RE: the world

Eugene Matusov (ematusov who-is-at UDel.Edu)
Mon, 14 Jun 1999 19:44:17 -0400

Hi Kathryn--

Thanks for the quote -- it is very interesting and enlightening! You wrote,

> Jack Goody speaks of the "law of the
> letter" - does the tryanny of literate cetainty anihilate our knowing?
>
> ont' you think that is what we all aim for in some way, to fix it is to
> kill it.

Yes, I think so. We may not see magic because we do not appreciate how we
create the world we live in by a way of our living and ourselves. We do try
to kill exciting uncertainty in a name of safety. I wonder what type of
literacy and relations push us in this position. Any idea?

Eugene

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kathryn_Alexander who-is-at sfu.ca [mailto:Kathryn_Alexander@sfu.ca]
> Sent: Monday, June 14, 1999 5:12 AM
> To: ematusov who-is-at UDel.Edu
> Cc: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: RE: the world
>
>
> Eugene, et al, sometimes we are given expreriences that we can never
> understand. i quote:
>
> once when i worked with elderly,women in a mental health boarding home, a
> deeply wise, but psychiatrically incarcerated woman said to me. " say,
> did I ever tell you about the time the laundry room expired in Rivernew,
> and turned into reptil world. It was lovely the way they all sunned
> themselves on those hills, not the big hill it was the little
> hill between
> the laundry and the tuck shop. My goodness now they glistendo n those
> green hills, I can still see it now." meley,jan. 1987.
>
> This woman had been incarcerated in a psychiatric warehouse for about 25
> years, I met her near the end of her life. this statement that
> she gifted
> me, near the end of a 24 hour shift in a boarding home , in an
> inner city
> facility, well it changed my life, because I was forced to encounter the
> deep humanity within it, its poetry, and its unexpressible meaning - she
> was sharing her experience of a local reptile rescue group who
> brought some
> snakes and lizards to the institution where Meley was housed. her memory
> of this event, her language, many years later, well, it told me something
> about the uncertainty of meaning, its fragility, and perhaps the sacred in
> not knowing for sure what is meant. Jack Goody speaks of the "law of the
> letter" - does the tryanny of literate cetainty anihilate our knowing?
>
> ont' you think that is what we all aim for in some way, to fix it is to
> kill it.
>
> enuff for tonight
>
> k..
>
>
>
> "science does not vanquish mystery" Annie Dillard "Pilgrim at
> Tinker Creek"
>
> *****************************
> Kathryn Alexander, email ...... kalexand who-is-at sfu.ca
> Doctoral Candidate, FAX .........(604) 291 - 3203
> Faculty of Education, SFU(message).....(604) 291- 3395
> Simon Fraser University,
> Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
>