Donnerstag, 6. November 2008
Mittwoch, 29. Oktober 2008
Dark Matter and Modernism
Much of my research intersects with issues around modernism. When I get into discussions with people about what I do, I am often asked what modernism is. Answer: I don't really know. In fact, I have sometimes been surprised by the people who have asked me--since I was about to ask them what they thought modernism might be. I suspect, that if modernism is anything, then it is this poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats:William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
(1919)
That line in the first stanza "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold" is archetypical of all things modern. I just saw a NOVA program about dark matter. It explained how when a central body is not strong enough gravitationally, the objects around it are able to fly away. This, I think is central motive (if you will excuse the pun) around which modernism rotates: that the things we would like to trust in life --governments, God, our parents-- often aren't strong enough to provide stability in a world that transforms itself too quickly for us to adapt. Certainly this is how Yeats must have felt when faced with the one-two punch of the first World War and the Spanish flu epidemic when so many lost their lives.
The poem makes clear christian references, yet the god of his second coming seems to be an amalgamation of greek and egyptian mythology. Nothing is as it ought to be, nothing makes sense. The poem leaves me empty of everything but respect and awe for Yeat's imagery. Even for those who haven't lost their religion like Yeats or maybe REM,I think this poem creates images that ring true for most people. The ever-widening gyre of the falcon or the beast slouching toward Jerusalem--both connote the increasing uncertainty that we all have to confront if we are to make it.
The second question, of course, is always what is post-modernism? Answer: the center cannot hold, but I am ok with that.
(Picture is The Widening Gyre, by Emily Tellez)
Montag, 6. Oktober 2008
Dienstag, 30. September 2008
For all of my readers. . .
who were wondering about the statue in my profile, it is called "Jahrhundertschritt" by Wolfgang Mattheuer. More information can be found here. The link says the statues are in Leipzig and Bonn, but I encountered a version (unpainted) in a Schlosshof in Halle. Considering it is an example of GDR art, it is quite subversive. I guess it wasn't too hard to fool the censors. Those unschooled cretans!
More things I like
Dû bist mîn, ich bin dîn:(Unbekannte Dichterin)
des solt dû gewis sîn;
dû bist beslozzen in mînem herzen,
verlorn ist daz slüzzelîn:
dû muost och immer darinne sîn.
As much as I enjoy modern German literature, there is something about the poetry, the stories, and just the pure language of Middle High German that affects me on a very fundamental level. The stories and poetry are both simpler and more complex. I would probably dismiss this same poem in modern english as the lame lyrics spewed by the music industry through pop-rock starlet-du-jour.
But the original, and most of the other texts from the time period feel completely different. I like the minimalism of MHG that is lacking in the modern dialects. There is a proximity to emotion and raw experience that exists in this poem, in Walter von der Vogelweide, Hartmann von Aue, and many many other medevial texts.
The sad thing is, as hard as it is for a 2oth-century germanist to find a good job, medevialists have it even tougher, and I am afraid that we will soon loose most of our experts in this field and the middle ages will not be taught to the degree that they once were. And that will be a shame. But at least you can still find it on YouTube
Freitag, 29. August 2008
I think I might vote for Obama
First off, my presidential
vote in November is not going to matter to anyone but myself. Second off, I am okay with that. Which means even though I believe strongly in the need to participate in democracy, I find my cynicism hard to overcome. My education in the liberal arts and its focus on critical thinking has ruined me for the political discourse in this country. When I listen to politicians and their made-for-TV campaigns, I can think of nothing but the altruism "Every complex problem has a simple, easy to understand, wrong answer." So when the candidates universally propose simple or vague solutions to the problems we face as a country, I am left with nothing to do but check out.
Despite being what I think is a centrist, I have always voted for a republican for president, because generally I believe what they say they believe on many issues: Abortion makes me uneasy, high taxes make me uneasy, I do not feel that more government is the answer to our problems, etc. But since the mid-nineties, the republicans have not lived up to what they say they are for--and when I look at disastrous new programs like NoChildLeftBehind or the Knee-jerk waste of Money that is the Department of Homeland Security (sounds like something straight out of Germany 1936), I can't say if there is much difference in the two parties.
Most of the time I feel like I just don't fit in, because I cannot accept the partisan rhetoric of either side. When I taught my students in Texas, or when I talked politics with colleagues in the Army National Guard, I felt like the most liberal man on the planet, but in some of the University departments I have been a part of, my views seem somewhere to the right of John Birch in comparison. Mostly I feel that the only person that agrees with me is me because I am unwilling to sell my soul whole-heartedly to either camp and I don't believe our problems can be solved with the trite phrases that are all that are reported in the media, nor do I believe that we can accomplish anything as long as the ideas of the other party are rejected out of hand simply because of the sourc
e.
In fact, I am not sure how much power the president really holds, and this should be the lesson of the last 20 years. As the "only remaining superpower" America has spent the last 20 years (or more) doing whatever America wants, acting in our own perceived and inevitably myopic self-interest. As long as there was a balancing threat in the Soviet Union, the protection we offered meant that our allies in Europe and in Asia mostly had to go along. But with that threat mostly removed, protection begins to look a lot more like colonialism and empire-building, and resentment grows. This is of course a gross overstatement, but I think a lot of countries look for ways to display their independence from our overpowering financial and cultural influence. I have met many people from other countries who admire us and resent us at the same time. As a whole, these countries are reluctant to simply go along with every policy that comes out of Washington. So even though we are the most powerful nation individually, it is impossible to act unilaterally either as a peacekeeper or as the world's police. This I think was Bush's greatest mistake--Not that he wanted to bring democracy to the middle east, but that he assumed everyone there wanted our brand of democracy, and that he had so alienated our allies even before 9-11, that they were just
looking for reasons not to follow along.
Economically the president doesn't have that much control either. Financial cycles have their own interior motors and seem to happen almost independent of policy. At best, the Federal Reserve Board and steer things in a very general way, and what little oversight they receive comes from congress and not the president. Secondly, it is the house of representatives that has to pass the national budget each year. The president can only propose ideas and veto bills he sees as bad. So for me, I find it as difficult to give either Reagan or Clinton credit for the economic upturns during their presidencies as to blame Bush for the ups and downs that have been the economy since 2001. There is enough blame and credit to go around for a lot of people, including the public and personal spending habits.
So what then, is the role of the president? I am not sure, really. But I think politics in the end is a lot about symbolism. Parties and people tend to mean for us what we think they mean. Our lives, our histories, our cultures will determine what we see and what we hear when politicians speak, and the partisanship has become deeply ingrained, not just here, but abroad. In the German newspapers I read, Hilary Clinton had been anointed as the savior of trans-Atlantic relations because many in Europe had a perception, based on little information, of who they think she is and who they think her Husband was. What I hope for in the next president is someone who can help beat back some of the partisanship domestically, and the unilateralism internationally.
My opinion on who will do that best changes from day to day. On practical matters, I think McCain is probably the most qualified, but I am afraid he will have to give in too much to the extreme right of his party to maintain their support. Obama strikes me as simplistic and naive. He seldom speaks about policies with any sort of specifics, but when he does, most of his ideas seem wrong-headed to me. Although I would like to get our forces out of Iraq, doing so too quic
kly will cause, in my opinion, more harm than good. Hopefully some of the rumblings that he is not as dogmatic on this point as he sounds are accurate. McCain's ideas, even though they were unpopular when he proposed them, seem to be at least partly responsible for the improved situation there. In the end, I suspect there will be little practical difference in McCain's and Obama's policies.
However, as a figurehead, as a symbol, I think Obama is a far superior choice. Electing him would demonstrate to the world and to ourselves that we are working to overcome our racist tendencies, that we really are an egalitarian society in a way that is so absent in so many other countries. I think his relative youth, his optimism, and his overall image of innovation present an opportunity for a fresh start and a change from business as usual--IF-- and it's a big if--if he can avoid pandering too much to the extreme left of his party in his own effort to gain support. His choice of Joe Biden as VP does not give me much hope in this respect (although Biden is better than the indescribably divisive choice Hillary Clinton would have been).
So I have not yet decided if I will vote for a symbol or experience this time around. My only comfort is I think both choices this year are miles ahead of any of the candidates from the last 16 years. I wanted McCain in 2000, and I think things would have been much better now if we had had him instead of Bush. But Obama represents something that no Bush or Clinton or Kerry or Gore, (or Dole for that matter) has offered.
In the end I am optimistic. Our system is far from perfect, but compared to most countries, it is pretty good, and America has the potential to do great things. I suspect that Obama will win with or without my vote. (In Utah a vote for Obama is not likely to make it through the electoral college--but like I said in the beginning, that doesn't matter to me) and even when he makes mistakes, the beauty of our system is that he cannot make them forever. Mugabe and Putin would not be able to cling to power here. So our weakness is our strength: Term limits and elections mean politicians are incapable of caring about consequences beyond the next election cycle. But term limits also guarantee that Obama, good or bad, will not be around forever.
vote in November is not going to matter to anyone but myself. Second off, I am okay with that. Which means even though I believe strongly in the need to participate in democracy, I find my cynicism hard to overcome. My education in the liberal arts and its focus on critical thinking has ruined me for the political discourse in this country. When I listen to politicians and their made-for-TV campaigns, I can think of nothing but the altruism "Every complex problem has a simple, easy to understand, wrong answer." So when the candidates universally propose simple or vague solutions to the problems we face as a country, I am left with nothing to do but check out.Despite being what I think is a centrist, I have always voted for a republican for president, because generally I believe what they say they believe on many issues: Abortion makes me uneasy, high taxes make me uneasy, I do not feel that more government is the answer to our problems, etc. But since the mid-nineties, the republicans have not lived up to what they say they are for--and when I look at disastrous new programs like NoChildLeftBehind or the Knee-jerk waste of Money that is the Department of Homeland Security (sounds like something straight out of Germany 1936), I can't say if there is much difference in the two parties.
Most of the time I feel like I just don't fit in, because I cannot accept the partisan rhetoric of either side. When I taught my students in Texas, or when I talked politics with colleagues in the Army National Guard, I felt like the most liberal man on the planet, but in some of the University departments I have been a part of, my views seem somewhere to the right of John Birch in comparison. Mostly I feel that the only person that agrees with me is me because I am unwilling to sell my soul whole-heartedly to either camp and I don't believe our problems can be solved with the trite phrases that are all that are reported in the media, nor do I believe that we can accomplish anything as long as the ideas of the other party are rejected out of hand simply because of the sourc
e.In fact, I am not sure how much power the president really holds, and this should be the lesson of the last 20 years. As the "only remaining superpower" America has spent the last 20 years (or more) doing whatever America wants, acting in our own perceived and inevitably myopic self-interest. As long as there was a balancing threat in the Soviet Union, the protection we offered meant that our allies in Europe and in Asia mostly had to go along. But with that threat mostly removed, protection begins to look a lot more like colonialism and empire-building, and resentment grows. This is of course a gross overstatement, but I think a lot of countries look for ways to display their independence from our overpowering financial and cultural influence. I have met many people from other countries who admire us and resent us at the same time. As a whole, these countries are reluctant to simply go along with every policy that comes out of Washington. So even though we are the most powerful nation individually, it is impossible to act unilaterally either as a peacekeeper or as the world's police. This I think was Bush's greatest mistake--Not that he wanted to bring democracy to the middle east, but that he assumed everyone there wanted our brand of democracy, and that he had so alienated our allies even before 9-11, that they were just
looking for reasons not to follow along.Economically the president doesn't have that much control either. Financial cycles have their own interior motors and seem to happen almost independent of policy. At best, the Federal Reserve Board and steer things in a very general way, and what little oversight they receive comes from congress and not the president. Secondly, it is the house of representatives that has to pass the national budget each year. The president can only propose ideas and veto bills he sees as bad. So for me, I find it as difficult to give either Reagan or Clinton credit for the economic upturns during their presidencies as to blame Bush for the ups and downs that have been the economy since 2001. There is enough blame and credit to go around for a lot of people, including the public and personal spending habits.
So what then, is the role of the president? I am not sure, really. But I think politics in the end is a lot about symbolism. Parties and people tend to mean for us what we think they mean. Our lives, our histories, our cultures will determine what we see and what we hear when politicians speak, and the partisanship has become deeply ingrained, not just here, but abroad. In the German newspapers I read, Hilary Clinton had been anointed as the savior of trans-Atlantic relations because many in Europe had a perception, based on little information, of who they think she is and who they think her Husband was. What I hope for in the next president is someone who can help beat back some of the partisanship domestically, and the unilateralism internationally.
My opinion on who will do that best changes from day to day. On practical matters, I think McCain is probably the most qualified, but I am afraid he will have to give in too much to the extreme right of his party to maintain their support. Obama strikes me as simplistic and naive. He seldom speaks about policies with any sort of specifics, but when he does, most of his ideas seem wrong-headed to me. Although I would like to get our forces out of Iraq, doing so too quic
kly will cause, in my opinion, more harm than good. Hopefully some of the rumblings that he is not as dogmatic on this point as he sounds are accurate. McCain's ideas, even though they were unpopular when he proposed them, seem to be at least partly responsible for the improved situation there. In the end, I suspect there will be little practical difference in McCain's and Obama's policies.However, as a figurehead, as a symbol, I think Obama is a far superior choice. Electing him would demonstrate to the world and to ourselves that we are working to overcome our racist tendencies, that we really are an egalitarian society in a way that is so absent in so many other countries. I think his relative youth, his optimism, and his overall image of innovation present an opportunity for a fresh start and a change from business as usual--IF-- and it's a big if--if he can avoid pandering too much to the extreme left of his party in his own effort to gain support. His choice of Joe Biden as VP does not give me much hope in this respect (although Biden is better than the indescribably divisive choice Hillary Clinton would have been).
So I have not yet decided if I will vote for a symbol or experience this time around. My only comfort is I think both choices this year are miles ahead of any of the candidates from the last 16 years. I wanted McCain in 2000, and I think things would have been much better now if we had had him instead of Bush. But Obama represents something that no Bush or Clinton or Kerry or Gore, (or Dole for that matter) has offered.
In the end I am optimistic. Our system is far from perfect, but compared to most countries, it is pretty good, and America has the potential to do great things. I suspect that Obama will win with or without my vote. (In Utah a vote for Obama is not likely to make it through the electoral college--but like I said in the beginning, that doesn't matter to me) and even when he makes mistakes, the beauty of our system is that he cannot make them forever. Mugabe and Putin would not be able to cling to power here. So our weakness is our strength: Term limits and elections mean politicians are incapable of caring about consequences beyond the next election cycle. But term limits also guarantee that Obama, good or bad, will not be around forever.
Montag, 18. August 2008
Ein Flugzeug!
Here is one of the things I have been doing this summer.
When I was a student at BYU, I started participating in 1/2A pylon races with the Utah Valley Aeromodelers. I managed to crash my plane shortly before leaving for Cincinnati, and none of the clubs I have been associated with since then in Ohio, Missouri, or Texas have done any racing.
But when I got back to Utah, I eventually decided (this summer) to look back into the racing. When I drove up to the sod farm in eagle mountain where the races were, I saw four planes in the air, and I could feel my adrenaline levels start to rise, and I knew I had to get back into it. It is, as one of the more colorful guys in the club puts it "maybe the most fun you can have with your clothes on." That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is an insane amount of fun. Part of the enjoyment for me is designing and building the planes from scratch, tweaking the designs of others to get just a little bit faster or better flying than the next guy.
As you can see, I have covered my plane to look like the thunderbirds, with a few modifications to account for the shape of the wing. I am really happy with how it looks. If you didn't take the time to read the rules I linked to, 1/2 A pylon races involves flying home-built remote controlled airplanes around a course made up of three pylons. Each race is ten laps, with a penalty lap if you cut inside one of the pylons. The engine can only be .049 cubic inch displacement, and the wing needs to have an area of at least 200 square inches. That is about it for rules. I am really looking forward to seeing how this one flies.
Here are a few more pictures:
This one is my with my oldest son, who sometimes shares my interest in airplanes, and will probably learn to fly before too long.
This picture shows one feature unique to my plane, the up-turned wing tips. I have no idea if it will help the flight or not, but they look cool, even if they were a real pain to cover. The markings are waterslip decals printed from my computer onto a special decal paper that you then spray with clear spray paint to protect the ink. This allows me to create custom decals in any size that I need. I hope the exhaust from the engine doesn't cause them to come off on the first flight.
Once I have flown, I will post an update on how well it flies.
Update: Having read my one reader's blog entry on hunting, I have to add that building a good airplane is a lot like writing too, in that it provides an outlet for my obsessive-compulsive need for attention to detail, the drive for exact precision and complete perfection. For instance, if you look at the bottom view (the one with the birds wings on it) you will notice that one wing is just slightly closer to the trailing edge than the other so that the markings are not quite symmetrical. This drive me batty, even though no one else will notice. But I know.
Building an airplane is exactly not like writing, however, in that I almost always know how I want the plane to turn out before I start. Writing is not like that for me.
Mittwoch, 7. Mai 2008
Freitag, 18. April 2008
So what am I doing with my life?
So I get this magazine from time to time called Deutschland. When you are a German professor, the publisher just sends it to you. When I thumbed through it the other night I noticed an article on up-and-coming young German authors. At the top of the list was Daniel Kehlmann and his Vermessung der Welt, the guy I am giving a presentation on next fall. But under his picture there was another one from Thomas von Steinaecker. I looked at the picture and thought, wait a minute, I know that guy. Thomas spent a year at the University of Cincinnati getting his master's degree (it took me three years at BYU). The guy even went to church with me once. At first I was surprised that he was a writer, and then I was happy for him that his first book has landed on the German best-seller list. But then I read that he wrote it at the same time he was finishing up his dissertation.
I barely survived writing my dissertation.
Sometimes I wonder how I manage to accomplish so little and what it is that is keeping me from becoming a writer like I have dreamed of doing since I was old enough to read books. So far it has always been and probably will continue to be "one of these days."
I barely survived writing my dissertation.
Sometimes I wonder how I manage to accomplish so little and what it is that is keeping me from becoming a writer like I have dreamed of doing since I was old enough to read books. So far it has always been and probably will continue to be "one of these days."
Freitag, 11. April 2008
How to spend a summer
Starting in about 2 weeks, I will be on summer vacation. Since the Study Abroad thing didn't work out, it will be the first time in about ten years that I have not either moved or taught a class, or both, during the summer. I have been thinking about how I want to spend it. I am afraid it will be all too easy to either A) waste the whole time, or B) set up so many projects that it feels like I never took any time off at all. Here are some of the things I could do with my time.
1. Write my RMMLA paper.
2. Prepare two previous RMMLA papers on Handke for publication.
3. Fly my plane more.
4. Finish repairs to my Mustang and fly it
5. Loose 10-15 pounds.
6. Ride at least 100 miles a week. (See above)
7. Swim twice or three times a week.
8. If I were to do the above two, why not train for a mini-triathalon?
9. Have my head examined for even thinking about a triathalon.
10. Read more books and less internet.
11. Sleep.
12. Prepare a better and more effective study abroad
13. Compose a viable proposal for getting myself to Germany next summer even if Study Abroad bonks out again.
14. Get a summer construction job to pay for a new garage.
15. Re-tile the basement bathroom.
16. Develop a tenure plan and a plan for the growth of the German Program at UVU.
17. Hang out in my sweats and mock my children as they still have to get up early and go to school. (at least through May).
I could do any or all of these but the best plans seldom all come about. If I were to do all of these, I think my summer would be a lot shorter. I do know that I plan on doing that last one though--at least a couple of mornings.
1. Write my RMMLA paper.
2. Prepare two previous RMMLA papers on Handke for publication.
3. Fly my plane more.
4. Finish repairs to my Mustang and fly it
5. Loose 10-15 pounds.
6. Ride at least 100 miles a week. (See above)
7. Swim twice or three times a week.
8. If I were to do the above two, why not train for a mini-triathalon?
9. Have my head examined for even thinking about a triathalon.
10. Read more books and less internet.
11. Sleep.
12. Prepare a better and more effective study abroad
13. Compose a viable proposal for getting myself to Germany next summer even if Study Abroad bonks out again.
14. Get a summer construction job to pay for a new garage.
15. Re-tile the basement bathroom.
16. Develop a tenure plan and a plan for the growth of the German Program at UVU.
17. Hang out in my sweats and mock my children as they still have to get up early and go to school. (at least through May).
I could do any or all of these but the best plans seldom all come about. If I were to do all of these, I think my summer would be a lot shorter. I do know that I plan on doing that last one though--at least a couple of mornings.
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