Monthly Archives: June 2007

Out of All The Things That Are Hard Work, The Hardest Is Appreciating Another’s Work Truly

That’s all I have to say.When our age understands that, of course, it will be a wholly different age, and nowhere near as tyrannical in the private sphere as it is now.I think I’m taking a blogging break this weekend. Not sure yet. Please feel free to subscribe via feedreader or e-mail (h/t Problogger for …

June 29, 2007 – 6:29 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (0)

Wisdom and Rule: On Poem 343 of Emily Dickinson, "My Reward for Being"

(343) My Reward for Being… Emily Dickinson My Reward for Being, was This. My premium — My Bliss – An Admiralty, less – A Sceptre — penniless – And Realms — just Dross – When Thrones accost my Hands – With “Me, Miss, Me” – I’ll unroll Thee – Dominions dowerless — beside this Grace …

June 29, 2007 – 3:23 pm | By ashok | Posted in dickinson, philosophy, poetry, xenophon | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

Forms and Formalities Regarding the American Constitution

Mansfield aims to defend the Constitution against the slights and scorns of political and social science and, especially, to restore respect for its forms and formalities…. Mansfield argues that while the Constitution is a means to ends outside itself, its forms include an end – self-government – that deserves our loyalty even when it is …

June 29, 2007 – 4:04 am | By ashok | Posted in politics | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

On Blogging, Having An Opinion, and the Quality and Trustworthiness of Your Voice

Way too long: the essential point is that bloggers were paid to not merely run ads, but promote the content of those ads I feel sorry for Jeff Jarvis, because he’s fighting the good fight, and I’m not sure how this war is to be waged. Can we tell people that getting paid to promote …

June 26, 2007 – 8:00 am | By ashok | Posted in blogging, kant, media | Tagged | Comments (6)

Question: Should Political Science Exist? Why?

Q: Why should Political Science even exist? A: Most people reason in the following manner – they have a feeling, and they need to back that feeling up with an argument, and so they look for things to make an argument. Reason starts and finds its “end,” in such cases, in making people’s arguments invulnerable …

June 25, 2007 – 1:12 am | By ashok | Posted in politics | Comments (0)

Pain

It is at the times I should be most grateful, most happy, that it swells up and saddens me.The fact things are going well is what causes the most pain, because the temptation is to ask why they aren’t going perfectly.Smaller goods, just things being done, having a wonderful time because of another’s grace – …

June 24, 2007 – 10:55 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (0)

Writing Out Loud.

It’s weird I don’t feel productive. I’ve been writing a ton in my off-line, real-life journal recently, and not just crybaby stuff. The last 30 pages or so have been solid notes for two separate articles on two different thinkers.Realizing that, I went through JSTOR today and found some very nice secondary sources that could …

June 23, 2007 – 5:48 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (0)

I Think I’ve Finally Figured Out Foreign Language Classes

A friend and I have been taking a French class and doing a good amount of work beyond class for it.The key, I think, is that we’re trying to read as much as possible even though our pronunciation is horrible. His is better than mine, but getting consistent in how we want to pronounce things …

June 22, 2007 – 11:23 pm | By ashok | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

On Conversation

Agree and disagree, both at onceThe question for me is why we focus on celebrities and sports figures for conversation’s sake.While PTN is right about such persons being “ephemeral and essentially worthless,” note that most of the people we know immediately and gossip about meet that criterion too.The key to seeing what’s wrong and right …

June 21, 2007 – 1:40 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Comments (2)

Adultery and the Mind: On Baudelaire’s "The Cat"

The Cat Charles Baudelaire (translation Joshua Rocks, with help in key places from Stephanie Perrais) Come, my dear cat, upon my loving chest; Hold in the claws of your paws, and allow me to dive into your beautiful eyes, a mixture of metal and agate. In which time my fingers caress in leisure Your head …

June 20, 2007 – 2:38 pm | By ashok | Posted in baudelaire, poetry | Comments (0)