...on Albert Einstein (aka The Man)

Okay, I admit it. It's sounds ridiculous. And nerdy. And crazy. Did I mention nerdy??

But he's amazing:

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe," limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons close to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from our prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all humanity and the whole of nature in its beauty."

-The Man

He's full of a whole bunch of quotes like this; stumbled upon this one last night and realized how true this is and how much I've been pondering such ideas lately, but also how Einstein is one of those people who knows how to take the formless thoughts in my head that are as of yet undefined very well and state them so...elegantly. The man pretty much defined (or redefined) our universe, and then went on to talk about what that meant for humanity and for this whole World Peace thing, and for religion and God and philosophy. And he was a physicist?? Who does that? Einstein.

What other physicist has pages of quotes on all those quotey websites? Someone once described him in a quote I love by saying the only way he could come close to adequately describing the universe was in the words of poetry. The Man has a way with words. And math. And life, the Universe, and everything.

And on top of all that, he pretty much revolutionized the entire field of physics. And that had repercussions everywhere; on art, on politics, on books, on war.

According to Time, I think he was Man of the Century. To me, he's kinda just The Man.

(And yes, I do have the poster of him sticking his tongue out hanging in my suite. 'Cause it's awesome.)

poem?

the clouds and the mist
the reds and the greens and the greys,
greys

the wind, that whispers
and towers
and at the same
time
escapes

and "the spirit of God hovered on the face of the water"
and rippled and was blown by the wind

wind of
change

yes, dollars and cents
but also
the wind

and the rain
faintest drizzle,
thunder-lightning-rumbling-torturous-granite-face-worthy
Storm.

but what of the earth?
those reds and greens
and oranges and purples
and green
and blue blue sky

after the storm
these are Flourescent
not of highlighters and
camera settings

but of
the Exploding Wildflower
waking up to see the sun

and the Sun!
who sees all
illuminates. every. thing.
in its ultimate energy
all-life-giving

this is what we are left with
to light the darkness
on a stand
in the world
on earth
our earth

like Him we

shine

Academia, how I love thee (let me count the ways...or rather, the syllables in your words)

(I think I'm actually going to use this article for my final paper, but reading this abstract was quite an experience, to say the least...just check out the epic wordage)

"Abstract:

Finding a pragmatic exit from the semantic labyrinth surrounding ‘ideology' and ‘culture', this article considers the neutral connotations of ‘ideology' as a formative, intrinsically paradoxical, constituent of culture, and argues that the heterogeneous, volatile, and contested nature of all ideologies when viewed through some postmodernist lenses is their hallmark only under the historically exceptional societal conditions of high modernity. It moves on to consider the virtues of several non-reductionist variants of Marxist theory that postulate a subtle dialectic between ideology's coercive and emancipatory functions, aspects that can be seen at work at the generative and experiential core of all human cultures, and not just capitalist ones. These reflections lead to a call for a dialectical, anthropologically informed approach to the interface between culture and ideology. It concludes on a speculative note by suggesting that analogies made between ideological self-replication in cultural processes and the genetic basis of evolution could be more than metaphorical should the infant science of ‘memetics' prove to have an empirically sound base."

(Yeah academia)

On papers, college, snow, and....SNOW

So I haven't posted in quite a while, and now seems a rather odd time to do so--three in the morning the night before (or rather, morning of) my first final paper due date of college.

But sometimes there's just those moments where everything clicks into place and it's so beautiful you kinda have to record it (even though at the moment that sounds like the cheesiest thing the world could think of).

In college I seem to have become quite an epic procrastinator of sorts, and tonight I was of course in the library finishing my paper at a mildly ungodly hour of the morning (much to the scorn of a few of my more organized suitemates). After a few hours of sketchy work, I finally cracked down, got a lot written, and decided that some sleep and finishing up in the morning would be a fantastic idea, and got ready to head home (aka to my suite) for the night.

I looked across the room, and noticed another of my peers accomplishing about the same task, but at the same time staring out the window, to then quietly get my attention by whispering, "Pssst...it's snowing!!"

The native southern Californian in me just about jumped for joy over to the window to see that, indeed, snow showers had begun, the first real ones (aka ones not chock full of rain and sleet) of my time here.

That little (well, giant) burst of excitement carried me the two-ish blocks back to my suite, reveling the entire time in the epic loneliness and peace that 3 am snowflakes drifting down from the heavens, it seemed, brought to a kind of stressful night.

That was a few minutes ago. Now, as I look out my window onto the New Haven green (yeah, New Haven...!) and the snow begins to cover the grass, it's quite simply...good. Most definitely. I love snow.

First real snow of college, and of a new home? First majorly procrastinated big paper of college? Exact same time? Coincidence? I'm not thinking so. (If it is, I'll take these coincidences any day)