today
How beautiful it was then, through that void, to draw lines and parabolas, pick out the precise point, the intersection between space and time when the event would spring forth, undeniable in the prominence of its glow.
Italo Calvino on the time of radiant clarity in cosmic prehistory.
Found in Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte
what is
But there is always the sun when the sun shines and the night when the night falls. There’s always grief when grief afflicts us and dreams when dreams cradle us. There is always what there is and never what there should be, not because it’s better or worse, but because it’s other.
Pessoa
book review: neurodiversity
If you know me personally, I’ve probably already over-enthusiastically recounted to you how life-changing I found this book to be. You might have even thought to yourself, “This is feeling intense, I may not have time to hear her entire spiel about this.” Until, of course, I sucked you in with my riveting synopsis and insights, spurring you on to the inescapable conclusion:
“I must go read that.”
For those of you who weren’t lucky enough to hear me evangelize this noteworthy non-fiction in person, here’s the premise:
You’ve got biodiversity. Ethnic diversity. Genetic diversity within all the species. Let’s stop looking at different types of human brains as deficits to a standard norm and start appreciating them as a sampling of neurodiversity, an important part of evolution in its own right. By “different types of brains,” I mean to say the autistic, the ADHD, the dyslexic, the anxious, the depressive, and so on. Author Thomas Armstrong argues that these brain types are not diseases or unfortunate anomalies, they have vital relevance to both the past and future of our species. (Even if there are difficulties inherent in each way of being.) He goes on to highlight the unique characteristics and oft-overlooked benefits of seven different types of brains, devoting a chapter to each one.
I found this riveting, because a) we’re all somewhere along each of these continua, and are used to evaluating only the negative traits imposed on us by each “spectrum disorder” (you know this way of thinking: I’m this much ADD and this much depressed)—it’s a welcome paradigm shift and b) I have tons of friends and family and acquaintances who can be identified along these spectra as well, and I’m used to looking at their differences, much like my own, in a certain way—a bad way in most cases, to be perfectly honest. So, to read a book that touts the benefits of having a differently-structured brain, to focus, case by case, on the evolutionary advantages conferred upon individuals that possess these unique structures—that’s enlightening. Transformative, in fact.
If you’re looking for a book to usher in the New Year, this is it. I personally guarantee it to be good for both the mind and the character.
here’s to 2011
my blogging companion
I’ve got a shiny new digital tablet and revamped computer set-up to facilitate more blogging in the new year. My trusty lap warmer, Emerson, is revved up and ready to go.
Here’s to a productive 2011 filled with unprecedented posts, ubercool photos, and poems I hope you’ll find inspiring.
Aristotle
This is the beginning.
Almost anything can happen.
This is where you find
the creation of light, a fish wriggling onto land,
the first word of Paradise Lost on an empty page.
Think of an egg, the letter A,
a woman ironing on a bare stage as the heavy curtain rises.
This is the very beginning.
The first-person narrator introduces himself,
tells us about his lineage.
The mezzo-soprano stands in the wings.
Here the climbers are studying a map
or pulling on their long woolen socks.
This is early on, years before the Ark, dawn.
The profile of an animal is being smeared
on the wall of a cave,
and you have not yet learned to crawl.
This is the opening, the gambit,
a pawn moving forward an inch.
This is your first night with her, your first night without her.
This is the first part
where the wheels begin to turn,
where the elevator begins its ascent,
before the doors lurch apart.
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