Category: Culture

The Reader Movie as Complexity

I watched the movie The Reader last night, and was surprisingly pleased with it. The “secret” (as if there were only one) it addresses is one that unfortunately lingers even today in many situations and experiences. Set within post-World War II Germany and the present, it was stronger and more touching than I imagined. One thing is certain, the movie is more complex than the brief description provided by Netflix; not in its online complexity, but rather with the ethical, moral, and legal issues that it raises without becoming preachy, self-righteous, or adequate in its confronting the main character’s bildungsroman.

the reader

As a viewer, I have a lingering sense that, yet again, life if more complex than we ordinarily like to compartmentalize it.

Critical Mass NYC Bike Ride Tonight

critical mass I am hoping for nice weather this evening, as I am planning to attend my first Critical Mass ride in Manhattan / NYC this evening. Sponsored (as much as these sort of things can be sponsored) by Time’s Up, it is an opportunity to reclaim the streets for bikes, people, and the joy of community (with a little social and environmental activism in there as well, it seems). We pay taxes, and as there are a lot more people in Manhattan who are not driving in cars, it seems we can enjoy the streets, too.

I know, bikes are always on the streets, freely riding to and fro. The difference? It is dangerous to ride on the streets along. Like so many things in New York, we celebrate the right to be alone and independent, though we often like to do that together. Ironic, but this is what we so love about NYC!

Like many informal groups, Critical Mass is a bit difficult to track down online. Wonder how many people attend these things?

times up Regardless, I am looking forward to attending my first event, as informal as it may be, from my new environmental group (which I joined, btw, and have a nifty new hat to show for it!), Time’s Up. What a cool logo they have.

I only wish I would know somebody, or have somebody to attend tonight’s Critical Mass ride with . . .

Perhaps I should rather hope it stops raining and clears up – I am still too new to bike riding to want (or be able) to do it in the rain!

A Pause in Research, Oh so Brief!

I have had to temporarily stop the transcription for my doctoral research project due to some work and university eLearning modules I am finishing that have taken 100% of my non-full-time-job time. Will return to my research this weekend, full steam ahead!

While I have been so busy, I did smile broadly this morning when I came across an article in this morning’s New York Times, The Big Draw of a GPS Run. While the articles itself was fascinating (never considered turning on GPS and creating art with it!), I think there was a profound insight contained in a quote by Ellen Worthing, a GPS-using hiker, at the end of the article:

She likes that with a GPS device she can reimagine a landscape so imbued with history, patriotism and war. “Do we need to see what the U.S. Park Service wants us to see?” she asked. “Or can we see what we want to see?”

Creating her art as a contrast to the “established” purpose of the Fort McHenry National Monument, she exemplified freedom in a way I have not really considered before. Who are you to tell me what I see? Who are you to tell me how I should think? Who are you to tell me what this should mean? My meaning is my meaning, and how I see the world may at times be at odds with how others think it should be seen, or what it should mean. It took some time getting here, and I am thoroughly convinced that there is no such thing as a static and objective meaning, one that is the same for all people at all times.

Can there be a better example of the joys of qualitative research?