The Point Of Diving In A Lake
Trying to understand things through negative capability. It's not really working.
“This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person was me. I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. I’d gotten the time of the train wrong. I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table.
I want you to picture the scene. It’s very important that you get this very clear in your mind. Here’s the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There’s a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase. It didn’t look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.
Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There’s nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies.
You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know… But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the newspaper, couldn’t do anything, and thought, what am I going to do?
In the end I thought, Nothing for it, I’ll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, That settled him. But it hadn’t because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie. Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice …” I mean, it doesn’t really work.
We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away. Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back.
A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper were my cookies.
The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy who’s had the same exact story, only he doesn’t have the punch line.”
(via lierdumoa)
The Cannon of Literature (for The Southampton Review)
Posters of this and many fine literary comics are available at my shop. They make great gifts for teachers, librarians, and your book-obsessed friends and family.
My first book, The Shape of Ideas, is now available for pre-order!
(via tobermoriansass)
(Source: boredpanda.com, via halftruthsandhyperbole)
Tumblr and Fandom - call for papers
The online, open-access journal, Transformative Works and Cultures, which is part of the OTW’s academic outreach, has a call out for essays on Tumblr fandom. I’m pasting the call for papers (CFP) below, but I want to emphasize that we (I’m one of the editors) would REALLY love to have submissions from fans as well as academics. Fan writing typically is included in the Symposium section, which takes pieces up to about 2500 words. You may submit under a pseudonym or your own name.
We want to hear from you!
I’m more than happy to talk one-on-one with you, if you think you might be interested but aren’t sure if your idea fits (or whatever concerns you might have). My ask box is open and anons are enabled, so please feel free to contact me. Submissions are due May 1.
Over the past five years, more and more English language transformative fandoms have gravitated to the social networking site Tumblr, moving from online communities such as LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, and Yahoo! Groups. Thus many fan communities have shifted organization structures to adapt to Tumblr’s multiple points of entry and seemingly anti-hierarchical framework. Some fans describe Tumblr as a fandom free-for-all without clear rules for engagement. Others describe this uncertain multiplicity as one of the platform’s strengths. Still others have pointed to Tumblr’s comparatively more visual interface as enabling greater global participation in heretofore monolingual fandom spaces. All of which is to say, Tumblr means many things to many people, encompassing a diversity of fandom experiences.
This special issue of TWC seeks to explore Tumblr as a (not infrequently contested) fandom platform, in which cultures of age, gender, sexuality, race, dis/ability, class, nationality, religion, language, and so on connect and sometimes clash in the contact zones of fandoms. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
* Tumblr’s influence on the production and consumption of fan fiction
* Transcultural and/or transnational fan practices and interactions on Tumblr
* Convergence of fandom and social justice concerns on Tumblr
* Tumblr fandom as a site for media literacy
* Tumblr fandom and non-normative/socially marginalized identity and community
* Marketing, media producers, and Tumblr fans
* Media discourse surrounding Tumblr fandom
* Developing aesthetics of fan work on Tumblr
* Tumblr’s role within transmedia fandom flow across platforms
* Tumblr’s cultural/discursive positioning as a youth/millennial fandom platform
* History and politics of transitioning from fandom communities (e.g. LiveJournal) to Tumblr
* How Tumblr’s interface has impacted and/or driven inter-fandom interactions and transfandom (e.g. Superwholock)Submission guidelines
Theory: Conceptual essays. Peer review, 6,000–8,000 words.
Praxis: Case study essays. Peer review, 5,000–7,000 words.
Symposium: Short commentary. Editorial review, 1,500–2,500 words.
Please visit TWC’s Web site (http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail the TWC Editor (editor AT transformativeworks.org).
Contact—Contact guest editors Lori Morimoto, Louisa Stein, and Allison McCracken with any questions or inquiries (tumblrfandomtwc AT gmail.com).
Due date—May 1, 2017, for estimated June 2018 publication.
Danish model reading in “To Denmark, With Love” for W Magazine, December 2016. Photograph by Tim Walker.
“A Golden Age. No one depicted Danish interior life—in its seeming tranquility and actual complexity—like the artist Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916), whose paintings often featured a lone woman with her back turned to the viewer. Sand Copenhagen shirt; Burberry top (underneath); Maggie Norris Couture skirt; Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini belt.”
(via curiouslychanging)
(Source: refinery29, via robiok)
“You too have survived, survived everything up to this moment. Grip tight! Hum! Laugh! Cry! Forget nothing, and think many things of it.”
(Source: rzwell, via storiesintheashes)
