I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
August 10, 2003 - 11:37 a.m.
First off why I remember it. The other day I offered 5000 Gordonpoints to anybody who got the Simplicio reference, nobody collected. I didn�t think anybody would. If someone was going to know I would have bet on Gella. Simplicio was one of the characters in Galileo�s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Simplicio expounded the Ptolomeic, geocentric world view. While I was trying to fall asleep last night I planned an entire entry on Galileo, Johannes Kepler , and Tycho Brahe. On being fully awake I decided to spare you.
That is a side of me that I rarely show here. I really love math and science. I find wonder and romance there. When I was a little kid 90% of what I read were science books. I fell in love with this book that I think was just called Science in about the fourth grade. It was in the school library and I took it out and reread it a few times. Another favorite from the same period was Atomic Energy. There were also of course all the dinosaur books. Those started from before I could read. I always preferred the ones that I considered more adult. I wanted lots of information.
The first biography I read was of Isaac Newton. It mentioned that his notebooks were at the J.P. Morgan Library, right here in NYC. My sister Alison, took me down there to see them and they told me I couldn�t unless I was doing research. I was so disappointed.
I remember three books I had in the same series, Rocks and Minerals, Space, and Mathematics. I read and reread these countless times. The Math book had a card trick that did for years.
It is a part of my life that I don�t get to indulge as much as I would like. This year I�m going to have to really check out the New York Academy of Sciences lecture schedule. I miss having someone to go to them with though.
I�ve inverted my usual order of things here. I usually tell about my day first. Well a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Yesterday I went to Lincoln Center again for the Roots of American Music Festival. I saw Vance Gilbert, Mark Erelli, and the Mammals. I decided to go completely with public transportation and took the bus to the subway. I almost regretted it when the 7 train got to 74th Street. The conductor said, �A reminder, this train terminates at Queensboro Plaza and does not go into Manhattan.� I don�t know how that was a reminder as it was the first I�d heard about it. Good thing the doors hadn�t closed before I had time to react, I got off there and switched to the E train. That meant taking 3 more trains to get there. I still made it in plenty of time. I met a friend from WFUV but he was sitting way behind where I was. I was right down front of course. Chris showed up with a friend of his and we found three seats together a bit to the side but still up front. I didn�t have any revelations during the show. I still think that Vance is incredibly funny when he�s talking, has an amazing voice, but I�m not as fond of his songs. I�d love to see him do a stand-up comedy act.
I love Mark�s range. He does traditional music, and songs he writes himself. They can be hauntingly sad or extremely funny. He said he was going to sing his saddest song and it was one complaining about how much money his sister makes. Sibling rivalry like folk music isn�t pretty. And yes Carey he was looking really cute. I�ll see what I can do about converting him to Judaism.
The Mammals, as always, totally blew me away. Normally when I think of folk music I think of lyrics. They are one of the few groups I see where instrumentals have at least equal importance. I love when Ruth is on the fiddle and Tao and Michael are playing banjo. Their fingers just fly. They do traditional folk, Cuban music, and original compositions. I finally bought their latest CD Evolver. That name might sound a bit familiar to you. The The Kennedys have a CD by the same name that came out in 2000. Cadence Carroll and Ani Difranco both have recent CDs called Evolve. For those of you wondering how that can happen you can�t copyright titles. I own all the CDs but Ani�s.
Last night I stayed home and did three of my favorite things. I listened to Vin Scelsa on WFUV , talked to Leah, and talked to Carey. Leah was having phone troubles so unfortunately that was cut short. The one with Carey really made us see the truth in something that Lisa said. Our jokes have layers on layers on layers. They are like one of the Russian dolls. Sometimes even we don�t know all of them. My question now is do we have conversations like that because we love each other or do we love each other because we can have conversations like that? I think it is a bit of both.
I just remembered that something that Mark said had given me an idea for a poem. I�ll see if I can write to today. Don�t get your hopes up. I was going to see Christine Lavin, Tom Paxton, and Judy Collins tonight but I want to spend some time with my mother so I�m not going to go. It is really sad that I feel guilty about that.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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Horvendile August 10, 2003
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