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| Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 | | 5:30 pm |
naqaa part II
I caught a naqaa in the wild! "When she walks, she quivers like a reed upon a naqaa" Three comments are in order: 1. Clearly the folks who contended that "extended gibbous piece of sand" referred to a bank of sand rather than a grain were correct. Go you! 2. This line is more interesting than it looks because by Arabic poetic convention a reed on a sand-dune is a way to describe an ideal woman's figure--i.e. big around the hips, slender on top. Obviously medieval Arabic women didn't have legs, since...um, maybe you couldn't tell because they were wearing long skirts all the time? Seriously, it's now occurring to me that even very explicit sexual poetry in Arabic doesn't talk about legs. I should look into that. 3. Thanks to the lively discussion of a couple weeks ago, I recognized this word when I saw it in context, without needing to recourse to the dictionary. Thanks, everyone! P.S. This morning I figured out what I was doing wrong with the last instance of naqaa I posted about, which I knew clearly couldn't have anything to do with sand. Accounting for an acceptable poetic elision, it refers to a kind of wine. | | Sunday, November 15th, 2009 | | 8:44 pm |
in memory of Albert
[As some of you know, a couple of months ago my friend Albert passed away at the age of 73. Albert was one of my oldest friends, one of the first people after my parents that I ever loved. He came to represent the best parts of my childhood, and I feel as though I've lost a part of my childhood with him. I was asked to deliver remarks at his memorial service yesterday, and I'm posting the text of those remarks here. Partly it's as a record for myself, and partly it's because he was an extraordinary person and I want to tell you all about him.] There was something remarkable about Albert, something you could feel when he came into a room. You could feel it in the way his big hands would reach out to grasp yours in greeting. You could see it in the improbable repertoire of whimsical expressions that danced across his face. You could hear it in the way he’d say something outrageous that somehow made you feel warm inside. He knew everyone in that room—or if he didn’t, he wanted to. He wanted to hear their stories, and he was always ready with a good story in exchange. He wanted to introduce them to each other, and figure out what people and what interests they had in common. It wasn’t just that he was friendly and charismatic, although he was both. His way with people was a manifestation of something that ran deeply in him—something precious and very rare. Albert was a person who knew what was important to him, and he was devoted to it. He didn’t bother with things that were unimportant to him. He didn’t worry about being late, or about getting lost, or about learning how to cook. He didn’t strive for worldly success—I think he thought it wasn’t worth the compromises it demanded of him. And he didn’t strive for virtue, at least not in the abstract. He was a good person because he had a big heart and generous impulses—he didn’t need to work at it. What he strove for was happiness. It sounds like an obvious thing, when you say it—you could get anyone to agree that happiness is important. But although people may say they value happiness, they frequently don’t act like it. Albert, on the other hand, took happiness seriously and valued it highly--perhaps because, while goodness came easily to him, happiness did not. He waged an ongoing struggle against depression, claiming a life of joy and fulfillment as an act of deliberate will. Albert actively sought to be happy. And he sought actively to bring happiness to others. Albert was not a snob where happiness was concerned—he sought out pleasures of many kinds, and he relished them. But I think that there were two sorts of joy that he sought and prized above all others. The first was a joy derived from beauty. Albert took a passionate delight in experiencing beautiful things, and in creating them. His love of music I need hardly mention—the vigor with which he played, the zeal with which he grumbled when the music flagged and crowed when it soared. But his quest for beauty, and his skill in creating it, was not limited to music. He and his siblings transformed their family home on Lake George over many years of loving labor: collecting, carpenting, renovating, furnishing, finishing, and always tinkering. Every room is a work of art—even the bathrooms. The house stands witness to the breadth and the keenness of his aesthetic vision, and to the sundry skills that enabled him to execute it. But more even than beauty, Albert sought happiness through other people. He loved people immoderately and without reserve. He had many friends, and he continued making new ones until the end of his life. He shared his music with them, and hosted them in his beautiful house on Lake George. I can’t imagine how much energy it takes to care so much about so many people. But he did care about them—he cared about them all, and he made sure they knew it. You could hear it in the tone of his voice when he made yet another outrageous crack about your love life. You could feel it, in the grip of his hands. He rejoiced in his friends, and his joy was contagious. It lit up the room when he walked in the door. The way Albert died was a tribute to the way he lived. He spent the last months of his life ensconced in style— and in as much comfort as medically possible— under Denise’s care, practically holding court as an unending stream of friends and family crowded around to tell him in thousands of different ways how much they loved him. As he lay dying, his hospice room was crowded by people who took turns holding his hands and playing music in the hope that some part of him might hear it. In all of this, he was simply reaping what he sowed. A life like Albert’s is surely its own reward. In the last few weeks, I have come to appreciate how inimitable Albert is, how altogether irreplaceable. And I’m glad of it—it makes it so much easier to remember him, to hold all the memories together in my head because, really, who else would have said or done something like that? When I think of him now, I think of a line by the poet Horace, which translates “Mingle a little folly with your wisdom.” I remember the time Albert ran out the battery in his motorboat because he stayed out too long admiring the moonlight on the lake. I remember trying desperately to get someplace on time, and failing utterly because Albert was so interested in the conversation he was having that I couldn’t tear him away. I am overwhelmingly grateful, for the privilege of having known this man whose little follies attest to his great wisdom. Albert was a person who knew what was important. Remembering him, he will remind me. | | Thursday, October 15th, 2009 | | 3:41 pm |
How much do you want to bet
That the translation I want for the Arabic word "naqaa" isn't /really/ "an extended gibbous piece of sand"? Seriously, though. How could a word possibly mean that? How would you use it in a sentence? | | Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | | 3:19 am |
in case you ever wake up in the middle of the night wondering...
why, when it's a major plot point in Pride and Prejudice that Mr. Collins must inherit Mr. Bennett's lands (rather than Mr. Bennett's wife and daughters) because he's the closest relation through an entirely male line of descent... ...they nonetheless have different /last names/... ...you may be interested to know that the predominant explanation on the internet is that one of their ancestors must have changed his name to match that of a third party, as was apparently common at that time, upon inheriting significant property from said third party. Presumably whichever of their ancestors inherited a lot of money from a Mr. Bennett or Mr. Collins did not do so via an entail of the "heirs male" formula. Whew. Glad to have that sorted out. | | Monday, September 28th, 2009 | | 10:35 pm |
Lewis Carroll said it best, I guess:
"It's long," said the Knight, "but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it--either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else--" "Or else what?" said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause. "Or else it doesn't, you know." | | Monday, May 25th, 2009 | | 12:29 am |
| | Monday, January 12th, 2009 | | 2:44 pm |
| | Sunday, January 11th, 2009 | | 9:47 pm |
Collaborative Crafts Blog (or: Here there be gryphons)
As some of you know, I've been looking to start up a collaborative arts and crafts blog at http://craftsblog.wordpress.comwhere people living in different places can share their creative efforts with others (as well as ask questions and issue complaints to a sympathetic audience). Pastwatcher and I have posted a few entries over the last couple of months--between two-sided embroidery experiments, heat-proof crocheting, and the Green Gryphon tapestry that has been absorbing most of our crafty-attention, we've been having a lot of fun. Also, via my sister, evidence of truly extraordinary feats of origami may be forthcoming. If any of this stuff piques your interest, come check it out! Now that we've got a foothold, we're looking to expand the community. If you think you might be interested in posting, email me (or comment) and I'll send you an invite. I'm also looking for someone willing and able to make an lj feed for it, so that those of you interested in seeing (hopefully interesting) crafty things can do so with ease and comfort. | | Friday, January 9th, 2009 | | 3:07 am |
Funny old world...
I spent awhile this evening trying to find my Harvard GPA by various methods, without success (searching for a copy of a transcript among the mess that is my records; trying to look at my grades on fas and post...). What finally worked? Calling up my Princeton application from the Princeton website. | | Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 | | 12:32 am |
What's your favorite fantasy novel I haven't read?
It's time for a fantasy binge. And so I'm soliciting suggestions for excellent fantasy novels. Edit: So far... I should read: A Winter's Tale Farthing Bridge of Birds Dark Tower Anathem (maybe) Golden Witchbreed The Changing Sea Zelazny's short stories The Engineer Trilogy The Lies of Locke Lamora The Name of the Wind I've already read: Temeraire The Time Traveller's Wife Dr. Strange & Mr. Norrell | | Monday, October 20th, 2008 | | 2:23 pm |
"After Generals" has arrived
...it really does feel a little bit like living in the future. The arrival of long-awaited milestones is a rather uncanny reminder of the passage of time. Temporally disorienting, even, that the future should suddenly morph into the present. | | Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | | 10:49 am |
Truly an historic race
I've just realized that, whichever candidate wins this election, he will become a member of the distinct minority of American presidents whose last names don't have a primary stress. The last one was McKinley. The only others were Monroe, Van Buren, and Buchanan. And I believe this is the only time in American history when the candidates of both major parties have had surnames with non-primary stress.* --- The press has been drifting dangerously far from their traditional focus on the trivial in the last couple of weeks. A break like this could be just what they need! *Monroe seems to have run essentially unopposed. | | Thursday, September 25th, 2008 | | 11:59 pm |
The problem with reading fiction in Arabic is that it's so often sad; and since I read so slowly in Arabic, that means it's sad /for a long time/. | | 6:34 pm |
Next on the docket for a short story (after I write the one I'm currently mulling over): a story that covers a political crisis in a fantasy world (and incidentally sketches out said world and hints at all sorts of details) via a series of newspaper articles (pulled from a range of journals on the political spectrum). I started thinking that I would rather enjoy culling a careful selection of real journal articles to render a narrative about the current political situation for the reading enjoyment of someone living in a different world from ours... and it goes from there. | | Monday, September 22nd, 2008 | | 12:46 pm |
buy a congressman?
I don't follow congressional races, but maybe one of you who does could tell me: assuming you're a liberal democrat, what would be the best congressional candidate to donate a small amount of money to at this point? | | Sunday, September 21st, 2008 | | 11:24 pm |
| | Friday, September 12th, 2008 | | 12:31 pm |
It's official...
I collect eccentric teapots. Many thanks to wombatfugue and his family for pushing me over the edge on this one. :-) | | Friday, August 8th, 2008 | | 5:03 pm |
List of things to do after Generals
Whenever I feel like I have to spend all my time working, I find that it suddenly becomes easy to think of fun things that I would do if I only had the time. So I'm going to start writing the list down (in no particular order), so that I'll remember them when I do have time: Purely for fun -Start work on a Griffin Tapestry (w/ ESQG) -Play chamber music more often (with people living in Philadelphia) -Finish Ouran High School Host Club (w/ CEAD, AJD, and WMPT) -Finish The West Wing (w/ WMPT) -Read the last Stephanie Meyers book -Write poetry (no, for serious. Set aside a couple of hours every couple of weeks and force myself to actually start doing it again) -Write a short story for Writers' SIG (next up: story about art and religion) -Revise the last one -Work on the Wheel of Time LARP (w/ MVK) -Invest in a good cd player, get some audiobooks of histories and biographies, and listen to them -Make a clock (w/ ESQG, EJS, and hopefully JLR) -Find four for Catan (w/NLA and maybe APG's friend at Penn Law) -Voice Lessons? -Translate Lovecraft poetry "back" into Arabic -Organize monthly one-shot activities on the HRSFANS website -Go on a bona fide fantasy-reading binge -volunteer for the election? -Start monthly "expand our field of knowledge" book group with [EJS & possibly JLL] (first up: Psychology of Time-perception; second: social interaction among monkeys?) -Learn Yiddish -Learn Syriac -Honeymoon! -Find a fun way to get some exercise (w/ WMPT?) -Cook a bunch of new and interesting stuff (w/ ESQG) -Start Crafts Blog with friends--think of some more crafts to do and post on it. -Write puzzle-hunt style puzzles (can't specify here) -Put together RPG (GMed by WMPT, I hope) Academic Stuff -rework ibn Rashiq essay--maybe submit for publication? -Learn Spanish -Learn German -Look through different balagha books to see what the medieval critics had to say about formal structures other than monorhyme -Read Dar al-Tiraz -Get Alan Jones' Edition of the Muwashshahat and start translating. -read secondary literature on metrics (in English and Arabic) -Learn about Persian Prosody and possible Persian influences (may involve learning Persian, but not yet I hope) (Yeah, of course I'll also "immerse myself in Hispano-Arabic Literature secondary sources" like my advisor says; but that won't be fun. Also, oh God do I ever need to file my old academic stuff properly in a filing cabinet.) and finally, for the sake of completeness: Fun Things that Can't Wait Until Generals: -Usual Family vacation (though with lots of work-related detours) -Decorate apartment (w/ ESQG) -Singing group (w/ CEAD, ESQG, AJD, and WMPT) -Shakespeare Fortnight show (Richard III) -Start watching Battlestar Galactica (w/ ESQG and WMPT) | | Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 | | 3:16 pm |
Did you know...?
That the name "Bartholomew" ultimately derives from "Bar Ptolemy", "bar" as in "son of"? (at least according to wikipedia). Discovery of that fact made my day yesterday. | | Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 | | 12:17 am |
Yiddish Usage Survey
I had fun filling this out, and conjecture that some people on my friends list would also. -- You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language. Essentially, we're asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America. We're turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like "shmooze" and "daven" and phrases like "Money, shmoney"? Why do some people say "temple" while others say "shul"? Who prefers biblical names for their babies? Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process. Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9eQwWyblG_2b8ixLqbt6QFhg_3d_3d |
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