tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post5361387003934595657..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: memories of Kzoo, 2011Cord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-18685925962130121992011-05-18T08:39:34.026-04:002011-05-18T08:39:34.026-04:00Benjamin: and of course it is a William Steig stor...Benjamin: and of course it is a William Steig story! I love these authors intent on screwing up the youth of the world instead of making them moral persons. Lives ruined by literature.<br /><br />Thanks for bringing the story to my attention.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-59871741712671606522011-05-17T17:51:04.965-04:002011-05-17T17:51:04.965-04:00You were much missed, Mary Kate, and I, for one, c...You were much missed, Mary Kate, and I, for one, could have used you there if for no other reason than to hold my hand through Prof. C's talk on rocks, which proved--for me--to be as unexpectedly traumatic as it was predictably delightful. For as he described a geologist's growing obsession over the question of whether rocks felt pain, and an experiment in which he listened anxiously with a stethoscope for the secret agony of a chunk of granite, I was suddenly reminded of a similarly anguished rock in a story from my childhood--perhaps the most upsetting book I encountered prior to _Atlas Shrugged_. I hadn't thought of it in decades, and couldn't recollect its title, but promised Jeffrey after the talk to track it down: _Sylvester and the Magic Pebble_. <br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Sylvester-Magic-Pebble-William-Steig/dp/1416902066/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top<br /><br />I don't know that it adds much to the discussion of the ontological status of minerals, but I'd love to hear whether anyone else has encountered this singular marvel of children's lit, and what they made of its supposed "lessons." It is, if nothing else, "a striking illustration of the turn of Fortune's wheel" (as Reepicheep consoled Eustice), and of the arbitrary cruelty of even one's own mind. Strong stuff for six-year-olds, though, now that I think of it, perhaps informative for wee future medievalists.Viatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08317280723781438109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-2827648864058687142011-05-17T10:46:15.818-04:002011-05-17T10:46:15.818-04:00I can't wait to hear about everyone's time...I can't wait to hear about everyone's time at Kzoo. This is the first time I've missed in my 7 year stint as a grad student, and while I accomplished much in the extra weekend at home in NYC, I also realized that perhaps the concrete gains are not as important as the ephemeral things that were lost -- all of you, without whom, like Karl, I too am lost. <br /><br />In other words: I remembered what it is that keeps me going. In the field, and to that small town in Michigan. Every year, like clockwork.Mary Kate Hurleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14892991966276345782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-9994210148218079602011-05-17T10:13:44.308-04:002011-05-17T10:13:44.308-04:00thanks for this, Jeffrey.
Let me just say that w...thanks for this, Jeffrey. <br /><br />Let me just say that when I was singing "I'm all out of love," the "you" in the line "so lost without you" stands for all of you in Kalamazoo. Thanks for drawing me back.Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.com