this entry is not half of a conversation

Leonidas was right about me needing decompression, but i don't feel entirely off the mark with my thereotical structure (maybe just more its content) and a horribly boring conversation which just sullied my mood deeply makes me think about conversation itself.

while you will buy a cd if you don't like one song on it, you will not want to listen to that song and, potentially, be upset with having to change the song every time it comes on (yes i know iPods have outdated this metaphor a bit, but work with me).

Conversations are similar, but much more unendurable because of the social ramifications of rejecting the conversation (no one will hate you for changing the song--at least not usually)
the bad conversation is the anti-conversation. while the bad conversation might be acceptable to some degree, the power it as, much like the tragic play or the beautiful piece of music, arises from its duration. it moves through time, just like music, just like theater, just like life.

heck, it is life. and the conversation, good or bad necessarily evokes your energies to socialize. this is because you have investment into your social persona. Most people don't like to be considered any negative adjectives most would rather be considered the good ones--even if the opinion of the person doesn't matter too much to you, the potential social benefits of not being considered ____(insert negative adjective) are apparent.

investing into a conversation is an energy draining event, something to feel good about (like a 30 minute jog) or bad about (like 4 hours of watching tv or "reading" the facebook).

the good conversation can only happen when you are talking with someone else who can and is willing to have the good conversation with you. the more complex your idea of conversation becomes, the more nuances apply, the more specific the good conversation becomes to you, the fewer people there are with whom your idea of the good conversation aligns (that is, if your definition is aligning with mine).

there is often a propensity, when in conversation to initially compromise all of the qualities of a converation you want--this is benefit of the doubt. it is valuable, but also chancy. one of the many horribly important skills a person can develop is judging when in the conversation they can confidently (and correctly) say that it is 'going nowhere.'

The Beautiful Pragmatic

I have for some time tried to understand why I thought Maya Lin--a small woman working in a great workshop, thinking of huge structures--seemed so beautiful in a shot of this movie (similar to the picture below) in which she pulls her hair back behind her ears while analyzing the consistency of a sheet of metal.



I think I figured out how to articulate it as I was strapping my laptop into my backpack the other night: There is beauty in accepting the humdrum, the practical, while being able to maintain concentration on a theoretical that is applied to the practical. Not only does her practical world become better due to her considerate approach to forming it, but this effort further supports her opportunity to work in the theoretical world. How I see it, the relationship between the theoretical and the practical is a most beautifully crafted structure when balanced THIS WAY.

Kant talks about this balance of the aesthetically pleasing and the practical in the 3rd book of his Critique of Pure Judgement. He spends a lot of time discussing the "pure" aesthetic experience, unrelated to any pragmatic value of this experience. Yet he recognizes the infrequency of this sort of experience.

I don't mind this infrequency. An aesthetic experience that is sullied by pragmatic benefits--the Vietnam War Memorial's pure aesthetic value, complicated by the government's desire for it to draw tourists and avoid political complications--is more beautiful because it effects one's life on these multiple levels a "pure" aesthetic experiences necessarily doesn't. Appreciating the living experience of the monument and people interacting with it develops one's awareness of the practical and transcendent, the objective and the subjective, the consensual and the personal.

In fact, I think the sight of someone watching this event is nearly the most beautiful thing.

hey! My name is Drew, and this is my new blog.

I intend for this blog to be an outlet for my ideas. While another blog of mine (andrew1080) contains ramblings about things such as morality and girls, short stories, links to other interesting sites, postings about events and concerts and jokes, this blog will contain more succinct, dare i say academic, thoughts and musings.

I hope to follow the theme of this blog closely and post only thoughts that are conveyed with "circumscribed scrutiny." The scrutiny's circumscription will not confine my articles to any one topic but rather to a style. I've learned that my writing style mimics my speaking patterns too much--I cannot write in an academic way. While many people find the writing that pours from the ivory towers of academia too staunch and impenetrable, there ought to exist a middle ground which bridges the gap between Orwell's imagination-revving 1984 and the drudgingly boring criticism on it. I hope to find an enjoyable middle ground where my writing is engaging and lucid, both precise enough to be satisfying and elegantly insouciant (light, carefree) enough to be pleasant. [I had to look that one up too, but it was just what I meant. :) ]

It is possible that this blog will rather change my perception of academic writing rather than place my prose between the academic quad and the alleyway. I may come out of this writing admiring academic style and content all the more, or I may never wanting to pick up a book again. If anything, it will give me (and I hope you, as well) an opportunity to examine the distinction between two drastically different forms of writing. Perhaps your writing and reading rides the line between common and exclusive as well, and you are looking for a way to reconcile your enjoyment of both. Well, here we are, chum. Let's see what happens...

First I'd like to give props to unquiet grave, and the author's article on Siegfried Kracauer's article "Photography" from the 1920s. While stating the developments of Kracauer's essay clearly, the author brings his own admirable sensitivity to his exploration of the work.

Now, onward and upward. Let's see if I have the chutzpah...or should I say the strength...to keep this blog afloat.