Monday, July 24, 2006

Coda, epigrams, the missing Renaissance, Be a Dentist

I probably do need a coda on quotes.

To wit, if one doubts the “best practice” concept, one need only take a walk down the corridor to an extemp round. My understanding is that there is some controversy over the anecdotes extempers use at the top of their speeches, the one-size-fits-allness or the painful repetition driving judges crazy or whatnot, but they do use them and the concept is comparable to what I was talking about last week. Or look at a DI or HI or Duo round, with their teasers and intros. Same church, different pew, as they say. Secondly, I should admit that one of the reasons quotes went out of fashion may be that they became too pro forma to be useful. That is, there would be a random quote at the top, or worse, an unimaginative standard quote everyone used although no one read the source material. A good quote should be from a reputable (and if possible impressive) source, should be unique to your specific case, and should connect to other quoted material in your case. In other words, it should be from a book you read in your research, and a book worth reading. At the point where people started quoting Spiderman and RZA, you knew you weren’t getting what I would call top of the line material, so what was the point? The thing is, of course a bad quote is a waste of breath (except insofar as it is intended as a breathing starter), but a good quote can be a meaningful addition to your case. Eliminating it altogether, as fashion has done, is, on balance, a bad thing.

By the way, take a look at all the epigrams at the beginning of Moby Dick if you want to see an author blowing up a head of steam before dipping his pen into the inkwell. If you don’t get a kick out of all those quotes, put the book down and step away slowly and wait three years before trying again. Moby will still be there when you’re ready.

I’ve posted part 3 of Cavemen, during the recording of which I discovered that I had omitted the Renaissance from part 2. My understanding is that, as a general rule, it is not a good idea to omit the Renaissance from art surveys, so I fixed the elision, and part 2 is now in three renumbered sub-parts. Part 4 is coming up next, which is the section on Modernism. And it’s about time. (Talk about blowing up a head of steam before dipping the old pen in the inkwell!)

Meanwhile, I haven’t looked at old DMV much lately, so when I dropped by today (I sort of thought I’d pick up my $5000 check), I was taken aback by how much I had missed. Fortunately, none of it was important, but at least it’s nice to see that they have something to say other than Hi, Mom. I’ll have to touch my old friend and correspondent Herman M for an update soon. I’d hate to miss out on something. I begin to wonder if I’m the only person around who thinks that there should be an off-season. LD has become basketball; it never ends. There’s never a point where people go off to the beach to relax and not be LDers. I can see the value of being, say, a medical doctor 24/7: one never knows when the person sitting next to you is going to come down with some House-type rare disease that you’ll want to cure them of without any fuss or muss. But then again, even doctors take vacations. I know my dentist takes vacations, at least. Every time I go to him I pay him enough money so that he can visit Bora Bora with the entire extended family. And he does. You debate people might want to think about that. Philosophers, especially postmodern philosophers, hardly ever go to Bora Bora. They’re lucky if they get to Brooklyn on a good day. But dentists get to see the world. You might want to rethink your career strategy while there’s still time.

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