{"id":15455,"date":"2014-04-18T10:01:52","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T14:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=15455"},"modified":"2024-10-15T12:15:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T16:15:10","slug":"little-figures-big-contexts-and-the-distance-between-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/little-figures-big-contexts-and-the-distance-between-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Figures, Big Contexts, and the Distance Between Them"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-NPx9geRcJU?si=QQ1NM9182YUiLWxd\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"smalltext\" data-afsc-id=\"1849\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1850\">[Video: Ariana Grande, &#8220;Tattooed Heart.&#8221; I&#8217;m probably making people sick of this performance.]<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1851\">From\u00a0<a title=\"whiskey river: Vladimir Nabokov, on our distant former selves\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2014\/04\/when-we-remember-our-former-selves.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1852\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1853\">whiskey river<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1854\">When we remember our former selves, there is always that little figure with its long shadow stopping like an uncertain belated visitor on a lighted threshold at the far end of an impeccably narrowing corridor.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1855\">(Vladimir Nabokov [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle,' by Vladimir Nabokov\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=X9pV6qnDuJUC&amp;pg=PT125#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1856\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1857\">source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1858\">&#8230;<a title=\"whiskey river: 'Why We Tell Stories' (excerpt), by Lisel Mueller\" href=\"http:\/\/whiskeyriver.blogspot.com\/2014\/04\/blog-post.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1859\">and<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-afsc-id=\"1860\">\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1861\"><strong data-afsc-id=\"1862\">Why We Tell Stories<br data-afsc-id=\"1863\" \/><em data-afsc-id=\"1864\">(excerpt)<\/em><\/strong><br data-afsc-id=\"1865\" \/><span class=\"epigraph\" data-afsc-id=\"1866\">for Linda Nemec Foster<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1867\">I<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1868\">Because we used to have leaves<br data-afsc-id=\"1869\" \/>and on damp days<br data-afsc-id=\"1870\" \/>our muscles feel a tug,<br data-afsc-id=\"1871\" \/>painful now, from when roots<br data-afsc-id=\"1872\" \/>pulled us into the ground<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1873\">and because our children believe<br data-afsc-id=\"1874\" \/>they can fly, an instinct retained<br data-afsc-id=\"1875\" \/>from when the bones in our arms<br data-afsc-id=\"1876\" \/>were shaped like zithers and broke<br data-afsc-id=\"1877\" \/>neatly under their feathers<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1878\">and because before we had lungs<br data-afsc-id=\"1879\" \/>we knew how far it was to the bottom<br data-afsc-id=\"1880\" \/>as we floated open-eyed<br data-afsc-id=\"1881\" \/>like painted scarves through the scenery<br data-afsc-id=\"1882\" \/>of dreams, and because we awakened<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1883\">and learned to speak<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1884\">(Lisel Mueller [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Alive Together: New and Selected Poems,' by Lisel Mueller\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=ra4n1qy4rxcC&amp;pg=PA150#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1885\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1886\">source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1887\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1889\">Not from\u00a0<em data-afsc-id=\"1890\">whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-afsc-id=\"1891\">\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1892\"><strong data-afsc-id=\"1893\">Like the Small Hole by the Path-Side Something Lives in<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1894\">Like the small hole by the path-side something lives in,<br data-afsc-id=\"1895\" \/>in me are lives I do not know the names of,<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1896\">nor the fates of,<br data-afsc-id=\"1897\" \/>nor the hungers of or what they eat.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1898\">They eat of me.<br data-afsc-id=\"1899\" \/>Of small and blemished apples in low fields of me<br data-afsc-id=\"1900\" \/>whose rocky streams and droughts I do not drink.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1901\">And in my streets&#8212;the narrow ones,<br data-afsc-id=\"1902\" \/>unlabeled on the self-map&#8212;<br data-afsc-id=\"1903\" \/>they follow stairs down music ears can&#8217;t follow,<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1904\">and in my tongue borrowed by darkness,<br data-afsc-id=\"1905\" \/>in hours uncounted by the self-clock,<br data-afsc-id=\"1906\" \/>they speak in restless syllables of other losses, other loves.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1907\">There too have been the hard extinctions,<br data-afsc-id=\"1908\" \/>missing birds once feasted on and feasting.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1909\">There too must be machines<br data-afsc-id=\"1910\" \/>like loud ideas with tungsten bits that grind the day.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1911\">A few escape. A mercy.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1912\">They leave behind<br data-afsc-id=\"1913\" \/>small holes that something unweighed by the self-scale lives in.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1914\">(Jane Hirshfield [<a title=\"Poetry Foundation: 'Like the Small Hole by the Path-Side Something Lives in,' by Jane Hirshfield\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poetrymagazine\/poem\/244418\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1915\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1916\">source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1917\">&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-afsc-id=\"1918\">\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1919\"><strong data-afsc-id=\"1920\">Cloud No Bigger than a Man\u2019s Hand<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1921\">It approaches from the sea, too small<br data-afsc-id=\"1922\" \/>For thunder and lightning<br data-afsc-id=\"1923\" \/>But ominous as a closed fist<br data-afsc-id=\"1924\" \/>And what it will bring<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1925\">Nearing us, growing larger,<br data-afsc-id=\"1926\" \/>Is completely unknown.<br data-afsc-id=\"1927\" \/><em data-afsc-id=\"1928\">Beware the leaves blowing, beware<\/em><br data-afsc-id=\"1929\" \/><em data-afsc-id=\"1930\"> The spot on the sun.<\/em><br data-afsc-id=\"1931\" \/>All is turned toward it. It rides<br data-afsc-id=\"1932\" \/>The brow of the mind.<br data-afsc-id=\"1933\" \/>Soon, it will shadow one cliff<br data-afsc-id=\"1934\" \/>And a small coastal shrine.<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1935\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1936\">Beware the leaves blowing, beware<\/em><br data-afsc-id=\"1937\" \/><em data-afsc-id=\"1938\"> The spot on the sun.<\/em><br data-afsc-id=\"1939\" \/>Do your work well. Behold<br data-afsc-id=\"1940\" \/>The work yet to be done.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1941\">(Dick Allen [<a title=\"Poetry Foundation: 'Cloud No Bigger than a Man's Hand,' by Dick Allen\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poetrymagazine\/poem\/237038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1942\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1943\">source<\/em><\/a>, but also see <a title=\"Google Books: 'A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature,' edited by David L. Jeffrey, on the phrase 'cloud like a man's hand'\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=zD6xVr1CizIC&amp;lpg=PA148&amp;vq=%22Cloud%20like%20a%20Man%E2%80%99s%20Hand%22&amp;pg=PA148#v=snippet&amp;q=%22Cloud%20like%20a%20Man%E2%80%99s%20Hand%22&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1944\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1945\">this<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1946\">&#8230;and:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-afsc-id=\"1947\">\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1948\">I&#8217;m frequently asked about my &#8220;great science background,&#8221; but I have no science background whatsoever. I majored in English Literature in college. We were required to take two languages and one science or two sciences and one language, so of course I took two languages and psychology. Part of my reluctance about science was that when I was in school, science was proud and arrogant. The scientists let us know that they thought they had everything pretty well figured out, and what they didn&#8217;t know about the nature of the universe, they were shortly going to find out. Science could answer all questions&#8230;<\/p>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1949\">Many years later, after I was out of school, married and had children, the new sciences absolutely fascinated me. They were completely different from the pre-World War II sciences, which had answers for everything. The new sciences asked questions. There was much that was not explainable. For everything new that science discovered, vast areas of the unknown were opened. Sometimes contemporary physics sounds like something out of a fairy tale: there is a star known as a degenerate white dwarf and another known as a red giant sitting on the horizontal branch. Can&#8217;t you imagine the degenerate white dwarf trying to get the red giant off the horizontal branch?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-afsc-id=\"1950\">(Madeleine L&#8217;Engle [<a title=\"Google Books: 'Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?' by Madeleine L'Engle\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=_E14J0JZjXEC&amp;pg=PR988&amp;lpg=PR988#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1951\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1952\">source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n<p class=\"smalltext\" data-afsc-id=\"1953\">___________________________________<\/p>\n<p class=\"smalltext\" data-afsc-id=\"1954\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1955\">No idea what\u00a0<\/em>whiskey river is<em data-afsc-id=\"1956\">, or why I&#8217;m referring to it here?<\/em><br data-afsc-id=\"1957\" \/><em data-afsc-id=\"1958\"> <a title=\"About whiskey river Fridays\" href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/about-whiskey-river-fridays\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afsc-id=\"1959\">This page<\/a> may help.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: Ariana Grande, &#8220;Tattooed Heart.&#8221; I&#8217;m probably making people sick of this performance.] From\u00a0whiskey river: When we remember our former selves, there is always that little figure with its long shadow stopping like an uncertain belated visitor on a lighted threshold at the far end of an impeccably narrowing corridor. (Vladimir Nabokov [source]) &#8230;and: Why [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federate","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[247,1393,95,74,5,251,372],"tags":[270,1862,2124,2314,3702,3778],"class_list":{"0":"post-15455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ruminations","7":"category-whiskey-river-runningaftermyhat","8":"category-science-medicine","9":"category-music","10":"category-06_writing","11":"category-poetry-writing_cat","12":"category-style-and-craft","13":"tag-jane-hirshfield","14":"tag-dick-allen","15":"tag-vladimir-nabokov","16":"tag-lisel-mueller","17":"tag-madeleine-lengle","18":"tag-ariana-grande","19":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-41h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15455"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27571,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15455\/revisions\/27571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}