After quickly polling the various editors of this weblog, I’ve
concluded that you do not have to be a baseball fan to enjoy
haiku about baseball. So, you’ll be finding the topic fairly often
here at f/k/a.
Here’s a pair from our clean-up hitter, George Swede:
crack of the bat
the outfielder circles
under the full moon
abandoned ballpark
gopher mound covers
home plate
George Swede from Almost Unseen (Brooks Books, 2000)
– plus, a benchwarmer’s contribution:
perfect line-drive
over second base —
coach says I swang late
dagosan [April 18, 2005]
“baseballg” As I discover them, I’ll be collecting
the baseball haiku of our Honored Guests at
April 18, 2005
haiku and the national pastime
law school applicants need homework
Sufflolk Law School Professor Andrew Perlman sent me off on quite
a tangent last week, with his guest posting at Legal Ethics Forum
on “Misleading Law School Promotional Materials” (April 13, 2005)
So, I thought I better at least get a posting out of it.
It seems Andy is worried that shady law school promotional tactics are
misleading and unfairly enticing the nation’s law school applicants. To avoid
hypocrisy and unpleasantly surprised students or graduates, Andy wants to apply
the same “strict” advertising criteria to schools that are applied to lawyers (although
he thinks the restrictions should be lifted from lawyers). I wasn’t sure that the
crisis was as big as Andy suggested, or that we should worry too much about
law school applicants (since they can and should protect themselves); check out
our conversation at LEF.
After doing a bit of research and reflection, I came to the following conclusions:
Naturally, it’s absolutely improper for law schools to be using deceptive
tactics in the admissions process [unless used to weed out particularly credulous
or lazy applicants!]
– click to read the entire post which opines:
“Given the existence and accessibility of this
information, the importance of the decisions,
and the kinds of skills and attitudes a good
lawyer needs, I cannot agree with Andy Perlman
that we should feel a lot of sympathy for “naive”
or ignorant law school applicants-turned-student.”
prairie twilight…
the glow of the cattleman’s
branding iron
Ed Markowski
during discussion
on the meaning of life . . . the crunch
of a student’s apple
George Swede
from Almost Unseen
pencil shavings
the student’s tongue
curls and uncurls
DeVar Dahl
from A New Resonance 3
potluck
Word for the Wise just had a great entry to honor the birthday
of Clarence Darrow (b. April 18, 1857), quoting him saying: “Inside
every lawyer is the wreck of a poet,” and presenting a poem by his
onetime law partner, poet Edgar Lee Masters entitled “Clarence Darrow.”
by dagosan:
a young man’s
erotic dream —
the old man’s bladder wakes him
[April 18, 2005]
admissions week —
two fat envelopes
and two skinny ones
[April 16, 2005]
it’s all relative, squared
Today is the fiftieth anniversary of Albert Einstein’s death (April 18, 1955).
I was five years old when he died, and have had no professional nor dilettante interest in physics
or mathematics. Nonetheless, I’ve always been very fond of Old Albert and have never quite
known why. Perhaps this quote from Sunday’s newspaper (Associated Press, April 15, 2005,
“100 Years Ago, Einstein Changed Everything,”) helps explain it:
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is
something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”
“einsteinTime” I can picture it now: Little Tyke David proudly dresses himself one morning in
a color-and-design combination that provokes from his mother (and big sister) that phrase every
male in the universe hears, from every significant woman in his life (and quite a few insignificant
ones):
“That doesn’t go!” You can’t wear stripes with plaids! And, never mix green
with orange!”
Then, Mama Giacalone probaby added: “Do you want to look as silly as Albert Einstein?” Thus,
the bond was formed across the ages and the cosmos — like time, taste is relative.
That certainly explains my wearing stripes to visit the Einstein Monument in D.C. (1980) “Einstein head small”
orig photo by A.J. Giacalone here
Of course, there is much more to know, respect and like about the complex man chosen by
Time Magazine as Person of the Century (by Eric Golden, Jan. 3, 2005) — famous for his
genius and profundity, his charm and humor. Over the decades, as I have come to know some
very smart people who take themselves far too seriously, I’ve come to appreciate greatly Einstein’s
playfulness in public and his willingness to let the world see him being silly. His biographer
Juergen Neffe recently said, “He was the first global pop star of science at a time when world
stars were first emerging.” And:
“He was always fun to be with, always joking. Sometimes when he was supposed
to give a speech he would just play his violin instead.” (keralanext.com, April 14, 2005)
I think Albert would shake his shaggy head at Rolf Sinclair, the stuffy physicist who is
quoted in an AP article saying he despises the Einstein monument in D.C., because “It makes him
look like one of the Three Stooges reading his horoscope.” The 12-foot bronze depicts Einstein
gazing at his famous energy formula. Like myself, tourists of all ages climb on his lap for snapshots
and to peer at the map of the universe that is at his feet.
Lately, as more and more “believers” assert that only “peope of faith” can have a strong moral
code and sense of social responsibility (see my post, e.g., on religious law schools), Einstein the
humanist has been an inspiration for me. As Rabbi Sherwin Wine explains:
“Albert Einstein was an ardent humanist who believed that human power
and human responsibility were the foundations of the moral life. Einstein
maintained that ethical rules flowed from human experience and from the
requirements of human survival. While he stood in awe of the wonders of the
universe, he refused to worship them. He firmly believed that reality was no
more than the natural universe and that neither chance nor supernatural
intervention governed its events.”
Michael Dobkowski, professor of religious studies, Hobart and William Smith Colleges in
Geneva, NY. captured the feelings of myself and millions of others in America and around
the world (“Still today Albert Einstein models power of human spirit,” Rochester [NY]
Democrat & Chronicle, April 15, 2005):
“Einstein carried an unprecedented moral weight, and he took carefully
considered, courageous and even original stands on a host of issues. Great
social ideas and great science come from the ability to question the obvious,
and Einstein had an abiding incapacity for self-deception and evasion. So he
was willing to modify his positions to meet new realities.
– see Time for orig.
“His face, with its unruly, white hair and soft dreamy eyes has become, in many
ways, the human face of humanity and a reminder of the limitless potential of the
human spirit and intellect to overcome ignorance, prejudice, parochialism and the
dogma of uncontested assumptions.”
Let’s close with a few Einstein qutotations (from dailycelebrations.com):
Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts
can be counted.
Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.
One final quote suggests that Einstein and Kobayashi Issa — two
wise, compassionate, and silly souls — would have enjoyed meeting over
a cup or two of tea or sake.
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion
of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting
us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle
of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its
beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such
achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”
[quoted in H Eves Mathematical Circles Adieu (Boston 1977)]
frogs sing, roosters sing
the east
turns light
the mountain moon
gives the blossom thief
light
the round patches
the square patches…
snow floats away!
from Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
