Sunday, September 29, 2002

Of vines A while back someone on NPR told a story about a man who started paying particular attention to clematis, a sort of vine, and in time became the world's foremost expert and curator. He is now on in years, and seeks a substitute for himself to take over the care of his distinguished collection, with some anxiety. For what he has found is, no institution is capable either of being trained or of caring about these living things in the fussy way they need in order to survive. Other rare collections, entrusted to one botanical bureaucracy or other, have apparently fallen to dust in a very short time. The things we love flourish in the lover's laboratory of clever ingenuities and doting stratagems. Odd hybrids, eked from the known, grow rich and strange. Knowledge - real, felt, patient, hard won, unassumable, unmanageable, creative knowledge - is like that man's vine collection, a rich, unique thing, won by one slightly lunatical lover, dizzy from his anomalous glimpses into the secret life of his beloved. One possible destiny for Blogs is to evolve into a welter of Joseph Cornell boxes, each the offspring of some matter and some mind. It would be an error to attempt to institutionally manage, control, subsume, or view any of these panoptically as "content." They are what they are, the net result of devotion in time. They don't snap into into timeworn taxonomic grooves (or media content categories) to the accompaniment of seductive haptic clicks. Anyone who would attempt to institutionalize ''intellectual property'' has understood little about property and nothing about intellect. Your thoughts welcome. 8:44:22 AM     Max, his Bump This is not another name-that-dog plea, though a kind of plea it is. We got Max from the pound the same month we moved into our house some six years ago. He was then about two years old. He became a companion to the aged ones, he suffered pet gerbils, hamsters, frogs, cockatiels, turtles and a truly nasty lovebird with the best of grace, and has exercised a territorial vigilance that would shame certain national security agencies. Max ranges far and wide in pursuit of lizards, squirrels, and rabbits, and puts special emphasis on overturning Marvin, the gopher tortoise who for years has insisted on marching through our yard, despite evidence that other routes might be less fraught with adventure. Radiant Dog Max can tell by breathing patterns whether you are sleeping, and won't jump in bed until he's confirmed you're awake. He selflessly protects all smaller persons from all bigger persons, regardless of who is being pummeled by whom. Attentive, he is always learning more about those he loves; he noisily tries to herd entire parks full of dogs, bites UPS trucks when they try to leave, and would sooner starve than walk away from a chin scratch or belly rub. Max recently developed a bump just behind his nose. The bump was either a histiocytoma, which are relatively innocuous, or a tumor. Lab results, while not decisive, suggest a "possible" mast cell tumor. Unclear how aggressive and whether malignant or no. The vet is recommending surgical removal, but admits it "will be complicated." For an older dog, there are risks - shock from anaesthesia, etc. Plus, it's located in a spot where there's very little skin to close a surgical opening. Dog lovers, we know you are out there. Any thoughts? If so, do share them, either here, or here. 8:43:47 AM     Tasking a task force Columbia University is reexamining some of the premises of its School of Journalism. Recently it suspended the search for a new Dean for the school in order to reassess its method and mission, which is known for its "nuts and bolts" approach to journalism. Yesterday, University President Lee Bollinger appointed a ''task force'' full of names to look into it. The school repeatedly has asked alumni for input, and yesterday I offered some. Here's the bit relative to the task force: As the Internet shows, there is no lack of human interest in news, but there is a tremendous skepticism regarding the relation of news to the business models that hitherto have supported it. This too needs to be interrogated openly and fully. Mr. Sulzberger and his equals at other news organizations - many of them on your task force - should be addressing this in a naked, ongoing way, and until they do, what they have to say about the future of the teaching of Journalism will not garner much in the way of trust. ...The tension between the nuts-and-bolts practice of the J-School (teaching the craft) and the larger world of thought and history that are the foundations of the university can be a richly productive tension, if approached in an open spirit by all parties. The tension, and not its resolution, is your best hope for a fruitful engagement here. If your task force seeks to reduce or resolve it - to "lay it to rest," then it will succeed only in perpetuating the status quo, and neither the credibility of the profession nor [that] of the University will have been strengthened. This can be a moment of truth for journalism - but only if those who are part of the story are willing to ''cover'' it with humility and vision. For more context, here's a comment from the Daily News and another from The Observer. Your thoughts welcome 8:42:48 AM

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