Here is our thirteenth installment of things we’ve been enjoying.
Marian
The New York Public Library’s excellent series LIVE from the NYPL has recently hosted an evening with Dan Savage––founder of the It Gets Better project and author of the new book American Savage––in conversation with Andrew Sullivan. The conversation runs a hefty 101 minutes, but in all honestly I could have listened to these two for twice as long. For one thing, it’s intriguing and entertaining simply to watch these two formidable, highly original personalities engage each other on the same stage. Beyond that, it strikes me that the conversation they’re having is an extremely important one. The most interesting parts of the discussion, to my mind, center on the question of how marriage equality can reinvigorate––indeed, has already begun to reinvigorate––contemporary understandings of marriage. Sullivan repeatedly makes the case for a more nuanced take on morality, where intimate relationships and lifelong partnership are concerned, one based less on an external set of ideals, gender roles, or “keeping up with appearances.” There’s also a really thought-provoking conversation on what Sullivan calls the “homosexualization of heterosexuality,” and several moving personal stories from both men about their Irish-Catholic upbringings, and what they learned from their parents’ marriages.
Tom
I still haven’t gotten around to reading the article on schizophrenia that Scott endorsed last week, but when I do I’ll likely read it on my phone or iPad using a terrific program/app called Readability. Like other bookmarking tools, it allows you save articles to your own virtual library so you can read them later. But what makes Readability so essential, especially to users of smart-phones and/or tablets, is that you can access your library of articles off-line. It’s also worth noting that the aesthetic presentation of the articles is, ahem, very readable. Here’s how it works: once you register (at no cost) and install a plug-in to your browser, you’ll be able save nearly any article you come across online simply by pressing a button. The process of saving an article actually sends a stripped-down version (no adds, extraneous content, etc.) to its server. When you open the app on your mobile device, the program syncs and downloads all of the articles you’ve saved, thus saving hard-copies on your device and making them available wherever you are, regardless of wireless availability. If you’re ever come across a longer article that you don’t have time to read right away, or if you loathe the idea of paying for a wireless connection on an airplane, or even if you want to make sure you have good bus reading, I urge you to give it a shot.
Justin
This week, I want to give three cheers for recreational sports in general, and to ultimate frisbee in particular. MUFA (Madison Ultimate Frisbee Association) Summer League starts tomorrow, and although this places me squarely within the stereotype of a Madison graduate student, I’m really excited about it. For me, the appeal of playing ultimate goes beyond the fact that it’s a Madison tradition that combines good exercise, camaraderie, and free beer. What appeals to me most is that playing frisbee reliably puts me in a state of what the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls “flow.”
Flow is the state of being completely absorbed in what you are doing, “wholly present” in the pursuit of a challenging activity. I’ve often half-joked that as an academic, my time is divided into moments that I’m working, and moments that I’m feeling guilty about not working. Playing ultimate provides a beautiful exception; when I’m immersed in the game, all other concerns disappear and my attention is completely focused on the next cut, the next throw, the next turnover. I particularly love the way that despite being wholly focused in this way, much of the processing my mind does during a game happens automatically, almost unconsciously. Through some combination of instinct and training, I’m able to take in far more information than I could possibly hope to articulate about the positions and velocities of 13 other players, and make split-second decisions about what to do next. All of it seems to happen without any conscious exercise of agency; it just comes to me, it just happens. All this, despite the fact that I’m just a mediocre player!
So, hurrah for ultimate frisbee, and recreational sports in general. Putting myself in the above state of mind several times a week is almost meditative, and has benefits far beyond those of just running around and bonding with friends. If you’re an able-bodied person who doesn’t have some form of recreational sport in your life, you are missing out.
Keith
Watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on a television or computer screen is like drinking good wine out of a sippy cup: a bad idea. More than almost any other film about which it is said, this one “must be watched on the big screen.” A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to watch 2001 on the massive, curved screen of the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. If you happen to have the opportunity to do the same – or to watch 2001 at any theater – do not miss it. One of the many remarkable things about this among-the-greatest-films-ever is how well the special effects stand up, forty years later. That includes everything from the spaceships to the guys in monkey suits. Watching the planets align, the space station spin, the monolith float through the solar system, all accompanied by an orchestral score – don’t waste the experience on some teeny device.
That said, here’s one famous moment in a tiny little box:
I don’t have an iPhone. But if you do, and if you’ve got Siri on it, I’m told it’s worth saying “Open the pod bay doors,” several times.
Scott
On Friday I enjoyed Free The Mind, a documentary by Danish filmmaker Phie Ambo. Admittedly, part of the charm of the movie, for me, comes from the fact that it was filmed where I live – Madison, WI. But even if you live in LA or NYC, there are still reasons to see the film. Most of the movie is focused on two projects related to the work of UW-Madison neuroscientist, Richard Davidson, whose research explores the effects of meditation and mindfulness practices. The first research project involves teaching mindfulness techniques to preschoolers. We follow one in particular, Will, who has ADHD and whose parents are trying to find a way to address his problems without medication. The other project involves veterans who are suffering from PTSD, and the film features intimate portraits of two of the veterans in that project.
Free The Mind features some unfortunate (and totally unnecessary) CGI sequences, but, overall, it has a significant emotional punch. In one of the most profound scenes, Will’s teacher helps him develop empathy toward a classmate with whom he’s fighting. It’s a staggeringly beautiful interaction between two children and their teacher, the kind of thing that’s rarely filmed, and the scene itself a powerful argument for the importance of the project. The PTSD project is important because 40% of veterans suffering from PTSD do not respond to standard treatments, so alternative approaches are desperately needed. Free The Mind seems to show that the PTSD project had promising results, but I wish the film had spent a bit more time explaining the results – even if incomplete of just suggestive – of both research projects. In the end, I left the movie feeling both a renewed commitment to incorporating mindfulness practices in my own life and also optimistic about the fact that these practices are gaining a wider audience around the world.
Adam
The magic of Jean-Ralphio.
