Interesting Robot Facts
c. 1938
Character Title Writer
c. 1929
Morning
Listened to Living with War a couple of times, and started to think it was time to violate my personal ban against large stadium tours. It’s been a long time since I stood in the middle of a lot of voices, and the tour is supposed to hit Minneapolis in July. I wonder what a hundred voices singing “This Land is Your Land” would sound like instead of “America the Beautiful”?
I hate deadlines. There are a bunch of them just now.
Open
A couple of things.
Watching an interview clip from Neil Young, I started thinking about freedom and the lack of it. Everyone trumpets “freedom of speech,” but there is also an equal and opposite freedom to be silent. Balancing the two is a problem. But more than that, I wonder about losing the “freedom to be wrong.” Most classroom environments tend to snatch that away from you, with little notice of its absence.
Robert Fripp wrote an excellent short introduction to a book of Tony Levin photographs, Road Photos. It creeps into my head at the strangest times. I woke up this morning with one line, (loosely quoted) “A photograph captures aspects of open significance.” The brilliant choice of words here makes this thoroughly packed with meaning. “Aspects” can refer to faces or facets—but it never refers to wholes. “Open” can also be spun through with indeterminate, because although a variety of readings can present themselves, none is comprehensive or exhaustive. But more than that, “open significance” tends to imply that the significance, that is, the status of a photograph as a sign is not fully formed. In short, a photograph is raw— an unfinished repository of aspects which may or may not be signs.
I begin to believe this, although I could be wrong.
