And Now, for Something Completely Different

I highly recommend this article from Sunday's Washington Post. Although it takes a while to get through it, the article is well worth your time as a commentary on modern life, or at least on modern commuting. Maybe it resonated deeply with me because I can absolutely see myself leaving a subway station and ignoring a musician playing for spare change, even if that musician is one of the most accomplished violinists in the world. Five year of living in Midtown conditioned me to ignore anyone who might be begging for money and I don't think that's a good thing. Maybe the article resonated because I get zoned into my own little world when I'm commuting to work, as I focus on the road, the latest fire I have to put out at work, and my Teaching Company lectures. (I just finished World War I, so if you find me likening the Thrashers' defense to the French resistance at Verdun or a Bobby Cox decision as worse than the German decision to start unrestricted submarine warfare, now you know why.) Maybe the article resonated with me because I went grocery shopping yesterday with my iPod and wouldn't have known if Charlotte Church was singing in Aisle 6 next to the whole wheat pasta.

What I liked best about the article was that it provoked definite feelings for me. It made me want to download some of Joshua Bell's work, as well as Bach's "Chaconne." (Yes, I appreciate the irony that I want to download the music so I can draw myself off into my own world and listen to it, thus defeating the point of the article.) It made me want to pay more attention to what I see every day. (Cue Lester Burnham's "there's beauty all around us" speech from American Beauty.) And yes, it made me want to Google images of Greta Scacchi. So, as your reward for putting up with this rumination...