The Ukraine Stupidity

 It's not that complex. It's not good to overthink these things.  It's not NATO's fault. It isn't because there were Nazis in Ukraine. Those explanations, offered by far left and far right people, and idiotic centrists, make absolutely no sense. 

I read in the nation that Russian invasion of Ukraine is not real threat to "Europe," but where the hell is Ukraine?  It is in Europe, last time I checked. 

Some on the left want to apologize for Putin, because???  nostalgia for Soviet times?  On the right, because, stick it to Biden? 

 I heard that Chomsky was saying that only Trump was offering a good solution here, Trump, who Chomsky was very recently calling the most evil man ever in the history of the world.   

Address

 In English, miraculously second-person pronouns are gender neutral. The pronoun we use is "you," for both singular and plural. It is thus impossible to misgender a person by "addressing" them with the wrong pronoun. I have had conversations with people for a long time and never had to commit to what gender they are by my use of pronouns. I suppose "you guys" is a vernacular plural pronoun gendered masculine, but you can avoid that one if you want.  

In Spanish class, I use "tú," which is also gender neutral.  Amazing! The gender enters into "vosotros/vosotras" but we tend to use ustedes. Usted comes from "vuestra merced" and thus was originally feminine in gender, but used to address men as well. 

There, right wing and left wing people, I have solved your imaginary pronoun problems.  Just address everyone as "you." 

Astoundingly, the first person is also gender neutral in English and Spanish. So the pronouns I use for myself at home are I / me / mine.  I bet that is true for you as well. 

You literally cannot address someone in the third person. By doing so, you are converting the third person pronoun into a second person pronoun. If I said "how is she doing today?" and referring to you, you would be confused.  

Pinball 1973

 I reread Murakami's first, "kitchen table novels" on the trip to DC.  They reveal some talent, without being great. The characters are rather aimless and passive, and the rhythmic punctuation of the narrative is done with smoking and drinking.  This gets monotonous. The translation captures the aimless nonchalance of what I am assuming is the same tone in the original. Reading in English is certainly better (for me) than in Catalan, since the English translator can get the tone that way. Either the Catalan translators use a neutral tone, or I am incapable of hearing tonal nuances in Catalan. 

I also started Kafka on the Shore, which I found in Christina's bedroom in my brother's house, where I was staying.  (That's the guest bedroom now.) I have a copy of this novel in my office so I will pick it up next time I go in, along with the rest of my Murakami novels. 

Reading a book ten years later (after one's initial reading) means two things: one is a different person now, and one has forgotten a lot of it. 

Brotherly

 My brother and I don't always talk, and have sometimes gone years without seeing each other. When we are together, we get along great. When I listen to myself on video recordings, I recognize intonations and facial expressions that we both have. We are the same height, both have PhDs, though in vastly different fields. (His is quantitative, and he works in private consulting, after some years in academia and government.) He is skinnier than I am, though that used to be the reverse. 

We have some similar hobbies. We began to play piano without talking to each other about it, within a few years of each other. He plays Goldberg Variations; I play jazz and Mompou and Chopin. He started birdwatching recently; I started a year a go.  He has an expensive camera to take bird pictures; I don't take many pictures, and only have my phone as camera.  (We went on my last trip to DC [this week] to a place where there were lots of cedar waxwings and other song and aquatic birds. 

We both run, though I haven't been running recently, and he has done a marathon this year. We both like Samuel Beckett.   

 I left the church early; he has lapsed more recently. None of our daughters is religious. One of his, Chris, is about the same age as my Julia.  

In short, it is like having someone who is different enough to be contrasting in some ways, but with underlying commonalities. I know this sounds rather banal to point out, since that is the expected result of two people of the same gender sharing common genetics and upbringing. 

Wylie

  I have a new favorite painter, Rose Wylie. I don't know that she is my favorite of all time, but she is my favorite yesterday and today.  I like the exuberance and fearlessness of her work. This seemed to be what I am after nowadays, or should be after.      

I haven't seen any of it in person, but I'm sure I would like it even more in person, because the paintings are very big.  

1Q84

 I'm reading this novel by Murakami.  It is a bit slow in pace, but the plotting is interesting, the sense of anticipation, as things come gradually together. I'm using it to practice my Catalan. (I'm also reading a book in Italian on the pandemic, by Roberto Esposito.)

The Catalan is becoming almost transparent to me. It's kind of funny that to say yacht, in Catalan, is iot. 

 

Triadic Memories

 Something told me to listen to Triadic Memories, an hour-long piano piece by Morton Feldman. I've looked at the score and I think I could play most of it without struggle. I think I even "understand" it. 

You can try to follow it, as a slow, slow, plotless narration. Or you can have it in the background as soothing yet spooky meditation.  Or anything in between.  It is not particularly discordant or jarring, though of course most people do not really count Feldman as one of their favorites. I'm saying this because classical music is already a minority taste, and within that contemporary music of this type is a minority of the minority.  

I don't know what told me to listen to this.  Some resonance that the word triadic had for me, thinking of the word and then remembering the piece. The triad is the basic chord structure, so three notes, root, a third (either major or minor), and then the fifth (perfect, diminished, or augmented).