Archive for October, 2006

‘Ringed With Ordeals She Was Mastered By….’

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Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
Adrienne Rich

Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

(By the way, this poem is quite technically brilliant. I love the rhythm.)

PS. It occurs to me that if you wanted to be a total gadfly you could point out that Aunt Jennifer’s vindication occurs via chivalry, a ‘masculine’ virtue (the poem speaks of tigers, not tigresses), which kinda misses the point?


Clinton at Georgetown

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I really believed more strongly when I left here than when I came that ideas matter, that evidence matters, that thinking and reasoning matter, that ideas have consequences and that in politics that means ideas lead to policies which have positive or negative effects in people’s lives. [...]
If you have a philosophy, it generally pushes you in a certain direction or another. But like all philosophers, you want to engage in discussion and argument. You are open to evidence, to new learning. And you are certainly open to debate the practical applications of your philosophy. There are, you might wind up making a principled agreement with someone with a different philosophy.
Full Transcript.

Clinton in Ghana (photo: Diana Walker)

“[A] true pilot must of necessity pay attention to the seasons, the heavens, the stars, the winds, and everything proper to the craft if he is really to rule a ship”
— Plato, The Republic



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