[Image: “What I Study,” by Amber Case. (Spotted on Flickr, and used here under a Creative Commons license — thank you!) I had no idea what sort of image might illustrate today’s “theme”… and then I found this one. An interesting exercise: try to guess what a stranger’s work might be, when you understand the English language well enough… but the mix of English-language words and phrases they use to describe it seems positively, well, Duchampian: furry teacup, bicycle wheel mounted on a stool, that sort of thing. As it happens, most of these are used metaphorically. I fought being sucked into speculating on the color coding and the background grid, features which suggest a deeper understanding is possible. For now, I just wanted to marvel that someone, anyone, anywhere or -time, can describe their life’s work in this manner (and mean it). For what it’s worth, you can see Case’s TED Talk — “We Are All Cyborgs Now” — here.]
From whiskey river:
In some communities there is a man who sells whistles by the courthouse or paper kites down by the river. In others there is a woman who decorates her home with multicolored lights and streamers every holiday. Usually these people are no more than small figures at the periphery of everyone’s attention, but when they die, it can be more surprising than the death of a prominent leader or a renowned artist, because no one has ever regarded them carefully enough to consider what their absence might mean.
(Kevin Brockmeier [source])
…and:
We have an obligation to one another, responsibilities and trusts. That does not mean we must be pigeons, that we must be exploited. But it does mean that we should look out for one another when and as much as we can; and that we have a personal responsibility for our behavior; and that our behavior has consequences of a very real and profound nature. We are not powerless. We have tremendous potential for good or ill. How we choose to use that power is up to us; but first we must choose to use it. We’re told every day, “You can’t change the world.”
But the world is changing every day. Only question is… who’s doing it? You or somebody else?
(J. Michael Straczynski [source])
…and:
Another Beauty
(excerpt)We find comfort only in
another beauty, in others’
music, in the poetry of others.
Salvation lies with others,
though solitude may taste like
opium. Other people aren’t hell
if you glimpse them at dawn, when
their brows are clean, rinsed by dreams.
(Adam Zagajewski [source])
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