Borges: Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote

[Lily]

@36 Nell wrote: "Lily wrote: "This is going to be a strange analogy, but somehow I see a parallel with the trouble I'm having figuring out how to share my story of seeing (trying to see?) solar eclipse totality."

I'm intrigued by your comment. Do you mean perceiving the eclipse in a different way than Cooper?..."

Nell -- my problem, at least as I perceive it, has been (is?) how to tell the story from the perspective of my feelings versus those of what I consider to be rational, reasonable observations.

I have spent part of today reading some of the reviews of Crime and Punishment. I am struck by the extent to which those critics who are attempting to describe D's intent seem to draw not only on the text itself, but on D's notebooks, which include preliminary notes that in some cases D strengthened and in other minimized in his final text. I know not whether or how that awareness will influence my reading -- if I do decide to read C&P again.

[David]

Lily wrote: "No intent to "make you wrong," David, but the feminist in me can't resist pointing out that Flannery O'Connor was a woman."

What a racist remark! One certainly does not have to be a feminist to reveal a mistake like that. :) My ignorance thanks you for decreasing its heavy burden. My friends Pat, Fran, Tracy, and of course Sue, thank you too.

[Lily]

David wrote: "What a racist remark!.."

Please don't go there, David! I am at a loss as to your definition of "racist" here.

I will say that for all of us, I think our experiences, our personal histories, our culture, the stereotypes that may serve us as much as they may derail us, only too often influence the judgments, conscious and unconscious, that we make.

[David]

Lily wrote: "David wrote: "What a racist remark!.."

Please don't go there, David! I am at a loss as to your definition of "racist" here."

Before this gets out of hand, please note the :) after the second sentence explaining it as a joke. Neither you nor your comment is racist. I was simply trying to parry my embarrassment by implying your comment required a feminist eye to call out my errant pronoun when any eyes free of the ignorance my mistake belies are equally able to do. Even If I had properly used "she", regardless of my own gender, I would have still been wrong because I was and still am ignorant of who Flannery O'Conner was, except the little I have learned resulting from this exchange. The rest was just a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that my mistake was an honest one due to the unisex nature of Flannery as a first name like the others I listed. Similar to the old running gag from Julia Sweeny in her "Its Pat" sketches from SNL.

I will say I agree with what you said about our experiences influencing us. With a Humean wink I can readily admit being influenced by my experience of with the only "Flannery" I know of and meet once, Denis Flannery. He was a founder of an iconic downtown pub that still bears his last name.

[Lily]

David wrote: "Lily wrote: "David wrote: "What a racist remark!.."

Please don't go there, David! I am at a loss as to your definition of "racist" here."

Before this gets out of hand, please note the :) after th..."

David, let me respond to you this way. When my son was little and we had a young nanny (my husband and I both worked full time), her mother suggested all would work much better if she understood the "rules." My husband and I were stymied for a while because we basically thought of ourselves as living by "common sense," rather than rules. Eventually we pulled together a list. Most had to do with plebeian things making clear her authority relative to us and our son -- she had it when we weren't present and could expect our backup. First on the list was respect for life and limb -- that didn't mean not doing adventurous things, just the more adventurous, the more important safety became. (And my son and daughter-in-law just flew to Barcelona the day after the terror attacks there, so concern for safety can take many forms.)

But probably most relevant to you and me right now was the rule about "don't make the other guy wrong" if you can possibly help it. Long after no more nannies and our son was a teenager, I called this "rule" to his attention. His (rebellious?) response was, "But, Mom, it's fun to make the other guy wrong."

Now that we have apparently each had our "fun," PEACE?

And do read Flannery O'Connor when you can? It was actually your modification of Tamara's quotation that first caught my attention. (And I don't happen to be a fan of O'Connor, but I respect her work.)

[David]

Ok, but you didn't make me "wrong". By correcting my pronoun you righted me. :)

[Lily]

"Face" probably should take priority over pronouns? Mea culpa. Just know that I'm willing to stand up to (most of) the negatives of being called a feminist -- as you know, I'll so self-label. But there are other designations I will not acknowledge.

[Thomas]

David wrote: "Ok, but you didn't make me "wrong". By correcting my pronoun you righted me. :)"

Lily wrote: "Now that we have apparently each had our "fun," PEACE?
"

Agreed on both counts.