Anaxagoras could teach him such things and explain what is the best for all things and good for the whole. He eagerly listened for someone to confirm what he hoped was the truth. He found Anaxagoras' books and read them voraciously, for he wanted to know the truth as quickly as possible• But Anaxagoras called air and ether and water the causes, not mind. Socrates wanted someone to teach the cause and not "the thing without which the cause could not be." (99 b 4) Deciding that no one could teach him such a thing, and still young and in search of the truth, he set out on his second voyage (deuteros plous) to find it for himself. Socrates' series of voyages echoes Simmias' description that man must either find the truth or set sail (diapleusai) through life upon the best doctrine he can find. (85 c, d) Socrates, unable to find the truth about the real cause of generation and decay, embarked on a safe but simple voyage. His second sailing consisted of looking for causes through conceptions and not through the senses. He determined that things are great because of greatness, and small because of smallness. No one can overthrow such an answer. It is indisputable. Socrates speaks to these young men who will soon be alone and without a teacher, looking for answers and not knowing where to look, as he once was. His words are a gift to them--a gift of assurance. He started as they are now and came to see the things he does because he pursued what tried to elude him. He clung to argument but always searched for a better way, a deuteros plous. As Socrates reveals himself, he tells Simmias and Cebes that they too can do what he has done. His words say, "You are right to have hope." 19 �Throughout most of the dialogue, Simmias and Cebes are the only men who respond to Socrates. After hearing, though, that great things are caused by greatness, one of the others--"! just don't remember who it was" (103 a 3) --objected vehemently that this was in direct contradiction with the argument that opposites come from opposites. Socrates praises this unknown man, and in doing so, praises all the unknown men for their attentiveness and interest and for their readiness to speak, even after long hours of silence. This unnamed man is every man who sat by Socrates' side on the day of his death. The safe but simple account is a good starting place, but one ought not be satisfied there. Socrates has a more ingenious account, an account that might satisfy Cebes' objections. The new account does not say that the cause of what is hot is heat, but rather fire. Instead of looking toward conceptions for causes, he looks toward the earth. In this way, snow causes cold and fever illness. But snow does not admit of heat; it must either withdraw from heat or perish. Socrates then asks Cebes to answer his questions, not "in their own words, but do as I do." (105 b 7) He must · go beyond the safe but stupid answer and look fLr the more ingenious cause. It is the soul and not life, he answers, which causes the body in which it is to be alive. And the soul, causing life, does not admit of death ... but here the account breaks down. When Socrates establishes this way of answering he says that things like snow do not admit their opposites and thus either withdraw o~ perish when the opposites approach. In his account of the soul, however, he concludes that the soul does not admit of death and so is immortal, that is, it withdraws at the approach of death. He does not consider the possibility of its perishing. The same sort of omission is made early in the dialogue when Socrates says, "For, if pure knowledge is impossible while the body is with us, one of two things must follow, either it cannot be acquired at all or only when we are dead." (66 e 4) In the ensuing discussion, though, no mention is made of the possibility that pure knowledge is unattainable, as here there is no talk about the soul's perishing at the approach of death. * * * * * Heracles, realizing his defeat, placed the breathing head under a rock. Others might come and attempt what he was unable to do.· The arguments are left open-ended. They are there for us to ponder, for us to think about how they might be concluded. They remind Simmias and Cebes that the work is unfinished, that they must try to go beyond what Socrates has said. Simmias and Cebes must recognize that argument, like purification, is an on-going process, never completed in this life. In the last sentence of the dialogue there is a hint that Socrates' followers realize that. Phaedo says, "Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, who was, as we may say (hos hemeis phamen an) , of all those of his time whom we have-known, the best and wisest and most righteous man." (118 a 16) The "as we may say" and "whom we have known" seem to show the understanding that their experience has been limited and individual. They do not make sweeping statements about his unmatchable greatness; they simply say that in his time he was the greatest man they had known. This leaves room for Socrates to be surpassed, or at least challenged. And Socrates, I think, wants to be challenged. He wants men to try to do more and know more and question more than he has. By leaving his arguments unfinished or inconclusive, he invites Simmias and Cebes to take up his challenge. In his conclusion, Socrates says, "All I think would agree that god and the principle of life, and anything else that is immortal, can never perish." (106 d 5) 20 But can the theory of the forms ever perish? Can moral virtue disappear from men's actions? Will the ability to oppose tyrants always exist? The greatest fear expressed by Simmias and Cebes is the fear of dispersal, the fear that the soul will dissolve "like a breath." ( 70 a 7) They fear that the soul is a breath, a breath that utters words, a breath saturated with meaning; and thus the re-utterance of the same words saves the meaning, breathes the same breath. The fear of dispersal is the fear that these words will never again come together in this way, with this meaning, and that the Socratic vision will scatter in the political winds. The fear of dispersal is the fear that the cloak, the symbol of the manifestations of Socrates' soul in this world, will fall apart and not be sewn together. The fear of dispersal is the fear that these men, the inheritors of the tradition, will never again come together as brethren, as men who share. the same breath. They came together as followers of Socrates, men who shared the same questions and goals. Socrates brought them together, but who will keep them together. once he is gone? The fear of dispersal is • the fear that what has been good in this life will dissolve with the death of Socrates. The greatest fear expressed by Socrates is not what the future will bring for his soul in Hades, but what will happen to the Socratic ideas on earth. His greatest wor,ry is that the threat of death will keep men from proper action, wil 1 put power in the hands of tyrants. He must show his followers that death does not punish right action but rewards it. He must show them that the peril of death ought never to determine their actions. Simrnias and Cebes and the other heirs will decide the immortality of Socrates' legacy on ·this earth, and so it is they who must be persuaded not to fear death. Even if the arguments in this dialogue do not convince us that the soul is immortal, if we remain uncertain that good deeds will be rewarded in the after-life,· we at least know that no man has ever faced death as serenely, as nobly and as generously as Socrates. He does not cling to life but surrenders it before sunset. If at the beginning we thought that the daybreak meeting foretold an Aristotelian tragedy, a drama that encompasses a full day, we are now assured that the tragedy which might have come to pass did not. As Socrates prepares to drink the poison, he calmly asks if he may pour a libation to a deity from the cup that will bring his death. And this brave man who must die on the charge of impiety is forbidden by the state which thus accused him to pay one last tribute to the gods. He prays, nevertheless, for a fortunate departure and drinks the hemlock. His friends cannot control themselves and weep, not for him, but for themselves, and Phaedo, in his distress, wraps his face in his cloak. We cannot know the destiny of the soul of Socrates, but by following the threads of the myths, Plato invites us to speculate on Socrates' fate. In the first myth, Theseus, by slaying the minotaur, saved himself as well a• the fourteen youths. If the analogy between the two stories holds, then this dialogue which frees Socrates' friends from their fear of death must also save Socrates. How else but in preserving his tradition does conquering the fear of death save Socrates? Theseus left Athens bearing black sails and, having promised his father that if he were victorious, he would return with white sails. When he returned, though, he forgot to change the sails, and so was thought to have been slain by the minotaur. Thus Theseus, believed by all to be dead, returned home in victory. And Socrates? Immediately before Socrates speaks his last words, he uncovers his face which had been covered. In the Phaedrus Socrates covers his head when he speaks words that are not his own (237 a 4) and then uncovers it when he regains his true identity (243 b 6). In the Phaedo Socrates' face is covered while the attendant who gave him the poison 21 �pinches his feet and legs to test for numbness. The attendant tells Socrates' friends that their teacher is growing cold and rigid, yet the man who is becoming numb has his face covered, is not the real Socrates. The true Socrates is the man who replies to Crito's question about how to bury him by saying, "However you please, if you can catch me and I do not get away from you." ( 115 c 4) The true Socrates is the man whose final words are1 "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius. Pay it and do not neglect it." (118 a 8) The true Socrates is not growing numb but is grateful for having been healed. Crito asks Socrates what they can do to serve him, and Socrates tells him: Horner, Iliad, trans. by R. Lattimore, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951) Problems With Kant, Problems With Faith Richard Miller Odyssey, trans. by R. Lattimore, (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1965) Kirk, G.S., The Pre-Socratic Philosophers, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957) Klein, Jacob, A Commentary on Plato's Meno, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965) What I always say, Crito, nothing new. If you take care of yourselves you will serve me and mine and yourselves ... if you neglect yourselves and are not willing to live following step by step, as it were, in the path marked out by our present and past discussions, you will accomplish nothing. Otto, W.F., The Homeric Gods, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1954) Plato, Apology, trans. by H. N. Fowler, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914) Epistles, trans. by Rev. R.G. Bury, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1929) (115 b 3) And what will Socrates have accomplished? Theseus could not have slain the minotaur without Ariadne's thread, as Heracles could not have destroyed the Hydra without Iolaus' aid. Can the Socratic tradition continue if Phaedo does not tell his account to Echecrates? The spirits of Theseus and Heracles die when we stop . telling their stories. What will ensure the immortality of the spirit of Socrates? Meno, trans. by W.K.C. Guthrie in Plato: The Collected Dialogues-edited by E. Hamilton and H. Cairns, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961) Plato, Phaedo, trans. by H.N. Fowler, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914) BIBLIOGRAPHY Phaedrus, trans. by H.N. Fowler, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914) Anthon, C., Classical Dictionary, (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1854) Republic, trans. by A. Bloom, (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968) Aristotle, De Poetica, trans. by I. Bywater in The Basic Works of Aristotle edited by R. McKean, (New York: Random House, 1941) Sophist, trans. by F.M. Cornford in Plato: The Collected Dialogues 22 Kant's Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals is "nothing rnorethan the search for and establishment of the supreme principle of morality (392) ." This search ends with the categorical imperative, which presents the reader with a rule for moral behavior and an obligation to follow this rule. Before it is possible to embrace the categorical imperative as the solution to man's moral confusion, it is necessary to understand the course of Kant's journey. Is he justified in his final assertion that "the practical use of reason with respect to freedom leads to an absolute necessity, but to the necessity only of laws of actions of a rational being as such (463)"? That is, does the concept of a free will, properly understood, inevitably lead to the supreme principle of morality? I will attempt to answer this question by focusing on Kant's argument in the final section of the Foundation. The first step in Kant's argument to estab.lish the necessity of the concept of free will is seeing the will as a cause in rational beings. The will may be described as free because "it can be effective independently of foreign causes determining it (446)." That is only to say that the will is not deterrnin'ed by the laws of natural necessity, such as gravity. For example, whereas natural necessity governs the fall of the rock from my hand, it does not govern my decision to allow the rock to fall. This decision was prompted by my will; it was caused by my will. Once the will is seen as a cause, Kant's argument continues, it must be seen as governed by some law. This follows because the concept of cause includes laws which establish an effect. This is clear if we return to our example with the rock. In order for something to fall (effect) , it must be dropped (cause); this relationship of cause to effect is governed by a universal law (gravity). Thus, to recognize the free will as a cause implies that it is "a causality according to immutable laws, but of a peculiar kind (446) ." Therefore, the will must be governed by a law. But if this law were imposed from outside the will, it would be indistinguishable from natural necessity. And, as we have seen, the will is understood to be a cause outside the realm of natural necessity. It follows then that the will must be governed by an internally imposed law. But Kant has previously shown that a will which governs itself, which is at once legislator and legislated, will act in accordance with the principle of universalizing maxims. From this we may conclude that "a free will and a will under moral laws are identical (447) ." Thus, once the will is seen as a cause, one is apparently necessarily led to the categorical imperative, i.e. the compulsion to universalize personal moral maxims. But, isn't there a problem in Kant's reasoning here? By treating the will as an appearance, by reasoning about the will as if the categories applied to it, Kant seems to have broken a rule in his own system. Kant states about man that: As regards whatever there may be in him of pure activity (whatever comes into consciousness, not through affection of the senses, but immediately) he must count himself as 23 �belonging to the intellectual world, of which, however he knows nothing further (451) • as being free. It only means that, to be so viewed, it must be looked at in a special way. Thus, Kant can only answer the question by saying that the actions of rational beings presuppose a free will. That is, a rational being regards his will as free, merely because it is his will. If a rational being did not Consider itself as being outside the laws of natural necessity, then all of its actions, i.e. all of its thoughts leading to actions, would be determined by some exterior power. Clearly, man, as rational being, does not view his thoughts as being determined by some law akin to gravity. Thus, all rational beings presuppose a free will. This is not to say that the will is free, but only that it is considered as such. We designate the will as free because we cannot think of it in any other way. So far so good, but how does the imputation of the free will as cause lead to "inunutable laws"? To answer this question, we must turn to the second section. Kant states that: Whatever comes into consciousness through the senses is an appearance of a thing. The rock falls: this effect is part of the world of sense and is governed by the law of natural necessity, the law of the world of appearances. On the other hand, reasoning comes into consciousness spontaneously, without any prompting of the senses. Man cannot speak accurately about this world, for it is the world behind the appearances, the land of the mysterious thing-in-itself. This statement about man's nature appears to disrupt Kant' s previous argument because of the relationship between reason and the will. If the will is part of the intelligible world, then man cannot speak about it and certainly cannot reason about it as if it were an appearance. Kant states that "since reason is required in order to derive actions from laws, the will is nothing but practical reason (412)." It follows from this that the will resides with reason in the intelligible world, the world of which man "knows nothing." The will is an aspect of reason; it is not an appearance. Thus, carrying the empirical implications of the word "cause" into the intelligible world, thereby allowing for the subjection of the will to an "inunutable law," seems to contradict Kant's previous statements about the intelligible world. Is this the case? Has Kant actually become overwhelmed by the very same inclinations that he set about controlling in the Critique? Upon reflection, it is clear that Kant has made no such error. He is saying that if the will may be seen as free, then morality follows. The problem with saying this lies exactly with the objection raised above; how can the will be seen as free when it is not in the sensible world and therefore cannot be described as having any properties? Clearly, in the strictest sense, it cannot. However, this does not mean that the will is not viewed Man and, in general every rational being, exists as an end in himself and not merely as a means to be arbitrarily used by this or that will (428). Man always serves as the end for his own actions. Remove the man and the desire for the ice cream is removed; however remove the desire and the man remains. The ice cream is a means for satisfying the man. Man treats all objects in this way, as a means for accomplishing his own ends. On the other hand, rational beings are designated "persons" because their nature indicates that they are ends in themselves, i.e., things which may not be used merely as means (428) . Thus man qua rational being recognizes all other men qua rational beings as ends not means. This leads to an imperative which 24 governs man' s actions toward man, are effected by the will: same order as gravity, yet it is one that you choose to submit yourself to. Once you have so chosen, the law takes on the force of natural necessity in the intelligible world; namely, you have no more choice of doing what is commanded by the categorical imperative than a rock has of falling;. Again, what makes a man choose to do this? Kant says flat out that "an explanation of how and why the universality of the maxim as law (and hence morality) interests us is completely impossible for us men (461)." In short, Kant cannot explicitly state an incentive for acting this way as opposed to any other. To do so would place an incentive in the will's path which, as Kant says in the beginni'ng of the treatise, debases any action. That is, the will is considered good when it acts without regard to the consequences of the action; the man who does the right thing without expecting a reward or in spite of the punishment that will follow is most highly praised. Nonetheless, ~t hazards a suggestion for complying to this moral system: which Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another always as an end, and never as a means only (429). From this point, the step to the categorical imperative is relatively easy. As we have seen, the imperative stated above falls out of considering man only as a rational being. Man, however, has, if you will, a dual nature: rational and empirical. The imperative becomes categorical when applied to the world of sense. That is, in the intelligible world, all my actions would naturally accord with the imperative; there is no reason for my actions to be otherwise, since man considered as rational acts in accordance with his reason. However, man lives in the world of sense, thus the imperative can only express how things should or ought to happen, not necessarily how they will happen. In the world of sense, natural necessity governs how things will happen. Nonetheless, the imperative is still applicable because it rules over a different domain than the law of_ natural necessity. I cannot will the rock not to fall once I have released it. I can will myself not to drop the rock on my neighbor's head. Thus, the law of the intelligible world does not conflict with the law of natural necessity. Thus, the imperative must still be in effect when man is considered in the empiric~! world, for it does not conflict with the activities of the empirical world. This is Kant's argument. He recognizes the problems with it. Namely, what on earth would compel someone to follow the categorical imperative? What, in effect, makes it binding? Granting the questionable step from the intelligible world to the sensible world, which allows for the governing of the will, as cause, by a law, one comes up with a peculiar law indeed. It is supposed to be a law of the Through the glorious ideal of a universal realm of endsin-themselves (rational beings) a lively interest in the moral law can be awakened in us. To that realm we can belong as members only when we carefully conduct ourselves according to maxims of freedom as if they were laws of nature (462-463). c Obviously, this reason merely explains why the people who do ascribe to this code of conduct do ascribe to it; it is not a compelling argument for those outside the "faith," who have no interest in acting to attain such a kingdom. In light of the fact that there can be no stated incentive for adopting the categorical imperative, one may well wonder at the advantage of adopting Kant's moral system over any other. In trying to deal sensibly with the problems of metaphysics, it seems that Kant has ended 25 �where religion begins: unfathomable -faith. Just as one is never able to state clearly why one has faith in a certain religion, the same problem afflicts Kant's system. One believes because one has chosen to do so. This is the mystery that Kant can never address, as he is well aware; he can only outline what one believes in, not why. Thus, while one may make sense of Kant' s argument, one need not be led to embrace its doctrine. Egg, Beat Her John Keith The irrelevant hen - men will die in a glove Loving like ducks from the earth above. Shooting Mr. Larry O. what self defeat, In a glad bag •.. you know, a ministry. Why! Why! What Why What Love's candied apples devoid of a hut. Black toothbrush seemingly lost, My gash hung up, upside down on a cross. 26 Ho Eni Autos En Heauto Joe DeGrazia There follows an attempt at supplementing Plato's assertion in ·Timaeus (35a-40d) that the motions of mind can be fruitfully compared to the motions of those gods who reveal themselves to us, as they will, in the planets. Both can be seen as moving one way but must be understood as a forced unity of contrary motions. This contrariness makes appearance contradict reality, as Plato asserts at 39a,· except in the period of the whole, measured by a perfect number, when the two motions come around to each other (39). Once upon a time, a casual observer at sunset (an acolyte assisting day's end rituals to Apollo) glanced up as he was lugging all those lustral bowls, and was struck by the new moon in its twilight splendor. Thereafter, he began to watch her each dusk at odd moments: crescent Artemis was at first close by her brother as he finished his daily course; but each day Apollo pulled away a bit from the· moon--call it Artemis' chariot, which set later and later while slowly waxing round. It was as if Artemis were steadily falling behind the far-darter (flagging as her horns blunted) , on some east-west hippodrome course. After what was to come to be called a "moon's" time, honoring the chaste huntress and midwife, our attendant· saw Apollo lap his sister's waning team. What is more, this watching Artemis grow and shrink was eventually to show our lackadaisical youth the whole sta~ry sky. From day to month, as he idly looked up, after sprinkling barley at altarside. twilight, this catechumen began also to notice two very special stars. At one time or another, or perhaps even together, they revealed themselves to him dropping behind the sun as the moon had, though not so quickly, yet along the same broad lane in the sun-wards southern sky. That would be luscious Aphrodite, then, next brightest after Artemis, and next most •conspicuously mutable; she came to trail Leta's son by about an eighth of a lap and then kept pace. And the other star would be mercurial winking Hermes, Zeus' deceitful messenger, slacking off the sun's pace at most only a few lengths. Our apprentice proceeded to watch, no longer bored, but in sheer amazement, as both of those gods got their second wind, then went and caught up to the sun again. Artemis would never keep pace try as she may , he knew, but · he re we re Aphrodite and Hermes actually giving Apollo a run for his money. Our hero's name was Mimas. After he began intently following these wheeling gods into the dusk, he happened also to be detailed to daybreak duty, for some liturgical exigency or- other. As a consequence, he had not much sooner seen the chariots of Hermes and Aphrodite overhaul Apollo from behind (after lagging for a while at nightfall), than he was astonished to spot them again, coming off the turn into the dawn sky, yes, outsprinting the sun's fiery steeds, and gaining on them daily--though, then again, only by just so much and for so long, after which Apollo rather slowly pulled· into the lead again. Time and again this would happen. It was a three-way dead-heat Mimas was following--wi th chaste Artemis sadly ·mismatched, steadily losing ground, and lapped by each of the leaders every thirty c 27 �Sundays, the highest deity's decade-ish Dial, and the generation-long Saturnalia. Odds were taken on exactly how long it· would take for all the gods to return to the same position they had held at any one given time; but to whose progeny could one entrust the ancestral kitty for such a mullimillenial sweepstakes? The priests of Apollo regarded the whole business as profoundly blasphemous. But Mimas was now wealthy enough to style himself a visionary. What a world it was, too, that he envisioned--where all divine entities incline the s·ame way! He had not yet been admitted to the inner-sanctum mysteries, of course; so he renounced 'his vows and meandered off to the city, intending to use his knowledge of the divinities to make book in the bigtime. This heavenly horse-racing through the night sky was something he knew he could lay safe odds on: it was a race that always would end up just as it started, you just played the percentages in between. One night at that race track Mimas chanced to fall in with golden-thighed Pythagoras, who was looking to stake or bankroll his own way to beat the house. Cagily, they began comparing notes, always out for a better tip. or so courses, bringing up the rear. Still, each of the "moons" could be used to determine a leg of the race. Between her waning horns would be the finish line. Mimas took his fellow acolytes to the cleaners, betting on the monthly lucifer. His apprenticeship and initiation seemed to take ages and ages till ordination. The skies had distracted him, however, from the sole worship of golden Apollo into the gilded edges of gambling. During what seemed eons of altar-side sacrificial meniality ("slaying and flaying" as he called it) then holding spits and wreathing wine into the feasting night's nobility, Mimas began to recognize more gods as they played at their off-Olympus track. He realized that some of them were actually faster then the sun, and not just in spurts either; over time, in fact they would lap Apollo running away. The distant bowman seemed not all that swift, then, in the long run; not as precipitous as red-g'laring Ares, who would overtake the sun once every twenty odd times that Apollo sped past Artemis; not as fleet as golden Zeus, who would pass the sun god once almost every twelve of those so-called virginal "months"; nm: as quick as cool-glowing Kronos (edging even zeusl) who would lap Apollo yet more often than that even. Then came the wonder·of wonders! The very backdrop of stars, which our aging novitiate had heretofore counted as fellow spectators at this grand chariot race, those same stars, always keeping pace with one another racing as a single body through myriad lanes of heaven, yet tilting their course to the god's hippodrome, those very stars were absolutely the fastest of all! Mimas soon began to use them to mark off legs of the race. Thus, each time all the stars passed Artemis would thereafter be called a month; they would then proceed to lap Apollo in what we would come to call the Annual Ring, Ares in about two of those, Zeus in twelve or so, and Kronos in some twenty-nine. Or we could give each separate lapping its own race's name: The. Arena, say, which took about a month of ' !. P. . .d~:·t·. ·-t.. ~ . '. '· M. P. M. P. M. P. M. P. M. 28 "There's no way the gods move all the same way! That's absurd! Each has two different motions in opposite directions." "What? you mean they go forward and backward at the same time?" "The gods can do anything they want, can't they? "But that's not even imaginable!" "Think of it this way. The stars move from east to west daily, right? The planets want to move from west to east, however; but they find it difficult to make any headway, shouldering like seagulls into a strong headwind." "That's elegant. But my way is P. M. P. so much simpler." "Nobody ever said the gods were simple, friend--though at times even I have found that notion alluring. But look at it this way. Take your view of things: You say Ares, Zeus, and Kronos all lap the sun regularly, OK? But have you ever noticed anything peculiar about their behavior?" "Well, they all seem to run the same kind of race. I mean, tactically. Whenever each one has rounded the turn into a position less than half a course away from lapping Apollo (you know, just about when you see each rising as the sun sets?) each will sprint a bit first, and then let his horses blow for a while, before easing into the stretch of this leg of the race and catching up with Apollo again." "That's not bad for a guess. At least you noticed one anomaly. What you mean, though, is that they are then stationary and regressing at opposition." "Stationary my eye! And how can you say the gods regress?" "You have to get that flighty race-track image out of your head. That's just poetic license. Your true scientist only uses such talk to make book with. The truth is quite the opposite. What you call. the fastest god is really the slowest. You've got it backwards." "It works just fine by me. You name the leg, I'll pick the winner. And also it's what I see happen." "That's a mere hayseed knack you've got worked up for yourself. But what you haven't got is the vaguest notion of divine essence. Gods wouldn't M. P. M. P. M. P. M. P. M. P. M. P. 29 be caught dead easing up on their reins to breathe their steeds. Who ever heard of divine horses wind-broke with heaves?" "Why do they slow down and afterwards speed up again, then?" "They don't--that's the point. It is just plain unthinkable that they should • "Didn't I 'think' of it?" "You can't have been, strictly-speaking, thinking when you came up with that notion. You seemed to understand that divine motion was regular--as far as concerns what you called 'lapping' at least. But you didn't delve deeply enough, much less rigorously at all. Divine motion must be intelligible, thoroughly." "Hey, wait just a minute! Didn't you just say the gods can do anything they want?" "Would the gods want to be deviants? truants? Would the gods want to be untrue to themselves even just for aft instant?" "Zeus took a shine to Ganymede, didn't he? And he's been bulls, eagles, swans, money -all sorts of things- when he's on the make. That sounds like 'being untrue' in some sense, no? to Hera anyway." "That's hokum, it's old hat, corn, a thing of the past. That's ikonizing the gods into the shapes of their appearances." "That's the way they reveal themselves!" "No! The truth is quite otherwise. Just the opposite of what you believe you think." "Now I only 'believe' I think!" "It's not knowledge you're dealing with, so it's not �thinking you're doing about it. That kind of stuff is all for the birds. You can't even begin to explain how regular lappings can have irregular stretch~s." M. "So what? At least I don't boss the gods around." P. "All you do is ascribe a rag tag irregularity to them. And it makes all the difference in the world. You're just conjecturing from the way things strike you, believing whatever makes sense, mere opinionated sensation. You can't even know what you're talking about, when you act like that. What you think about must, absolutely must, revolve around itself as your mind does. Divine motion must be uniformly circular and even, like thought. And knowledge is dimensionless revolution." M. "Yeah? Well don't bet on it: my mind wanders, and so do my gods. A fig for your circular. thinking." · At those words , Pythagoras sighed and turned away. Our prodigal acolyte was bursting with so much zeal, however, that he turned himself in no time flat into a denizen of the air, the mocking bird, and promptly fluttered off. Pythagoras chose to ignore what may_ have been construed to be an omen: after all, his were the ways of science. It was merely poetic justice, he thought, that such a transformation should take place: such is the lot· of those who take things at face value. There is nothing auspicious in their flightiness. Thus it is , however, that time out of mind Mimas has come to haunt what would come to be known as the Academy. From that night o~ he could always be heard perched among the light-mottled sycamores regularly enchanting the stars with litanies ornithological, his trove of bird call lore. There must be a moral here somewhere. One might argue that· Mimas'. opinions were true, but the figures he backed them with were not mathematical--call them statistical, perhaps, rather than geometric figures. The figure of heaven's racetrack remains moot. What we can "know" of it shows that Mimas did "indeed" put the cart before the horse, though--for if the gods are racing, as we "know" it, it's in the other direction, and all positions are reversed. Artemis, the last, will be first, moving eastwards against the onrushing µniverse, progressing about an outstreched arm's hand span a day. Hermes and Aphrodite , jockeying for second place, manage to move a handspan or so against the framing stars, in the time it takes Artemis to lap them. Ares is twice that slow, Zeus some twelve times slower, and aged Kronos the first becomes last, almost three times as slow as Zeus. Sic transit gloria coeli, and with it the notions of mind. But maybe the change did them good. You figure it out. 30 The Mirror Held Up to Nature: A Study of Imitation in Don Quixote George Iannacone Gaul can do battle with giants and wicked enchanters, although no such are now found in the world. The men of the past can appear stronger and more courageous than ourselves, for they are extraordinary as the world they inhabit. The ingenious gentleman of La Mancha, _however, did not live in the distant past, ·nor in some far away land. He is forever a contemporary of his readers, inhabiting the same ordinary wo-rld: ·· To •· Fruly understand the contemporary sense in·which Don Quixote is written, we might bear in mind an analogy between the world of chivalfY and our own romanticized "wild west". Quixote would then be analogous to an imitator of gun-slinging heroes in, perhaps, modern day Kansas, mistaking fast food hamburger stands for bawdy saloons. Unlike the books of chivalry, Don Quixote's book is not written according to the poetical system of things. All which happens in this book is possible in our world as well. As the story opens, its hero is a nameless old gentleman who has spent much of his life reading fantastical books. During these years the distinction between the poetical world of knight errantry and his own rather uneventful existence became blurred until he slipped into a world of dreams in which he too slew giants and matched wits with malicious dwarves. The old man gave himself the name, Don Quixote de la Mancha, and assumed the identity of · a noble knight. The real world of experience was transformed into the world of his poetic imaginings as Don Quixote began to live his fiction. The suggestion of a cowboy riding past hamburger stands brings to mind a comic picture. Such was the p~cture "Poets have formed what they call the poetical system of things which, though it be believed neither by themselves nor their readers, may be esteemed a sufficient foundation for any fiction." Hume: Treatise on Human Nature The poetical system of things, according to Hume, is one in which we understand by 'Venus' or 'Mercury not a living entity, whom we find in the world of our experience, but a fictional being, whose existence is granted in a realm to which we do not belong. This other realm takes its name from the Greek, poiesis, the act of making, which Aristotle describes in his Poetics as a process of imitation, mimnesis. Poetical imitation describes not what has happened but what may happen. A poet's characters must remain consistent, and his plot must unfold according to the laws of probability and necessity. Historical imitation, in contrast, relates events as they actually transpired. In a history, the criterion of truth is experience, a criterion from which poetry, by its very name, has been freed. A poet may include gods or monsters in his play beca~se his art requires us only to pretend belief. He int reduces this pretended belief, as Hume says, be separating the poetical system of things, in which his story lies, from the world of our experience. To achieve the separation of the poetical and historical worlds, poets often remove their stories in time or place from their audience. The tales of knights-errant are set in the distant past, so that the deeds of their heroes may appear possible. Thus, Don Amadis of 31 �,. '! .I presented to the first readers of Don Quixote. The book begins as pute comedy and Quixote is its clown. This comedy originates in the disconnection between the hero and his world. Don Quixote believes the poetical system of things to be literally true, but his contemporary setting makes that belief appear ridiculous. Quixote's madness consists in his attempt to imitate the heroes of chivalry. During his first and second sallies he demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the rules of knight errantry. These rules can be sUlllllled up in five general formulas: 1. A knight errant must have a lady love to whose name he dedicates the honors he wins in battle. This rule is _t~e most important, for "A kni1:11!t ·without a lady ~ove is like a body ·without a soul." Quixote _~ust remake the world of his own · experience for his actions to be real since he is his own hero and the world is his Stage. His story is presented to us by a narrator who shows that Quixote's transformation of the world is only internal; Spain remains untransformed despite him. Were Quixote his own chronicler, however, we would see Spain through his own poetic eyes. Rocinante would be a noble steed, La Mancha a rich land of gold and pageantry. Instead it is a dusty plain and on it rides a comic fool who dreams a better world. Quixote's comic appearance results from the fact that he does not relate his 1 own adventures. Thus, the comedy o:t: Don 1Quixote rests on_ a problem of authorship. -~e___ ~s portrayed as a bumbling old fool who thinks himself a noble knight. But "The cleverest character in a comedy is the clown," as Don Quixote says, "since he who mqkes hi,self out to be a simpleton cannot be one." Quixote knows that in the eyes of others he must appear comic, but his actions have a nobility which transcends this apparent comedy. This nobility he demonstrates in his penance in the Sierra Morena. Don Quixote undertakes his penance to win renown and to prove himself "the most complet§ and absolute knight errant in the world." He plans to imitate the penance of Don Amadis of Gaul, the greatest knight in chivalry. Quixote compares himself to a painter who studies the best originals to achieve perfection in his art. Sancho points out, however, that this knight had reasons to suffer, whereas Quixqte has none. In Quixote's reply to this objection can be seen the true nobility of his calling and a knightliness which transcends that of his model: "That," said Don Quixote," is the point of the thing, that is the beautiful part of it. What thanks does a knight errant deserve for going mad when he has good cause? The thing is to go out of my head without any occasion for it, thus letting my lady see,i! I do this for 1 opportunities that may and do make of us famous knigJits as well as better Christians." - 5. The adventures of a worthy knight errant are written up in books to serve as an example of virtue. 4. A knight can be assured of final success, in which he wins his lady's hand and perhaps a kingdom: "As a reward for his valor and the might of his arm, the poor fellow could already see himself crowned Emperor5 of Trebizond at the very least ••.. " He then bestows the governorship of an island on his squire, in return for his services. These formulas for knight errantry are empirical laws, derived from the only source of such knowledge, the histories of knights errant. For this reason, the fifth rule, with which this paper is chiefly concerned, is as important for a true knight errant as any of the others. When Don Quixote pronounces himself a knight errant, his actions and his world conform to these rules. Ordinary things become poetically transformed into the stuff of Don Quixote's worlg. A skinny old nag becomes Rocinante, the horse before all other horses. Everything met with by Don Quixote, he names anew, except his squire, who is content to be Sancho Panza until the day he dies. The power of naming is a poet's power, not a knight's. So too is the power to turn ordinary circumstances into knightly adventures. When Quixote remakes the world, he is acting as a poet and thus is the author of his own tale. The hero decides each of his adventures as they take place, thus actually making his own story. Quixote's imitation of knight errantry differs from that of a conventional poet in that he is the hero of his own story, a unique and original imitato.r. A writer can make the actions of his hero appear realistic by setting him in a world where they are pos~ible. 2. In a knight errant' s world live monsters, enchanters, bandits, and renegade knights. The enchanters are capable of casting spells over whole lands and aid or oppose knights as they will. In this world a knight errant can expect to find numerous adventures in which to prove himself and win renown. 3. A knight errant "would right every manner of wrong, placing himself in sifuations of the greatest peril." In addition to the qualities of courage and justice, a knight embodies all the Christian virtues: " In confronting giants, it is the sin of pride which we slay, even as we combat envy with generosity and goodness of heart; anger with equanimity and a calin bearing; gluttony and overfondness for sleep, by eating little when we do eat, and by keeping long vigils; lust and lewdness with the loyality to those whom we have made the mistress of our affections; and sloth by going everywhere in the world in search of 32 l her in t~ dry, what I would do in the wet." This is a true gem of Quixotic wisdom. Don Quixote's penance involves a greater suffering than that of any knight found in a book. Quixote's suffering for his lady is compounded with his suffering for an occasion to demonstrate his love. For his lady, Quixote endures not only a conventional penance but the comedy occasioned by his lack of an apparent cause for his actions. All Quixote's actions now appear in a new light. They are not justified by any cause that can be found in his circumstances. Quixote acts as he does · because such is the way of knight ·errantry. He who does a great act simply for the nobility of its purpose is a .greater knight than the-Dne---Who is allowed · that act by circumstance. Circumstance allows Quixote few opportunities to demonstrate his bravery; indeed, circumstances are his greatest adversary. His courage in the face of such an enemy, however, is dauntless. Don Amadis of Gaul must be brave in the face of attacking lions, but Don Quixote de la Mancha must contend with lions who refuse to come out of their cage. This is Quixotic courage, the courage of a man who retains his dignity despite the mockery made of him by the world. ' From his penance onward, : Quixote's face acquires a gravity and nobility it did not have before. His lordly mien shines above the comic spectacle of the captive brought home in a cage. We see that it is the world that has misunderstood Quixote, not Quixote the world. Henceforth, when we laugh at his comic exploits, we realize that this comedy itself is testament to Don Quixote's noble suffering and courage. As I hope I have shown, Quixotic suffering and courage are greater than those of any of his models. Quixote fights his battles with his own circumstances. He reasons that these circumstances are the work of some evil enchanter who renders the world ordinary. Since he believes in this enchanter, the 33 �capture of Quixote is not his defeat, for it leaves his faith in his own powers of poetic imitation intact. Held prisoner in his own village, Don Quixote hears the news that his exploits have been recorded and published. This news does not surprise him, for the deeds of a great knight errant are essentially imitable (rule 5). All worthy knights are written up in histories, for, by definition, their actions are spudaiai: "If it were true that such a history - existed, being about a knight errant, then it must be eloquent and lofty in tone, a splendid and distinguished piece of work a~i veracious in its details." In reality, Book I of Quixote's history has been anything but lofty in tone. For the most part the knight has been port rayed as quite ridiculous. In his own eyes, however, his adventures are very serious and he is to be admired for his quixotic courage. Although he is not surprised that he is imitable in writing, Quixote wonders how his histories have been so rapidly reported and compiled. The simultaneity of Quixote's life and his book introduces a fictional problem: If author and hero inhabit the same world, how is it that they never meet? Quixote offers the only plausible solution: the book is the work of an enchanter. If this is so, then Quixote indeed inhabits the poetical realm of knight errantry, since the second rule has been proven true. Therefore, the giants Quixote did battle with really were giants and were made into windmills by enchantment. The author has portrayed these giants as if they truly were windmills. He has thus deceived us into believing that the world is ordinary and that Quixote is a fool for thinking otherwise. Therefore, he is the same evil enchanter who renders Quixote's world ordinary: the knight's mortal enemy. Quixote is especially anxious, because his enchanter is a Moor, Cid Hamete Benengali "and from the Moors y~y could never hope for any word of truth." The purpose of his calling, according to Quixote, is "to serve as a pattern and example to future ages wherein knights errant may see what steps they should follow if they would climb to t£2 honorable summit and pinnacle of arms." Only for a Moor would Quixote's Christian calling of knight errantry be a subject for ridicule. This is the reason for Cervantes' choice of Benengali as an intermediate author for Don Quixote. Cervantes himself is an author Quixote has read (see Book I, Ch. VI) and therefore cannot be an enemy to the knight. His book, Galatea may well have contribute~ to Quixote's ideas of proper imitation. In proper imitation, according to Quixote, the author remains true to the characters of those portrayed. He should omit details which tend to discredit the hero, as did Virgil in his Aeneid, for, as Quixote tell us, "Aeneas was not so pioy~ as Virgil would have us believe." Cervantes shows us that he agrees with Quixote's ideas in his introduction to Ch. v, Book II. He considers the chapter apocryphal because it introduces Sancho speaking in ·a style untrue to his rustic character. Benengali, on the other hand, entreats the readers at the beginning of Ch. VIII: "Blessed be Allah the mighty .•. and declares that he utters these blessing on finding that he has got Don Quixote and Sancho back into the field and that the readers of his delightful history may reckon that from this point the exploits and humor of the knight and his squire begin. He begs them to forget.the past knight errantries of the Ingenious Gentleman, and fix their eyes on those which are to come and are now beginning on the road to Tobosa, just as the ot£~rs began on the plain of Montiel." He considers Quixote's discussion of proper imitation of little interest to the readers. The first seven chapters of this story are of great importance, however, for as we have seen, Quixote would reject 34 his cfiaracter is extraordinary~ he is the greatest knight errant in all the world. Further, since the author is an enchanter, the world Quixote lives in is a made world, a product of poetic art. If Quixote could defeat this Moorish enchanter, his true knightly character would shine forth. To defeat Benengali, Quixote needs ' the aid of a friendly enchanter, one who agrees with his theory of imitation. The problem of authorship,· which binds the book in comic satire, can be solved only by recourse to a higher author. Even this author, however, must 1 be left behind as Quixote descends into • :the cave of Montesinos. Quixote descends alone into this cave and ._~i~ ._ !s the sole account of what took . place there. This adventure is -of- Quixote's own authorship and so befits the noble knight. It is Quixote's own imitation of the wandering hero who descends into Hell to receive a vision of his great task. Unlike Aeneas who may be considered the model hero of this type, Quixote ascends from the underworld only to have his great vision disbelieved. Benengali considers this adventure apocryphal because it exceeds all reasonable bounds. He agrees with Sancho, however, that the knight would not lie about such things and leaves the truth of the matter to the judgement of the readers. This adventure is the great secret of Don Quixote. His own squire does not believe it took place: "For it's my opinion, begging your warship's pardon, that it was all fraud and ficti?15', or at least that you dreamt it." In his descent into the cave, Quixote leaves behind the world of our experience and goes where our eyes cannot follow. The adventure he relates is one with those of romantic chivalry, a world found only in books. All found there are poetic personages who have been imprisoned in this underworld by evil enchanters. They have been waiting for Don Quixote to come and dispel the charm which hides them from the light of the world. This great his written imitation as the spurious work of an un-Christian enemy. Quixote's discussion of imitation introduces another aspect of the fictional problem mentioned earlier. Until now, we as readers have assumed that the Quixote we see in print is the only one there is. Now, we realize that there are, in fact, two Quixotes. The first is the noble knight errant authored by Quixote himself. The second is the comic fool who mistakes inns for castles and street tarts for damsels in distress. This problem is unique to Don Quixote because Quixote is himself an imitator. He has decided who Quixote is and what his actions should be ' by the five rules of knight errantry. He has set down guidelines for his portrayal in accordance with his theories on imitation. Benengali ignores these ~µ,idelines, providing details which discredit the. hero and make him out to be a fool. This is the same problem of authorship mentioned - earlier, now in greater detail. Quixote is not only the author of his adventures,but the critic of his chronicle as well. This problem of authorship will become important in the later part of the book, when Don Quixote encounters his readers, the Duke and Duchess. He is misunderstood by these readers because he has been misrepresented to them. The news of his history has been reported to Quixote by Sanson Carrasco. Sanson defends Benengali's portrayal against Quixote's charge that it is a false imitation. To remain true to a hero's fine character, he says, is poetic imitation, but Quixote's story, is a history and an historian must remain faithful to literal truth. An historian, according to Sanson, must add or omit nothing to what has taken place, on any pretext whatsoever. This distinction between poetry and history is in complete agreement with that of Aristotle, referred to at the beginning of this essay. Since Quixote inhabits the contemporary world, there is nothing extraordinary about his circumstances. Thus his book is a history. Quixote believes, however, that. one 35 �adventure is marked for Quixote alone. His task is to raise the poetical world up to the plane of experience. This task is the resurrection of chivalry, the aim of Quixote's noble undertaking. The underworld in which these : personages are imprisoned is the realm invented by the writers of romantic books. It is like the island in Shakespeare's The Tempest in which the enchanter Prospero holds spirits imprisoned by his art. Like Prospero, and Shakespeare himself, the writers of knight errantry are artists. Imitation is their craft but it is Don Quixote's life. His task is to free poetical characters from the prison in which they have been bound by art. To do this, Quixote must change imitation from the -exclusive province. of art into the domain of honest, simple men. He must defeat art on _its own territory and make the world poetical. The second of these two objectives is realized in Don Quixote's battle with a mock image of himself: Sanson Carrasco. j Sanson Carrasco is introduced into the story as a Bachelor of ~~s. He is described as a "rare comedian" . and a man "of a malicious disposition (who) would delight in nothing more than making 1 6port for himself, by ridiculing others." His admiration for Quixote is pure artifice; Sanson plays the part of a loving admirer of Quixote's chivalry and laughs at the success of this deception. He is delighted by the spectacle of a foolish old man who thinks he can become a knight errant simply by acting the part. Duplicity is the word which best describes Sanson's imitation of admiration; he has a double soul. Quixote, in contrast, is a simple man. Sanson will never consider this simplicity noble because the ingenuous old man cannot distinguish artifice from honest action. The greatest artificer is the Devil himself, who can assume any shape he wishes. In league with this evil power is the puppet master, Don Pedro. Although his presence in this story is brief, Don Pedro is important as an example of the villainy of art. He is the pattern from which Sanson and the Duke and Duchess are pressed. Don Pedro is the same Ginesillo de Paparilla, the former galley slave, who stole Sancho's ass in the Sierra Morena. This attempt was so artfully done that it escaped even the attention of the author. Don Pedro is a master of disguises and has no peer in knavery and deception. Appearances are the stock of his trade and his skill lies in deceiving simple souls such as Don Quixote and Sancho. He is not an enchanter, but merely a trickster, capable of playing many roles, like the joker in a deck of cards. One role of Don Pedro is that of a puppet master, in which he parades images before our eyes. This. is his natural role, for the purpose - of his art is to manipulate men like puppets on a string. To Don Quixote and -Sancho he presents a story of romantic chivalry: that of Don Gayferos' rescue of his wife from the Moors.· All goes well with the performance until that moment when the Moors close in ·on the fleeing lovers. Don Quixote can no. longer control his fear for the knight; he stands up, draws his sword, and hacks the pasteboard Moors to bi ts. For Don Quixote, the puppets became the people they were meant to represent. Quixote ls the first human being ever to cross the inviolable line between the audience and the stage. He identifies so strongly with Don Gayferos that his dramatic fear is no longer pleasure, but pain. Don Quixote is deceived by this artist into taking pasteboard figures for real people. So too will he be deceived by the Duke and Duchess. Quixote may lose himself in a drama of knight errantry but he knows the value of the stage. In a discourse with Sancho, he speaks of the actors and writers of the stage holding mirrors before our eyes. "Nothing is able to give us a more just idea of nature, and what than we are or ought to 17 be, comedians and comedies." The 36 • 1_, rare comedian Sanson Carrasco believes that the ridiculous picture painted of Quixote in Book I of the knight's history gives us a just idea of Quixote's true nature. He- disguises himself as a knight errant, and stages a meeting with Don Quixote. Sanson's imitation _of knight errantry is by art, for he believes neither Quixote nor himself to be a knight. The motive for his disguise is to give Quixote a true knightly adventure, one in which he must fail. Since Quixote is actually a bµmbling old fool, the bachelor can be assured of the battle's outcome. No one will be hurt and this madman will be proved a counterfeit knight. This artificial encounter is a trial by combat for Quixote, for Sanson challenges his very identity as a knight errant. As the sun rises on their contest, Quixote beholds the Knight of the Wood wearing, for his armor, ,a coat of mirrors. The man who holds this mirror up to nature refuses to show his face or to reveal his name. He is no-man, the incarnate power of artful imitation. His claim is that of the artist: we imitate only by hiding our true identity. Quixote believes, however, that by imitation we become what we truly are. He believes that poetry is a transformation, not deception. The power of poetry to transform a man is at stake in this battle. The battle with Sanson Carrasco would never have taken place were it not for Benengali's history. Quixote's picture of a knight errant has been reproduced in print and comes to challenge him as a flesh and blood knight. Held up to Quixote is a distorted mirror, intended to reflect back the image of a comic fool. Standing before him is an imitation twice removed, reflected by both Benengali and Sanson. The conception of Quixote's book as a history, which both men share, is occasioned by their opinion that our world is not extraordinary. The world Quixote has constructed is, therefore, a fiction. A defeat of this mock knight would demonstrate a correspondence between Quixote' s poetical fiction and the world of his own experience. It would render the real world poetical. This artificial adventure becomes real as Quixote triumphs over the mock knight. Although the duel itself is real, since Quixote does battle with and defeats . a real man, the expected does not happen. The manner in which the knight vanquishes, ~is opponent is so strange and unlikely, 1t could only happen to Quixote. In a word, it is characteristically quixotic. With a thrust of his lance, Quixote has broken the spell which bound his adventures in ordinary circumstances. At last his book has become true to the character of its hero. Quixote has succeeded in making the world poetical. Quixote's success in this battle supports his view that his book is the work of a poet, not an historian. The poet is Cervantes, true author of Don Quixote. He has quietly supported Quixote's views on proper imitation and now intervenes in the chronicle on the part of his hero. He is the friendly enchanter of greater power than Benengali for that writer is his own invention. Quixote's victory is a miracle of the author's own making.. It is the most subtle Deus ex Machina ever performed on the stage. With a stroke of his sword, Don Quixote cut poetical imitation Jree from its moorings in the past and allowed it to sail the uncharted waters of his own present time. He has demonstrated that our own circumstances can truly conform to our poetical vision of ourselves. He has defeated art on its own territory, forcing Sanson Carrasco to take this knight errantr:'l seriously, if he is to defeat Quixote. Take it seriously he does; Sanson now wishes not to deceive Quixote but to truly defeat him. He plots another scheme, not as a joke, but in deadly earnest, .to defeat Quixote in a true battle. This battle, and its consequences will be the subject of the last section of this essay. Don Quixote's defeat of Sanson Carrasco makes him a successful knight errant in the world, as well as in his own imaginings. His aim to defend the poor 37 �and oppressed may now be realized. Quixote, however, is no ordinary knight,· but an imitator, who looks to poetry as the schema for his actions. In an advent~re which follows, the role of this imitative hero can be seen. To thi~ adventure I now turn, to derive the lesson of Don Quixote. In Book I of Quixote's story, he is told two tales of romantic intrigue. Within his own tales these are fictions, such as "The Story of One Too Curious for His Own Good" . In the second Book, however, Quixote and Sancho are invited not to hear such a tale, but to be present within one. This is the story of Poor Basil. The student recounting the story thus far, compares it to that of Pyramus and Thisbe, which Don Quixote has just heard recounted in a sonnet. He judged this sonnet to be the work of an absolute poet, meaning that it ends as it should, with the two lovers joined at last. The story of Basil and his love, Quiteria, is prevented from ending as it should by the rich Camancho who would have Quiteria for his own bride. At Comancho's wedding, a play is performed which reflects the story's action. The contest between weal th and love in the play ends as it should, with the forces of Cupid winning the day. Basil's story is in need of a champion of romance and poetry for the proper completion of its action. When Quixote sees the play, he recognizes that Basil's champion is his role to play. By holding a mirror up to Quixote, the writer of this play inspired the knight to noble action. Such, also, is the purpose of Don Quixote itself, for it is the work of an absolute poet. In it we find a character, Don Quixote, who has the courage and noble purpose to imitate the actions of the stage in life itself. We, the readers, can see in Don Quixote a role worthy of imitation in our own lives. This imitation of Quixote becomes explicit when he meets his own readers within the course of the book itself. As the sun is setting on the day of. their adventure with the enchanted bark, Don Quixote and Sancho emerge from a wood, cross a meadow, and are received into the\ company of their readers. The publishing of his history during Quixote's own life made such a crossing possible. When he sallied forth a third time, it became inevitable that the world of Quixote's actions and that of · his readers would finally intersect. The wood from which Quixote emerges signifies an obscurity between these two; it is a wood between worlds. On one side of this wood Quixote is seen as a man; on the other he is known only as a character from a book. I have described Quixote's crossing from the audience to the stage when he cut apart the cardboard-Moors. Now he crosses that line again, this time from the other side. This crossing is an intersection of worlds on two levels. The first is the one just described. For the Duke and Duchess, a character from a work of imitation has stepped into their midst. Having been delighted but not instructed by Don Quixote, they yearn for more Quixotic adventures. The Duke and Duchess do not wish to have these adventures themselves, however, since they consider them comic and those who laugh loudest at others wish least to be laughed at themselves. On this side of the wood, Don Quixote is known only as the fool of nature. The cause of this misunderstanding of the knight is his misrepresentation by Benengali. It was Benengali' s art which first made Don Quixote appear comic. When the knight appears before the Duke and Duchess, they do not seek the reasons for his madness nor attempto to understand his undertaking. Like Sanson Carrasco, · they only pretend to believe Quixote' s knight errantry. In their wicked minds the Duke and Duchess devise artful imitations of Quixote's own poetic imagination. They dupe him into thinking that he has at last found the world of knight errantry. The second crossing referred to earlier i.s this belief of Quixote's that he has entered the realm of chivalry. In fact, he has entered the prison of art. The contrivances of the Duke and Duchess bind Quixote with chains he cannot see. 38 . •I His hosts usurp his tale with adventures of their own design. Their ill contrived and overdone designs have all the imperfections of the storier 8 of chivalry. In the words of the canon, venting h,.is spleen on such works: own tale, in its simple poetry, has transcended the works he is imitating. When Don Quixote thinks he has finally become a true knight, he has, in fact, become the fool of art. Deception is not the lesson of Don Quixote but it is the only one the artful soul can learn. Don Quixote• s true tea~hing is learned only by his simple squire, Sancho Panza. Sancho is as free from craft as his master and his is the ·. only true imitation of Don Quixote. Sancho Panza is given the chance to author his own story in the adventure of the 'flying horse' . This adventure was devised to dupe Don Quixote and Sancho into thinking that they flew through the sky· Actually, they sat as blindfolded fools in the Duke's courtyard. When asked to recount his adventures, Sancho has a wonderful fable to tell: "Their style is uncouth, their exploits incredible, their love immodest, their civility impertinent, their battles tedious, their languages absurd, their voyages preposterous, and in short, they are altogether void of solid • • ingenuity. I ' 19 This is the world of chivalry which Don Quixote has taken for pure, unalloyed gold. Now it is seen for what it is: the artificial product of a poor imagination that substitutes spectacle for true ingenuity of plot. Spectacle is the chief element of the adventures contrived by the Duke and Duchess. According to Aristotle, it is the element in imitation least connected to poetry. Spectacle is more properly the ~ork of stage hands. The Duke and Duchess introduce this element, absent in Don Quixote's own authorship, and thus destroy the purity of his tale. Don Quixote's true genius lies in his use of ordinary objects and situations in his story, for a genius sees what others have not seen. He is the 'Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha' who cannot rely on sp~ctacle for he has no stage hands. Don Quixote is a knight not because he looks the part but because his purpose is noble his actions courageous, and his soui humble. Purity of hear:t is the ess~nce of Don Quixote's knight errantry. Th ability to see a barber's basin as : magical helmet is the beauty of his p~et ry. Quixote' s purity is stained by h~s association with the Duke and Duchess, .his poetry maligned by the success of th . . .. eir. dec~ption. Don Quixote may be ingenious in his own imitation of knight errantry, but his simple soul cannot see the contrivances of art for what they tr_uly are. Neither can he see that his "Senora, as we were flying through the region of fire, or so my ma~ter told me •... and so very, very quietly,. and without anyone seeing me, I lifted the handkerchief ever so little, close to my nose, and looked down at the earth. It seemed as if the whole earth was no bigger than a grain of mustard, and the people walking about on it were a little larger than hazelnuts .... Then as we went through the reg~B where the seven little she-goats were and seeing that as a lad I'd been ~ goatherd in my country, the minute I laid eyes on them I felt like getting down and playing with them a bit, and if I hadn't done so, I think I would have bu rs t. And so, what do I do? Without saying anthing to my master, or anbody else, I slip off Clavileno as quietly as you please, and for three quarters of an hour I have a good time with these goats which are like gilly flowers, and all the time Clavil~~o doesn't stir from the spot." Al though the Duke and Duchess laugh 39 �,r heartily at their joke, Sancho's adventure also gives Don Quixote reason to smile. QUixote does not believe this tale; he knows as well as the Duke and Duchess that Sancho never dismounted from the horse. Sancho's defense of his story is that they hav.e been travelling by enchantment, a reply to the ordinary typical of Don Quixote. The knight smiles because his squire has learned the method of his madness. Quixote can now admit the secret of his adventure in the cave of Montesinos to his squire turned disciple. In an aside to Sancho, he says: "Sancho, if you want us to believe what you saw in heaven, then you must believe me when I tell you what I saw in the cave 2 ~f Montesinos. I need say no more." What the knight need not say is that he invented his adventures in the cave as surely as Sancho invented his tale of the little sheep in the sky. Both admit that nothing happened in these adventures, but they will continue telling their stories and believing them as well. In other words, Don QUixote's madness is an act of the will. He deliberately chooses madness because a madman alone can see an extraordinary world. This choice is wonderfully Quixotic. What thanks does a madman deserve for going mad? He has just cause for his actions. To be sane and yet act mad is to act without just cause. This is true madness: QUixotic madness. Don QUixote's imitation is more truly mad than the fact of madness, just as quixotic knight errantry is more truly knightly than that of Don Amadis of Gaul. The -value of Quixote's madness lies in the fact that his book lies open before us. Sitting at home, he would have passed his last days without an adventure to his name. Now, both he and Sancho "had something to ta~~ about forever had [they] lived so long." Through his madnes.s, Don QUixote has had the chance to instruct his readers in courage, humility, and the virtue of finding inspiration in poetry. The inspiration we derive from Don Quixote is an imitation of the hero'.s own role. An imitation of Don Quixote is one of imitation itself. To be like Quixote, we must look to poetry for the best originals. We can only believe the world of poetry to be imitable if we believe our own world to be poetical. We first found reasons for this belief when Don Quixote defeated Sanson Carrasco. The poetical nature of our own world truly shines forth when Sancho is transformed from a simple squire into a governor as wise as Sol.omen. Sancho Panza could never have become the great governor he was had he not, in his imagination, first reached up and touched the stars. To become what we ought to be, we must first become poetic madmen, in imitation of Don Quixote, as Sancho has done. Don Quixote is thus a mirror held up to our own nature; in his eyes we can see a vision of what we can become. Poetry exists to intruct, as well as delight the readers, says the canon in Ch. XLVIII, Book I. This is the true lesson of Don Quixote. I am sure there is a reader of Don Quixote who would consider, as would Hume, that this lesson is just nonsense. To this reader, I extend my sympathy. He must spend his time vainly trying to prove the existence of the world of our experience and denying the imagination its wings. What thanks does a man deserve for trying to prove that the world of our experience exists? No, the thing is to attempt to prove the existence of the world beyond all possible experience. Such would be a true Quixotic enterprise in philosophy. Much earlier in this essay, I made the claim that Don Quixote is the work of an absolute poet. All imitation of the Quixotic enterprise rests on this claim for without it the proportion [readers: Quixote::QUixote:the stage] is destroyed. When Don QUixote called the sonnet of Pyramus and Thisbe the work of an absolute poet, he meant that the ending was proper to the story. For Don Quixote to inspire 40 I • J.l us to action, it must have a proper ending as well. Don Quixote does not end with the knight's final success. He does not win a kingdom, nor his lady's hand. Unlike most tales of chivalry or those of the wandering hero~s, Odysseus and Aeneas, Don Quixote ends with the knight's defeat. "-In his last adventures, Don Quixote finds an artist, Don Antonio, who loves him and is . willing to build a world of deception in which to house the knight forever. In this edifice of art, Don Quixote is to be protected from the knowledge that he is not capable of true knightly adventures. Don Antonio builds a temple to Quixote; all who enter must vow not to disturb the knight's madness. This temple is brought crash~ng down upon Quixo2~' s head by his nemesis, Sanson Carrasco. Sanson Carrasco appears before Don Quixote not as the knight of the mirrors, but as a real knight. As an artist, he was shorn of his power to defeat the cknight by deception. The mirrors he wore in the previous battle were crescents. Now, his shield is emblazoned with a full moon, symbolizing that his power has reached its full height. The time has come for Sanson Carrasco to defeat Don Quixote. The moon on Sanson's shield is also a symbol of resurrection and rebirth. To defeat Don Quixote, Sanson Carrasco had to return as a knight. His imitation of Quixote has only one purpose: the knight's defeat. When the original knight falls from his horse, this irni ta tor also ceases to be a knight, since his calling has been fulfilled. As a reincarnation of Quixote's knight errantry, Sanson Carrasco symbolizes the spurious sequel to Book I, published by "an Aragonese, who styles· himself a native of Tordesillas. 1125 When Don Quixote is defeated, the imposter in the spurious sequel ceases to be Don Quixote. How can he still have adventures when the real Don Quixote has ceased to be a knight? His defeat as a knight is Don Quixo~e's own death. Don Q\iixote made his story his life and in creating his plot must accept that it has an end. It is impossible for Don Quixote to become another character because his defeat as a knight is also his defeat as a poet. Does this defeat mean that Quixote's lesson is false? Can we imitate a hero who has failed? To find the answer to this question we must again look to the example of Sancho Panza. Only Sancho Panza would be fool enough to believe Quixote's promise of a governorship. Just before they meet the Duke and Duchess, Sancho threatens to abandon this stupid calling of knight errantry. All he sees are defeats, all he receives are blanketings and bruises. He sees no way in the world that Don Quixote's vision can succeed. The knight upbraids him: "Turn, then, the reins, or better, the halter of your ass, and go back to your home, for you are not going one step further with me ••• Oh man who has more of the beast in him than of the human! ••.. So you are leaving me just when I had firmly resolved to make you governor of the best island in the world? ..•• honey is not for the ass's mouth. An ass you are and an ass you will be to your dying day, for I think that day will come before you will ever realize 26 that you are a stupid beast." These words move Sancho to tears, and he answers: "Master, I will grant you that all I lack is a tail and I would be an ass .... Forgive me, your Grace; have mercy on my foolishness. Remember that I know little and if I talk too much, that is due to weakness, rather than to malice. But he who sins and mends 26 his way commends himself to God." Commend yourself to God and to your 41 �master, Sancho, and you will truly be transformed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed indeed is poor San~ho who does not see yet still believes. The defeat of Don Quixote hides his vision from our sight. To truly imitate him, however, our belief must be an act of the will, like Quixote's own. A true believer in Don Quixote's poetry is a madman and a fool in the eyes of the world. What thanks does a man deserve, I may ask, for running mad when he has just cause? Don Quixote asks us to run mad without a cause, without any reasonable hoe for success. His defeat destroys such hope and thus compels us to a truly Quixotic imitation of Don Quixote. For this reason, defeat is the proper end for the book. It completes the lesson of Don Quixote by turning our eyes from worldly success to the beauty of Don Quixote's undertaking. The true value of Don Quixote's madness is that it allows him to see a more beautiful world. Only when we look past his defeat to "the glory that, in ages to come, shall be eternal in the ethereal and celestial regions" have we understood Don Quixote's true calling. Only then will the lessons of this great and wondrous knight be ours to learn. 3. Book I, Ch. I; Putnam 4. Book II, Ch. VIII; Putnam 5. Book I, Ch. I; Putnam 6. ROCIN-hack, ANTE-before. This may also signify that he was but an ordinary hack before Quixote transformed him. Springtime Gretchen Berg for Julie On the road where picket spears the air, · limit points beyond, in a bank past the church 7. Book II, Ch. III; Putnam 8. Book I, Ch. XXIII; Putnam 9. Book I, Ch. XXV; Putnam where once I placed, thighs deep in snow, a rose for the Virgin, now tree roots grapple sky; liquid slips the tabled rock to swerve, elusive tress of wondrous weft. 10. Book II, Ch. Ill; Putnam 11. Book II, Ch. III; Putnam 12. Book I, Ch. XLVII; Cohen I remember other rivers, broad as seas, harsh gritty beaches over which the gulls t 1 l t ' silent, 13. Book II, Ch. III; Putnam cliff's edge where hemlock stalks like fern; 14. Book II, Ch. VIII; Cohen dark trees make water bright, or bright make dark. 15. Book II, Ch. XXV; Cohen On the hill a smoky echo lines the road 16. Book II, CH. XII; Ozell granite, marble, coal---what is not gathered, 18. I have used three different translations for this paper to vary the style of the quotations. The Putnam and Cohen translations are more literal, but the Ozell much more fun to read. striped and flat where rain flowed; mica 17. FOOTNOTES Book II, Ch. III; Ozell In English, there is a pun on the canon's title, since he is literally reciting a canon for proper imitation. carved and woven, in this timely stream? Above it bushes bead with bloom, later with berry, hoop in festival; the lilac crooks These are the Pleiades. from branch, receding vistas beckon 21. I am indebted to Mr. McGrath for this thought. Book I, Ch. XLVII; Ozell 20. 1. 19. Book II, Ch. XVI; Putnam through arcs of green, wreathing victor's garland in unconscious air. 2. Book I, Ch. I; Putnam 22. Book II, Ch. XVI; Putnam Every wave of fullness casts a web of imitation, yellow leaf sustained by shadowed blue. Hair and a ribbon float on my shoulder; it is cold and I go home. 42 43 �Playing With _Images SUsan Magwre of the image is the unnaturalness. It is unnatural for any mother to tend to a child of a different species, thou?h studies tell us it has been done. It is monstrous for a human to su~kle an animal--this is horrible particularly because man is held to be superior to the lower animals, not at all on the same level. This unnaturalness is the root of the third striking aspect of these images--the topsy-turviness of each. In The Bacchae passage there is a two-fold topsy-turviness, a sense of odd-juxtapositions. First, the mess~ng~r is relating a tale we didn t expect--instead of the wanton, lusting females he tells us of a pastoral scene, women of all ages asleep among fallen oak leaves. we feel the earthy calm as he describes one, "half sinking on a bed of deep pine greenery." Then, as we start to ease into the sweet-smelling sof~ness, ~e describes these same women girting their skirts with quick, hissing snakes, and suckling wild animals at their breast; we are aghast, and are shaken. out ?f the softness. The magic of the image is that horrible proceeds to 11 seem the even sweet--the women "smile in love ! he · describes them as "young mothers with a mother's breast"--we start to lapse back into the softness. It seems not so bad, actually, this peaceful suckling, till he reminds us of the "babes at home forgotten!" we are again jangled and left not just with the horrible image, but now the horror stains ourselves; we too felt the spell. In simple terms The Bacchae is a play Should Pentheus about faith and nature. Dionysus really a believe in Dionysus? Is God? Is Cadmus wrong to dress _u~ in skins The Bacchae: Messenger's speech (690-700) [Describing the Theban women under Dionysus' spell] And one a young fawn held, and one a wild wolf cub, and fed them with white milk, and smiled in love, young mothers with a mother's breast and babes at home forgotten! Antony and Cleopatra: scene (V i i 308) (to applies to her breast) Cleopatra's death an asp which she Cleo:with thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool, Be angry, and despatch. O, couldst thou speak, That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass, Unpolicied! o Eastern Star! Char: Cleo:Peace, Peace! Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, That sucks the nurse asleep? These images stand out as horrible scenes. They are horrible for several reasons. First, each image inv~lv~s the reader (or viewer).. The descriptio~ . of the human body, particularly so sensitive a part of the body as the breast, causes one to feel the image personally, especially (or perhaps only?) a woman~ f~r whom the breast is a symbol of what it is to be woman--biologically, emotional~y (sensually), socially ("role" of woman in society). In each case the most striking aspect 44 .J and dance like a young man, honoring the God? Is it unbecoming to his age and· dignity; is it unnatural for him to relax. the bounds of his person, to step outside of what's expected of him as king? The image related above contains many, of the same elements. We do not see what the messenger tells us, yet we believe him. It is unnatural for the women to suckle wild animals--it seems horrible, yet is is peaceful and beautiful at the same time. Finally, we too have succumed to the enchantment which moves the whole play. Topsy-turviness is at work also in the Antony and Cleopatra passage. Cleopatra's words to the asp are moving, harsh words. They are spoken strongly--her directive, "be angry, and· despatch" resembles a leader's orders--to his men. Power underlies this speech--the asp's power to kill, and lack of power to speak; Caesar's power, which is the cause of Cleopatra's action; and her own power, now eclipsed by Caesar. We see Cleopatra as a royal queen, a leader. What follows seems oddly-juxtaposed. Cleopatra urges "peace!" She presents herself as a mother caring for her babe--such a different role for Cleopatra!, a role which heretofore was unimaginable. Although previously she has spoken of her children, no image has been presented as soft and maternal, as thoroughly womanly as this. One is struck by the difference between her two speeches, one so forceful, the other so soft. The image does not stop there, however. Here again is the horrible , unnaturalness of a woman nursing a lover creature--particularly striking as in this case it's a serpent. (This brings to mind, of course, the Genesis story of woman "causing" the fall of man.) The topsy-turviness is carried even one step further--in this case the "baby" causes the nurse to sleep, making a horrible image chilling as well. This metaphor stands out as important in the context of the whole play because of the light it sheds on Cleopatra. Earlier I said this is the image which most presents Cleopatra as "thoroughly womanly". I hesitate, and re-examine that suggestion, yet it still seems true. Earlier in the play we see Cleopatra as a beauty, a lover, an enchantress, a flirt, an emotional one who makes mistakes and changes her mind, but in all of these instances she seems not most woman, but most queen. The scene where she .is most a woman is, to be sure, not at all natural to woman. One never sees Cleopatra as thoroughly woman in a natural sense. The ·worm of Nilus kills the human; the country of the Nile, the power and lack of power kills the queen. Perhaps ~ Cleopatra can be woman? "Husband, I c·ome : Now to that name, courage prove my title!" (V ii 286) my 45 �Negation, Willing and the Places of the Soul "William O'Grady For Frances H. Stephen Morse How many men Have tried to walk Your cobbled heart, And in a quiet rain Have slipped and Washed away Amid a thousand tiny Rivers of Regret. This lecture has three parts. In the first part I shall sketch Hegel's presentation of the primacy of the subject in modern metaphysics and of negativity as the meaning of subjectivity. In the second part I shall sketch Heidegger's attempt to expose willing as the core of thinking not only in the thought of Nietzsche but already in that of Descartes and even in that of Plato. In the third part I shall try to bring out some suggestions contained in Plato's Timaeus, not indeed about the subject or the self, but about what human soul might be. I hope that the coherence of the three parts will emerge in the course of the lecture. I. Scholarship H. Stephen Morse Quiet settles in the room. The light Above the dark old desk illuminates A page of Greek, and brings light to a bright Bronze panoply of men at war. The.Ga~es Before the field stand open, and within, A father and a wife are fixed with.dread~ While far away, three grinning la~ies spin Each footfall into their great, timeless web. A ringless finger on an aged ha~d Marks place. No flicker of a lip or eye Disturbs the face --like wind upon the grass-Of he who reads. For on that wall he stands, As Homer's tale fills up both Earth and Sky Like rich red wine within a crystal glass. 46 tree and human thinking about the tree have already grown together by the time any of us appears on the scene. Moreover, this concrescence, this having grown together, belongs to the being of the tree as well as to the being of human thinking--this is one of Hegel's great thoughts, which he learned from Aristotle. Thus in reading a book about trees I am facing the tree and human thinking about the tree as having grown together; I am thinking about the tree concretely, as is not possible for me as I stand in a field facing the tree in what now appears as its nakedness. Hegel took his experience of reading books very seriously. In that experience he felt himself to be most deeply in touch with the world in the fullness of its being. The books he took most seriously--this brings us to the second preliminary consideration--were those of Aristotle. In two matters of utmost importance he simply follows Aristotle. At the end of his Encylopedia, presenting the all-encompassing circular education, Hegel says that Aristotle alone named God truly: noesis noeseos, thinking of thinking. That means for Hegel: thinking is the most active activity, the most energetic energy, both as world-building (thinking produces In the preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit Hegel writes: "According to my view, which must justify itself by the presentation of the system, everything depends on this, that we comprehend and express the true not only as substance but just as much as subject." We must try to understand this statement, which is central in Hegel's thinking. But two preliminary considerations may help us orient ourselves toward that thinking. First, one of the most important words in the language of Hegel's thinking is "concrete." By it he means almost the opposite of what we might suppose. We are in the habit of saying, for example that to experience a tree concretely we must walk into the middle of a field and stand face to face with the tree; if we read a book about trees, we are encountering the tree only abstractly. For Hegel the situation is reversed: to read a book about a tree is to experience the tree as concretely as may be. The reason for the reversal is this. To experience a tree concretely is to experience it in its concrescence, its having grown together with the other things on which it depends and with which it deeply belongs: air, water, soil, sunshine, but also human thinking. The 47 �the Roman world, thinking produces the Aeneid) and as self-contained: thinking is of all activities the one in which sheer aliveness is most concentrated. Second, Hegel.never wavers in following Aristotle's view that in the most important motions the end is effectively present in the beginning, as the oak tree is at work in the acorn. Hegel however disagrees with Aristotle in two points that are almost as decisive. He thinks Aristotle is wrong in supposing that the part of the soul that thinks is separate from the part that loves, hates and remembers. From Hegel's point of view Aristotelian nous--the capacity to receive the intelligible--is merely inhuman rather than authentically di vine. Hegel has learned from the Christian doctrine of the incarnation and passion of God Himself that the relation of human and divine can be truly understood only under the symbol of the crucifixion: thus we read on the final page of the Phenomenology that absolute knowing is accomplished through the "recollection and Golgotha of Absolute Spirit." Second, and connected with this, Hegel thinks the tragic poets were right as against Aristotle: the truth about the divine is revealed in the fate of human beings within human communities rather than in the coming to be and passing away of things without special reference to human communities. Let us return to Hegel's assertion that what is crucial is to understand the true not only as substance but just as much as subject. It is a commonplace to say that since Descartes the subject, the "I think," has been the beginning for metaphysics and that in Kant's "Copernican Revolution" human subjectivity wins its decisive victory. But the Cartesian and Kantian positions, though important for Hegel, are not sufficient. For in them the so-called subject, which has indeed been accorded primacy, is still being understood fundamentally as a substance~ Descartes speaks of a "thinking substance" and Kant of a "transcendental I," which is always one and the same, which was never young, which does not tremble in the face of I i j death. Against these insufficiently radical attempts to establish the primacy of the subject, Hegel insists that subjectivity is a movement, the movement of self~positing, of throwing itself under (sub-jacere) a world of things so as to become what it is, rather than a constant standing under or lying under (substance, hupokeimenon.) To secure the being of the subject against being construed on the model of substance, Hegel speaks of subjectivity as negativity. Being as a whole is revealed in and through the being that can think and . say "no" and, moreover, can carry th is "no" out in practice. In Hegel's discussion the work of negativity is unfolded in three stages. First, the process of lifting off "chair" from "this chair here" (which process since Aristotle--and on the basis of a misunderstanding of him-- has been called "abstraction," that is aphairesis, that is "lifting off") is understood by Hegel in a dramatic and violent way. To lift off "chair" from "this chair here" is to destroy "this hereness," to do away with "immediate existence," the being here or there of particular beings as they are given to us. It is, by the power of our thinking, to overcome mere giveness. Second, the very discursiveness of human thinking, the motion of thought from part to part, is understood by Hegel as exhibiting what he calls "the tremendous power of the negative." That we think and speak at all means, according to Hegel, not only that we transform "this chair here" into "chair" but also that we separate "chair" from all other things in the world, in general, in our thinking and speaking we separate parts from the concrete wholes to which they belong and which alone are actual. In Hegel' s language, the discursiveness of human understanding introduces "the unactual" but this introduction of the unactual is the very action which makes change possible by making room for change: change can only mean re- arrangement of parts; t o say II no II to the whole does not generate progress but rather annihilation in the form of suicide 48 or of merely theoretical nihilism. Finally, the power of human thinking to destroy immediate existence in the form of the "this-hereness" in which things are given to us, and to tear particular things out of the contexts in which we encounter them, is seen in its full prodigiousness only when we follow Hegel in supposing that the self is passionately disposed to say no to what it primarily faces -- that it is radically restless and dissatisfied -- and this because at bottom it is passionately disposed to say no to itself: it is in every respect "unhappy consciousness," the telling name given by Hegel to the hero of his greatest book. The difference, according to Hegel in the~ntroduction" to the Phenomenology, between natural things and human existence is that "consciousness destroys every form of limited satisfaction for itself" so that serious education for human beings is a "way of despair," that is, as the German word Verzweiflung suggests, a way of being torn in two as a violent conversation takes place within each of us between "natural conciousness" and "real knowledge. " Or, as we may say, the ultimate meaning of Hegel's claim that the subject belongs within the true just as deeply as do the beings which the subject faces, and that the core of subjectivity is negativity, is that thinking is willing and that willing properly issues, not in praise and love -- "I love you: I will that you be" as the Franciscan thinker Duns Scotus has it -- but rather in revolution. Here, However, Hegel's thinking takes a somewhat unexpected turn. For, in his understanding, revolution is for the sake of the fullness of being. What , I have called the fullness of being, Hegel designates as "living substance" in contrast to substance thought of as constituted by the beings in the world · opposed to subject. From the point of view of "living substance," Hegel says: "What seems to happen outside it, as an activity directed against it, is its own doing; and thus the substance shows that it is essentially subject. When it has shown this completely, the spirit has made its existence equal to its essence" and, we may 49 add, history has come to i:ts proper end. Or, as Hegel said earlier, in and through the discursiveness of human thinking, understood as "the tremendous power of the negative," "the concrete separates itself and makes itself unactual," so that it can move itself. There is no more fundamental thought. in Hegel than that the oak tree is effectively present in the acorn. In this final point, of course, Hegel is by no means a representative modern thinker. For our purposes let us return to the assertion that the deepest posture of human beings toward the world in which they primarily find themselves is negative, that thinking is willing and that willing issues not in affirmation or praise, but in destruction. Heidegger can help us with this. II. I shall draw primarily on a long essay called "Nietzsche's Word ' God is dead'" in which Heidegger in a set of wide-ranging reflections interprets section 125 of Nietzsche's Gay Science. In that section, entitled "The Madman," a madman carrying a lantern in the bright morning hours runs into the market place to announce that God is dead and, just as astounding, that we are his murderers, you and I. It is this second assertion which Heidegger is especially concerned to understand. As his interpretation develops, the murdering of God is understood as the murdering of the meaningfulness of all that is. In other words, guided by Nietzsche but going beyond his analysis, Heidegger tries to understand nihilism, "that uncanniest of guests that stands at our door." According to Nietzsche, nihilism means that "the highest values hitherto are devaluing themselves," so that what is required is a "revaluation of all values," as the subtitle of Nietzsche's unfinished masterwork, The Will to Power, has it. But Heidegger isled to ';Qnder about the very language of "value" which abounds· in Nietzsche's writings: valuing, devaluing, creating new values. Perhaps nihilism means not that the highest values devalue �,---! i themselves but rather that what is, what offers itself to us by appearing to ·us, should be evaluated at all, should be driven into some sort of order by reference to one extrinsic standard or other. The central attempt of Heidegger's essay is to explore whether nihilism can be understood in this second sense and, if so, where its origins are to be found. We cannot follow Heidegger's discussion in all its richness and complexity. Its decisive steps are: first, to show the dependence of Nietzsche's understanding of value on his understanding of will, and second, to point to the presence of a willful element in thinking as understood by Descartes and even by Plato. As he writes sweepingly in another place: "Thinking, understood in the traditional way, is a kind of willing." According to Heidegger, the most important thought in the final phase of Nietzsche's philosophizing is "will to pewer." Will to power is said by Nietzsche to be "the innermost essence of Being." But the phrase "will to power" is likely to mislead us, as Heidegger points out, since according to Nietzsche's understanding willing as such generates power: the will to humility is just as powerful, just as powergenerating, as the will to domination over others. Therefore he proposes that we understand will to power as will to will; that is, the "innermost essence of Being" is to be understood as the will willing itself, the willing of willing. Heidegger goes on to claim that "Modern metaphysics, as the metaphysics of subjectness, thinks the Being of what is in the sense of will." He understands Nietzsche's great thought as the culmination of modern metaphysics, completing the elevation of willing to unchallenged supremacy within the relation of human being to being as a whole, so that in our time "the earth itself can show itself only as the object of assault, an assault that, in human willing, establishes itself as total objectification." Heidegger identifies the grounding principle of Nietzsche's metaphysics, the metaphysics of ,)the will to power, and notices that it is a v~J-_\le-:9rinctple: . ~'Art is worth more than truth. " He wonders about evaluative thinking altogether, and this leads him back to a consideration of Descartes, Plato and the pre-Socratic thinkers. I shall present a sketch of the sketch he gives. In Descartes' thought, that which constantly underlies everything that is, (the hypokeimenon in Aristotle's language) is the cogito, the "I think" of the fundamental proposition "I think, therefore I am." But the Cartesian cogito means co-agito; to cogitate means to co-agitate; "I think" means "I drive together into· the unity of a system." Cartesian thinking, according to Heidegger, is fundamentally willful, doing violence to beings rather than letting them be what they are. Nothing is more characteristic of Heidegger's own late writings than the passionate insistence on the will-not-to-will, which is meant to prepare the way for the tranquillity of "letting-be," that is, of thinking that lets things be what they are. Heidegger perceives the same element of willfulness, which refuses to let beings be what they are, in the thought of Plato, though in a less blatant form. For there the eide, the non-appearing beings of thought-;- are ultimately understood as measures, in relation to which everyth.ing that offers itself to us by appearing to us must inevitably fail to measure up, and hence is said to be only in a certain measure. The positing of the-idea of the Good is murderous of Being, that is, destroys the meaning- fulness of what appears. Meaningfulness is now conferred only by the willfully established frame within which what appears is allowed to appear. Heidegger writes in another place: "From the standpoint of space, the difference is this: appearing in the first and authentic sense of bringing-itself-tostand in togetherness involves space, which it first conquers; as it stands there, it creates space for itself; it produces space and everything pertaining to it; it is not something copied. Appearing in the second sense (i.e. , Platonically 50 essence of this willing." understood) emerges from an already finished space; it is situated in the rigid measures of this space, and we see it by looking toward it. The vision makes the thing. Now the vision becomes decisive, instead of the thing itself. Appearing in the first sense opens up space. Appearing in the (Platonic) sense merely circumscribes and measures the space that has already been opened. Thus in order to encounter a kind of thinking that does not represent to itself what it thinks about but rather allows it .!£. be present in its own way, that places nothing before itself (Kant's characteristic word vorstellen, usually translated "represent" means literally "to place before") but rather heeds what comes before it, we must turn to the pre-Socratic thinkers. And this Heidegger has done repeatedly, with the greatest seriousness and with the greatest and most imaginative sympathy. But even in Heracleitus and Parmenides, Heidegger concludes·, "Being is not thought as Being." In these thinkers there is indeed no distortion through willfulness, but there is a kind of obliviousness of the mystery of Being. What is lacking even in Heracleitus and Parmenides is insight into the tragic character of the thinker's relation to Being, the insight that Being must be thought historically with a vision to its withholding itself from man, withdrawing from man variously in various epochs, thereby engendering a variety of tragedies of thought. Heidegger, who seems never to have given thought to tragedies of action such as Sophocles and Shakespeare present, regards the history of metaphysiqs not skeptically or negatively but tragically, as a sequence of shatterings against fatefully appointed limits of which the configuration changes from epoch to epoch, but never the immensity. Thus his final word on the "willfulness" that characterizes the traditional understanding of thinking is this: "The false opinion easily arises that the human will is the origin of the will to will. In fact, on the contrary, man is being willed by the will to will without even experiencing the III. we began by considering a little the meaning of Hegel's claim that to comprehend the true we must begin with subjectivity of the subject and above all must understand subjec~ivity as negativity. With the help of Heidegger's reflections on the role of willing within metaphysical speculation since Descartes, we tried to see Hegel's view.not merely as one of several important alternatives but rather as a radicalization and unsurpassably acute expression of a t!=!ndency that has been powerful for centuries. We have also been stirred--I at least have been stirred--by two further claims of Heidegger: first, that the traditional understanding of thinking, according to which thinking is a kind of willing, is so murderously destructive of meaningfulnes~ in our experience of the world that the only hope for us is to attempt to renounce willing, to will not to will, and then wait to see if we can learn to let things be as they are; second,· that this tradition in which thinking is at bottom a kind of willing originates with Plato. Although these matters are difficult to judge, I believe Heidegger may be right in his first claim. I doubt that his second claim is true. But I think it might be worthwhile for us now to pay some attention to Plato's way of speaking about the human soul. With this in view, I propose that we look at the Timaeus. There are several reasons for this choice. One is that while.· we are reading and talking about the Timaeus, it is almost impossible for us to forget that playfulness has a proper place in discussions of the most important matters. ·I fear that our consideration of Hegel and Heidegger may have induced us to forget this. The Timaeus seems to me to be, in the guise of presentation of the genesis of the visible and touchable world, above all an invitation to think about the human soul in· certain ways. This hypothesis is at least plausible: after all, the "feast of words" 51 �offered to Socrates as recompense for his own gift of tpe day before --something like the conversation recounted in the Republic--is meant to delight Socrates; and Socrates seems to take delight most of all in words about the human soul. I shall consider certain statements about the soul contained in Timaeus' mythical account of how soul was fashioned ·and apportioned, as well as what seems to be implied .about the soul in Timaeus' account of "the receptacle." But first we must notice a remarkable feature of this dialogue altogether, namely its undercutting of oppositions that seem. familiar and well-established in other dialogues. Two examples seem especially important. The most famous phrase from the Timaeus is eikos muthos, likely story. But 27 lines after the first occurrence of this phrase, the very same set of words is referred to as eikos logos. The difference between muthos and logos, so emphatically insisted upon in other dialogues, seems far from clear-cut in the Timaeus. We shall have to try to understand why this is. not possible to place intellect directly into body. Rather, it was necessary to place intellect in soul and soul in body. Soul appears first within this account as a bonding thing, necessary for the. holding together of intellect and body. Even more: Timaeus' account seems to imply that only mortal soul can serve this function. For soon we encounter this powerful . conjunction: "in order that the.re might be mortal th~ngs and the whole might be truly a whole." The wholeness, the oneness of the world is an acute problem in the Timaeus as it is not in the great central images of the Republic. The divided ~ine, though it has sections, has no gaps;· it is one continuous line. Similarly the path leading out of the cave into the sunlight is one path. But in the Timaeus we are presented emphatically with the image of a demiurge who looks up there to see the changeless originals in the image of which he fashions the material down here. We imagine him, as we imagine any craftsman, looking repeatedly back and forth between the model and the copy which i$ gradually taking shape. As his gaze moves between model and copy, it encounters vacancy. Are there two widely separated worlds, one unchanging and invisible, the .other changing and visible, or are they somehow one? They are somehow one, Timaeus' account implies; only because there are mortals, beings who live but do not live forever, ·who, themselves perishable, long for the imperishable, so that their very longing holds the two worlds together, bonds them into one world. We shall return to this theme. Various remarkable things are said by Timaeus about the fashioning and distribution of soul. Let us consider three which seem at first sight very strange and even outrageous: the world is an animal, the courses of the planets are made of soul, and the soul itself is made of music. I think that these propositions appear outrageous only on the basis of essentially Hegelian premisses, namely that human beings have in the beginning a radically negative relation to the world, that there is no primary experience of Again, the opposition at the he?rt of the ~, the opposition between memory-understood as merely idiosyncratic and closely associated with Meno' s incapacity to learn--and recollection as the soul's· descent into itself beyond memory, seems in the Timaeus to be somehow undercut as we hear of Cri tias' attempt to reach back at once into himself and beyond himself in order to recover an account he heard when young from his old grandfather who heard it from his father who heard it from Solon who heard it from an Egyptian priest who relied upon written records extending back 8000 years that is, to within a thousand years of the time of the event to be recovered. Let us turn now to the introduction of soul within Timaeus' account of the framing of the world in which we find ourselves. The non-envious demiurge, we are told, discovered upon consideration that among visible things none lacking intellect is more beautiful than wi:iat has intellect, comparing wholes with wholes. But it was 52 feeling at home in the world, but rather one experiences the urgent need to make oneself at home, by violent deeds of mind and hand, in a world that is primarily alien. For, apart from these premisses, what is more natural than to regard the world around us as composed above all of what is alive and what sustains life, so that the cosmos would most like to be called to ~, the living being? And can it really be that what is alive is alien to us? Descartes could suppose that dogs and horses, unlike human beings, are mere machines. But no one, I think, who has looked into the eyes of an injured dog he was trying to help, could take this supposition seriously: in such a gaze soul knows that it is indeed encountering soul. Again, the soul does not seem to find the motion of the heavenly lights alien: we wish upon stars, wonder at times at their special brilliance, which we delight in pointing out to each other; and investigating their complex regularities involves deep satisfaction. So little do we find the motion of those lights alien that it makes sense, to me at least, to say that their courses are made of soul. I have always imagined that such men as Ptolemy, Copernicus, Brahe and Kepler must have had deeply healthy souls and that Ptolemy was speaking from authentic experience when he said that the benefit of his astro- nomical studies was to train the imagination how "not to forget in whatever things. we happen upon the consideration of their beautiful and well-ordered disposition." I think that there are elements of our experience which Hegel explains bett~~ than anyone else; but I do not think that subjectivity understood as negativity and Abraham understood as the archetypal unhappy consciousness which refuses to be at home in the world are models that illuminate our experience of living under the starry skies and alongside all manner of living things. Finally, if Timaeus' account makes any sense at all, that is, if soul is what holds together intellect and body, and thereby holds together that which is 53 unchangeable and that which is forever changing, then it makes sense to say that if soul is made of anything, it is made of music. For in music we face the mystery of the inseparable unity of number ratio (logos) , than which nothing pleases intellect more, and sensibility of such depth that it seems that without music we could .hardly know who we are as. feeling beings existing in time. In the beginning of Timaeus' account of the demiurge's introduction of intellect-in-soul into body, we hear not that the motions of the visible world had been disorderly in general., but rather that they had been "out of tune" (plemmelos). That the soul is made of music seems to imply that our relation to logoi, accounts of all kinds, is inseparable from such things as Critias' memory of his grandfather's eagerness in telling and his own delight in hearing the account ··of Athens of old, the telling itself having taken place during a religious festival in honor of Dionysus in which children born duririg the year were admitted into the companionship of the city. The question is whether there is anything in our experience more trustworthy than such tales, tales inseparable from the circumstances of the telling of them. I think the dialogue suggests that there may be nothing more trustworthy. We remember how the Timaeus begins: "One, two, three--but where is the fourth?" It is hard not to think, among other things, of the fourth--that is the uppermost--section of the divided line. But if the fourth section is missing, the section in which the soul exhibits its power of making its way "without images by the forms (eide) themselves through themselves," then the remaining three powers of the soul must somehow comprehend the living whole which in the Timaeus the soul faces. But that means that pistis, trust, has become the in-between power, the power of the soul that sustains the movement from consideration of image to consideration of original and back again. The most beautiful example I know of the high dignity of the action of trusting �1 , ' . i ! within what seems a purely theoretical consideration occurs near the end of the Sophist. The stranger asks Theatetus whether he like almost everyone else supposes that the world around us was thrown up by chance, or whether he supposes that some sort of provident care was involved. Theatetus, who is about 18 years old, says that he thinks about that question all. the time -- what a wonderful young. man! I cannot help interjecting -but that, probably because he is young, he at one time holds the one view, at another time the other. · But now, Theatetus continues, as I look upon your face and know that you· think there has been provident care involved, I think that too. The stranger replies that he suspects that, being the young man he is, Theatetus will always somehow incline to that view. There is no hint of apology or embarrassment in this exchange. I think that the main purpose of the Timaeus is to speak of soul in such a way that we can see why there should be no apology or embarrassment. In the following Tima~us' account of the fashioning and distribution of soul, we have perhaps learned something about the place -- or better, the places -- of soul in the world that surrounds us. Could it make sense also to speak of the places within the soul, of shallower or deeper places within the soul from which our words variously come, of places in our hearts into which we receive certain persons and certain things? I think that Timaeus' discussion of the "receptacle" (hypodoche) is an attempt to address this question. That discussion is after all an attempt to speak of_ a "within which," a "place," having "depth," prior to the existence of body, namely at a (mythically conceived) time prior to the introduction of regular plane surfaces arranged in three ·dimensions. At this time we encounter nothing of body except certain "powers" and "traces" (dunameis and ichn~) . Thus the being of the receptacle is said by Timaeus to be reachable only with difficulty by a kind of "bastard reasoning" with the help of "nonsensing" ·(the word i I I l anaisth~sia used strangely). I do not know exactly what these strange phrases mean, but it seems clear that Timaeus does not wish his speaking about the receptacle to · be understood as merely metaphorical, that is, as involving the mere transfer to another domain of words belonging primarily and most properly to the domain of body. Again, there are moments during Timaeus' account when it is difficult not to understand the receptacle as "intellectual soul" pure and simple. This is especially true if one has read the third book of Aristotle'e treatise on the soul. That which is to receive all incoming forms without deforming them must itself be perfectly formless -- this language is used by Timaeus of the receptacle and by Aristotle of the soul's power of knowing. The use by both of the uncommon word para-phainein, to appear alongside, makes the coincidence all the more striking. Finally, Timaeus passes almost insensibly from speaking of the receptacle as chora,place or room, which receives all bodies (somata), to speaking of it as the genes of place -- roughly, the class of place which receives not things but classes of things. It looks very much as if an attempt, perhaps bound not to succeed entirely, is being made to speak of a way of being that underlies the being of body and the being of soul. We must try to see how far we can discern the results of this attempt. First, however, we must backtrack and notice two things about the introduction of the receptacle into Timaeus' account. The first is rather obvious. The first part of Timaeus' account had dealt chiefly with the things fashioned through intellect, through nous. Now the role of necessity must be taken into account, since the visible whole has come into being through the persuasion of necessity by intellect, so that "for the most part" the things coming into being might be led toward what is best. Necessity, anank~, is said to have the form of the "errant cause," and as Timaeus' thinking and ours descends into its realm, the realm of mere "powers" and 54 "traces," we must invoke, not merely the gods in general as at the beginning of the first account, but--the words are said solemnly, I think--God the Savior (thees soter). It is in connection with the ~ontation of the possibility of chaos that the receptacle is introduced as a third thing in addition to the model and its copy. But there is also a second point to be noticed about Timaeus' second beginning. We now distinguish in our thinking among that which comes to be, that within which it comes to be, and the source from which what comes to be is born, springs forth. "Is born, springs forth" is my translation of phuetai. The verb phuein, from which is formed the noun phusis, usually translated "nature," means "to beget" or "to send forth shoots." In the passive it means "to be born" and "to grow. " With the use of this word we are emphatically in the realm of what is alive as, we now realize, was not quite the case in the first account. For then the two words repeatedly used to characterize the activity of the demiurge were plattein, to fashion by molding (the source of our word "plastic"), and sunhist~mi, to bring to stand together. We were at bottom still in the realm of statue-making. And surely we do not forget that the whole "feast of words" to be presented to Socrates was animated by Socrates' dissatisfaction with mere statues -- he had wanted to see something alive. The dialogue seems to suggest that if we are to see something truly alive, the form of the errant cause must somehow be taken into account and God the Savior invoked. 55 Let us return to the receptacle itself. How are we to understand its receiving function? It is said to be a place (topos) to provide room (chora). These are rather indefinite and neutral words. But the receptacle is also said to provide hedra for all things that have birth. Hedra can be understood neutrally as "place," but its richest as well as its quite .frequent meaning is "shrine" or "temple." The place provided by the receptacle seems to be a very special ~::me. Above all, "receptacle" does not seem to be an adequate translation for hypodoche, a noun formed from the verb hypodechomai. The primary meaning of this verb is "to welcome." It is the word that is used, for example, in book 14 of the Odyssey when the disguised Odysseus is said to delight in his heart because the swineherd Eumaeus "knew how to give welcome." Could this strangest of dialogues be suggesting that our world is the sort of "within which" that gives welcome to what is born into it; and that there are, as well, souls in the world which are able to give still more intimate welcome to what springs forth? We do after all say such things as: "she has a place in her heart for him." The muthos or logos presented by Timaeus seems to me to come closer than anything else in the Platonic dialogues to suggesting that the place we have in our hearts for persons and things is the very best place to be, better even than the hyperouranios topos, the super-heavenly place, spoken of in the Phaedras as the abode of the changeless originals which truly are. One wonders what the listening Socrates thinks about this suggestion. �. 1 . ' I ! l Making Much Ado About "Nothing" Jim Bailey 'l'he play Much Ado About Nothing (pronounced "noting")* is all about noting or nothing. The word nothing has three common uses in the play. Primarily, it refers to the noting of appearances which happens whenever people interact and is responsible for reputation and etiquette. In short, since we interact as we see one another, "noting" is responsible for what we call society. Secondly, the word noting is used to refer to the playing of notes. The interaction of notes in a symphony or dancers in a dance is used to symbolize the way we interact. Finally, the play discusses whether fashion and etiquette are nothing or merely show. If so, Shakespeare makes a great deal ~ut ~f this "nothing". Much Ado About Nothing is all about the masks, rules of etiquette and formalities that often happen when people come together. Society provides a framework whereby conflicts can be resolved (i.e. whereby lndividuals can triumph or yield as they ~ill or must) in which each party can maintain his integrity. At the very beginning of the play, Leonato, who must give welcome to the prince Don Pedro, gains esteem and favor rather than lo~e face by giving much more than he is required to. Politeness enables him to maintain his esteem in his own eyes and those of others by giving of his own free will and thus avoiding the appearance of necessity. Similarly, masks enable the characters to be truthful without threatening one another's integrity and self-esteem. In this way, Bea.trice is * Onions, C.T. A Shakespeare Glossary. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1978 . . able to tell Benedick what she thinks of his jesting and his being everyman' s man without having him reject her criticism, even though her criticism does hurt him. Behind a mask she can tell him what she · never could tell him face to face. Similarly, Benedick's and Beatrice's acquaintances stage conversations within the play to be overheard by Benedick and. Beatrice respect!vely, to cbnvince them to love one another. The staged conversations enable the conversants to speak openly and whoever is noting the conversation to take to heart what is said without losing face. As Hero says when on stage before Beatrice: "As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable. But who dare tell her so? If I should speak she would mock me into air." (Act III, scene i, lines 73-75) Masks and stages are for the benefit of the one noting and they enable him to see what he would not see without them. The characters of the play use such appearances to smooth over and resolve real conflicts harmoniously. Moreover, the characters in Much Ado About Nothing value masks because they care about how others note and esteem them. People value reputation and they often act in consideration of it. Perhaps because of this, out of town blind dates are the most exciting since they are not concerned with reputation but will be true to their desires. Being in another town, like being unknown or behind a mask, allows a person to act as he would not ordinarily act for fear of disapproval. But among neighbors most men seek to be known or noted as they would like to be. The honest person wears true apparel. He appears as he is. So Hero says, "Seemed I ever otherwise to you?"'1V,i,53) to mean 56 was I ever otherwise? However, just as most men strive to present their best side to the world and to hide that side of themselves of which they are ashamed, so the villain only utters the truth about himself in secret, while he presents falsity and deception to the world. Don John's lack of concern for reputation (i.e. how he is seen) reflects his lack of self-esteem or care to be worthy of the esteem of others. The villain only uses appearances to deceive and to hide his true nature. Nonetheless, men who deceive by appearances, if carefully noted, will be seen to be deformed or not quite true. In this way the Devil is named "Deformed". Deformed is the one who "borrows money in God's name, the which he hath used so long and neve·r paid that now men grow hard·. hearted and will lend nothing for God's sake." (V,i,310-314) Those who use appearances and etiquette in order to deceive, destroy harmony, and cause men not to trust one another. Just as Don John leads Claudio to falsely imagine what he cannot see clearly, all villains use words and masks to cause men to imagine things to be otherwise than they are. But because deception depends upon the deceived one's vision being obscured it can always be revealed. Because all deceptions deform the truth they_ can neither bear close scrutiny nor long acquaintance. Deceptions must be maintained, but the truth establishes itself. Hence, by carefully noting Hero, whom he has known for years, the Friar knows that she is innocent when she denies the deceived Claudio's accusations. , The task of the court (as represented by Dogberry and Verges) is to reveal villainy by means of such careful noting. Dogberry and Verges always say exactly the opposite of what they mean, but their meaning and intent are nonetheless unmistakable. Dogberry, flouting appearances by speaking words of nonsense, forces men to observe his true appearance, attitude and intent. Villains, on the other hand, distract the eye from inward rottenness with gaudy outward show. Shakespeare also uses "noting" in a musical sense to refer to people's banter and flattery of one another. Because Benedick's wit notes or plays on everything he sees, Claudio says of him: "his jesting spirit is now crept into a lutestring and now governed by stops." (III,ii, 56-57) A true wit can give pleasure and can flatter with notes as do minstrels. Thus, when Benedick loses his mirth he is like a minstrel without his lyre. So Don Pedro says of him, "What a pretty thing a man is when he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off his wit." (V,i, 98-99) Men flatter to pleasure others and to be in turn well noted by · them.A "man of note" is one who is well noted, or rather one who is well thought of and whose praises are sung. Shakespeare continues this metaphor to describe characters who are disconcerted or sick as being out of tune. Certainly when someone is out of tune he is not well noted. The theme of the play is strikingly revealed through the interaction of Benedick and Beatrice. They both think of themselves as self sufficient and each continually strives to maintain his own personal integrity. Neither of them will admit to himself or to others his want of the other. Only when each is convinced of the other's love does he declare his love, and then he declares it as being for the sake of the other. We all have had the experience of gaining confidence to show our affection for someone because that person has made some initial show of affection. In the case of Benedick and Beatrice there appear to be two reasons that they hesitate to show their admiration of one another. First, each is afraid of being shunned by the other as undesirable and thus losing esteem in both his own and the other's eyes. Secondly, they don't want to endanger their high ideas of themselves by admitting affection for someone who 1s less than perfect. Benedick and Beatrice perform a delicate dance in which they slowly unmask their love for one another. First they have a battle of wits, being afraid to 57 �I I I . i (with good intention) . Benedick says that he only for pity and Beatrice says only take Benedick to save iv, 90-96) admit affection openly, in order for each to protect his fragile self esteem and pride. Then, because each hears that the other is madly in love with him, each admits his love as being for the sake of the other, each feeling triumphant and confident in his own integrity. Both Benedick and Beatrice feel as if they can give their love magnanimously in response to the other's need whereas pride prevents them from first admitting their own love. Nonetheless, others have to praise Benedick to Beatrice and vice versa so that each of them can requite the other's love without losing self esteem. Benedick even seeks to gain face by not pridefully rejecting Beatrice. Benedick and Beatrice see themselves as others see them, or rather they esteem themselves as they are esteemed by the world. To the end, even after the deceptive staging of the others is revealed, · takes Beatrice that she will his life. (V, Shakespeare sums up his comments on noting and what it entails in a brief interchange between Borachio and Conrade: Borachio: ... thou knowest that the fashion of a doublet, or a hat, or a cloak, is nothing to man. Conrade: Yes, it is apparel. Borachio: I mean the fashion. Conrade: Yes, the fashion is the fashion. (III, iii, 117-122) Perhaps this says best of all why Shakespeare made much ado about nothing. 58 �l I St. John's College Annapolis, MD 21404 i l I I .i 1 I � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Energeia</em> Description An account of the resource <em>Energeia</em> is a non-profit, student magazine, which is published once a year and distributed among students, faculty, alumni, and staff of St. John's College, Annapolis.  Staff welcome submissions from all members of the community -- essays, poems, stories, original math proofs, lab projects, drawings, and the like. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context energeia Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. ii, 58 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bergren, Kathleen Burlein, Ann Cooper, Barbara Holland, Christian Maguire, Susan Marklin, Martin Miller, Richard Mullen, Alexander Sokolik Merle Sachs, Joe, 1946- Title A name given to the resource Energeia, Fall 1982 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982 Description An account of the resource Issue of the Energeia, published in Fall 1982. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Energeia Fall 1982 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Energeia Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/1da4e0ffd3ccc6a2095dbeed71cfc01c.pdf febe3aefec5007982aa7c84185da8cd8 PDF Text Text ~~---"2Siic--·-,-,..T-..i~..---i'in-iro~~-r-~-...;::17r'--..,..~~-r--.~~-lr---.i~--,~ --1& q"t---........ SPRING, 1983 �CONTENTS PLATO'S FRIENDSHIP 1 ON SHAKESPEARE'S SONNET LXXI Laurence Berns 11 THE GENESIS OF MODERN SCIENCE IN GALILEO'S CONCEPT OF MATHEMATIZABLE NATURE Pierre H. Gragnier 13 - ON THE NATURE OF CONES AND CONIC SECTIONS Michael Landry -20 SUBSTANCE IN BOOK VII OF THE METAPHYSICS Cover: POINT OF TRA NQUILITY by M o rris Lo uis (1 912-1962). 1958, A cry lic. Photo courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Smithsonian Institution , Washington , 0 . C. Llffey Thorpe Lisa Tomasi 26 A TRANSLATION OF VALERY'S ''PALME" John Tracy 30 THE BREATH OF KINGS: ON THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND Jonathan Antonio Edelman 33 A NOTE ON THE MATTHEW PASSION Elliott Zuckerman 43 NO EXIT A TRANSLATION OF SARTRE'S HUIS CLOS Wendell Finner 47 IN THE WAKE Andrew J. Krivak 24 THE TRESTLE - Andrew J. Krivak 25 CITY BLOCKS Richard E. Miller 29 SHORT STORY Liz Waldner 42 POEM John S. Carnes 46 Printed by the St. John 's College Press St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland ; WILLING BUT WEAK Poetry �ENERGEIA: The activity in which anything is fully itself. STAFF Kathleen Bergren Ann Burlein Barbara Cooper Christian Holland Susan Maguire Martin Marklin Richard Miller Alexandra Mullen Joe Sachs Merle Sokolik Plato's Friendship Liffey Thorpe that I went to a college that required all its freshmen to study one year of Greek. But my choice to continue with the language, after the external compulsions to do so were removed, stemmed from my conviction that I could not befriend Plato, which I very much wanted to do, unless I could enter and inhabit his world, as I believed I could only do by learning his language. That was twelve years ago, and on good days I can almost believe that I have entered, and do inhabit Plato's world, if only as a resident alien. I should say, I think, that while I have come to believe that a deep acquaintance with Plato cannot be achieved without Greek, knowledge of Greek by no means guarantees understanding, much less friendship. And I am also aware that there are many people who read the dialogues in translation only, who deal better with the philosophical issues in them than many who read the dialogues in Greek --and I include myself. Still, it's one of those academic oddities, that while very few people would ever think of devoting themselves to Dante, or to Lady Murasaki, or to Homer or Aeschylus, without knowledge of the author's languages, not a few people who have, .at best, a passing-fair familiarity with the Greek alphabet, write books and articles on Plato, and on Aristotle, every day. And in light of this, I shouldn't be surprised, though I often am, at how often Plato's dialogues are discussed with little or no reference to their dramatic There are two kinds of things that I want to talk about this afternoon. First, I want to describe for you some of the reasons I have had for befriending--and being befriended by--Plato. This may make the afternoon somewhat more personal than those who asked me to speak intended. But I will try to compensate for this in the other thing I am planning, that is, to demonstrate some of the particular ways in which reading Plato's dialogues in Greek, rather than ·in translation, can make a difference, a difference not only in how one apprehends Plato's thought, but even sometimes, in what one apprehends. But I assume-that most of you already believe at least some of this, that whenever possible, it is preferable to read an author's works in that author's language, rather than in translation. It is one of those widely circulated opinions that translation means sacrifice, if not . complete sacrifice of meaning, then sacrifice of a good deal of an author's sense. Still, I know that I am usually curious about just what this sacrifice entails in the case of a particular author. I would like, for instance, to have a sense of the sense of Dante's Inferno, or of Lady Murasaki's Tales. And so it is on my mind today to try to convey to you some of that "sense of the sense" of Plato, what the experience of approaching Plato's thought through his language may be like. Let me first explain how it was I began to read Plato in Greek. It is true Liffey Thorpe is a former student on the Annapolis campus. She is now teaching at Earlham; this talk was first delivered before that community November 3, 1982. 1 �and linguistic features, as if Plato's meaning could be apprehended quite apart from the particular dramatic contexts with which he chose to give form and shape to that meaning. And yet, people who do not experience Plato in his language rarely, if ever, feel that a distinction between a dialogue's logos- -what is said--and its erga- -what is done, between the matter and the manner of matter, is a useful, or even possible distinction to make. Let me begin, then, by explaining something of the provenance of my relationship with Plato. I th ink you know that last month our freshmen class read the Lys is in Humanities. The Lysis was, for many, their first encounter with Plato. And I got to thinking, as we were reading it, and as thoughts of this lecture began to loom, that it had been almost exactly twelve year s since I had read a dialogue for the first time. I was then a freshman at St. John's College, and the dialogue was not the Lysis, but an even shorter work, the Ion. But St. John's made up for the brevity of that first encounter by requ1r1ng us, in subsequent weeks, to read as wel 1: the Apology, the Cri to, the Euthyphron, the Phaedo, Theaetetus, Sophist, Parmenides, Timaeus, Meno, Gorgias, Phaedrus, Symposium, and the Republic. You could say that St. John's tried harder to Platonise its freshmen than Boswell did to Johsonise his land. And you might also expect that, given this immersion-theory of platonisation, it would have been surprising had my affection for Plato failed to take root. But my first impressions of the dialogues were pretty inauspicious, as I ·rememher them. And the marginalia that litte r ~y first volume of Plato's dia logues c nf irm that I was, on the whole, unenchanted by Sokrates, nonplussed by the bizarre conversations he habitually struck up with anyone he happened to run into, and annoyed--as people who don't under stand what they are reading. I wanted to believe that Sokrates was no fool, because people whose opinions I trusted seemed to think he was not. But secretly, I was convinced that Sokrates suffered from having been born before most people had had time to figure most things out. After a while, we moved en classe to some of the headier dialogues: the Parmenides and the Theaetetus. I didn't know what epistemology was, but I did begin to think that Sokrates was getting a lot smarter. I enjoyed the third-man argument, what I understood of it . And al though I thought it odd that crates of pigeons and wax tablets should occur to anyone as useful models of cognitiveretrieval systems, I wasn't sure I could come up with anything better. It struck me that human error was not so easy to explain, that how most people know things; and how they manage to make mistakes about the things they suppos~dly know, were questions worth thinking about. So I was partialiy converted, though not yet what I could call a friend. I mentioned that by design of the St. John 's curriculum I was, at the same time, taking a year of Greek . And this is where you will see how I finally capitulated and became a friend and admirer of Plato's. Learning Greek at St. John's might best be described as the "hit-or-miss" theory of language learning. It is college policy that every teacher at St. John's should, at one time.or another, teach all the courses of the curriculum. As it happened, my Greek teacher was still trying to achieve detante with the first declension on the day classes began. (I might add that, despite this, Bob Anderson was the most important teacher of my life.) I didn't learn much Greek that year, but for some reason I liked it, and that winter I decided to · apply my very rudimentary skills to Plato's Cri to--the choice was merely fortuitous, as the Crito was the only Greek text I then owned . If I have anything true to say to you today, it is that nothing on earth more effectively slows down one 's ability to read a complete sentence than Greek. If you want to experience deliberate, painstaking, incremental comprehension, the sort where, midway through a sentence you've forgotten what was said at the beginning, and could almost believe that, 1 ike one of Zeno's paradoxes, no matter 2 how much you cover, you will never reach an end-~try reading something in Greek. I spent a month reading the first page of the Crito. And I was more acutely aware of what I was reading than I had ever before been. I became aware of how deliberately Plato had chosen words, words whose connotations were often highly apposite to the visible situation of Sokrates' incarceration and imminent execution. In particular, I came to one exchange between Sok rates and Cri to that gave me special trouble. (You may remember that the Crito is the dialogue in which Crito comes to Sokrates in his prison, on behalf of Sokrates' friends, to persuade him to escape; Sokrates declines the offer.) At a certain point, Sokrates explains to Cri to how he knows that he will not be executed on the following day, but on · the day after that. He says that he had had a dream, in which a woman appeared to him and announced: "Oh Sokrates, nµaTL XEV TPLTaTw ~~Lnv EPL8w~ov ~XOLO~ ~ - The six words I have just read slowed down my reading even more, because they are written, not in Plato's attic Greek, but in the more ancient, epic dialect. The six words form a single line of epic hexameter, so it took me longer to . figure out what Sokrates' dream-lady was saying: "Oh Sokrates, on the third day you will reach lovely Phthia." Now once I had this, I became curious to know what poem Sokrates' dream was making reference to. The line is from Iliad Book IX, and it is Akhilles who speaks these words: "On the third day I will reach lovely Phthia." --Akh~lles, when he refuses to be persuaded by his friends, who have come to persuade him to return to battle against Troy. His friends off er several face-saving proposals, but Akhilles, whom Homer calls by his epithet µLvuw.5'a6Lo~ "minute-lived," because he is young and doomed and he will, in fact, return to battle and die, and will never see his homeland again--Akhilles says he will leave Troy and start home: "And on the third day I will reach lovely Phthia." I was struck by two things as I considered this. First, that the word naming Akhilles' homeland, Phthia, ~~Ln , is very nearly another word, ~~Lw , [phthio], meaning, "to perish1 to waste away and vanish." The pun, if it was intended, is in Homer, reflecting, perhaps, Akhilles' unique dilemma, that, stay or leave, either way he is doomed to perish, either by quick death ~n the battlefield, or through living out an obscure, invisible life in Phthia that would earn him namelessness forever. And I was struck, too, by what seemed to be the unavoidable suggestion of a compari•on between those two critical moments in the lives of Akhilles and Sokrates, where the refusal to be persuaded by friends would have profound mortal consequences for each. But the comparison is not an exact fit. In something of a similar situation, Sokrates, unlike Akhilles, never wavers in his conviction that what he is doing is right, while Akhilles will finally change his mind, and will choose heroic immortality. It made me aware, this passage, of Plato urging me to reflect on the heroic dimensions of his Sokrates, who, in his stark jail cell, faces a choice .that even the most splendid pattern of Greek heroes faced. And in · a way , the dream transformed that visible cell and placed Sokrates right there on the plains of Troy. I read the next line, Crito' s response to Sokrates' dream: five words, utterly clear: "AToltov To €vunv1..ov ili rwxpaTE~ • "Your dream, Sokratea, is aTOltOV {atopon]." That word aTOltO\) means, literally, "without a place," "placeless." "Your dream, Sokrates," says Cri to, "has no place here." If you read a translation of ~Crito, you will most likely find - Cri to' s reply translated something like, "Strange dream, that, Sokratesl" This isn't really inaccurate, for aTonov comes to mean "strange." But in this translation we lose a good deal of the irony of Crito's obtuseness, his failure to see how perfectly in place and appos.ite Sokrates' Homeric dream is. It was here, then, that I saw the place, the Teno~, {toposl, that Plato had 3 �He does not know what . a getting into. He cannot say what a sophist sophist is. And he only dimly "thinks he teaches. what he might learn from knows" Protagoras. At this point, Sokrates delivers one of his rare lectures. .I can't quote the whole of it, but according to Sokrates, sophists are like people who sell foods, but with these differences: one, in what they sell, for food vendors sell nourishment for the body, while sophists sell nourishment for the soul. The second difference is in how they sell their wares: for food vendoTs sell foods in containers that can be carried home and examined, to avoj d the risk of cofl sumi. ng poisonous or harmful foods; whereas sophists sell what is necessarily, as it were, consumed on the premises. For there exists no container to carry away what these men sell . Hippokrates asks what it is that sophists sell, and it is Sokrates' answer that I want to quote you from two current English translations, the ones you would be most likely to read . The first is taken from the by Bobbs- Merrill edition, translated Martin Ostwald. Hippokrates asks what created for me, the reader of his Cri to. Sokrates does not explain his dream, or the allusion to Akhilles; and yet the allusion is unmistakably there. And at that moment, I no longer tried to identify my point of view with the person Sokrates is speaking to, with Crito. I became a third person in the dialogue, a person for whom Plato was taking special pains to point out what Crito himself seems not · to notice. This passage from the Cri to illustrates, then, what is always evident to me in Plato's dialogues, the deliberateness with which Plato invites, and sets a place, a 1onos, for his audience, so that we become, not merely listeners , but shareholders in the dialogue -- as when Sokrates' Homeric dream invites me to envision what is not actually visible, that scene in Iliad IX . I will try to go a 1 i ttle further now, and discuss why I think Plato's attempt to involve his audience so directly in the dialogues can be crucial to his ulterior, philosophical aims . The passage I want next to consider comes from the Protagoras. And I will need to give some contextual background first. Early in the Protagoras, Sokrates engages in a conversation with a young Athenian, Hippokrates. Hippokrates is older than, say, Lysis and Menexenus. He has finished his education in the gymnasi um, and now wants to do graduate work with the sophist Protagoras . Hippokrates is so eager to study with Protagoras that he tells Sokrates, with all the innocent candor of someone who has never had to earn a living, that he is prepared to pay Protagoras not only all of his own mon ey- -b ; wh i ch I suppose he means his parents ' money--but is prepared to pay the sophist all his friends' money as well. Sok rates, of course, hasn't got ar.y money, but Hippokrates knows that Sokrates does have a gift for getting people's attention, and hopes that he will agree to introduce him to Protagoras. But in the course of their interview--you can probably anticipate this--it transpires that Hippokrates has little idea what he's sophists sell, and Sokrates replies,· "Surely," I said, "knowledge is the food of the soul; and we must take care, my friend, that the Sophist does not deceive us when he praises what he sells, ..... For there is far greater risk in buying knowledge, than in buying food and drink . The one you purch~se of the wholesale or retail dealer and carry them away in other vessels ..... But you cannot buy knowledge and carry it away in other vessels; when you have paid for it, you must receive it into the soul and go on your way, either greatly harmed or greatly benefited." This is also, in essence, the translation found in the Modern Library series. In the Bollingen collected dialogues, this passage, translated by Mr. Guthrie, reads: "Indeed, the risk you run in purchasing knowledge is much greater than in buying provisions. When you 4 What Sokrates is really talking about here, then, is the problem of received opinions and learning. The problem looks something 1 ike this: Knowledge, the apprehension of truth, is never fallible, never in error. And knowledge, whatever it may be, must be grasped from out of those things that we have in mind; for it seems impossible that we could ever know something that we don't have in mind. But we can have lots of things in mind: false opinions as wel 1 as true opinions. But the certainty that what we have in mind is true, not false, opinion--the certainty that we have apprehended the truth, knowledge -- can only be gotten through examination, o~E~L..Sr [skepsis]. And the difficulty is, that to merely learn things--that is, simply to take them in, whatever you are told--provides no container, no ayyECov [aggeion], to use Sokrates' word: something by which it becomes possible to hold learning at a distance while it is examined for possible truth. It is here that recollection, as Sokrates speaks of it in the Meno and elsewhere, becomes important: since truth can never be grasped in what is immediately seen, or simply learned, it must be buy food and drink, you can carry it away from the shop or warehouse in a receptacle, .••.• But knowledge cannot be taken away in a parcel. When you have paid for it, you must receive it directly into your soul, benefitted or harmed accordingly." Now I want to consider, first, what Sokrates seems to be saying about the matter, ~ Protagot:"as sells, which in these translations is "knowledge." If you had to reason out Sokrates' epistemology on the basis of these passages, you might conclude that Sokrates, like the often misquoted Pope, thinks that knowledge can be a· dangerous thing, that the knowledge sophists sell has, at least, the potential for doing harm to Hippokrates' soul. We might wonder, does Sokrates--does Plato? - -believe that knowledge can be dangerous because there are some things we ought not know about? Or that too 1 ittle--or too much--knowledge might injure the soul? A reader more familiar with Plato's works might figure that something is suspicious here, since elsewhere, and always, Sokrates is immovable on at least this point, that knowledge, E:noTnJ.lil , is virtue, strength, and a good thing for the soul. And how could what is good for the soul harm the soul? But the word Sokrates uses here to describe the commodity that sophists sell is not the word commonly translated as "knowledge", ETIL..onh1n ,nor even its near synonym, "wisdom" oo<pLa • The word is µa.er)µa Ta' [mathemata] , that is, "learnable th in gs." A mathemata is anything that a person can learn: doxa, opinions, both true ones and false ones. Pope never said that knowledge is a dangerous thing, and neither did Sokrates. But learning could be, because learning--but not knowledge in the very precise sense in which Plato and Sokrates always use that word--learning could be fallible, untrue, deceptive. Sophists like Protagoras sold learning, µa~nµaTa~ and so, for instance, one could, for perhaps three drachmas, purchase a proof for squaring circles, or an argument to demonstrate the existence of not-being. apprehended through a process of skepsis, examination, and will always amount to a kind of second, reflective, sight, a recovery of truth that escaped notice when it wa~ first "seen." · This notion 0£ the danger of received opinion is prevalent, of course, in most dialogues. And it arises, not only in connection with the sophists, but, perhaps more insidiously, in the matter of poetry. I say "insidiously," because poetry was the first and most important leg in a young Athenian's education--as we see, for instance, in the Lysis. Athenian education, to µa~EC'V Ta µa~nµaTa to learn learning, consisted chiefly of memorizing -- taking in mind -- the words of the poets: Homer, Hesiod, Solon, Simonides. Protagoras himself recognizes what is clearly a common opinion among Greeks, that "The mark of a truly educated person is being well-versed in poetry." In the Lysis we see two young boys, Lysis and Menexenus, who are undergoing just such a .5 �skepsis . I will return to this point, because I want to su9gest that in the form of the dialogue, in the particular ways that Plato invites the reader · to take an active part, not mere 1 y as audience, he has attempted to solve that problem of received learning, by designing a contain er, a yy ECov I that forces skepsis. Now I want to look at another passage, also from Protagoras, where again the Greek 1 anguage prov ides a sense that translations often do not . The Protagoras, I should say, is like the Lysis, and at least half of all socratic dialogues, in being a "recollected" dialogue: that is, it is a dialogue that Sokrates Rlready has in mind and is recollecting . In this sense, then, the Protagoras -- and the Lysis -- are not, in the first place, imitations of dialogue , they ar e imitations of monologue recollecting the dialogue . The Protagoras is fairly long . About midway through, in the middle of a dis cussion about human virtue and wisdom and justice, Protagoras answers one of Sokrates' questions by introducing a quite different point on the useful and the good. It's pretty clear that Protagoras is deliberately sabotaging the argument, because he's had enough of Sokrates' questions, and suspects that he is beginning to appear a lau9hingstock, 11 cna y~>-a0 T o <; in front of his colleagues and prosepcti ve students. So Protagoras changes the subject by introducing a short speech on the useful and the good. It really is brief, too: both in comparison with other answers that he has given, and compar·ed with answers that Sok rates h imse 1 f has made. Protagoras' speech earns him plenty of audience applause. But this is what Sokrates says (and here I again quote from two current English translations) : "Protagoras," (he says ) , 11 I have a wre t ched memo r y, and when any one makes a long speech to me, I never remember what he is talking about . . . so now, having such a bad memory, I will ask you to cut your answers shorter." A second translation reads: "Protagoras, I happen to be a "traditional" education, "traditional" in the exact sense of its Greek synonym n:apa61., 6 ova1., [paradidonai] , "to hand over to." Lysis and Menexenus are not empty wax tablets onto which Sokrates introduces new ideas, only later to scratch out. Sokrates is working, as he so often does, with the stuff, the µaBriµarn, , that Ly sis and Menexnus already have in mind: these words of Solon's, the 1 ine of friendship by Homer, and again by Hesiod, the opinions of Empedocles, and Euripides, the ideas of more contemporary th inkers, the anti-logicians, and the sophists. Their heads are full of "received wisdom" by the time Sokrates talks to them. And even in the dialogue's name, Lysis,/\.uoL s , as any Greek speaker would have heard, we can hear the sense_ of "breaking down," or "destroying," (as wel 1 as the more favor able sense of "solution , " as to some enigma) . And against those who have maintained that in this dialogue Plato has attempted to vindicate Sokrates of charg~s of co r rupting the young, I can't imagine that Anytus and Meletus could have done better _than this dialogue to find evidence of Sokrates' almost systematic calling into question of the traditional tenets of received wisdom. Let me back up a bit here and just review what point I wanted to make about that passage from the Protagoras. Sokrates objects, not simply to the matter that sophists sell,--and now I mean to include poetry, too--but, more important, his objection is made about the manner in which all µa.BnµaTa, learning, is received: uncritically, without a container that would make skepsis possible . I have talked about one passage from · the Cri to and one from the Protagoras. In both instances, translation has tended to obscure, or to distract from, Plato's meaning. I have also brough t up, in connection with the Protagoras, a particular way in which Plato, through Sokrates, articulates the "problem of learning," and of received opinions and ideas. For learning is received in the mind, or the soul, uncritically, that is, without a container, ayyE COV , that WOU 1 d encourage 6 forgetful sort of person, and if someone speaks to me at length, I forget what he is talking about ... So since you are dealing with someone with a bad memory, cut your answers short and make them briefer." Even in these translations, you're not likely to miss the irony. In fact, if Sokrates is claiming to "have a bad memory, 11 --that he cannot remember what Protagoras has just been saying--it wouldn't amount to a very interesting irony, since it would be merely and blatantly false. For it is obvious by the very conditions of the Protagoras-remember I said it was a recollected dialogue--that Sokrates has no trouble recalling verbatim entire conversations, including, here, Protagoras' disquisition on the useful and the good, as well as his own claim of having a bad memory. Only o ne translation of the two I read conveys in part better the sense of Sokrates' words, £n:LA.noµwv TL,~ wv [epilesmon tis on tungkano], "I happen to be a forgetful sort of person. 11 'Ei(1.,/..,noµwv, [epilesmon], the wo rd often translated as "having a bad memory," is an adjective from the verb epilanthanomai meaning "to escape o ne's own notice," "to forget." Now it is merely false for Sokrates to claim to have a bad memory. His capacity to recall what is said is never, in any dialogue, a matter of dispute, (although Ei(LATlalJWV could convey the sense of "bad memory," describing, that is, a constitutional incapacity for remembering.) But when Sok rates says he is £n: 1., A.noµwv, and in view of the evidence that he does not suffer from an inability to recall what is said, we may avail ourselves of that other sense of E:n:1.,A.noµwv that is, "forgetful." In this sense, E: j( 1., A. naµwv describes one who is 1 iable to fail to notice something, but without connoting that forgetfulness is any permanent condition. Thus, for instance, when Sokrates says in the Apology that he almost "forgot same verb himself" (using that epilanthanomai) because his accusers spoke so persuasively, we need not think he means that he was ever in serious jeopardy of permanent amnesia of his identity; only that, confronting those false appearances promoted by Anytus and Meletus, Sokrates momentarily lost sight of his true self. When, then, Sokrates claims to be EnLAnoµwv in the Protagoras, he is not merely telling a great lie about his ability to recall--! grant that level of irony--he is as well telling a great truth about himself: that he is a profoundly forgetful person, a person, that is, who is ever intent on recovering, in the face of conflicting or false appearances, something that is true, but that has somehow escaped his notice. Sokrates is (n: 1., )..r)oµwv in that sense of being always self-conscious of a concern for the forgotten, the unnoticed. Indeed, . this sense of forgetfulness is at the very heart of Sokrates' habitual self- recognition: that he knows that he does not know: he is self-conscious of his ignorance, his failure to notice, truth that is concealed by appearances. I want to point out, too, that in the example I have been talking about, in the Protagoras, it is not, I think,Protagoras' speech that Sokrates really means he is liable to forget. It is, he says~ n:E:p 1., o ~ 6 A.oy os ~ v "what the argument was about. 11 And this, I take it, is not the sophist's disquisition on the useful and the good, but those more remote arguments about human virtue and justice and courage. But what difference does it make, how we understand EltL ATfoµw v--not as "having a bad memory," but as "forgetful"? I have mentioned the Greek names for a number of words I have talked about. And now I want to introduce one more, the word for "truth, 11 &)..nBE1.,a, [aletheia]. The etymology of this word has been disputed, but many Greeks, and certainly Plato, regarded a/.., rl~E \., CI. 1 S etymon as derived from A.avBavw, [ lanthano]: )..n{Jn , [lethe], meaning "forgotten. II Thus aAr)BE LCI., truth --the "a" negates lethe--means something like "unforgotten" or "un-concealed." In fact, th~s same word A.n~n is contained in that very word for forgetful,En:L)..noµwv. 7 �only what Plato says, but how Plato says: my sense that Plato alway~attempted to create a room, a place, for his reader. To conclude I want to turn to the dialogue that is explicitly concerned with friendship, the Lysis . Here, Sokrates attempts to elicit from two young boys, Lysis and Menexenus, a definition of what a friend is . We have only to look at the conclusion to see that the attempt fails: "But what a friend is, we have been unable to dis cover . 11 The immediate reason for the failure is the intrusion of the two pedagogues who have come to take Lysis and Menexenus away; had they not _app~ared, Sokrates intended to turn the conversation ov~r t0 those standing on the periphery, oL TIEPlEOT W TES [hoi periestotes] , the observers of conversation. The failure of the Lysis makes it one of those dialogues sometimes described as "aporetic," which is to say, inconclusive, unsuccessful. That word, "aporetic," like two other words I have mentioned today--aletheia and atopon- -is compounded of the negative prefix a - and a noun: nopos. ITopos is a lovely word . It is cognate with our words "port" and "ford"-- TIOpo s means "a way" or "a passageway from here to there," a road that gets somewhere. Thus "a- poretic" dialogues are so- called because they fail to complete a passage, fail to get from here to there. Sok.r ates speaks the word TIO po s in describing at the end of the Lysis the two pedagogues: they were, he says, anopo1., lAporoi], that is, impossible to get past, impossible to get through. And so, he continues, we had to break up the discussion, 6 1.,EA. uoa -µ Ev: you can hear Lysis' - Auo1.,s - name in that word, dielusamen. So the discussion breaks up. And yet, we cannot be satisfied, I think, that the afternoon was merely u~successful. For we must keep in mind that th e whole Lysis is a performance of Socratic recollection, which at least implies that, al though the actual conversation achieved no llG ~os , somehow i n the reco] lection of it, and the OHE(j;l S of it- - the distanced examination of it--maybe there exists some Tiopo s; some way of getting to the truth, (It is also the name of the mythological river of forgetfulness, the Lethe . I guess I'm lucky my parentE didn't know Greek when they thought to name me after a river.) Some of you may recogniz.e what I am saying from Martin Heidegger's Introduc tion to Metaphysics, where he discusses aA.n~ElO., as being, for the Greeks a matter of unconcealment, the apprehension of what is there but has escaped notice, has been forgotten. At any rate, for Plato, it was in the nature of truth, aA. nBE 1.,a, to make its appearance as something unforgotten, disclosed. It is this performance of recollection that Sokrates speaks of in the Meno, the process, through skepsis, of apprehending what has momentarily escaped notice. In the Lysis, for instance, Sokrates describes philosophy as that desire for what one properly possesses but does not grasp, namely, wisdom. For Sok rates, philosophy is that desire for wisdom in the face of ignorance, which makes him the perfectly f orgetful man, attending always to the attempt to discover, through skepsis I the truth I l~A nB E \., 0., and to recognize it as truth, to remember what he has forgotten, to notice what has escaped notice. Socratic forgetfulness has less --if anything--to do with "having a bad memory" as with Sokr.ates' habitual self-consciousness that he is failing to notice something, failing to notice the truth. I said I was going to try to convey something of the experience of reading Plato in Greek. In some instances, it is the experience of apprehending connotations that are difficult to convey in translation: the sense of ctTOITOV as "out of place" as well as, more idiomatically, "strange," or £:TI 1., A. rfoµw v as "forgetful" rather than "having a bad memory;" and the sound of A.nBn in ETILAno µuJV and aA.r)Baa And it is also the experience of apprehending with perhaps more accuracy what Plato means, as for example uctBnµa1u ,learning, but not knowledge. I said, too, that I wanted to explain something of what endears me to Plato's words, and makes me regard Plato as something of a friend--that I enjoy not a 8 aA.nBELO'.. Yet it is characteristic of aporetic and recollected dialogues that Sokrates never adverts to direct speech to tell us the result of his OHE(j;LS. The Lysis gives us only that imitation of Sokrates' "second-look;" the results of it must finally be ou r own . I began by talking about the conclusion of the Lys is. Now perhaps when I tell you what the first word of that dialogue is, you will hear something in it that you would not have heard before: the first word is EnopEBoµnv, [eporeuomen]. ' ETiopEuoµn \. is a verb, and in .m ost English translations you will find that this word has been translated, "I was walking" or "I was going ." There are at 1 east a dozen verbs in the Greek vocabulary that mean something like going or walking or traveling on foot. ~Plato chose the verb poreuomai, which means travel, but particularly, literally in the sense of making ~ opos a passage for oneself . Thus when Sok rates begins ,ETiopn1oµnv, he is saying, "I was attempting to make a way for myself" --I've translated that "attempting," because the form is in the imperfect tense, and this imperfect--uncompleted--aspect does not imply · that the activity was completed. "I was attempting to make a way for myself," says Sokrates, "from the Academy to the Lyceum." In fact, for all we know, Sokrates never did get to the Lyceum; at least his attempt was frustrated by those people who persuafied him to enter the gymnasium instead . But cnopc1c5µnv I tells us something else, not about Sokrates' literal travel between two places, but about his travel in speech, what he later describes as "a difficult road," the conversation about friendship with Lysis and Menexenus, where he attempted to find his way. So we hear in ETiopEuo11nv the literal nopo~ that Sokrates attempts and fails, to cross the distance between Academy and Lyceum; and the hint, too, of that figurative travel, in speech, to get from the appea ra nce of friendship to a knowledge of what a friend is, and this too fails. But I want to suggest that in ETiopEuoµ nv we h~ar the p~ssibility of a third rropos 9 attempted, that is, the recollection of truth. For we have, in the Ly sis, not direct conversation, but conve rsat ion at a remove, a distance, contained in the imitation of socratic OXE~LS. And so for us, the reader, the Lysis becomes a road that we, too, may travel. Let me give you one example of the sort of thing that we, as readers, are able to notice in the Lysis, something that suggests that although the Tiopos was not found in speech, something at least was accomplished in the course of the dialogue, something encouraging. Throughout the Lysis, Lysis and Mene xe nus ~re conspicuously close friends. I say "conspicuous1y" because, in describing them, Plato has chosen to use a rather rare inflection of Greek nouns and verbs, the so-called dual. The dual, which was common enough in epic language consists of a particular set of wordendings that designate pairs of things: hands, eyes, feet, oxen . But as I have said, by Plato's time this form had become obsolete, and twos of things were no longer differentiated from threes or fours or hundreds of things. But Plato makes the friendship between Lysis and Menexenus conspicuous to the Greek reader by always designating these two friends in the dual: E'yEAaochnv aµcpw, "they both-together-as-a-pair laughed"; < LA. w yap E: a T o v , p "for the two of you are friends"; Ecpa1nv, "they spoke together"; 01>vE:cpchnv, "the two agreed in unison ." The boy's unaimity, their absorption in each other, is signified, too, in the early conversation in which Sokrates attempts to distinguish them from each other: Which of you is older? Which nobler? Which wiser? Juster? Wealthier? These are things, says Menexenus, that "we spend a lot of time arguing about." And you cound say that Sokrates' remark, that friends share all things,xoLva Ta TWV cp(A.wv [koina ta ton philon) , applies, at least trivially, to these boys: each shares the other's characteristics; at least, they are unable to distinguish themselves. But by the end of the Ly sis, something has changed. The communality of a �friendship is no longer mone~, looks, age, pedigree , but a shared pursuit of knowl edge in the face of self- conscious ignorance. They are, says Sokrates , t.pLAOL , (philoi 1 , but the object of their love, their desire, is no longer merely one another, but, in the recognition that they are equals in ignorance, a desire for what is truly c.pL.\o v , dear, namely, wisdom. In the final words of the dialogue, Sokrates describes this circle of friends, a circle that is now wider by one, and distinguishes itself as a group of those who stand on the periphe r y, observers but not participants: "Well, now, Lysis and Menexenus, we have become laughing s tocks -- I, an old man, and you . Fo r those people will say as they leave that though we believe ou rs elves frie nds --f o r I place even myself in you r midst --what a friend is, we have been unable to discove r." To the people standing around as observers, O TIEPLEOTWTE~ , the sight of L other people 's ignorance appears as an object o f r idicule : Sokrates and the boys have become laughable in the eyes of others . But am0ng themselves, as friends, friends whose cornmuna 1 i ty is the pursuit of what is truly dear, wisdom, the recognition of ignorance will never appear ridiculous. Before their conversation with Sokrates , Lysis and Menexenus had only themselves as objects of philia . But the dialogue has created a new place, a new T O ll O~ , and a new starting place from which to make a journey, a llopo~. The enlargement of the circle of friends is shown in Sokrates ' words, ~aL Eµ l yap i) µ Cv TL Br µL., [kai eme gar en hurnin titherni), "for I place even myself in your midst . " I began some time ago by saying that on a good day I can be 1 ieve that I have entered, and am inhabiting, Plato's world . For me, the invitation to enter came through the language, Gr eek . It i s 1 an gu age that always for ces r eflection , language that, in its own way, becomes a way, ll opos; • And on good days when I am reading Plato , I can believe that I am standing, not on the periphery of the dialogue among oC llEP LOT W T C~ , but that I, too, "place myself in the midst" of that ci r cle of friends who have all things in common . cv 1 On Shakespeare's Sonnet LXXI laurence Berns No longer mourn for me when I am dead Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell Give warning to the world that I am fled From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell. Nay, if you read this line, remember not The hand that writ it; for I love you so, That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot If thinking on me then should make you woe. o, if, I say, you look upon this verse When I perhaps compounded am with clay, Do not so much a·s my poor name rehearse, But let your love even with my life decay, Lest the wise world should look into your moan, And mock you with me after I am gone. The first quatrain of this poem is bleak as bleak can be. The poet addresses his love with his own death either :i'..n prospect or accomplished. The funeral ringing of the church bells is sad, bemoaning the loss, but also comforting, raising the hope of passage, perhaps, to a better place. The poet will have none of this comfort: the bell, surly and sullen, warns, even threatens. There is a reminder of the usual expectations, for he does not say " the " or " our " vile world, but "this" vile world, suggesting that there is another. Fleeing from this vile world, supposedly to a more peaceful place~ again rouses religious expectations. This world is styled vile in comparison to that more perfect heavenly one. If the poet wants to remind us of the usual hopes, it is only to dash them to the ground more strongly. This world is vile, but death is a dwelling with greater vileness, with vilest worms. If life is vile, and its ending vilest, the advice of the first line is plausible. Yet, despite - the meaning of the words, the ringing assonance and alliteration of the first four lines is not unpleasant. The steadi--. ness and regularity of the bell's ringing somehow suggests the natural regularity of c9ming into being and passing away. The first clause of the second quatrain repeats the advice of the first lines of the poem. At the same time, howeyer, it draws our attention to the poem itself and "the hand that ~rit it". But the way the advice is offered seems to make it impossible to follow. The sudden change of tone in the sweetly simple declaration, "for I love you so", deepens the paradox. Is this the kind of language lovers are likely to forget? The central word in the first of the central lines of the whol.e poem is "sweet". For lovers Mr . Berns is a tutor at the Annpolis campus. 10 11 �whose love has been mutual the world cannot have been al together vi le. Sweet times breed sweet thoughts. The poet seems to have contrived this poem so as to be remembered, not forgotten by his beloved, but only in the beloved' s sweet · thoughts. Theirs is a proud love. The poet would rather be forgotten, if thinking on him would only bring on woe. By exhorting the reader to do what is impossible, the third quatrain elaborates the conceit of the first line and a half of the second quatrain. The final sestet as a whole is designed to relieve and to sweeten the sadness of the beloved. The poet plays with his beloved even after he is dead. By the ninth line of the poem, "O, if, I say, you look upon this verse", there is no longer any question about whether these lines will be read. Surely, the poet doth protest too much. The advice, however, is backed up by a threat: if the beloved does not forget the poet, the wise world will mock. Along with the sentiments of the first quatrain, the wise world, or the worldly wise, think that all hopes for immortality are ridiculous and vulgar . In this sonnet, taken by itself, the poet seems to agree with the worldly wise. Established religion's consolation, belief in an after-life, seems to be rejected. The words soul and spirit never occur. But the wise world may not be as wise as it thinks: the poet may have found a way of preserving something of himself even after he is gone. He preserves only that ~art of himsel~ whi~h he regards worthy of survival, thi::· sv•eet and playful thought-provoking part. 1 The word "with" in the final line of the poem abounds in fruitful ambiguity. It could mean that the poet will join the wise world in mocking his love if the beloved persists in bemoaning the poet's loss. It could also mean that the wise world would use him, the poet, as the instrument of its mockery. It could even mean that the poet "and" his love "together" will be mocked, if the beloved should openly bemoan their loss. The poet knows that nothing can obliterate the sorrow from the death of those we love. Yet by mixing a spirit of sweet loving playfulness with that sorrow he has contriv2d to transform lover's moans to smiles. . 1. In the third foot of the twelfth line the only major break in metrical regulari ty, substituting anapaest for iamb, suggests that the love is stretched out rather than cut short . 2 . Sonnets LXXI to LXXIV may form some kind of unity. I have tried to interpret Sonnet LXXI by itself. The central lines of Sonnet LXXIV, however, seem to express the central thought of this sonnet as well: The earth can have but earth, which is his due; My spirit is thine, the better part of me. The Genesis of Modern Science In Galileo's Concept of Mathematizable .Nature Pierre H. Gagnier The general aim of !h~ Crisis of th~ Eur opean Scie nces and Transcendental Phenomenology involves the critical exploration of the history of modern philosophy, considered according to its radical meaning as apodeictic science. The task of modern science, and its failure to fulfil that task, contain hidden sources which point to the necessity of a transcendental science . of phenomenology. This science is then developed in light of the examination of the pregiven "life-world", and of the problem of transcendentally ungrounded psychology. In the examination of philosophy, phenomenology is presented as the hidden telos of modern apodeictic science . Husserl opens the whole work with an explication of the crisis of this science. Thus presented, it constitutes a most important motivation for the whole work. In order, however, to understand the crisis and its importance, the nature of science must first be understood. The . beginning of this task lies in the uncovering of the hidden roots of modern science through the examination of its radical f ormation in Galileo ' s thinking. My beginning then will follow closely Husserl's setting out of this genesis, and I will confine my efforts to a more or less pedestrian tracing of his footsteps. Why must analysis of the meaning of modern science begin with a look at Galileo? The task of modern science could not .b e t a ken up until its range was delimited and made specific, and this determination arises out of the re- alization v~rsally of Galileo's idea of a uni - mathematizable world whose nature ' is disclosed through mathematical physics. The motives for this idea will lead us to .the motives~ behind moder~ philosophy whi~h constitute its hidden telos. This first motive arises from a two-fold source, or two_interrelated givens. The first is the array of special sciences inherited from the ancients . Each of these sciences presides over an ~ priori region which is finite; although they yield neceisary truths, these sciences draw their objects from a finite realm. For instance, Euclidian ,geometry is not the science of all of the infinite number of possible, geometric configurations, but rather the science of all the geometrical objects that fall under its exhaustible purveyance. The other given is a new idea about science, a new attitude toward universal and apodeictic reasoning, through which the old sciences are taken up and given infinite tasks. Thus Euclidean geometry leads to the method by which an infinite yet delimited region of possible ! priori- geometrical knowledge is systematically ·disclosed, or in another manner of speaking, it leads to the· method by which the infinite realm of geometrical ~ priori knowledge is systematically constructible in advance according to universal principles. These two givens motivate an unexamined. presentiment in Galileo: that the realm of objective being is a rational tota lity tha t c an be constructed in advance ! priori by its own universal science. This presentiment Pierre H. Gagnier, a junior, wrote this paper for Mr. Lenkowski's prece~torial on Husserl's, The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. 12 13 �leads to the mathematization of nature in Galileo's physics. The meaning of the mathematization of nature can be discovered in the train of thought which led Galileo to it . This train of thought involves presuppositions the problematic nature of which Galileo does not see. First, if we examine what is given for Galileo in this respect, we find 1) that the world presents itself as objective in everyday experience, and 2) that pure mathematics is a science of absolute, self-evident validity. The presupposition that remains unexamined for Galileo is this: it is to be taken for granted that the content of objective experience is the very thing which makes it objective, and is thus its true nature; and this "true nature" consists in ideal mathematical properties . The apodeictic science of these properties is mathemat ics, and specifically, geometry. In orde r to explicate the meaning of this presupposition, the "meaning" of geometry which guided Galileo must be examined . The "meaning" of geometry contains notions of which Galileo may or may not be explicitly aware. Nevertheless our investigation attempts to formulate these notions. In Husserl's analysis of geometry, pure rational geometrical space never means the abstracted transformations which the imagination derives from sense, · for these will always be sensible, however abstract or arbitrary, and they will always be "thinkable only in gradations: the more or less straight, flat, circular, etc. " Sensible things, considered as shapes, whether empirically intuited or abstractly conceived, are only approximately self-identical, that is, approxi ~ately the same things at different times, app r o x . ately the same as themselves, and approx i ma tely the same in other things. They are not exactly identifiable in terms of shape . On the othe r hand , they have shape determinations which are capable of ever more accurate measurement. As the technology of measurement improves, the accuracy of determination improves. As improvement proceeds, it comes to be seen as improvement toward something, and this something comes to mean the ideal lifil= it-shapes of pure geometry. These limit-shapes are unattainable poles of perfection and constitute the realm of "pure thinking", which uses a systematic method of idealization and construction to gain knowledge of this realm. Rut this root meaning of geometry need not be formulated, nor even become a matter of interest in oraer to be employed as ideal method . In fact, as such, it is a cultural accomplishment which does not give evidence of that which gave it its original meaning. The original meaning is obscured, or "sedimented" over by consequent cultural accretions. of meaning. Nevertheless, geometry arises out of the idealization of objectively standardized shapes. In time the discovery is made that all conceivable ideal shapes may be constructed by . the~ priori, universal and systematic method of pure geometry, so that it becomes, in and of itself, the science of an infinite ~ priori. Geometry was a given for Galileo, and though he did not know it, its meaning arose out of the art of measur ement. The art of measurement was itself a tradition given to him which guided him in his relation of empirical matters to the pure mathematical ideals of limit. The idea of mathematical limits set a task to the art of measurement, according to which a method is developed of progressive approximation to geometrical ideals. Pure geometry, remaining autonomous, provides a means and guidance for this task. Since the meaning of geometry was "sedimented" for Galileo, he did not know that it arose from the art of measurement, but he did know that geometry was applied to the art of measurement. For Husserl, "sedimentation" is the process through which original and originary meanings are lost or forgotten. The question which was hidden for Galileo becomes urgent in the unfolding of the late r misdirection of European science: how does the self - evidence "work", by which pure geometry arises out of the art of measure as an origin itself of knowledge? In any case, Galileo sees that geometry, through the art of measurement, achieves obj ecti ve, identical, non-relative demon- 14 strations of truth by its progressive approximations from empirical givens to geometrical idealities. For him, this is a way to see what truly is, with respect to phenomena. At this point Galileo's application of geometry to appearances presents us with a great difficulty. Pure geometry can only be applied to intuited and conceived bodies as abstract spatiotemporal entities. But bodies present themselves to us as concrete. In order to clarify this problem, we must first investigate what we mean by concrete int.ui tions . There are two aspects to this meaning of bodies .as concrete in actual and possible experience: 1) shape is foxm · "filled in" with the "matter" of specific sense qualities, and 2) concrete qualities are concrete because they hang together. But they do not ·just hang together, rather, qualitative changes are related interdependently in a meaningful way. For example, if I move a brown cup from .one location to another, the qualities of location and color will be interrelated. This manner of interdependence · conforms to types of relatedness which give to sensible bodies which exist together the character of the belonging together. In other words, the ways in which bodies present themselves in everyday experience are typical, and the typicality is one by which they present themselves as being essentially causally related to one another. In fact, this typicality is part of the essential structure of the life world. (With respect to this discussion, the "life-world" is merely the world of everyday experience, pregiven before the adoption of any scientific attitude. Thus the life-world can be characterized as prescientific experience.) We are now i~ a position to disclose something more of this essential structure of the life world. The things of the world of everyday life can be characterized as behaving according to an over-all empirical "style·." They have . "habits" of typical behavior which are made possible by this one habit of the _flowing present of intuition, by which it is always for us a world, and not only a world, but one which continues as it has up .to now. By freely varying in imagination the possibilities of this world, the horizon within which they are found is explicated, and the invariant general style which persists throughout can be seen as the essential meaning of the life world. Much . more remains to be said regarding this method of free variation and its present application, but Husserl only assures us ~hat if one were to t~ke up this investigation, one would see that this over-all style is universal- . .!x invariant, and that everything intuited in everyday life is bound by this a priori. This is not a Kantian sense of priori, according to which the ! priori would be a principle prerequisite to any experience, or which stands before experience and dictates its form. The meaning of all intuitions is to be worldly. That is, they belong together in a whole totality of one world, and this world is one because everything in it has the style of belonging together according to causal regulation. Why a priori? No argument is given; perhaps the implication may be drawn that since the . world . of possible intuition is whole only through this style, it cannot be derived ! posteriori ·, and so must be ! priori. That is to say, I can only have a worldly object in relation to a whole world which is prior to it. This causal style discovered in life makes possible the systematic knowledge of the everyday world. Explanations of how and why events occur, as well as predictions of future events from knowledge of present situations are made possible. But if we are to build exact, scientific knowledge from this, .we need more than the general insight that the experiencible is causally related in a single, whole world- horizon. This is the task of an infinite apodeictic science. As such, this science must be the means of constructing the world according to ! priori causal principles, from a meagre base of contingent data. Just as in the realm of pure geometry, any shape is theoretically constructible, so in the realm of the 15 a �intuitable world, any event should be collocation ot all c:ualitative properties . predictable, and capable of being "con Any method that achieves this must include all concrete qualjties as mathematizable, vincingly" verified back in experience . To state this problem is to express the insomuch as they all participate in the Thus natur~ would be task of philosophy: knowing the world in • causal world style . a serious scien~if ic way can have meaning the subject mat te r of this epi s temic and be possible only if there can be science of the world . In order to devised a method by which we can systemat accomplish this, however, the specific ically 1 ) construct, in advance, the world sense qualiti e s, or plenum qualities must of infinite causalities, starting from be found to be indirectly mathematizable . In order tu continue, we must look at direct experience, and 2) verify this construction, accomplishing both in spite specific sense qualities in order to see what it is about them that r equires that of the infinitude of causality and the they be mathemati z able only indirectly, if meagre and r elative nature of direct at all . The whol e notion here is contrary experience . Mathematics itself points to to modern pre s uppositions , used as we are the possibility of accomplishing this task to assuming that measurement r elates through two of its own accomplishments . The first is actually its hidden genesis, always to idealiti e s . We only assume , for insta nce , that a plenum quality such as the idealizing of the world in-respect to spatiotempor al shape, whe r eby shape is sound is d e term i ned by transverse sine waves because of ou r s cientific attitude . abstracted f r om relat~ve, subjective , and vaguely rep r esented object s of sense and It is just this attitude which is ul ti imaqin a tion, and an infinj te uni vers P 0f ~at e l v und e r inves t j0ot i o n he r e, and which we must endeavor to get behind . We must perfectly determined ideal objec ~ s is abst r act ·f r om our e v e ry day wo r ld of bodies apodeictical ly gene r ated a prior i and the ir s p e cific se n se qu a lities (which is absolu t ely . The second accG;plishment was diffe r ent fr om t h e abst r ac t. io n of thei r not hidden fr om Galileo . Through it , spati otempo r al s hape s ) , and con side r t hem g e omet r y retu rns t o the s ens i ble wo r ld to in this aspect . F irst, we find that there f i nd pract i cal application in the art of .is· no immediate ex act measur e for them, meas uring, and guides the method in o r der although we do sense , and have concepts to att a i n obj e ctive knowledge of sensible of , their essential gradations--e . g . more matte r s in respect to their approximate or less hot , cold, light, dark, loud, spatiotempor ality, and in order to predict soft, etc . Exact measurement requires through induction previously unknown, empirical approximation to ideal struc unobservable events . This accomplishment tures which have been constructed objec within the art of measurement is not to be tively in a dvance , s uch as the objective confused with universal mathematical world of pur e geomet r y . The only ~ priori physics, the origin of which is not yet structure of the world we have is explicated. What I refer to here are spatiotempora:; shapes are abstractable finite inductions such as the special from all possible bodies, and their s cience of a s t r onomy which Galileo inher ultimate abst r action encompassing all i ted f r om t he ancient s . fo r ms is the infinite extension of the B ~t a lthough these t wo accomplishunive r se . Idealized, this gives us one ment s po i n t to the possib i lity of a pure science of the world form: pure universal apodeictic constructive science, geometr y. The specific sense qualities we are still f aced with our original are not idealizable analogously, are not difficulty: how can the art of idealizing part of some qua li tati ve world form, and abstractive features of concrete bodies have no measure approximating ideal exact yield a method for the apodeictic science objective constructions given in advance. of all qualities of sensible plena? So, the plena can only be Experience can be characterized as having mathematized, if at all, indirectly . If two aspects: a spatiotemporal aspect, and we turn again to a prescientific attitude a plenum aspect. The plenum aspect is the 16 toward the world of everyday life, and perform the same method of free variation as before, we find that the over-all style of the world includes three predetermined meanings. These are undetermined anticipations of essential regulated ways that shapes relate to specifically sensible qualities. 1) It is predetermined that all things of the world present themselves in the form of space-time. 2) The style of general causality is of this sort: that actual shapes require actual plena. 3) The style of general causality is universal concrete causality. That is, cause relations constitute the infinite world horizon, and every cause and effect is necessary for concrete bodies, for shape aspect as well as plenum aspect. But this may not be so helpful.· These predetermined meanings of concrete bodies hold only with respect to bodies insofar as they are actual and concrete. ·When the plenum aspect is abstracted, we still have not shown that that aspect is dependent in a consistent causal way on · the shape aspect. Our investigation of the realm of possible experience has not shown us that every possible change in a plenum must somehow have a causal counterpart in the shape aspect. This seems strange to us because science gives us assurances about the mathematical nature of plena qualities, while the prescientific world does not. But it is even more strange to note that for Galileo, this assurance is not available. Such being the case, hoW-Could he arrive at his conception of an infinite mathematizable causally integrated nature, in which all plena events can be systematically, though indirectly, determinable through mathematical idealities? The answer to this question is the explanation of the hidden source of Galileo's conception of nature as mathematizable in its c o ncrete actuality. As was indicated earlier, this motive does not arise from prescientific experience. All such experience basically consists in vague and indeterminate dependencies between plenum characteristics and shape c.haracteristics. Even where these dependencies are more determinate, for example the functional dependency of tone on string length, such cases are comparatively rare and not obviously connected with one another in terms of their inductive clarity. · In other words, the basic indeterminate habit of causality of the world of everyday life can provide no source for 'the kind of attitude that Galileo's concept of nature entails-- an attitude of analytical inquiry aimed at the nexus of shape/plenum causal dependencies. In addition to this difficulty, there are two other difficulties behind Galileo's conception of nature: 1) we still have no method for measuring the plena, and 2) with regard to the measuring of space, the prescient if ic era did not yet have methods of space-time measurement adequate to · some visible shape events. Finally, the hypothesis that would suggest this universal causality is foreign to the prescientific world experience. The source of Galileo's view does, however, arise from at least two causes. First, there was a general attitude prevalent which is part of the vague attitude often referred to today as the Renaissance. This attitude involved an inclination to intellectual boldness a nd exuberant hypc>theses. Sec. nd, there was a o very powerful tool available to these men--the infinite,. universal and ideal realm of pure mathematics, with its apodeictic, constructive science. When these two factors are combined, a strong and constructive belief in mathematics is able to lay o ut a completely new task for science, as the source (through technology and the art of measurement) of objective knowledge about the world. This depends upon four prerequisites: 1) the discovery of methods for measuring everything encompassed in geometry, 2) the determination that the whole world is mathematizable with respect to these methods, 3) the possibility of successful induction from particulars, and 4) the determination that the plenum aspect is indirectly mathematizable. All of these gave rise to a universal idea for Galileo, the true meaning of its hypothetical nature being unknown to him: an essential "inductibility" or universal inductivity characterizes the world of possible 17 �intuition, and announces itself in everyday experience, while possessing a hidden infinity. What does it mean to say that this universal inductivity announces itself in everyday life, and that it has a hidden infinity? It was already shown that mathematical shape idealities are the poles of infinite approximations. This is manifested in their extensive and . intensive infinities, whereby mathematical space is infinite in extension and infinitely divisible. When mathematical shapes are applied to concrete, intuitively given experience, they give up their character of being independent from the plenum aspect. In this application they cause actual bodies to become idealized to the extent that they are charged with the same infinities, i.e. these infinities become part of the actual bodies. This "substruction" implies that the plenum qualitie~ become charged with the same infinities since the n 1 Pnnm qualities are inseparable from spatiotemporal qualities. So, in prescientific experience (the attitude from which this hypothesis arises) we find universal causality to be an obvious general and invariable style of possible experience, but only as a vague indeterminate interdependence of events. The application of mathematics to the space aspect of the prescient if ic world causes it to be charged with ideal infinities, and since it is essentially concrete, there is also a hidden infinity substructed for the particular sense qualities, or the plenum aspect. Galileo makes this infinity explicit in his universal idea of the mathematizability of pature. 'I'hough we have come some way in the clarification of the source of Galileo's conception of physics, we still have need of a methodical approach to the determining of the ways in which factual shapes and their plena stand in causal relation to one another. This methodical approach can arise from certain presuppositions involved in the idea of a universal inductivity. These presuppositions present themselves as "how's" pointing to the methodical exposition of the causal relations in question. Each presuppo sition must be clarified; that is, in order to realize the idea of a universal inductivity, each presupposition about the ways shape and plenum are causally related will arise in the consideratio n of method, as a question of "how?", which must be answered in order to bring the presupposition to determinateness. Each "how" leads to its succeeding "how": 1) How do I methodically regulate this inductive task? 2) How are we to determine causality in both aspects ( shape and plenum) of bodily data? 3) How is methodical measurement to disclose pro~ gressively the hidden infinities within this data? 4) How are the resultant shape approximations to make apparent progressivelY. perfect indirect measurements of plena qualities? 5) And lastly, how are these approximations according to all their ideally possible occurrences, to make concrete bodies scientifically determinable? These questions are answered not by any systematic deduction of what possibilities are derived in principle from all the presuppositions essential to this universal idea. Rather, the questions are formulated and answered through what Husserl calls a "passionate praxis of inquiry" which yields discoveries. Because of this approach, the method must be built on unclarified grounds--upon a hypothesis which is not recognized as such. In this light, Galileo is a discoverer; his task is to realize his idea of general inductivity through a twofold process: 1) of inquiring into actual experiences, and 2) of achieving discoveries therefrom. He develops methods according to the anticipations of his hypothesis, and applies them to the intuitable world. These anticipations may be no more than hunches, or matters of instinct, but when he finds them demonstrated by experience, his idea is realized. Discoveries enable more developments in method and set the stage for more discoveries, and Galileo finds that some of these causal relations can be expressed mathematically as formulae, or laws of 18 physics. There is another way of describing the realization of Galileo's hypothesis, by proceeding from the consideration of the twofold nature of the measuring praxis which was discussed earlier. On the one hand, this art yields only inexact quantities. But it also yields the capability of more exact measurement through its own self-improvement. This steady improvement gives the inexactitude of the measurements a new sense--they become approximations. It then only becomes necessary that the end to which the approximations advance be made explicit. Here the unclarif ied relatedness of the world to pure mathematics comes into play; the approximations acquire meaning as being approximations toward ideal, self-identical, perfectly exact mathematical quantities; that is, unattainable poles of accuracy approachable only through progressive improvement of measurement in infinitum. Galileo's method, considered first in regard to the unfolding of inductive discovery, and secondly in regard to the explication of hidden infinities through the art of measurement, can now be considered in regard to the general sense which it possesses as a whole, and which is carried over from the prescientif ic world's invariant over-all style. This over-all style involves a totality of types by which particulars present themselves to us as being related according to the over-all style. For instance, the pencil I hold is an instance of the type, "combustible solid bodies," and as such will burn if I let it fall into a fire. This typical nature of experience is carried over into the Galilean idealization of the world. As formulae are derived from experience, they can be referred to experience in order to ideally · objectify particular events. In the case of my pencil, the rate of its free fall, and its rate of combustion are determinable for any given instance according to mathematical laws of nature. And so these systematically acquired formulae are expressions of general, causal, concrete interdependencies in the form of numerical functional dependencies, and their meaning as such lies in the Galilean idea of a universal physics explicated above. Most important for the considerations Husserl is engaged in, Galileo's physics and its motivation in the idea of universal inductivity, are radically hypothetical. Their necessity is not grounded according to ~ priori principles in the life-world. Therefore the inductive verification of Galileo's physics will never make universal inductivity anything other than a hypothesis. It is throughout the undeniable progress of Galileo's science nothing more than an unendingly verified hypothesis. Like _ the approximations by which the art of measurement approaches true objective determinations in infinitum, the approximations of successive theories to "true nature" proceed in infinitum as toward ideal poles. But this is only an analogy. The ideal poles of theorv are not a region of idealities like the pure shapes are. Pure shapes are realizable mathematically, but the poles of theory are not attainable through my finite progress. They are historically open-ended. This is a consequence of the explication of Galileo's idea of physics which is not properly part of the matter at hand. The hypothesis that Galileo took to be granted--the universal inductivity of nature with its science of mathematical physics--is, in all its complicated motivations from given concepts and presuppositions, the original source of the modern conception of science. 19 �H ILLUSTRATION On the Nature of Cones and Conic Sections Michael Landry A 0 This paper deals with the geometry of J Third, for the hyperbola and ellipse cones and conic sections. In one sense it is concerned with the principle properties of conic sections as revealed by Appollonius of Perga in Book I of his Conics. In quite another sense it is concerned with those properties of cones that Apollonius does not reveal. Given three cones (See Illustration) , let pl a nes be passed through the axes cutting off axial triangles, ABC. Let a nother plane be passed through the cones cutting the base in the line GF so that GF is perpendicular to BC. Let this plane, called the plane of reference, be posi tioned in three separate ways with respect to one side of the axial triangle (we will use AC ) . First, let DE (the intersection of the plane of reference and the axial triangle) be parallel to AC. Second, let DE intersect AC extended past the vertex, outside of the cone at H. Third, let DE intersect AC extended past the b ase (but within the cone extended) at H. We now have th.ree types of conic sections, FOG, named parabola, hyperbola and ellipse respectively. In Book I, propositions 11, 12 and 13 of his Conics, Apollonius sets out the basic properties of the p arabola, ·hyperbola and ellipse. First, in all thre ~ c on e s he c on structs p line, DJ, perpendicular to DE at D. Second, for the parabola he determines the length of DJ by the following contrivance: J he first d r aws a line through the point A parallel to DE and intersecting BC (exten ded) at M. He then determines the length of DJ in this way: DA :DJ : : rect. BA,AC :BC 2 2 HD:DJ :: AM : rect. BM,MC Using these contrivances, then proves that in the : Parabola, Hyperbol a, El 1 ipse, GE 2 GE GE 2 2 Apollonius B = DE,DJ F F DE,DJ + DE,JO where JO is determined by the rati o HD : DJ .. DE : JO HYPERBOLA PARABOLA A DE,DJ - DE , JO by the same rati o. Now, a moment's thought, should reveal that the contrivances which determine DJ stand on no geometrical foundations. They are not logically obvious for the purpose they serve, nor is their derivation indicated in the slightest. Because the contrivances are right fo r their pu r pose, Apollonius is able to prove his propositions, but he does this without revealing anything about the sense of the contrivances. However, since they work so wel i · in the proofs, the overwhelming tendency is to ignore this problem and to pass to other, more profound mysteries. Th e first real difficulty that confronts a student of the Conics is the possibl~ difference between the parabola Michael Landry is a graduate of the Santa Fe campus. He wrote this paper while at St. John' Si it has since become a spark of insight passed from class to class. 20 C(M,N) M H ELLIPSE and the other two sections. This problem is extremely subtle. One intuitively sens e s no difference . Yet, the two separate contrivances suggest a difference, and Apollonius' techniqµe of sepa- 21 rate proofs tends to confirm it. If one tries to demonstrate a kind of sameness, the contrivances actually impede a rigorous proof. I have to report that if the ttue �nature of the contrivances is k nown a n d understood, the pro blem vanis he s. Th ere is no difference between the parabo la a nd the other two secti o ns. If, c o nsidering the differences bet ween them, t he hyperbola and the ellipse are said t o be the same because the same c on triva n ce serves them both, then, necessari 1 y, t he parabola must be said t o be the same as the hyperbola and the ellipse since, in fact, one and the same contrivan c e serves all three. This may be easily demonstrated: If, through the point D on the axial triangle, the. line DK be drawn parallel to the base, with a little manipulation we find that: t he r e f o re, DA:DJ .. AB,AC:BC 2 therefore, DA:DJ comp. AB:BC, AC:BC and since, AB:BC .. DA:DK and, AC:BC .. DE:BE therefore, DA: DJ c omp. DA: DK, DE:BE and compounding both sides with DK:DA, comp. DK: DA, DA: DJ . . comp. DK: DA, DA:DK, DE:BE therefore, :: DE:BE. Th e c on trivances are ide n tical. We mu s t n o l o nger think of them as two, but as o ne. Thu s we c o nfro n t a n unsuspected my stery at the very heart of the ge ometry o f con es an d c o nic secti o ns. In o rder t o give a full explanation o f this mystery. I p r o p o se t o set o ut a new proo f b eginning with the passing of planes through a cone. Fo r c on venience I will use three cones and · suggest that all constructions and c ontrivances be applied to all three cones at the same time. ( 1 ) Let the cones be set out and cut by planes as described above. (2 ) Through the point D on the axial triangle, let the line DK be drawn parallel to the base BC. ( 3) Through the p o ints A and K on the axial triangle, let the lines ALM and KN be drawn parallel to DE, the dia meter of the section. (Observe that in the parabola the points K and L coincide as do the points C, M and N. Th is proof will remain one proof if these p o ints are distinguished though they coincide. Point K is the intersection of DK and AC; point L is the intersection of DK and a 1 ine drawn through the point A parallel to DE: etc. )_ 2 (4 ) Now in each cone GE = BE,EC, f o r BC is the diameter of a circl e , and GE is p erpendicular to it (Eucl. III.31; VI. 8, Po rism ) . But, in the: (A) In the parabola, DK: DJ DK:DJ :: DE:BE. 2 Earabo la, GE == BE, EC a nd s ince , EC = EN (B ) And in the hyperbol a 2 and ellipse, HD:DJ .. AM :BM,MC = DK t h erefo re, and since, BE, DK. hyperbo la, there f1..,re, BE,EC HD:DJ c omp. AM:MC, AM:BM AM :MC .. HD : DK but, therefo re, GE = EC therefo re, and , (Eu cl. I. 3 4 ) AM:BM .. DE : BE 2 EN + NC = BE,EN and compoundin g both sides with DK:HD , c omp . DK: HD , HD: DJ :: comp . DK:HD , HD: DK, DE:BE + BE,NC ( Euc l. II. 1) HD:DJ comp . HD : DK, DE:BE and si n ce, th eref o re, 22 = DK EN GE 2 = (Eu cl. I. 34 ) BE ,DK + BE ,NC ellipse, GE 2 (5) Let DJ be drawn perpendicular to DE, and let it be contrived that: = BE,EC c:ind adding the r2ct. BE,NC to both sides, GE + BE,NC = BE,EC + BE,NC but, EC + NC = EN therefore, GE BE,DK = DE,DJ 2 2 + BE,NC therefore, GE and since, EN = DK therefore, GE 2 This, then, is the heart of our mystery, for the contrivance may be rewritten: BE,EN (Eucl .II.I) DK:DJ : : DE :BE since the product of the means is equal to the product of the extremes. The route from this contrivance to that of Apollonius' is simply a matter of manipulation. The new contrivances, at least the contrivance for the hyperbola and the ellipse, become necessary because of a difficulty inherent in the next step. (6) Let JO be drawn, and let it be con trived that: . = BE,EN - BE,NC (Eucl. I. 34) = BE,DK - BE,NC We have therefore, Parabola: GE Hyperbola: GE ElliEse: GE 2 2 2 BE,DK BE,NC = DE,JO BE,DK + BE,NC BE,DK - BE,NC. or, Now, two important things may be said about these three equalities. The first is that they all may be expressed by the 2 general equation: GE = BE, DK ~ BE, NC. DE:BE :: NC:JO (7) The transposition is complete, for now we have: Parabola: GE 2 Since in the parabola the points N and C coincide, the rect . BE,NC is simply equal to zero. Thus, the factor vanishes from the equation. Yet, it may be said to exist, for the generality holds. Second, it is essential to recognize that the line DK is a natural geometric "parameter" generated by the passing of planes through a cone . DK is a constant and va~ies not a whit as GE increases from zero to infinity . To proceed with the proof, we must reason as follows: since GE lies in the plane of reference as well as in the base of the cone, and since DE varies directly as BE, it ~ possible to transpose the value o f GE f r om the base of the cone to the plane of reference while maintaining equality. The problem is essentially that of altering the parameter DK to accommodate DE instead of BE. Since 2 GE is a function of two rectangles, BE,DK and BE,NC, the transposition is most easily accomplished in two steps. 23 HyEerbola: GE ElliEse: GE = DE,DJ 2 2 (5) DE,DJ + DE,JO (5 & 6) DE,DJ - DE,JO (5 & 6) A difficulty exists, however. How will the rectangle DE,JO be accounted for as GE increases? The difficulty is solved because of the interesting relationship between DE and JO. (8) Since, DK:DJ .. DE:BE (5) and, DE: BE . . NC : JO (6) therefore, ex aequali, DK: DJ : : NC : JO and alternately, DK:NC : : DJ :JO but since, DK:NC .. HD:KN therefore, HD:KN .. DJ : JO �= DE and since, KN theref o re, nec e ss i ty for it exp lai ned , t here r emains the problem of expl a i n i ng the new contrivance for the parabo la: HD:DE .. DJ:JO and alternately, (Eu c l . I. 34 ) DA:DJ :: BA,AC:BC HD:DJ :: DE:JO. Thus we find that DE:JO is always given rati o . The procedure cont r ivance : is obvious . If the DK : DJ . . DE : BE be corrected to 2 HD : DJ .. AM :BM,MC i n one step it becomes possible to find the new paramet e r DJ and to set out the ratio HD:DJ of t he sides of the rectangle DE, JO wh~h is constantly the diff e rence between GE and the rectangle DE,DJ . With the new contrivance f o r the hyperbola and ellipse set ou t, and the In the Wake Andrew J. Krivak And t here he lay beneath one hundred sad bouquets. They b e nt t o kiss hi s fa c e-a t i r ed wh i t e , his powe rfu l hands with faded spots of ag e now holding what we can' t, a r osary entwi ned in finge rs clutching the bead of the r esur rect i on--then knelt to p r ay for themse lves . Dr y your tear s, Ste lla . W a re the dead. e Andrew It was simply a matter of time. Each lacked the foolish balance of a boy, It was a way over the river that the ease of a familiar road, demanded time from other ways. and the concentration that fear dissolves. The other ways she knew; Again she saw the river -- through but the trestle was as straight and fast the ties her foot was caught in. as the train that ran over it. She looked at her baby. The train ridde.n only by old engineers In desperation growing with the and brakemen easing it over the rails sound of the train, she wrapped on time; the trestle walked upon only by his blanket tightly around him. village boys flirting in time with Her tears streaked his face as she kissed him, then threw him off, the train on time, feet with animal his blanket fluttering as he fell grace that touch the ties down, down into the river below. the rails are riding on, the flash of river between each one as they She l ooked up at the boy standing in front of her, watching, dumb. streak, head down, back to the shore they came from; just in time. Through the tears her eyes asked why? Why he did not run? She set out across thinking He looked at the track ahead, only of the other side, th'e -water b~low, and.the woman next to him. and her son, blanketed in her arms as he stirred in his sleep. She laid her head on the rails, sobbing. As he reached to touch her Her thoughts carried her halfway across the trestle, to the boy the train screamed by, helpless. yelling as he ran towards her, his voice slowly being overtaken by the roar of the train. The mome nt of dumb realization ... "That was so long a go," s he sa i d , stood still. Her eyes absorbed the trestle , and I could see the tear that told the boy, the train, the river t he sto ry fi l l her eye a nd rust the trestles that crossed rivers and below that flowed to her side. In fear's attempt to gather up all the memories that each time b r ough t another tear, falling what has foolishly been laid down, she turned to run, not from the train, and shattering like crystal in the past. He was seven years old when she but back -- back to where there was t o ld him about Mother, the train, more than one way to go . a nd t he fisherme n who had saved him. But step takes step a nd never gives up the steps it has taken . A. J . Krivak is a fres hman. h istor y . 24 J. Krivak 2 Since there is no line HD in the parabo la, t he line DA is an obvi ou s c hoice. However, t here is no real necessity for t he new contrivance since both the old and new perform the same function. They merely find the parameter DJ . The argument that the new contrivance can be stated in terms of given lines in the axial triangle, whereas in the old contrivance the line DK must be constructed, can be countered by arguing the i mportance of DK . Without DK the way back is lost! We will never know how long Apollonius thought about that fascinating fact before he decided to pull his little joke. We can only accept it and stand in awe of this master of al 1 geometricians, Apollonius of Perga. in a The Trestle His narrative poems arise from sto ries o f his family's 25 �Substance in Book VIII of the Metaphysics Lisa Tomasi ov ) Being (To has two senses: the individuality or " thisness " (To6E n ) , and the "what" (TL ~OTG) of the thing. By the opening of Book VII Aristotle has equated the what with substance (ouoLa as the primary meaning of being and is ready to explain what he thinks substance is. After explaining what substance is, he will be able to answer other questions which he lists in the second chapter; What things are substances? Are there any substances besides sensible ones (e.g. forms of sensible substances)? How do sensible substances exist? Is there any nonsensible substance capable of separate existence (i . e. any pure unsubstantial forms)? But first, what is substance? The four most immediate possibilities are substrate, essence, universal, and genus. Aristotle devotes chapter 3 to a discussion of substrate, chapters 4, 5, 6 to essence, and chapters 13-16 to universal and genus. But what about the chapters not mentioned? Chapters 7, 8, 9 discuss generation; 10, 11, 12 discuss parts of definition, matter, and form again; and 17 concludes by saying that substance is the cause (i.e. the form) by virtue of which the matter is a definite thing. Although these latter chapters do not inunediately appear to fall under any ~f the headings essence, substrate, universa l, or genus, they · bear on the discussion of substance. The word that repeatedly crops up in, and unites these chapters as well as the first one, is form. Form is continually the subject of Book VII. It is not surprising that by the final chapter substance- is form. But let's start at the beginning to see how form is introduced. The first possible meaning of substance that Aristotle discusses is substrate. (uno~ELµEvov) - that which underlies all the predicates of anything. There are three senses of substrate: mattf'r ( uA.n ) , form ( µopqin ) , and their combination. Matter might be thought to be substance since like substance it is -always predicated, but never predicates . But since substance has separability and individuality - thisness - which matter lacks, the two cannot be one. Neither could the combination of form and matter qualify as substance at least until form has been discussed . And so begins the discussion of form - under the heading of essence. Essence, roughly speaking, is that which a thing is said to be by its own nature. It does not include the whiteness of a surface, nor its smoothness; neither of these attributes is part of the definition of surface. The essence of a thing includes only what is necessary to define it without actually using its name. The close relation between essence and definition implies what things can be said to have essence: all things whose account is a definition. Definitions are those accounts which do not involve the predication of one thing of another. Therefore only species of a genus can have definition and essence in the primary sense. That is, only substances have unqualified essence. Lisa Tomasi, an Annapolis senior, wrote this paper for Miss Brann's preceptorial on Aristotle's Metaphysics. 26 parts: form and matter. Neither part is With this conclusion, Aristotle itself generated1 generation is their excludes such things as snubness from the combination. That form is not generated category of substance. Snub means snub but is the same in the generator and the nose. The word involves the name of its . generated are Aristotle's first points subject (nose) _ and cannot be explained about form with regard to generation. He apart from it. For this reason it cannot also speaks as if form and essence are the be included in those things whose account same thing in several places: "The thing is a definition. It is not a substance, in the sense of form or essence is not and has no essence, unless qualifiedly. generated." (1032bl). Thus far the arguments about essence But perhaps there remains a differhave not shown whether essence is subence between essence and subst ance , sinc e : stance. But at least we conclude from them that substances alone, in the primary ·"By substance without matter I mean the essence." (1032b15) .. Aristotle's first sense, have essence. In chapter 6 inquiry into substance was form or matter Aristotle approaches the identification of or both. Now he seems to be claiming that a thing's essence and its substance by way it is both matter and form or essence of their identification with the particuunless he thinks at least some substance lar thing itself. If it could be shown actually is without matter. But that that a particular thing is its own eswould imply that forms exist of themselves sence, and that substance is the same as independently of matter. He clearly the particular thing, the rest would argues against that being the case. It is follow. Is the particular thing the same impossible, since then an individual as its essence? Terms denoting the uni?n composed of form and mat-t:-er must itself of a subject with an accident cannot be contain another individual, the form. the- ·same as their essence since a def ini ':"" Generation of individual composites would tion does not include accidents. But be ·impossible if each form was its own terms denoting unpredicated subjects are individual. "Form means 'of such a kind:' the same as their essence, according to 1 it is not a definite individual, but we the following arguments. produce or generate from the individual First, if a thing is separate from something 'of such a kind;' and when it is its essence that thing will be unknowable, generated it is an individual 'of such a since we know things by knowing their kind.'" (1033b23) Thus form or essence essence. Also, if we could separate a seems to be more and more identified with thing from its essence, we could next the "whatness" - substance. It describes separate that essence (as a thing) from the nature of each thing, but not its its own essence, and so on to infinity. individuality, for many things share a Therefore in the case of primary and Form cannot by itself be common form. self- subsistent terms, the individual substance, however, since substance is thing is the same as its essence. that which exists independently1 form does Aristotle does not conclude from this not. that substance and essence are one, since Next Aristotle takes up a discussion he has not argued that the individual of definition. It is an enlargement upon thing is the same as its substance. his earlier explanation of definition in Rather he seems to leave this train of its relation to essence. Definition is of thought behind in order to discuss form the form: it is divided into parts which from a different viewpoint that of correspond to the parts of the form of the generation. subject. Matter can compose parts of the Generation, whether by nature, art, concrete subject, but not of the form. or accident, is always by something, out These material parts are posterior to the of something, and into something. By the whole1 the parts that compose the ·definiform of sphere, bronze is generated into a tion, and the essence which it describes, bronze sphere. Therefore, that which is are prior to the whole. These latter generated is always divisible into two 27 �one rather than many indi~iduals. Secondparts refer to ' the universal since only ly the universal is always the predicate the universal can be defined. The conof a subject, while the substance is never crete subject, with its material parts, a predicate of a subject. cannot be defined. Thus essence is the Neither can the universal be sub"what" of substance - the definable part. stance in the sense of being part of a The .material which makes the individual is sub~. ect' s essence. 'Animal' might be not included in the definition. considered a substance which is part of a The importance of matter in the man's essence. But then the substance man discussion of substance as essence comes contains the "substance" animal . But forward in the 11th chapter: "to dispose since animal is a universal it cannot be of the matter is going too far; for some prior to substance. Thus substances things are presumably a particular form in cannot be composed of other substances. a particular matte r." (1036b23) The Especially since each substance is itself material parts are in the concrete an individual, there is no way to unite substance, even though they are excluded from the formula of the substance . Things · one substance to another or to include one in another. which do not have any material (for These conclusions lead Aristotle into example, crookedness) therefore are the a difficulty which he admits at the close same as their essence; but material of the chapter. That is, since substance things cannot be. cannot be composed of universals, and only There remains to be discussed yet universals can be defined, it would seem another aspect of definition - its unity. that :;ubst.ance:; <n>=> undefinable . But Aristotle asks: what constitutes the substance must be definable since it is unity of a thir.g of which we say that the the "whatness" of every being . f ormu la is a definition? First of all a Aristotle does not need to argue defin it ion of a species ·consists of the against the fou rth alternative meaning of name of t he genus a nd at least one substance, the genus. This argument is dif ferentia. These parts form a whole included in that of the universal, since because they have no existence apart from the genus is a universal. The unive rsal one another. Each differentia specifies argument applies as well to Plato's Forms. what form the genus has taken in the case For either the Form of animal must be of the species being defined . The genus different in man than in horse, or man and is as matter to the dif ferentia which give horse will have the same substance. If it it form. Neither part can exist except as is different in each case of animal, it a part of the whole object; the names for cannot exist outside o f the individuals as each part can make sense only as pa rts of a separate unity. And certainly, man and the whole definition. horse cannot have the same substance if Each dif ferentia presupposes the one they are to be different individuals. before it. "Two-footedness" presupposes Thus of the four possible substances, "footed". It is the last differentia that genus and universal have been denied, is most simply the definition of the thing substrate in so far as it is matter has s ince it includes all the rest. This last also been denied, while form and essence · is the ultimate specification of the form remain. Aristotle's last chapter takes of the subject being defined. Aristotle yet another tack at explaining how form calls this form the substance . and essence are substance. In chapter .13, Aristotle take·s up the Substance is a principle and a cause. question of wh~ther or not the universal We ask: why does this bronze sphere exist is substance. He concludes that it is not, for the following reasons. Substance - what is the cause of this bronze sphere? its substance is the cause. is that which . gives each inaividual its We answer: uniqueness; the universal is that which is But we still do not know what is meant by common to many things. If individual s substance because we have not asked the We must ask instead: shared a common substance, they would be question properly. 28 why is this bronze spherical - what is the cause of the sphericalness in the bronze? And answer: the form of the sphere in the material bronze is the cause. Then the substan.ce is 'the- forl'D1n the material. It is that which causes the material to be an .individual thing. Cicy Blocks Richard E. Miller Drunk Father has hurled poor Ganymede from his quarters, carel~ssly sweeping long bolts of lightening from h~s unmade ~ed. 1 These hissing threads unravel, kink and explode against the night s canvas, while you and I, huddled around the embers of our past,. reach across the invading blackness with words and stories to warm, to reassure. wrap myself in heaven's cloak, trailing clouds and stars behind my cape of silver night. Flying above the reaching fingers of our fence, I enter your world; we spoke of travel, the--jewel you found on sleeping Italy's breast, street violence that drove you into the gardens to hide, children sailing boats on the pond. Encouraged, I chop further into this jungle, through fields, thickets of memories, seeking the colored, alphabetized blocks that found you. I walk into this city I which crumbles, recoiling in fear as the drunkard relinquishes his hold; household lights up, refrigerator hums to life: power back on. Behind the security of carefully replaced masks we grope in empty wells for something to say. Peeking through the clearing storm, stars shine down on silent houses, losing the struggle with buzzing street lamps for night's domain. Richard Miller a senior; this poem is part of a set entitled "Offering", for which he received the Baird Award this year . 29 �A Translation of Valery's ''Palme" John Tracy Barely veiling the brilliance of his awesome grace, an angel sets before me soft bread and smooth milk. His eye forms a sign, the hint of a prayer that calls to my vision: --Calm, calm, rest calm! Recall the burden of a palm bearing the ponderance of its gifts. De sa gr~ce redoutable Voilant peine l'~clat, Un ange met sur ma table Le pain tendre, le lait plat; Il me fait de la paupiere Le signe d'une priere Qui parle ma vision: -Calme, calme, reste calme! Connais le poids d'une palme Portant sa profusion! For its form is fulfilled as it bows in accord with the abundance of its wealth. Its weighty fruit becomes its bonds . See how it sways, and how this pliant thread, dividing the present from the past, separates without ceremony the allure of the earth from the weight of the firmament. Pour autant qu'elle se plie A l'abondance des biens, Sa figure est accomplie, Ses fruits lourds sont ses liens. Admire comme elle vibre, Et comme une lente fibre Qui divise le moment, / ' Departage sans mystere L'attirance de la terre Et le poids du firmament! This fair mediatrix, rocking between shade and sun, recalls the sibyl in her wisdom and her slumber. The ample pa lm r ocks r ound place; never to be wearied with hellos or goodbyes. How noble, how tender, how worthy is it to await the hand of the gods. Ce bel arbitre mobile Entre l'ombre et le soleil, Simule d'une sibylle La sagesse et le sommeil. Auteur d'une m~me place L'ample palme ne se lasse Des appels ni des adieux ... Qu'elle est noble, qu'elle est tendre! Qu'elle est digne de s'attendre A la seule main des dieux! about a a one L'or l~ger qu'elle murmure Sonne au simple doigt de l'air, Et d'une soyeuse armure. Charge 1 1 fune du desert. The delicate gold it whispers rings through the purity of the air, and fills the desert's soul with its silken weave. John Tracy, currently a senior in Annapolis, wrote this translation for his Junior Language tutorial. 30 It sends forth to the desert winds which spray it with grains of sand an everlasting voice serving it as oracle, and imagining to announce the miracle its burden is to sing. Une voix imperissable, Qu'elle rend au vent de sable Qui l'arrose de ses grains, A soi-~me sert d'oracle, Et se flatte du miracle, Que se chantent les chagrins. Yet between sand and sky it stands unaware that each day dawns to make its honey of a sweetness measured by a divine time, a time not keeping count of days, but concealing them well in an essence where it acquires all the _ fragrances of love. Cependant qu'elle s'ignore Entre le sable et le ciel, Chaque jour qui luit encore Lui compose un peu de miel. Sa douceur est mesuree Par la.divine duree Qui ne compte pas les jours, Mais bien qui les dissimule Dans un sue ou s'accumule Tout l'arome des amours. If sometime you despair, or if, despite your tears, revered rigor labors under a shade of languor, do not accuse a sage of being miserly who prepares such gold and influence. For through this solemn sap eternal hope climbs to its maturity! Parfois si l'on d~sespere, Si l'adorable rigueur Malgre tes larmes n'opere Que sous ombre de langueur, A N'accuse pas d'etre avare . . , Une Sage qui prepare Tant d'or et d'autorit~: Par la s~ve solennelle Une esp~rance ~ter~elle Monte la maturit'! These days which seem to you empty and lost to the universe have thirsty roots which work the deserts with select and hairy substance and through the darkness delve never resting til they've reached the very bowels of the earth in search of the deep waters the summits do require. Ces jours qui te semblent vides Et perdus pour l'univers Ont des racines avides Qui travaillent les d~serts. La substance chevelue Par les tenebres elue Ne peut s'arr~ter jamais, Jusqu'aux entrailles du monde, De poursuivre l'eau profonde Que demandent les sonunets. Patience, patience, patience amid the blue! Within each seed of silence lies the hope of ripened fruit! The gladsome prize shall come! A dove, a breeze, a gentle rustling, a woman seeking rest, shall let loose this rain at which you fall to your knees! Patience, patience, Patience dans l'azur! Chaque atome de silence Est la chance d'un fruit m~r! . Viendra l'heureuse surprise: Une colombe, la brise, L'~branlement le plus doux, Une fenune qui s'appuie, Feront tomber cette pluie ' . Ou l'on se Jette "a genoux l Let a nation now fall, Palm, . . . They may not withstand! ,,, / Qu'un peuple 'a present s'ecroule, Palme! ..• irr~sistiblement! a 31 �Dans la poudre qu'il se roule Sur les fruits du firmament! Tu n'as pas perdu ces heures, Si l~g~re tu demeures Apres ces beaux abandons; Pareille celui qui pense Et dont l'ame se depense A s'accro1tre de ses dons! In .the dust let them roll among the fruits of the firmament! You have not lost these hours If you do linger awhile amid the remains of these abandonings like he who reflects, and whose soul's sole concern lies in his gifts' in c rease! Jonathan Antonio Edelman a Notes to the translation: The initial difficulty of the translation of ·the poem was purely of my own invention. I struggled to provide a smooth beginning to the poem, but upon closer examination of the French, I realized that this was uncalled for. The angel interrupts, or rather bursts into the poet's thoughts; there is no smooth introduction in · the poem. "De ~ grace redoutable. . " begins in mid-sentence, and eminates to its beginning "Un ange met sur ma table" much like a pebble cast in a pool fo r ms ripples eminating from the focus of the stone's splash. The bril liance of the angel is immediately contrasted to the simplicity of its offe rings, and the exhortation of its eyes. Its appearance is a disturbance, but its eyes bid the poet "reste calme". Its annunciation recalls images -oft.he poet whose work becomes a burden like the burden of ,. a palm laden with ripe fruit; his work nearly completed is most heavy on his mind, most burdensome, most tiresome. The image of the palm is designed to comfort the poet by showing him the necessity of this burdensome time. The second and third stanzas invoke the time and timeless image of the palm as it stands as mediatrix between the earth and heaven. The palm becomes a pendulum whose fruits form the bob, and whose stalk forms the thread. Its incessant swayings recall images of sibyls; just as the sibyl sits fixed within her temple, the palm is set upon the sands never to move from the focus of its rocking. They await the hand of the gods, each anchored by ito . ardor. The Breath of Kings: On the Tragedy of King Richard the Second The fourth stanza compares the gentle murmuring of the palm to the oracles of the sibyl, and may be compared to the song of the poet whose gentle force can enchant the burdensome from man. The fifth stanza returns us to the palm fruits and the seeming timelessness of their maturation. Their sweetness is measured not by time, but by that which conceals time within itself. This compul sion of time, in the sixth stanza, seems to be the catalyst for the angel's opening exhortation, "Calme, calme, rest e calrne ! " . Fruition must ~measured ~this~low (saplike) progression of divine tim~. The poet despairs and his days seem slow and empty. In the seventh stanza, these empty days seem so because of the depths that t~eir roots must delve to provide food for their summits, just as the palm must delve its roots to provide food for its fruits; time falls second to the concerns of ripening fruit. In the eighth stanza, the angel soo t he s t h e p o et with 't s wh i spers of "patience". This echoes the "calme" of the first stanza . The silences, the "jours vides", become seminal, possessing the "chance d' un fruit m~r". They shall fall naturally, or from some other occur~nce: "une colombe, la brise, une femme" or perhaps the angel-of the f i.rst stanza shall cause the shower of ripened fruit. The angel c omforts the p o et with the hope that the seeming empty times are not in vain if we recall the necessity of slow time for ripe fruit. The Tragedy of King Richard the Second speaks of a second fall of man, caused by an anointed king who breaks his bond with his kinsman. Though pointing to a resolution, Richard II itself offers no solution. It is a study of a breakdown between language itself, and what language addresses. This breakdown is concurrent with the decay of a theological-political order which binds men not only to each other but to God. At the center of the conflict lies the succession of Kingship, from Richard to Bolingbroke, men who are in many ways incommensurate in speech and action. Shakespeare juxtaposes Richard's use of language with Bolingbroke's by showing how each uses titles, oaths and bonds, and by showing how each regards the significance of the pardons he bestows. Although allusions to the Fall occur throughout the play, the two major discussions of the Fall occur in Gaunt's speech (II, i, 31ff) and the garden scene (III, iv). These sections are particularly important in understanding the movement of the play, for they are not historical; that is, not subject to any limitations other than those which Shakespeare de termined. These scenes act as a commentary on the play, indicating perspectives from which to consider the events ~ Gaunt's speech in part deals with the fall of England from its sacred position in the world. Just before he dies, Gaunt considers himself "a prophet new inspi r ed" . (II , i , 31) He speaks of England as "this other Eden, demi-paradise... This blessed plot ... John Edelman is Sophomore essay. 32 currently a senior teeming womb of royal kings... Renowned for their deeds as far from home for Christian service and true chivalry as •. . blessed Mary's Son ... " (II, i, 42ff). However, this "other Eden" verges on a Fall. For rather t,han · conquer other nations in the name of Chri.st, England has set upon itself. The garden scene further links the succession of kings to the story of Adam. The gardener compares the garden he tends to the "garden" of England. Unlike Adam or the gardener, the king has not tended his garden. Instead Bolingbroke performs this task: "The weeds [Bushy, Green, and Wiltshire] which his [Richard's) broad spreading leaves did shelter, That seem'd in eating him to hold him up, Are plucked up root and all by ~olingbroke--" (III, iv, 50ff) The King ought to be an Adam to England, yet Richard is unable to tend his garden. The Queen rebukes the gardener and refers t o the fall of Richard as " a second f all of cursed man." (III, iv, 76 ) The fall of Eng land results from Richard's breach of faith with his subjects. In seizing the properties of Lancaster, Richard undermines an order which links the nation to God. Allusions to Christ and the Passion are numerous in the play , R ·char d• s comparing himself to Christ being the most . frequent. That so dishonest a king can in Annapolis. 33 "The Breath of Kings" is his �ref er to himself as a Christ can be understood in light of his seeing himself as blameless and martyred. Richard's lack of awareness concerning the implications of his action exemplifies this . Though Richard clearly sees others' transgressions and the implications of these acts, he does not realize that he acts dishonestly . "Revolt our subjects? That we cannot mend; They breach their faith to God as well as me." (III, i i lOlff) Bolingbroke, on the other hand, is quite conscious of the implications of his actions, both against men and the crown. This awareness is what allows Bolingbroke, unlike Richard, to be essentially poli tically mined, a quality necessary for good kingship. The comparison of Richard to Christ further suggests the position of king Richard in relation to God, as God's anointed, tending his people. However, the corrupt Richard is incapable of the concerns for his flock that a Christ must have . Bolingbroke is like Christ in some of those aspects in which Richard is deficient. He comes to right wrongs, and whether he knows it or not, takes the sin which must be committed, that is, the demise of Richard, unto himself. He dies in the Jerusalem room, rather than in Jerusalem. The juxtaposition of some of the characteristics of Adam, Christ, and good kingship in the two men is part of a conflict · in which neither Richard nor Bolingbroke is the solution, for each is incomplete. The resolution of the conflict must occur in a man who is the synthesis of the best elements of the two. A story concerning the second fall, because it occurs after Christ, must be a political drama. Neither God, His first creation, nor His Son is directly present in the world. Instead, the king who is both divine and political is present. The concern of Richard II lies in the welfare of the State, for the proper governing of God's kingdom on earth is at stake. . A second fall has to do with the identity of the king as man, and his relation to God and the State. Eventually it becomes the story of how a legitimate king is re-established and what kind of man he must be. Richard's kingship is discussed mainly by Richard himself, though also by the Bishop of Carlisle, Gaunt and York. In I, ii the Duchess of Gloucester confronts Gaunt with his failure to speak out against the King's involvement in the death of Gloucester. Gaunt replies that it is not his place to correct the misdeeds of the king: "God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute, His deputy anointed in His sight, Hath causes his death; the which if wrongfully Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift an angry arm against his minister." (I, ii, 37ff) The problem of correcting Richard, culminating in his deposition, is more complicated than merely acting against him because of his position in relation to God. Action against the king is sacrilege, and the effects of such a move would be devastating. Carlisle speaks to this problem in IV: "What subject can give sentence on his King? And who sits here that is not Richard's subject? •.. And shall the figure of God's majesty, His captain, steward, deputy-elect, Anointed, crowned, planted many years, Be judged by subject and inferior breath, And he himself not present?" If this were to occur, Carlisle continues, England would be called Golgotha. Thus the deposition of Richard, is a "heinous, black and obscene" deed. (IV, i, 121ff) Richard must be deposed "legitimately", that is, in such a way that no one 34 takes the crown from him. The problem of <leposi tion is developed in Richard's speech in III, ii: "Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the balm off an anointed King; The breath of worldly men cannot depose The deputy elected by the Lord" (III, ii, 54-57ff ) The course that Bolingbroke takes is to orchestrate events so as to put Richard in a position where Richard himself must abdicate. Although this technically frees Bolingbroke from responsibility for the deposition itself, it is questionable· whether the king can abdicate legitimately. For, it is not clear whether Richard is a "worldly" man. The Abbott of Westminster, Carlisle and Aumerle in IV, i, refuse to acknowledge the validity of the succession of Bolingbroke and plot against him. Concurrent with the breakdown of a social order, words change in relation to that which they address. Because he is something of a poet, Richard's interest lies in how the moment can be made into words. this. (I, i, 152-159ff) Bolingbroke's use of metaphor is much more straightforward. His diction is muscular and rough in comparison with Richard's fine diction. Prior to the entrance of the King, (III, iii, 54ff) the Duke utters one of his few lengthy metaphors in the play. However, he carefully roots the imagery in the matter which he describes: "Be he the fire, I'll be the yielding water: The rage be his, whilst on the earth I rain My waters; on the earth and not on him." (III, iii, 55-60ff) In Act III, iii, 176ff Northumberland asks Richard to meet Bolingbroke: "My lord, in the base court he doth attend To speak with you; may it please you to come down?" Richard's response exploits the idea of corning down into the "base court", where he will surrender himself to Bolingbroke: "Down, down I come, like glist'ring Phaeton, Wanting the manage of unruly jades. In the base court? The greater his despair, the more Base court where kings grow base, poetic he becomes, and the more detached To come at traitors' calls, and do his words are from the world. In I, i, them grace! Richard calls Bolingbroke and Mowbray into In the base court? Come down? Down his presence: court! Down King!" " ... face to face, When Bolingbroke kneels before Richard, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear the king still clings to the pun: The accuser and accused freely speak. Fair cousin, you debase your High-stomach'd are they both, and princely knee full of ,ire, To make the base earth proud with In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as kissing it ... " fire." Richard is interested in the stories (I, i, 15-19ff) that will be told of his experience as The opposition in his speech describes the · tragic rather then in the experience moment eloquently. It is almost too itself. In III, ii, line 150ff and v, i, poetic. The emphasis is on the opposition line 40f f, Richard speaks of telling sad stories about the deposing of kings. He of words and metaphors rather than the is concerned with how the event is mani confrontation itself. The seiffested in words and with the effect of the containedness of the metaphor is curious; words on an audience rather than with the it is as if the metaphor takes over in nature of the event itself. relation to itself rather than the words The modes of speaking of Richard and in relation to that of which they speak. Bolingbroke are manifest in the manner in The "physician" metaphor is an example of 3.5 ,, �which they name and .t he importance they attach to a name. The act of naming speaks to both an object's movement in the physical world by virtue of its name, and the name's movement in language. When these two aspects are severed, the name no longer corresponds to the complete nature of a named object. Bolingbroke's use of names is characterized by his manipulation of different titles in order to justify what he must accomplish. However, Bolingbroke recognizes that an object has to have its own character without a name. Richard takes more seriously what the name itself signifies in the physical world. When he abdicates he is not simply disturbed because he is no longer king, but also because he no longer has a name. Without his title, Richard has little sense' of himself apart from "untitled." A striking example of Bolingbroke' s use of names occurs in II, 111 when Berkeley must deliver a message to the Duke. Bolingbroke refuses to accept the message unless Berkeley addresses Bolingbroke as "Lancaster". Berk: "My Lord of Hereford, my message is to you. Bal: My Lord, my answer is to Lancaster; And I am come to seek that name in England; And I must find that title in your tongue, Before I make reply to aught you say." (II, iii, 69-73ff) Bolingbroke is concerned with being addressed as Lancaster because it is that name which lends legitimacy to his return to England. In the subsequent encounter with York, Bolingbroke responds to York's chastising by calling attention to his title: "As I was banished, I was banish'd Hereford; But as I come, I come for Lancaster. (II, iii, 112-113ff) In Bolingbroke's message to Richard, in III, iii, Bolingbroke refers to himself as "Henry Bolingbroke" rather than the preferred "Lancaster". In order to 36 acquire an audience with the King, he uses a title that Richard will accept. The Duke's usage is conventional, in that he will call himself by a given name according to how the name facilitates his movement. Richard's concern with names and usage is less conventional than Bolingbroke's because his identity, his sense of self, is bound in a name. In III, ii, Richard is shocked by news which Salisbury bears, that twenty thousand of the king's men have fled. The King despairs and Aumerle tells him to remember who he is. Richard composes himself by remembering not only that he is King but that his name is King: "I have forgot myself: am I not King? Awake thou coward majesty! Thou sleepest. Is not the King's name twenty thousand names? Arm, arm, my name! (III, ii, 83 -86ff ) Richard is quite conscious of the meaning of his title. As long as he remembers what he is call~d, he is secure. Richard's concern for his name becomes more pronounced as he nears his demise. He refers to himself in the third person, not as "King Richard" but simply as "the King". His actions are subject to his title: "What must the King do now? - - must he loose The name of King? O God's name, let it go." (III , iii, 143-146ff) At th.e conclusion of this speech, he refers to Bolingbroke as "King Bolingbroke" and himself as '!Richard". In a sense, self-indulgent Richard has already imagined himself as deposed, unnamed himself from kingship and acts according to his lack of title. In IV, i, Richard abdicates. His speech essentially consists in un-naming himself. Anything more than un-naming and disavowing his decrees (such as naming his crimes and thereby himself as a criminal) , is out of the question for Richard. At the conclusion of the speech, rather than refer to himself with a title, he prefaces his name with a negation to title: "God save King Har ry, unking'd Richard says." (IV , i, 220ff) The problem of re-naming himself without a title to define him becomes central to Richard's speech. Northumberland petitions Richard to name his crimes: North: "My LordRich: No Lord of thine, thou haught insulting man, Nor no man's Lord; I have no name, no title, No, not that name was given me at the font But tis usurp'd; ... And know not now what name to call myself! ( IV, i, 253-259ff) It is in part due to Richard's self-indulqence that he is insulted by Northumberland's naming him "My Lord," for Richard enjoys the role of nameless, deposed King. No doubt this is linked to his interest in language and the manipulations he can effect with the words. However, in part, it reflects Richard's true d is orientation and sorrow in his loss, which for Richard is a loss of identity. Without his title, he is "no man's Lord" . Without his kingship, Richard feels that he is nothing. The abdiction speech is typical of Richard's tendency to negate rather than affirm. A good king must not only negate, but affirm in order to command. He must be able to give as well as take back . Unable to make amends between the quarrelling Bolingbroke and Mowbray, Richard comments: "We were not born to sue, but to command; Which since we cannot do to make you friends, Be ready, as your lives shall answer it .... " (I, i, 196ff) Richard is both an ineffective and incomplete king, for he cannot unite Bolingbroke and Mowbray by means of his word. In Act IV, when Richard abdicates the throne, he must do it with his own words. Again, he is the only person who can remove himself from his position. However, it is not clear who can legitimately name Henry as King. It is through Richard's characteristic negation that he gives up the title. When Bolingbroke asks Richard if he is "contented to resign the crown", Richard begins his abdication . His language marks a departure from the connections of words to things, to a connection of words to words. This occurs when Richard is about. to give up his title, a word which is his most significant connection to the world and to himself . Curiously, his speech begins with a pun: "I no; no I; for nothing I must be; Therefore no no, for I resign to thee. (IV, i, 201-202ff) Full of obvious negation, the first words are ambiguous. Because the written word is a symbol for a sound and the play is meant to be spoken, many meanings can be derived from these lines. "I" can by "ay" or "eye". The word "no" can be negation o r "know". Thus, the first line can mean "Yes, no; no, yes" indicating that Richard is ambivalent about resigning. The fourth word "yes" is the answer to the question Bolingbroke asks: he must resign. Another meaning might be: "I know no I", that . he must be nothing; without his name, he cannot know who he is. Another meaning could be : I know no 'yes'". That is to say, Richard, because he is nothing, can affirm nothing . The next line is also ambiguous . It can be understood to be a simple repetition of "no" . Because Richard must resign there can be no "no" to Bolingbroke's question. Anothe r meaning could be: "therefore know 'no' for T resign to thee"; Richard tells Bolingbroke to "know negation" and "Now mark me, how I will undo myself." Richard proceeds to negate his kingship. Richard gives his crown "from off my head", his sceptre "from my hand" and his kingly pride "from out of . my heart". He then washes "away" his balm and gives "away" his crown with his own tears and hands. His tongue denies his "sacred state" and his breath releases himself 37 �from "all duty's rites". He forswears, foregoes, and denies. Richard's conception of language, in which the name of an object has more bearing on the object than the object on the name, makes words which refer to· appearance rather than essence affect him. Flattery is the use of words in order to please, rather than to speak truly. In II, Gaunt tells Richard that he has been wounded by flatterers: "And though too careless a patient as thou art Commits't thy anointed body to the cure Of those physicians that first wounded thee. A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown .•. " (II, i, 97-lOOff) Flattery has caused an illness which overtakes Richard. Richard's "illness" is manifested in his inability to hear good counsel. For instead of hearing good counsel, his ears are "stopp'd with other flattering sounds, as praises, of whose taste the wise are fond". .< II, i 17ff) That is, the wise are made "fond" by the "lascivious meters" of flattery. The flatterers of the King - Bushy, Green, and the Earl of Wiltshire - are sentenced by Bolingbroke in III, i. They have "misled a Prince, a royal King •.. made a divorce betwixt his Queen and him." They have made the King "misinterpret" Bolingbroke. Misinterpretation is a breakdown in communication, in which the hearing of the words is correct but the intention is misconstrued. These f la~terers cause Bolingbroke to "sigh" his "English breath in foreign clouds". That is in banishment, which Mowbray refers to as "speechless death which robs my tongue of breathing native breath." In other words, the real punishment in banishment has to do with speech. To be divorced from one's native tongue and unable to understand and be understood is banishment. In II, Northumberland states that the King is "basely led by flatterers", and that he is no longer himself. Flattery not only causes Richard to dissociate himself from his subjects but from his kingship. Pardoning and the use of pardons indicate the relation of language to God, for pardons must be made in relation to God in order to be meaningful. In the breakdown of society's relation to God through its relationship to the King, the meaning of the pardon loses its clarity. Before York's discovery of Aumerle' s involvement in the plot against King Henry, Aumerle asks his father to pardon him from showing his father the letter he carries. York does not pardon him. Upon reading the letter, he goes to the King to seek condemnation of his son. Aumerle arrives before York and asks the King to pardon him before the nature of his crime is disclosed. The king consents on the condition that the crime was merely intended rather than committed. Bat because · plotting against. the crown is treason , the pardon is not val id. The Duchess of York enters and refuses to rise from her knees until the King pardons "Rutland." Pity must move the King to pardon Rutland. The Duchess impresses the importance of pardoning on the King: "No word like 'pardon' for a King's mouths so meet." (V, iii, 118) . York continues to protest and finally urges Henry to speak the words in French: "Speak it in French, King, say "pardonne moy'" (V, III, 119). Even though the words are practically the same, the meaning is different. The Duchess comments that·this sort of usage: "Sets't the word itself against the word!" (V ,iii, 122), for word is set against word when the intended meaning and the accepted meaning differ. Henry does pardon Rutland. But the worth of the pardon is not clear. Henry is not a king by proper succession, therefore pardons do not have their original import because the King's relationship to God is precarious. His position is "King" rather than "rightful King." Henry's accession to the throne introduces into politics the question of the nature of "treason" if one's king is not anointed. Henry's pardon of Rutland is conditional: "I shall pardon him as God shall pardon me." (V, iii, 131) Henry's 38 pardon of Rutland is contingent on his own relation to God, that is, whether he has been pardoned for his own usurpation and treason against Richard. The Duchess asks Henry to repeat his pardon for : "Twice saying "pardon" doth not pardon twain, But makes one pardon strong." (V, iii, 132-133) Speaking a pardon twice does not negate a pardon, but strengthens it. This stand in contrast to Richard's speech of negation . The giving of pardons is necessary for a king. After Henry repeats his pardon, the Duchess calls him "a god on earth" (V, 111, 134). For the Duchess, to pardon, a king must be a divine giver of grace. The problem with all the pardons in Richard II lies in their undetermined relationship to God. When Richard pardons Mowbray it is unclear to Mowbray if, in fact, he has been pardoned. When Bolingbroke pardons, it is unclear what that means. Oaths and bonds are perhaps the most significant element of language which loses meaning when the social order breaks down. When oaths are made but not kept, the importance of language and one's word is diminished in its relation to that which it speaks. Oaths are made not only in relation to physical things but also in relation to God, for they are bound in God . Breaking oaths, therefore, is breaking a bond with God . Oaths and bonds are essential to holding society together, particularly a Christian society. In Act I, scene i, the truth of what Bolingbroke says rests on its relation to heaven: "Heaven be the record of my speech". This is characteristic of the oaths in Richard II. Their verity rests in a bond with heaven. In Act II, scene i Gaunt sees the decay of England in the decay of its bonds, for it was once: "bound with the triumphant sea," but "Is now bound in with shame, With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds." (II, i, 61-64) Its bond is not with God or the sea, it is with shame and on "rotten parchment bonds". York tells the king that if he seizes the Duke of Hereford's rights, he is no longer himself, for he breaks the bonds that insure his office: "Be not thyself~ for now art thou a King But by fair sequence and succession?" (II, i, 198-199) In breaking his bond with his subjects, the king breaks his bond with God, and thus the crown. The King's theft of Hereford's rights also indicates Richard's lack of concern for succession which stands in contrast to Henry's interest in Hal. In concert with Bolingbroke's mode of speaking, his treatment of oaths is quite literal. He is able to avoid breaking the "letter" of the oath because the meaning of the letter is ambiguous. In act II, scene iv, Northumberland claims: "The noble Duke hath sworn his coming is but for his own." What exactly is "his own" is unclear. However, it becomes England. The beginning of Act IV is analogous to Act I, scene i, in that Bolingbroke, rather than Richard, presides over a conflict between nobles. In contrast to Richard's inability to deal with the conflict in Act. I, even though the scene is characterized by verbal chaos, Bolingbroke effectively controls the quarrelling lords. There is no indication which lords are speaking the truth, because oaths are meaningless in England's fallen state. When Richard abdicates he asks God to pardon all oaths made to himself and to keep all vows unbroken which are sworn to God. This separation of oaths made to Richard from those made to God accentuates the separation of Richard from his past and from God. Oaths to a King are meaningful only when the King has a relation to God. The most startling example of the change in the relation of language . to what it speaks in respect to oaths and bonds occurs when Aumerle must carry his bond in 39 �his doublet. This contrasts with York's reference to his pledge to be loyal to Henry earlier in that scene. Significantly, Aumerle's action occurs after Richard has abdicated. The value of a verbal oath is lost with the loss of an anointed King. In order for Aumerle's bond to be valid, he must carry it. Words are not significant unless written. Even more striking is the necessity for Aumerle' s taking of the Sacrament (IV, i, 328ff) in order for him to maintain secrecy. One must not merely swear, but partake in Holy Communion in order to be bound. The only link to God and true speech is theological. The secular coDUDunity under God is lost. The culmination of Richard's separation from the world occurs in Act V. Because he is alone, Richard is unable to "compare this prison ..• unto the world". He is unable to see how his isolation is analogous to his isolation in the world. Richard constructs a world from thought and word. In order to do this, he must split himself into two parts: brain as mother and soul as father to thoughts and consequently words. The naming of these divisions is curious because the brain or intellect is traditionally male and soul female. This kind of reversal is characteristic of Richard in that"he is turning the relationship of words and the world inside-out. The marriage of brain and soul begets "a generation of still breeding thoughts". In being a poet, Richard is a begetter of words rather than flesh , and his lack of concern for succession is a manifestation of this. The world Richard creates mocks the outside world, and is distinct from it. It is a world of words and their relationships are of words to words. Richard names three orders of thoughts: "the better sort .•• intermix't with scruples", those "tending to ambition", and "those tending to content". The first sort are described as setting "the word itself against the word". Considering the Biblical citations he makes one would expect that "the Word" would be set against "the flesh". However, for Richard there is no t~ue flesh in his world nor true Word, but merely words. The setting of word against word indicates Richard's inability to see the complexity of his position as King or ex-King, that is, the culmination of Word and flesh in his having been anointed King. There is no Word in Richard's flesh. He is merely named King. Richard as "unking'd Richard" no longer has the name King and is merely flesh. Yet, oddly, Richard's existence to himself is an existence in words. Rather than being the "Word made flesh " , that is, God's anointed and agent by seeing justice done in the flesh, Richard turns flesh into words, and resides in a world where words have more substance than flesh. The "thoughts tending to ambition .•. plot unlikely wonders". Unable to break through the prison to the outside, his thoughts are unable to break out and make real contact with the world. They are contained within him and "die in their own pride". "Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves". They are content because they do not differ from others who bear a similar burden. Flattery contents them. Thus, thoughts which have only incidental connection to the outside world are buoyed up by words which please and incur illness rather than address the essence of the situation. Richard can be a King and wish he were a beggar; from beggar he returns to King. When he thinks of being banished by Bolingbroke, he becomes nothing. When confronted by the man who causes his .un-naming, instead of the Richard under the mask of King, unking' d Richard appears. When stripped of the words and the name of King, Richard finds himself little more than words. In Act II, scene i, line llff, Gaunt speaks of the setting sun and the music at the end of men's lives. None of Gaunt's music comes through Richard's ears. For his ears have been stopp 'd by flattering sounds. For Gaunt, the "music at the close, as the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last ... " For Richard, however, when the sun is about to set for the last time, the sun hears music as "sour-sweet" because the time is not kept. Richard 40 takes the music inside himself and once again, creates a world in which his interest is in the relation of words to words, a relation more important than the music itself. However, it is from this music that he finally calls into question his acts and inability to hear. "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me." (V, v, 49ff) Richard has become Bolingbroke's "Jack o' the Clock". A mannikin, not flesh nor word, but merely the mock of a man which marks time. It is not surprising that music maddens Richard. For he has become so corrupt that he is unable to take the cure which David administered to Saul: Music. In his inside-out world, Richard's madness is wisdom to Richard, and the first king's cure is maddening to him. Al though Richard I I has an ending, the conflicts of the play remain unresolved. Bolingbroke's succession and Richard• s death mark change rather than resolution. Both the problems of his own kingship and the repercussions of Richard's deposition and death plague 41 Bolingbroke throughout his reign. In the subsequent episodes of the Richarc,-Henry cycle, the events of which the Bishop of Carlisle foretells (IV, i, 114ff ) actually occur. As the society gets thrown into greater disorder, so too, language suffers a greater separation from that which it speaks. The Tragedy of King Richard the Second not only speaks of an end, but points to a beginning. Like Adam banished from Eden, Richard cannot be reinstated, nor can England be restored to its previ ous state. As in the completion of the Fall of Man by the coming of Christ, there must come a man who in both word and deed completes the fall of Richard by changing the effect of the past and the meaning of kingship. This will occur three plays later, when Hal makes the convoluted speech of Falstaff his own, thereby transforming it into a new speech. With it, Hal can make his faults into virtues. For him, even wooing a French Queen in a language not quite French brings a new Queen for England. �Willing but Weak A Note on the Matthew Passion Short Story Liz Waldner Elliott Zuckerman Posole soaks in a bowl and makes little kissing noises. This morning cats on the compost pile cried musically--at, to, for? Is a preposition appropriate here? I am always so content in the mornings. I lay listening before I What fol lows is a spelling - out of the obvious. It is presented as a shapes in air r eminder or review for students who have analyzed moments in the recitatives of threading through ear, discerning whether not cats but babies of our kind cried, at which I should have to go out into the morning in bathrobe to be afraid at the world uncontained by the ideal, to find babies crying the waving strands of our singing on the compost pile. Last night in the evening, in that high and uninhabited place of empty house and dark window, above the din of busyness, beneath the mountain with storm at its head, headdress of cloud purple and blue, a black- headed girl cried loudly over a low adobe wall into the evening--at, to, for? I came walking beneath her on the road below the wall and was stood before her crying out over the wall into the evening not at, not to, not for; neither to inquire nor to console, although these rose in the throat: only crying might go through air. She cried and cried. Only crying could go through air. All the empty houses with doors ajar admitting wind and spil 1 ing darkness: inside the moment stillness and around it the crunching of foot on gravel, juniper and cedar threshing air; around it the balloon-like journey of child- voice upward into first dark. Far below and far behind it noise of car- going and of dog. A woman appeared and she walked into the yard of the house of the crying girl in silence and she put fist to door or to drawing of door on wall with no window: no sound. She caught there bringing fist to door, door to fist, wind going through crying girl hair, and dirt, in the darkening wind. Cloud, drawn over all of our heads to the darker mountain, stayed. The moment I rose to see cats a noise from the kitchen. Posole soaking in a bowl fell over the edge in the kitchen where nobody was, in the white kitchen full of light. I lay back down as if told, not knowing . the Matthew Passion, and as an example for those who want to do so now. Closely following the harmony where the music closely imitates the text -- or comments on it -- can impress on the memory the motions of the progressions themselves. The diction is technical, and the musical examples by themselves can tell the story. Behind them lies the brief passage of Bach's music. And behind what Bach does lies tonal music itself, the power of which, alluded to here, ought, I think, to be an occasion of recurrent wonder. The text is from the 4lst ve r se of the 26th chapter of Matthew, and it is set by Bach in section 30 of the Passion, measures 7- 9 (page 49 of the Peters vocal score) . It is sung by Jesus himself, with his unique accompaniment of strings: Liz Waldner has contr ibuted awoke , several 42 pieces to Energeia. E~ - I In the vocal part there is one tone for each syllable. If we elide the second syllable of 'spirit', the standard English translati on can repla ce the German word for word -- with the important exception of 'aber' ('but ' ) . The music depicts the three aspects o f Jesus 's observation about his disciples: the willingness of the spirit, the weakness of the fles h , and, between them, the 'but'. At the start o f measure 7 , G minor has been established in a c a dence. The vocal line has dropped to a low B-f lat, the mino r third of the triad, and (approp riate ly for the word 'fallet') the lowest tone sung in this recitative. The Mr. Zuckerman, a tutor in Annapolis, contributed this piece as the first of several comments on the Matthew Passion; further installments will appear in later issues of Energeia. 43 �willingness of the spirit is shown in the vocal line by the brightening of the minor into the parallel major: Again, harmonically one would expect the following resolution if there were no 'but': wil-liJ The . B- natural on 'willig ' is especially strong because it is approached in the ascent Cs) 1 2 i· But the instrumental bass adds another dimension. The willingness is not only bright but expansive, because the F- natural below turns the B-natural into the upper tone of the tritone of C major: The notation of the c hords in closed score r eveals what has happened to all the voices . The F has descended · ' correctly' to E . The B and the D are common tones to both chords. The surprise alteration is the chromatic lifting of G to G- sharp -tone § of C is sharpened to become the leading tone of A (minor) . In Bach's scoring the significant changes occur in the outer voices, an 'expansion' of f. urther willingness : In the surprise resolution that follows the contradiction, the low F does indeed go the half - ~tep downward to E: /\ 7 ~~.3 ~ The new dominant - seventh will t ually r esolve normally: It is, of course, a dimin ished- seventh chord, the 'headless' . tetrad, the most ambiguous . It can be accounted f or as pointing to E -- qr ,• in A minor, dim vn 7 of v . But. here it (weakly) follows the chord it 'ought' to p r ecede -- o r , to put it ano ther way in the light of the subsequent return to the v 7 , it interpolates itself as a st r iking r eve r sal in the otherwise no r mal cadence in A minor . The 'weakness' , as we hea r it, is strongly asserted . The r e is anothe r way of viewing the 'wea k ' progression . The (first) domi nan t - se ven t h of A mino r res olves ' co rrec tly' : even- ~ But the E is not 3 of C major. Instead it is made the root of a major triad. Moreover, since we have just heard the D's of ' aber' , we hear the new chord as a dominant- seventh: And one expects the resolution outward to the tonic of C : but the diminished fifth below each of the resolution tones are slipped in unde r neath : --9- ~ -:).-&- ~ ~ [ +J But the r e i s still ·the ' weakness' to be accounted f o r. The oute r vo i ce s e xpand a half - step further : Harmonically, the tones on 'willig' constitute the last inversion (V 2 ) of the dominant- seventh in C: Up to 'abe r ' , the voc al l i ne ascended . 'das Duri.ng Fle is c h schwach' i t now descends twice , in minor thirds : ~-1 ~ h as ist . two The D's of 'aber' thus belong to two different dominant- seventh chords, one . pointing· to C and the other td its relative minor: l;z'·lO The O's of 'aber' belong to that chord and seem to complete it: 44 The chord on 'schwach', outlined by the A, and is fifth D- sharp diminished completed with another diminished fifth, F- sharp and C: The ascent between them is the interval of the dimished fourth . There will be more to say about this interval in late r inst~llments of these comments. 45 �A harmonic summary shows that the willingness sets out to be a cadence in c : major. At the 'but' it becomes instead a cadence, with a 'weak' the relative minor: interpolation, in No Exit A Translation of Sartre's Huis Clos Wendell Finner C Ma..jor vo1. v1 • Wi I{ i~j Poem John S. Carnes Awkward are the silences, slow stutters time - when I would tell you of the love of mine. And yet, I would not wish to be too smooth and glib. _The freshet in its thicket runs both fast and pure, and our love too has merrily been borne along. Yet, did it not slow and stutter some we would not find ourselves with the needs to think upon. Thus I am glad to find no easy speech and think it not wrong being without a ready word for it will come when it is called I've heard. (The stage depicts a Second Empire drawing-room, with a bronze on the mantlepiece. Enter Valet, Garcin . ) GARCIN(looking around): So here we are. VALET: Here. GARCIN: This is it . . . VALET: This is it. GARCIN: I . . . I suppose one gets used to the furniture eventually. VALET: That depends on the individual. GARCIN: Are all the rooms like this? VALET: Think. Chinese, Hindus come here. What would you have them do with a Second Empire armchair? GARCIN: And me? What would you have me do with one? Do you know who I was? Bah. . . it doesn't matter. After all, I always lived with furniture I didn't like, in artificial situations; I loved it. An artificial situation in a Louis-Phillippe dining-room--does that tell you anything? VALET: You'll see; a Second Empire drawing-room is no worse. GARCIN: Ah, good . Good, good, good. Still, I didn't expect. .y ou do know what they say down there? VALET: About what? GARCIN: Uh. . (La rge, vague gesture) About all this. VALET: How could you be 1 iev~ such foolishness? From people who have never set foot here? After all, if they had come here . . . GARCIN: Of course. (They laugh together, then Garcin becomes suddenly serious again): Where are the spikes? VALET: What? GARCIN: The spikes, the grilles, the leather funnels. VALET: You're joking. GARCIN : Oh? Oh, good . No, I wasn't joking. (Silence. He paces.) No mirrors, no windows. Of course, nothing breakable. (With sudden violence) : And why have they taken my toothbrush? VALET: Ah, yes. Now your human dignity returns. It's amazing. GARCIN: Please spare me your intimacies. I am well aware of my position, but I will not allow you to . . . VALET: There, there. Forgive me. What can you expect--all ou r clients ask the same question. 'Where are the spikes,' they say. At that moment, I swear to you that they don't dream of personal hygiene. Only then, when they are reassured, then the toothbrush. But can't you think about it, for the love of God? After all, I ask you, why would you brush your teeth? GARCIN: Yes, indeed, why? (Looks around.) And why look in a mirror? But the bronze, after a while. • I imagine there will be moments when I' 11 look at that with open eyes, eh? Come on, come on, there's nothing to hide. I ' m well aware of my position, I tell you. Do you want me to tell you how it goes? A fellow suffocates, he sinks, he drowns, only he sees beyond the water. And what does he see? A bronze by Barbidienne. What a nightmare! All right, you're probably forbidden to answer; I won't insist. But remember: one doesn' t take me by surprise. You won't be able to boast that you've caught me unawares; I look the Wendell 1 Finner is a senior in Annapolis. He translated Sartre's Huis Clos for a s · pr1ng 983 production by the King William Players, produced by Copyright 1983 by Wendell Finner. Craig Bradshaw. John Carnes is a senior fn Annapolis. 46 47 �situation in the face. (Begins to pace again.) So, no toothbrush.· No bed either. Since we never sleep, right? VALET: You seel GA RC IN: I could have bet on it. Why would one sleep? Sleep takes you from behind. You feel your eyes closing, but why sleep? You stretch out on the sofa, and poof. • sleep flies away. Then you get up, rub your eyes, and it starts all over again. VALET: What a romantic you arel GARCIN: Be quiet. I won't cry, I won't tremble, but I want to look the situation in the face. I don't want it to jump me from behind, without my seeing it. Romantic? Nonetheless, there is no need for sleep. Why sleep if you're not sleepy? Perfect. Wait. Wait--why is it painful? I've got it; it's a life without interruption. VALET: What interruption? GARCIN(imitating him): What interruption? (Suspiciously) : Look at me. I thought so. That explains your intolerably tactless stare. My word, they're shriveled up. VALET: What are you talking about? GARCIN: Your eyelids. We, we close our eyelids. A blink, it's called. A little flash of black, a curtain that falls and rises again; the break is complete. The eye is moistened; the world annihilated. You . couldn't know how refreshing it is. Four thousand rests an hour. Four thousand little escapes. And when I say four thousand. .so, I'm to live without eyelids? Don't be an. idiot. No eyelids, no sleep, it's all the same. I shall sleep no· more. .But how am I going to stand it? Try to understand; make an effort. I'm a teasing type, you see, and I • • • I like to tease myself. But I . . . I can't tease myself endlessly: down there there were nights. I slept. I slept softly. To compensate. I made myself simple dreams. There was a meadow. .A meadow, that's all. I dreamed I was walking there. Is it daytime? VALET: You can see for yourself, the lights are on. GARCIN: Right. I meant your daytime. Outside. VALET(bewildered): Outside? GARCIN: Outside l On the other side of these walls. VALET: There's a hallway. GARCIN: And at the end of the hall? There are other rooms, and other VALET: halls, and stairways. GARCIN: And then? That's all. VALET: GARCIN: You must have a day off. Where do you go? VALET: To my uncle's, on the third floor. He's the head valet. GARCIN: I should have guessed. Where's the light switch? VALET: There is none. GARCIN: What? Can't you turn it off? VALET: The management can cut the current. But I don't remember their having done so on this floor. We've got all the power we want. GARCIN: All right. So, one must live with open eyes . . . VALET(ironically): Live?. GARCIN: Don't quibble over a question of vocabulary. The eyes open. Forever. There will be broad daylight in my eyes. And in my head. (Pause . ) And i f I swung the bronze at the light bulb, would it go out? VALET: It's too heavy. GARCIN (grasping the bronze and trying to lift it): You're right. It's too heavy. VALET (after a moment of silence) : Very well; if you have no further need of me, I' 1 leave you . GARCIN(startled): You're leaving? Goodbye. (The valet reaches the door) Wait. (valet returns) This is a bel 1, here? (valet nods) I can ring it if I want you and you must come? VALET: In principle, yes . But it's unreliable. There's something jammed in the mechanism. (Ga re in goes to the bel 1 and pushes the button . Ringing sound ) GARCIN: It works! VALET(astonished): It works. (Ring s it himself) But don't get carried away~ it won't last. Well, at your service. GARCIN (making a gesture to retain him): I. . • VALET : 48 CAPCIN: c=i nd r I C'K s Nothing. 1:p t he (Go~s to th e raper-knjf c ) mantle What's this.' VALET : You can s e P for yourself; a paper-kDifo. GA RLlN: The re are books here ? VALET: No. GARCIN: 'l'hcn what good if' it ? (Vakt shrugs ) All rig h t. Go ahead. (Val e t exits. Garcin go e s t o the bronze and pats it with his hand. He sits down; stands up again. He go e s t o the bell and presses the button. The bell does not ring. I-le tries two or three times, in vain. He goes to the door and t ric·s to open it, without any Juck. He calls:) Garcon! Garcon! (No answer. He rains a s hower of blows on the do o r with his fists while calling the valet. Then he c alrns aown sudden 1 y and goes to sit down. At this moment, the door opens and I nez e nters, followed by the valet. ) VALET: You called? GARCIN (starts to answer, then notices Inez) : No. VALET ( turning to Inez): This is your room, Madame. (Silence from Inez) If you have ar>y questions. . (Inez remains silent. The valet is disappointed): Usually our clients lik e to acquaint themselves . I won't insist. Anyway, as for the toothbrush, the bell, and the Barbidienne bronze, this gentleman is informed and can answer as well as I can. (Exits . ) (S ilence. Gare in does not look at Inez. Inez looks around, then speaks gruffly to Garcin . ) INEZ: Where's Florence? (S ilence from Garcin. ) I said, where's Florence? GARCIN: I don't know. INEZ: Is this the best you can do? Torture by absence? Well, it's no good. Florence was a little fool and I don't miss her. GA RC IN: I beg your pardon; who do you take me for? INEZ: You? You're the torturer. GARCIN(Starts, then laughs): What an amusing mistake. Really, the torturer! You came in, you looked at me, and you thought, 'This is the torturer.' What foolishness! The valet is ridiculous; he should have introduced us . The torturer! I am Joseph Gare in, publicist and man of letters. Really, we're in this together, madame . . . INEZ (dryly): Inez Serrano. Mademoiselle. GARCJN: Very good. Perfect. The ice is broken. So you see the look of a torturer in me? And how does one recognize them, the torturers? INEZ: They have a frightened look. GARCIN: Frightened? How curious. Of whom? Their victims? INEZ: Go on! I know what I'm talking abo~t. I've seen myself in the mirror. GARCIN: In the mirror'! (Looks around.) It's annoying; they've taken everything that resembles a mirror. (Pause . ) In any case, I can assure you that I'm not afraid. I don't take the situation lightly; I'm quite aware of its gravity. But I'm not afraid. INEZ(Shrugs): That's ycur business. (Paus e. ) Do you take a walk outside, now and then? GARCIN: The door is bolted. INEZ: Too bad. GARCIN: I can see quite well that my presence annoys you. And personally, I'd rather be alone. I need to put my life in order and collect myself. But I'm sure we cc..n come to terms with each other. I don't talk, I seldom stir, and I make little noise. Only, if I might 'suggest something, we must maintain an extreme politeness between us. It will be our best defense. INEZ: I'm not polite. GA RC IN: I' 11 be polite enough for two. (Sil ence. Garcin sits on the sofa. Inez paces back and forth.) INEZ(looking at him): Your mouth. GARCIN (to rn from his trance ) : Excuse me? INEZ: Can 't you stop your mouth? It twists under your nose like a top . GARCIN: I beg your pardon. I didn't realize. INEZ: It annoys me. (Tic from Garcin.) You pretend to be polite and you let your face run wild. You're not alone and you have no right to impose the spectacle of your fear on me. Yes? 49 �~ - GARCIN (gets up and crosses toward her) : And you, you're not afraid? INEZ: Why should I be? Fear; that was fine before, when we had hope. GARCIN: There's no longer any hope, but we're always before . We have not begun to suffer, mademoiselle. INEZ: I know. (Pause.) So? What's going to happen? GARCIN: I don't know. I'm waiting. (Long pause. Garcin sits . down again. Inez resumes her pacing. Garcin' s mouth twitches and, after a glance at Inez, he hides his face in his hands. Enter Estelle and Valet. Estelle looks at Garcin, who has not raised his head. ) ESTELLE: No I No, no, don't raise your head. I know why you're hiding it in your . hands; I know you don't have a face anymore. (Garcin removes his hands . ) Oh! (Pause.) I don't know you. GARCIN: I'm not the torturer, madame. ESTELLE: I didn't take you for the torturer. I. • I thought someone was playing a trick on me . (To valet) : Who are you waiting for? VALET: No one else is coming. ESTELLE(relieved): Then we'll be all alone; monsieur, madame, and I? (Starts to laugh.) GARCIN(dryly): There' s nothing to laugh about. ESTELLE (still laughing ) : · But these sofas are so ugly! And look how t~ey're arranged. It's like New Year's at Aunt Marie's. To each his own, I suppose. This one ' s mine ? (To v a let) : But I c a n' t sit there, it's a catastrophe; I'm wearing light blue and it's spinach green. INEZ: Would you like mine? ESTELLE: The red sofa? You're t oo kind, but that's hardly an improvement. No, it's the luck of the draw. I go t the green one; I' 11 keep it. (Pause. ) The only one which would do, barely, is monsieur's. INEZ: Did you hear her, Garcin? GARCIN ( starting ) : The. .sofa. Ohl Excuse me. (Gets up. ) It's your's, madame. ESTELLE: Thank you. (Takes off her coat and lays it on the sofa. Pause.) Since we've got to live together, we should get acquainted. I'm Estelle Rigault. (Garcin bows and starts to give his name, but Inez crosses in front of him.) INEZ: Inez Serrano. The pleasure is mine. GARCIN (bows again ) : Joseph Garcin. VALET: Have you any further need of me? I'll ring fo~ ESTELLE: No, go ahead. you. (Valet bows and exits. ) INEZ: You' re very pretty. I wish I had flowers to welcome you with. ESTELLE: Flowers? Yes, I loved flowers. But they'd wilt here; it's too hot. Bah ... the important thing is to keep our good humor. Are you . . . ? INEZ: Yes, last week. And you? ESTELLE: Me? Yesterday . The funeral isn ' t over yet. (She speaks quite naturally, as if she sees what she is describing.) The wind's mussing my sister's veil. She's doing what she can to cry. Come on, come on, make an effort. There! Two tears, two tiny tears sparkling under her veil. Olga Jardet is quite unattrac tive this morning. She's supporting my sister by the arm. She's not crying because of her mascara, and if I were her. . . She was my best friend . INEZ: You suffered? ESTELLE: No, I was mostly unconscious. INEZ: What . . . ? ESTELLE: Pneumonia. (Same manner as before ) : Well, that's it; they' re le~v­ ing. Goodbye! Goodbye I Such handshaking. My husband is sick with grief; he stayed home. (To Inez ) : And you? INEZ: Gas. ESTELLE: And you, monsieur? GARCIN: Twelve bullets in my hide. (Gestures to Estelle. ) Excuse me; I'm no t a very respectable dead man. ESTELLE: Oh! Please, monsieur, if only you wouldn't use such crude terms. It's . . . it's shocking. And, after all, what does it mean? Maybe we ' ve never been so alive. If we abso lutely have t o name this ... state of things, I suggest we call it absence; that will be more c orrect. Have you been absent long? GARCIN: About a month. ESTELLE: Where are you from? 50 ESTELLE (dryly ) : Well, we don't have the GARCIN : Rio . same tastes . That's all that proves. (To ESTELLE: I'm from Paris. Do you have anyone left, down there? Inez ) : Do you like them, men in s hirtsleeves? GARCIN : My wife . (Same manner as INEZ : Shirtsleeves or no, I don't like Estelle) : She's come to the bar r acks, men much . like she does eve r y day . They won't let ESTELLE ( looking at the others in her in. She ' s staring through the bars. She doesn't know that I'm absent yet, but amazement ) : But why, why have they put us together? she suspects it . She's leaving now . She's all in black . So much the bet INEZ (stifling an outburst ) : What are you saying? te r-- she won't have to change . She's not crying; she never cried . It ' s a nice ESTELLE : I look at the two of you and I sunny day, and she's al 1 in black in the think that we must room together . .I expected to find friends, family . deserted street, with the wide eyes of a victim . Ah, she irritates me . (Long INEZ : One excellent friend with a hole in the middle of his face . pause . Garcin sits on the middle sofa and puts his head in his hands . ) ESTELLE : Him, too . He danced the tango Estelle! INEZ : like a professional . But us, us; why have they put us together? ESTELLE : Monsieur, Monsieur Garcin! GARCIN : Ex cuse me? GARCIN : It's just chance . They put ESTELLE : You're sitting on my sofa . people where they can, in the order of their a r rival . (To Inez ) : Why are you GARCIN : Oh, excuse me. (Gets up . ) laughing? ESTELLE : You seem so absorbed . GARCIN: I ' m putting my life in order . INEZ: Because you amuse me with your (Inez laughs. ) Those ·who laugh would de 'chance' . Do you have such a need to well to imitate me . reassure yourself? They leave nothing to chance . INEZ : It is in orde r , my life . Totally in order . It's put itself in ESTELLE(timidly ) : But perhaps we've met bef o re? order, down there, and I don ' t need to t r ouble myself with it . INEZ : Never. I would not have forgot ten you . GARCIN: Really? You think it's that ESTELLE: Or maybe we have acquaintances simple! (Wipes his forehead . ) What heat! in common . Do you know the Dubois You'll allow me? (Starts to take off his Seymours? jacket. ' ESTELLE : No! (More softly ) : No . I INEZ: I'd be surprised. detest men in shi r tsleeves. ESTELLE: But they entertain everybody. GARCIN (putting his jacket back on ) : Fine . INEZ: What do they do? (Pause . ) Myself, I spent my nights in the ESTELLE (surprised ) : They don't do editorial rooms . It was always anything . They have a chateau in Careze, oppressively hot . (Pause . Same manner as and . . . before ) : It is oppressively hot . It's INEZ : We l l, I worked in the Post night- time . Office. ESTELLE: Let's see; yes, it's night ESTELLE (backing away slightly ) : Oh! You already. Olga is undressing . How quickly · mean. .? (Pause . ) And you, monsieur time passes, on earth . Garcin? INEZ : It's night . They' v e put t he GARCIN: I never left Rio. seals on the door to my room . The room is ESTELLE : Then you're quite right. Chance da r k and empty . has brought us together. GARCIN : They've put their jackets on the INEZ: Chance. Then the furniture is back of their chairs and rolled their by chance. It's by chance that the sofa sleeves up above the elbow. It smells of on the right is spinach green and the one men and cigars. I liked living among men on the left is burgundy. Chance, is it? in shirtsleeves . 51 �All right, try to move them and then tell me what you think. And the bronze, that's just chance also? And the heat? This heat? (Long pause.) I tell you everything is regulated. Even the smallest details are chosen with love. This room was waiting for us. ESTELLE: But how could that be? It's all so hideous, so hard and angular. I always detested angles. INEZ (shrugs): Do you think I lived in a Second Empire drawing-room? (Pause.) ESTELLE: Then everything was foreseen? INEZ: Everything. And we were matched up. ESTELLE: Then it's not by chance that you, you are facing me? (Pause.) But what do they expect? INEZ : I don ' t know. But they expect something. ESTELLE: I can't tolerate anyone expecting something from me. It gives me a sudden desire to do the contrary. INEZ: Well, do it. Do it, then. But you don't know what it is they want. ESTELLE: (stamping her foot): It's insufferable. I should be subjected to something by you two? (Examines them.) You two. There are faces which I can read at first glance. But yours tell me nothing. GARCIN(suddenly, to Inez): All right, why are we together? You've said enough -about it1 now finish it. INEZ (astonished) : But I know absolutely nothing about it. GARCIN: We must know. (~eflects for a moment) INEZ: If only each of us had the courage to say . . . GARCIN: What? Estelle! INEZ: ESTELLE: Yes? What did you do? Why did they INEZ: send you here? ESTELLE(excited): But I don't know1 I don't know at all. I even wonder if it isn't a mistake. (To Inez): Don't smile. Think of the number of people who. . .who become ~sent every day. They come here by the thousands and they're only the responsibility of subordinates, uneducated employees. How could you imagine that there'd be no mistakes? But don't smile at me. (To Garcin): And you, tell me something. If they're mistaken in my case, they could be mistaken in yours. (To Inez): And yours, too. Isn't it just as good to think we're here by mistake? INEZ: Is that all you have to tell us? ESTELLE: What more do you want to know? I have nothing to hide. I was an orphan; poor. I raised my younger brother. An old friend of my father's asked for my hand. He was rich and kind; I accepted. What would you have done in my place? My brother was sickly and his health required a lot of attention. I lived with my husband for six years without a cloud. Then two years ago I met the man I was destined to love. We recognized it at first sight. He wanted me to run off with him, but I refused. After that, I caught pneumonia. That's all. One could, perhaps, charge me with sacrificing my youth to an old man. (To Garcin): Do you think that would be a fault? GARCIN: Certainly not. And you, do you think it would be a fault to live according to one's own principles? ESTELLE: Who could reproach you for that? GARCIN: I edited a pacifist · journal. The war broke out. What to do? All eyes were fixed on me: 'does he dare?' Well, I dared. I crossed my arms and they shot me. Where's the fault? Where is the fault? ESTELLE(placing her hand on his arm): There is no fault. You are . . . INEZ (perfect irony) : A Hero. And your_, wife, Garcin? GARCIN: All right, what? I pulled her from the gutter. ESTELLE(to Inez): You see! You see! INEZ: I see. (Pause. ) Who are you acting this comedy for? We're alone. ESTELLE(saucily): Alone? INEZ : Among thieves. .We are in hell, my dear; there is never· a mistake and people are never damned for nothing. ESTELLE: Be quiet. INEZ: In hell! Damned! Damned! ESTELLE: Quiet . Will you be quiet? I forbid you to use such vulgar words. INEZ: The little saint, damned. The 52 spotless hero, damned . We had our moment of pleasure, didn't we? There were people who suffered on our account until we died and this amused us greatly. Now we must pay. GARCIN (threatening gesture ) : Will you keep quiet? INEZ ( looking at him without fear, though with great surprise ) : Ha! (Pause. ) Wait! I've got it; I know why they've put us together ! GARCIN: Be careful what you say . INEZ: Yo u'll see how stupid it is. Incredibly stupid! There's no physical torture, right? Yet we are in hell. And no one else will come . No one. We will remain here alone with one another until the end. Right? In short, there's someone missing: the torturer. GARCIN(softly) · I know it well. INEZ: So, they've perfected an economy of personnel. It's the clients who provide the service themselves, like a cafeteria. ESTELLE: What are you trying to say? INEZ: The torturer is each of us, for the other two. ( A pause while they digest this news.) GARCIN ( softly ) : I will not be your torturer. I wish you no harm and I've got nothing to do with you. Nothing. It's quite simple. Here, each of us in our own corner; here's our weapon. You here; you here; myself here. And silence. Not a word--that's no t too difficult, is it? Each of us has plenty to do by ourselves. I think I could go ten thousand years without speaking. ESTELLE: I've got to keep quiet? GARCIN: Yes. And we. .we will be saved. Just keep quiet. Look to yourself, don't raise your head. Agreed? INEZ: Agreed. ESTELLE (hesitates ) : Agreed. GARCIN: Well, then, goodbye. (He goes to his sofa and puts his head in his hands. ) Inez begins to sing (A long pause. to herself. ) INEZ: On Whitemantle Street they built a platform, And spread the bran below, And it was a pretty scaffold On Whitemantle Street, you know. The headsman he was up at dawn, He'd quite a job to do, To chop off the heads of generals, The bishops' and the admirals' On Whitemantle Street, it's true. To Whitemantle Street the ladies came, With all their pretty frills, But their heads they had to go, Heads along with hats would roll, In the gutter of Whitemantle Street. (During this time, Estelle restores her makeup. She powders herself and restlessly looks around for a mirror. She searches her bag, then turns to Garcin.) ESTELLE: Have you got a mirror , monsieur? (Garcin does not respond. ) A mirror, a pocket- glass, whatever? (No response.) If you're going to leave me all alone, at least get me a mirror. (Garcin buries his face in his hands. ) INEZ (eagerly ) : I've got a mirror in my bag. (Searches her bag and says resentfully ) : They must have taken it from me in the office. ESTELLE: How annoying. (Pause. She clo ses her eyes and sways unsteadily. Inez rushes to steady her. ) INEZ: What's the matter? ESTELLE (opens her eyes and smiles): I feel so strange. (Touches herself.) It doesn't have this ef feet on you. When I can't see myself, I can touch myself as much as I like; I wonder if I really exist. INEZ: You're lucky. Me, I feel myself constantly, from inside. ESTELLE: Oh, yes, from inside. .Everything that happens in people's heads is so vague. It wearies me. (Pause.) There 53 �\ are six huge mirrors in my bedroom. I see t h em. I see them. They reflect the lov e-seat, the rug, the window. . How empty it is, a mirror without me. Whenever I spoke, I'd place myself so there'd be o n e I could look at .myself in. I talked; and I saw myself talking. I saw myself as others saw me; it kept me on my toes. (With despair ) : My lipstick! I'm sure I put it on crooked. I simply can't spend all of eternity without a mirror. INEZ: Couldn't I be your mirror? Come, come pay me a visit. Here, sit on my sofa. ESTELLE (indicating Garcin ) : But ... INEZ: Let's not worry about him. ESTELLE: We're not going to hurt one another1 you said so yourself. INEZ: Do I look like I want to hurt you? ESTELLE: One never knows INEZ: It's you who' 11 hurt me. But what difference can it make? If I've got to suffer, it might as well be on your account. Sit down. A little closer. There. Look into my eyes. Do you see yourself there? ESTELLE: But I 'm so tiny. I can barely see myself. INEZ: But I see you. All of you. Ask me questions. No mirror could be more faithful. (Estelle, embarrassed, turns toward Garcin as if to call for help.) ESTELLE: Monsieur! Monsieur! We're not boring you with our chatter, are we? (Garcin does not respond.) INEZ: Leave him be , he doesn't count; we're alone. Interrogate me. ESTELLE: Did I put my lipstick on right? INEZ: Let me see. Not too well. ESTELLE : I wondered. Good thing (glance at Gare ~ , ) no one saw me. I'll try again. INEZ: ·r hat' s better. No. Follow the line of your lips; I'll guide you. There, there. Good. ESTELLE: As good as when I came in? INEZ: Better. It's heavier, crueler. A diabolical mouth. ESTELLE: Hnmun. And that's good? How irritating, when I can't decide for myself. You swear that it's all right? INEZ: You're beautiful. ESTELLE: But do you have any taste? Do you have !!!Y taste? How irritating; how simply irritating. INEZ: I've got your taste, since I like you. Look at me. Smile. I'm not so ugly any more. Aren't I better than a mirror? ESTELLE: I don't know. You intimidate me. My reflection in the mirrors was tame. I knew i t so well . If I smile--my smile will fall into your pupils and God only knows what will become of it. INEZ: And what's to stop you from taming me? (They look at each other. Estelle smiles, a little bit fascinated } Wouldn't you like to be my friend? · ESTELLE: I have trouble making friends with women. INEZ: Especially with postal clerks, I suppose? What's that there, at the bottom of your cheek? A pimple? ESTELLE (startled): A pimple, that's horrible! Where? INEZ: There, there! I'm just a bird-trap, and I've got you, my little dove! There's no need to blush. Not the slightest. And if the mirror should lie? Or if I shut my eyes, if I refused to look at you-- what would you do with all that beauty? Don't be frightened, I must look at you; my eyes will stay wide open. And I'll be gentle, very gentle. But it's up to you. (Pause.) ESTELLE: You like me? INEZ: Very much! (Pause.) ESTELLE (nodding in Garcin' s direction): I want him to notice me too . INEZ: Ha! Because he's a man. (To ~arcin); You win. (Garcin does not respond.) But look over here! (Still no response.) Don't play this game; you haven't missed a word we've said. GARCIN (Abruptly raising his head ) : You can say that again; I haven't missed a word. It was no good to stick my fingers in my ears; you just kept on chattering inside my head. · Will you leave me alone now? I've got no business with you. INEZ: And the child; have you got some business with her? I've seen your tricks-- it's for her sake that you put on such airs. .54 GARCI N: Le ave me alone , I te11· you . Someone's talk i ng about me at the jour nal an d I want to listen . And I couldn ' t ca r e less about the ch i ld , i f t hat ' ll make you happ y. ESTELLE: Thank you . I d i dn 't mean t o be r ude . GARCIN : ESTELLE : Pig! (A pause . The y s t and, fa c i ng each othe r. ) GARCI N: Th e re ! (Pau se ) I b e gg e d you to be qui e t . ES'l,ELLE: She s t a r ted i t . She came to o f fer me he r mi rro r, and I didn ' t ask he r f o r anything . INEZ: Nothing . You ju s t r ubbed aga i nst h i m a nd conto rted you r s e lf so he ' d l ook at you . ESTELLE : And so? GARCIN : Are you bot h i diots? Don 't you see whe re we are ? Ju st keep qu iet! (Pau se. ) W onl y have t o s it back down , e pe a ce f ully , clo s e our ey e s and try t o fo rget th e presenc e o f the othe r s . (A pau s e . He sits. The women r e turn t o the ir p laces wi th he si t an t s t e p s. Ine z s udd enly turns back. ) INEZ: Ha! Fo r get. How chi l dish . I fe el you i n my bones . Your s i l e nce sc re ams in my ear s. You could nail your mouth shut , cut out you r tongue , but can you k eep you r s elf fr om exist ing? St op you r thoughts? I hea r i t , it goes tick, tick, like an a lar m clock , and I know you hea r mine . It's no use cur ling up on your sofa ; you 're everywhere . The sounds a r e soiled when they r each me becaus e you've hea r d them on the way . You've even stolen my face -- you can see it and I can ' t . And he r ? He r ? You ' ve r obbed me of he r. If we were alonP . do v o u think she ' cl dnre treat me the way she does? No, no : take your hands f r om your face . I won't leave you alone , i t would be too convenient . You would stay the r e, unconscious, sunk in you r self like a buddha . I'd have my eyes s hut, but I'd hear h er o ff e r you a l l t he little no i ses of her life, even the rustle of her dre ss, and she'd send you smiles that you wouldn't even see . . . None of that . I want to choose my hell; I want to look at you with open eyes and struggle face to face . GARCIN : Good enough . I suppose it had to come to thi s-- they ' ve manipulat e d u s l ike child r en . If only they'd put me i n with men . . . men know how to keep quiet . I t wouldn ' t be too much to ask . (C r osses to Estelle and places his hand unde r he r chin . ) So 1 please you , my p r etty? You ' ve been giving me the eye ? ESTELLE : Don ' t touch me . GARCIN : Bah! Le t' s put ou r selve s at ease. I loved women a lot, you k now. And they loved me a lot . So r el a x, we 've go t Poli teness-- what for? nothing t o lo s e . Ce r emonie s-- what ' s the use? Among u s? Soon we'll be as naked as worms. ESTELLE : Leave me alone . GARCIN : As wo r ms . Oh , I e xpecte d th is. I demanded nothing f r om you , no t h i ng but p eace and a l it tle quiet . I put my f inge r s in my ear s . Gome z wa s spe aki ng , sta nd i ng between t h e t ab l e s, a nd a l l the c omrades at t he jour nal were lis te n i ng . In s hi rts le eve s. I wanted t o unde r stand what he was s aying -- it wasn't e as y ; t h i ng s on earth h a ppen so qu i ck ly . Couldn It you k eep quiet? Now i t I s all ove r, he ' s not talking any mo r e ; a l l that he think s about me is back inside h is head . Good enough ; we ' ll just have to see . it through to the end . Naked as wo r ms : I want to know who I'm dealing with . INEZ : You know . You al r eady know. GARCIN: Until each of us has admitted why we were condemned, we know noth i ng . You, the blonde, you sta r t . Why? Tell us . why; you r honesty can p r event disasters. ·when we know our monste rs . . Come on , why? ESTELLE: I te ll you I d on 't k now . They didn't want to tell me . GARCIN : I know , it was the same with me ; they didn ' t want to answe r. But I know. You ' re afraid to go first? All right, I'll begin . (long pause . ) I am not ve r y nice . We know you we r e a Go ahead . INEZ : des e rter . GARCIN : Leave that be . Don't even mention it . I'm he r e because I to r tu red my wife . That's all . For five-years . Of course, she's still suffering . There : when I speak of her I see he r. It's Gome z I'm interested in and it's her I see . Whe r e's Gomez? Five years . Say, they've 55 �given her my things . She's sitting by the window, with my jacket on her knees . The jacket with twelve holes. The blood, you'd think it was rust . The edges of the holes are burnt . Ha! It's a museum piece, a historic jacket . And I wore it. Won't you cry? Won't you end it with tea r s? I'd come home d r unk as a pig, smelling of wine and women . She'd have waited up all night for me; she never cried . Not one word of reproach; naturally. Just her eyes. Those .huge eyes. I don't regret a thing. I' 11 pay for it, but I don't reg r et a thing . It's snowing outside. But won't you cry? She's a women with a flai r for martyrdom . INEZ (almost softly) : Why did you make her suffer? GARCIN : Because it was easy . One word was enough to make her change color ; she was a sensitive thing. Ha! Not a single reproach . I was quite a tease . I waited . But no , not a single I wait ed foreve r . reproach . I pulled her · from the gutter, you und er stand . She's r unning her hand ove r t he jacke t, wi t hout looking at it , her fi nge r s g r oping blindly for the holes . What are you waiting for? What are you hoping for? I tell you I don't regret a thing. There you have it. She admired me too much . Understand? INEZ: No. No one admired me. GARCIN: So much the better. So much the better for you. All this must seem quite abstract to you. Well, here's a story. I brought a mulatto woman home with me . What nights! My wife went to bed first, but she must have heard us. She got up first, and since we'd slept late, she brought us breakfast in bed. INEZ: Cad! GARCIN : Yes, yes, a well loved cad. (Seems d i s t r acted.) No, nothing . It's Gomez, but he's not talking about me. Damn! Anyway, that's what I'm doing here. And you? INEZ: Well, I'm what they call down there a fallen woman. Already damned, of course. So it came as no great surprise. GARCIN: That's it? INEZ: No, there was also that affair with Florence. But that's a tale of corpses . Three corpses. First him, then she and I. No one's left, below . I am at peace. The room, only. I see the room, from time to time. Empty, with the shutters closed. Oh . Oh! They've taken the seals off . For Rent It's for rent. There's a sign on the door. It's . . . mocking. GARCIN: Three. You did say three? INEZ: Yes. GARCIN: One man and two women? INEZ : Yes. GARCIN: Wait . (Pause . ) He killed himself? INEZ: Him? He was incapable of it. But not for lack of suffering. He was crushed by a trolley . It was comical! I lived with them-- he was my cousin. GARCIN: Florence was blonde? INEZ: Blonde? (Glance at Estelle.) You know, I don ' t reg r et a thing, but I don't enjoy telling you this story much. GARCIN : Go on! Go on ! You were disgusted with him? INEZ : Little by little . For example, he made t his noise when he drank; he snuffled i n his glass . Little things . Oh! He was a sor r y sort, vulnerable. What are you smiling at? GARCING: Because I'm not vulnerable. INEZ: We'll see. I slipped into her; she saw him through my eyes . After a while, she was in my grasp. we took a room on the other side of town. GARCIN: And then? INEZ: And then there was the trolley. I told her every day, 'Well, my darling, we had him killed . ' (Pause . ) I am wicked. GARCIN: Yes. Sc aIT T. INEZ: No. You're not wicked. It's something different. GARCIN: What? INEZ: I'll tell you later. Me, I'm wicked . That is to say I need the suffering of others in order to exist. A torch. A to r ch in thei r hea r ts. When I'm alone, I flicker out. For six months I blazed in her heart. I burned it out. She got up one night; went and turned on the gas without my knowing it; then she lay down beside me. There you have it. GARCIN: Hmmm! INEZ: What? 56 GARCIN: Nothing. That's not right. INEZ: No, it's not right. So? GARCIN: Oh. You've got a point. (To Estelle. ) And you, what did you do? ESTELLE: I told you, I know nothing about it. I tried to ask myself . GARCIN: Good. We'll help. This fellow with the shattered face, who's he? ESTELLE: What fellow? INEZ: You know quite well. The one you were afraid of when you came in. ESTELLE: He's a friend. GARCIN: Why were you afraid of him? ESTELLE: You have no right to interrogate me. INEZ: He killed himself because of you? ESTELLE: No. Don't be foolish. GARCIN: So why did he frighten you? He put a shot into his face, eh? Is that what carried off his head? ESTELLE: Quiet! Be quiet! GARCIN: Because of you! Because of you! INEZ: Shot because of you! ESTELLE: Leave me alone! You frighten me! I want to leave! I want to leave! (She rushes to'the door and shakes it. ) GARCIN: Go ahead. Myself, I couldn't ask for more. But the door is locked from the outside. (Estelle rings, but the bell does not sound. Inez and Garcin laugh. Estelle turns around to face them, with her back to the door.) ESTELLE (her voice slow and harsh) : You are beastly. INEZ: Perfectly beastly. So? And this fellow who killed himself on your account; he was your )over? GARCIN: Of course he was her lover. And he wanted to have her for himself alone. Isn't that true? INEZ: And he danced the tango like a professional, but he was poor, I imagine. (Long pause. ) GARCIN: You were asked if he was poor. ESTELLE: Yes, he was poor. GARCIN: And then again, you had your reputation to preserve. One day he came and begged you, and you laughed. INEZ? Well? Well? You laughed? Was it for that he killed himself? ESTELLE: Was it with those same eyes that you looked at Florence? INEZ: Yes. (A pause. Estelle begins to laugh.) ESTELLE: You haven't got it at all. (She straightens up and looks at them, keeping her back to the door. Dry and provocative tone:) He wanted to give me his child. There, are you happy? GARCIN: And you, you didn't want it. ESTELLE: No. The child came anyway. I left to spend five months in Switzerland. No one knew anything about it. It was a girl. Roger was at my side when she was born. He was delighted to have a girl. But not me. GARCIN: And then? ESTELLE: There was a balcony, above a lake. I took a large stone. He cried, "Estelle, I beg you, I beseech you." I hated him. He saw everything. He bent over the railing and watched the rings in the lake. GARCIN: Then? ESTELLE: That was all. I returned to Paris. He, he did what he wanted. GARCIN: He blew his head off? ESTELLE: Yes, quite. It wasn't worth the trouble. My husband never suspected a thing. (Pause) I hate you. (Dry sobs.) GA RC IN: Useless. The tears don't flow here. ESTELLE: I am horrible! I am horrible! (Pause . ) If only you knew how I hate you! INEZ (taking her in her arms) : My poor darling! (To Garcin): The inquest is over. No point in keeping that torturer's scowl. GARCIN: A torturer's (Looks around) I'd give anythino to see myself in a mirror. (Pause . ) How hot it isl (Mechanically removes his jacket.) Oh! Excuse me. (Starts to put it back on.) ESTELLE: You can stay in shirtsleeves. For now . GARCIN: Don't be angry with me, Estelle. ESTELLE: I'm not angry with you. INEZ: And me? Are you angry with me? ESTELLE: Yes. INEZ: Well, Garcin, we're as naked as worms. Do you see it more clearly? GA RC IN: I don't know. Perhaps it's - a little clearer. (Timidly) : Can't we try to help one another? INEZ: I don't need any help. 57 �GARCIN: They've tangled all the strings, Inez. If you make the slightest movement, if you raise your hand to fan yourself, Estelle and I feel the tug. None of us can save ourselves alone; we've got to pull together in this, or sink together. Choose. (Pause . ) What is it? INEZ: They've rented it! The windows are wide open. A man's sitting on my bed. They've rented it! They've rented it! Come in, come in, don't be embarrassed. It's a woman. She goes to him and puts her hands on his shoulders Why don't they turn on the light-- one can hardly see. Are they going to embrace? This room is mine. Mine! And why don't they light it? I can't see any more. What are they whispering? Is he going to fondle her on my bed? She says it's noon and sunny. So I'm going blind. (Pause.) Finished. No more. I no longer see; I no longer hear. Well, I suppose I'm finished with the earth. No more alibis. (Shudders.) I feel empty. Now I'm completely dead. Totally here. You were saying? Something about helping me, I think? GARCIN: Yes. INEZ: Help me do what? GARCIN: Frustrate th~ir tricks. INEZ: And in return? GARCIN: You'll help me. It wouldn't take much, Inez, just a bit of good will. INEZ: Good will And where do you want me to get it? I am rotten. GARCIN: And me? (Pause . ) But if we tried? INEZ: I' m dried up. I can neither give nor receive; how can I help you? (Pause. She looks at Estelle, who has ·her head in her hands.) Florence was blonde. GARCIN: This little one will be your torturer, you know. INEZ: That could be just what I fear. GARCIN: It's through her that they'll get to you. As for me, I . • . I I pay no attention to her. If you were to What? INEZ: GARCIN: It's a trap. They' re watching to see if you'll let yourself be caught. INEZ: I know. And you, you're a trap. Do you think they haven't foreseen your very words? And that they don't have hidden pitfalls that we can't see? .Everything's a trap. But what does that make me? A trap for her. Maybe I' 11 be the one to catch her. GARCIN: You won't catch anything. We run after each other like the horses on a merry-go-round, without ever catching up; you can be sure they've arranged everything. Let it go, Inez. Open your hands, let go. Or else you'll make us all miserable. INEZ: Do I look like someone who lets go? I know what awaits me: I'm going to burn; I am burning, and I know that it's endless. I know it all-- do you think I'll let go? I will have her; she'll see you through my eyes, like Florence saw the other one. How can you tell me about your misery? I tell you I know it all and yet I don't feel sorry for myself. A trap, ha! A trap. Of course I'm caught in a trap. And what then?. So much the better, if it makes them happy. GARCIN (taking her by the shoulders): Me, I can feel sorry for you. Look at me; we're naked. Naked to the bone; I know your inner heart. We are bound together-do you think I should want to hurt you? I don't regret a thing, I'm not complaining, I am dried up too. But for you, I can feel sorry. INEZ (having left his hands there while he spoke, recoils ) : Don't touch me. I hate being touched. And keep your pity. Come now, Garcin; there are plenty of traps for you in this room. For you. Set just for you. You'd do better to mind your own business. (Pause . ) If you leave us alone, the child and I, I' 11 be · in no position to harm you. GARCIN (looks at her for a moment, then shrugs): All right. ESTELLE: (rai sing her head) : Help, Garcin. GARCIN : What do you want from me? ESTELLE (rising and approaching him): Me, you can• help me. GARCIN: Talk to her. (Inez has approached Estelle, and is standing behind her, without touching her. During the following exchange she speaks practically into Estelle's ear. Estelle,_ facing 58 Garcin, responds uniquely to him, as if he . were the one questioning her, though he looks at her without speaking.) ESTELLE: I beg you; you promised, Garcin, you promised! Quickly, quickly; I don't want to be alone. Olga has taken him dancing. INEZ: Who? ESTELLE: Pierre. They' re dancing together. INEZ: Who's Pierre? ESTELLE: A little fool. He called me his live ly brook .' He loved roe . She's taken him dancing. INEZ: Do you love him? ESTELLE: They're sitting down. She's all out of breath. Why is she dancing? At least it'll make her lose some weight. Of course not. Of course I didn't love him . He's eighteen years old , and I'm no cradle robber. INEZ: Then let them be. What can they do to you? ESTELLE: He was mine. INEZ: Nothing on earth is yours any more. ESTELLE: He was mine. INEZ: Yes, he was . Try to take him, try to touchhiro. Olga, she can touch him. Can't she? She can hold his hands, stroke his knees. ESTELLE: She's pressing her enormous breasts against him; she's breathing in his face. Tom Thumb, poor Tom Thumb, what keeps you from laughing in her face? Ah, one · glance from roe would have been enough, she never would have dared Am I truly no more? INEZ: No more. And there is nothing left of you on earth. All that belongs to you is here . Would you like the paper-knife? The bronze by Barbidienne? The blue sofa is yours. And I, darling, I am yours forever. ESTELLE: Oh? Mine forever? Well then, which of you dared to call roe their · lively brook? You are not deceived, you others, you know that I am filth. Think of me, Pierre; don't think, but of me; defend me. As long as you are thinking, 'My lively brook, my dearest lively brook,' I'm only half here; only half guilty. Below, I am a lively brook, at your side. She's as red as a tomato. See, it's impossible; we've laughed at her toget her a hundred times. What is that song? I loved it so much . Oh, the St. Louis Blues . Go ahead; dance, dance . You'd laugh if you could see it, Garcin. She can't do a thing without my seeing it. I see you, I see you, with your tired hair - do, looking so overcome. I see how you step on his feet. It's enough to die laughing. Come on! Faster, faster! How he pulls and pushes her. It's indecent . Faster! 'You're so light,' he always told me. Come on! Come on! (Dances as she speaks.) She's laughing, she dances across my view. Our dear Estelle! What, our dear Estelle? Oh , be quiet! You didn't even shed a tear at the funeral. And she says, 'our dear Estelle.' She's got the nerve to speak of him of me . Come on! In time. She's not one who can talk and dance at the same time. What? No! No! Don 't tell him! I give up; take him, keep him, do with him what you will, but don't tell him (She has stopped dancing . ) Good . You can keep him for now. She told him everything, Garcin: Roger, the trip to Switzerland; she told him the whole story. 'Our dear Estelle was not No, no, after all, I wasn't . He shook his head with a sad look , but you couldn't say the news upset him. Keep him for now. I don't grudge you his long eyelashes or his girlish manners. But he called me his lively brook, his crystal. Well, the crystal is in pieces. 'Our dear Estelle. ' Dance! Dance! Come on! In time. One, two. (Dances.) I'd give the whole world to return to earth for a moment, a single moment, to dance with him. (Dance s. Long pause.) I don't hear so well any more. They've turned down the lights, like for a tango. Why are they playing so softly? Louder! How far away it seems. I I don't hear anything at all now. (Stops dancing.) Nothing. The earth has . le.ft me. Garcin, look at me. Take me in your arms. (Inez, behind Estelle, motions to Garcin to move aside.) INEZ (impe riously ) : Garcin! 59 �GARCIN (retreats a step and indicates Inez): Talk to her. ESTELLE: (gripping him): Don't go! Are you a man? Look at me, though, don't turn your eyes away. Is it so painful? I 've got golden hair, and after all, someone killed himself for me. I beg you; you've got to look at something. If it's not me, it'll be the bronze, or the table, or the sofas. I'm still more pleasant to look at. Listen; I tumbled into their hearts like a little bird fallen from its nest. Pick me up, take me into your heart, you'll see how nice I can be. GA RC IN (pushing her away, with dif f iculty): Talk to her, I tell you. ESTELLE: Her? She doesn't count; she's a woman. INEZ: I don't count? But, my little bird, my little dove, you've been in the shelter of my heart for some time now. · Don't be afraid; I'll look at you without a break, without even a blink. You will live in my eyes like a speck of gold in a ray of sunshine. ESTELLE: A ray of sunshine? Hal Get lost! You've tried to catch me already, and you've seen well enough that it failed. INEZ: Estelle I My lively brook, my crystal. ESTELLE: Your crystal? What a joke. Who do you think you' re fooling? Everyone knows that I flung my child out the window. The crystal is in pieces on the ground, and 1 don't care. I'm nothing but an empty skin-- and my skin is not for you. INEZ: Come! You' 11 be whatever you like; a lively brook, a briny brook. In the depths of my eyes you'll have whatever you desire . ESTELLE: Let me go! You have no eyes I But what do I have to do to make you let me go? Here! (She spits in her face. Inez quickly releases her.) INEZ: Garcin I You' 11 pay for this! (Pause. Garcin shrugs and goes to Estelle.) GARCIN: So you want a man. ESTELLE: A man? No. You. GARCIN: Don't bother. Any man would do. I 'm to be found here, so it' s me . Good enough. (Takes her shoulders.) I've got nothing to please you, you 'know~- I'm not a little fool and I don't dance the tango. ESTELLE : I ' 11 take you as you ar~ . Perhaps I'll change you. GARCIN: I doubt it. I'll be distracted. I 've got other things on my mind. ESTELLE: What things? GARCIN: It wouldn't interest you. ESTELLE: I'll sit on your sofa. I'll wait for you to bother with me. (Inez laughs.) INEZ: Ha! Bitch! On your belly! On your belly! And he's not even handsome. ESTELLE (to Garcin): Don't listen to her. She has no eyes, she has no ears. She doesn't count. GARCIN: I'll give you what I can. It's not much. I won't love you; I know you too well. ESTELLE: But you desire me? GARCIN: Yes. ESTELLE: That's all I want. GARCIN: Then . . . (Leans toward her.) INEZ: Estelle! Garcin! You're losing your senses! I'm here, me! GARCIN: I see. So? INEZ: In front of me? You you can't! ESTELLE.: Why not? I used to undress in front of my chambermaid. INEZ (grabbing Garcin): Let go! Let go! Don't touch her with your filthy male hands. GARCIN (pushes her away violently) : There: I 'm no gentleman, and I won' t be afraid to hit a woman. lNEZ: You promised me, Garcin, you promised! Please; you promised me! GARCIN: It' s you who broke our agreement. INEZ (Lets go and moves back to the edge of the set) : Do what you like; you' re stronger than me. But remember that I'm here and I'm watching. My eyes won't leave you, Garcin; you'll have to embrace under my stare. How I hate the both of you! Go on, love! Love! We are in hell and I'll have my turn. (During the following scene she stares silently at them.) 60 GARCIN (returning to Estelle and taking her by the shoulders): Kiss me. (Pause.) He leans over, then abruptly straightens up again.) ESTELLE (annoyed gesture:) Ha! (Pause.) I told you to pay no attention to her. GARCIN: She matters. (Pause.) Gomez is at the journal. They've closed the windows; it must be winter. For six months they've I told you I'd be distracted. They ' re shivering; they've kept their coats on. It's curious-- they're so cold, down there, and I'm so hot. This time they're talking about me. ESTELLE: Will this last long? (Pause.) Tell me what he's saying, anyway. GARCIN: Nothing. He's not saying a thing. He's scum, that's all. Just scum. Ha! (Returns to Estelle.) Back to us! Will you love me? ESTELLE (smile) : Who knows? GARCIN: Will you have faith in me? ESTELLE: What a silly question! You' 11 be constantly in my sight and there's only Inez for you to cheat on me with . GARCIN: True. (Pause. He releases her shoulders.) I meant a different kind of faith. (Listens.) Go on, go on! Say what you like; I'm not there to defend myself. (To Estelle.) You've got to have faith in me, Estelle. ESTELLE: What a fuss! But you've got my mouth, my arms, my entire body, and everything could be so simple My faith? But I've got no faith to give. You're annoying me terribly. You must have done something pretty awful to beg for my faith so. GARCIN: They shot me. ESTELLE: I know; you refused to go . So? GARCIN: I . . . I didn't exactly refuse. (To the invisible ones.) He speaks well, he accuses me as well as the can, but he hasn't said what I should have done. Should I have gone to the general's office and said, 'I won't go, general?' What foolishness! They'd just have locked me up. I wanted to testify, to testify, myself. I didn't want them to suppress my side of things. (To Estelle.) I . . I took the train. They pinched me at the border. ESTELLE: Where would you have gone? GA RC IN: Mexico City. I figured on starting a pacifist journal there. (Long pause.) Well, say something. ESTELLE: What do you want me to say? You did what you could since you didn't want to fight. (Garcin makes an annoyed gesture.) Oh, darling, I've no idea how to answer you. INEZ: You should tell him, my treasure, that he ran away like a lion. For he did run away, your great darling. That's what's torturing him. GARCIN: Ran away, left, call it what you will. ESTELLE: But you had to run away. If YOU Id Stayed they WOUld have put YOU in handcuffs. GARCIN: True. (Pause.) Estelle, am I a coward ? ESTELLE: But I know nothing about it, my love. I'm not in your skin. It's for you to decide. GARCIN (weary gesture): I can't decide. ESTELLE: Well, after all, you should remember; you have must have had reasons for doing what you did. GARCIN: Yes. ESTELLE : We 11? GARCIN: Are they the real reasons? ESTELLE: How tangled you are. GARCIN: I wanted to testify . . . I . . . I had thought about it for so long . Are they the real reasons? INEZ: Ha! That's the question. Are they the real reasons? You deliberated; you didn't want to enter it lightly. But fear, hate, and all the filth hidden inside; these are also reasons. Go on, look, interrogate yourself. GARCIN: Shut up! Do you think I need your advice? I paced in my cell, all night, all day. The window to the door, the door to the window. I lay in wait for myself. I followed my tracks. It seemed as if I'd spent an entire lifetime questioning myself. But the deed was still there. I . . . I'd taken the train that much was certain. But why_ ? Why? Eventually I came to think that my death would decide: if I died properly, it would prove that I'm not a coward. INEZ: And how did you die, Garcin? 61 �GARCIN: Badly. (Inez bursts into But I'm out of the game; they'll keep the laughter.) Oh I It was simply a bodily records and not worry about me, and· weakness. I'm not ashamed. It's just they're right, since I'm dead. Finished like a rat. {Laughs.) I've fall en into that everything remains in suspense, for the public domain. (Long pause) eternity. (To Estelle): Come here, you. ESTELLE {softly ) : Garcin. Look at me. I need to have someone GARCIN: You're there? Good, listen, you looking at me when they talk about me on earth. I love green eyes. can do me a favor. No, don't flinch. I know, it seems funny for someo ne to ask INEZ: Green eyes? Well, look at that. you for help, you're not used to it. But And you, Estelle, do you love cowards? if you wanted to, it you tried, couldn't ESTELLE: What's it to me? Coward or not, as long as he kisses well. we perhaps love one another for good? Look, there are a thousand people who' 11 GARCIN: They' re shaking their heads and repeat that I'm a coward. But what's puffing on their cigars; they' re bored. that, a thousand? If there were one soul, They're thinking, 'Garcin's a coward'; just one, who' 11 swear against all ·their tiredly, weakly. Still, history's got to forces that I didn't run away, that I think something. Garcin is a coward. couldn't have run away, that I had That's what they've decided; them, my courage, that I am straight, I . • • I'm comrades. In six months they'll be positive that I' 11 be saved! Will you saying, "yellow as Garcin." You two are believe me? You'll be dearer to me than lucky; no one on earth thinks about you any I myself. more. Me, my life doesn't end so easily. INEZ: And your wife, Garcin? ESTELLE (laughing): Idiot! Dear idiot? Do you think I could love a coward? GARCIN: What about my wife? She's dead. INEZ: De?d? GARCIN: But you said . . . ESTELLE: I was teasing you. I loved men, GARCIN: I must have forgotten to tell Garcin, real men, with rough skin, strong you. She died not long ago. It's been about two months now. hands. You haven't got the chin of a INEZ: Of grief? coward, you haven't got a coward's mouth, or a coward's voice, or the hair of a GARCIN: Of course, of grief. What do you coward. And it's for you mouth, your think she'd die of? So, all is well. The voice, your hair that I love you. war is over, my wife is dead, and I have a GARCIN: Is it true? Is it really true? place in history. (He emits a dry sob and ESTELLE: Do you want me to swear it to covers his face with his hands. Estelle you? holds him.) GARCIN: So, I defy them all; the ones ESTELLE: Darling, darling. Look at me, down .there and the ones here. Estelle, my darling. · Touch me, touch me. (Takes we' 11 stroll out o f hell. (Inez bursts his hand and places it on her throat.) out laughing. He stops and looks a her.) Put your hand on my throat. (Garcin What is it? attempts to pull away.) Leave your hand, INEZ {laughing): But she doesn't believe leave it here, don't stir. They will die, a word she says. How could you be so all of themr what does it matter what they naive? 'Estelle, am I coward?' If only think. Forget them. There's no one but you knew how much s}1e cares! me. ESTELLE: Inez I (To Gare in.) Don't GARCIN- (withdraws his hand) : They won't listen to her. If you want my faith forget me. They'll die, but others will you've got to give me yours. come who'll pass it on. I've left my life INEZ: Of course, of course! Trust her. in their hands. She needs a man, that you can believe, she ESTELLE: Ahl You think too much. needs a man' s arms around · her waist, a GARCIN: What else is there to do? man's smell, a man's desire in the eyes of Before, I acted . Oh I To go back a man. As for the rest . . . Hal She'd with them for one day • . What a lie I suffering, which tickles and caresses and tell you that you're God the Father, if it is never bad enough. (Grabs for the would make you happy . button and presses it. ) Will you open? GARCIN : Estelle! Is this true? Answer (The door opens suddenly, and he just me : is it true? avoids falling. ) Ah! (A long silence.) ESTELLE: What do you want me to say? I INEZ: Well, Garcin? Go ahead. don't understand a word of all these GARCIN (slowly): I wonder why that door stories. (Stamps her foot) How annoying opened. this all is! Even if you were a coward, I INEZ: What are you waiting for? Go, go, would love you . There! Is that enough quickly . for you? (Pause . ) GARCIN: I'm not going out there. GARCIN (to both women ) : You disgust me! INEZ: And you, Estelle? (Estell e does (Walks to the doo r. ) not move. Inez laughs . ) So? Which? ESTELLE: What are you doing? GARCIN: Leaving . Which of the three? The way is free -- so what's keeping us? Ha! It's enough to INEZ (quickly) : You won't get far; the die laughing . We're inseparable. door's locked . (Estelle pounces on her from behind) GARCIN : They'll open it, I tell you. ESTELLE: Inseparable? Garcin! Help me, (Pounds on the door.) I can't tolerate help me, quick . We' 11 drag her out and you any more. I can't. (Este lle runs to shut the door behind he r; she'll see. him . He thrusts her away.) Go away! You INEZ (str uggling): Estelle! Estelle! I disqust me even more than she does. I beg you, keep me. Not in the hall; don't don't want to be swallowed by your eyes. throw me in the hall! You 're clammy; you' re soft! You are an GARCIN : Let her go. octopus, a swamp . (Beats on the door.) ESTELLE : You're a fool, she hates you. Will you open? GARCIN: It's because of her tha t I ESTELLE: Garcin , I beg you, please don't stayed. (Estelle releases Inez, and looks go . I won't talk to you, I'll leave you at Garcin in amazement.) all alone, but don't go. Inez has shown INEZ: Because of me? (Pause . ) Well, her claws; I don't want to stay alone with her. good enough; close the door. It's ten times hotter since it opened . (Garcin GARCIN: Look after yourself. I never crosses to the door and closes it.) asked you to come. Because of me? It Is so ESTELLE: Coward! Coward! Oh! true;you are a coward. GARCIN: Yes. You, you know what a coward INEZ (appr oaching Estelle) : Well, my ' is . INEZ: Yes, I know that . dove, aren't you happy? You spat in my GARCIN: You know what evil is, and shame, face to please him, and we quarrelled and fear. There were days when you saw because of him. But he ' s leaving, the through youself, right to the heart. And kill- joy; he's going to leave us girls it shattered you. And the next day you alone could do nothing but think, but you could ESTELLE: It won't do you any good . If no longer understand the revelation of the that door opens, I'm gone . day before. Yes, you know the cost of INEZ: Where? evil. And if you say that I'm a coward, ESTELLE: It doesn 't matter where. As far it's because you've lived with it , right? from you as possible . (Gare in has not INEZ: Yes . stopped beating on the door.) It's you I've got to convince, GARCIN: Open! Open it! I'll accept GARCIN: you are of my breed. Did you imagine that everything: the boot, the pincers, the I was going to leave? I couldn't leave molten lead, the tongs, the garrotte; everything that burns and tears . I want you here, triumphant, with all those to suffer for the good. Better a hundred thoughts in your head, all those thoughts stings, better the whip, the acid, than about me. this suffering in the head, this phantom INEZ: You truly want tp convince me? 62 63 �GARCIN: I want nothing more. I don't hear them any more, you know. No doubt they' re finished with me. Finished; the case is closed, I 'm no longer on earth, not even as a coward. We ' re alone here , Inez; there's nobody but you two to think of me. She doesn't count. But you, you who hate me; if you believe me, you' 11 save me. INEZ: This won't be easy. Look at · me. I've .got a thick skull. GARCIN: I'll give it all the time it takes. INEZ: Well, you've got all of time. All of time. GARCIN (takes her by the shoulders): Look, everyone's got their own tastes, right? Me, I didn't give a damn about money , or love. I wanted to be a man. A real man. I put everything on one horse. Is it possible to be a coward when one takes the most dangerous routes? Can you judge an entire life by one act? INEZ: Why not? For thirty years you dreamed that you had courage, and you allowed yourself a thousand petty weaknesses because for heres everything is permitted. How convenient! And then, at the hour of danger, you were up against the wall and. • . you took the train for Mexico. GARCIN: I did not dream of that heroism. I chose it. A man is what he wants to be. INEZ: Prove it. Prove it wasn't a dream. Only acts determine what it is one wants. GARCIN: I died ·too soon. I didn't have the time to finish my acts. INEZ: One always dies too soon-- or too late. But the life is there, finished; the line is drawn; you've got to take the total. Besides your life, you've got nothing. GARCIN: Viper! You've got an answer for everything. INEZ: Come on, come onl Don't give up. It should be easy to persuade me. Look for arguments, make an effort. (Garcin shrugs.) Well, well? I told you you were vulnerable. Ha! How you' 11 pay for it now. You are a coward, Garcin; a coward because I will it. I will it, you hear? I will it. And yet see how weak I am, a 64 breath of air. I'm nothing but the eye that sees you, the colorless thought that thinks you. (He walks toward her with open hands • ) Ha! They are open, these great manly hands. But what are you hoping for? You can't catch a thought in your hands. Come on, you haven' t got a choice: you'll have to convince me. I've got you. ESTELLE: Garcin! What? GARCIN: ESTELLE: Avenge yourself. How? GARCIN: ESTELLE: Embrace me; you'll hear her sing. That's true, Inez. You have got GARCIN: too. (Holds me, but I've got you, Estelle. Inez lets out a cry.) Hal Coward! Coward! Go ahead. INEZ: Go ahead and console yourself with women. ESTELLE: Sing, Inez, sing! INEZ: The handsome couple! If only you could see his great hand on the flat of y·o ur back, pawing at the flesh and the cloth. He has wet hands. He sweats. It's leaving a blue stain on your dress. ESTELLE: Sing I Sing! Squeeze me tighter, Garcin; she'll burst. INEZ: Yes, squeeze her tightly, Garcin, squeeze her. Mingle your heats. It's good, love 1 eh, Gare in? It' s deep and mild, like sleep. But I won't let you sleep. (Gesture from Garcin.) ESTELLE: Don't listen to her. Take my lips; I am totally yours. INEZ: Well, what are you waiting for? Do as you're told. Garcin the coward holds in his arms Estelle the infanticide. Betting is opened. Will Garcin the coward embrace her? I see you, I see you 1 by myself I am . a crowd. The crowd, Garcin, the crowd; do you hear them? (Muttering.) Coward l Coward! Coward! Coward! You flee in vain; I won't let you go. What are you seeking in her lips? Forgetfulness? But I won't forget you . It's me you must convince. Me. Go on! Go onl I'm waiting. · You see, Estelle, he's losing his grip, he's as tame as a puppy • . • You can't have himl GARCIN: So it will never.be night. Never. INEZ: You'll see me always. GARCIN: INEZ: Always. (Ga re in releases Estelle and takes several steps upstage. He approaches the bronze.) GARCIN: The bronze . . . (Caresses it.) So here we are now. The bronze is here; I contemplate it and I realize I'm in hell. I tell you everything was foreseen. They p~edicted that I'd stand before this mantle, with my hand on the bronze, and all eyes upon me. All those eyes, devouring me. (Suddenly turns around.) Ha! 'l'here ' s only two of you? I thought there would be a lot more. (Laughs.) So, it's hell, here . I never would have thought You remember-- the brimstone, the spikes, the grilles . . Ah! What a joke . No need of the grille. Hell? It's The Othe rs. ESTELLE: Darling! GARCIN (pushing her away): Leave me alone. She stands between us. I can't love you while she's watching. ESTELLE: Ha! Well, she won't see you any more. (Takes the paper-knife from the table, rushes to Tn c'!z and stabs her several times.) INEZ: (struggles with her, laughing): What are you doing, what are you doing, are you mad? You know quite well I 1 m dead. ESTELLE: Dead? (She drops the knife. Inez picks it up and stabs herself with rage. ) Dead! Dead! Dead! Not a knife INEZ: It's already been or poison, or hanging. done, understand? And we are together forever. (Laugh s.) ESTELLE (burst of laughter) : Forever? My god, how comical! Forever! GARCIN (laughs , looking at the others): Forever! (They sit, each on his own sofa. A long silence. They stop laughing and regard one another. Garcin gets up.) Well, let's get on with it. CURTAIN 65 �- - - - ·- - -- - - - - -- - - Non-Prof it Org. BULK RATE U. S. POSTAGE PAID . St. John's Collegf2 Annapolis, Marylanu 21404 I I 'l ·1 PERMIT No. 120 ANNAP OL,IS, MD. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Energeia</em> Description An account of the resource <em>Energeia</em> is a non-profit, student magazine, which is published once a year and distributed among students, faculty, alumni, and staff of St. John's College, Annapolis.  Staff welcome submissions from all members of the community -- essays, poems, stories, original math proofs, lab projects, drawings, and the like. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context energeia Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. ii, 65 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bergren, Kathleen Burlein, Ann Cooper, Barbara Holland, Christian Maguire, Susan Marklin, Martin Miller, Richard Mullen, Alexander Sokolik Merle Sachs, Joe, 1946- Title A name given to the resource Energeia, Spring 1983 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983 Description An account of the resource Issue of the Energeia, published in Spring 1983. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Energeia Spring 1983 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Energeia Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/cc02fe19a3479a4efaf32c9edfee6e9b.pdf 959cd4343e4ab2c1a0fa4d434f7678a8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 8 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Berreles-Luna, Athena (Editor-in-Chief) Pelham, Rose (Editor-in-Chief) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 3 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-11-05 Description An account of the resource Volume XL, Issue 3 of The Gadfly. Published November 5, 2018. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 03, Nov. 8, 2018. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication The Gadfly https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/4eeb1b5960792a3b088cbc647aa4370d.pdf 7ebcaae6dc15f7ac79b8fdecd6fcf059 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 8 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Berreles-Luna, Athena (Editor-in-Chief) Pelham, Rose (Editor-in-Chief) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 4 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-12-07 Description An account of the resource Volume XL, Issue 4 of The Gadfly. Published December 7, 2018. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 04, Dec. 7, 2018. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication The Gadfly https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/9a631032e6c90a83f5165f83e98b41aa.pdf d6ca36b384af292dbc289a891afe9281 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 8 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Berreles-Luna, Athena (Editor-in-Chief) Pelham, Rose (Editor-in-Chief) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 5 [The Badfly] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-12 Description An account of the resource Volume XL, Issue 5 of The Gadfly. Special Badfly Issue. Published December 2018. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 05 (Badfly), Dec. 2018. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication The Gadfly https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/498790ecabbb08a4f1daa920b0d4bbbd.pdf 4c2b4b564d86ae6fffe995f3619f19d2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 4 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Berreles-Luna, Athena (Editor-in-Chief) Pelham, Rose (Editor-in-Chief) Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 6 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-01-29 Description An account of the resource Volume XL, Issue 6 of The Gadfly. Published January 29, 2019. (Misnumbered as Vol. XXXVV, Issue 06). Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gadfly, Vol. XL, Issue 06, Jan. 29, 2019. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/e99f2c1b94d4c1095ad6da9152ede97c.pdf dd0ebf3a878557aba2fe0578b02f3c22 PDF Text Text ST. JOHNS COLLEGE LIBRARY 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11mr11~r 1 i~1~1m1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1696 01171 862 2 DATE DUE I �Winter 2016 Editors Dorothea Bowerfind Jakub Piven Abigail Purnell Editorial Staff Calida Howell Bonnie Scott Patrick Turley Web* Editor Dahye Kim Layout Design J akub Piven Cover Photograph *energeiasjc.rnm Stefan Vasic �Note from the editors The goal of Energeia, we tell people when they ask, is to collect art from the community. The point of this project, we insist, the point and the entire purpose-the assumption we make in so doing-is that there is very much good art in this place, very many good artists. Our labor is the collecting, the gathering into one place, and the collection is the entire end. It is hard for us to make connections, sometimes, hard to remember that in this world everything is analogue to everything else, and that we find symbols and metaphors profound and illuminating because they bring out this repetition and entanglement of all things. It is important, we believe, to remember this, and the creation of art is the manifestation of this awareness in us, and its outward manifestation an urgent cry to others to remember these connections likewise. For better or worse, men find themselves in communities. These are rarely the communities we envision for ourselves, that we hope for and plan-but then we do not ever have much say over the circumstances in which we land, about these inevitable, immediate boundaries of space and time. Our response to these circumstances, this is our good action, this is our overcoming, and it is art that is content for the overcoming, art our offering and duty to the community of thought in which we have found ourselves. Art is our speaking up, our speaking out, and in this utterance we are artists as well as philosophers. In the study of Great Ideas and the development of our minds, it is too often passed over that we are bodily, that these transcendental idealities are not the stuff of real knowledge, but rather that our experiences in flesh and sound are. Being able to acknowledge ourselves and our experiences constitutes some part of our humanity-this acknowledgement, this utterance of things taken into us and transfigured into images of our own creation-this process is most human of all. This process and this drawing-of-connections are art, and thus when we say that the purpose of Energeia is to collect and draw notice to these connections, what I am saying is that in this community we are all great thinkers and therefore also artists and lovers of art, and the task of collecting-and circulating, and celebrating-art is one that we find most noble, and one nicely eponymous: we are all at work being united here. Here is some art that we have created while in community. We hope you are glad to encounter it. Abby Purnell and Jakub Piven �W ritten Stories, Poems, and Others Image Photography, Painting, and Others 1 Bonnie Naradzay, Sunday Afternoon at Don Polio's 2 Jim Beall, Onyx Moon 4 7 8 Camille Gagnier, La Carta (Translation} Barnabas Holleran, Sonnet 6 Casey Collier, 1he Marshlands 9 Katelin Safford, Mourning in June 10 Felipe Rego, Untitled 12 Danielle Brown, Three Ways to Solve an Integral 16 Hal_y Ford, Recognition e 19 Patrick Turley, Pleasure Shrimp 20 21 23 24 27 30 34 Victoria Lockamy, Untitled #1 Victoria Lockamy, Untitled #2 R.M Goad, 1he Altercation R.M. Goad, Reach Arthur Kohn, 1he Story ofa Sane King Abigail Purnell, Eurydice Returning 3 Z.A., Untitled 6 James Connors, Build 3 (Atoll} 11 15 Sarah Irving,Johnnie Homes 17 Kit Rees, Hunt and No Trussel Louis Petrich (Tutor), Sabbatical Island, Bonaire 18 22 Rachael Langston, Untitled# 1 25 Rachael Langston, Untitled #2 Calida Howell, Untitled 26 Anton Kalmysh, Untitled 29 Annie Brong, Untitled 31 Will van Engen, Vulgur Monster in Polite Society Bonnie Scott, Untitled 32 36 Rose Pelham, Portrait ofIt 40 Sophie Colt, Watercolor of Charlie 42 Elaina Bowman, Rehearsal Timon Luo, Cosmic Egg 37 Olivia Frawley,A Promenade 38 Jonathan Llovet, Stufen (Translation} 41 Wesley Sonheim, Notices Untitled by Calida Howell �Sunday Afternoon at Don Polio's by Bonnie Naradzay Four women of a certain age, we gather at Don Polio's to critique our latest poems, with Pam suggesting that hers, in case we missed it, is on sexual awakening. Digging into spit-roasted chicken, we talk of ex-husbands. Norma says she'll like hers more after he dies, and this reminds me to outlive mine so he doesn't get my pension. A Moroccan soccer player on the wall-mounted tv whips off his shirt after scoring, and I stare, transfixed, at his rippling chest and abdomen. I fumble for words to explain how seeing his bared body affects me. Linda, having already mentioned her new decisiveness in the garden, now that she's sixty, her freedom to uproot plants if they don't fit in, says it's what women want, it's on all the talk shows, and I wonder about the antecedent and about that guy at Squaw Valley who talked of tantric bliss. When I was younger, I say, eating bread pudding from a paper plate, it was the high-minded renaissance man who caught my attention. What a disaster! I glance up at the soccer game. Did I behold Apollo's torso-the smiling hips and thighsor the nameless oarsmen who rowed Ulysses to Ithaca's shore? Sunday Afternoon at Don Polio's I1 �Onyx Moon by Jim Beall He died "East of here under an Onyx Moon'' in an older time. We have not seen his like since. This is a letter from the Dark Ages, of a place and time it is better not to know. What is the wind coming to? Or from? Which is the orb that rises North of a convergence of tracks, dark rails shining, seeming to have their own light. We know in our minds these thin strings, barely luminous, do not meet. But what does the mind know, really? It is the heart that teaches us dread. There is a mist in the sky in place of stars. What compass can tell us, we do not believe: the false convergence of tracks, the true convergence of meridians, the pale skin of a girl we knew once, becoming flame. NB.: An Onyx Moon (or Black Moon) is the second new Moon in a month. 2 I Jim Beall Eurydice Returning by Abigail Purnell I 3 �La Carta by Blanca Garnica (translation right) The Letter translated by Camille Gagnier Y me llegaste como llega la brisa a desplegar los brazos del naranjo. And you came to me like the breeze comes to spread wide the arms of the orange tree. Como se agacha el viento hasta la hierba. Like the wind stoops down to the grass. Como la tarde al campo fatigado. Like the evening to the weary field. Asi. Dulce y amargamente. That way. Sweet and bitterly. Asi me llegaste, peregrino, por la olvidada huella de los pajaros. You came that way, pilgrim, by the forgotten track of the birds. Dulce y amargamente. Sweet and bitterly. 4 I Camille Gagnier La Carta (Translation) I 5 �Sonnet 6 by Barnabas Holleran I saw a name engraved in dust like stone. The date beside it caught me by surprise; For even though it looked so newly drawn, For nine whole years it hid from dust's disguise. The lines were crisp which made this little note, And all the fingerprints could still be seen. No puff of wind had ever moved a mote; That breathless lunar flag looks less pristine. But as I passed, my passing brought a gust Which brushed the dust into a slight decay. The unswept pipe the name is on will rust, And every written word will fade away. And someday I will have to do the same. And yet, beside the first, I put my name. 6 I Untitled by Z.A. Sonnet 6 I 7 �The Marshlands Mourning in June by Katelin Safford by Casey Collier There was death here, tonight. And here, still. Screeching wheels and squelchy radios and fog, from before until now, and for me refined, but not Her. Her heart is broken and her body, is mumbling and trembling for confused forgiveness . When we were at the Falls, last winter, we saw a whirlpool that was a "killer." So, I posed, and she posed, and the photo is· somewhere in a stack of digital. But, we were smiling before the "killer." And now, I don't want to talk about it. But we must. To heal. From death. And I wish it had a throat I could squeeze, or get at. I 1 - J Ii These are the Marshlands. The reconciled march from there to here. I was a private chest, where her head would squirm, and for her eyes to swamp. There came that noiseless ship into the harbor. I did not recognize it. And it wasn't for me. But, my love is the wreck dashed before her. On such a clear night, with such low trim. it is june and I am running my grown-out fingernails through your blonde hair as the loud music and the screaming fans fail to drown out your sorrow. a moment ago you were making a joke but then I turned around and you were sobbing over a picture of your mother, the one where your sister is making a funny face. your grief is wet in my arms and I am thinking of how you wanted to plan this moment, to set aside a day, to make the right lighting, the right sound, the right time for the big cry. this moment is wholly opposite of that, and opposite of that in its wholeness-the invading sunlight broken on the floor by the shadow of the fan, children screaming outside. but i guess this is how these things always happen, i think to myself, my fingers firm on your trembling back. this grief, these tender moments, wait for no one. There is nothing here but for her and I. And we have to go to bed, in the gutless, in the blur. Because, we won't let light between us. / 8 I Casey Collier Mourning in June I9 �Untitled by Felipe Rego We tell kids playing house not to use the word love because like any four letter word we don't wanna hear it on tv But sometimes I think an unfettered mind might pronounce that word a little better Kinda like "happy," right? Like if you've ever been to the beach you know it's shit Sand in your hair, sunburn forming, eyes burning But I think those were my favorite things about the beach growing up I think I was happy In kindergarten no one could explain to me why fuck was a bad word I think words meant more back then, and I think I knew that one was made up But there was something about love I didn't love power rangers, but I liked it for sure I didn't really love much I think I loved my brother And probably the N 64 But not much. Someone told me you can't love someone. before you love yourself I think that's the same someone who told me you can run fast enough to dodge rain Maybe I couldn't fall if my life depended on it But I think ifl get caught in the rain I'll be in it regardless I don't usually forget my umbrella. I think we tell kids not to say love because it scares us to think that word could mean less than we think it does And we tell anyone who might listen that love at first sight is a fantasy Summer loving ends at the credits Maybe that's only because love can't be measured and we're afraid to build a unit Because I don't think any heart is too big or small to break Because I don't think my heartbeat can measure the movements of the heavens Because one winter night I felt a swelling in my chest that I'm certain would strike awe into the Leviathan Strike fear into seismologists everywhere Mama told me I make mountains out of mole hills But mama also told me not to get up on the furniture Thank god for you telling me to stand on tables And thank god for sitting on the sink. 10 I Felipe Rego [If T I KONTA 6x6 cm 1 nnc111 ·J1.1n1,mu' \ufn.1l11n ·n Build 3 (Atoll) by James Connors I 11 �- :;: 12 ~~ rx0sz J.'S Jnj-x+ z -f (__, ::: J )(~.z5-:tx ! I Danielle Brown Three Ways to Solve an Integral I 13 �14 I Danielle Brown Johnnie Homes by Sarah Irving I 15 �Recognition by Haley Ford I realized I would live and die here. Maybe not here, at the intersection of 25th and L, but somewhere near here-at least on this earth. Hospitals turn into apartment buildings and people don't stay in one place long enough to know it. The recognition of everything had gone stale. People only cared where they were walking long enough to get them where they were going. More business women passed us from behind on the tight sidewalks than we passed crossing the street. Maybe we never passed each other, I can't remember. I laughed loudly a few times and was greeted with faces of stern surprise. Well-dressed, effortless people morphed together in the masses, going home to children or bars. It started to pour and they huddled under the awnings of places they had never eaten in and will never enter, pretending to read the menu and glancing anxiously at the sky. The street steamed with summer heat, evaporating rain. I felt sticky all over. Were we like them? Briskly jaywalking to our meeting place, ignoring the signs and architecture above. We looked more at our feet than the sky, escaping the multitude of strangers looking into our faces. Locals never look to the tops of the skyscrapers. It's seen as unacceptable to stop and take a picture of some man-made icon of capitalism towering in the sky. Conformist after conformist brushing our shoulders and making peace with the race of time. I caught my reflection more than once in the shop fronts . Once I turned to look at my own reflection in an office window and saw a man at a desk staring back at me. We are not faceless. We are not unrecognizable in this place with no soil and obstructed sky. We are all the more lovely in the concrete playground we've made. But there is no one dancing in the streets, letting their silk ties be soiled by the rain. There were money and politics and unfinished projects to be discussed. Silence seem savored by those who walked alone. One could walk several blocks next to a person you've never seen and will never see again, never saying a word or looking up at them. Yet, there she was again-before, we had walked in opposing directions and now, two hours later, she was three seconds ahead, crossing the street before the light changed. I watched her, the emblem of recognition, with the intent to follow only as far as my destination would take me. And I remember her now, knowing her only in this place, when she is most certainly focused on another, more distant destination. 16 I Haley Ford Hunt and No Trussel by Kit Rees I 17 �Pleasure Shrimp by Patrick Turley In an effort to increase the pleasure in the world Monsanto designs a bioengineered shrimp variant, whose head is always itching but whose tail is able to constantly scratch the itch. This "pleasure shrimp" obviously generates an obscene amount of pleasure for itself, and it was theorized by Monsanto's in-house bioethics board that massive amounts of pleasure in an organism had the potential to "spill out" and affect those in its surroundings. Initial tests proved dangerous, especially the first instance of human submersion in a pleasure shrimp tank which led to the subject's body being wracked by wave after wave of climaxes for nearly an hour. With modified protocol for human exposure following that event, great finds were made with only the occasional freak accident endangering test subjects. Activities in the breeding room were found to simply be "more fun." This effect was observed not only in experiments, but also in anyone who happened to be in the room while the tanks were uncovered. Feelings of anxiety, boredom, irritability, self-hatred, and negative thinking were replaced by a relaxed sense of simply being in the moment and enjoying it. The initially open lab had to be restricted to essential personnel, as the breeding room became the unofficial break room for the entire company very shortly after its properties were discovered. The crowding agitated the shrimp causing the projected positive mindset to accelerate into racing thoughts, paranoid thinking, delusions of persecution and/or grandeur, and feelings of invincibility. This brief period was later called "the feeding frenzy," when nearly the entire company gathered at every opportunity they could find, leading to so many incredibly bizarre interactions that retellings of those events still make up the majority of in-house gossip at Monsanto today. Rumors of orgies in the shadows of breeding tanks, no holds barred fist fights without any animosity, and worst of all for a white collar workplace, the inability to express anything other than what one truly and sincerely feels, especially towards one's superiors. The event itself lasted a single workday, though with the natural warping of an individual's perception of time and markedly accelerated reaction times, the feeding frenzy stands in the minds of employees who were induced as a bacchanal that lasted days without sleep or eating (besides the occasional furtively consumed pleasure shrimp, the poaching of which by some present would produce its own cascade of events in the coming months). 18 I Sabbatical Island, Bonaire by Louis Petrich (Tutor) Pleasure Shrimp I 19 �Untitled #! Untitled#2 by Victoria Lockamy by Victoria Lockamy i've been trying to make art, but i need to ask god what kind of paint he used because i've worked for months on the sky in april the pools in your eyes the gravity of the moon it only took him six days when God abandoned Man He left them with Nothing which consumed 1 l their souls until they were but reflections in still water perfect mirrors of Glory unless shaken or stirred but even the stillest days afford themselves gentle breezes 20 J Victoria Lockamy Untitled #2 J 21 �The Altercation byR.M. Goad We speak in steel beams, cables and concreteour words fling like space debris. Chests puffed, we are huffing at brickless walls, we would have had left to bequeath if we'd never started building bridges. Or would we ever have been? And however would these muscles ache? And however would this skin? watching chalky rubble settle 'round. But we are humans! But we are engineers! Tired of mendless commotion, our mouths lose motion but the metals croak, pining for communion. And we are weary so we sate the pleaWhy don't we build a bridge? Why don't we build a bridge? Chest-deep in provisions, we begin with one word: consider The overpass ripens as our sweat pools beneath, and we wonder what 22 I Untitled #1 by Rachael Langston The Altercation I 23 �Reach byR.M Goad Pattering fingertips at the topmost shelf, posture bulkened with the strain: perpendicular feet. This is the closest I'll be to instability, but for the ones with bigger universes, their ballet. O!iivering kneecaps call me homethe question must be further backdusty hands retreat. 24 I R.M. Goad Untitled #2 by Rachael Langston I 25 �The Story of the Sane King .by Arthur Kohn Once upon a time, there was a kingdom ruled by a loving and beloved King. He ruled his subjects kindly and thought of each of them as a child. Likewise, his people fondly regarded their King as another father. Every subject within the King's domain knew that they could approach their leader with any concern and he would listen to them with open ears and judge them fairly. Everything was peaceful and perfect. However; one day, the King received word that the tyrannical empire across the mountains wished to conquer his kingdom and enslave his people. Terrified by this news and thinking only of his people the King decided to traverse the mountains and reason with the unreasonable emperor that threatened the lives of his subjects-his children. He left that afternoon. Yet soon after the King left, spies from the empire across the mountains infiltrated the peaceful kingdom and poisoned the water supply. Not with deadly toxins but with potent potions of madness. Not long after, the entire kingdom was frantic and corrupted with lunacy. People poured over each other and brawls ended as sporadically as they had begun. No one cared anymore for the sanctity of their realm, they only worried about themselves and their own private delusions. Once the King returned triumphant, having successfully bargained peace for his people, he was horrified to see the chaos and corruption that madness devolved his kingdom to. But when he reclaimed his throne, his subjects-his children no longer trusted him. No one felt like their once mighty king was fit to rule. He no longer seemed to understand their problems like he once had. They all thought him mad. For the sane, in the city of madness, is truly the insane. Until the King had found every medic, he searched across the globe for a cure for the plague of madness brought upon his land. He offered all the wealth of the kingdom to anyone who could cure his people. No one could. For madness, as you know, is incurable. Devastated, the King returned to his chamber and looked out his window at his once majestic dominion. He saw the people scurry about frantic and carefree. But in that moment he realized that although they were mad, his people were content. This thought comforted him and brought him peace for the night. In the morning when the King woke he noticed a bottle on his desk. The bottle contained a liquid as black and thick as death itself Beside the bottle lay a note scratched onto an old and worn out piece of parchment which read: Run, be free, and let your people die; drink and join your people in madness and in death; cross the mountains, be a slave, and your people will live. The King thought long and hard, weighing each option fully. He knew that if he ran 26 J Untitled by Calida Howell The Story of the Sane King J 27 �I . he w~uld live but his people would suffer the wrath of the tyrant across the mountains; he hoped that if he drank the liquid he would once again regain the love and trust of his people- even if they were all to die; and he prayed that if he sold himself to slavery that the tyrant would keep his word. The King realized he could not win, and so he chose. He chose to be a slave and live his life serving the man who condemned his subjectshis children. Every day he wondered if they were still alive. Every day he wondered if they were still happy. And every day he wondered if he made the right decision. Secretly, he knew he didn't. 28 I Arthur Kohn Untitled by Anton Kalmysh I 29 �Rehearsal by Elaina Bowman I lick the skin peeling from my fingers. I imagine licking correctly, I rehearse it. I'm very thoughtful. Then I pour a cup of warm milk on my navel. Anyway She's fortunate to get to know the people she's about to hurt. So[,] Sing a cheap ad to me, I could change my relationship with myself I have this odd gift of noticing the hot beauty and ugliness of everyone I glance at. I can see someone's overbearing nose, I can appreciate the veins in their hands, below their jawline. I can love the sickness, I can hate it. I see goblins and I see angels in white and plaid. I believe I'm not controlling this action, I believe I am not a literal being. I see her drawing lines and moving her glasses back into a more punctuate position. But We're just Kids ripping the wings off an outcasted dove. 30 I Elaina Bowman Untitled by Annie Brong I 31 �/ .. \ r, · - J \ ~· I~ J \ ) . . Vulgar Monster m Polite Society by Will van Engen I33 �Cosmic Egg by Timon Luo Standing on silenced, smoking battlefields, A remorseful God viewed the emptied Earth And vowed to raise up a worthier race. We all know the Cosmic Egg came first, Cracked in two crowns, heaven and earth The winged God from his broken shell began To shape the mountains and the rivers and Mold sacred life with His holy feathers So then God made us, winged and feathered folk Made in His image: wings, blue bars, and all For now the Pigeon rules Earth and heaven After the humans' folly sealed their fall! The Winged One made the first creatures from dirt Meek little beings with no legs nor wings Things which swam in water and crawled in earth Then He crafted the worthier creaturesGreat beasts, and foremost among them-Humans These monstrous tree-like, thick-legged bodies Towered over E arth and rivaled mountains Instead of wings or feathers He gave them Strength beyond measure, and claws they called hands To work, and build, at the Winged One's pleasure "I trust you with my creation," said H~ "Keep pure the waters, guard their sanctity This abode is yours to own forever, Stewards of the Earth, if you can keep her." But with monstrous power came monstrous pride Strong bodies gave way to greed and weak minds Men disobeyed the winged God's commandments, Calling themselves gods, master and sovereign As they held the power of destruction To rip trees like limbs from Earth's blessed flesh, Divert rivers, raise mountains in fl.at fields, And scar the visage of God's creation. Lust unbound, humans tore apart the Earth Then, insatiable, turned on each other The Human, the beast, forgot all kinship Ripped limbs like trees from their bloody soil Waged war to massacre and to destroy Killed in cruelty what they held dear before Till no human walked the Earth anymore. 34 I Timon Luo NB.: This poem is a creation myth told from the perspective of a fantastical pigeon civilization; there are intentional parallels to Genesis as well as to "world egg" -type myths. Ultimately the story is not about pigeons, who are now the dominant species in this version of Earth, at all, but rather the semimythical beast that precedes them, humans. Cosmic Egg I 35 �A Promenade by Olivia Frawley Meandering and whistling, down the lane And in the sun, among the trees, full bright, With jaunty tunes in handsome throats, alight With cheer and drunk with Spring in their domain, They come to dance and sing out of the night. The gentlemen parade their costumes fair And catch the ladies' eyes with well-coiffed hair; In turn, the ladies tease them with their flight. If one does chance to see this gay affair, The feminine apparel may surprise For though their songs be brilliant at sunrise, Somber and dusky are the clothes they wear. Thus do the Cardinals and Swallows all, Take to themselves dark wives before the Fall. - - - -· ·.··.·... 1 l/ 36 I Untitled by Bonnie Scott ... A Promenade I 37 �Stufen by Hermann Hesse (translation right) Stages . translated by Jonathan Llovet Wie jede Blute welkt und jede Jugend Dem Alter weicht, bliiht jede Lebensstufe, Bliiht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend Zu ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern. Es mui?, das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe Bereit zum Abschied sein und Neubeginne, Um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern In andre, neue Bindungen zu geben. Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne, Der uns beschiitzt und der uns hilft, zu leben. As each blossom wilts and every youth gives way To old age, so blossoms each of life's stages, So blooms each wisdom too and every virtue In its time, and forever it cannot stay. The heart, it must, at each of life's callings be Ready for parting and for new beginnings, So that with bravery and without mourning It can give itself to new, other bindings. And in each beginning there dwells a magic That protects us and that helps us in living. Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten, An keinem wie an einer Heimat hangen, Der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln uns und engen, Er will uns Stuf' um Stufe heben, weiten. Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise Und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen, Nur wer bereit zu Aufbruch ist und Reise, Mag lahmender Gewohnung sich entraffen. We should take our strides with cheer from place to place, On none of them should we hang as on a home. The World Spirit wants not to bind us down fast; It wants to raise us from stage to stage - widen. Scarce are we by nature set one scope of life, Nor so snugly set - that would bring withering; Only who is ready to break and travel May bring feebler habits to their fulfilling. Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde U ns neuen Raumen jung entgegen senden, Des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden ... Wohlan denn, Herz, nimm Abschied und gesunde! On top of all this, it may be that death's hours Send us young and unwilling to new places: Life's call to us will never come to an end ... Come then, my Heart, take your leave and recover! 38 I Jonathan Llovet Stufen (Translation) I 39 �NOTICES 1 From a Wearied Wary Traveller Concerning the Infamous and Obscure . Valley of Noise One must speak and step particularly softly in the Valley of Noise, for such disturbances are generally held to be forbidden there. Conversations held at a whisper are permitted, but talk above that level is carried out at peril. The Valley of Noise is not a somber place, but it is a quiet and solitudinal one. It behooves one to be earnest there. By earnest is meant seriously considerate and thoughtful adherence to onesel£ The skies are full of grey, and the land is dewy grassy cliffs. The Valley of Noise is not a terrifically social place. Interactions will and ought to be simple and short, not to exceed more than three or four moments. This is not to say that there is no LOVE in the Valley of Noise-on the contrary it is perhaps the most precious container of LOVE-but there is most definitely a lack of hatred and scorn. Arriving at the Valley of Noise is no great ordeal, once one actually sets out. It is a journey somewhat'less that thirty-five moments, depending on the course chosen. The Valley itself is some seventy or eighty moments long, and about fifty three moments wide at its widest point. These distances are misleading, however, as there are a great number of trails and alcoves which extend one's moments to, in some cases, hundreds more than would be expected. So far as has been seen, the only animal life in the whole of the Valley of Noise is domestic, excluding of course the INCOMPREHENSIBLE being who resides there. The LAIR of that being is hidden from all eyes, but the presence of its silent ROAR is felt at every place. Agriculture of all kinds is unheard of by the inhabitants, although they are by unknown means supplied with berries and some nuts. Bread is a curiosity in the Valley of Noise, but largely unadored. The LABYRINTH, or EFKALI, of histories and legends being connected to the Valley, is not known by the inhabitants, nor is there any evidence of its existence in any other form. It is most likely that it did never exist. Surmises that EFKALI is one and the same with the LAIR are absurd. This can be gathered merely from reading the various accounts of each. 1 First published anonymously c.1432 Falliad, in The Gazetteer ofThoughtfulness, Vol. 345, P.12. It is widely believed to be published by Lord Thiolli immediately following his third expedition. 40 I Portrait oflt by Rose Pelham Notices by "/iflesley Sonheim I 41 �42 I Watercolor of Charlie by Sophie Colt �Winter 2016 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Energeia</em> Description An account of the resource <em>Energeia</em> is a non-profit, student magazine, which is published once a year and distributed among students, faculty, alumni, and staff of St. John's College, Annapolis.  Staff welcome submissions from all members of the community -- essays, poems, stories, original math proofs, lab projects, drawings, and the like. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context energeia Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 42 page Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bowerfind, Dorathea (editor) Piven, Jakub (editor) Purnell, Abigail (editor) Title A name given to the resource Energeia, Winter 2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Issue of the Energeia, published in Winter 2016. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Energeia Winter 2016 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Energeia Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/4d718669fc609bae5a980d719fff8189.pdf 1d59e200d284d88b68015cccc37bef99 PDF Text Text Energeia I St. John's College Writing and Art Publication 131 1 1 169611 il ~~l1il 1~il1~~i1i1i1172i 1 1 ~ 01170 1111 11 11111 Spring 2016 1 - I ,~ ,/ I / I I I I . , 1 : I /V I 1 1 I \ \ ' .·• . I DATE DUE �1 -· Spring 2016 Co-Editors Jakub Piven Abigail Purnell Assistant Editors Dahye Kim Dorothea Bowerfind Website* Design Dahye Kim Cover Illustrations Layout Design Calida Howell Jakub Piven *www.energeiasjc.com \ \ :· �Visual Art Photography, Painting, and Others Writing Essays, Translations, and Poetry Montgomery Alcott 1 New yr. in New York Eva Brann 3 Why Read? RM.Goad 11 Blooming Life Camille Gagnier 12 Holocausto (Translation) Felipe Rego 14 [A.n Engineer's Guilt} Julia Shiller 16 To Tania Emily Grazier 17 InLimine Arthur Kohn 31 Antigone (Translation) Victoria Lockamy 38 Smokey the Bear suffered from a lack offoresight Montgomery Alcott 40 ForOfra Abigail Purnell 42 It's Raining Cats and Dogmatism Stan Lavery 44 A Decrepit Tutor Judy Seeger 47 Notes from the Other Side Louis Petrich, Tutor 53 At Home in the World: A Toast to the Graduates Stefan Vasic 2 Building On Indian Spring Road Sophie Colt 9 Gothics Stuart Lombard 10 Untitled Stefan Vasic 13 Barn On Backroad Sarah Benson 18 Middlemarch Paper Theater Scott Chevallier 37 Untitled Xiuyuan Zhang 39 Texture-03 Calida Howell 41 What's in my purse? Charlie Denton 45 Untitled Works R.M. Goad 52 Louis Petrich, Tutor 55 Window Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles �r ! 1 Newy1·.inNewYork by Montgomery Alcott After the numbers, Patrick hiccuped again. His pink tiara fell in the attack And I saw twenty-sixteen on the tavern floor. 1 �Building On Indian Spring Road I Stefan Vasic Why Read? Delivered by Erua Brann, March 2016, to the Great Books Honors Course ofthe Torrey Institute, Bio/a University, La Mirada, California. Y ou've all probably heard the expression "preaching to the choir," which means trying to persuade the faithful of what they already believe. The opposite of preaching to the faithful choir is propagandizing the disengaged crowd. This latter preaching needs to be a little lurid, just to raise attention, and somewhat gross, so as to trump the competition. I know that I'm addressing an audience of the already convinced who are not in need of a pep talk but could perhaps do with a visitor's more subdued reflection on their commitment. I understand that commitment to have two aspects: You are willing to read books from a large yet selective list and you submit to a way of teaching which Professor Wright described to me as "the Socratic method." Now it seems true to me that there is some method in Socrates' divine madness, but though he has his very own way, it is not a method strictly speaking, that is to say a codified procedure applicable universally, willy-nilly. You will recall that in his Apology, that is, the "Defense" of his way of life, Socrates famously says: "The unexamined life is not worth living." I get a wicked pleasure from pointing out on every suitable occasion that he says something much more rousing. He actually says: "The unexamined life is not livable." In other words, you haven't lived if you haven't reflected on your living. You've been carried along on the stream of your life until one day you went under - and that was that. To make your merely lived life come alive you have to recall and review it. To rephrase Socrates: The once-lived life has hardly happened. Live twice! Let me take account here of your age as undergraduates. Most of you will be in your late teens or early twenties. So if all goes well, less than a quarter of your life has gone by. Is Socrates asking you to wax prematurely autobiographical? No, the reflection in which he has faith is not age-related. According to students of child development, you discerned objects before you'd been in this world more than three weeks, so you've had zillions of things to think about. When you were two years old you began - the terrible two's - to be intensely aware of yourself as a willful 2 \ \ being, a self-assertive little imp. Recall that Socrates is a great believer in Apollo's saying, posted in his temple: "Know thyself." By "thyself" Socrates does not mean your unique, private, personal, idiosyncratic self, of which he wants us to take notice mostly so as to manage its waywardness. He means: Discover and know your human nature. One superlatively mystifying feature of that nature is our ability - we do not know whether any other animal possesses it - to talk to ourselves. This ability for self-communion is evident even earlier than is the feature of self-assertion. Those of you who have baby-sat pre-linguistic infants might have experienced what the experts call jargoning - an infinitely charming jabbering, a kind of sweet proto-language that goes on in the crib especially early in the morning when no one's up, self to sel£ To me it seems like the beginning of selfknowledge and an indication that not much life experience is required to engage in it. We are, specifically homo sapiens, "the discerning human" from birth, and we can, nearly from birth, reflect on objects in the world outside and on ourselves within. The word "reflect" means "bend back," return to, double down on what comes into, appears before, our human awareness, our consciousness. While I'm at it: The very word "consciousness" means "knowing jointly [with oneself]." I'll just stop to point out that some of what I've said so far I thought out on my own, but I got its shaping and phrasing from reading books. The "but" is important here. Thinking is not in a straight and easy relation to reading. Reading presents thoughts as gifts; thinking produces thoughts as accomplishments. That is a tension I shall keep in mind as I now go on to tell you why you should be doing what you are in fact doing: read books. One way to put the quandary is: How can I summon Socrates' invitation to reflect in support of reading books, when studying books is not necessarily thinking things out? Of course, he himself read a lot: Homer, whom he knew by heart, the tragedians, the writers of speeches, and most wonderfully, the philosophers who preceded him and who would one day be called "the pre-Socratics." 3 �Eva Brann Why Read? So now to reasons for reading. But one more thing: There's reading and then there's reading. There's the kind called texting, done on a minuscule tablet with a limit to the cyphers used, which has in effect given up the ghost of significance. Then there's the kind of easy feed, the bestseller, which we scarf up in a state of pleasant relaxation. Then there's the instruction booklet, infinitely annoying, because widget A never does fit into aperture B. I won't attempt to list all the types of reading we do, but instead I'll leap to the list of books to which your program of learning is in fact devoted. These books all share one characteristic: They are demanding. They're not taken up lightly, nor do they go down easily, nor are they irritatingly inscrutable. They are, instead, difficult. Some, like Hume's great Treatise, are lucid on the surface and more and more complex as you penetrate it; others, like Kant's Critiques, are obscure when you first open them but become quite intelligible as you go. All require your undivided attention and repay it with insights that are at once new to you and also welcome to your intellect. They deliver adventitious, that is, novel, matter which nevertheless immediately sits well in your intellect - or rouses energizing opposition. The fictions among these works also require alert being-there. You can't scan or abstract a great novel: The plot is an extrusion of the characters' being, not their prop, as in a routine romance. These works have depth, which means that they open up successively, are in effect inexhaustible, so that a reading program like yours is an assignment for life, for re-reading. By the way, "depth" in books is, of course, a metaphor, and one element in reading "deep" books ought to be to think out the literal meaning of the figure of speech: What exactly does it mean to get deep into a deep book? That's not for tonight. Such books have a collective name, one I've already introduced: They're great, "great books." (I hasten to say that while all great books are ipso facto demanding, because they're rich, the converse is false. There are plenty of very difficult works, usually perpetrated at universities, that are pretty meager. The usual reason is that while plain language expresses the author's thought, difficult jargon displaces it. 4 By and large, undergraduates should not be reading such derivative works.) I really believe that greatness designates a class of books, a class by itself, the so-called classics. The notion of incomparable excellence is now, in the face of a certain dogmatic egalitarianism, somewhat in disrepute. It's another interesting issue I'll set aside tonight.- We'll see who comes out ahead in the long run. Now I'll get down to my job and give you my answer to the question of my title: "Why read?" Of course, I mean: Why read books and, moreover, why read great books? As for the "book'' part, I don't care what so-called delivery system you use. If you like, bring your text on stone tablets, like those Moses inscribed on Mount Sinai, or on an electronic tablet, as long as you can readily flip to the page we're all on. As for the "great" part, come with some faith in the faculty's ·reading list. And that brings me to a first reason. One. Great books held in common and conversation about them is the cause of the warmest, most long-lasting, least problem-fraught friendships life has. The friends you room with, work with, play with come and go as the occasion arises and falls apart; reading friendships survive the decades. I'm speaking from experience here. There used to be a name for this club: the Republic of Letters, whose citizens are cosmopolitan in reach of interest and global in human sympathy. A faculty that has the preparation and the courage to choose and require a reading list like yours is a small sub-community of this commonwealth. Belonging requires preparation, because to compose such a list you have to read extensively and critically, and it requires courage because you have to be willing to judge decisively and articulately. The same demands go for you students in reverse order: You have to have the guts to commit yourself to real, substantial study, and then you have to prepare your assignments with concentration. It's way different from the flabbily social relations of casual friends focused on fun, or that pretended cosmopolitanism of, say, eating falafel or wearing a sari - all good fun, but not quite for real. To see and hear another human being expres- hard times shut down most alternative programs, some such courses existed. Let me tell you: It wasn't as joyful as it sounds. Why not? Because the sightseers' life isn't all that real, and self-concentrated talk misses the real self. What then is the substance and depth I am attributing to great books, and why are they a gift to us? Substance is persistent thereness; these books are not in the canine and apish Now that Browning's Grammarian scorns. Adolescent preferences fade away; these books gain glow as you age. I'm again speaking from experience here- my own and my friends! Substantial is what great books are in themselves - depth is what they offer us. This is a very personal way of talking, so I'll explain it. I think that we have laminated, that is to say layered, souls. If you like, our souls are stratified, as were the deposTwo. Here's my second reason for reading great books. its we found and numbered when I was an archaeologist Such books have substance and, as I said, depth. You might in Athens, some sixty years ago. So also is the world stratisay: That's underwhelming in its hazy generality. There's fied. It has a surface layer: the phenomena, the way things life itself, which is realer, more here and now, more inex- in general look on their outside, their surface appearance. Both our souls and our world challenge us to dig into them, haustible than a page with little squiggles on it. A favorite line of mine is from Robert Browning's ''A to penetrate the surface. The same things, for example, have very variable looks, depending on the light that shines on Grammarian's Funeral": them and the perspective we have on them. For instance, Other's mistrust and say, "But time escapes: Live on the surface we are our idiosyncratic sel·ves, below that now or never!" we carry each our shaping ethnic background, yet deeper He said, "What's time? Leave Now for dogs and we have our common humanity. So with the world. On the apes! Man has Forever." The scholar's advisors have a point. Since the purpose surface each body varies from all others in infinite detail; of reading is to appropriate life, why not just live it, now? beneath that, all are tangibly shaped material, still deeper After all, Socrates said that to gain our life we must think all lose their shaped materiality and become the numerable about it. He didn't say "study books" (although, as I've said, mass-points called "m" in physics. Here is what books do: They delineate these levels for he had actually read everything available. And though he himself dictated no scroll to any slave as far as we know, us and take us into them. They help us penetrate into ourwhen he was in his sixties, Plato came into his life, and then selves and into the world. I think this penetration is what Socrates means by the examination, which, if we leave he must have known that his ways and thoughts would be undone, we aren't all there; we don't exist on all the levels written up.) beneath the surface. Of course, the writers of great books Well then, why read books rather than live reality? Or know that "depth" is a spatial metaphor, a visualizing figure if you feel you need formal preparation, why not find, more of speech. So as we work our way into the depths we must likely in California than, say, in Maryland, a School of Life? also ask: What is the literal, the concrete, meaning of shalIts curriculum might be "World 1.00: You travel all over" low or deep living - but not tonight. and "Myself 2.00: You talk about yourself" In fact before sive in the light of greatness is a pleasure of a higher order. So the first reward is simply invaluable: there is no price you can put on it. It's that communion of friends, that commonwealth of readers, I've just described. I should soberly qualify the extent of such friendships here. You've read Aristotle on friendship and might recall that he inquires into the number of friends it is possible to have: at the most as many as live nearby. He would have been simply disgusted at the inhuman greed for quantity that is now called "friending." It follows that the global friendship of readers is potential. You will gain a world of people who could well, who might be, your friends, real friends, soulmates. Some, a few of these, will be actual, face-to-face or voice-to-voice friends. 5 �Why Read? Eva Brann Three. Great books help us do what we can't do for ourselves; they are our supporters in a life-enhancing activity. But once again: Why turn to books rather than directly to life itself? In the end we have to do it all by ourselves, for ourselves. Why not face ourselves and our world in that direct way? Here's the answer, straight and harsh: We're not up to it. Most of us, you and I and your professors, faced with all that is within and without us, simply shut down or take to babbling. So we need the boot-strappers, the socalled original thinkers who, though they too have teachers, are able to go beyond them on their own. You will have seen, you must have felt, the danger. We need teachers. Then how do we avoid becoming mere disciples? How do readers of great books escape becoming their captives, escape from their constricting embrace? It's alright for a while, especially in youth, to indenture yourself to a master. A year of devotion, of surrender to Socrates, or Nietzsche or Hegel, is the mark of an ardent soul. It's the beginning of expertise, but it's also the end of the examined life. (Oddly enough it's the writers who seem least to want such followers who most attract them.) But here's the saving grace. Your own great books list contains little short of ten dozen authors. Just because they're great, these books differ from each other in nontrivial ways. Even if one author captivates you, there are about one hundred and nineteen others to liberate you. Non-judgmentalism is nice in social situations, but in matters of intellect, judgments are what we have to make. The reading of quite a few great books will return you to the edgy vitality that is part of being all there. I'll put it this way: such various reading will make you critical, not in the sense of carping denial but in the spirit of affirming interest. And when you finally actively and steadfastly embrace a belief - embrace it rather than being captured by it - you, the student, may, as I see it, lay claim to it as your own. For if Plato, for example, hatched an idea when he was, say thirty-eight, and you receivea, understood, and adopted it at eighteen, then you are i s legitimate claimant, having come to it first in your own biographical time. 6 \ \ Four. Great books are affirmative. There seem to me to be two camps with respect to liberal higher education. I'll call one, for short, the problem-solving party and the other the life-shaping camp. The first, the problematic party, wants education to be, as they say, "relevant,'' to concern itself with the understanding and cure of current ills. I'm not on that side, because I think that finding those solutions to present evils that don't mire us in unintended consequences requires much common sense and practical experience, such as even the most promising eighteenyear-olds shouldn't and can't have - that's not what it is to be promisingly young. The camp in which I live thinks that the central purpose of a liberal education is to give students a chance at working out a picture of happiness. Administrators, some of whom believe that schools should be held statistically accountable for outcomes, want alumni to fill out questionnaires asking them, for example, to rate their post-BA happiness. What, I ask myself, if a lot of the graduates of my college thought that they'd never again been as happy, as alive, as they were reading books with us? Would that count for or against us? I think it would prove that we'd given them a chance at a truly useful education. For to live well with yourself and act effectively in the world, one knowledge matters above all others, the knowledge of what constitutes, what makes for happiness, happiness as distinct from pleasure, fun, or excitement. If your learning life at the university was a dreary routine of socializing fun and reluctant hitting the books or scanning the screen, you'll not be much good to the world, since you won't know what "good" is - know it not as a formula but as an experience. What is the relation of great works to the experience of happiness? It is a very close one. Think of Augustine's Confessions, which is on your list. The author experiences and meticulously describes his sins and agonies - but the reading of it is grippingly exhilarating. Think of Shakespeare's Macbeth, whose hero descends into all the horrors and miseries of a tyrannical soul - but the watching of it is grandly awesome. Great books can depict a world that is hostile, souls that are stricken, fates that are terrible. But they are not just depressing, repulsive or frightening. They are, by their very greatness, affirmative. It's a characteristic I'm sure of but endlessly puzzled by. Let me give a particularly poignant example from a great work, a book of the audible sort: Bach's St. Matthew Passion. It sings and tells of a horrible death by torture, the Crucifixion - but it is altogether beautiful. How can that be? How is it done? Another enigma not for tonight. Five. So I'll just move on to my next to last reason for reading: the toning of the soul, which follows from the affirmative nature of greatness. If you get to be ninety, as many of you may, you will have lived through roughly fiftyfive million heart beats. Life is wearying and the flesh is weak; the spirit cannot possibly maintain a pulsing excitement for every moment of our lifetimes. We are often low and deflated - at least those of us lucky enough not to live in constant fear, want, or pain. The blues or blahs are the null mode of civilized humanity; whoever called it "quiet desperation" was being too dramatic. Books of depth and substance can help here, better than light reading, say a Harlequin Romance, that acts more like those ChineseAmerican meals, which fill you but don't satisfy you. In making demands on us and then really repaying our efforts, great books tone our souls. They impart to them a vitalizing tension. People who have the mandate and the leisure to think, to study, to foster the spirit, are especially prone to what medieval monks called acedia, a kind of spiritual moping, a revulsion from accepting the very blessings for which they really long. All students who don't study like automata know it. Its mild form is the inability to pull yourself together, to get down to it; its more serious form is being stalled, distracted, sleepy, mildly - not clinically - depressed. If you can only collect yourself enough to "pick up [the book] and read" (I'm quoting from a crucial event in Augustine's Confessions) a great book will pull you out of this languor. For such reading requires a dual mind, a kind of sound schizophrenia. You have to entertain within yourself both a critical and a reverent spirit. What I mean is that your critique is not rejection but engagement, that your doubts are honor done a text by close attention. And your reverence, far from being passive submission, is an active faith in the author's greatness. I'll give an example. While I'm writing this talk, my seniors and I are reading Karl Marx's Capital. In my personal opinion, this book has, more than any other, wreaked havoc in the world, largely because of an ingeniously false theory that demonizes working for a wage. Yet all - well most - of our intellects are on full alert, engaged by Marx's vivid and lucid prose and his acute, complex and original theorizing. So you may smile at my notion that reading Marx is therapy for feeling low, but I'm serious about this: If only you can bring yourself to sit down to it, reading great books arouses your vital spirits. Six. So now to my last point, which also concerns reading as a therapy, a therapy highly specific to an element of our current condition. That condition is most evident in cyberspace, where many of you probably live a large part of your life. There you find verbal texts, to be sure, but also a veritable flood of imagery, pictures made by others for their own purposes and poured out before or over you. This mud slide threatens to swamp and suffocate what seems to me our second most wonderful and very mysterious ability. (The most wonderful of all is, of course, our ability to think and to say what we think.) This mysterious ability - brain science has come nowhere near explaining it - is our power to form mental images, to see internally, to re-view within, what we remember having seen, or even to produce pictures of what we've never seen. It is this capacity, absolutely necessary to a livable inner life, that is threatened by the electronic image tsunami. Now think of books. Children's books have lots of pictures and few words. G reat novels have hundreds of pages of bare words - sometimes over seven hundred. But if some bold spirit has contributed a few figure plates, I, for one, 7 �Why Read? Gothics I Sophie Colt usually say to myself: "That's not how she" - say Natasha Rostov in war and Peace - "looks at all; I've seen her." Now imagine that some idiot undertook to illustrate what Hegel calls the "gallery of figures," in which the world-spirit appears in his Phenomenology of the Spirit. That would take the cake in ludicrousness. And yet I've walked down that gallery, too - illustrated, so to speak, my own apprehension of Hegel's intellect. Seen Natasha, viewed the incarnate world-spirit! Where? In my imagination, of course, in my mind's eye. Verbal texts incite, demand internal visualization. Logical and mathematical texts often require inscribing diagrams in your internal visual medium. Poetry (epic and lyric) or fictions (short stories and novels) can be thought of as potential pictures - instructions for forming mental images. Often you don't know what's going on until you actualize those directions. I can give examples in the question period. This is a good place to end, though of course there are more good reasons for reading. It's, in fact, the best place to stop, because if texts of words are indeed exercises in visu alization, in actively generating our own images from wellwrought words, if they are in fact exercises that prevent us from passively succumbing to other people's pictures and their self-serving agendas, then we might conclusively say of reading the best of books: They cooperate in saving our souls. 8 9 �Untitled I Stuart Lombard Blooming Life byR.M. Goad as your thumb primes my lips they make a fuss for truththe rest of you, reduced: fingertips and torso while too much of me tingles, you knead the sorest knot my heart, how you have wrought me: to tantrum only tempered going throughmy heart, this distance I can't weather: I must be among youas we together envy blooming life. 10 11 \ \ �Holocausto by Yolanda Bedregal (translation right) Holocaust translated by Camille Gagnier Oh Cristo, yo quisiera de tu augusta cabeza desclavar los espinos; endulzar tu martirio; darte mi adolescencia como incienso en delirio; alabandote en salmos, restafiar tu tristeza. Te volcaria en mi alma con la dulce certeza de corporal expolio a cabezal de lirio. Me inmolaria entera como ala sobre cirio votivo que, al quemarse, con su llama te besa. El humo, en holocausto, de mi cuerpo ofrendado empapara en perfume la esponja de la hiel y, hundida entre la llaga, mi vida en tu costado, -la culpa redimida y el mundo sin pecadoa la Ultima palabra de Dias crucificado, ungiria con rosa de amor tu humana piel. Oh Christ, I would like from your augustan head to disengage the thorns; to make sweet your martyrdom; to give you my youth like delirious incense; and praising you in psalms, to staunch your sadness. I would spill you out in my soul with the sweet assurance Of body pillaged at lily's bloom. I would sacrifice myself like a wing on a pascal candle that, as it burns, with its call kisses you. The fumes, in holocaust, from my offered body would soak the bitter sponge in perfume and, buried in the wound, my life on your side, -the guilt redeemed and the world without sinat the final word of Crucified God, would anoint with loving rose your human flesh. 12 Barn On Backroad I Stefan Vasic 13 \ \ �[An Engineer's Guilt] by Felipe Rego Felipe Rego (Something spoken, I think) When I was little I did a science project on supernovas I ask you to consider the notion of collision. A topic I requested. I wonder if that's our fault. Of collapse. I thought they were spectacular- but learning about them made me sad. Because I guess the universe thinks it's all simple, right? Of sacrifice. Of death. I will passionately support the pursuit of knowledge any time any day any place- as if my life depends on it And I suppose it does. But alchemy isn't all crazy The universe seems to ask for exchange Knowledge is rarely bestowed divinely upon us mere mortals. Education, like life, is suffering. Suffering into truth, I'm assured. Few things can be learned without sacrifice of some sort. Perhaps no things. Consider the lobotomyShock therapyThe point at which your femurs can no longer support weightWe only know of certain human limits because the Nazis were the most relentless philosophers. Nothing was more valuable than knowing, No sacrifice was too great Yet their greatest military failures could've been avoided by looking just over their shoulders. I don't believe in torture but I definitely believe we should've gone to the moon. 14 Doing science is like trying to make the perfect omeletteimagine what you're gonna have to do to those eggs. read between the lines. "I wish I could, but java isn't so simple" "It's all waves, homie. No other presentation in the class featured the word "death". In the past two years I've compared the theory of gravita- So much energy- so much life and time and history packed into these beautiful glowing balls of science- Boy, don't I feel stupid. tion to Lavoisier's caloric theory in three different papers. Ceasing to be. Just knock stuff together and listen real hard." Isn't it funnyIsn't it crazyIsn't it a little fucked how all these vibrations can just be made into music? Like an animation to a delete function. And math? And we have pictures. The death of a star is truly tragic. Isn't it messed up that everything is eventually just waves? And circles if you feel like it? Hawking says black holes "remember" what they absorb. Beautiful- absolutely, yes- but these things are not mutually exclusive. Isn't it wild that, for example, any wave can be made into music? Think of all the times we say things "aren't so simple" Consider: There is, conceptually, a song of the universe. I wonder how much of our sun would be remembered. I wonder if they remember what it feels like to collide. I say it every day to people asking about Wi-Fi- A collection of waves that make up our everything. I wonder what memory brought us this beautiful sound of the silent vacuum. Or data transfer- I wonder if it hurts. Or how to turn one file type into another. And you can put them together in order and listen to it, if you can make the time. I wonder if we deserve to hear it. I wonder if maybe trees just want to fall alone and unheard. We talk about things like they're completely different kinds of files and we're tryna figure out how they run on the same OS, I am made to wonder if modern medicine was worth it. But it looks like they're more like zip files. "I'm sorry for your loss, but if it means anything his heart was really weird so I'll get to publish a paper about it" We can move them around freely and put them side by side and into each other and unpack and repack and everything will stay exactly as it was, just differently. "It seems she died in pain, but now we have a video of a brain suffering to death. In color." I wonder how many doctors cry while they change the world. Science is beautiful. Science is sad. I guess it's easier to love learning if you pretend you can't I wonder what kind of song it would be. I'm sure it'd be fire. Maybe just in a different place. A different context. Things aren't so simple. Language isn't so simple. Temperature isn't so simple. 15 �To Tania by Julia Shiller InLimine by Eugenio Montale (translation right) She was pretty and young, She was fast on her tongue; He wasn't. She noticed him first, When she came unrehearsed; He was late to her concert. But his hands - in the air Conducting from his wheelchair. Music went to the end, He could not understand. Whose are those two hands? Exhausted, He won a few minutes of life He didn't just lose it. She could be his muse, But nothing amused him; Only cello and music. She touched a magic of strings, Cello's awaking spring , Preached to find his way To Titan Mnemosyne. Second chair from the right, He conducted with pride Recollecting his past While music was last. She dreamed to perform, But she had simply learned That he found her destiny. Teaching ... Her music is reaching to the mind that stole its own past, She is back to his lesson, Her music will last. lnLimine translated by Emily Grazier Godi se il vento ch' entra nel pomario vi rimena l'ondata della vita: qui dove affonda un morto viluppo di memorie, orto non era, ma reliquario. Delight, if the wind that enters into the orchard there stirs up the surge of life: here where sinks a dead tangle of memories, was not a garden, but a reliquary. Il frullo che tu senti non e un volo, ma il commuoversi dell'eterno grembo; vedi che si trasforma questo lembo di terra solitario in un crogiuolo. The flutter that you sense is not a flight but the exciting of the eternal womb; see how it is transformed - this strip of earth, isolated, in a crucible. Un rovello e di qua dall'erto muro. Se procedi t' imbatti tu forse nel fantasma che ti salva: si compongono qui le storie, gli atti scancellati pel giuoco del futuro. Cerca una maglia rotta nella rete che ci stringe, tu balza fuori, fuggi! Va, per te l'ho pregato, - ora la sete mi sara lieve, meno acre la ruggine... A vexation is here from the precipitous wall. If you proceed you bump into, perhaps, the spectre that saves you: composed here are the histories, the deeds blotted out for the game of the future. Search for a mesh broken in the net that clasps us, leap out, flee! Go, for you I have begged for it, - now my thirst will be light, less acrid the rust .... May be teaching Could help him with reaching His past; Her cello was preaching, Her music was reaching His heart. His eyes were bright, He was winning his fight. (She returned him to life) He remembered his wife, Who pronounced one word That cuts like a sword: Alzheimer. 16 He might not comprehend, He might not understand Her teaching, 17 \I �Sarah Benson youv cc.1t ovi t /...: s o vV!ti ./11A. o/. ~Wl c),__ PAFfR 1· -1fATEr< 1 s ;i tl-a ~7 ~ F 11 s (> ' reef - -- anj1e foJ a vitw ;"'/o y•uir ~r~ -+neV\ J~ rhtsf"e .,,.,,t /.o 1""-'t) "1 fro,,, f. . ! I r . J. (~ l ~ 18 19 �Sarah Benson Cut out other side. 20 21 \ \ . J I �Sarah Benson Cut out other side. 22 23 �' ' I Cut out other side. Sarah Benson I , , ... - REENAGT Dorothea's unhappy honeymoon, now with two missing scenes: f ~I :_ , 6 "" \ ~: l Our heroine the Thernsa-type never visited Bernini's ECSTASY OJ!' SAllW THERESA. Why not? Gi!~anelli I. I t- ..c.. I~ I~ ... 1 ..t I~ -l \ Daisy Miller ancl Mr. took a waJk in.the moonlit COLOSSEUM. So clid Grace Ansley ancl Delphin Slade. I What happened to Dorothea and Will there? ~ I ' I '. I ' I I \ ~ -0 I }-.. ~ ;- \ \I) I'\ ( t- "!-( I \j. (j\] '-U r, I .....,j ~ ~ I I 24 t< - ~ \ ~ 1k l.+ \ '-i ::> I -;_, \ 25 �Sarah Benson Cut out other side. ~ > () ;J\ MIDDLEMARCD t7 + \ () · I:._ + .!>a P APIERTHEATER ~~~ . ,~ ~ _..., 0) assemble a:nd be amazed ~ ,;.\~ .. ' \I\ ~ "'\ "' 26 27 \ " �Sarah Benson Cut out other side. I ~ ' I \J \ ~ f ..!. 1 ~ -S> I 1----.....,. - -·- - - I s-\ ~ - - - -- - - - -+ '------1 I I \ I ' l ' I I ' ' I ' I J I I 'I~ '' '~,~ ~ 'I I~~ I I I I l I t ... - '' I , ' '' . ____ ,__ - . - I ..,_ I ...,, - - - - ._ - - ... - - - - - - ., I t . \:r ' I ~ ~ :::. \~ a-, ~ .. d) I ' 28 29 \\ �Antigone by Sophocles - translated in verse by Arthur Kohn Cut out other side. ANTIGONE 0 head, Ismene, of our common womb, Know you some curse of our Oedipus Zeus Does not yet bring to end o'er us still living? For there is nothing not yet full of pain, Nor without ruin, nor dishonored, nor shamed. I have not seen an evil that does not Belong to us two, you and I. Now What do they say in the city public About the law the General has set down? Hark, do you know or care? Or does it 'scape you When hateful evils march 'gainst those you love? ISMENE To me no word nor rumor, cruel nor kind Regarding friends, Antigone, has come. Since Our dual and dueling brothers died In just one day by doubled hands in death. And since the Argive army fell away This night just past, I've seen nothing beyond, No more of my prosperity or ruin. ANTIGONE I've seen it well, and on account of this I've sent for you outside the outmost gate, So you alone might hear this 5 10 wKo1vov al.rrU8£A.cpov'foµ~vric; Kapa, ap, o1a0, 0 Tl Zeuc; TWV cm, Oioinou KaKWV 6rro1ov ouxl v(j>v en ~WO'ULV Tt:Aci; oMev yap OUT' aA.ymov OUT' UTT]c; a-rep Soih, alaxpov OUT, anµ6v foe,' 6rro1ov OU TWV O'WV Te Kaµwv OUK orrwrr' eyw KaKWV. Kal vuv Ti TOUT' au cpaO'l rravo~µ<.p rr6A.e1 K~puyµa Beivm TOV O'TPUTTJYOV apTiwc;; exw; Tl KELO'~Kouaac;; ~ ae A.av8avet rrpoc; wuc; cplA.ouc; O'Teixovrn TWV exepwv KaKa; 15 eµol µev oMelc; µu0oc;, A.vny6vri cpiA.wv oU0 ' ~Mc; ou-r' cl.Aymoc; LKeT' e~ OTOU ouoiv 6.0eA.cpoiv eaTep~0riµev ofo, µ1g 8aVOVTOlV ~µep\t 0L7tAft xepi: EITEL OE cppouOOc; EaTlV Apyelwv O'Tpa-roc; ev VUKTL Tft vuv, ouoev olO, urrepTepov, ouT ' eurnxouaa µO.Hov ouT' aTwµevri. 20 fl6ri KaA.wc;, Kai a' EKToc; auA.elwv TTUAWV TOUO , ouveK , e~erreµrrov, we; µ6v11 KAUOlc;. ISMENE Ti 0' fon; OT)AOic; yap Tl KUAXUiVOUO' ' erroc;. What is it? Clearly you ponder some dark, purple word. ANTIGONE Has not for death rights of our brothers both Creon dishonored one and praised the other? Eteocles they say with Justice and The righteous use of custom has been hidden Beneath the Earth with honor and the dead, While Polyneices' corpse which died in mis'ry They say has been proclaimed to citizens To stay uncovered, out of death rights, I· 30 25 30 ou yap Tacpou v(j>v Tw KaO'lyv~Tw Kpewv TOV µev rrpo-riaac;, TOV 6 , aT1µaaac; exeL; 'ETeoKAEa µev, we; HyouO'L, O'UV OiKT]c; XP~O'El OtKai\t Kal v6µou KaTa xeovoc; EKPU\l'E wic; £vep8ev evnµov veKpoic;: TOV 0' a8A.iwc; 0av6v-ra IIoA.uveiKouc; VEKUV aawiai <paO"LV EKKEKT)puxem TO µ~ -racp<.p KaA.inJ!m µ11oe KwKuaai nva, 31 �Antigone Arthur Kohn Nor wailed over, by anyone at all, But suffer unlamented, unburied, A sweet treat for the birds to find and feast on. Things such as this they say, the good Creon To you and me-e'en me-and has proclaimed, And hither comes so that these things, to those Who do not know, will be proclaimed, made clear, The deed, not weighed against nothing, but who So ever does these things will be set forth Before the city to be murdered by stone. Things are this way, and swiftly will you light Upon yourself as either well born or Corrupt though raised from good. 35 40 ISMENE 0 wretched one! If this is so, how might I add further Either by loosening or tightening? 45 ANTIGONE Consider, then if you will work with me By taking part in labour and in work. e<iv 0' UKAUU'toV, &:ta<pov, oiwvoTc; YAUKUV 811aa.upov ELOOpWOL npoc; xapLV ~oplic;. toLa.frrO. <petal TOY aya.Sov KpfovTa. aol Kaµol, Hyw yap Kaµ£, KTJpu~a.vT ' exeLv, Kal Oeupo veTa8m Taf>Ta total µ~ eiMa1v aa<p~ npOKTJPU~OVTa., KUL TO np<iyµ' ayelV oux we; nap' ouf>Ev, an, oc; av toUTWV Tl Op~, cpovov 7tp0Ke1a8m OTjµoA.euaTOV ev noAEl. oihwc; EXEL OOL rnurn, Ka.l oel~elc; Taxa eh ' euyev~c; 7tE<pUKa.c; eh' fo8AWV KUK~. Ti 0') wrnA.a.T<ppov, el TUO' ev toUtolc;, eyw Moua' av~ 'cpamouaa. npocr8eiµ11v 7TAEOV; el ~uµnov~cretc; Kal ~uvepyacret aK07tEl ISMENE What kind of hazard is that? Where's your mind now? 50 ANTIGONE Together will you lend your hand to raise The fallen corpse? noTov Tl KtvMveuµa.; nou yvwµ11c; noT' el; el TOV VEKpOV ~UV TfiOe KOU<pLetc; xepl. Has spoke against this. ANTIGONE But it's not with him To shut me out from that which is my own. ISMENE 0 woe is me! Remember, sister, how The hated, inglorious father of us Was decimated. And for his error Did double strike his eyes with his own hand. Thereafter, wife and mother, double named, With twisted cords did violate dear life. And third, the brothers, two in one short day In mutual murder, miserably their fate Did seal together with each others hand. And now we two left alone alive Consider how detestably destroyed We will be if we violate, with custom The laws made by the absolute sovereign Oe e'en to overstep any power. But it behooves us to remember this, That we as women by nature cannot 'Gainst men put up a fight, it's not in us And thus by this we're ruled by strength And must obey things more painful than this And I in truth do beg those 'neath the earth To hold pardon as I'm constrained in this For I'm suaded by those who stand fulfilled And acting 'gainst them is nonsense to none. an' ouoev atm9 TWV eµwv µ, e'lpyeLV µha. 60 65 70 75 80 o'lµo1. <ppov11aov, wKaa1yv~T'l, na.-r~p we; vq>v anex0~c; OuaKAE~c; T' anwAe-ro, npoc; auto<pwpwv aµnAaKT]µCtTWV 0L7tACic; O'l!ELc; 6.p6.~a.c; a.uToc; autoupyq> xepl. foma. µ~T'lP Ka.l yuv~, 0L7tAOUV enoc;, 7tAeK1'alatV apTCtVatat AWPUTUL piov: Tplrnv 8, aoeA.cpw Mo µlav Ka.0' ~µipav aurnKrnvouvw Tw TaA.a.mwpw µ6pov KOlVOV KaTElpyaaa.vT' enan~AOlV xepoTv. vuv {j, au µova {j~ vw AEAE1µµ£va OK07tEl Oa4J KUKlaT' 6A.ouµe0', et v6µou Pi9'. \jf~cpov Tupavvwv ~ Kp6.TTJ nape~tµev. an' evvoe1v XP~ TOUTO µE:v yuvaTx' OTL e<puµev, we; npoc; av6pac; OU µaxouµiva. bretrn {j' OUVEK , apx6µw0 ' eK Kpelaaovwv, Kal TaUT , UKOUElV KUTI TWV6' aA.yiova. 65eyw µE:v ouv airnt>aa wuc; uno x0ovoc; ~uyyvoLaV '(axe1v, we; ~la(oµm Ta6e, Tole; ev TEAEL pe~wat 7telaoµm: TO yap nepiaaa npaaae1v ouK exe1 vouv oMiva. ISMENE You think to honor him? Though surely forbidden in all the city? ANTIGONE Surely he's mine, and yours-though you deny Your brother. I will not be conquered here. ISM ENE 0 you, indefatigable, Creon 32 \ \ ~ 55 yap voeTc; 0cmmv a<p', anoppTJTOV no:\e1; TOY youv eµov Kal TOY crov ~v au µ~ 8£.X.nc; aOeA<pov: OU yap o~ npoOoua' aA.waoµm. ANTIGONE Then neither shall I urge you further on, Not even if you were willing to act With me, such things would not be sweet to do. But know what sort of person that you are For I myself will honor him in death And dying doing so will be gorgeous. Beloved and loving I will lie open, Playing a pious villain, since more time 85 90 oih ' 8.v KEAeucrmµ' OUT' av, et 0£A.01c; ETL 7tpUOOElV, eµou y' UV ~Oewc; 6p<!>T]c; µ£Ta. aAA' fo0 ' onola 001 6oKEL, KELVOV {)' eyw ea."'w: KaAOV µ01 TOUTO no1oucrn 8aveTv. cpiAT] µn ' auTou Keicroµm, cpiA.ou µ£Ta, oata navoupy~aacr' . end nA.elwv X povoc; ov 6eT µ, apfoKetv Tole; KUTW TWV ev8Me. EKET yap aid Kelaoµm: crol 6 ', et OoKeT, 33 �Arthur Kohn Antigone Must I spend standing with those down below Than must be spent with those above the ground. I'll lie open forever in that place But if to you it seems best, hold the honored Things of the Gods in dishonor and shame. ANTIGONE Then whenever I am run out of strength Entirely I will have ceased myself -ra -rwv St:wv ev-rLµ' cmµaaaa' ext:. ISMENE But firstly it is not suited to hunt For things without the means- Pl<;t 7t0ALTWV opav ecpuv aµ~xavoc;. ANTIGONE Don't fear for me, set straight your deadly dest'ny. If you will say These things you will be hated by me, more so You'll justly lie forever loathed by the dead. But ill-counseled allow me to suffer These terrible things, for no suffering Of mine will make me die unhonorably au µEv -rao' &.v 7tpouxoL': eyw OE o~ -racpov xwaoua' 0.0t:A<p4> <pLALa-rq> 11opt:liaoµm. µ~ 105 ANTIGONE Oh woe is me! You must speak out, for many Will find you far more hateful if you speak not To this. 'µou 11po-rappeL: -rov aov £~6p0ou 116-rµov. an, ouv 11poµ11vuanc; ye -rou-ro µrioevl -roupyov, Kpu<pft OE Kt:U0e, CJUV 0, au-rwc; eyw. o'lµm, Ka-rauoa: nonov exSlwv fot:L mywa', £avµ~ 7tclO'l Kflpu~nc; TCtOE. ISMENE Sepµ~v Your hot heart beats for frozen things. 34 115 ANTIGONE ISMENE Alas, oh wretched , how I fear for you! ISMENE And even if you could at any rate However without means now is your love. aetvw, 7terrafooµm. eyw µEv OUK chLµa 7toLoUµm, -ro OE ANTIGONE You may push these things forth but I'll proceed 100 With pushing forth the earth over our dear'st brother. ANTIGONE For I know I please those I'm fated to most µ~ 95 ISMENE I will not make myself dishonored for I can;t, by nature act 'gainst the city. ISMENE But do not speak before you do this deed In secret hide this thing, and so will I OUKOUV, o-rav o~ 110 e7tl \jluxpotO'l Kapolav exeLc;. an' oIO' apfoKoua' otc; µaALa0 ' aoetv µe el Kal OUV~O'El y': an' aµ11xavwv epq.c;. XP~· ISMENE But if to you it seems the best, you must go. Still know this that it's thoughtless to do so, But still your friends have every right to love you. el -rauTa AE~Elc;, exSapt:T µEv e~ eµou, 120 txepa OE Ttj) eav6vTL npoaKelaeL olKn. 950.n' ea µe Kal T~V £~ eµou OuapouAlav 11a8e1v To OeLvov -rou-ro: 11elaoµm yap ou TO<JOUTOV ouo£v W<JTE µ~OU KaAwc; Savt:Tv. an' Ei OoKEL O'Ol, aTetxe: TOUTO 0, '(a0, OTL avouc; µEv epxeL, -rote; <plAoLc; o' 6p0wc; <plATJ. 125 [Antigone exits, Ismene re-enters the Palace.] CHORUS 0 many are the terrible wonders But nothing is more great than those of man. And this does find its way and make its place Across the stoney grey and sultry sea With wildly storming swelling southern winds Surrounded by the depths of the dark waves He pushed further, under, and beyond. The highest of the Gods, un-waning Earth, Indefatigable, is worn away As plows move to and fro as year by year The horses bastards wear and churn the land. And a light minded race of birds is caught In nets, just as the savage swarms of beasts And creatures of the sea, he leads them all. With serpentine spun coils does brilliant man 1 5 10 7tOAAa Ta oe1va KOUOEV av8pw11ou Oe1v6-repov 7tEAEL. TOUlO Kal 7tOALOU nepav 7tOVTOU XELµeplq> VOTq> XWPEL, 7tt:plppuxlotO'LV 11epwv u11 ' o'(oµamv. Sewv Te Tav u11epTa-rav, !av acp81-rov, a.KaµaTav, cmoTpueTm iHoµevwv O.p6Tpwv hoc; elc; ewe; l1111elq> ytve1 110Aeuwv. KOu<pov6wv TE <pUAOV 6pvi0wv aµcp1paAwv ayt:L Kat 011pwv ayplwv e8v11 rr6v-rou T' eivaAlav <j>UO'LV arrelpmm OLKTUOKAwa-roLc;, rrept<ppao~c; av~p: 15 Kpa-ret OE µ11xavatc; aypauAou 011poc; 6pwa1pa-ra, Aaa1auxt:va 0' 35 �Antigone Untitled I Scott Chevallier Subdue with his machine the field dwelling, And mountain roaming beasts, and tightly grips The shaggy horse's mane, and yokes and breaks The back of an unwearied mountain bull. And speech with airy thought and city customs And impulses he has now taught himself and To flee the savage frozen clear cold air. And the wild stormy bolts, all contriving Held back in nothing, towards destiny He starts himself. He only stops for death. Against all other maladies he's found A way to slither through and keep moving. Possessing subtle and resourceful skill Beyond expectation he comes around And traces back from evil now to good. And when he honors the laws of the land, And justice of the gods, to which he's bounded By oath, his city dwells in great prosperity, But banned from this city is he, who's rash And coupled with disgrace. Never May I share land or home with man as he. And never may he think my thoughts, this man. 'lmtoV oxµa(eTCH etµ<pl AO<pOV (uywv oupelOV T' 20 CtKµ~-ra -raupov. KUL cp0£yµa KUL UVeµOeV <ppOVTjµa KUL QO'TUVOµouc; 6pyac; EOL<Sa~a-ro Kal ouaauA.wv naywv unal0pelU Kal ofooµ~pa <peuyeLV ~EAT] nav-ron6poc;: anopoc; en, ouoev epxe-rm 25 TO µ£AA.ov: 'A.Loa µ6vov <peU~Lv OUK £na~£Tal: VOO'WV 0, aµrixavwv cpuyac; ~uµn£cppaO'Tal. aocp6v Tl TO µrixav6ev Texvac; unep EA.nio, exwv TOTE µev KUKOV, aAAoT ' £71' fo0A.ov ep7tel, 30 voµouc; yepaipwv x0ovoc; 0eWV T' EVOpKOV OLKUV, U'JIL7tOAL<;: anoA.tc; OT<.p TO µ~ KUAOV ~UVEO'Tl ToA.µac; YEVOLTO xapLV. µ~T' eµol napfoTtoc; <ppovwv oc; TUO, epoel. µ~T , '(aov 35 [Enter Antigone] Is this a dark warning now sent by God? But how can I deny this having seen This daughter here to be Antigone 0 you disastrous and of disaster Brought of your father Oedipus. What's this? Do you not fail to follow royal rules And due to utter senselessness will fall. .,, I 40 ec; fotµoVLOV TEpac; aµ<pLVOW -r6oe: nwc; eiowc; avTLA.oy~aw T~vo' ouK e1vm nato ' AvTLyovriv. w OUO"tTjVO<; Kal oua-r~vou naTpoc; Olom68a, TL 7tOT,; OU o~ 7tOU O'E y, ama-rouaav -role; ~aO'LAELOLO'LV ayouO'l v6µ01c; Kal EV acppoauvn Ka0eAOVTec;; I I 36 37 \ \ �Smokey the Bear suffered from a lack of foresight by Victoria Lockamy Smokey the Bear suffered from a lack of foresight. Recently environmentalists have noticed an upward trend in the destruction caused by forest fires. They also noticed this upward trend correlated suspiciously well with a different upward trend, The use of the phrase: "Only You Can Protect Forest Fires" Humans, they say, are too effective at preventing forest fires, allowing litter and debris to build up And because humans are not yet perfect at preventing forest fires, All this does is provide more kindling. Turns out a little fire is good. But knowing that doesn't make the burning in my head hurt any less, So still I Try to put it out in an ashtray, Douse it with water. But I'm not any better at preventing forest fires than most people, So it's only a matter of time before it's all ablaze I blame the liberal media, That expansive, indistinct entity which is practically infallible Because even though we're supposed to hate it for its bias and corruption and sensationalism I can't help but like them because they make my political stances look good As it turns out, I'm a pack animal Just like the donkey (Though maybe here, ass is more appropriate) I Texture-03 I Xiuyuan Zhang And I suppose to an extent that may be true, But isn't it wrong that I feel no responsibility for the mental stress I'm under? Or for the pain I cause others out of selfishness because I need to "put myself first" Or for the poor traits I exhibit because "if you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best" They say we're the "me" generation Mindless, irreverent, narcissists But I think that's inaccurate, Because although I'm self-obsessed, the DSM-V classifies narcissists as holding the belief that they are better than others WebMD has been terrible for my hypochondria (Self-diagnosed I'll admit.) WebMD is successful for the same reason horoscopes are: Give anyone vague enough specifications, and they will identify with it But isn't everyone fatigued anyways? And isn't everyone suffering from headaches? And that constant crawling in my skin is just the physical sensation of my Manifest Destiny pulling me into everyday of the rest of my life The Prime Mover An ethereal whisper in my ear: "Don't look back. Don't look back" We all know Orpheus's struggle, running blindly ahead, everything we've ever wanted Dissipating before our eyes with every wavering doubt. After the liberal media told me Only [I] Could Prevent Forest Fires, They started to explain to me That everyone is a result of their environment. Nurture is key, they say. We are unfortunate victims of the circumstances of our birth. I 38 39 �1 What's in my purse.~I Calida Howell ForOfra by Montgomery Alcott al waters we m oved like ghosts, Over the coast f mud and dust, . h his house o Abandoning eac d d perfect frame h . h b the prou an Carried ig Y . , bane _ the plane. O f every modern nat10ns . nei hbor shared her breath with me: Just twice my g al hen the air At th' horizontal port 'wd fi d f gen an ear . blackened landing stnp. Was purifie o oxy nlight' and on the For su . Reagan or D ulles sends you, friend, Baltimore, lit cobblestones, O'er evening Annapo an mong the fixed, . . Ii ht who moves a d A wmking gone w ho lifts his eyes may fin In order that . . oumyour homelessness, . The offer to .JOm y . h eavy arms outspread. . h his To join you wit 41 40 \ �It's Raining Cats and Dogmatism by Abigail Purnell 1. There should be some different word, other than "grey," for those luminous blue-white skies that come with the rain here. It rains here. 2. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 3. In math we talked about infinity; About how we don't take it to mean eternity, not really-Eternity is a concept we couldn't use, not really (it's empty for us, meager finite things)-To say a thing is infinite is only to say That as far as I know And as far as I can see, As far as I can imagine Its extension is endless; And so I use the indeterminate Like the infinite For my own purposes. Abigail Purnell Will speak loudly and formally To themselves. Lately the expression "divine mystery" Has been on my mind and in my heart and Sheepishly off my lips; I have given up. This is to say, A divine mystery Is recognition Of my own defeat. A divine mystery Is my own willingness To admit That I do not know, And I cannot see Those things That I can barely imagine. 6. He who has ears, let him hear. 7. 4. You are bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. These bones, This flesh, These moments. Those eyes. These skies. 5. Science has assured me There are colors I cannot see And sounds that I cannot hear And that electrons behave differently When they are watched, In the way children, conscious of an audience, 42 I look As far into this indeterminate space As I can get my head around, My eyes around, My arms around, And still I do not see. I do not touch I do not know. Those things we call divine mysteries Are those places Those ideas Those elusive, illusive noumena That stretch on and on Beyond Anything I could imagine. We call them mysteries Because we believe, Despite this, They can be known. And we call them divine Because the human mind Will live and decay Before we can understand. Or not once you leave it the first time. A friend who is always so literal Said to me once: If home is where the heart is, Are you not always at homeYour heart being, as it is, Necessary for your ongoing existence as a human organism? 8. I used to write stories. I used to read books. I never used to cry. And I said, a little astonished, A while later, Yes, exactly. 9. The white of the sky And the yellow leaves Still i~ trees Press against each other. We carry our homes in our selves. They stay in fragments inside of us, Necessary, absolutely fundamental, To our human existence. 10.Inertia: 13. After a while, everything ends. We are all doing Everything we can To exist endlessly Until we end. (14. As far as I know, As far as I can feel sure of.) 11. I can forgive anyone anything Anything done to me, Anything left out, And I do it with my whole self. Because I admire that they are still going on. Because I really truly don't understand anymore · What it might mean To keep going. 12. I am convinced now That home does not exist, 43 �A Decrepit Tutor Untitled Works / Charlie Denton by Stan Lavery Clene and kempt he wore his hoary hair His clere eyes two no wars the were. Yholde his heed in on hand often tenden, As to the sclate myshappy clarkes wenden. He knew by rote Greek wordes everychone, And many a songe of "Country" fashione Which told of povre men, and of prisoun; Of Trewe Love, and fornication; Ofbresten herts and breste biheste also, Of houndes dede, and muchel care and wo! Hevynesse of hert, swich tradgedye Songs suchel to the tavern al may gye! On early morwe colde, in reyn or sonne, Pass sokyngly* on foote, (ycleped "run") Far doun his nose ywered his perspectives, Misshappy clerks all dreden his directives. He grucche often of his surgeryes, And sorwe siketh of his somtel wyves. When siker clerks expounde far amiss, Hangynge his head, he sowrly mad, "Tis, tis." "I trowe", quod he, "this day I tak me lif, ''Alas ne t'overbyde myn eldest wif!" But him anon dispos'd him otherwyse; Clerks in an heep he deem'd nat worth two fl.yse! But face to face in conversatione, No longer was he that curmudgeone, But in swete chere and manere gav his say Avys and conceil, resoun each clerk's Essay Alas this Tutor's care and wo of age, Seemth al in playe - the studie was his stage! *adv. gradually, step by step 44 45 \ \ �Shipwreck I Sophie Colt . Notes from the Other Side by Judy Seeger (In the early 1970's my husband Tony and I spent about a year living with a group of Indians near the headwaters of the Xingu River in Central Brazil while he did research for his PhD dissertation in social anthropology. In subsequent years we made other visits, most recently in May of 2015. These pieces were written after that last visit.) The Cuban Doctor people, plaza, forest, river, sky, sun, moon, stars ... So why can't you say what you mean? dancing, singing, stamping, swirling, smiling, laughing, crying ... No! In the flickering firelight the touch of Puking my guts out in central Brazil I was delivered to the Cuban doctor. a feather ... He was young (unlike me) and brown (unlike me). He was on a mission to help those in need. Dark Sky in May 2015, 11° South·Latitude Or To the north the Big Dipper pours out all its contents, until toward dawn, drained dry, it dips below the trees. He was on a mission to demonstrate the superiority of his island's economic and social system. He gave me some soro, salty and sweet. Muchas gracias, Alejandro, por haberme bien tratado. Me estoy sintiendo me.Jar. The Bathroom in the Jungle How come when you build a bathroom in the jungle Suddenly there's a line ? No Words? (After Hegel?) I The Evening Star pierces the twilight's deep blue. To the south the Southern Cross proceeds across the heavens. Some must have seen it as a sign. From east to west the smaller stars are strewn across the sky, the glowing embers of a burning tree they say. Celestial animals tread that starry trail. You see them as patches of darkness silently making their way. From time to time, with blinking lights, a jet cuts through the dark. "Did you see?" I ask my friend, as we sit on a blanket outside the long house, "The sky canoe! That's the way I came and that's the way I'll leave." 1 How can you speak when you have no words? 46 But that can't be right! There are plenty of words: 47 �Judy Seeger Notes from the Other Side Watercolor: Going Up the Xingu River in the Rainy Season in an Aluminum Motorboat The Rainy Season Begins: 1 You can see the dark clouds trailing ribbons of rain. That one will miss us but that one will strike us for sure! G.!iick! Grab your dress from the line! Stinging clouds of dust raised from the plaza are whipped by the wind. The thatch on the roofs rises and rustles. In the old village the houses leaked badly. We would move our hammocks to avoid the worst drips. We would dig troughs in the dirt floor with tablespoons to drain the water. In this new village the houses are tighter. We're safe inside. The Rainy Season Begins: 2 Billowing curtains of rain smudge the forest. Pillars of mist rise like smoke from the river. Falling and rising the boundaries are blurred. The world is a study in gray. What could be more fragile than our little boat beating its way upriver against the fierce torrent draining the high plateau? When the motor falls silent we drift in a moment much farther downstream than we've come. A black tattered tarp keeps out some of the rain, while the cold silver hull makes a hard drizzly bed, as lulled by the deep throb of the laboring motor I dream the long hours away. At first the earth drinks in the rain. After all, it hasn't rained for months. The water simply disappears as if it had never been. And then we're back to dust again. There will be time enough for puddles; Time enough for shining sandy beaches to be submerged beneath the flood; Time enough for fish to flee and game to gather, trapped on islands nonexistent now; Time enough for the river to rise, and time enough for mud. Night and Day: Going up the Suia-Missu in the Dry Season in a Dugout Canoe By night: You find yourself afloat in a field of stars. Do you want one? Just reach down and pluck it from the river. But watch out for the curious caimans! They swim alongside and they bite. The stars drip through your fingers. How to hold them? By day: The Rainy Season I I It seems that nothing ever really dries. Things range from soaked to (on a good day) damp. We roll up our hammocks and set off by moonlight, while leaves still shine silver and jaguars still hoot in the forest, so when the sun is high and hot we've paddled a long way. The river at its source is crystal clear and nearly still. Sun-speckled bass glide gracefully through river grass beneath our boat. Under blazing sun cool water beckons. But watch out, for the depths are deceptive! Stepping out of the canoe you may find yourself in over your head. The Bad and the Good The bad: loneliness anger greed sickness sorrow death disorder The good: dancing singing eating laughing being strong being beautiful knowing your place in an orderly world The Umbrella Fish (0 candiru*) Piranhas? They're easy enough to avoid. They school in sharp bends where the river runs deep, beneath steep sandy banks where some food might fall in. You know not to swim in those pools. Stingrays? Also avoidable. You roil the river bottom with a stick before you step. They lurk in the mud but they flee. Electric eels? Sure, they'll give you a shock, but I got one only once. About a dozen of us were pushing a large net across a pond left by the receding river. The water before us teemed with flapping fish. An old man accidently struck an eel with a machete that had no handle: pure metal! He hollered and leapt from the water. The rest of us got a good shock and a good laugh. But the umbrella fish? That's a different story. It's a slender creature that swims into bodily orifices and, once there, opens itself up like an umbrella. Then you're in for it! The only way to remove it is surgically. Piranhas, stingrays, electric eels: I've seen - and eaten them all. An umbrella fish? Never! But I think every Brazilian in the Interior knows its story. *"Common designation for various species of bony fish ... There is a popular belief, not scientifically proven, that the candiru penetrates the urethra of people who are bathing in rivers." Translated from the Novo Dicionario Aurelio, Fourteenth Edition. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Mystery of the Tapir's Anus One day someone killed a tapir - enough meat for the whole village in those days! And they gave us the anal sphincter - well boiled, to be sure, but still - the anus! The body part we always laughed about! Why did they give us the tapir's anus? Was it a delicacy? Was it a joke? Was it acknowledgement that we were the only ones in the village whose teeth might be strong enough to chew it? (They weren't; we tried.) What do you do with a tapir's anus? Cut it up somehow and eat it? Wait until dark and heave it into the woods or the river? In the end, we gave it back: "This is not sweet to us." Why did they give us that tapir's anus? 49 48 \ \ �Notes from the Other Side Judy Seeger I didn't ask them then and I didn't ask them later. so was I. I guess I decided that some things don't need to be known. People poured out of the houses and onto the plaza in the reddening light. Snatches of Speech "You've come!" "Yes, I've come." "Where are you going?" "I'm going to the water." "Go ahead!" ''Are you awake?" "Yes, I'm awake." In the commotion a dog lunged and bit me. "Who's that?" "Me." "Where are you going?" "I'm going to the garden." "Go ahead!" ''Are you leaving?" "Yes, I'm leaving." "Let's go together!" "Let's!" I was hurt and mad as hell but looking back I guess he feared I meant to do his people harm. At last of course the moon came back to life. Even then they knew my people had walked on it. Sleeping in a Hammock "Until tomorrow." "Until tomorrow." Reminiscing with the Chief's Wife /Total Eclipse of the Moon We agree that as pets we prefer parrots to dogs or cats. We remember songs we've sung together:Javari and Yamuricuma learned from the Upriver Indians, Juruna songs danced while drinking spit-started manioc brew bubbling and working in its dugout trough, songs of the Txukarramae sung and danced by women and men in facing rows ... 50 Some sang to bring the moon back; some shot flaming arrows. Mothers covered the heads of their children with tree cotton: protection from wandering spirits who meant to do them harm. Sleeping in a hammock is the best! You make yourself a comfortable nest. Make sure your ropes are strong and tightly bound: There's nothing underneath you but the ground. A rolled-up blanket makes a handy sheath To warm you from above and from beneath. Once in, you're cradled in a pocket deep And perfectly disposed for restful sleep, As long as you don't dwell on the precar- Sleeping in a Hammock with a Malarial Fever while Everyone Else is Dancing If you can call it sleep ... Phantasmagoric shadows cast by fires dip and soar on the towering thatch. Passing beneath the rope of my hammock painted dancers set the hammock swinging ... Drifting in . . . Drifting out .. . I hear fragments of song ... Fever dreams take on the rhythm of the dance. They say that sickness means your spirit has been stolen. Perhaps it hides among the fish, among the bees, among the trees ... Haven't you heard? The whole world sings! But you must listen carefully ... And then perhaps when you return you'll bring a song back too. . My body is aching ... where is my spirit? My body is burning . . . where is my song? iousness of sleeping hanging in the air. We remember the night the moon died, or so the old people say. That was in the old village when she was young and 51 \ �Window I R.M. Goad At Home in the World: A Toast to the Graduates Delivered kY Louis Petrich, Tutor, May 4, 2015, at the Graduate Institute Commencement Reception D ear students, graduates, and guests of the Graduate Institute--on behalf of my colleagues on the faculty of St.John's College, I shall propose a toast with the help of several authors I happen to have been reading and pondering these last days. A classical origin for our words is, of course, a tribute to our inner resources, but also (as Nietzsche says) to our poverty of creation, our · spiritual ungainliness, if this is how we must quench our thirst, as humped camels do, from storage, surrounded all the while by much that has become desert in this noisy world. It is my hope, therefore, that you may discover, time and again, as thoughtful camels, something I recently experienced to my wonder, when I re-encountered a very famous English poem that I assigned to my senior language students, written by Matthew Arnold around 1851, called "Dover Beach." In it, a man stands by an open window, while looking out over the beach at Dover, England, and talking all the while to a silent woman present in the room with him. I remembered quite liking this poem when I first studied it as an English major in college over 30 years ago, at that time having seen next to nothing of the world, though the poem is in fact about the world and how to live in its turmoil. By the way, although I have been teaching for many years, here and around the world, I still ask myself how great literature should be taught to college kids who know so little yet of life in this world. Mathematics, science, metaphysics even, I can teach to novices, but literature?--which spans life and death, heaven and hell? I am satisfied if they store up its beauties for later uses; and therefore I proceed now with my toast in the confidence that you folks, being older, are perhaps readier to hear some hard things. As I was saying, I had not had occasion to return to this fondly remembered poem, "Dover Beach," until I reread it in the good company of my seniors, with whom I had pleasurably shared many old, lettered friends, but this time I found to my surprise that I disliked the experience at once. I felt somehow sickened by the poem, and immediately I sought relief in a parody written by Anthony Hecht in 1967 called (pardon me), "The Dover Bitch."This 52 parody is written from the point of view of the silent woman in Arnold's poem, who cannot stand being treated as a "cosmic last resort" by a nervous, classically educated man who would rather ruminate on the sonorous sufferings in Sophocles and over the terrors unleashed by the ignorant armies in Thucydides, than to make simple, proper love to a pretty girl on a romantic, moonlit beach. Who can blame her? I felt guilty to perhaps spoil my students' opportunity to like this poem, by impressing upon them my newfound dislike. But I asked them, as I do you, to lay this up for consideration: why is it that of the works we had loved as readers in youth, some retain or augment their power to transport and we love them the more, but others are found to disappoint or even to become repulsive in age? Is it that our more mature and refined tastes now detect better what is truly fine or disgusting in things? Or, is it that our chastened enthusiasms no longer catch at the surface beauties and miracles that formerly took hold of the eager heart, the depths and heights instead having become the lonely anchorages of our advanced journeys? In any case, my friends, as you grow older in the company of undying literature, I hope that you may experience these questions upon returning to a poem or book that you remember liking, or, I hasten to add, one that you did not like or did not take time to know, but may later find to be indispensable, like a new friend among enemies. Though the latter experiences are puzzling, because why would you return to a book that you did not like, or turn to one you know not? Well, maybe the book, if I may speak of books as friends, has a loyal liking for you. Besides, if the soul is immortal, as we may dare to suppose from our unquenchable thirst, or even if the soul is but a follower of the gay philosophy that promises jungles beyond deserts and playgrounds after jungles, then there will be time for those unread or disliked books, too; there will be time "for a hundred visions and revisions," as another poet of this modern desert landscape has put it, in another love song worthy of parody, of liking and disliking over time, because it is that good and deserving of a home in us. (T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of]. Alfred Prufrock''). 53 �At Home in the World: A Toast to the Graduates 54 Now there is something I had forgotten about Matthew Arnold that I rediscovered upon questioning my altered feelings towards his poem, for I was not resigned to lose an old friend, and I should like to share this singular fact with you. Matthew Arnold was, by profession, a lifelong school inspector. He believed that education was the only way to rescue the souls of the vast, rising middle classes from a sickness and evil that his contemporary, Baudelaire, named "ennui," and whose type Arnold himself was the first to label, "the philistine": a person of utilitarian dullness, comfort-seeking, security-mongering, media-minded, easy-going, always nice and inoffensive, therefore anemic, slavish, and trivial. I wonder what this Victorian school inspector would have to report of our cultural practices and their human types today. Perhaps, mindful of this fact, I should face "Dover Beach" again, with your help. Which behavior do you think is better: to look out a window at a moonlit beach, to hear the pebbles being thrown up and drawn back by the murmuring waves, and to invite your beloved to think of Sophocles, who made tragic poetry out of such sights and sounds?--Or, to register your satisfaction that this pleasant sea-side resort is rated, by the mass clicking of browsers under the moonlight--click, click, click-- one of the top twelve places to go for a convenient weekend get-away (discounted in the off-season), which earns points towards a free stay and partner points if you switch your life insurance? Indeed, I would like to ask the silent woman of Arnold's poem, or you ladies in the audience, what kind of man you would prefer as a lover. The man of the poem appeals to his lady-friend in these words: "Ah, love, let us be true/ To one another!" What does his appeal to "be true" mean, sandwiched as it is between references to Sophocles and Thucydides? In view of Arnold's professional concerns for the life of the middling soul in a "darkling plain," I think it means this: "let us keep in our possession the light, joy, love, and help that we find in the creative works of our predecessors, who poured their lives into making this world a place where we would want to be born. A place we strive to be able to call 'home'." This, I think, is essentially the appeal that Winston Churchill made in 1940, as he looked Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles I Louis Petrich, Tutor across the Channel from Dover Beach and saw what Arnold foresaw--the "alarums," the "struggle and flight" from barbarism-and he rallied the English classes, one and all, to be true to one another as keepers of the light. So, at the inspiration of this poem, which once I liked in innocence, recently disliked with experience, and upon present consideration begin to like again, I now make this same appeal to the graduates-"let us be true to one another." Rich in gratitude for the hours we have spent hearing together the murmuring sea of remembered voices sweet and bitter, the full tide of humanity right at our Chesapeake home shores, and with boldness to keep that tide from withdrawing over the edge of the world, let us, the faculty of St. John's College, raise our glasses to toast the graduates of this Institute, masters of the arts that make this world fit for poor human souls. 55 \ \ �Energeia I St. John's College VVriting and Art Publication 131 1 1 1696 ~01170if~ li1i i11721 1 1 1 ~11~~]1 1 l1l ~i 1 1 1 1 Spring 2016 •~ --~ 1- '- I ~ i / f I <T ' ATE DUE \ \ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Energeia</em> Description An account of the resource <em>Energeia</em> is a non-profit, student magazine, which is published once a year and distributed among students, faculty, alumni, and staff of St. John's College, Annapolis.  Staff welcome submissions from all members of the community -- essays, poems, stories, original math proofs, lab projects, drawings, and the like. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context energeia Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 55 pages Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data paper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Piven, Jakub (editor) Purnell, Abigail (editor) Title A name given to the resource Energeia, Spring 2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Issue of the Energeia, published in Spring 2016. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Energeia Spring 2016 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Energeia Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/8b2e6c217d80119f8ef83d6c7e84c56c.jpg 03a44449ecb1260f5a28d836a1f00ccc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 24.5 x 19.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0069 Title A name given to the resource John S. Kieffer Introducing Stringfellow Barr at Stringfellow Barr's Formal Lecture "The Beginning of the St. John's Program" in the King William Room, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Cecil H. Fox] Subject The topic of the resource St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Friday night lecture series July 1972 St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Presidents. St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Faculty. Lectures and Lecturing Kieffer, John Spangler. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Type The nature or genre of the resource still image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Deans Honorary Alumni Presidents https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/d850a417ce7cd918d2fd0cf5807c613d.jpg 82e7b27a59021c9f6116977df3c082c5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 24.5 x 19.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0068 Title A name given to the resource John S. Kieffer at Stringfellow Barr's Formal Lecture "The Beginning of the St. John's Program" in the King William Room, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Fox, Cecil H.] Subject The topic of the resource St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Friday night lecture series July 1972 St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Presidents. St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Faculty. Lectures and Lecturing Kieffer, John Spangler. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Type The nature or genre of the resource still image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Deans Honorary Alumni Presidents https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/1d2c60ecbf75c56623e6a7a3195f9b80.jpg 8074a6673c64ecb38d06ec2ebc8ea168 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 24.5 x 19.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0070 Title A name given to the resource Roxanna Kieffer at Stringfellow Barr's Formal Lecture "The Beginning of the St. John's Program" in the King William Room, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Fox, Cecil H.] Subject The topic of the resource St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Friday night lecture series July 1972 St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Faculty -- Spouses. Lectures and Lecturing Kieffer, Roxanna Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Type The nature or genre of the resource still image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/8b2ed2e4aeb344e033ab726d3e88b708.jpg 6a10a7fed2a58463525567c4eb7b8628 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 24 x 18.5 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0183 Title A name given to the resource William Kyle Smith, Mrs. Kyle Smith, Roxanna Kieffer, and Miriam Strange at Stringfellow Barr's Formal Lecture "The Beginning of the St. John's Program" in the King William Room, St. John's College, Annapolis Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Fox, Cecil H.] Subject The topic of the resource St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Friday night lecture series July 1972 St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Faculty. St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Registrars. Smith, William Kyle Strange, Miriam Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Type The nature or genre of the resource still image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Deans Honorary Alumni Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/a1b07dccbf0afcb7a0f33553a7a854c2.jpg 20e02b22ffd665755bb423577cd93f7e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Image Collection—Annapolis Description An account of the resource <p>The Greenfield Library Image Collection houses over 5,000 photographs, postcards, drawings, and other graphic materials.  The images in the collection document the history, academic, and community life of St. John’s College. </p> To learn more about the Greenfield Library's archives use policy or to obtain high-resolution images, please see the <strong><a title="Image Collection Use Policy" href="http://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/libraries/greenfield-library/policies/#photographicarchivepolicy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Library’s Image Collection Use Policy</a></strong>.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Photographic Archives" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=7">Items in the Image Collection—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context imagecollectionannapolis Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 24 x 19 cm. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data photograph Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJC-P-0184 Title A name given to the resource John S. Kieffer, Mr. Leavenworth, and Mrs. Leavenworth at Stringfellow Barr's Formal Lecture "The Beginning of the St. John's Program" in the King William Room, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland Description An account of the resource 1 photographic print : b&w Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Fox, Cecil H.] Subject The topic of the resource St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Friday night lecture series July 1972 St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Presidents. St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). -- Deans. Kieffer, John Spangler. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Type The nature or genre of the resource still image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this photograph. Deans Honorary Alumni Presidents Tutors