reasonably remarkable

2011-06-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

2010-10-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

One Art
Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. --Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

2009-10-19T23:52:00.001-07:00

yes.

2009-10-19T09:00:00.001-07:00

ARE WE ALL DEAD/GROWNUPS?

2008-07-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

sorry Bryan, looks like it's going to be easier for you to search for, then friend, a Tae-Yeoun Keum than it is for me to find the right Bryan Lee out of, according to facebook, over 500 search results.

2008-06-30T22:15:00.001-07:00

i am on facebook.

2008-06-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

sssiiiggghhhhh. For the past minute or so, I put myself in Bryan's place and decided that if I weren't on facebook for all of college it made no sense for me to get on it now. (Which is why Mónica is on facebook! Everyone friend her!)

Non-facebookers, you untainted ones,

here's what you've missed out on:

Susan Lee
April 28 at 6:46pm

hello hello!

While talking to Adam Giang on facebook - yeah, they have chats. weird huh? - I realized that most if not all of us are graduating from college soon if we haven't done so already. I think that calls for some round-robin updates about new addresses/email addresses/ general steps in life. Anyone engaged? Anyone moving to a different country? Let us know... I hope to hear much from this thread!

Let me start. I'll be sticking around Boston for at least the next three years, going to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary full time, working with InterVarsity - a campus Christian group - part time, and fbook chatting the rest of the time. My long term goal is to go to Palestine and establish a primary/secondary school, which I hope many of you will visit! I'll have a new mailing address soon in Cambridge, which I'll update you with when I figure it out. Over the summer, I'll be in Korea. I will be perenially reachable at susansueah [at] gmail [dot] com .

Missing you all so much.
Susan

Matt Schmitz
April 28 at 6:59pm

Hi!

I think Susan's idea is a really good one. As an ex-evangelical (last year I joined the Catholic Church) I can attest that Gordon-Conwell is very well regarded.

My plans are still not completely firm, but it looks like I too will be hanging around my school. This June I will probably start working as a research analyst for the Witherspoon Insitute, a (need I say?) conservative think tank in Princeton. I will probably be working there for the next two years, after which most of the young staff goes on to seek advanced degrees or into journalism at places like First Things and the Weekly Standard. I will also remain involved in some campus activities. So one foot in reality and one--still--on campus.

Alex Yablon
April 29 at 1:56am

I have some vague ideas as to what I'm doing next year. I'm staying in Chicago. I'm going to start a band and try to write short stories and think about what to do in five years. After that, maybe grad school in history, or urban planning, or sociology or something like that. But I don't have much in the way of gainful employment.

Kelsey Innis
April 29 at 7:56am

representing the ungodly side of tasp, as usual--though not so ungodly anymore, as i'm no longer living in sin or studying sexology. i actually have another year and a half of school left thanks to my 5 major changes. i sort of feel like a baby freshman right now--i just got out of a 3 year relationship and i know absolutely no one in my new major (computer science), so i'm living alone for the first time and trying to survive intro classes. no major life changes to report here, though i keep busy; i'm learning to play the carillon and i go see friends bands and generally try to live up to the austin slacker aesthetic.

tara's not on facebook, but i see her on the regular so i guess i'll give the tara e b update. she graduated in december with all kinds of high muckety muck honors & is getting lots of awards for her thesis. she's been working at the women's shelter & doing rape counseling, and she'll be entering grad school for social work in august. last night i saw her new gorgeous tattoos, and she lives in this cute apartment right on the lake.

i took alex's profile picture!

Aimee Clark
April 29 at 12:34pm

Hi everyone!

I never thought I'd hear from you again! I can relate to the bjillion career/goal changes... I'm moving to Brooklyn, NY where I'll be teaching middle school biology and getting a masters in teaching, though what on earth I'll do with this masters after my two year teaching commitment is over is yet to be determined. All that is clear is that for the meanwhile I will be teaching little shitlits and learning to be a disciplinarian. Recent developments have involved craigslisting a "radical feminist apartment", where a "liberal, but not wingnut," housemate is wanted.
I'm pretty sure I'm not getting married, but I am pregnant!!

Just joking,
Good to hear from you all, and needless to say if you are ever passing through New York you have a place to stay. <3, style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Adam Giang
April 29 at 1:51pm

Hey guys,
right now I'm just finishing up my engineering degree. I'm a bit of a homebody so I think I'll be either in the western mass or Boston area, I'm still kind of up in the air. I don't have a job lined up yet, so I'll probably be getting my butt pinched as a waiter this summer. Also, I might be going on a road trip to California with some of my buddies after graduation. It's still in the planning stages now, but perhaps I could meet up with some of you! I'll keep you guys posted.

Also, I'm pregnant

Jared Fryer
April 29 at 11:14pm

Hello!

It is splendid to hear about everyone's lives after so long! (I haven't checked the blog in a while - is it still alive?)
I will finish my history major at the end of next fall and then it's time to leave the massive shithole that is Los Angeles. First stop is London where I can stay with family and earn pounds. Then when I have some money I will go to Berlin because I want to get involved in the art scene there - specifically film, because I love Germany, German, and the Germans, and because I'm afraid of real life.

Oh and if any of you are going to be in California between now and Dececember, tell me.

Olga Kamensky
May 4 at 1:40am

Hi guys!

I'll be in New York starting in early July, working as a paralegal in a firm near the South Street Seaport, doing other things of varying legality, and trying to decide what to do next. I guess law school is the default option that I'm hoping to get excited about, and then there are some less realistic but potentially cooler ones like becoming a psychotherapist (which nothing in my undergraduate education has prepared me for) or opening a ridiculously trendy mochi cafe somewhere downtown. I'm really looking forward to taking a break from school and proving to myself that I can survive, relatively independently, in the real world. In keeping with those aspirations at independence (but independently motivated), I'm no longer engaged. Aside from the paralegal stuff I also hope to keep writing and translating, which I've gotten more into in the course of the past year.

Aimee, what part of Brooklyn are you thinking of?

Adrian LeCesne
May 4 at 9:43am

I am going to Cambodia to become a monk in the Xia Loi Pagota.

alright. That's not true. I have another glorious semester here because for whatever reason I thought it would be a good time to take fall of 2006 off and study abroad. Next fall I'll still be in New Haven working at the Anthropology Department (the official name of my position is Running Dog Lackey for Yale Anthro Professors) and will be Tutoring over Skype in the evenings. Grad school seems like a good idea at some point because I take to responsibility like a parrot to gravy... I'll let you work that one out. I'm thinking, at some point down the road UNESCO would be sweet, but I'd like to try making Science and Anthropological Documentaries for a few years just to make sure I'm good an poor before I look for a real job. The summer after next I am working an archaeological dig in Mongolia if I can line up a job in China to fund the airfare and such.
If any of you are abroad this summer, email me. The Whiffs will be blowing through a dozen countries like a drunken mildly homo-erotic storm, and I'd love to catch up with you folks. In the week after commencement we even hit up California, so yeah...

Aimee Clark
May 10 at 2:47pm

Olga,

It seems that I might spend the summer in the East Village. I'm planning on finding a place for longer term when I'm there. Then, ideally somewhere near park slope! Where are you thinking of living?

Tae-Yeoun Keum
May 15 at 12:13am

oh god, this is so late.

i'll be graduating in about a week and the prospect of leaving the college bubble absolutely terrifies me, though all i see in my immediate future are similar bubbles.

i finished my senior essay almost exactly a month ago, and have been doing absolutely nothing since. this pattern of [intense academic experience concentrated into very little time] + [doing nothing] pretty much defines my summer:

as soon as i get my diploma, i will fly out to be at another educational institution, where i will participate in a very short writing program. afterwards, i will do nothing for a few weeks, before i go to yet another educational institution to be a teaching fellow. when that's done, i'll finally get to leave the u.s., so i can go home and do nothing for many, many weeks. in october, i will begin a one-year master's program.

school and nothing and school and nothing and more school for me.

Tae-Yeoun Keum
May 15 at 12:19am

ps: i don't know any of my mailing addresses and i'm not even sure about my email (what to do when my school email expires? apparently gmail is so in right now but i can't get used to it) - but i'd love to have everyone else's! i will send postcards!

until august, my phone number is 203.606.6685.

John Owens-Ream
June 11 at 11:42am

I never check facebook, as this late late message attests:

After spending the last several years working full time on political campaigns across the midwest, and going to school when I had time, I am pretty much no more certain of my future than most of ya'll sound like you are.

I have somewhere between 2 and a gadjillion semesters left depending on when I decide to finish up the degree (Women's Studies / Religious Studies / Political science trip. major) and how many of my majors / minors I'm willing to drop just to get it over with.

I'm temporarily in Omaha but will be moving either back to Chicago or to North Carolina pretty soon, I'll let you know when and which.

For the time being I"m best reached at
402-880-6718
johnowensream [at] gmail [dot] com

If anyone is in the midwest (MATT?) give me a shout and we'll get together. There's actually lots of great places to eat and get coffee in O-town.

Also, I'll be in Austin the 16th-20th of of July!

Eunice Yang
June 11 at 3:36pm

Dear all,

I recently received a degree in biochemical sciences and psychology, and have decided to pursue a combination of both (for better or worse) in neurological medicine. I'll be attending medical school this coming fall at Washington University in St. Louis. Until then, I plan to vegetate at home, help my piano professor with last minute legwork for this piano competition (see http://www.piano-e-competition.com/), and plan exotic vacations that I cannot afford. More realistically speaking, I will be strongly considering any invitations to visit anyone at any place, should they come my way. I will also be working on my subtlety.

My contact information hasn't changed, but I'll let you guys know if it does:
(651) 983-3379
euniceyang84 [at] gmail [dot] com

Tae-Yeoun Keum
June 11 at 6:09pm

oh my goodness, i read my message to all of you and realized that, for all its length, it did not say anything useful. here is all the information new need:

now - end of June = New Haven, CT
end of June - beginning of August = Exeter, NH
beginning of August - end of September = Manila, Philippines (probably but not necessarily the whole two months)

end of September onwards for another school year = Cambridge, UK

Eunice Yang
June 11 at 9:51pm

Tae-Yeoun, is this a subtle invitation?

just kidding, sort of.

Eunice Yang
June 26 at 12:50am

Revision: I'm going to be in Baltimore for the next four to five years. Please let me know if any of you are going to be in town!

Eunice

2008-06-30T19:37:00.001-07:00

Bryan! Get on facebook!
That goes for Brian, too.

Or at least give me your number so I can say goodbye before I get deported.

2008-06-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

so what is this...

who shall stumble across this in some unknown time and find it at least somewhat amusing?

congrats to all you who have graduated and hang in there to those who have yet to graduate.

i'll be in ny next year so let me know if you'll be in that same ridiculously large dump of a city on an island.

oh, and god bless to you all.

2007-12-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

Hey strangers?

Time does seem to fly. You can actually see where everyone's jaws and hips have grown if you look carefully; and of course the nicer winter coats. The other day I passed someone from a freshman orientation program on the street, and I couldn't say hello because I had forgotten her name (she was pretty boring anyway so easy enough to lose). Earlier this year I had the pleasure of seeing several of you TASPers, and it still seems to me that it had different character. We may not meet often, but we try right? Matt I'd still like to hear more about how it felt to be a Factota, so if you have a hot minute, perhaps you could enlighten us-

Happy holidays, and I hope you all have a nice relaxing vacation-

2007-12-20T03:52:00.001-08:00

ah yes, staying up till 7 in the morning to read Matt Schmitz.
(and - I confess - ivygate, whose editors couldn't think of anything insulting to say about him)

2007-11-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

guys, we are OLD.

2007-07-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

I suck. Though I feel facebook has made my role obsolete, so maybe I don't even suck, but I'm entirely below sucking.

Here are the overdue birthday notifications.

June 5 was Dr. Chapelle's birthday. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, Dr. CHAPELLE!

July 8 was Adam's birthday. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, ADAM!

Today, July 27 is Bryan's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYAN!

2007-06-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

You're the Monica, Matt, no question. I'm working with Amelia Salyers who's in your eating club!

2007-06-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

I'm back at ADPi. Needless to say, being back as a factotum is completely mind-bending. The house is essentially unchanged except, perhaps, for being even nicer than I remember it. The question the summer will answer--made all the more urgent by my Jamie sighting at the Telluride Association Convention this weekend--is whether I'm the Jamie or the Monica. Time will tell...

To Aimee--I don't think there's any question that our involvement overseas has largely created Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the main force we're fighting in Iraq. The war was a mistake, but I think there was probably as much idealism (Paul Wolfowitz would be one such idealist) as cynicism behind it. While invading Afghanistan may not have been strictly necessary, there are many observers who think that a muscular response to terrorist attacks is the best way to deter future attacks. There's probably at least some truth in that.

-Matt

P.S. Jamie has a grown-out buzz cut. He's been teaching Kaplan courses lately and doing some other jobs. This fall he's heading to Florida to pursue in M.F.A in fiction.

2007-06-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well. I have not posted in a while.

The other day I got in an argument with my irrational mother who claims that she has known all along that the Iraq war was fraudulous. Recently she emailed me this beaut:

Before the war, I knew Bush was from a family of oil company business men. I knew Iraq was a largely untapped oil reserve. I knew there were many (20 plus) equally ruthless dictators around the middle east (not to mention the continent of Africa) and the question surfaced in my mind why is the US seeking to save a country from this particular ruthless dictator and not other countries? I remembered the term "Communism" was used to create an us/them relationship by artificially grouping China/Russia together who were not allies. Looking closely at the suddenly increased use of the term "terrorist" I saw that people from different, dissimilar countries: Afghanistan and Iraq, were grouped into one terrifying group to strike fear and the desire for vengeance into the hearts of Americans and justify invasion of Iraq. The term "weapons of mass destruction" was coined to define what, from our side, was termed the arms race, thereby implying we were perfectly harmless in amassing huge amounts of nuclear weapons, and other large nations were justified in doing so, but somehow Iraq was dangerous in possibly developing nuclear weapons. (I thought it very humorous that Korea flew it in our face that they had "weapons of mass destruction" and we of course didn't go to war with them.) My reading of the book Taliban outlined Afghanistan's strategic position/oil pipeline potential. My reading re: Iran/Iraq war showed why Saddam Hussain needed to put up a front of strong military might to keep Iran at bay. He was afraid Iran would find out he didn't have "weapons of mass destruction." I knew Bush had barely (if at all) won the election and that he went to huge popularity immediately with his strong, militaristic, stand in Afghanistan. Keeping the country afraid and the war going stood to maintain or increase his popularity and power. Spending money on building war machines has always been a way to increase to economy artificially. First and foremost, I knew Osama Bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian and a Billionaire. He chose a career path in strategic military planning. His family was business competitors with Bush's family. I had an imae of the Saudi's I knew at USC:Wealthy, worldly, playboys when out of their country. Bin Laden's are the equivalent of the Kennedy family in the US. Osama the equivalent of the "religious right" Christians in our government-He had gotten into disfavor by reacting strongly to the Saudi King making too many concessions to the US. Saudi Arabia had to deport him, and for business reasons, maintain relations with the US. Many supported him covertly, both for his "piousness" and anti US stand. Thus the 9/11 crew were made up mostly of Saudis. Saudi Arabia is an oil partner and ally and Afghanistan one of the poorest nations on earth and they'd been weakened by 20+ years of war. If a Kennedy religious fanatic was in disfavor and ousted to Mexico and used his military skills to train Mexicans should we bomb Mexico? Wouldn't the more logical thing be to step up the CIA search for the individual and his specific group? Bombing Afghanistan was largely a vengeance war. A little, weak, country where we could parade our new military weaponry and feel in control. Iraq? Totally illogical. Most of the "terrorists" there were varied groups fighting against each other for local control. All, of course, voicing hatred for the US, symbol of decadence, wealth and lacking in the true religion. Only a few are strong or wealthy enough to rise above local power struggles and truely be a threat to us. These would be easier controlled through CIA support of opposition groups (as we have always done in the past.) Our going to war, head on, logically causes all the factions to join together to fight us. (Opposite of divide and conquer-basic military strategy.) So we are creating the joined "terrorist" groups we invented.

as well as a link to an article. I was wondering whether her ideas were true, and what the counterarguments are. ...And, I could not think of a more knowledgeable, well-spoken group of people.

I hope your lives are good.

love,
Aimee Clark

2007-05-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, I thought the board was looking a tad lonely. I just completed my last essay for better or for worse, and am about to go either pack or attempt to disrupt the machinery of my brain...

I was really tempted to title the essay:

"The Ming Pull-Out and subsequent Penetration"

but instead went for the slightly more tame:

"The Ming Naval Withdrawal of 1435 and the Collapse of the 13th-14th Century Global Trade System"

Ha.
Hey, did any of you read that article in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago about Wisdom? It was a great issue in my book, and it touched upon the difficult question of what Wisdom actually is. I tend to agree with whats-his-name that wisdom involves knowledge and intelligence, but is different from both in that it also requires compassion and the flexibility to see the subtleties of a person's particular circumstances. I can't really speak to the whole wisdom-age question, since I've never been old... is it too late by then? forget it, I'm going home. !

Have a fun (but safe) summer, and if you ever find yourself in the difficult position that Xuande was thrust into by several bureaucrats and a eunuch or two, just keep a cool head and say "pulling out is not the answer."
good luck with everything, especially exams for those of you who aren't done.

also, check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZDHQ9b9fbo
good stuff, though you should exercise a bit of patience.
**the link stopped working. It was to a you-tube video of a photoshop trick. But, I suppose it's gone forever

love

2007-05-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

as a jew and a mason, i'd like to welcome you to the illuminati

2007-05-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

Recognize any names?

Ha!

2007-04-30T08:38:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!

2007-04-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE!

2007-04-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,
The New Journal vol. 39., No 5. just did an article on Tasp called Paradise Lost with interviews from our dear Jacob and Tae-yeoun. I can't seem to find the article on line (there may be a problem with the website) but it discusses how Tasp gave us all very high expectations for college intellectuality, and most of us have been let down by that great and nebulous thing called life. So, what did everyone think of monasticism for those six weeks so long ago?
Also, Tae-yeoun, I laud your recent posts and continued effort-

Where will people be going this summer?

great...

wow, I just tried the new spell check function- its great! the thing turns blue and mispelled words show in red. I like.

all the best-
小雷

2007-04-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

lifted this off a friend's blog - Eunice's home state has proposed a bill to its House of Representatives, regarding the appointment of a state poet laureate. H.F. No. 224 is entirely in rhyming verse.

"Well done, Minnesota," writes my friend.

2007-04-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

right, last thing i do before i pull my ethernet cable and finish what i'm working on which should have finished done two weeks ago.

for those of you do wrote primo levi papers, or are just generally interested in the muses of various Creative people, here's Mrs. Hety S:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/history/story/0,,2051791,00.html

2007-04-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

The CEO of Sesame Workshop gave a talk at Yale today, and commented on the namesakes of our House Meeting proposals:

"Bert and Ernie are not gay.
They are not straight.
They are PUPPETS.
They do not exist from the waist down."

2007-03-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

random memory from tasp: that red balloon (where did we get a red balloon??) hovering over the air conditioning vent on the floor in the dining room. that was so surreal.

talk to me. i'm lonely.

2007-03-21T04:14:00.001-07:00

MARCH 14 WAS OLGA'S BIRTHDAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLGA!

i apologize for the delay - i was away on spring break - and for the font size - the new blogger won't let me go any bigger, either that or i just don't know how.

a few weeks ago i had lunch with liz tulis (jamie's factotum, the one who visited and taught us how to do library research) and whenever she put forth a tasp-reuniony/fundraising idea i kept saying, i don't know, maybe the more recent taspers, but our generation's lost our tasp nostalgia.

i must have said this at least three times before liz finally asked me what i meant by tasp nostalgia.

i still have no idea what it was. it's not just that we're busy - relatively speaking, we were busy senior year of high school. at some point, i think, at least for me, not getting over tasp nostalgia became uncool. tasp was a great thing that happened in my life, but it would have been just sad to resign to the idea that it was the only great thing that would ever happen in my life. once over aim, which i'd gotten senior year of high school in order to keep in touch with taspers, jacob shed a painful light onto our moanings and pinings: "i think the other taspers have lives," he said.

it's true, we all have lives - even myself, hopefully - and i think what we all need to get over is the fear that other taspers, who have their own lives, don't care about ours. i don't want to be preachy, and i am most guilty of this fear myself. i fear that tasp was our only common ground and that we've all run out of things to talk about because one can only reminisce so much about six weeks.

so here's my attempt at sharing my recent non-tasp-relevant life:
i'm going to the DMV today so i can get a non-driver's driver's license, because i don't want to carry my passport around everywhere to prove that i'm 21, and because i failed my driver's license exam in the philippines that doesn't have a road test component.

2007-03-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Adrian,

I thought about calling you to answer your prompt, which I just finished reading, but then I realized that doing so would only perpetuate the non-postings. That being said, I'll post what I think below, though I know that it will probably be months before anyone comes up with a response (if at all).

I think it's incredibly difficult to keep each other up to date about what we've been up to. I know that everyone has been doing something cool--Adam owns boxing gloves, you just came back from China (I want stories), Susan's fluent in Arabic, Olga's found someone special halfway across the world...I'd love to sit down and have one of those endless conversations with each of you. That being said, I know I won't. I have way too much stuff going on, and so do [all of] you. I'd like to keep all of you in the present, and I'd like to think that I am still somewhere in your present, but it's becoming harder to maintain. There are some times when I know I've been relegated to that little niche for distant memories, as a living relic of the past. I don't like being an artifact, but the truth of the matter is that I have no control over where I stand, or where TASP stands, on other people's priorities.

My short answer--I'm busy busy busy, and I'm sure that you all are too--but if you feel up to it even for a second, [all of] you should totally give me a call. Provided that I'm conscious--which lately seems to be something of a problem--I'd love to catch up.

I just scanned the entire post quickly--gah--reading linguistics papers makes me cheesy. Sorry.

2007-02-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Tae Yeoun! Gotta love facebook, eh?

2007-02-24T18:23:00.000-08:00

Its alright Brian, I know our names are written in small letters, but that doesn't mean we can't be great men...

How is everyone one? Staying Healthy?

(tumbleweed)...

What was it that used to make us want to post here? Has anything changed? are we all busy, or have we become so drawn into our local communities that we don't need the old Tasp group any longer? If you check in on this page, even if you're busy (I've got something due at midnight tonight, for example) try and post something, even if its short. I'll put up a reason and if I'm lucky, at least one of you will follow:

You all have opinions that most of my other friends don't, and vying for your intellectual feedback reminds me of summer.

yours

2007-02-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!

2007-02-21T20:50:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADRIAN!

2007-02-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

blogspot sold out and i finally caved

it's been getting harder and harder to sign into the so-called 'old blogger' (i kept getting redirected to the 'switch to the new blogger!' page) and it turns out that blogspot wasn't going to keep this two-tiered system going for long. eventually, all blogspot blogs are to be google-owned.

which is why i made the official conversion. i apologize to those of you who don't have google accounts; i sincerely hope this does not further discourage you from participating. i know it's annoying, but please take the few extra seconds to get a google account if you don't have one already. it pains me to do this, but at this rate it'll be even more inconvenient to log in under the old blogger accounts.

alex's play goes up today, and will be playing through saturday. here's the info:

measure for measure

"...astonishingly rancid..."
--Harold Bloom

One of Shakespeare's darkest, funniest, and lustiest plays.

Join us for an evening of bawds, friars, giglots, nuns, brawls, transvestites, Johnny Cash, and political theory.

Performances run February 15th through the 17th.
Thursday & Saturday, 8 PM
Friday, 7 & 10 PM

Email measureyale@gmail.com to reserve tickets.

and jacob, i think your perishable birthday gift from january, has perished.

2007-02-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

the other day doing my homer homework i came across my first oívoπι πóvτw_ι - the wine-dark sea. of course, i thought of you.

2007-01-31T15:37:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!

(thanks adam. guess it was a momentary spell in the server.)

2007-01-30T22:37:00.000-08:00

testing testing 1 2 3...works fine for me tae-yeoun. I guess you have to be on facebook to understand this post though :p

2007-01-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

news from monica:

Dear friends,

Apologies for the mass email, but I wanted to share good news with all of you. Just two weeks ago I started working as the Policy Advocate for Public Advocates, an incredible public interest law firm that specializes in education opportunity and equity policies.

This new position will give me a chance to combine several interests: policy analysis and legislative advocacy on education, public transportation and affordable housing issues; building the organizing capacity of Latino students, parents, teachers and organizations in Central Valley communities; and serving as the organization's spokeswoman with Spanish-language media.

I am now based out of Sacramento, and hope that we can stay in touch and possibly collaborate in our work. My new contact information is below.

Best wishes to all of you!

Un fuerte abrazo,

Mónica Itzel Henestroza
Policy Advocate
PUBLIC ADVOCATES, INC.

2007-01-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

Okay. Earthquake in Taiwan messed up our phone and internet servers, and blogspot would never load. I'm now in transit in the Inchon airport in Korea, where this blog was created back in 2003.

First things first: Happy 2007, guys, and

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY EUNICE!
(that was supposed to go up on JANUARY 4.)

About a week ago I had a dream that I ran into Brian Schultis at a New Haven Thai restaurant. Brian, where are you?

One of my several new year's resolutions is to call/write you guys more often. I love you guys - I always have.

2006-12-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

Buying christmas presents is hard. Here is a suggestion: http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/55184/

2006-12-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!

hope finals are treating everyone well - oh, except the harvard kids, who don't have finals [yet].

2006-12-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

hi guys. i dont remember when i last posted. and i dont remember the last time i talked with any of you, even the kids at harvard.
sorry about my being mia. i don't know when ill re-emerge so i'll take this opportunity to say:

tasp has been an experience that remains in crystal clarity even to this day. thanks to you all for being part of it.

and... i admit when i get sentimental, i find myself listening to that cat stevens song if you want to sing out... or whatever it is...

okay. take care kids. god bless you all.

2006-12-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

maintenance issue:
blogspot has "upgraded" to a platform that requires a google id to get in. apparently, i'm the one who has the final word on whether or not to switch, and i'd like input / suggestions from all of you. do you think such an upgrade (that requires an extra sign-up for those of you who don't already have google accouts) will even further deter taspers from posting?

2006-12-08T09:46:00.001-08:00

I might be in Paris for a 3-4 day stint at the end of January. Are any of you going to be over there, somewhere?

2006-12-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

gahhhh! congratulations matt!
i hope finals / pre-finals are treating you well.

and if anyone's passing through New Haven this weekend (+/- a day):

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
a play by Edward Albee

directed by Eyad Houssami
produced by Yonah Freemark
with Ashley Fox, Alex Borinsky, Brian Earp, and Clare Barron

at the Saybrook underbrook
Thursday, Dec 7 - 8pm
Friday, Dec 8 - 8pm
Saturday, Dec 9 - 2pm and 7pm

email virginiawoolf.yale@gmail.com for reservations

and

Kurt Weill's
STREET SCENE
December 7, 8, 9 - 8pm
Off-Broadway Theater

and

Berkeley College Orchestra
Monday, December 11, 2006 - 8pm
Ives - Ragtime Dances
Debussy - Danses Sacree et profane
Haydn - Symphony No. 104 in D major, "London"

2006-12-02T03:48:00.000-08:00

1. I don't know what I'm doing in Beijing.
2. If you gave your hand a name, I mean really gave it a name, you'd be giving it a little bit of a soul. Not to the degree that you give a discrete entity a soul by naming it, but I think to a lesser degree. It's like when a person names his or her sex organs. On the one hand the name respects the organs abilities to interfere with, influence, or even contradict the thoughts of the greater self, but I think on the other hand, the name creates the second entity. Before naming, an organ or an animal, it is simply an organ or an animal; afterwards it has a name, it is itself. I think this is one that you definitely have to try for it to make sense, but if you want to see it in practice, think about the dog's people keep in their houses versus the dogs people eat. Where is the difference? The animals are clearly 'the same' but somehow not. A species has a soul different than that of the animals that comprise it, and that a tool can have a soul if used correctly and with the right investment of self.
3. I'm not talking about some objective soul. There clearly, empirically, isn't an objective soul. If there were one that we could cut out and measure, than it wouldn't be a soul, it would have a name and would become something else. The soul, I suppose, is the part that we behave-as-if exists, but categorically can't isolate or remove. If you mention that one study about the 2 or so grams that one exhales on death, I'd like to point to the sample size, which was too small and makes the data meaningless… also, the results haven't been repeatd.
4. Yes, Beijing has a soul, wrought from ancient times upon this patch of dry and defeated dirt; a black monster sinister yet full of potential. Many love the place, but at the end of summer I can feel the earth beneath the city, and she isn't terribly happy about this sprawling growth above her.
Like so many termites.

Congrats Matt. Excited? I am. Remember us all to them, will you? Have a blast-

So, is anyone else excited about the Olympics?

love.

2006-12-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

Please check the following website, asap:

http://www.tellurideassociation.org/Austin.html

CONGRATULATIONS MATT!!! Keep those intruding sorority girls at bay!

2006-11-29T14:26:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!

2006-11-24T05:37:00.001-08:00

Adrian, I'm not sure I agree with you. I can name my left hand, for example, or my electric teapot, and I don't think either would even notice. Or are you talking about living things? And what do you mean by soul--is it an entity that exists in objective reality (to the extent that we have an objective reality) or is it a quality that the namer (and possibly others who know the name) percieve the named object/person to have, a way in which the named one will be treated differently because it is now named, and thus humanized?

And what are you doing in Beijing? (Does Beijing have a soul?)

2006-11-24T05:37:00.000-08:00

2006-11-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

I hereby assert that the act of naming gives a thing a soul, and that things are without souls until they are named. A thing may possess the qualities and elements of a soul, but that naming in and of itself is an act of creation and synthesis.

I would also like to state my oppinion that Beijing is a shithole. I miss dairy. badly.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

2006-11-09T03:29:00.000-08:00

That was beautiful, Matt.

2006-11-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Seeing a post of John's inspires me to a post-election post.

I stood at the back of a three-person line yesterday when the fire alarm went off. The poll workers and the three of us filed outside. After a surprisingly short time it turned off and we went back inside. I was a little uncertain of how much we should complain to each other; it hadn't been more than 100 seconds. After what had become four people, I voted and left.

That afternoon I forgot I had voted and about the election altogether. One student who works with me on the school's conservative paper walked past and hit me with two stacatto, underhand pats between my shoulder and shoulderblade.

"It's a big day for us Schmitz. A big day."

I was confused, but not very. Later that night I ran into some of my Catholic friends; Ben was going to Vespers and he asked me to come. At least I think he did--I may have volunteered. He could have enlisted me for anything then, even pickup sports. I realized I had been more or less wandering around campus. When we entered the chapel he informed me that he was a 'social member' of the gregorian chant choir. He walked over to the altar and stood a little away from the canticle concentric that was practicing there.

When Vespers was over I started walking to my eating club through a warm, falling mist. Campus looks best when it rains at night. The water extends the glows of the lamps two feet out from the bulbs and they look proud and secret, like butterball pearls melting out into the mist. I walked by the Wilson School fountain and looked at the lit jet that shot up from its center. It seemed like the whole campus had slipped under its spray and was sitting there with a happy patience.

The next morning water was draining down the sidewalks and it still rained. Outside the club I picked up a damp paper. The headline read 'BUSH TAKES THUMPING: CONSERVATIVES SEARCH THEIR SOULS'. I learned a lot about myself then. Sometimes news seems like a fortune-cookie update from the past, yesterday's diary entry independently assembled and lying on my doorstep.

2006-11-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

I have obviously been absent from this here blog for a long time (well obvious to those who are not themselves also absent).

This post is to let whomever is reading know that I am in the midst of reading the year or so of backlog which I need to catch up on, and that I will soon enough make some posts of my own.

I'm in a class this semester which was supposed to be a pro-seminar, seniors and grad students only, on political behavioral theory. In order to get in I had to sign a pledge to the Prof. that I would have the reading done with a page of notes by class time each day. I expected TASP-like readings & student-lead discussion, but in return found only morose PoliSci majors ready to get out of Nebraska.

It was week 3 or so of the class when I realized I miss everyone from TASP, and especially the learning environment we had, much more than I realized. If I'm ever on the east-coast (where you all seem to be these days) I absolutely must sit down and have some honest-to-god intellectual discussions with anyone willing. I love Nebraska, but it's short on intellectual discussions these days.

BTW- anyone in Washington DC very often? I'm on the Campus Progress advisory board, and as such, fly in and out of DC every month or so.

2006-10-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

I was in the Village Voice bookstore last night to hear C.K. Williams read, and during the lengthy and nervous introduction by an expatriate writer (whose name I don't remember and who looked very depressed by his task in a very Martin Amis's "Success"--which I would add to the recommendations list :o)-- kind of way) my eyes began to wander the shelves and were delighted by the sight of 3! copies of Flow. Csikszentmihalyi has made his way to France. :o)

In other news, if any of you find yourselves with an urge to see Paris. I'm here until late January and the apartment we're renting can certainly fit some more people from time to time. In other words, come visit. I promise to cook for you, if you promise to eat it.

2006-10-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

In the midst of procrastinating a lot of things - on an impulse I checked the TASP offerings for the coming summer, and look! Dr. Chapelle is back!

Labor quote:
"Heidegger is my favorite Nazi." - Jacob.

2006-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

today in New Haven:
* our regular yale-taspers-minus-adrian lunch; Alex pointed out the Barbara Herrnstein-Smith (I had to look that up) lectures happening, or about to happen, at Yale these days. Alex remembered her from the TASP readings.
* we were joined by a Cornell'04-tasper who was in my summer Greek class. Alex and Jacob stayed just long enough to be polite but soon abandoned me. It's been a rough afternoon. Walking back I was struck by the fact that Jacob and Alex have the exact same look on their faces when I talk as they do when this little girl began talking (and did not stop, not even to breathe).
* someone (Jacob) has a poem and a book review to finish for Louise Gluck.

2006-09-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

Good call, Eunice. Here's the update from New Haven:

- Jacob is in both my real classes; one of them is a lecture class (Philosophy of Architecture, with Karsten Harries) that meets at the same time as Vincent Sculley's lecture, which Alex is taking. So: after lecture on Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:20, we have lunch together. If you happen to have a craving for Yale dining hall cuisine, feel free to join us.
- Actually, for those of you who don't know already, Jacob and Alex happen to live together, so when we're not having lunch together, Jacob and Alex are partying it up without me.
- Alex pulled an all-nighter last night writing a paper on Weimar Germany.
- I'm about to stay up fairly late doing Greek translation *and* a Greek essay. Greek is the bane of my existence.
- But my Greek teacher is absolutely gorgeous. When I told Jacob this, his response was, "I hate beautiful women I don't like."
- "Actually, you know what I hate even more?" quoth Jacob. "Beautiful women who write poetry about how ugly they are."
- that was a labor quote. Two.

Since the summer, there's been much talk of the New Yorker article on Deep Springs. I finally got around to reading it (I had to ask permission from Jacob first) and I found it interesting, on different levels. What I found even more interesting is that we haven't talked about it yet on the blog, and I'm sure half of you at the very least read the New Yorker on a regular basis. Thoughts?

2006-09-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA!

2006-09-23T04:59:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation with my roommate yesterday about keeping in touch. Other than arriving at the conclusion that I am bad at it, my roommate and I discovered an interesting difference in the way we decide what should and shouldn't be shared. I, for instance, never write unless if I have something to say--and if all my time was devoted to something so dry as say, MCAT studying, I would rather not write at all. My roommate, however, maintained that it was precisely this--the telling of boring or unimportant events--that sustains close relationships. So, here is my attempt at writing for the sake of keeping in touch. I don't have anything ground-shattering to report, nor do I have a recommendation of a movie (actually, I do, but for the sake of the message, I will not mention it). My act comes from the realization that the delight in reading something from a friend comes not from the content of the message, but simply its presence.

Love,
Eunice

2006-09-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY!

2006-09-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN AND DR. RANDALL!

2006-09-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

So what does it mean to "know" someone, and what can your really know? What is to keep doubt and the rolling blackout of oblivion from consuming your existance and leaving your mind to wander like a ghost?

ha.

alright, I just had to put something up.
What did all of you do with your summers?

luv

2006-08-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

for those of you who haven't checked the blog in the past three days, i started putting up your questionnaire answers from that post-tasp yearbook that came close to happening but never did. i thought about it, and realized that some of you might be uncomfortable about having personal information posted on the internet. for now, i've deleted the past two posts (adam's, adrian's, aimee's, alex b's, and alex y's descriptions of their respective families, friends, and houses). plead me to put them back and i will. but more practically, email me if you feel like you'd be sensitive about this kind of thing. Or if you feel like you'd be okay about having your questionnaire answers up. Actually, just email me, I love emails.

2006-08-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATASHIA!

where are you???

2006-07-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

2006-07-28T13:52:00.001-07:00

My comedy group had a revue in 1993 called "Euripides, You Pay for 'em"

2006-07-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!

2006-07-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

Okay guys, this is really really really funny. Maybe. No, really.

Did you hear about the [ancient] Greek tailor?

Once a customer brought him a pair of trousers.

Tailor: "Euripedes?"
Customer: "Eumenides?"

- Greek class.

(okay, it was funny when I heard it.)

2006-07-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

i can't get over how beautiful y'all are.

there were a lot of labor quotes, and i will post the rest as i remember them. here's the first batch:

"These are my battle scars from making... muffins."
- Jacob, on the several oil burns on his arms

Olga: "What's sable?"
Jacob: "Sable is good."

"You know how some babies are beige?"
- Olga, as we passed one such pair of twins

Olga: "Why couldn't you feed Lane's cat?"
Jacob: "He would get mad when I did."
Olga: "And why is that?"
Jacob: "Lane was trying to train him to hunt."
- on how Jacob ended up 'having' his roommate's cat at Deep Springs

2006-07-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

2006-07-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite ways to waste time during the school year was checking postsecret.com every Sunday night. I haven't visited the site all summer, and I remembered it today to find:

2006-06-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I have it from the man himself (via Aim). Boston is a disappointed place.

Guys, I'm sorry about the long silence, and I'm sorry to be coming out of it with mundane life-updates instead of brilliantly thought-provoking commentary. I'm in New York for the summer--that is, until August 11th, when I head to France. Until then, I'm eternally searching for work (SAT students or otherwise), reading insufficiently, writing insufficiently, and partaking in a cultural activites pact that has so far included two abysmal French movies, two really good concerts, and a wonderful play about Ezra Pound called Treason.

Do come visit--let me know if you need a place to stay, or just warn me when you'll be in the city so we can reunite. And after September 1st, come visit me in Paris--my roommate (Sashka) and I will be renting an appartment somewhere in the city, and I'll be taking literature classes at the Sorbonne and drowning my frustration at my lack of language skills in tasty French wine.

2006-06-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

I had been told by St. Ann's expats in Hyde Park that Jacob was performing his eeney-meeney-miney-moe act of two years ago, only this time instead of Harvard and DS, it was Yale and U of C. But I guess by this time, Jacob, a decision must have been made for sure, and given the ominous tone of "well, he HAS given a deposit to Yale..." I will probably spend two more year sans Eigen. An outrage! U of C has the biggest Jacob-themed Facebook group - DOES THIS COUNT FOR NOTHING?!

While I'm writing this I might as well give a brief general update, seeing as I've been absent from these parts for several months. I just finished school last week and will be in Chicago this summer, listening to audiobooks while mothballing my brain from 9-5 in a data entry job so I can actually afford to eat when I go to London for fall quarter. I'm finishing up work on a friend's movie in which I play a cowboy adrift in a harrowing world of advertising firms, modern romance, and disgusting, inexplicable arm growths. A lot of people from my comedy group are staying here for the summer so hopefully we'll be putting on of shows throughout vacation, in Hyde Park and, if any of us figure out how to get booked off-campus, Chicago at large.

2006-06-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

They finally created a dinosaur from DNA in amber;) ?

2006-06-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Today I was walking down [New Haven's very own] Wall Street with a sack of rice on my back, when I ran into a certain Michael Birnbaum, who told me some very exciting news. So exciting, in fact, that I let out a humungous scream and had the undivided attention of all the passersby around, on Wall Street no less. I think Jacob knows what I'm talking about.

2006-06-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

Is anyone gonna be in Boston for the Fourth?

2006-06-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

okay... what is with this....? where has everybody gone...? i can't believe I... ME... BRYAN... the person who people yell at for thinking social functions are a waste of time... has to be the one to call all yall out. pretty ridiculous, no?

what... do you guys need some intellectual stimulation or something? or has academia gotten to us and now we're too burned out to think?

2006-06-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

I'm breaking my resolve to spend the first week of summer with use of minimal cognitive function to post. This hurts my brain a little bit, so I'm going to make it short. I plan on heading back to Cambridge on the 5th, where I will resume pipetting till death for the sake of science, failing to feed myself properly, and (I hope) orchestrating some sort of massive reunion somewhere on the East Coast. Till then, feed me or visit me, preferably both.

2006-05-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Bryan, I echo the sentiment very strongly. I must apologize myself for having been (and still am) missing in action. I pretend I'm too busy while school's in session, then when I get home I realize I'm really sick of looking at computer screens. [Yalies: I owe you both some long emails, I apologize - I'll get them done before I leave Manila]

So, everyone, what are you all up to and where will you all be?

Olga, tell us about your plans for France! Adrian, about India-or-Taiwan, whichever you decided (for the summer, then for the rest of the year). Kelsey? Is there a chance you'll be in Germany for the World Cup? (Speaking of World Cup, who's excited? The American team was remarkable four years ago and they're expected to be brilliant this year. Much, much more exciting than what I saw last Thanksgiving break of what you insist on calling 'football.') And JACOB! PLEASE tell us where you're headed!

Here's a brief update on my life: I'm spending the next two days as a beached whale in Manila. I fly back across the Pacific on Friday, lose a couple of days on the Date Line and will be spending the rest of the summer in New Haven, learning ancient Greek at Yale. It'll be a party. [Anyone in New York?] Also over the summer, I will hopefully give some thoughts to junior year. How are we juniors already? We were juniors when we applied to TASP!

Ciao a tutti--

2006-05-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

i'm only posting something because i don't want this blog to die...

so. um. im back home again. yeah... lifegoes...
bleh

2006-05-10T09:41:00.001-07:00

Eunice, I'm afraid most schools haven't gotten back to me yet--transfer applicants usually hear sometime in mid-May. I'll let you know when I find out. I'm also very curious.

Hope all's well.

2006-05-06T05:24:00.000-07:00

He'll be Raptured-

2006-05-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

I was speaking to a few of my old friends still in high school just yesterday, which reminded me that today is the day for college matriculation. Jacob, sorry for singling you out so bluntly, but where are you going to be next year?

2006-04-30T03:22:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!

2006-04-28T01:33:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE!

2006-04-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I asked Zhou Laoshi (Chinese teacher) what he thought of the whole Falun Gong thing, and he very tactfully explained to us how the Chinese consider it a silly cult just as we consider Scientology a silly cult. He talked about some of their less credible beliefs about higher heavens and gears/wheels inside of us, and then preceded to expound the virtues of the communist state (seriously). He defended the decision to make Falun dafu illegal because higher ranking people in the party were beginning to convert, and in remarkably simple words explained that the party was afraid of the power that the movement was gaining. He then said plenty of people practice Taiqichuan and nothing ever happens to them, it was the organization of Falun Gong that frightened the government.

Let me play the devil. Is organ harvesting really inexcusable?
Granted the most fundamental thing you can own is your body and the most fundamental right you should have is that of self control, but prisoners (especially beneath the world’s less fair governments) lose their rights. Organ harvesting is inexcusable to someone who believes in ‘Rights’ and in ‘Ownership of Yourself,’ but think of it this way—the government was going to kill these people anyway because they refused to let go of their beliefs. Their families weren’t going to be told anyway (and aren’t). If 4,000 people have been killed for their kidneys and retinas and so on, 4000 others have been given a second shot at a tainted life. I think the real problem isn’t in taking the organs of the executed, which in theory I would agree with, but in the fact that they’re executing at all. The problem isn’t that they are taking people’s organs, but that “freedom of belief and expression” is not a reality in China and such a situation arises at all. I feel the dead should save the living from death, but feel too that the living should not be killed in the first place.

The Communist Party relies on mobilizing part of the population against another part every 7 or 8 years (there’s a Mao quote about why this is necessary that I’ve forgotten); on the one hand to give people something to do and on the other hand to give people something to fear. Nothing creates unity in a society like having a common enemy, except perhaps terror. fear. Uncertainty about the safety of your own skin. Most people will join a group of people that does horrible things if it assures them that horrible things will not be done unto them.

Get this: in China it is actually illegal to take someone’s organs unless they or their family volunteers the body for harvesting—however, since 1999, the deaths of any Falun dafu practitioners while in prison are recorded as “suicides” (presidential orders after several self immolation protests) bypassing what on the books is a complicated and humane legal code that has “sworn off the atrocities of the last century”-

A surprising number of people around the world know exactly what’s happening and feel its wrong, but don’t feel like doing anything about it. I’d like to ask everyone here what he or she thinks is an appropriate personal response—what should each of us actually do? …its not an easy question I feel.

2006-04-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

Ack, in the midst of procrastinating two papers, both of which I have open on my computer. I was hoping someone happened to be a Falun gong expert but I guess we're all in the same boat here. That is, however, telling in its own way. Regardless of whatever opinions we might hold about their persecution, a lot of us (a lot of us being, like, three people) don't seem to have a clear idea of even why they're being persecuted in the first place.

For the moment I want to leave organ harvesting out of the discussion, because when we start talking about human atrocities there's no end to it. I remember we had a particularly heated and unconstructive seminar on it once over TASP, actually. What I do propose provisionally now, is that human rights are universal constructs, which anyone will agree to as good ideas when external contexts are ignored. No sane person is about to claim that killing people is good in itself, and although some will claim it an inevitable necessity in many cases, they will do so with the belief that it ought to be avoided when it can.

So when individual rights are being infringed, it must begin with some call for necessity, whether this call is proportional to the threat or not. Something's got to be in it for the majority, or the supposed public good or at least the public order. Who benefits, or at least feels more secure, from even the imprisonment of the members of a religion and/or cult? Does the distinction between religion and cult actually have to do with whether or not it potentially threatens the established social order? Does a cult promise a revolution?

Going back to Bryan's point, about how the early churches shouldn't have had any validity as religion if the the validity of a religion is independent of how long it's been around - maybe the early churches were regarded as cults. If we think of the the Roman persecution of the early Christians, it doesn't seem too distant a reaction from, say, the mass purgings of the Catholics in Japan, Korea, and China during the 18th and 19th centuries. Moreover, at least the Romans had a 'cult leader' to point at. Is 'religion' a compromise between 'cult' and the socially acceptable? And if so, is it ultimately up to the holders of political power to dole out these labels?

Right, back to paper writing.
Jacob, if you're reading this from a New Haven computer, call 203.606.6685.

2006-04-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

I can't claim any great knowledge of the falun gong, and have had people knowledgeable about China mumble things about the falun gong's being a cult and the persecution's being exaggerated. But I've read some really horrible things in respectable places from what seem like reliable sources.
And organ harvesting, to choose an example, is never acceptable. Never. Regardless of whether those being sliced open are members of a cult or devout adherents of a benign religion. If there is a cult insidiously undermining the most basic values of your country, you try them and put them in prison. You don't chop them up.
I was just talking to someone about this last night, actually. We live in a world that has sworn off the atrocities of the last century, and in which organizations like Amnesty International are a strong presence, doing good work. I think we have a hard time really believing that terrible, inhumane things are still happening: Cuban prisons, the vanishing, murdered, and raped women of Juarez, falun gong. To name a few.

2006-04-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know any more about the Falun Gong than you do, Bryan, except that they occasionally put up posters with rather morbid pictures in the Square. Additionally, I think they deny being a religion or a cult, but instead, call themselves "a network for transmitting information and practices, in which people may dip on an incidental basis or more regularly." As for the difference between religion and cult, the only difference I can provide is the distinction on "what degree" an individual has to be associated with the movement/idea/following. While the definition of a religion is more formalized than that of a cult, the boundaries at which religion and cult define their members seem to be the other way around. For example, if I believe in God, pray occasionally, but never attend church services, I could be considered Christian because there are no definite boundaries. In contrast, someone could have done all the TASP readings, talked to the professors, and written all the papers, but they would still never be considered TASPers, right? (I'm not trying to imply anything...)

Having said this, Olga's friend just introduced me to the Wittgenstein's Family Resemblance, which renders the distinction I've made inconsequential.

2006-04-22T15:15:00.002-07:00

for some reason... my computer posted the stupid thing i wrote like 4 days ago under the 22nd or something... ill try to fix it, but i have no idea how. hopefully ill figure this thing out.

in any case, speaking of our love jacob, i was reading the "current," a nation-wide college publication, which had an article about deep springs in it. There was some mention of a person named jacob although i'm not sure if this is our jacob. :P Perhaps jacob could let us know whether he's the one passing out on the library floor reading Vico (it sounds very jacobish).

2006-04-22T15:15:00.001-07:00

so something i found interesting while scouring the internet to see what other people have said about the difference between religion and cults...

"I think Michael Foucault may have something to say about this, in a sideways way: Foucault said that the difference between a real science and a pseudoscience is that a real science is not afraid of its history; he points out that chemists are willing to discuss the emergence of chemistry from alchemy, but that he caused a perfect storm of controversy in analyzing the historical origins of psychiatry. It seems to me that this applies accurately to churches and cults, and perhaps individual members as well."

Secondly, I would just like to say that distinct parallels could be drawn between the power struggle of the early churches and the Roman empire with the power struggle between Falun Gong and the Chinese government. All I have to say about this is we are assuming that Falun Gong is a cult when we don't even know what it is.

Thirdly, I believe that we are getting the idea that cults somehow are insidious in their nature. Is it fair to assume this when we haven't even defined what cults are (unless we are defining cults as insidious)? Just because something is painted as insidious (and I would agree if you were to say that the early churches were believed to be insidious and described as such) doesn't make it a cult. If that's the case, it turns out that anything that is not part of the governing structure (by this, I mean anything that can constitute a power relationship over an individual whether it be government or culture) is inherently a cult, because if it's not part of the system, it's endangering the system. Does that mean that Christianity is not a cult in America because Christian beliefs and doctrines are the prevailing underlying foundation for societal structure? If we went elsewhere in the world where Christianity is the minority, would it be a cult?

I have to say that while it might be tempting to simply say that it all depends on cultural constructs, it's too easy an answer and doesn't actually explore the finer details of why... say Christianity is not persecuted (although controlled) in China while Falun Gong is? (Not that Falun Gong is a cult. But if we are accepting the cultural construct argument, then Falun Gong is a cult - but so should Christianity). Arguing that Christianity is somehow controllable while Falun Gong isn't is a ridiculous argument. Arguing so would be saying that thought can be controlled in certain forms but not others (even if that's the case, who's going to judge that? the Chinese government?)

Fourthly, you can't argue that the difference between religion and cults is simply time. What about witchcraft? There have been cults of witchcraft that have existed for centuries. No one claims that they are religions. (And don't make some half-assed remark that witchcraft doesn't happen today.)

sigh. i'm still thinking about this one. i think it's hard but incredibly important. argh, im gonna go to bed. i hope you all are faring well.

2006-04-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

my response to those two quotes is this:
1) religion doesn't attain validity according to how long it's been around. If that were the case, then the early churches shouldn't have had any validity as religion.
2) it is my belief (and mine only) that religion and politics are two different things. Call it the process of rationalization but to separate religion and cults by the characteristics of politics means that politics is an inherent quality of religion. I don't believe that to be true for a second (although I won't dispute the opinion that politics have become a quality of religion - or vice-versa).

I can't make any comment on the falun gong movement because I don't know anything about it. (although my suitemate from China insists that it's a terrible thing) :P
Perhaps someone does know more about it? Could you let me know more about what it is?
thanks

2006-04-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

The president of China came to speak at Yale yesterday. Yalies had the choice of watching the live broadcast of the speech, or watching the protests outside. From the conversations that ran through the rest of that day, I'm guessing people found the protests a lot more exciting.

While we’re on the topic of what counts as religion and what doesn't, I'd be eager to listen in on a discussion on the falun gong movement. Is it a religious movement? A cult? And what's the difference between the two? Does either, if there is a difference, threaten social order and/or the existing political system?

Here are two starting quotes off the top of my head:

"Any religion that’s not at least two thousand years old is a cult."
- Louis, in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America

"A cult is a religion without political power."
- Tom Wolfe

2006-04-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Brilliant point about the sacred.
If there's one things that drugs seem to blur, its the idea of the sacred, the "do not touch" and the "separate." If Everything and nothing are sacred, how could any one thing be different. It does seem that religions all make something sacred. Perhaps its more of cultural process?

There was a strong movement to create a collective drug culture in the 60's, but it wasn't allowed to mature into its own system of ritual and belief, I feel, because it was cut short by the governments of the developed world. There's always the future.

As far as the Christian Mystics being completely drug free, there may be room to question this claim, but I'm underinformed, so don't want to speak with any authority on a subject I don't understand. There are a few books floating around that claim that Amanita muscaria and a couple of other mushrooms were used by early mystics and that there has been a recent "drug purge." This summer I'll do some reading about and hopefully will have better things to say in the future.
...
The question I asked, Bryan, wasn't meant to be too complicated, though I'd value any answer. Clearly I'll drop when I get the chance and Brian won't (ironically for very similar reasons). Looking back though, I realize that I was a silly way to ask.

at least the blotter art is nice (pink elephants on parade)

2006-04-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

I don't think I quite understand Adrian's question. Are you speaking about the legal issues surrounding drugs, the cultural stigma of drugs, or the "spiritual" experience of drugs (in juxtaposition to religious experiences)?

To be fair, all of these questions are inherently tied together. But I think it's too broad to know exactly what the focus of your question is. If you are talking about the moral underpinnings of these three questions and whether it is 'bad' to take drugs, then I think it's quite different from asking about the 'spiritual' experience.

I think there needs to be some clarification here however. There are spiritual experiences. There are experiences people think are spiritual and are drug-induced. I am unable to comment on either and I am also unable to say which is more 'valid' than the other. Don't think for a moment that I am saying this diminishes the validity of religion. Religion is different from spirituality (although it is impossible to have religion without spirituality). If we are to define religion, what are we really talking about? In this point, I am defining religion in the social theory definition of Durkheim. (I choose Durkheim, because I think he encompasses our contemporary understanding of religion as well as Freud's and Weber's. My own footnote on this is that Freud and Weber are on two different planes of discussing social theory and reconciling the two with one coherent definition is the one that I am choosing) In any case, religion is 1) a system of beliefs and practices that create this idea of sacredness, the quality of things being set aside and forbidden and 2) these beliefs and practices unite all its believers into one corporate body.

Hence, religion implies a community. I don't think that I am wrong to believe that drug-induced spirituality is an entirely individualistic experience and cannot be religion. I don't believe that spirituality has any more legitimacy. My point about this is that plenty of people can be spiritual without actually believing anything at all. A person who tells me that they are a 'spiritual being' isn't really telling me anything. Moreover, spirituality encompasses the supernatural that I am not going to talk about here but which I sincerely believe exists and is nothing to be trifled with. In any case, regardless of what I believe, drug-induced behavior cannot be a religion.

At this point, I realize that you are thinking about the example of soma. First, if one is to count sexual behavior as a unifying activity, then I will point out that soma does not create any idea of sacredness, which I believe is one of Huxley's point of how easy it is to lose this quality and continue with some shell of a religion. While they might hold up soma and Ford and the industrial process and consequently, worshipping their societal reflection, nothing about this society is sacred. At no point is any character talking about whether something is good or bad behavior (other than the 'savage') and rather they are talking about practicality (aka. society wouldn't work without these practices). This is the loss of sacredness.

I hope that clarifies this whole drug - spirituality - religion mess.

2006-04-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

I don't think this will surprise too many, but I'll say no. I don't really care one way or the other, people will do what they will. However, it seems to me that heirs of the christian tradition ought to seek transcendant experience through prayer, fasting and contemplation instead of through psychotropic drugs. This was the way of the mystics and saints. Their experiences were as vivid as those induced by acid. Most remarkably they are much more difficult to explain, making them more valid in a religious sense if not on a personal or psychological level.

This harks back to our TASP discussion of the role of drugs in artistic production, specifically in the case of Adrian's beloved Kubla Khan. I think that there is no real usefulness in calling art more or less valid because drugs were involved in its production. When I assign a greater validity to mystic experience sans drugs I do so only because there seems a greater likelihood that one is experiencing a god independent of oneself instead of one created by and thus mirroring one's desires. Despite its uselessness for the study of literature, I think this distinction is legitimate for those mystics who belive in a god outside themselves. This is because while we know some visions to be caused by LSD, it is difficult to assign a cause to the visions of, say, Joan of Arc. She may have been mad, yes, but she may also have spoken with angels. At least we know it was not LSD.

2006-04-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

I ask the questions because I think about them and I value the thoughts and opinions of my fellow TASPers. You guys are great and I haven't seen most of you in a very long time (and the rest a lesser-long time). As far as the acid question goes, I’m sure you could guess my answer, but these days the stuff is extremely difficult to get. You literally need to have a Ph.D in chemistry to make it, and since all of the precursor chemicals are illegal, have to go through a lot of hoops to make it. The DEA looks into people when they let their wheat fields grow too much ergot let alone when they buy the lab equipment necessary for lsd production. Thanks to supply and demand, the acid drought since 2000 the price per tap (if you can find them) has rocketed from $1-$5 to an average of $12. The DEA claims it reduced the LSD supply by "95 percent" with two arrests in rural Kansas in November 2000.
"Clyde Apperson and William Leonard Pickard were charged with and eventually convicted of possession and conspiracy to distribute LSD. According to court testimony, the DEA seized the largest operable LSD laboratory in agency history, as well as 91 pounds of LSD and precursor compounds for the potential manufacture of nearly 27 pounds more. [Addendum, March 21: The 91-pound figure appears to be a myth of the government's making. See this follow-up story.] If you define a dose of LSD as 100 micrograms, Apperson and Pickard had around 400 million hits in stock. At the more common dosage level of 20 micrograms, the two were sitting on 2 billion hits. Apperson got 30 years in prison, and Pickard got two life sentences. The Kansas bust marked the third time in four years that the DEA had arrested Apperson and Pickard on LSD lab charges. The LSD market took an earlier blow in 1995, when Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia died and the band stopped touring. For 30 years, Dead tours were essential in keeping many LSD users and dealers connected, a correlation confirmed by the DEA in a divisional field assessment from the mid-'90s."

anyway I've been doing a lot of reading recently; almost all the crap they told us in 8th grade about acid causing brain damage and chromosomal anomalies is bunk. It is one of the most benign drugs in the world (and when I use drugs here, I include things like caffeine and aspirin) and a lot of the studies that fueld the 1967 acid panic were based on unscientific reporting and politics. For example, the "many acid related deaths" quote you find is never ever cited to any actual statistics, the real number of associated deaths is 5, with only 2 due to the substance itself (this is lower than most of today’s prescription medications) and the rumor that lsd causes chromosomal abnormalities is based on a study where they essentially poured acid on dividing cells. That same study also showed that caffeine and aspirin caused chromosomal breaks at a much higher rate, but that part is never mentioned.
...

"For a long time I took it to be the great experience of my life," says Metcalfe, who later became one of the founding members of Greenpeace, then a Zen monk, and now is 82 and living on Vancouver Island. "Then I woke up again to the fact that life itself is a great experience. And that includes the LSD experience."

For 12 straight hours, Metcalfe was thrust into "the blast furnace of truth," as he described it in a series of articles for The Province - weeping at the beauty of his hands, replaying every memory of his life, wading into the Milky Way and measuring his own insignificance against the infinite majesty of the cosmos. "Then I became part of men again and joined their quarrels, not as a so-called civilized man, but as a frightened, primitive thing looking into the faces of all the gods," he wrote. As he discovered, LSD therapy forced patients to realize that they were utterly alone, and responsible for their fate. It packed years of psychoanalysis into a single day."

...

Anyway, I have great hope that some of the recent conferences among psychiatrists and politicians may allow the drug to make a come back in controlled settings. If any of you get a chance, read the lsd article on wikipedia, its pretty good.

2006-04-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

adrian, what's the source of these questions?

i'm beginning to feel like if the US actually did want to make unbreakable codes, they would just assign topics numerical values and have adrian ask questions.

:P just poking fun. no harm meant.

2006-04-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

given the opportunity, would you drop acid?

2006-03-26T10:14:00.000-08:00

mere christianity is probably the best book that you will ever read if you are looking for an intellectual understanding of the christian faith.

however, that being said, not to diminish cs lewis, faith is beyond the intellectual. it comes from the heart, not from the brain.

----

on a more casual note, there has been an award winning thesis which. is, of all things, a flash game called fl0w. that, of course, refers to the actual theory of flow, but it is an amazingly well made and stimulating (thereby, empirically proving flow.)

to play it, search on google
fl0w flash game chen
chen being the last name of the person who wrote it.