I awoke to a light dusting of snow on the lawn this morning; it’s the second time, by my count, that there has been any snow this season. Today’s won’t last long; Whitewater will have to wait for appreciable accumulation.
At my home, the House of Dissenting Opinion, my Internet connection is down, so it’s posting via mobile for today. Surprisingly, my Internet service provider’s surplus Soviet network doesn’t seem to be working properly.
I’ll take this opportunity – committed as I am to turning lemons into lemonade – to answer publicly some reader mail. I have answered these messages privately already, but I will summarize some recent correspondence and my replies. The meaning of both messages and replies will be the same.
Some are light, some serious.
My favorite song.
I can’t really pick a favorite, sorry to say. I am sure most people have one, but even if I were to choose one, it wouldn’t be a firm choice. I’m just not that musical.
If I had to pick a single Christmas song, this being that season, I would pick O Holy Night. I think it’s both beautiful and compelling.
Several questions and messages on how much race does or doesn’t matter in Whitewater.
Well, I think it matters more than it should, but I have no particular theory about race, racism, or race relations. There may be someone in town who can explain all this very clearly; I claim no such insight.
The best I could offer anyone would be for him or her to read from the thousands of years of religious insight, and the hundreds of years of American political documents, that consider race, ethnicity, and equality before the law.
Hours reading there is worth years elsewhere, as those writings and documents are the consequence of real and often painful experience, deeply considered or revealed. If one sought a foundation for understanding, I could not recommend a better one.
On the film Dark City.
Yes, I discovered it, as others have, and like it very much. It’s a great science fiction and mystery film from 1998. There was recently a tenth anniversary edition issued, with commentary from the director, Alex Proyas, two of the writers, and Roger Ebert.
What is the Dark City, why is it always dark, what happens at midnight, why does it happen, and will things ever change?
The movie never answers all the questions one might have about how the Dark City came into being. In the commentary, one of the writers offers a theory on how the city came about, as a backstory, and tells viewers that the director had a different theory. I think only the director’s theory makes sense.
No matter – it’s not how the city began, but where it’s heading, that matters most.
Definitely one of my favorite films.
Assorted Questions about Our Public School District.
The questions cluster around what I think of the direction of the district and its new administrator.
I think we came through a long period of mediocre leadership under the last administrator, Leslie Steinhaus, and it’s a long road ahead to build a better district. There are few people I have ever seen in Whitewater, or elsewhere, who seemed as dull, plodding, and uniformly mediocre as Dr. Steinhaus.
There’s a long road back from wasted years, and Whitewater is a town that doesn’t handle long walks well. It’s no easy task to forge a new path here. The longer I write, and reflect on life here over even the last decade, the more one sees how inertia works to keep things at rest, rather than keeping things in motion.
Ironically, that inertia doesn’t come from someone who writes about the town, but from those same people who dislike anyone writing about the town except in a certain way.
City government is a perfect example. Some don’t like anything one writes if it’s not sugary, but writing hasn’t caused any of the fiscal and administrative problems the city faces. On the contrary, the decisions that have been troublesome to this town have come from within the municipal building, and among those who consider themselves supporters of those inside.
Former city manager Gary Boden wasn’t a failure, and current city manager Kevin Brunner isn’t indecisive and floundering, because someone wrote as such. The problems they face aren’t because someone writes.
Years of settled habits, or lack of habits, from Dr. Steinhaus’s tenure will take time to change. I don’t know what the district will seem like, after a year.
In any event, if I have no particular theory of race relations, then I also have no particular theory of education. The theory of teaching someone is beyond me.
I will tell a small story that illustrates my view. Years ago, as a student in a seminar on the history of the American south, I listened to two guest speakers: a professor of literature, and an engineer who happened to have read a lot of Faulkner. The purpose of both guests was to talk a bit about southern authors.
The literature professor was surprised that the other guest was self-taught, and she was initially dismissive of his remarks. Only initially – it soon became clear how much he knew, but more still, how much more excited and enthusiastic he was about the topic.
I don’t mean to suggest that an autodidact is always a better teacher; I mean to contend that one cannot always tell where one will find the best learning. At least, I am not sure where one will always find it. A beginning often requires enthusiasm for one’s subject, and from there, only afterward, do discipline and rigor matter, decisively.
I am sure, though, that America was better off for the engineer who read Faulkner, and spoke of the subject with clarity and interest.
Do I Think that God Finds Whitewater Beautiful?
Oh my, that’s a profound question. There’s a simple answer, though, that anyone from among the laity can confidently answer: Yes, I am confident that He does find Whitewater, Wisconsin beautiful.
The question stems from lyrical, poetic remarks a member of our common council offered some months back that even God would find a particular view in Whitewater lovely.
That’s likely true and compelling, as poetry and hope: there are many times when the city is astonishingly lovely. Those times are most evident not during celebrations or grand events (but as the council member implied, I recall) during quieter moments: early morning, or toward the end of a day.
There is considerable natural beauty around us; those visiting often remark about how beautiful the drive to town is, past farms and pine woods. It is beautiful, and we are fortunate for it. Another reason, surely, for us to have been grateful this Thanksgiving.
When will Police and Fire Commisson meetings be on television?
Not soon enough.