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RE: [xmca] Update on Tony Whitson
Thanks, Robert.
I'll be glad to forward on behalf of XMCA everything anyone thinks Tony would appreciate.
I'll do a mailing every couple of days, so he's not inundated.
Please try to keep the contributions brief, as someone has to read it aloud to Tony (along with all of his other correspondence).
David
-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Lake
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 8:34 AM
To: lchcmike@gmail.com; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Update on Tony Whitson
Hi Tony and everyone, (Will someone please forward to Tony?)
Here is a poem by Cecil Day- Lewis with commentary from David Kellogg.
> There is a good poem about the relationship between meaning potential
> and actual meaning by Cecil Day-Lewis. It's metaphorical, of course!
> He begins by defining a sign for us, and pointing out that a tree is a
> sign too (because it stands for itself, or if you want to be
> physiological about
it,
> it produces an image on our retina which is interpreted by our brains
> as a
> tree.) But it's a sign without a system, without much unrealized
> meaning potential.
>
>* This tree outside my window here,
> Naked, umbrageous, fresh or sere,
> Has neither chance nor will to be
> Anything but a linden tree,
> Even if its branches grew to span
> The continent; for nature’s plan
> Insists that infinite extension
> Shall create no new dimension.
> >From the first snuggling of the seed
> In earth, a branchy form’s decreed.*
>
> You have to admit the Creator was original. He was certainly forceful
> in his creativity. But rather limited, when you look at it; in His
> later
career
> He kept repeating Himself with only minor variations, and most of what
> was new was not very good. Human creativity is a different matter!.
>
> *Unwritten poems loom as if
> They’d cover the whole of earthly life.
> But each one, growing, learns to trim its Impulse and meaning to the
> limits Roughed out by me, then modified In its own truth’s expanding
> light.
> A poem, settling to its form,
> Finds there’s no jailer, but a norm
> Of conduct, and a fitting sphere
> Which stops it wandering everywhere.*
>
> Human creativity, unlike nature, is an embarrassment of riches; we
> need rhyme (which you notice Day-Lewis adheres to quite rigorously)
> and meter
to
> keep us honest. As Adorno says, the bourgeoisie would like life to be
> austere and art voluptuous, but we would really be much better off
> with things the other way around: life full of actual meaning, and art
> full of things left unsaid.
>
> Now here Day-Lewis notes that there is a third thing--and it is the
> thing that Bakhtin wrote almost exclusively about, something that is
> neither system of meaning nor instance of meaning making, something
> that is
neither
> signification nor purely individual sense: it is human relationships
> in
all
> their complex, meaty sensuousness.
>
> Are interpersonal relations more like intra-personal relations or are
> they more like societal relations? Are they more intra-psychological
> or more trans-psychological? Are more things to be left said or unsaid? Half said?
>
> Are these going to be austere or voluptuous? Will they depend on
> potential or upon realization?
>
>* As for you, my love, it’s harder,
> Though neither prisoner nor warder,
> Not to desire you both: for love
> Illudes us we can lightly move
> Into a new dimension, where
> The bounds of being disappear
> And we make one impassioned cell.
> So wanting to be all in all
> Each for each, a man and a woman
> Defy the limits of what’s human.*
>
> Voluptuous then, and almost intrapersonal--but this is a romantic,
> young person's view. Day-Lewis wrote this late in life, after many
> years of what we would have to call development. Human development is
> not like natural development; it means creating more potential rather
> than simply realizing it (and thus leaving less unsaid).
>
> *But when we cease to play explorers
> And become settlers, clear before us
> Lies the next need – to re-define
> The boundary between yours and mine;
> Else, one stays prisoner, one goes free.
> Each to his own identity
> Grown back, shall prove our love’s expression Purer for this
> limitation.
> Love’s essence, like a poem’s, shall spring
> >From the not saying everything.
>*
> David Kellogg
On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 11:29 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
> Herewith a poem that Tony may find satisfying to think with. It is
> usefully followed up by a visit to the website of the Cluny Museum in
> Paris and the tapestries that reside there, but it stands pretty well on its own.
>
> If this topic is interesting, there are some nice follow-ons.
> mike
> ------------------------
>
> The Unicorn by Ranier Maira Rilke
>
>
>
> This is the creature there never has been.
>
> They never knew it, and yet, none the less,
>
> they loved the way it moved, its suppleness,
>
> its neck, its very gaze, mild and serene.
>
>
>
> Not there, because they loved it, it behaved
>
> as though it were. They always left some space.
>
> And in that clear unpeopled space they saved
>
> it lightly reared its head with scarce a trace
>
>
>
> of not being there. They fed it, not with corn,
>
> but only with the possibility
>
> of being. And that was able to confer
>
>
>
> such strength, its brow put for a horn. One horn.
>
> Whitely it stole up to a maid, -- to *be*
>
> within the silver mirror and in her.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 4:29 PM, David H Kirshner <dkirsh@lsu.edu> wrote:
>
> > Mike,
> > I'll help with the archives work.
> > Meanwhile, the only tangible thing I can think of that might bring
> > Tony some pleasure is poetry.
> > If anyone has a suggestion of a poem that seems relevant to Tony's
> > work, or Tony's current situation, or to XMCA, or to what Tony
> > brings to XMCA, send it on, and I'll forward to him on our behalf.
> > David
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
> > [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> > On Behalf Of mike cole
> > Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 10:21 AM
> > To: Deborah Rockstroh
> > Cc: Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition Internal List;
> > eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] Update on Tony Whitson
> >
> > Great to hear from someone closer to the scene who would like to
> > pursue the suggestions made by people so far. Perhaps everyone could
> > start by going to Tony's web page, since he suggested it through you, Deborah.
> > Its a pretty chaotic time for all of us, but the web allows us to
> > pursue the matter in our own moments if not our "own ways."
> >
> > As soon as possible, we at LCHC will organize a systematic look at
> > the xmca archive, but that takes time and labor and coordination,
> > which makes the web page a common sense common goal.
> >
> > Anyone who would like to help pulling the relevant information from
> > the archives, please contact me.
> >
> > mike
> >
> > On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 9:49 PM, Deborah Rockstroh
> > <d_rockstroh@bigpond.com>wrote:
> >
> > > That's a lovely suggestion Mike, a very thoughtful way to keep
> > > Tony and his interests in the forefront of our minds, at the very
> > > least; and perhaps such discussions might trigger something to
> > > assist in his recovery. I think David Kellogg's suggestion about
> > > attempting to communicate with him in Chinese has potential too.
> > > Tony has contributed much to these conversations and my thoughts
> > > and prayers are with him and his family at this time also.
> > >
> > > He often directed us to his blog, so perhaps that provides an
> > > additional avenue for understanding and framing his interests?
> > > http://curricublog.wordpress.com/
> > >
> > > Deb
> > >
> > >
> > > Deborah Rockstroh
> > > Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour Preferred email:
> > > d_rockstroh@bigpond.com
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
> > > [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> >
> > > On Behalf Of mike cole
> > > Sent: Monday, 12 December 2011 3:20 PM
> > > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > > Subject: Re: [xmca] Update on Tony Whitson
> > >
> > > There is a pretty large archive to topics tony has commented on in
> > > the
> >
> > > past few years at lchc when I google search. I am not competent to
> > > download them all and order them but if it were possible to do so,
> > > we might be able to take up some topics that are of interest to
> > > Tony as a
> >
> > > foundation of communication if he is so inclined.
> > > mike
> > >
> > > On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 1:06 PM, Martin Packer <packer@duq.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > On Dec 11, 2011, at 2:00 PM, David H Kirshner wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > "Tony is not able to independently log on to this account yet
> > > > > or read comments with understanding, but he seems to
> > > > > understand spoken language perfectly, so we are reading the
> > > > > emails on this account to Tony as they come in.
> > > >
> > > > This seems a powerful example of the way that compensation, that
> > > > is,
> >
> > > > treatment and recovery from neurological damage, requires an
> > > > external, social, moment. LSV wrote that "Research into the
> > > > compensatory functions that develop in these disorders also
> > > > shows that the objectification of a disturbed function, that is,
> > > > bringing it outside and changing it into external activity, is
> > > > one of the basic roads in the compensation of disorders".
> > > >
> > > > I hope that we at XMCA might together provide that external
> > > > activity
> >
> > > > that will help Tony in his recovery.
> > > >
> > > > Martin
> > > >
> > > > __________________________________________
> > > > _____
> > > > xmca mailing list
> > > > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > > > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > > >
> > > __________________________________________
> > > _____
> > > xmca mailing list
> > > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > >
> > >
> > __________________________________________
> > _____
> > xmca mailing list
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >
> __________________________________________
> _____
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
--
*Robert Lake Ed.D.
*Assistant Professor
Social Foundations of Education
Dept. of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading Georgia Southern University P. O. Box 8144
Phone: (912) 478-5125
Fax: (912) 478-5382
Statesboro, GA 30460
*Democracy must be born anew in every generation, and education is its
midwife.*
*-*John Dewey.
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