Comments on: I’m Totally Past Representationalist Work Now

By: cjlee1

cjlee1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:13:18 +0000

A regrettably late post by me, but this is such a great idea, worthy of elaboration and greater circulation. It speaks to my earlier complaint on anti-intellectualism in the academia. As a grad of liberal arts college, I miss an environment that actively cultivated intelligent “amateurs”, as E. Said discusses the term in his short book “Representations of the Intellectual”. Why only be an expert? It can be so much more enriching and fun to be an amateur….

By: William Benzon

William Benzon — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:03:41 +0000

You all might want to watch the Sapolsky video at:

http://asc.nhc.rtp.nc.us/2007/conference/session_four.html

It speaks to the issue of how you remain creative past, say, 30.

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:29:16 +0000

Couldn't agree more, although there's something suspiciously Puritanical about this notion of self-chastening.... My version of it is to get out and do the things the students like to do. I'm always worse at it than them, which turns me into a regular guy and creates anthropological reciprocity by allowing them to exchange their expertise for mine. Btw, my wife is an artist and runs a community gallery for emerging artists, and despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, is convinced that what she does isn't that special and anyone can do it. Which is probably some kind of funny/sad metaphor for the liberal academy.

By: cmarkowitz

cmarkowitz — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:41:03 +0000

This isn’t just true in higher education. I find that I’ve been working better with my 7th graders since I started attending classes in Zuni language with them. Most of them speak Zuni as a first language, and I struggle with every word. They laugh at my pronunciation, but it gives them an area in which they can help me and be good at something, and it reminds me how difficult it is to work in your second language.

By: evangoer

evangoer — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:58:29 +0000

The studio arts are particularly humbling. So many skills involved in just figuring out how to mix colors, or how the paint flows off the brush. I used to snicker at “Dogs Playing Poker”, but these days — man, what I wouldn’t give to be able to paint anything remotely resembling a dog.

By: MichaelTinkler

MichaelTinkler — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:29:05 +0000

I agree very strongly! I love sitting in on classes or even taking them. I learned to ice skate in a P.E. class. Falling down in front of students reminded me that I didn’t always know everything about art history.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:24:51 +0000

I think you may have a couple of years on me, but in the next few weeks I expect to start in on a new language. I’ll be dimmer than the four-year-olds.