The Musings of Alencia Lysander

I've been doing a little better since I wrote "On Teaching."  I still haven't been applying for jobs. It starts to feel like a lot of effort, and I get very little positive feedback. I don't have a fixed area in which I'm applying -- just feel like I'm submitting applications randomly to schools or whatever position anywhere in the country. I would rather go "on the ground" to a particular office or campus, submit my resume in person to whoever is in charge of the operation, interview the people there. I think I'll be volunteering or substituting -- just trying to get experience and make contacts. I want to make enough money, if I can, but after spending so many years treading water, I'm anxious to see if I can find a way to do  something and not just get paid. -- Part of the reason I've "tread water" is my own lack of motivation, but I don't want to have one more year where I feel like I'm doing something meaningles...

Source: "Are Books Superior to TV?" (The Observer) 1． The article’s main question is, are books superior to TV? Its proposed answer is that “they affect our brains differently, according to science.” An initial quibble about “according to science”: the attitude contained in these words is itself not a scientific attitude to take towards the appeal to scientific evidence. There may be studies that support the author’s conclusion, but a great deal more scrutiny must be given to any piece of scientific evidence before we can definitively say on which side of an argument it falls (I can say this with a bit more confidence when we consider that the article I am examining is very short and so unlikely to contain that level of scrutiny). That caveat having been stated, I continue reading. The author begins by framing the question in a way I find very compelling: why would it be better for you to read A Game of Thrones than to watch it? This has all the appearance of an ex...

I read through my writing yesterday and noticed a verbal tic: I overuse the words "certainly" and "of course."  Have to cut back.  I have a lot of "theses" or "claims" -- an interesting way to frame a topic, but I need to make them into a starting point for further research and not just prop them up with bluster and a few probabilities(*). (*)Sometimes in online discussions, B asks for statistics after A makes some claim -- when in fact A has provided an argument why the claim is probable that ought to have been addressed.  Calls for evidence might mean nothing more than this, that the argument has not been expressed in the correct or else the expected form(**).  It's always easier to shift the focus to form when you're at a loss how to dispute the content. (**)Criticisms of grammar also become merely formal -- especially when the criticisms focus on spelling.  The distinction between "there" and "their" in writing...

A bit frustrated recently applying for jobs back in the US.  I could be applying to more jobs and following up more vigorously, but the rejections wear you down after awhile. It's a crash course in Stoicism. Here are some of the questions I've had to field as I've applied for teaching jobs: Why do you want to teach in a Catholic school? How would you address a wide range of skills in the classroom? What do you think causes students to fall behind academically? What helps them succeed? How would you address the diverse set of student and family needs that you are likely to face? How have you demonstrated a commitment to urban education? How would you communicate a sense of urgency in your classroom? Describe a time when you demonstrated a "whatever it takes" mindset. They're reasonable enough questions in themselves, I'll admit. But I constantly have the feeling of having to jump through hoops. I know that people have in mind a certain ideal; I ...

According to a popular saying, “idle hands do the devil’s work.” What does this saying mean, and does the author of “In Praise of Ideleness” agree with this saying? Summarize and evaluate his argument. The saying, “idle hands do the devil’s work,” means that if you aren’t doing any work (have “idle hands”), you are actually “working” for the devil. In other words, if you don’t have any work to do, you will spend your time doing bad things. The idea behind the saying is that work is good, and good people are always working. Russell does not agree with this saying. In his essay, “In Praise of Idleness,” he first defines work and then explains why, according to his definition, work is not a good thing. Finally, he imagines how the world might be better if there were less work. In this essay, I will explain what he thinks about work, and then I will give my opinion.          According to Russell, work is basically moving things from one place t...

From the subjective side, consciousness presents no mystery.  Consciousness is found to exist not just among its other objects but even as the a priori  possibility of finding such objects.  Consciousness is a given whose structure and elements present themselves to consciousness.  Consciousness knows itself and, for itself, is objective. The mystery of consciousness is only discovered from the objective side.  Through an eternity (which means through the progress of a world order) there was only motion and mobile, a universe of pure and unreflective impulse. Then, one day, as if a spark were struck, awareness flamed into existence. Was this extra existence, which is admittedly so different from matter (as different as we believe life to be from death) a possibility of that same matter all along?  This mystery is felt in the question, "Where did it come from?"  The thought that it could arise through some coincidence, a brute coordination in the na...

From an exchange in the NYRB (Thomas Nagel): The mind-body problem ... is a problem about what experience is, not how it is caused. The difficulty is that conscious experience has an essentially subjective character—what it is like for its subject, from the inside—that purely physical processes do not share. Physical concepts describe the world as it is in itself, and not for any conscious subject. ...  But if subjective experience is not an illusion, the real world includes more than can be described in this way. In a previous post I said that motion has an objective as well as a subjective side -- objective as well as subjective causes.  I was thinking in the same way as Nagel thinks: objectively, in the world as it exists independently of us, physical processes make me move (neurons fire). Subjectively, in the world "as I find it," psychological processes make me move (I will it). There then arises a question how the objective and subjective side of the phenomenon are c...

忽聞海上有仙山， 山在虛無縹緲間； 樓閣玲瓏五雲起， 其中綽約多仙子。 中有一人字太真， 雪膚花貌參差是。 金闕西廂叩玉扃， 轉教小玉報雙成。 聞道漢家天子使， 九華帳裡夢魂驚。 攬衣推枕起徘徊， 珠箔銀屏迤邐開， 雲鬢半偏新睡覺， 花冠不整下堂來。 Just then he hears that in the ocean is a mountain of divinities, upon which from void and haze a tower rises artfully into the rainbow clouds.  In that tower live many fairies full and fair, among whom is a person whose style is Great Truth.  Her skin is not unlike the snow, and flowers cannot far surpass her face.  At the west wing of the Golden Watch he bows before the door of jade, and word is passed to Little Jade to call on the the twin [maids].  On hearing of Han's angel, behind the sumptuous canopy the dreaming soul is roused.  She grabs her clothes and throws the cushions off; she rises and begins to pace -- the curtain of pearls and silver screen are pushed aside.  The cloudy tresses yet are half distraught with sleep, and she comes down into the hall with garlands all in disarray.

悠悠生死別經年， 魂魄不曾來入夢。 臨邛道士鴻都客， 能以精誠致魂魄；為感君王輾轉思， 遂教方士殷勤覓。 排空馭氣奔如電， 升天入地求之遍； 上窮碧落下黃泉， 兩處茫茫皆不見。 Long winding through the years the road that parts his life from death, nor once does her soul enter in his dreams. A bonze from Lingong comes to Hongdu as a guest -- his the capacity through faith to reach the souls. As passion wrecks the Lord King's thoughts, he asks that mage to make painstaking search. He volleys to the sky and riding wind like lightning flies. He ascends to heaven, penetrates to earth -- and everywhere extends his search, above exhausting gloaming blue, and golden springs, below -- boundlessly in every place, but nowhere is she seen.

Wutong trees in a Chinese garden 春風桃李花開日， 秋雨梧桐葉落時。 西宮南內多秋草， 落葉滿階紅不掃。 梨園子弟白髮新， 椒房阿監青娥老 夕殿螢飛思悄然， 孤燈挑盡未成眠。 遲遲鐘鼓初長夜， 耿耿星河欲曙天。 鴛鴦瓦冷霜華重， 翡翠衾寒誰與共？ In a spring breeze it's true that peach and pear both flower in the sun -- but autumn rain is when the Wutong sheds its leaves. In the Southern Sanctum of the Palace of the West, the autumn grass abounds; shed leaves brim over steps from which red cannot be swept. The disciples of Pear Garden have newly grown white hair; the ladies of the Pepper Room -- their youth all is now old. In the Western Hall the buzzing flies stir sorry thoughts; the lonely lamp has used its wick and still he has not slept. The hesitation of the bell begins the lengthy night; the stars of the Milky Way, twinkling, herald now the dawn. The dove-tailed bricks are chilled with heavy frost -- with whom to share the quilt which, though of eiderdown, is cold?

I want to start over.  I always want to start over.  The beginning is a purity. Nothing has been determined; no mistakes have been made.  It is the blue sky only -- no clouds sully it, nor is it stained by dirt. Original sin is the fact that there is no beginning. I am always far down the path. I suffer for what I no longer am, and presently I lay the foundations for future suffering.  These are the sins of the fathers, and I am a perpetual father. Reflection and memory throw a light on my existence. I might use the shadow of the present to blot out this light. Under that shadow I could recline and slumber.  Socrates and his disciples would not approve. Live in a new world!  It will always be the very first time.  -- Is hope something old or something new?  Is hope pure?  I only hope when I have not got what I want.  Hope is proof of suffering.  Hope must have made mistakes or lived to see them made.  But hope is simple, ...

王行暴虐侈傲，国人谤王。召公谏曰：“民不堪命矣。”王怒，得卫巫，使监谤者，以告则杀之。其谤鲜矣，诸侯不朝。三十四年，王益严，国人莫敢言，道路以目。厉王喜，告召公曰：“吾能弭谤矣，乃不敢言。”召公曰：“是鄣之也。防民之口，甚於防水。水壅而溃，伤人必多，民亦如之。是故为水者决之使导，为民者宣之使言。故天子听政，使公卿至於列士献诗，瞽献曲，史献书，师箴，瞍赋，蒙诵，百工谏，庶人传语，近臣尽规，亲戚补察，瞽史教诲，耆艾修之，而后王斟酌焉，是以事行而不悖。民之有口也，犹土之有山川也，财用於是乎出：犹其有原隰衍沃也，衣食於是乎生。口之宣言也，善败於是乎兴。行善而备败，所以产财用衣食者也。夫民虑之於心而宣之於口，成而行之。若壅其口，其与能几何？”王不听。於是国莫敢出言，三年，乃相与畔，袭厉王。厉王出奔於彘。 The king was tyrannical, extravagant, and proud, so the people of his country slandered him. The Duke of Shao reproved him, saying: "Truly, the people cannot bear your rule."  The king became angry and got Wei-Wu to serve as his Inspector of Slander, so that whoever he accused of it was slain. After that, the slanders became few, and the nobles did not go to court.   In the 34th year, the king became even more severe, and none of the people of his country dared speak, only exchanging glances as they crossed the road.  King Li was happy, and to the Duke of Shao he pronounced, "Truly I am capable of quelling these slanders,...

The theme of Shakespeare’s 5 th Sonnet is saving time. In the poem, Shakespeare talks about how time makes beautiful things ugly. He compares growing old to the way that summer changes into winter. Though in the summer there are many beautiful flowers, in the winter all of these beautiful flowers are gone and there is “bareness every where” (8). The winter is so empty that we could almost forget there had ever been flowers at all – if we didn’t “distil” (13) the beauty of summer to make perfume. What Shakespeare means is that we need to find a way to remember being young (the summer) so that when we are older (in winter) we will still be able to remember being happy. We could do this by having children, who will look like us and make us remember who we were when we were young. I just explained the theme of Shakespeare’s poem and summarized the poem. Now I will talk about how he communicates his theme. First, Shakespeare uses metonymy to help us understand how beautiful we ar...

馬嵬坡下泥土中，   不見玉顏空死處。 君臣相顧盡霑衣，   東望都門信馬歸。 歸來池苑皆依舊，   太液芙蓉未央柳； 芙蓉如面柳如眉，   對此如何不淚垂？ By the dirt beneath the Mawei slope, unseen, the place where her jade countenance expired to no end. Between lord and vassal in glance exchanged the garments all are soaked; eastward to the city gates they trust the steeds' return. Come back to the pools and parks, all is as before: in Deep Pool, the hibiscus -- the willows of the Endless Court. Hibiscus -- like her face -- and willow -- like her brow; at this how could the tears but flow?

1. I’ve read enough articles about the mystery of consciousness. Some authors say that we don’t completely understand consciousness yet, but we’re making progress, and it must be a matter of neurons and electricity etc. Other authors say that consciousness, the fact that consciousness is linked to a body, the way consciousness is linked to a body, are all strange and difficult problems, maybe beyond our ability to solve. 2. My disposition is always to exorcise the existential side of a question -- the sense that we have something at stake in answering it. Aristotle said that philosophy begins in wonder, but I have mused to myself time and again that, according to that philosopher’s own statement, it will not end with wonder. Modernist writers were at pains to make the mundane luminous – but a light that shines too brightly is just as bad for clear vision as darkness. I am of a mind to show the pedestrian side of momentous things; intellectual inquiry I would reduce all to a kind o...