SchoolMarm Cyrus

[joeallonby]

on 10/19/04 11:01 AM, Paul Mackin at paul.mackin at verizon.net wrote:

> On Tue, 2004-10-19 at 09:31, Ghetta Life wrote:
>>> From: joeallonby <vze422fs at verizon.net>
>>> 
>>> on 10/18/04 7:13 PM, jolly at jollyrogerx99 at yahoo.com wrote:
>>> 
>>>> IN fact I have read much of GR, and there is a fairly respectable
>>> tradition of anti-GR criticism.
>>> 
>>> Kind of says it all, doesn't it. After you've read the whole thing maybe
>>> five times, you'll start to get it.
>> 
>> Yep.  GR MUST be read about 5 times before it really starts to cohere (and
>> it's infinitely better to figure it out yourself than to rely on critics).
>> If jolly hasn't even finished it once, he's got a LOT of nerve (idiocy)
>> telling this list we don't understand it.  Take another graduate course,
>> dude.  Or maybe just read GR a few times.
> 
> 
> I agree about the critics.  Don't let them in the house. I don't
> consider the Guide to GR mainly criticism however. Its most useful
> feature is the background information that some people already have but
> many don't. It is useful for the reason that what one will get out of
> the book will depend on what one brings in. I think that a person
> picking up the book for the first time today will probably have to
> struggle harder (and reread more times) than someone who read it in
> 1973, because temporal proximity to the events helps. Or maybe the
> latter point is wrong. It's better to be able to check GR after the
> fact. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
Your point isn't wrong.
 
I like your take on temporal proximity. I think part of the reason that GR
resonates so much with me has something to do with having lived on military
bases during the Viet Nam war. It speaks to my personal and family history
in a way that anybody who didn't experience that could not understand.

I had a similar experience recently when playing on an alt-country bill in
Somerville MA. A band of youngsters covered "Galveston". The singer blew the
lyrics to the second verse. When I pointed that out to him he gave me a "who
cares? Who noticed?" response.

Anybody who has ever stood beside an airfield waiting for a plane to come
back knows the difference. I didn't punch the puppy in the face. I wanted
to.

Galveston, oh Galveston,
I still hear your sea waves crashing,
As I watch the cannons flashing,
And I clean my gun,
And dream of Galveston.