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The Owl and the Ass

By Jim Spiegel

Welcome to our blog.  No doubt you have noticed the images of the owl and the ass above.  These are not random, of course.  We chose them because (at least in popular consciousness) they represent “wisdom” and “folly,” respectively.  If we had gone with random, then we’d have chosen images that are more easily drawn, like an egg and a pyramid, or a square and a tree, or maybe just a smiley face.  But no….  We had to go with purposeful and symbolic, thus leaving us in the quandary of deciding how to find some good original renderings of an owl and an ass.  The images you see were drawn by me (Jim).  Obviously, I’m no artist, as the drawings are primitive and lack pizzazz.  We briefly considered commissioning a professional artist to produce the images for us but decided against this because, for one thing, we don’t have a lot of extra cash lying around to fund this endeavor.  Frankly, we’d rather spend what we do have on chai, CDs, and diapers.  Also, we figure that since this is a homespun operation, my unwieldy drawings will do, at least for now.

However, in keeping with the interactive nature of this blog, we would like to invite you to send us your own original drawing(s)-whether a quick sketch or laboriously crafted painting-of an owl and/or an ass.  Make it comical or serious, minimalist or ornate.  Any style or mood will do.  Why?  Because this blog will be a thing of many moods-sometimes serious and (hopefully) sometimes funny.  You may submit your drawing(s) as an attachment to Jim at jmspiegel@taylor.edu.  There is no deadline.  We may or may not incorporate your drawing(s) into our blog nameplate, but if it’s interesting enough we’ll post it.  And we will give you credit for your work if we decide to use it.  But sorry-no cash remuneration.

Okay, enough of that.  A few words of explanation are in order regarding just why owls and asses commonly represent the wise and the foolish.  As for owls, they are nocturnal and can function very well in the dark.  Also, they are far-sighted, able to spot prey from hundreds of feet away, while having poor vision for things up-close.  These traits are good metaphors for wisdom, as wise people can maintain their integrity even in the midst of moral “darkness.”  A wise person also demonstrates a keen eye for what lies beyond, while not being distracted by immediate concerns.  The linkage between owls and wisdom probably also has to do with the solemn or studious look of the bird.  At any rate, in the West owls are commonly associated with wisdom, even dating back to ancient Greece, where Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was frequently depicted as holding an owl.

As for the ass or donkey, its scientific name is Equus asinus, from which we get the word “asinine.”  In ancient times, the ass was used to symbolize Dionysus, the Greek God of indulgence and excess.  And as we all know, fools are overindulgent and excessive.  Donkeys also have a reputation for being stubborn and unteachable.  This is not really accurate, but we’ll follow that folklore because, well, we need a good image for foolishness.  As with humans, in the animal kingdom it is sometimes difficult to distinguish stubbornness and stupidity from independence and single-mindedness.  But in most cases it is easy to tell the difference between the two, as the ways of the fool eventually come to ruin.

Who is wise and who is foolish?  To summarize the biblical contrast between them, the wise person is prudent, teachable, self-controlled, and morally insightful, while the fool is reckless, stubborn, self-indulgent, and morally thick-headed.  For more details, see the book of Proverbs.

The content of this blog will display the ways of the wise and foolish.  While we will seldom apply these tags to the ideas and people we discuss, we trust you’re wise enough to know which applies in each case.

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Snap Shots

By Amy Spiegel

Brief comments on film by Amy (unless otherwise noted).
Some old, some new.  Domestic films and foreign too.

Thumbs Up:

Reds:  Such a great movie that it left me wondering “What did they put in Warren Beatty’s Kool-Aid to entice him to make “classics” like Dick Tracy and Bugsy?  I don’t agree with the politics per se but some of the political discussions are priceless.

Expelled:  I liked that this movie didn’t take itself too seriously and found both the interviewees and the science fascinating. I never thought I would feel like standing up and applauding a bunch of biologists.  Take that, Richard Dawkins.

Prince Caspian:  We had a countdown for this movie to be released in our house and were by no means disappointed. Sure, Susan wears a little too much eye liner and I thought the boys would crawl under their seats when she got a little smooch at the end, but for the most part it was true to the spirit of the book and provided great discussion for days to come.

Thumbs Down:

Knocked Up:  You aren’t going to believe me, but I actually suggested this one to my mom and dad based on someone else’s recommendation.  Oops. At times funny but ultimately sad in its message of half-hearted commitments and shallow view of love.  If I ever remember who told me it had a “positive family message,” they’ll be hearing from my lawyer.

Juno:  I can see why this was so well received by the masses.  It has a distinct atmosphere a la Wes Anderson but about half way through it felt more like an Easter egg, pretty on the outside but hollow inside.  Full of witty repartee, ultimately I felt manipulated and unconvinced.  Great soundtrack though.

The Last Samurai:  Besides the fact that Tom Cruise unfortunately appears throughout the whole film, often speaking Japanese, it was great.  Jim and I actually held a contest to see who could predict the most scenes and even then, the filmmakers exceeded our expectations.  Bad, bad, bad.

Head Scratchers:

There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men: Though I wanted to dismiss both of these as unsatisfying and just plain frustrating, I couldn’t get them off my mind which tells me there is probably more there than I can digest in one sitting.  Kind of like one of those combo meals from Denny’s.  I mean, seriously, does anyone need a slice of grilled honey ham, two bacon strips, two sausage links and two eggs, plus hash browns or grits and choice of bread?  Unlike Denny’s, however, Jim and I both plan to go back and revisit these two.

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Popular Music and Survival of the Fittest

By Jim Spiegel

Long before I ever became an academician I loved rock n’ roll-from the crunch and sizzle of Jimmy Page guitar riff to the soul-soothing wail of Aretha Franklin.  But most of all, I loved the songs themselves, from love ballads to R&B grooves to punk rock political anthems.  And I’ve spent decades building my music catalogue, both to enjoy the music and to get a better grasp on the evolution of this art form.

It wasn’t long ago that to call rock music an “art form” was a howler.  And it has only been very recently that study of the popular arts generally has become a legitimate field of scholarly inquiry.  Happily, today there are several academic journals devoted entirely to the subject, and even the most prestigious aesthetics journals routinely feature treatments of rock music.  Finally scholars have realized what should have been obvious all along.  The study of popular culture is important because it provides us with insights in a wide range of subjects: art, anthropology, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, and philosophy, to name a few.  And study of the history of popular culture is significant for the same reason that any historical inquiry is significant.  It provides us with a better understanding of human nature and society.

Perhaps the reason some have doubted the significance of rock music as an art form is that, frankly, much of it is bad.  And, indeed, radio stations play mostly tripe all day long.  They always have, even in rock’s “golden age.”  But something like this has been true of all art in every age.  Much of the music made in the 17th, 18th or 19th centuries was no doubt very bad, but that music has been deservedly lost to time while the best has survived-as it always has, standing the test of time precisely because it is the best.  What we call “classical” music is simply the best music of bygone eras.  And, yes, some music from our era will survive for centuries as well.  They are not royal courtiers anymore, but include film soundtrack composers (e.g. John Williams and Danny Elfman), singer-songwriters (e.g. Bob Dylan and Morrissey), and rock bands (e.g., the Beatles and Radiohead).

Students of popular music face a challenge that students of classical music do not.  History has yet to weed out the weak specimens among the songs of our time, so we must do the extra work to discern which songs will likely stand the test of time because of their merits.  As in the biological world, it comes down to survival of the fittest.  And contemporary music critics are sometimes no more able to predict which songs will last than a biologist is able to predict the future evolutionary path of organisms.  As Bob Dylan has said, “You have to stand on your tiptoes to see the future.”

But the sheer difficulty of the task should not discourage us.  There are, after all, some basic aesthetic standards when it comes to assessing rock music, just as there are for any art genre.  And we have already seen some “natural selection” of rock songs already, if we go back to the 1950s, 60s, and even the 70s.  There are songs that we already call “classics,” from Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

In future posts, I will discuss a variety of popular musical artists and songs, some of which have risen to the level of “classic” and some which I suspect will do so in time.  I will also offer some of my own “best of” lists.  The first of these will be the twenty best albums of the rock era, which I will post in just a few days.  So stay tuned, rock fans.

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Reflections on the Price of Gas

By Amy Spiegel

I would have never thought that the experience of pumping gas would be an occasion for deep personal reflection.  But as the weeks of high gas prices have dragged on, the Spiegel grocery cart has been “freed” of more and more luxury items.  (My friends Ben and Jerry feel quite abandoned and the kids have noticed that their cereal now comes in “dog food bags” rather than the more traditional and chic toy filled box.)  I have been surprised to see how something so seemingly mundane can reveal a great deal about myself and the way I see the world.  As a political science grad and concerned citizen, I have pondered the various theories for relief.  I don’t want to reveal my ignorance by putting forth any concrete solutions to this eco-political quandary.  At times, it has made me feel so small and helpless I have been tempted to humbly kneel down before the almighty gas station and admit defeat.  On other occasions, I feel disposed to raise my fist in defiance, pack up the van and move to the country, build a windmill and thumb my nose at society in general.  (These moods could be brought on by watching too much of “The Wilderness Family” with my kids.)

What I have noticed most, though, is my own sense of entitlement and my frustration at having limits placed on my freedoms.  Jim and I certainly have never been wealthy and have gone through seasons of lean and leaner, but recently, with each new trip to the pump, I find that portion of our budget dedicated to gas growing resentfully larger.  As a matter of logic, that portion of our budget dedicated to other things grows smaller.  (Again my friends Ben and Jerry come to mind-after all, they have bills to pay as well).  We aren’t what you would call big spenders but as trips out to dinner and babysitting fall to the wayside, I have been shocked by the depth of my bitterness.

When I finally stopped to analyze the true source of my grumbling, I realized I was squirming under this new limitation of movement, desperate to go wherever the heck I pleased.  In this country we are simply not accustomed to limiting our mobility.  Miles of interstate, relatively well-maintained, beckon us to new and exciting destinations.  There are times when I am so weary of this house that a trip to the pet store seems like a vacation.  There is an upside to being forced to retrench (a word I have always wanted to use, thank you Jane Austen and Persuasion).  It has given me an opportunity to test my ingenuity.  Need new sleeveless shirts for watching the kids in the yard?  Just cut off the sleeves of your stretched out old ones.  Nothing to eat for dinner?  Make breakfast-pancakes taste good any time of day.  But if prices continue to rise and you happen upon an abandoned house where the Spiegels used to live, just head for the open country and look for the windmill.