More Assorted Research

Subterranea is trying to get off the ground and here's some funny things that have crossed the ol' path over the course of some research.

Confluence

I checked out a friend's blog last week and saw the "It Gets Better" video from Jon Berry, the director of the US Office of Personnel Management.  As with the others, it's a very affecting testimonial, but my friend picked up on something he said which is still with me a week later: God doesn't make junk.

The simplicity and far-reaching implications of this statement are so profound, and again I must give props to "E" for noting how universally applicable it is.  It is perhaps the best catch-all personal affirmation I have heard, no matter the circumstances.  Unless those circumstances involve you not believing in God.  Hm.  

The week I saw that video was the same week I went to an open call for The Public Theater's Timon of Athens.  I hadn't read it, so in preparation I went over the text on my Kindle (excellent for portable collected volumes of public domain texts like Shakespeare) and in doing so came across this line:

"Why dost thou call them knaves? thou know'st them not."

The context in the play doesn't really have much to do with the American culture war, but in the abstract it seemed immediately resonant with regard to adolescent bullying and the thinly-veiled homophobia in congressional politics.

The man was a genius!