Radical Transparency

April 8, 2009

Fantasy, Value, and Premature Literary Criticism

I'm reading Philip Pullman, loving it, thinking about it in relation to (comparison with) the JRR Tolkien Middle Earth Project, and wondering about value.

I think Tolkien's work is immensely impressive in its imaginative scale and as a demonstration of accessible but ambitious storytelling, and I think it's educationally valuable in that it turns people into readers, writers, and explorers of the originally weird thoughts we all have. In my opinion, however, Tolkien's orcs are a very big worry. I think it's fundamentally unethical to tell war stories in which the bad guys don't have families.

So.

How do we teach Tolkien? (If we teach Tolkien. Which I'm pretty sure we do and I'm pretty sure we should. Because of the imagination, the fact that his work can be a gateway to literature and learning and love of stories, words, and communication.)

Maybe we teach the man with the work? Explain his personal weirdness and how it contributed to his (in my opinion problematically simplified) vision of good and evil and the virtue in violence?

Worth some thought I think.

And then there's Pullman. I'm halfway through the second book of the His Dark Materials trilogy, and, so far, I love it. So far, it feels questioning and complicated and real.

So.

So far, I say teach it. For imagination. For storytelling. And for truth.

Yikes. Bold statement from someone that still has 500 pages to read.

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Filed under // education good and evil imagination literary criticism literature orcs philip pullman reading storytelling the bad guys tolkien truth violence war writing

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November 11, 2008

The Cowboys

A bit of a silly conversation started on Ta-Nehisi Coates's blog the other day when he mentioned the fact that he's a Dallas Cowboys fan.

I commented, asking for an explanation, and, today, he responded, sparking a beauty of a comment thread.

After trying to imagine growing up without lovable home teams and reading TNC's explanation, I respect his love for the Cowboys. I don't like it. But I'm ok with it. I think it's real, and I think real love for a team is something to celebrate.

Which reminds me of something one of my cousins said as we wandered around the ballpark before going in for Game 4 of the World Series.

Everyone was wearing red and chanting and singing for the Phils, and one of us noted the fact that it couldn't possibly be like it was in Philly in Tampa Bay. Fans were probably way into it, but some of those fans were Phils fans, and that makes for a totally different dynamic. There's tension there. Home vs. Away. Red vs. Blue.

In Philly there wasn't tension. We were all Home, all Red, all Good Guys. No Bad Guys would have come close to that pregame party.

And then came the observation.

We shouldn't be celebrating our exclusivity. We should love the fact that there's no anger in the pregame crowd, but we should welcome Tampa Bay fans. We should be excited to have rival fans in the house. We should party together before the game. We should make fun of each other during the game. And we should party together again after the game.

We should be able to celebrate our losses as wins for other fans.

And that's a pretty powerful thought. Mature. Idealistic. Symbolic of way more than professional sports. And powerful.

Not an easy one to put into practice, however. Certainly not in Philadelphia. And certainly not when it pertains to the Dallas Cowboys. But worth keeping in mind regardless.

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Filed under // baseball comments competition dallas cowboys exclusivity fans football good and evil home teams ta-nehisi coates

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October 25, 2008

With My Own Drone

I think the Phils need something both mellow and inspirational to ease the nerves before game 3.

My cousin Zach turned me on to Gang Starr. I was listening to a lot of Tupac at the time, and I remember complaining the Guru wasn't smooth enough.

I was wrong.

Moment of Truth is track 8 on Moment of Truth.

(download)

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Filed under // baseball gang starr good and evil inspiration mellow music introductions smoothness world series

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October 6, 2008

Vote

Word is that today's the last day. If you haven't done it already, register. And if you want some silly people to tell you why and how to register, watch this video.

It's a good thing to tell people to vote, but I think it's a better thing to explain, honestly and humbly, why you're supporting the candidate(s) you're supporting.

And I don't care who you are or what qualifications you have. All of our reasons are probably flawed in some way. But some of our reasons, flawed or not, are original and legitimate and reasons that other people should consider.

So, if you want to take the video's advice and tell five friends to register to vote, I suggest that you buck conventional nondisclosure wisdom and tell those five people for whom you're voting and why.

I'm voting for Barack Obama.

I'm voting for him for many reasons, and here's one that might feel a little unusual:

I don't think Barack Obama believes in absolute good and absolute evil.

I think he understands that the world is complicated. I think he understands that there are legitimate (though sometimes misguided) reasons that people and governments and businesses do the things they do. And I think he understands that, in order to solve the big problems we face, we're going to have to be a lot more creative and introspective than we ever have been before.

I sense that understanding in his willingness to try different things diplomatically with Iran. I sense it in his relationships with Reverend Wright and William Ayers. I sense it in his thoughts on race and culture in the United States.

I want a President with an open mind, and I think Barack Obama will be that President.

Vote.

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Filed under // barack obama democracy good and evil transparency voting

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September 7, 2008