the relevant details
[toward some framing for this]
i’m surrounded by very good storytellers. my friends traffic in narrative, always sharing something – some memory, a movie watched or music listened to, new projects. my storytelling on the other hand, especially on my feet, is not the best. i fumble for words, but before that, for details. the most challenging thing about narration is knowing what to include or omit – how to make what’s in my head make sense to the people around me.
it seems to be partly a matter of social engagement – simultaneous pressures to share something good or entertaining, to do so in the proper timing and key, so that these moments of sharing will be followed by more.
(i use a metaphor of exchange, but it’s specifically obligational and ethical. i listen so that they listen to me later; i share because they also give me a part of themselves. to refuse to engage is like an affront, and worse, a reason to stop engagement altogether.)
i recently watched the movie funny people, and what struck me the most was how good at storytelling the comedians in the film are, and how much thought they put into writing jokes: knowing how to set up the narrative and how to maintain interest through their work of description. i thought as i watched that i would really like to be friends with those characters.
been here before
during the trip here, to madison, there was a recall of events: this evening two years ago i convened, all together for the first time, with the friends who are now my rocks; there’s the isthmus from the air again; here are the burly corn-fed folks i’m to rub shoulders with; there’s that lake that will stink with/from heat in a few weeks; etc.
a resolution: this summer will not be that summer. instead — a work regimen, temperance, an eye toward phd exams, moderate attachments. (to make it worth what i had to miss to be here; to make up for delinquency.)
it’s changed
because white is right, and i’m tired of my words being in the dark.
what for this blog
before i fully adopt academic-speak, i will put up a fight and let those other voices, tenors, registers, and odd thoughts seep their way in. while i’m at it i’ll try to shed this current aversion to remembering / representing memories of the everyday.
so, more photos, more description. less evaluation, except for the occasional political or academic rant when i’m feeling enterprising.