Literature
I recently received a Hallmark card in the mail that said "The most important things in life are not things." The card basically was telling me that people are more important than mere 'things'. This sentiment rubs completely against the book I just finished reading, the political theorist Jane Bennett's Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things.
Bennett suggests that all things are, well, things, and that far from this being a reductive or depressing situation, this in fact should open the way for new ways of being?even new ways of being mindful. Acknowledged and accepted as things, we might then engage more ethically and thoughtfully with other things...even things that escape our human scale, or slip away from consciousness.
The most important thing is to accept that we are things?and so is everything else. All things are things; and it might help us to act accordingly. Don DeLillo reflects on a similar idea in his most recent novel Point Omega: "Think of it. We pass completely out of being. Stones. Unless stones have being. Unless there?s some profoundly mystical shift that places being in a stone" (73).
As a retort to DeLillo, Bennett might propose that it is not a "mystical shift" that places "being in a stone"?rather, a vibrant thingliness infiltrates people as much as stones, and it is from this 'lower' level of shared being that we might rethink things?from stones to other creatures, from living trees to trashy litter. Bennett terms this philosophy "vital materialism," and it is a call "to consult nonhumans more closely?to listen and respond more carefully to their outbreaks, objects, testimonies, and propositions? (108).
- Character Sketch For Pride & Prejudice
Jane is a quiet and reserved. She is the oldest of the Bennett sisters and by far the prettiest. She is suited by Mr.Bingley. A mutual attraction is formed; there is even talk of them getting married. Her gentleness and openness is sometimes to her detriment....
- Ends Of Things
film equipment for The End of the Tour at the Muskegon Airport in Michigan I wrote about the film The End of the Tour for 3:AM Magazine. I can't tell if the current hype around David Foster Wallace?spurred on by the film and countless reviews...
- Petoskey Stones: Decorative Objects, Hyperobjects
Shortly into Ernest Hemingway's "Ten Indians," one of the Nick Adams stories, we read the following paragraph: They drove along. The road turned off from the main highway and went up into the hills. It was hard pulling for the horses and the boys...
- Morning Walk Photo Essay
Most mornings these days, I go for a walk to the Mississippi River with my small roommate, Julien. This morning I decided to record my walk by taking some photos that show the things we encountered along the way. Julien doesn't walk yet, so I push...
- What We Can Learn From Zizek
This past week the philosopher Slavoj Zizek visted Loyola University New Orleans, and I had the chance to spend some time with him over dinner, as well as attend his public talk, "Uses and Misuses of Violence." I want to use this post to reflect on what...
Literature
The Most Important Things
I recently received a Hallmark card in the mail that said "The most important things in life are not things." The card basically was telling me that people are more important than mere 'things'. This sentiment rubs completely against the book I just finished reading, the political theorist Jane Bennett's Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things.
Bennett suggests that all things are, well, things, and that far from this being a reductive or depressing situation, this in fact should open the way for new ways of being?even new ways of being mindful. Acknowledged and accepted as things, we might then engage more ethically and thoughtfully with other things...even things that escape our human scale, or slip away from consciousness.
The most important thing is to accept that we are things?and so is everything else. All things are things; and it might help us to act accordingly. Don DeLillo reflects on a similar idea in his most recent novel Point Omega: "Think of it. We pass completely out of being. Stones. Unless stones have being. Unless there?s some profoundly mystical shift that places being in a stone" (73).
As a retort to DeLillo, Bennett might propose that it is not a "mystical shift" that places "being in a stone"?rather, a vibrant thingliness infiltrates people as much as stones, and it is from this 'lower' level of shared being that we might rethink things?from stones to other creatures, from living trees to trashy litter. Bennett terms this philosophy "vital materialism," and it is a call "to consult nonhumans more closely?to listen and respond more carefully to their outbreaks, objects, testimonies, and propositions? (108).
- Character Sketch For Pride & Prejudice
Jane is a quiet and reserved. She is the oldest of the Bennett sisters and by far the prettiest. She is suited by Mr.Bingley. A mutual attraction is formed; there is even talk of them getting married. Her gentleness and openness is sometimes to her detriment....
- Ends Of Things
film equipment for The End of the Tour at the Muskegon Airport in Michigan I wrote about the film The End of the Tour for 3:AM Magazine. I can't tell if the current hype around David Foster Wallace?spurred on by the film and countless reviews...
- Petoskey Stones: Decorative Objects, Hyperobjects
Shortly into Ernest Hemingway's "Ten Indians," one of the Nick Adams stories, we read the following paragraph: They drove along. The road turned off from the main highway and went up into the hills. It was hard pulling for the horses and the boys...
- Morning Walk Photo Essay
Most mornings these days, I go for a walk to the Mississippi River with my small roommate, Julien. This morning I decided to record my walk by taking some photos that show the things we encountered along the way. Julien doesn't walk yet, so I push...
- What We Can Learn From Zizek
This past week the philosopher Slavoj Zizek visted Loyola University New Orleans, and I had the chance to spend some time with him over dinner, as well as attend his public talk, "Uses and Misuses of Violence." I want to use this post to reflect on what...