Sonic Humanities

 A colleague Araceli and I are proposing a seminar at our Humanities Center on Sonic Humanities. I wasn't sure what that was, but the phrase popped into my head and when I googled it, there was very little. The only place I found it was in the description of a podcast. My colleague is a little hipper to these things than I am. We'll see if it gets approved in the competition, and whether we get a lot of interest.  It's worth a shot.  

Tulsa

 My girlfriend wrote an article on the Tulsa massacre. 

Anyway, I  remember reading about it first in a book of poems by Ron Padgett. Just in the middle of one of his books of poems, there is account of the events, something which is totally surprising given the mostly humorous nature of his works. Ron is from Tulsa, and he and Joe Brainard, with some help from Berrigan, started the Tulsa branch of the New York School poets. Berrigan is somehow involved, despite being from Providence. These writers ended up in New York. 

Ron P. also has a book called Among the Blacks. Half of it is a translation of a text by Roussel with this title, and the other half a memoir of race relations in Tulsa. It is a kind of strange juxtaposition, similar to the account of the race riot in his book of poems. He also has a memoir of his father, who was an Oklahoma bootlegger, after the country as a whole had revoked prohibition but some parts remained dry, including Tulsa and maybe all of the state. (Tulsa Tough). Another favorite Padgett book of mine is called Creative Reading. Padgett also wrote the poems for Jim Jarmusch's Paterson.  

It is an improbable path. To start reading New York school poetry in high school in Tulsa OK and then to become that kind of poet. You couldn't invent that kind of story in a novel because it is not verisimilar.   

Anyway, check out Beth's and forgive the digression.  

Diversity

 I was reading about how to write (and not write) a diversity statement. I won't have to write one myself, probably, but what strikes me is how it asks the candidate to construct their subjectivity according to certain discursive rules. Literally, that is what it is. The institution (which has already admitted it is white dominated, in a lot of cases), then asks the subject to define themselves in preordained terms. For example, I have read it is not enough to say "I am [name of minority group]."  You must also articulate that identity in particular ways. Certain kinds of diversity don't count, only those defined in terms of under-representation, and the minority subject must understand themselves in the correct framework in order to demonstrate understanding of the issues. An understanding driven by the interests of corporate diversity consultants. That puts an added burden on the minority subject, who must also be able to explain what kind of a minority subject they are and how that furthers an institutional agenda. Where is Foucault when you need him? Or Althusser? 

As white guy, you can't just say you don't discriminate. You can't be too eager, or you will be the white savior. International and immigrant experience doesn't count, because the only relevant perspective is US race relations.     

I would feel insincere writing one of these. I guess I could say I am a specialist on a gay, Spanish speaking poet, that I've mentored women, gays, latinos, etc... My daughter is bi-racial, too. It just seems incredibly self-serving, because it's not something I congratulate myself on. It seems unremarkable rather than meritorious in any way. The person reading it would say that it's the typical white guy looking for points in his favor, but who doesn't really buy in to the exact brand of hyperconscious anti-racism of the past few years. And they would be right. 

***

An example. My friend, XXXX, is chicano but with Anglo-sounding name because of his Anglo father.  In MFA writing program he tried to study with YYYY, a poet of a different, also non-white ethnicity. This poet wanted my friend to write a certain kind of chicano poems that didn't really reflect my friend's experience or sensibility. It did not go well for my friend, who had to drop out of the program.   

***

Another example: Englishman interviewing in my department. He couldn't answer the question about how he positions himself in relation to indigenous languages and the people who speak them, in the expected way at least. He was brilliant, but not fluent in American academic diversity language. He actually would have brought viewpoint diversity to our group. It was explicitly said: "He doesn't think like us." 

Loss

 I lose objects--not with great frequency but often enough to cause me some concern. I rarely leave home, and when I do, I bring very few objects with me. Few people enter my house, and the loss of objects is not correlated with their visits. If that's what you were thinking. 

My place of residence is small, with few places where objects can be effectively hidden. I have an office in the university I rarely use. Objects can be lost there, too, but not if I don't go there. 

A book, for example can be concealed on a shelf of books. It is not the needle in the haystack that is difficult to find (contrary to popular wisdom), but the hay in the haystack. I mean, of course, a particular, unique piece of hay, indistinguishable in almost all respects from the others. I have lost books this way, though once in a while a book will reveal itself to me again in the exact place it ought to be. 

Other misplaced objects sometimes appear. Some do not appear and eventually the pain of their loss subsides. 

Song

 Bird song is not even a metaphor: it is a catachresis, like when we talk about the "teeth" of a saw or the "legs" of a table. But is not even that. It is more like the word phrase or meter, words used for two separate but analogous things, without one being a metaphor for the other. That is: we view the teeth of a saw as a metaphorical extension of animal or human teeth to something else, but with bird song, this is not a metaphorical extension of human song, but song itself. 

The bright red of the male cardinal. The female cardinal is attracted to it, and we like it too. In other words, we appreciate the beauty of something that already has a functional beauty of its own. 

May 26

 Dickcissel, goldfinch, bunting, cowbird, heron, egret, sparrow, cardinal, wren, blackbird, swallow, grackle... 

And the usual birdfeeder birds... 

To be able to identify 40 birds is to know a few hundred things about birds. If you have seen a bird, you know where you have seen it, what it was doing, how often you see it, whether you see it alone or in flocks. You might also know a few other random facts about it, like its relation to humans (is it popular or hated? what does it symbolize?).  

I love this style:

 A la atención de: Jonathan Mayhew. Buenas tardes. 

Soy J,,,  presidente de la Fundación y te escribo para agradecerte en nombre de la Fundación y en el mío propio, tu disponibilidad y apoyo al colaborar en las actividades de homenaje y recuerdo a [nombre del poeta]. Actividades, que como sabes, tendrán lugar el próximo día 14 de junio, organizadas por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y coordinadas por el profesor _______ ..

Tanto la Fundación ....  como la Universidad de ... , en el marco de los acuerdos suscritos entre estas dos instituciones, también colaboran y participan en las actividades de recuerdo y homenaje al poeta.

 

Deseo manifestarte, que me tienes a tu disposición y si me haces llegar tu dirección postal, te haremos llegar algunos libros y publicaciones sobre la obra de  [nombre del poeta].

 

Muchas gracias por todo

atentamente