Language and Consciousness

I just got finished grading causal papers about Frederick Douglass. I asked students to choose a strategy of slavery or escaping from slavery that Douglass discusses in his Narrative, and to explore the mechanism by which it either turns a person into a slave or a slave into a full human being, according to Douglass. Reading many papers about literacy, I began to think, as I have occasionally in the past, about how a pre-verbal child is not fully conscious, and to wonder whether this is true of adults or older children who are not literate as well. Language is such an integral part of who human beings are, that perhaps without the ability to read, as well as to speak, we are not really capable of full consciousness. Think of Helen Keller. I am sure that is an iffy and perhaps dangerously politically incorrect hypothesis, but it would be interesting to investigate. At least the quality of consciousness is different in literate people than it is in ones who are not.

Torah Party

Last night a very large and jovial group assembled to talk and munch on the all too numerous goodies (including a freshly baked pumpkin banana bread, among other things!). We were discussing the last two books of Leviticus, Emor and B'Chukotai, extremely interesting and provocative portions.
Emor discusses the intricacies of the Jubilee year. I am sure all of you have heard of this idea before, the notion that every 50 years, income would be largely redistributed and the land would lie fallow. It is a sabbath of sabbaths, when all contracts are retracted, or the sellers get an opportunity to re-purchase all lands, etc. that they have sold in the previous 49 years. In fact, all contracts in the land of Israel would be temporary, as buying a home in Irvine entails purchasing rights to build on land, but not the ownership of the land itself. The price a person paid for something would be based on how many harvests they would hold this thing for. When the 50 years were up, the rights would revert to the previous owner, should that person wish to repurchase the thing.
Though it is a radical idea, very idealistic, there is some question whether and how it would work or if it were in fact ever put into play on a large scale. There are apparently Orthodox Jews in contemporary Israel who do act on it, but they are a small portion of the population. They live on specially designated frozen and canned food made just for these Jubilee years.
Shockingly, though Jewish indentured servants (debt slaves) had to be freed in these years (except for the women, who were sex slaves, and thus belonged permanently to their owners), all others who were held as slaves did not, even though the reason stated for this rule is a reminder of how God freed the Jewish slaves in Egypt, generally linked to the necessity of being conscious of how the stranger needs consideration. No one ever accused the tradition of being consistent or logical.
The second book was a gripping discussion of all the blessings that would ensue if the people followed the laws, and the many and detailed curses that would follow if they did not. I learned from this book that the ancient Hebrews raised forbidden animals, such as pigs, and sold them to outsiders in order to make money. Sometimes these animals would be given to the temple as pledges. Since no one in the community could eat them, they were probably sold and the proceeds went back to the Levites. Interesting.

claiming my loss

Today I spoke to the claims person at my auto insurance, and I realized just how little I could tell about the accident. I didn't know what side of their car hit my car. I didn't even look at their car, and couldn't remember what make it was. Luckily, they wrote that down for me when we exchanged information. I didn't see the collision, just heard it. But I am so bad at directions and especially backwards! I may get nothing because of that although it was definitely their fault. I was out there in the process of turn, sitting still so I could look out for cars and shift to Drive, but not moving at the moment. There is no way this is my fault or even no one's fault.

Birthday Blues

Here it is Monday afternoon. I had planned to go shopping this afternoon, but yesterday, when I took my mom to look for shoes (found them too!), as I was pulling out of a parking lot, actually stopped and about to shift into drive so I could drive out of the aisle in the lot toward the street, a big ass SUV hit me on the driver's side back, right over the wheel. The woman in the car (she wasn't driving) tried to call it a wash, saying we were both backing out at the same time. But I wasn't moving when they hit me. They just plain weren't looking. I was there, as large as life. Their car sustained no damage, of course, only little bitty me did. They were moving, after all, and I wasn't, and their Acura was so much bigger than my car is. So here I am sitting in the house waiting for the claims adjuster to call. I may just leave. It should wait till they reach that guy and look at the car, and they have to come down here from Long Beach. What a drag! Thought I'd get it done right away, but that isn't going to happen.
No one was hurt, and I can still drive the car. It's just a huge drag.

Birthday Dinner

I didn't take any pictures at my birthday dinner, but I can tell you that we all had a wonderful time. Though I asked scads of people from yoga and elsewhere, only three showed up besides the three of us (yes! Jeremy DID get off work for once and come to dinner with us!). But it didn't matter because we all had a great time and really enjoyed dinner.
We went to a vegan Vietnamese restaurant in Westminster, and ordered lots of different sorts of things. My favorite was one recommended by the waiter--a plate of fried mushrooms--they seemed to be oyster mushrooms and possibly shitakes also, in a sweet/spicy dipping sauce. We also had vegan spareribs, a Vietnamese crepe filled with veggie ham and beansprouts, a noodle soup with veggie shrimp that tasted like gefilte fish, and other assorted delights. Even Jeremy, who was all set to hate the food, actually liked it and admitted to having a good time with a bunch of assorted adults. He was surprised to be treated just like everyone else. No one there talked down to him or asked him in that phony voice how school was. Though he was sure he'd be bored, he was friendly and engaged in the conversation and actually didn't prompt us to leave. When the time came, it was I who said we had to go so he could go meet with his buddies afterwards. When we waddled away, very full, we all felt good and ready to enjoy another year.

Getting Schooled

Last night, I turned down an invitation to go eat bbq because of a squeamish stomach (saving myself for today's vegan feast, my birthday gift to myself) and went to the movies with R to see a new film, An Education. I had read enthusiastic reviews galore about this new film, which tells the story of a young girl in either the late 50s England or early 60s... there was the song "A Summer Place," which I remember as early 60s, but there was also Audrey Hepburn updos and hula hoops, which might be 50s, and talk of "beatniks."
The main character was a 16 year old, very bright, very out of place in her boring striver's household and neighborhood. Her father, played by Alfred Molina, had to be one of the most memorably obnoxious characters I've seen in a long time, and seeing him captured the sense of being a teenager, simultaneously knowing very little, but knowing one doesn't belong here, among these boring and hypocritical walking dead adults. In other words, we definitely see the world through the eyes of the main character.
This girl, the brightest in her class, meets up with an exciting older man, probably in this mid to late 30s, who charms her and everyone around her, and predictably seduces her. How he manages that is hard to say, since he seems rather transparent to me, in his Humbertian way, but the young girl who plays the main character is a terrific actress, both in her innocent and experienced incarnations, and the screenplay is shapely and well put together, as is the film as a whole.
Go and see it before it goes away.

Weekend

I have plans to enjoy this weekend, to do exactly what I feel like doing. I am between papers to grade. Tuesday the students will write essays in class about Frederick Douglass' narratives. Then I will help them choose an angle on their topics for their cause or effect analyses. From here on in, there will be lots more classes in which I will not teach a lesson per se, but will conference individually with students. Less prep, more time. But a change, nonetheless.