I’d been all set yesterday to write an extensive ramble in the morning. I’d even drawn up and outline the night before, see:
Down time, floating time
Pinchas Zukerman
Working papers
Humanities CRISIS, done
Literary Transition, getting there
Mind Modes, getting there, Abu Simbel
Jerry Seinfeld
3QD on deck
Forbidden Planet+
FOOM+
Writing easy, writing hard
New Video
Inside these walls
Really ought to write about OOC
Are the Big Boys really worth it?
Victory March
CK book
But then all that got co-opted when I saw Glenn Loury’s video on Culture & Essentialism. That hit home, since culture is what I studied and I worked long and hard to construct a conception of culture that’s free of the essentialist burdens of identity politics that have accrued to “culture” in the last few decades. I felt I had to address that.
So I wrote a post, Whoops! Here we go again. “Western” and “African-American” ARE NOT terms usable in serious cultural analysis, and put it online. That post didn’t deal with the issue itself, but served to link to four articles and working papers in which I addressed the problem. By that time it was too late to start crafting my ramble.
It was time to go to the victory march that Hoboken’s Fund for a Better Waterfront had scheduled (see “Victory March” up there in the outline). What’s the victory? At last after who knows how much back-room haggling the City finally acquired the form Union City dry dock. With that under public control I would become possible to complete the last link in the waterfront walkway that extends from somewhere north of Hoboken, thought Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne. Why’d I want to go to the parade? Well, 1) I live in Hoboken and care about the waterfront, and 2) Brooklyn’s Hungry March Band would be heading up the parade. And why’s that important? Because I wanted to get photographs of them for possible inclusion in that book (CK book) on that list.
What’s that book about? Music, joy, and festivity in everyday life. Something like that. We need more of it. See the post I did this morning on peak happiness. Didn’t know that would be waiting for me this AM when I got up. Glad it was.
Anyhow, went on the march. Took about 175 photos. Got back at 2PM or so. Rendered a bunch of photos and posted some of them on line. Realized there was no chance I’d write that ramble that day. Had something for dinner. And decided I just had to write Glenn a longish note explaining what was on my mind about culture. I did that, went to bed, and figured I’d wake up today and write the ramble first thing in the morning.
Guess what? It didn’t work out that way. There was that peak happiness post, which was a quickie since I was simply quoting from a NYTimes opinion piece. And then I decided, “You know what? I need to write more to Glenn.” So I wrote an even longer email in which I quoted two papers I’d written some years ago, one on the narrative and the self, the other on Shakespeare (I attached copies of the papers).
That took the rest of the morning, and depleted I don’t know how much of my ‘deep think’ neurotransmitter supply. I ate lunch, looked around on my hard drive at this and that, rendered some more photos from yesterday, took a nap, and before you knew it I was writing this post.
So, aside from the march and the photos, nothing got done that I’d planned for the weekend. But that’s OK. What I did do was worthwhile. But now I’m even further behind on my raggedy-ass schedule for completing working papers.
What will I do tomorrow? It’s not like I have lots of things in the queue. What’s the priority?
But I ought to say something about the “New Video” item on the list. I’ve decided to do another YouTube video. I’ve done a number of them where I take a musical track and then add photos to it, like this, Peace Now! First Mix:
That’s a pick-up band Charlie Keil put together for peace marches and such in NYC. I’m one of the two trumpeters on the album.
Well, the video I’ve decided to so is from a band I played with when I lived in upstate New York, The Out of Control Rhythm and Blues Band (OOC). The tune is “Inside These Walls,” by sax player and vocalist Rick Rourke. I’ve got a plan for the images roughed out and have gathered the photos in a file on my computer. Now I’ve got to put it all together. Judging from how things have gone the past, that’s 10 to 25 hours of work spread out over a week or so. It’ll be good when it’s done. But getting there is going to be mostly tedious with moments of fun and joy every now and then.
Ever onward.
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