Keep On Doing What You're Doing.

I can, very often, conceive of how one would engage some task excellently. Unfortunately, the comprehensiveness of that conception is often enough to scare me off of actually pursuing it. Who has the time? Who has the patience? Who has the resources?

Conversely, and with likewise misfortune, a task which I have no earthly idea how to approach is rarely completed. Indeed, even begun!

And though I do spend a lot of time on facebook, I actually spend a remarkable amount of time...well, you know; doing things.

What sorts of things? I'm glad you asked.

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The Smart Set is the tentative name for the new music project I'm embarking on with my boy, Johnny B. We're aiming for a 5 song e.p. in the next few months. Songs that tell stories, basically. Attempts at humanizing our concepts through lyric and melody.

Our first task is to address commerce as a motivating principle of personal identity. Here goes...

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Accompanying the above is an attempt to work out a theoretical apparatus for how narrative is pragmatically more persuasive than "pure" argument in human life and especially human life together or what we vulgarly call "politics." I've hinted at it here before, but what is fundamentally necessary for action is faith. The mimetic (imitative, in a sense) nature of narration and the faith required to engage a narrative premise more closely access the sort of being that chooses its actions for reasons. The reasons are not always explicit and almost never simple or direct, but can be communicated in a holistic and felt way through the tactics of fictive persuasion, which are multiple and simultaneous.

In Milchian/Kierkegaardian terms, I'm going to work out the dialectical calculus as a means of releasing the movement of Spirit in my overly-reflective mind.

Hopefully that will help me write what God has for me to write.

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Lurking out there is a script I will finish before May. I will, I will, I will!

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Quasi-officially, I'm working on Blondel's thesis from 1893, Action, as well as Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and a whole host of hermeneutical approaches to theology with Fred Lawrence, a Lonerganian who teaches at BC. Also, reading through the Republic over a couple of weeks w/ friends to prep 2nd year-ers for Comps.

Gotta try to get some scholarships for next year as well. This place is wildly expensive.



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Other little projects?:
- start making my own fancy coffee at home
- get my apartment likewise fancy.
- finish off the last tid-bit of credit card debt.
- get another (big) tattoo
- don't fuck it up w/ a girl
- TBA

Godspeed, everybody.

Education, Sex and Pears...but mostly education

Boston College update:
- I've got a list of 6 or 7 perspective classes for the Fall. Everything from Plato's "Theatetus" to a seminar on Heidegger's "Being and Time." I'm so excited about this...and a little intimidated too, I suppose. It's going to be weird from being in the upper 25% in my classes at NPU to sitting in class w/ PHD candidates who, as Emily Johnson says, are experts in Hegel. Oh yeah, I'll probably take a class in Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit," too.
- E.J. also gave me the name of a friend who's looking for a roommate. This could cut my housing costs by two-thirds. Hopefully everyone's cool and the place isn't a total crap-pile. But, I'll probably just have to take my chances, unless I want to drop a bunch of cash to live alone or stay in Boston hotels for a month shopping for Apartments w/ those guys.
Never mind that. Back to square one. No big deal.

Next Step:
- Start hunting down financial aid. B.C. isn't prohibitively expensive, but it's close. If anyone has a rich aunt who wants to be a patron of the "old style" let me know, yeah?

Tomorrow I'll be teaching my second Sunday School class on Augustine's "Confessions." Last week went really well. 20 people, which is a lot for a kick-off. Good spread on the ages, from JD (22) to a fella' named Walt Von Flue (late 70's?). Walt Von Flue is a name that sounds as old as he is, doesn't it? Anyways, we're talking about Books I and II this week, so that means we're discussing education, sex and pears.

But aren't we always? Godspeed.

The End of the Beginning?

New beginnings are so frequent at my age that noting them seems like a waste. We're constantly starting over. What of change is notable when everything is in flux? And yet, here I am. A new school. A new city. A new handful of projects. Accordingly, this will be a venue for developing thoughts, ideas, schemes, day-dreams, etc. I mentioned to someone today that one of the benefits of youth is sufficient naivete to ignore realistic concerns. My success so often seems predicated on a willingness to overlook the should-be-disheartening reality of some endeavor. The current endeavors are enumerated below:

- Pursuing a Masters degree in Philosophy at Boston College. Such minor details as where I'm going to live and how I'm going to pay for all of this are as-of-yet undetermined. None the less, the goal is to get that degree and impress them sufficiently. Then, I'll go on to get a PHD in Philosophy and teach at the University level.

- Learning to write for television, movies and the stage. I've been wondering for some time what a truly Christian artist would look like. So much "Christian" art is really just propaganda and baldly didactic expression. To make something complex and rich and challenging that re-tells (with very good examples) the story of God's work in His creation. This pursuit is hugely influenced by the philosophy of David Milch, the creator of "NYPD Blue" and "Deadwood." Go check out videos of his lectures HERE.

- Developing concrete, material skills. Among them; baking bread, gardening, bicycle repair, and many others to be discovered hopefully. Ideally, I'll post pictures and accounts of my attempts at each.

Hopefully I'll update this more regularly than my other blog, but none the less, thanks for visiting!

Godspeed,
Jon