mpbubb's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=mpbubb2002-01-25T00:05:16ZErnst Bloch (person)http://everything2.com/user/mpbubb/writeups/Ernst+Blochmpbubbhttp://everything2.com/user/mpbubb2002-01-25T00:05:16Z2002-01-25T00:05:16Z1885–1977
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German <a href="/title/Marxist">Marxist</a> (<a href="/title/Hegel">Hegel</a>ian Marxist) <a href="/title/philosopher">philosopher</a> associated with the <a href="/title/Frankfurt+School+for+Social+Research">Frankfurt School for Social Research</a> (<a href="/title/Theodor+Adorno">Theodor Adorno</a>, <a href="/title/Max+Horkheimer">Max Horkheimer</a>, <a href="/title/Eric+Fromm">Eric Fromm</a>, <a href="/title/Walter+Benjamin">Walter Benjamin</a>, <a href="/title/Sigfried+Kracauer">Sigfried Kracauer</a>, etc.)<p><p>
He had a position at the University of <a href="/title/Leipzig">Leipzig</a> (1918–33).
He ended up in the US after fleeing the Nazis but returned to Leipzig in 1948. He was forced to defect to West Germany in the early 60's and settled in <a href="/title/T%25C3%25BCbingen">Tübingen</a> and taught at the university there.
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I first came across Bloch in an Aesthetic Theory class taught by a favorite professor back at <a href="/title/Rutgers">Rutgers</a> in undergraduate days. That little book about the expressionist debate with the aforementioned Frankfurt School thinkers and <a href="/title/Georg+Lukacs">Georg Lukacs</a> and <a href="/title/Bertolt+Brecht">Bertolt Brecht</a>. A beautiful little book called <i> Aesthetics and Politics</i>. Bloch's essay starts the whole thing off and in contrary to the somewhat dry prose of the rest of the book; his essay is a rush of imagery and allusions - almost an <a href="/title/expressionist">expressionist</a> work in<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…cat euthanasia (idea)http://everything2.com/user/mpbubb/writeups/cat+euthanasiampbubbhttp://everything2.com/user/mpbubb2001-08-17T17:37:35Z2001-08-17T17:37:35Z<i>Writing this made me realize a specific need e2 provides - one which is different from any other interaction in my life. One which I am terribly grateful for.</i>
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We got Gogo and Didi from a bonafide <a href="/title/cat+lady">cat lady</a> in the eastern stretches of <a href="/title/Williamsburg">Williamsburg</a> <a href="/title/Brooklyn">Brooklyn</a>. She had dozens of cats in the loft space and looked like she spent a good portion of her income on their upkeep.
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She interviewed up sharply - "outdoor cats?" "No" ...etc. and when she was satisfied took us to see the kittens. It struck me as a group litter as the kittens seemed very different from one another and feral house cats will accept orphaned kittens into their own litters. KaySu picked up a tiny male with Siamese seal point markings and I picked up a very active lightly-striped female. They were pathetic and dirty and when we got then back to the apartment we lightly cleaned them and set up a little nest or them. KaySu decided the male was as pathetic as a GoGoMa seller (the men who sell roast corn and sweet potatoes<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…American Tourists (thing)http://everything2.com/user/mpbubb/writeups/American+Touristsmpbubbhttp://everything2.com/user/mpbubb2001-08-13T00:30:04Z2001-08-13T00:30:04ZThe <a href="/title/Ugly+American">Ugly American</a>. A great stereotype in that it is so easy to find examples when you travel - or more specifically when you live in a place long enough as an <a href="/title/expat">expat</a> and you cringe everytime you hear those voices a few decibels too loud and the complaints about bathrooms, food and the surliness of those natives. The level of survice that just would not fly in <a href="/title/Peoria">Peoria</a>, etc.
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In <a href="/title/Barcelona">Barcelona</a>, <a href="/title/Paris">Paris</a>, <a href="/title/Urbino">Urbino</a>, <a href="/title/Seoul">Seoul</a>, <a href="/title/Ho+Chi+Min+City">Ho Chi Min City</a> - I've skulked down sidestreets or ducked into stores to not be associated with one of my tribe...
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I've even seen myself <a href="/title/transmogrify">transmogrify</a> into that fat, hawaiian-shirt wearing ogre at moments. In the countryside a few hours northwest of <a href="/title/Ulaan+Baatar">Ulaan Baatar</a> ride back was over 8 hours late. I was furious and hungry and found myself yelling at the driver - a young <a href="/title/Mongolian">Mongolian</a> guy.
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Another time in a cave near <a href="/title/Cat+Ba">Cat Ba</a> Island in <a href="/title/Vietnam">Vietnam</a>. My flashlight - which I bought in <a href="/title/Korea">Korea</a> before travelling on to Vietnam - was more powerful than the guide's. When he<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Montaigne and Lyme - Near Death Experience #689 (idea)http://everything2.com/user/mpbubb/writeups/Montaigne+and+Lyme+-+Near+Death+Experience+%2523689mpbubbhttp://everything2.com/user/mpbubb2001-08-09T02:29:21Z2001-08-09T02:29:21ZI felt dizzy and a bit out of it. Summer in <a href="/title/Greenpoint">Greenpoint</a>, a somber, sometimes downright depressing Polish and Latino enclave in <a href="/title/Brooklyn">Brooklyn</a>. Working as a teacher and trying to finish a paper on <a href="/title/Montaigne">Montaigne</a> for a graduate course at NYU Comp Lit from the semester before. And living in a beautiful old brickfront house that stifled in the summer heat. And my girlfriend was gone for the next 9 months, touring with her ballet troupe... So there were objective reasons to be a bit blue and rundown.<p><p>
I started feeling like I was passing out and decided to go home. On the <a href="/title/G+train">G train</a> I started seriously blacking out and got nervous enough to think about going to the doctors. At home I changed into shorts and flipflops, grabbed the collected Montaigne. NYU grad school health insurance didn't work through the summer so I went to a Greenpoint clinic that catered to the neighborhood. <p><p>
After waiting for an hour or so in a waiting room reminiscent - in overall dinginess and Eastern European flavor - of the clinic<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Burroughs in Tangiers (idea)http://everything2.com/user/mpbubb/writeups/Burroughs+in+Tangiersmpbubbhttp://everything2.com/user/mpbubb2001-08-09T01:44:17Z2001-08-09T01:44:17Z <i><a href="/title/Burroughs">Burroughs</a> is in <a href="/title/Tangiers">Tangiers</a>, I don’t think he’s coming back – It’s sinister…</i>– A. <a href="/title/Ginsberg">Ginsberg</a>, <a href="/title/%25E2%2580%259CAmerica%25E2%2580%259D">“America”</a>
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Is Burroughs great or overrated?
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Sometimes I think of Burroughs as akin to <a href="/title/TS+Eliot">TS Eliot</a> – 2 crotchety, arid,brilliant, mid-western Harvard types. But have come to see Burroughs as more limited. Really was amazed by his <a href="/title/Yage+Letters">Yage Letters</a>, <a href="/title/Last+Words+of+Dutch+Schultz">Last Words of Dutch Schultz</a>, <a href="/title/Queer">Queer</a> and some of the shorter passages from works like <a href="/title/Wild+Boys">Wild Boys</a>. The opening of <a href="/title/Naked+Lunch">Naked Lunch</a>, with the junkie jumping the turnstyle at west 4th street and dispersing through the city like some viral agent, is a favorite as well. And <a href="/title/Dr+Benway">Dr Benway</a> coked out of his mind performing an unnecessary appendectomy with a ‘rusty sardine can’ while an ‘espontaneo’ enters the surgical theatre and threatens to take away the patient.. And some of the characters – the <a href="/title/Green+Nun">Green Nun</a>, <a href="/title/Dr+Benway">Dr Benway</a>, <a href="/title/Kiki">Kiki</a> the house boy, <a href="/title/FDR">FDR</a>, the <a href="/title/Exterminator">Exterminator</a> (“Exterminator, Lady. You need the service?”) are pretty memorable .
<p><p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Bad Dylan is better than good Diamond (idea)http://everything2.com/user/mpbubb/writeups/Bad+Dylan+is+better+than+good+Diamondmpbubbhttp://everything2.com/user/mpbubb2001-08-09T01:19:33Z2001-08-09T01:19:33ZNo person is more of a <a href="/title/Puritan">Puritan</a> than an adolescent who discovers a musician or musical style that really speaks to him or her. It becomes a prism or <a href="/title/monad">monad</a> that clarifies all around into a deceptive whole. And divides the world into those who somehow get it and those who are hopelessly lost.
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For me it was <a href="/title/Dylan">Dylan</a>. And I felt truly sorry for the <a href="/title/Rush">Rush</a> or <a href="/title/Queen">Queen</a> fans. Smugly superior to the <a href="/title/Beatles">Beatles</a> or <a href="/title/Stones">Stones</a> throwbacks. And furiously indignant when a graduating senior attributed <a href="/title/All+Along+the+Watchtower">All Along the Watchtower</a> to <a href="/title/Jimi+Hendrix">Jimi Hendrix</a> (though Hendrix could be said to have inheritied it with his amazing version...)
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For reasons that are beyond me, a moment of almost perfect clarity came when I was 15 or so and in the back seat of a two-toned brown station wagon. It was 1979 – I know that because Bob Dylan’s <a href="/title/Slow+Train+Coming">Slow Train Coming</a> came out and at that time in my life a new Dylan album was an event of some magnitude. When I discovered the old copy of <a href="/title/Another+Side+of+Bob+Dylan">Another Side of Bob Dylan</a> among the ‘<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…