"We are destroying deep time," says Sven Birkerts

Sven Birkerts (in The Gutenburg Elegies) says there is no wisdom without resonance. He says, "Resonance is a natural phenomenon, the shadow of import alongside the body of fact, and it cannot flourish except in deep time. Where time has been commodified, flattened, turned into yet another thing measured, there is no chance that any piece of information can unfold its potential significance. We are destroying this deep time...No deep time, no resonance; no resonance, no wisdom. The only remaining oases are churches (for those who still worship) and the offices of therapists."

Split in Two

Barbara Mellix writes about her experience of going to collgege after being out of high school for sixteen years, and I think, describes it beautifully. Talking about her papers in her first writing class, she writes, "There is a poverty of language in these sentences." Later she says, "I had the sensation of being split in two, part of me going into a future the other part didn't believe possible." She concludes the article with this: "Writing and rewriting, practicing, experimenting, I came to comprehend more fully the generative power of language. I discovered--with the help of some especially sensitive teachers--that through writing one can continually bring new selves into being, each with new responsibilities and difficulties, but also with new possibilities. Remarkable power, indeed. I write and continually give birth to myself."

Escapists?

The United States of America proclaims itself a land of immigrants. It would not want to be known as a "land of esscapists," yet many did just that: escape from the intolerable conditions of the Old World for the promises of the New.

From YiFu Tuan' book, Escapism.