Friday, December 29, 2017

"The God Delusion"

-by richard dawkins
2006
Dawkins, an ethologist and biologist, was Oxford's professor for public understanding of science from 1995-2008. The most succinct measure of his brilliance is that this towering tome isn't even his best work ("The Selfish Gene" or "The Ancestor's Tale" claim that honor, perhaps). The "world's preeminent atheist" lays out the myriad reasons why religious faith is untenable, as it is simultaneously a war against most of humanity, and the very notion of free, unbiased knowledge itself (to say nothing of the human self-loathing at the core). He walks though every defense of faith, from psychological to sociological, and dismantles each one. Nor does he leave the de-pantsed believer nothing to live for, as he demonstrates that human-based morality and universal wonder can match or outdo any godly wonders. He answers every critique of atheism, and delves into the origins and psychology of religion. He offers not condescension, but compassion. His writing flows from logic to science to personal stories both tragic and hysterical.
And the second-most succinct measure of his brilliance?
He has a ship named for him in Star Trek.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

"Monty Python & Philosophy"

(Nudge Nudge, Think Think!)
-edited by gary l. hardcastle & george a. reisch
2006
A collection of essays from philosophers, about the resonances of philosophy in the universe of Monty Python...and not merely philosophical thought, but specific references to (and comments upon) differing schools of philosophy, both ancient and modern. Some writers (ahem) have gone so far as to suggest that a person's reaction to Python is one of the most foolproof, reliable measures of intelligence. Whether or not that's so, genuine philosophers seem to have no immunity to Python magic, as many of these writers credit Python with inspiring their careers. The essays range from fantastic to middling to contractually obligatory (i'm looking at you, 3, 9, and 13). The most brilliant by far are "Against Transcendentalism: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life and Buddhism", by stephen t. asma, and "Madness in Monty Python's Flying Circus", by michelle spinelli. Asma's piece is simply one of the most piercing and concise summations of buddhism i've ever come across. What does that have to do with Python? A whole lot, actually. And spinelli's contribution is an historical deconstruction of the evolution of "madness" in western society. Reading it will make you understand yet another aspect of how far our society has strayed from any semblance of health.
A wonderful read. And not just because you'll finally learn every single lyric to the bruce's "Philosopher's Song".

Monday, December 18, 2017

"NurtureShock"

(New Thinking About Children)
-by po bronson & ashley merryman
2009
A windstorm that blows through traditional attitudes on child psychology (and by "traditional", i mean the stuff that is currently being employed by parents and schools everywhere). Bronson and merryman tabulate reams of new research that show us where we've been going astray. Heaping unqualified praise on children early and often may make them insecure under-performers - far better to praise effort ("mind is muscle"). Children get one hour less sleep than they did thirty years ago - which may be making them dumber, unhappier, fatter, plus that ADHD thing! Children in diverse schools are LESS likely to have a cross-racial friendship, traditional strategies to promote honesty only make children better liars, and educational media films for young children make them more aggressive and controlling (AND fail to improve their language growth...but now we know what does). Oh yes, and almost everything we thought about school gifted programs seems to be wrong. The research from chapter 7 shows that rebellion is a necessary function of teen brain growth, and that their argumentativeness with parents is a sign of respect...though that's the only chapter of which i'm not sure the researchers were asking the right questions. They were ignoring the sociological effects of raising children in a fear-based society of alienation. The authors themselves toss out one huge blind spot bias, asserting that natural teen sexuality is "bad", and to be repressed. But by and large, this brilliant book is guaranteed to turn much of what you thought you knew about parenting on its head.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

dear richard

Hello richard,
Stray thoughts that swirl...did you ever see the chris rock documentary "Good Hair"? It's a cutting (ha) investigation of black wimyn and hair. He interviews maya angelou, and she says that she spent her life refusing to straighten - until she turned seventy, that is! And chris avoids the obvious question - "Why did you start?" It made me pull my hair out (ha)! Did he feel too intimidated to ask?
Or maybe he did ask, but the answer ended up on the cutting room (ha) floor.
There is, by the way, a very good reason for why i was so taken with the chapelle method of dealing with the n word. I remember the most painful compliment i ever received - a sweet old lady told me she was so impressed that i never curse.
It wasn't true...i use "profanity" less than many, but i use it. And more to the point, intellectually i rejected the idea that words can be automatically bad. Any word can be good or bad, depending on intent. But to call a word automatically bad, is to give that word power over our emotions. It allows words to control us, rather than the other way around.
Just because i think things through, doesn't make me right. I'm open to being convinced that the chapelle method is wrong. But "blind spot" is a harsh way to describe what feels like a minuscule difference in tactics. Let's say that you and i and chris all decided in our youth that we needed to have a book in our heads, "How to Fight Racism". Over the course of our lives, our individual books have grown and changed. One chapter of these books would be "How to fight the language of racism". There are at least ten subsets of that chapter, and i suspect we agree on nine of them. We even agree on the word in general - in at least 99.9999% of social situations, that word has no place (in that regard, i'm a lot closer to your position than many in the black community).
I'm not saying the piece i wrote should be celebrated by the world. Maybe it just can't do what i intended it to do, in this world at this time. When i swing, i swing big. It's one of my strengths, and one of my weaknesses.
But i'm just saying, the racists of the world would do cartwheels to learn that chris is tearing me down because he and i disagree on a subset of a subset of a subset, when the far more important point is that he and i both hold the same book aloft.
Okay, enough release.
Thank you again for being there,
wrob

Friday, December 8, 2017

writer banned from open mic

(Note: since i'm the subject of this news release, i'm forced to interview myself. Don't worry, i won't go easy on me.)

San Francisco, Haight Ashbury
December 8, 2017
-A newly-arrived entertainer in the Bay area has been banned from the weekly open mic at Bound Together, the anarchist bookstore on Haight Avenue. Wrob, a writer/public speaker who hails from New York City and an island in the Gulf of Mexico, gave a performance last night that dealt with racial issues. While the story, a semi-fictional tale ostensibly about the development of wimyn's undergarments in England in the 19th century, was well-received, the bookstore's MC informed wrob (who doesn't use his last name as a protest against patriarchy) afterwards that he was never to come to Bound Together again. We asked wrob what happened.
NAKED MEADOW: Wrob, what happened?
WROB: I'm not quite sure.
NM: Tell us about the piece you read.
WROB: It uses humor to deal with issues of race. It's called "The Knicker Wars", and on the surface, it's about the development of knickers in England. At first, they were two separate leggings tied together at the waist, until the forces of religious conservatism decided that crotchless panties contributed to moral decay. Taking that as a starting point, i made up a culture war pitting libertines against prudes - in other words, the knicker-haters against the knicker-lovers. Obviously, i'm invoking the dreaded "N" word. The story's humor operates on multiple levels. I'm pointing up the ridiculousness of racism, the ridiculousness of letting words control our emotions...and of course the ridiculousness of sexual repression. The piece is about being able to laugh at ourselves in the face of insanities and inhumanities. And freeing ourselves from the tyranny of words and labels.
NM: Had you performed there before?
WROB: Yes, twice. I've been in the city a little over a month, and have performed at many open mics. It's been wonderful, and before last night i'd left only a trail of conspicuously happy responses.
NM: Had you performed this piece?
WROB: Only a couple times in Florida, to fine (if occasionally confused) responses. And let me stress, i have no doubt that the rev responded with the best of intentions. My humor can be complex and challenging. Sometimes that's the point - using the power of words to bump people out of their comfort zones, to force them to look at an issue from a different angle. Or just give them permission to laugh at something awful. If you can laugh at something, you strip away some of its power. This piece dances on a HUGE emotional button, and i have much faith in the rev's intentions.
NM: The rev?
WROB: At this open mic, we perform under alternate names. The rev, the MC, is a fantastic performer and writer. He's far from conservative. I had hopes of becoming friends with him.
NM: What name were you performing under?
WROB: Bonobo X.
NM: And the rev thought "The Knicker Wars" was offensive?
WROB: Apparently.
NM: Racist?
WROB: Apparently.
NM: What had he thought of your other work?
WROB: He'd already booked me as a featured speaker (now cancelled), and spoken with me about co-heading artistic projects with him.
NM: Tell me more about the crowd's response last night.
WROB: A performer knows when they have an audience, and i had 'em. When i finished and walked back to my seat, amid the applause someone in the front row (a person of color) jumped up and hugged me. It was humbling. But again, it's challenging material. I get that it might rub anyone the wrong way, depending on a million circumstances. I don't know what realities brought the rev to that moment in his life. I have complete faith that he was trying to do good. I just never imagined my first lenny bruce moment would be in an anarchist bookstore!
NM: Were you nervous performing the piece in front of a "person of color"?
WROB: That's why i chose it! I saw multiple people of color in attendance, which isn't always the case, and i was excited. It felt like the perfect choice.
NM: When did the rev tell you his feelings?
WROB: Right after my set, he asked me outside. I honestly thought he was going to lay some compliment on me he wasn't comfortable doing in front of everyone. When he started talking, it was like i'd stepped into the twilight zone.
NM: How do you feel now?
WROB: Sad. Stunned...unsure how i got zero benefit of the doubt...his backlash was almost savage. I think he must have felt horribly backed into some corner.
NM: Has this made you doubt your material?
WROB: Just this one piece? Possibly. I mean, i don't doubt its intent, but maybe it doesn't achieve what i want it to. It was the first real audience i'd ever done it for.
NM: If you were black, might the rev have judged you differently?
WROB: That's a brilliant question.
NM: Well, we didn't just fall off the turnip truck.
WROB: Yeah, maybe. It's so hard though...i mean, i myself did that just a few questions ago! I identified that person who jumped up to hug me as a "person of color". I reduced a humyn to their skin. It can be almost impossible to free yourself from the tyranny of labels.
NM: So what now?
WROB: Now...i'll just try to manifest patience and love.
==================
When i asked wrob to describe himself as a writer, he said "the love child of twain, thoreau, lenny, and simone de beauvoir". I asked whether he intends to keep on performing, and he sure as hell hopes so. I asked whether he would do "The Knicker Wars" again, and he asked whether i knew any other anarchist bookstores.

Monday, December 4, 2017

hall and oates

Ah, the fickle finger of fortune, the prevaricating pointer of popularity...
Okay, i'm gilding the lilly. Yes, john oates and daryl hall's reputation went from 80s monolith to 90s nobodies. Perhaps never quite as great as their glory...but it's also fair to say that their fall from grace wasn't merit-based. Dedicated musicians who earned their gold records the hard way, with their first ten albums producing just three hits. They went from playing stadiums for a year in the middle of the 70s, back to doing the clubs, until their monster hits started rolling in 1980. They wrote their own songs, found a unique sound (the merging of, well, rock and soul), and gave us one of pop music's all-time pure voices.
The impetus for this best-of was mr. oates' new memoir, which reads like something a teenager would write for his grandmother. But i was inspired to listen to their whole canon, including many albums i'd not heard. Never brilliant, but often dandy - do you have any idea how hard it is to write just ONE tune that leaves people humming it the next day? By my count, they did so thirty times (plus a few more as solo artists). And their best albums, by my not-so-humble measure, may surprise you. Lift that stylus!
HALL AND OATES GREATEST ALBUMS
"Abandoned Luncheonette" (1973)
Blue-eyed folk? Produced by arif mardin and inspired by the decade of dylan, so smooth and sweet.
STANDOUT TRACKS: "When the Morning Comes", "Las Vegas Turnaround", "She's Gone"
"Livetime" (1978)
Their first live album, recorded at Hershey Park. It tanked. More loose and light-hearted than a stadium show.
"Sacred Songs" (1980, daryl hall solo)
Recorded in 1977 and deemed uncommercial by their label, it was only released after three years of pressure. Produced by robert fripp of King Crimson, it's sonically startling. And daryl has never sounded better.
"Voices" (1980)
In terms of their career, the big bam boom, and the first time they produced themselves.
STANDOUT TRACKS: "Kiss On My List", "You Make My Dreams", "Everytime You Go Away", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "Diddy Doo Wop"
"Rock n' Soul Part 1"
A shimmering constellation, topped by two tracks that still stand as best new songs on a hits album ever.
STANDOUT TRACKS: "Say It Isn't So", "Adult Education", "Wait For Me (live)"
"Change of Season" (1990)
With the spotlight firmly off them, they produced a gem.
STANDOUT TRACKS: "So Close", "Starting All Over Again", "Don't Hold Back Your Love"
"Our Kind of Soul" (2004)
Fourteen covers plus three originals, the duo capture their own sound perfectly. The only H&O album without a weak link?
STANDOUT TRACKS: "Let Love Take Control", "Soul Violins", "I Can Dream About You"
"Home for Christmas" (2006)
Greatest Maxmas album ever? So warm, so beautiful, and the greatest first vocal note on an album ever. This, THIS is their only album without a weak link!
STANDOUT TRACKS: "Overture/The First Noel", "Home for Christmas", "Everyday Will be Like a Holiday", "Children, Go Where I Send Thee", "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"
"Good Road to Follow" (2014, john oates solo)
Forty years after becoming a vocal superstar, mr. oates finds his voice. Startlingly fresh production over killer melodic precision.
STANDOUT TRACK: "Stone Cold Love"