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April 29, 2004Some boys don't like their girlfriends. (Second article: A Scientific Approach to Understanding My Girlfriend's Role in the Overall Degradation of My Life's Quality.) Such misery... I hope the sex is that good.This is a sentiment that's been expressed by a number of boys I know. Often, the complaint comes from those who are single and takes the form of: "Girls suck, waaaa." (Alternatively, a list of reasons why boys suck. Equally insightful...) This also takes literary form, as in the short story entitled, "The Cloak" by Isak Dinesen (pseudonym for Karen Blixen). Check out this internal monologue: --- What is a woman? She does not exist until we create her, and she has no life except through us. She is nothing but body, but she is not body, even, if we do not look at her. She claims to be brought to life, and requires our soul as a mirror, in which she can see that she is beautiful. Men must burn, tremble and perish, in order that she may know that she exists and is beautiful. When we weep, she weeps too, but with happiness -- for now she has proof that she is beautiful. Our anguish must be kept alive every hour, or she is no longer alive. All my create power, if things had gone as she wished, would have been used up in the task of creating her, and of keeping her alive. Never, never again would I have produced a great work of art. And when I grieved over my misfortune, she would not understand, but would declare, "Why, but you have me!" --- How many men/women universally recognized as geniuses led a solitary life? What is more important in the creation of something great: solitary confinement, or discourse with other great minds? We know of cases from both sides: Emily Dickinson vs George Balanchine. (Energy for this post comes from another source of immense frustration, completely unrelated. Energy was redirected into a train of thought that stemmed from something Callaway sent me: the first link. How I wish I had the emotional energy to actually put together a solid rant about the original incident, but Callaway and I already IMd it out.) Early in the semester, one of my writing professors, Stephen Alter, said something like this in class, "A man with a wedding ring is touching." (I'll try to find the exact quote, it's written down somewhere.) More thoughts on marriage, especially as in my family, but save that for later... UPDATE: In my 4/21 post, I included a piece of an IM conversation with Kurt. The topic was 2 words I had been fascinated by, and here they are: -TION innovation (noun) initiation (noun) -TIVE innovative (adj) initiative (noun - as I use it... adj too) Cool :D Night. Thanks Callaway... |
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