Making sense of nonsense

So a new paper comes out saying the novels are better than reports for helping people to understand problems in faraway places, etc. And I bookmark it, thinking that I’ll get around to reading it sooner or later.

I still haven’t read the thing yet, but it certainly has been on my mind since Thursday morning, when I woke up to the news of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. I tried following the news via Twitter but gave up quickly, and since the initial news reports weren’t making too much sense, I just sort of tuned them all out.

Luckily for my understanding of the situation, I’ve been a huge fan of contemporary Indian literature since I took a class in college almost ten years ago. Immersing myself in the Mumbai of Salman Rushdie, Vikram Chandra, and others, I feel like I know a little bit more about the city than I would’ve otherwise. The Mumbai of my imagination is positively teeming with life, like New York City with fewer traffic laws.

Driving home from my parents’ house yesterday morning, I listened to the BBC World Service’s reportage from the coastal slums of Mumbai. A woman talked about seeing an inflatable boat with six men come ashore, and about them telling her not to tell anyone. A horrifying thing to hear about, indeed, and one that could come straight out of Sacred Games. I was disturbed to hear the story, but at the same time felt comfortable with the geographic and cultural references.

On MetaFilter, DaDaDaDave commented that

I haven’t read The Kite Runner, but it’s certainly possible for a novel to be hokey, melodramatic and simplistic while also contributing to readers’ sympathetic understanding of the world. No one (well, almost no one) would put Uncle Tom’s Cabin or The Jungle on a list of the world’s greatest novels, but on a list of novels with the greatest and most positive social impact they would rank pretty high.

I’ve been reading some fairly crappy sentimental novels from the early 19th century for the class I’m taking, and every time I want to just give up–the writing is horrible! the characters are flat!–I have to remember that sometimes books don’t have to be aesthetically good or artistically awesome to have a point.

It seems obvious, I guess, but I think that the best we can do–”we,” of course, being English teachers, writers, and lovers of literature–is to spread the word that reading actually IS fundamental.  Even fluff like the Twilight series (I’m on book #3 and can feel my beard falling out and replacing itself with glitter) has something to say about how people work.  I’ve read a lot recently saying that the books are actually pro-abstinence fables, which may be true, though I certainly didn’t pick that up in the first couple of books.  Maybe I need to read my teen fiction a little more carefully.

Oh, and if you’re looking for something uplifting and fun for a late-November day, I finally got around to downloading and listening to the mixtape by The Very Best. Their remix of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” almost makes me not hate myself for buying the Vampire Weekend CD.

Filed under: Matters Educational, Matters Literary, Matters Musical & Artistic

Cousin P

Cousin P, originally uploaded by One Ping Only.

This photo’s beginning to grow on me. It’s from the same session as the other studio shot.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Let’s nerd out a bit, shall we?

So of course on the day when I show my students Star Wars, I come across a post by Ta-Nahesi Coates about race and Dungeons & Dragons:

It’s a funny thing to be a black kid into fantasy. Most of this stuff is ripped from Tolkien, and as much as I love LOTR, there is, indeed, something disquieting about the total whiteness of the movies.

Coates’s post doesn’t say much more than that, but the comments are pretty interesting.

Just when I think I can get away from it, my geek flag has to start flying again.

Filed under: Matters Literary, Matters Metaphysical & Philosophical

Review: Crystal Castles’ “Crystal Castles”

“Wow,” a friend wrote to me when he heard Crystal Castles for the first time, “I can’t believe you’d listen to stuff like this.” I have wondered the same thing over the last few weeks, as I’ve played the bands first and only album, released earlier this year. I bought the album after I saw some footage of singer Alice Glass performing “Alice Practice” at the Glastonbury festival this summer, a spinning and pogoing dance that would pull in anyone who has any interest in live shows.

But that’s not enough to explain it. The album is hardly represented by that one track, which sits on top of the others like an angry dog protecting the home it’s made among the dust heaps of electro beats and broken samples. Something more attracts me to “Crystal Castles.” Being an urban ‘youth’ myself (I’m at least half honest there), I always find sounds that make me feel a cold city space draw me in. Since I heard my first Joy Division song at least 15 years ago, I’ve loved that sterility in music.

Still, there is a lot of stuff that would qualify on those grounds, and much of it wouldn’t require me to buy an album in which I’m yet to grasp a single lyric – usually a killer for me with new music. Certainly the album is uneven sometimes too, sometimes too digestably smooth for my liking, occasionally even sounding like a very shiny backing track to some unspeakable pop hit to come. It remains a mystery, but I’m digging deeper into the album, and my own mind, to see if I can make sense of it.

Perhaps it’s the digging that counts. I bought another album recently that shall remain nameless, which I got into almost immediately, but was left with the uneasy feeling that it was too quick to win me over. I don’t want to be treated that well by new music, or I start to choke on the sound as I gulp it down. Crystal Castles doesn’t give me that easy, comfortable recognition of ‘music I like,’ and perhaps in the end, I’ll decide I don’t. The process the band has put me through though has rewards too, and I thank them for that.

Nick Parker writes the weekly blog “Nick Sounds Off,” for those that will listen.

Filed under: Matters Musical & Artistic

Shameless plugs

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably not a broke former hedge-funder (if you are, though, greetings!). You might not have a ton of money to throw around, but since this is the season when many demnads are about to made on your wallet, here are two really great ways to spend a little bit of your cash with a couple of people I love.

First, my sister, Sara, is a teacher in an urban school in the middle of Boston. She loves her job, is absolutely crazy about her kids, and is, I’m sure, the best elementary math teacher in New England. I can’t even begin to explain how proud I am of her.

She’s using DonorsChoose to raise money to buy a table for her students to work at. Now, at the school where I work, we can get whatever tables we want. There’s extra stuff everywhere. Hell, we had a copy machine sitting in the hall for two weeks at the beginning of the year. We have almost a thousand computers, musical instruments, SmartBoards, you name it. Sara, however, needs to raise a couple hundred bucks for a little table for her kids. Click here and throw her some dough, aight?

Once you’ve done that and you want to reward yourself, buy a necklace from Erica. Seriously. If you’re a girl and you’re into this sort of thing, you can’t do much better. And if you’re a guy, buy one for your special ladyfriend, mother, sister, or whoever. Buy one for Sara, even, so she can show it to her students up in Boston. 10% of all Erica’s profits go to the Save the Music Foundation, too, so you’ll really feel good about yourself.

Filed under: Matters Educational, Matters Musical & Artistic

Back from the studio

Terryl, originally uploaded by One Ping Only.

Yesterday’s session was a success–we laid down the instrumental tracks for the first three songs of the album. Dan was a great engineer/producer–hopefully we’ll continue to work with him in the future.

Right now I’m so pumped up about this band I can barely focus on anything else. Unfortunately, I have to get back to my grad school work right now.

Filed under: Matters Musical & Artistic

Stu-stu-studio!

The Terryl Lee Band, originally uploaded by One Ping Only.

We‘re heading into the studio today to knock out the first couple of songs for our album. The weather’s not cooperating–I’m looking out the window and seeing what looks like a shallow, though fast-moving, river on the sidewalk. We’ll drive safely and huddle in, and I’ll be bringing some homemade (though not by me) mandelbrot for the boys.

Filed under: Matters Musical & Artistic

Tinariwen

There are times when this is the best music in the world.  Tonight is one of those times.  Enjoy.

Filed under: Matters Musical & Artistic

A weekend away

Tannery Brook, originally uploaded by One Ping Only.

Just got back from a much-needed weekend away from everything.
Up in Woodstock, NY, there’s not much to do aside from walking around, eating really good locally-produced food, and reading, all of which are things I enjoy. It was one of those weekends that make a young man-about-town forget all the stress of the past couple of weeks–grades being due, gigs needing to be played, elections needing to be worried about, projects needing to be presented. It was quiet, and even the rain wasn’t a problem. I don’t know about you, but rain tends to chill me out a bit–I know I don’t want to go out and do much of anything when it’s raining, so I stay in and do nothing, which is sometimes needed.
Anyway, I’m back now, and immediately am confronted by college admissions essays to read/review, recommendations to write, projects to grade, and books to read. I guess nothing gold can stay…

Filed under: Soujourns

One day after

Picture 038, originally uploaded by The Takeaway.

How long do you think it’s going to take for it all to sink in? This was the first time my guy won an election–my guy since the 2004 Democratic Convention, when he made that now-famous speech, my guy since the beginning of primary season, my guy who was the impetus for my Democratic registration (giving up my longstanding Independent status).

And what, really, do we do if/when he turns out to be just another politician and a disappointment? How do we handle that?

Filed under: Matters Political