Speaking of Stormy Weather....

Best place to be during a blizzard... Indoors... with a cup of tea... listening to Ella Fitzgerald.

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

So I just finished Syntactic Structures, another book on my reading list. I have to say, this is probably the only book on my list that I wasn't looking forward to reading. It's considered one of the most influential books ever written, but mostly I only wanted to read it so I could pretend like I'm a semi-legitimate Linguist. Fortunately, I found out I could read it for an assignment in one of my classes this semester, so I decided if I didn't read now I would probably never read it. Pretty much it was like reading an EXTREMELY dry textbook. Or a scholarly article that's 100+ pages long. Despite that, I have to say it was kind of a cool experience. I felt like I got a glimpse into how Noam Chomsky's mind works, and it turns out mine doesn't work anything like that. I mean, he was a mathmatician before he became a linguist; there's problem #1 as far as that goes.

Noam Chomsky has always kind of fascinated me because he's such an influential figure. Even though a lot of his ideas are kind of obsolete in the field of Linguistics, he's still highly respected; even by his critics. And it's not just language nerds that love him. He pretty much revolutionized the way people teach English as a second language by going against the Behaviorist idea that people are basically parrots who are only capable of copying set phrases. He pioneered the idea that language is innate and creative; that someone who's never read a book in his entire life is capable of saying a phrase that's never been heard in the history of mankind. I mean, think of the possibilities! You can say stuff like "Please move your zebra, he has bad breath" or "I strongly believe that Thomas Kinkade should run for President," etc, etc... things that have never been heard before!  I think that's what I love about language; the thought that from a small collection of words, so much can be expressed. In a lot of ways, language is the essence of human creativity; it's limitless. I would even go so far as to say it's infinite.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who isn't well versed in linguistic jargon, and hasn't studied syntax on some level. However, I would highly suggest researching some of Chomsky's ideas. I guess he's influential for a reason (not to mention the whole political activist thing that I didn't even go into).

p.s. Can I just say how much I love that he is basically wearing the same outfit in both of these pictures?

We Are Not Amused.

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

Ad Astra Per Alia Porci

So I just finished East of Eden by John Steinbeck; the first book on my Reading List. I really really liked it. A lot. I guess there's something about the way he looks at the world that I can relate to on some level. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's in the way he approaches nature. I think he feels the same way about the Salinas Valley that I do about the Upper Snake River Plain. He's one of those guys that I want to meet on the Other Side and have a philosophical discussion with. That would be rad.

Pretty much East of Eden is one of those books that makes me wish I knew how to time travel so I could go back and read it again for the first time. I really liked the way Steinbeck presented his characters. He was pretty true to life about the whole thing. Everyone usually wants people to be black or white in the books they read, but the characters in East of Eden were all different shades of grey... the way people really are I guess. We're all at different points on a spectrum. This book made it harder for me to believe in "bad" people; everyone's capable of doing at least a little bit of good. There were definitely people I wished I could hate in this story, but he wouldn't let me have it that easy. Hate's a cop-out I guess.

The religious themes in this book were awesome. I really liked that it was based around the story of Adam and Eve, and the idea that we ultimately decide what kind of person we become. No one is doomed to be a sinner or a saint. We were given the gift of choice or free will or agency or however you want to say it; the idea of "timshel" as the author puts it. That concept just so happens to fit in nicely with my religious beliefs which is rad, but I don't think the author was trying to preach his religious views (or lack thereof). Mostly I felt like he was trying to make sense of the human experience and why we are the way we are. Oddly enough, I think the Cain character was my favorite; he was the most relatable anyway. It's kind of funny cause no one likes him in the Genesis account; no one feels like they can relate to a murderer.

Anyways, East of Eden was awesome. I highly recommend it. It's one of those books everyone should read.

Fall is nice

It makes me want to take up poetry.