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This is a cover of an old Bob Dylan song.

 Four Words: Burning Man inspired wedding. 

One of the things I love about having satellite radio is that I get to hear shit I haven't heard in years. Then I get to remember how much I loved a particular song and realize that I've missed it. 

This is one of those songs:

 I came across this clip on youtube. It's Finn singing "Better Be Home Soon" at a tribute for Paul Hester, his band mate and childhood friend who committed suicide. 

The man is struggling to get through it and that's how an already beautiful song becomes something much more. The opening lines take on new meaning "Somewhere deep inside/Some things got a hold on you."

The song starts at 2:35.

The answer should always be, "yes."

Reminds me of the myths of home.

I was reading this AV interview with Tim Matheson. You might remember him from Animal House but he was also Vice President Hoynes on The West Wing. But check out how he plugs California universities and highlights the crisis in public education.

I think we need to start a ribbon campagin. Get actors to start sporting these things on their lapels etc. What color should it be? I'd suggest blue and gold but that leaves out the CSUs.

From the interview:

The West Wing (1999-2006)—“John Hoynes”

AVC: Do you think the idealism of that show has had any impact on the current political climate, with people yearning for a White House that’s more like the Bartlett White House?

TM: I think that idealism is always there in this country. I think Aaron captured that in The American President too. It’s a spirit that’s been subverted lately, and sold down the river to the contractors, what with the privatizing of all aspects of the government. It’s so cold and cynical—all dollars and cents and parcel it up and sell it out and downgrade it and outsource it. They don’t consider what it does to people. It started with Reagan, when he took away the financing to the California universities. It used to be cheap to send your kids to the UCs. They’d call it an investment, because the more you educate people, the more they’ll pay in taxes, because they’ll get better jobs. But Reagan said, “No, it’s a cost, so you’re going to have to pay the cost.” So now people can’t afford to get an education. Anyway, I don’t want to get too political, but yeah, I think the spirit of this country is finally coming back, and hopefully it will triumph.

I liked this Morris photo essay, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall.  

Morris talks to three members of the White House still photography press pool. He gets them to choose several photographs taken during the Bush administration and talk about them. I like how you get a sense of how the photographers view their job and in turn how they think we should view their job. It's interesting to note how many of the same moments, from different angles, pop up.

And I *really* like this quote from photographer Santiago Lyon about being in the photography pool,

But, at the same time, the thing is so contrived and so controlled that like any consumer of information, it behooves one to look at the source of the information, to look at the circumstances of the information, and to be able to cast a critical eye on it.

This gets to the heart of why I think what I, and others, do in the humanities is important, why Cultural Studies is not dead, and why I seriously question the motives of those who claim and desire otherwise.

from bwe

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