Notational

"The second requirement is a high tolerance for failure. Programming is the art of algorithm design..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:52:00 -0400

“The second requirement is a high tolerance for failure. Programming is the art of algorithm...

theparisreview: Manuscript page of John Dos Passos’s novel...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:39:00 -0400

theparisreview:

Manuscript page of John Dos Passos’s novel Midcentury.

could someone please reprint his books in this format?

"The more freedom we have, the less security. The more security, the less freedom. Total freedom..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:28:24 -0400

“The more freedom we have, the less security. The more security, the less freedom. Total...

fucktheory: Roots (click) I’ve read a good amount over the...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:25:20 -0400

fucktheory:

Roots

(click)

I’ve read a good amount over the years.

Once you’ve read a certain amount of material in the same vein or genre, it becomes harder and harder for that type of writing to surprise you, to shock you, to grab you by the neck and reorganize every idea in your head. There’s nothing wrong with that - it’s just how the mind works. This is equally true whether the material you’re reading is an endless series of romance or detective novels, or an endless series of academic essays in queer theory. You learn to appreciate craftsmanship; you might enjoy a particularly well-turned phrase; certain ideas stick with you. But that shock, that jolt that can happen when you first discover something - that tends to fade.

Given this inevitable consequences of habit on the workings of the mind, Eve Sedgwick’s work holds a special place in my heart for two reasons. The first and, frankly, more banal reason is that I read Between Men and The Epistemology of the Closet in quick succession right before I went off to university, and each of those books separately and together changed my thinking permanently.

Between Men introduced me to the idea - surprising to me at the time - that homophobia and violence against homosexuals is closely linked with and related to misogyny and violence against women. This was the first time I’d encountered the idea that the political investments of feminists and gay men might align in important ways; it was also the first time I’d encountered the idea of Foucauldian power - the notion that different oppressions and different identities might be organized in different ways by the same kind of structures or the same kind of socio-political pressure. Between Men, in other words, teaches its reader the danger in distinguishing unilaterally between closely-related phenomena.

The Epistemology of the Closet, meanwhile, worked in some ways to undo the lessons of Between Men; by generating a set of conceptual and critical tools for what she called anti-homophobic inquiry, Sedgwick not only played a key role in teaching me the value of strategic alliance but also the important of careful and rigorous distinction, the ways in which the presumption of identity and alliance can hide crucial linkages between forms of power, discourse, and oppression. The Epistemology of the Closet, in other words, teaches its reader the danger in unifying without reflection closely-related but fundamentally distinct phenomena.

That these two books complement rather than contradict each other is a testament to the brilliant refinement of Sedgwick’s mind, her concepts, and her intellectual project. Each of Sedgwick’s books takes risks, goes in unexpected directions, creates infinite possibilities at every turn. She was never afraid to change, to dare, to revise, and to me, that bravery - that self-reflexivity - is the most important mark of a true and committed critical thinker. There are many smart and insightful critics; there are far fewer brave critics, and in this regard, Sedgwick stood head and shoulders above the vast majority of her contemporaries.

But for me, the most incredible aspect of Sedgwick’s work as I sit and write about it today isn’t how brave it was in its day - that part is impressive, but boldness isn’t necessarily a testament for the ages. What’s incredible about these books, today, is that they haven’t lost a single iota of their ability to jolt, to excite, to inspire, and to challenge me. Gender Trouble, Of Grammatology, Ecrits…so many of the books that used to shock and awe me as an undergraduate have largely lost their effect. Many of them I’ve had to reject entirely. But Sedgwick never gets old, or dull, or predictable. Even the essays I’ve read 5-6 times still have the power to surprise and illuminate.

A key part of Sedgwick’s enduring appeal, to me, is how prescient she was; like most truly great thinkers, Sedgwick was light years ahead of the curve. Where so much ’90s queer theory is rapidly become quaint and even naive, the full implications of Sedgwick’s ideas are just beginning to unfold. So yes, yes to this article. We need Sedgwick’s insights and wisdom. We need them now more than ever. If you’re interested in the topics I write about, in the way I approach them, or in the kind of concepts I generate, you need to go read Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s work.

nevver: It’s complicated

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:13:44 -0400

anthonyzinonos.com

anthonyzinonos.com

anthonyzinonos.com

anthonyzinonos.com

nevver:

It’s complicated

gjmueller: Is Your State’s Highest-Paid Employee A Coach?...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:12:17 -0400

gjmueller:

Is Your State’s Highest-Paid Employee A Coach? (Probably)

You may have heard that the highest-paid employee in each state is usually the football coach at the largest state school. This is actually a gross mischaracterization: Sometimes it is the basketball coach.

Based on data drawn from media reports and state salary databases, the ranks of the highest-paid active public employees include 27 football coaches, 13 basketball coaches, one hockey coach, and 10 dorks who aren’t even in charge of a team.

thelearningbrain: If you’ve never tried Yasiv.com to discover...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:06:48 -0400

thelearningbrain:

If you’ve never tried Yasiv.com to discover new books based on ones you like, you should.

“I think a lot about what makes a strong female character. You...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:03:20 -0400

“I think a lot about what makes a strong female character. You know, movies and TV shows, these things have influence, my own website. So I think the question of “What makes a strong female character?”, often goes misinterpreted. And instead we get these two-dimensional superwomen, who maybe have one quality that’s played up a lot. Like, you know, a Catwoman type, or she plays her sexuality up a lot and it’s seen as power. But they’re not strong characters who happen to be female, they’re completely flat and they’re basically cardboard characters.
The problem with this is that then people expect women to be that easy to understand, and women are mad at themselves for not being that simple. When in actuality, women are complicated. Women are multifaceted. Not because women are crazy, but because people are crazy. And women happen to be people!”

-Tavi Gevinson for TEDTalks [x]

Photo

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:01:07 -0400

"Friedrich Nietzsche established the “declaring things dead” form, when—after trying about 400 other..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:58:22 -0400

“Friedrich Nietzsche established the “declaring things dead” form, when—after trying about 400...

havesexwithghosts: “The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin” by...

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:55:35 -0400

havesexwithghosts:

“The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin” by William S. Burroughs

thepaintedwrd: Jessica Labatte The Internet 2008archival inkjet...

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:52:59 -0400

thepaintedwrd:

Jessica Labatte

The Internet

2008
archival inkjet print
50 x 40 inches

Photo

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:50:57 -0400

Library of the Printed Web: Inventory

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:46:05 -0400

Library of the Printed Web: Inventory

explore-blog: The pattern underlying [the creative act] is the...

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:43:19 -0400

explore-blog:

The pattern underlying [the creative act] is the perceiving of a situation or idea, L, in two self-consistent but habitually incompatible frames of reference, M1 and M2. The event L, in which the two intersect, is made to vibrate simultaneously on two different wavelengths, as it were. While this unusual situation lasts, L is not merely linked to one associative context, but bisociated with two.

I have coined the term ‘bisociation’ in order to make a distinction between the routine skills of thinking on a single ‘plane,’ as it were, and the creative act, which … always operates on more than one plane. The former can be called single-minded, the latter double-minded, transitory state of unstable equilibrium where the balance of both emotion and thought is disturbed.

Arthur Koestler’s seminal theory of “bisociation” explaining how creativity in humor, art, and science works.

explore-blog: May 20, 1990: Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill...

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:37:33 -0400

explore-blog:

May 20, 1990: Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson’s remarkable Kenyon College commencement address on creative integrity.

explore-blog: How creativity works – associative vs....

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:36:44 -0400

explore-blog:

How creativity works – associative vs. bisociative thought, or habit vs. originality

"I typically refer to the IAC sale as “the worst business decision of my life.” I’m not sure IAC is..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:33:27 -0400

“I typically refer to the IAC sale as “the worst business decision of my life.” I’m not sure...

"Yún means “cloud” in chinese language, as the purpose of this board to make it simple to connect to..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:31:41 -0400

“Yún means “cloud” in chinese language, as the purpose of this board to make it simple to...

"Politics probably cuts in as an agent of temporal disorientation somewhere in the 10-20 year range:..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:26:37 -0400

“Politics probably cuts in as an agent of temporal disorientation somewhere in the 10-20 year...