From the Mouths of Irishmen

Since St. Patrick's Day is on the way, I think it only fit to share some wonderful thoughts from another Irishman.

I have been reading massive selections from Reflections of the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke, the Irish politician, in my Western Civilization class. It is a superb study of politics and humankind and is worth far more attention than it receives in modern political and educational circles. I have come across many quotes which I love, but this one particularly struck a cord. Though he wrote in the late 1700s, Burke's words describe perfectly the problem with modern man, politics, and especially education.

"This sort of people are so taken up with their theories about the rights of man that they have totally forgotten his nature. Without opening one new avenue to the understanding, they have succeeded in stopping up those that lead to the heart. They have perverted in themselves, and in those that attend to them, all the well-placed sympathies of the human breast."

It is worth noting that though he was a thorough Westerner and Protestant, Burke has here an understanding of the Orthodox nous, a faculty which he calls the "heart" and C.S. Lewis, in The Abolition of Man, calls the chest. He does not mean that the Revolutionaries have pushed away emotions and feelings, but that they have "stopped up" the ways in which a human being understands the most fundamental parts of himself, such as his "nature" and the "sympathies" he is supposed to have toward each thing. Throughout the book, in fact, Burke approaches government with the same attitude which the Orthodox church possesses. Earlier in the book, he describes the British government thus: "In what we improve we are never wholly new; in what we retain we are never wholly obsolete."

The Working Song (Cinderella 1950 original)

There's something about Disney songs which make homework look less frightening.

And When Love Speaks

I am one who, when Love breathes in me, takes note; what he, within, dictates, I, in that way, without, would speak and shape.

~Dante, Purgatorio

The Music of Politics

Classes can be so fun.

Today, in Principles of American Politics, I was getting really tired. It's the end of the week, and I'd been extra tired all week long. "My heart aches," as the poet says, "and a drowsy numbness pains / My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains."

And then the soft humming of a female voice seeped into our classroom. It started in low and then started to grow. Each head turning towards the sound was thinking, "Thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, / In some melodious plot / Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, / Singest of summer in full-throated ease." Ok, maybe our thoughts weren't quite that elaborate, but it captures the feeling of the thing.

Our poor professor tried very valiantly to ignore the noise. It sounded like someone was having a voice lesson - though why someone would have voice lessons in the Science Building was a mystery. But when another voice joined the first in a rising harmony, Dr. ____ looked up desperately and said, "I'm not the only one hearing this, right?"

A girl in back informed our professor that it was not a music lesson at all. The lab assistants, bored with their job, were singing their hearts out in the next room. And I have to admit, they were pretty good. I mean, they had no music playing and I heard a soprano and alto. It felt like I was doubling American Idol auditions with the Articles of Confederation. Hey, Plato said that music is an essential component in the development of young politicians.

Dr. _____ is a rather eccentric fellow, and is easily disturbed, so ignoring the noise proved no mean feat. He continued to speak on the Articles, but paused frequently. But, being the nice guy he is, he didn't want to go over because he didn't want to seem mean. Finally, he exclaimed, "I just have to go ask them to stop." Bounding from the room, he returned a minute later beaming.

But don't worry - the nightingales weren't upset. Though the music stopped, I swear I heard giggling on the other side of the wall.

Echoes from My Headphones: A Taste of the Music I'm Listening to

Besides being really a really good inspiration for papers, this soundtrack relies heavily on Hans Zimmer's work, particularly Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. The work is still original, and frankly prettier than a lot of things Zimmer does these days, and also show the influence of the Bourne series every now and then and uses vocals in a way similar to Howard Shore.

God Help Greek Teachers

Today in Greek class, we had an interesting insight into the minds of men.

Isaac was translating. His translation started out really rough, but Dr. Davies was walking him through it. "That participle (a verbal noun, for the non-Greek speaking among my audience) in the beginning," he told Isaac in his naturally booming voice, "is circumstantial. It explains the circumstances in which something takes place. So you're going to translate it as when, since, because, although, if. Right?"

Isaac: "Ummmm...."

Dr. Davies: "So, for example, you'd say 'If he was hungry, he ate'. That's a circumstance."

Isaac: "Well, you'd say 'Because he was hungry, he ate'."

Never use analogies of food when teaching a language to guys.

Taylor the Latte Boy by Kristin Chenowith with Lyrics

You've gotta love this song.