Fryderyck Chopin, II. Waltz in A Minor Op. 34 CT 209

"If philosophy sometimes looks as if it wishes nothing more than to strike us dumb then it should not be overlooked that philosohpy also claims to know only what an ordinary man can know, and that we are liable to silence so produced only because we have already spoken, hence thought, hence justified and excused, hence philosophized, and are hence always liable not merely to say more than we know (a favorite worry of modern philosophy) but to speak above the conscience at the back or our words, deaf to our meaning" (Cavell, p. 271)*.

Today, I was that girl sitting in the school cafe with a pile of books and papers surrounding her at a table all by herself. You know that girl. The one who is so immersed in her studying that her hair has fallen to cover her face and she is bent close to the page, pen in hand to mark up important passages. I sat in that pose for a full three hours. People came and went around me, sitting down for a short coffee break or stopping for a full lunch. Still I read, took notes, and read some more. Such is the life of a college student.

Now, do you see why most of my posts are pointless and rambling? Because that is how I spend my days. I read a 50 page article on the philosophy of language and then spent the afternoon marking up my copy of King Lear with my new questions and observations.

In case you're wondering what an English major's copy of King Lear** looks like, here's mine***:

In case you're wondering what my Statistics notes look like on the other hand, here's a little different image of my study habits:

See why I'm an English major? I can fill the margins of Shakespeare with endless notes and questions. But the only way I can stay awake in my morning Statistics class is to fill the margins of my notebook with flower doodles****.

*Quote from my reading for today. Quite nice, don't you think?

**In case you're wondering, this is a copy of the Arden Shakespeare version. I find Arden to have nice versions of Shakespeare's plays for reading in college courses. It includes Quarto and Folio (lines marked as appropriate) and the introduction gives thorough background knowledge of the text and performance of the play.

*** I look creepy and mannish here, I know.

****These were the notes I gave to a friend the other day and he said he couldn't read them. I write perfectly legible script. You're in college, you should know how to read cursive writing by now.