There are some nice comments on the post from 13 July. This post is a response to some of that. I was gonna post these thoughts in a comment, then figgered it'd work better here, easy-to-read by all:
Tommy-T:
I will have to look into that Jeremiah story and get more info on it. Good questions.
Funny you mention the idea of losing everything in a fire (who was that?). Just an hour ago, on my bus ride home tonite after Shabbat, I was reading The Oath, by Elie Wiesel. Of course, anything by Elie Wiesel has to do with memory in the face of utter destruction. From there, I started musing about throwing away everything, just dumping all the stuff, keeping nothing but a few bits of clothes to keep me covered. I know a Rabbi nearby, David Zeller (Craig: he's Beulah's son-in-law), who lived in India as a Saddhu an ascetic who puts himself into utter poverty and lives by the grace of God and his fellow man. The thought of getting rid of everything I own seemed so liberating, renewing. Then the stipulations popped into my head: the only thing I'll keep is pictures. Then I thought-- I'll keep the laptop. It's too expensive to trash, and has all kinds of photos and writings and things I should hang on to.
But why keep the pictures? If you are going for the total cleanse, you would get rid of everything, no? Everything except your memory of where mom lives..... But what about all the email addresses and phone numbers?
Everything.
Everything but what the heart-mind-soul recalls--- expertise, experience, where mom lives.
I still have all my film and negatives from film school. After graduation, I had this nutty idea that I would RECUT the Snaggletooth film I botched so much, and edit the shots of Josh Keiler wandering through Sydney, which I never used for nothing.
Esta! Burn my room!
As for Craig's comment--- seeing as how Israel was once invaded on Yom Kippur, when everyone is weak, starving and introverted, it isn't shocking that all this crap is going on during a time of fasting and mourning. But I don't think there's such a direct correlation,
On the other hand, the Israeli government was nice enough to orchestrate the expulsion of Jews from Gaza at exactly this time last summer, like rubbing salt in a wound (see last August's posts for more on that). And here they are, the Israeli Army back in Gaza. Sharon's last hurrah, Redux.....
Tommy-T:
I will have to look into that Jeremiah story and get more info on it. Good questions.
Funny you mention the idea of losing everything in a fire (who was that?). Just an hour ago, on my bus ride home tonite after Shabbat, I was reading The Oath, by Elie Wiesel. Of course, anything by Elie Wiesel has to do with memory in the face of utter destruction. From there, I started musing about throwing away everything, just dumping all the stuff, keeping nothing but a few bits of clothes to keep me covered. I know a Rabbi nearby, David Zeller (Craig: he's Beulah's son-in-law), who lived in India as a Saddhu an ascetic who puts himself into utter poverty and lives by the grace of God and his fellow man. The thought of getting rid of everything I own seemed so liberating, renewing. Then the stipulations popped into my head: the only thing I'll keep is pictures. Then I thought-- I'll keep the laptop. It's too expensive to trash, and has all kinds of photos and writings and things I should hang on to.
But why keep the pictures? If you are going for the total cleanse, you would get rid of everything, no? Everything except your memory of where mom lives..... But what about all the email addresses and phone numbers?
Everything.
Everything but what the heart-mind-soul recalls--- expertise, experience, where mom lives.
I still have all my film and negatives from film school. After graduation, I had this nutty idea that I would RECUT the Snaggletooth film I botched so much, and edit the shots of Josh Keiler wandering through Sydney, which I never used for nothing.
Esta! Burn my room!
As for Craig's comment--- seeing as how Israel was once invaded on Yom Kippur, when everyone is weak, starving and introverted, it isn't shocking that all this crap is going on during a time of fasting and mourning. But I don't think there's such a direct correlation,
On the other hand, the Israeli government was nice enough to orchestrate the expulsion of Jews from Gaza at exactly this time last summer, like rubbing salt in a wound (see last August's posts for more on that). And here they are, the Israeli Army back in Gaza. Sharon's last hurrah, Redux.....
1 comment:
Send me the footage from Sydney, I'll put it down in the basement with the rest of my unused reels.
Let me know if you want me to burn all of the stuff in the garage that I am holding on to for you.
I'll keep the Bukowski books, the fencing foil (sp?) and the picture of your spirtual parents...
Post a Comment