Falling Cherry Blossoms
I spent quite a bit of time attempting to peer around a great looming head, which constantly insisted on shifting position. In addition to being plagued by a view-obstructing cranium we were victimized by the seating hierarchy. Alas, our perches were pretty high up, and while we were able to gaze at the chandelier face to face, the faces on the concert hall stage were somewhat indistinct. Really we were like inverted Elizabethan groundlings, and unfortunately neither of us own a pair of opera glasses. After a time of crowded ambience (ladies adjusting their diamonds for optimal display, men casually examining their platinum Rolexes) the lights dimmed; Who’s Who didn’t matter suddenly as the master himself hobbled on stage followed by the Maestro...
On Legalizing Homosexual Marriage: A Philosophical Defense from Liberalism
Some time ago I weighed in on why homosexual marriage should not be legalized. On re-reading my post I’m not sure how cogent the logic is–I think I oversimplified the idea of a socially recognized institution. Marriage as Archetype would still form a foundation in my argument against Homo-Marriage, but perhaps I’ll come from that perspective on another day. The following is the text for a debate I just concluded in one of my classes having to do with Applied Christian Ethics. Remember that Author doesn’t necessarily equal Persona…I’m not completely sure what my views are on the matter. However, this is my best articulated argument for why Homo-Marriage should be instituted. Please fill free to express your own views or to...
Kinkadian Pornography
“Thomas Kinkade’s art is Pornographic.” The potentially hyperbolic statement above comes straight from the lips of my Aesthetics Professor, who also happens to be the head of the Art Department. Of course, the idea is that uninspired, unimaginative, and consumer-driven imagery is not art and is actually degrading to look at when it is deceptively purveyed as having aesthetic value. There is another adjective for this sort of non-aesthetic rubbish: kitsch. Calinescu writes in regard to kitsch that it “dismisses the claims or pretensions of quality of anything that tries to be ‘artistic’ without genuinely being so.” He describes it as “aesthetic deception and self-deception,” and damns it for always implying...
Getting Fresher
Many of us experience periods in life where Change sticks its finger in our chest and prods us into new and sometimes uncomfortable territory. Despite potential discomfort or lack of familiarity with the Change, great things can result. New pleasures, habits and beliefs can all be wonderful byproducts of the new dispensation. For years I have gone to bed or to the breakfast table with the distinctive minty taste of Crest toothpaste tingling my gums and tongue. The shape of the cap, the consistency of the paste, even the graphics on the tube had all become deeply engrained in the part of my psyche having to do with hygiene. Alas, once enlightened the wise must never look back to baser things; and it is with that in mind that I bid adieu to Crest toothpaste...
Freckles
Erudition seems to have taken a back seat recently in terms of this blog; perhaps it has been consumed too fully by the hungry forests worth of papers I’ve had to spew forth on command. But I wrote a poem and a paper today, so substance is bound to regain a foothold here at one point or another. I’ve decided that April, along with being tax month, is also culture and tan month (neither of those things are related; in fact they are contrapository if we take Shakespeare’s “dun breasts” for what they are). I’m salivating ernestly for two fast approaching shows. Britt was able to acquire tickets for us to experience Itzak Perlman and the Columbus Symphony (Beethoven & Mozart), and a week after that adventure I will encounter...