Today I went into the library, finally facing the task I had set myself, surveying the theses therein and choosing ones I might recommend students to read. In the past I have relied on memory. I read the theses of four colleagues and of several well-known artists; fortunately for the party line, these were all good, though very different from the contemporary exercise. It was interesting to see how much we are of our times; the nineteen sixties theses nod toward Sartre and consider how alone we are in the world, the nineteen seventies ones were trying to figure out where they stood on Abstract Expressionism, the nineteen eighties ones were exploring the self, the nineteen nineties were considering Issues and solving problems by creating Installations. Later ones wonder what art is and go truffling around in Popular Culture.
Yesterday evening I met up with one of our own Lit-Ideas people, who was passing through town. You'll have to guess who that might be, and then keep the guess to yourself, because people are entitled to privacy. The pub where we met had the Olympics on, so while our visitor went outside to smoke, I managed to see an American gymnast fall off the bar, which was something I'd never seen before. It was good to see, not because I wish ill on the poor girl who fell, but because coverage in the past has implied that perfection is perfectly normal. I also saw a Chinese girl make a mistake. Not knowing the outcome, I looked on the web and found the following, which leaves me wondering whether or not I live in a nutural country: http:// community.comcast.net/comcastportal/board/message? board.id=SummerOlympics2008&thread.id=612:
ok so they were first loosers so what! had the games been in a nutural country they just may have been the golden girls! they the Americans made a few misques but they did not cry over being first loosers! they called it like it was the china team did bettter that day but in this setting tomarrow is 4 years away and most of the american girls will be to old to compete! We don't take 3year olds from there folks and make them sports hero's at age 12 most american atheletes have a life ,Mike may be the exception but if your going to be the very best you make sacrifices some are not worth it some are. At any rate good job team America. you are top self to most of us. nice job good luck in 4 years.
David Ritchie, Portland, Oregon D.
