Monthly Archives: September 2008

Running into a Professor on the Internet feels Weird: On Sophocles’ Antigone, 334-375, the “Ode to Man”

Karl Maurer is a professor of mine, so it is with an especial pride I present to you these lines. I ran into him accidentally on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Brainstorm” blog, and the passage he cited by Nietzsche there is well worth your time. The comment below was left on the blog by …

September 30, 2008 – 3:35 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

It gets dark early nowadays.

I finished a draft of another section of the dissertation last night. That section asserted that gratefulness needs to be expressed by one citizen to another, always, for ungratefulness makes benefactors feel like they’re lower than dirt. The teaching by Xenophon regarding citizenship stands in stark contrast to “enlightened self-interest,” where our greed produces the …

September 29, 2008 – 2:53 am | By ashok | Posted in personal, politics, xenophon | Comments (1)

Slowly.

If I had one word to describe these recent days, this would be it. Meeting new people, writing the dissertation, working through poems – that’s how life is going, moment by moment, and sometimes it plods. In some ways, I mind. I want this dissertation to feel like it is writing itself. I want more …

September 25, 2008 – 7:39 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Tagged | Comments (2)

Puff-Piece Features about Philosophy Do the World No Good: Isn’t Philosophy about asking Tough Questions?

I’m happy the Professor is getting some recognition, but the interesting issues this piece raises are dropped as soon as they come up. 1. The first issue that this article raises regards the status of public universities: Auburn is a land-grant university: it became one in 1872 under a federal program geared toward helping the …

September 23, 2008 – 7:47 pm | By ashok | Posted in academia, education, philosophy | Tagged | Comments (4)

Entry 600: Love Letters

1. There’s a strange feeling I get when looking over old love letters. The strangeness is precisely the lack of feeling. I’m not regretful or saddened when reading them, despite the prayers then mumbled to myself, the agonizing over every word, the attempt to influence a heart with some scribblings. The intensity is gone completely. …

September 22, 2008 – 4:30 am | By ashok | Posted in personal, politics | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

The Greatest Pain: On Dickinson’s “I sometimes drop it, for a Quick” (708)

“I sometimes drop it, for a Quick…” (708) Emily Dickinson I sometimes drop it, for a Quick – The Thought to be alive – Anonymous Delight to know – And Madder – to conceive – Consoles a Woe so monstrous That did it tear all Day, Without an instant’s Respite – ‘Twould look too far …

September 22, 2008 – 1:08 am | By ashok | Posted in dickinson, poetry | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Thank you for your support – 50,000 unique visits looks like a healthy number…

…the more important numbers are the nearly 7,000 unique visits last month being surpassed already this month. Numbers tell nothing, of course – it could be the case that 500,000 people stopped by here, and it wouldn’t mean anything unless people were commenting, saying hi to me, asking questions of me and others, getting to …

September 20, 2008 – 7:25 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Your Attention Please…

…Lori’s account of what Hurricane Ike did to her house is worth a read and most certainly a comment. It’s always tough to figure out what exactly to do for one’s online friends, especially when they go through a crisis like this: I’m not waiting for the storm to hit. I know there will be …

September 20, 2008 – 7:06 pm | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (0)

Links, 9/19/2008

Might be out of date regarding the financial crisis, but some speculation on where everything is headed in terms of a regulatory environment. Aggressive and pervasive panhandling is a very real problem in cities all across the US. Gotta love the 1st Amendment – someone can break into your e-mail, and if the contents are …

September 19, 2008 – 6:50 pm | By ashok | Posted in links | Comments (1)

Beyond the 2008 Election: How Do We Create a Better, More Educative Politics?

If you read this blog regularly, you can skip this. It’s a right-wing rant that does cite some interesting passages of Jefferson’s, but the link to the letter is directly below and more worthy of your time. I just feel that some things really need repeating, especially when my political views are in one key …

September 17, 2008 – 4:33 pm | By ashok | Posted in education, politics | Tagged , | Comments (2)