Massachusetts Senate Special Election, Democratic Debate #1

(eng) For those who don't know, Massachusetts is currently in the leadup to its special Senate election to fill Senator Kennedy's seat. Just finished is the first of the Democratic debates. There are four Democrats running:

• Martha Coakley, Attorney General
• Michael Capuano, Congressman, 8th District
• Alan Khazei, founder of City Year
• Stephen Pagliuca, owner of the Boston Celtics

Martha Coakley is polling thirty-odd points ahead of her closest competitor, currently, and watching the debate I can see why. She's articulate, direct, she speaks to the camera, and she has ideas where other candidates have rhetoric. She's got a strong record as our Attorney General. Overall she seems like an excellent candidate.

Michael Capuano is experienced both as a Congressman and as Mayor of Somerville. He, too, came off very well in the debate, although he spoke more to the moderator than to the audience. His experience in Washington and knowledge of the climate and people there is definitely an advantage. It's nice to have someone who voted against both the War in Iraq and the Patriot Act running. Not that I hold the fact that she wasn't in Congress against Martha Coakley. My one concern about Michael Capuano is that he seems to be doing just fine in the House of Representatives.

Alan Khazei is long-winded and stayed a bit too on-message (at one point he quoted directly, no alteration, from his campaign website). He says all the right things, but I feel he would do better at the local level. He would make an excellent mayor or state representative, but I don't know that he's ready to be Senator.

Stephen Pagliuca, like Alan Khazei, was excessively on-message. It felt when he talked as if he was repeating a script his campaign staff had taught him before the debate. Not a good thing. It's nice to have someone who has put some serious thought into regulatory reform, but he seems a bit like a one-issue candidate — obviously he has positions on other things, but he hasn't been involved with them in the same way the other three have.

The Democratic primary is coming up on December 8th.

Random aside: the Census Bureau has predicted that Massachusetts will be losing a seat after the 2010 Census. Not cool, House of Representatives. Why are you capped at 435 seats?

Nobel Peace Prize

(eng) If the Nobel Prize Committee's goal was to completely devalue the Nobel Peace Prize, it has been singularly successful. This is the first time ever that I have been in agreement with the BBC's Have Your Say comments, e.g. "If you can win a Nobel Peace Prize for a few months in office, a lot of rhetoric and little or no action then is says a lot for the value of the prize...".

Don't get me wrong — I'm perfectly fine with Obama, although I wish he were stronger on domestic issues. But I don't think he's done anything to seriously merit the Nobel Peace Prize.

The song of this morning is "Les étoiles filantes" by Les Cowboys Fringants.

(fra) Si le Comité des Prix Nobel voulait complètement dévaluer le Prix Nobel de la paix, il a réussi singulairement. C'est la première fois où je me trouve d'accord avec les commentaires du Have Your Say du BBC, e.g. « Si l'on peut gagner un Prix Nobel de la paix pour quelques mois en office, beaucoup de rhétorique et peu ou pas d'action, ça parle beaucoup au valu du prix... ».

Ne m'interprètes pas mal — je n'ai aucune chose contre Obama, bien que je veuille qu'il soit plus fort sur les issus domestiques. Mais je ne pense pas qu'il a rien fait pour sérieusement mériter le Prix Nobel de la paix.

La chanson du matin, c'est « Les étoiles filantes » Par les Cowboys Fringants.

Ishmael

(eng) So, my all-grade summer reading book this year was Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. I literally just finished it, and I am at a loss for words. Everyone should go read it. Immediately.

One sentence summary: It's a book about a student, a teacher, the meaning of the word, divine interventions in the world (kind of), and the destiny of man; the teacher happens to be a gorilla.

It's a detailed deconstruction of our culture and all of the assumptions that go with it, and it's one of the best books I've ever read. It's far and away better than any of the summer reading books I've ever had, with the exception of My Ántonia, and I'm not sure you can really compare the two — they're so different.

The book begins with an advertisement: "TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person." Reading this book feels like responding to the advertisement: through Socratic dialogue, Quinn shows us the origins of the culture in which we live, why it's headed towards self-destruction, and what we can do about it.

Also I may have found my senior project.

(fra) Alors, la lecture d'été pour ma classe entière cet été fut Ishmael, par Daniel Quinn. Je viens de le terminer, et je n'ai aucun mot. Tout le monde doit aller le lire. Immédiatement.

Sommaire d'une phrase: C'est un livre sur un étudiant, un professeur, la significance du monde, les interventions divines dans le monde (un peu), et le destin de l'humanité; le professseur est un gorille.

C'est une déconstruction détaillée de notre culture et de toutes les assumptions qui vont avec elle, et c'est un des meilleurs livres que j'ai jamais lu. C'est très loin de tous les autres livres qu'on a eu pour lecture d'été, sauf My Ántonia, et je ne suis pas certain qu'on peut comparer les deux — ils sont si différents.

Le livre commence avec une publicité: «PROFESSEUR cherche étudiant. Doit avoir un vrai désir de sauver le monde. Appliquez en personne.» Lire ce livre sent comme répondre à la publicité: en utilisant le dialogue socratique, Quinn nous montre les origines de la culture dans laquelle on vit, pour quoi ça va vers la soi-destruction, et ce qu'on peut faire pour nous sauver.

Aussi, j'ai peut-être trouvé mon projet final.

A Myopic Child

(eng) By Yannis Ritsos.

The other kids romped around the playground;
their voices rose up to the roofs of the quarter,
also the "splock" of their ball
like a globular world,
all joy and impertinence.

But he was reading the whole time,
there in the spring window,
within a rectangle of bitter silence,
until he finally fell asleep
on the windowsill in the afternoon,
oblivious to the voices of those his own age
and to premature fears of his own superiority.

The glasses on his nose looked like
a little bike left leaning against a tree,
off in a far-flung, light-flooded countryside,
a bike of some child who had died.

L'Ombre du vent

(eng) "This place is a mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Each book, each volume you see, has a soul. The soul of the one who wrote it, and the soul of those who read it, lived and dreamed with it. Each time that a book changes hands, that someone runs his gaze along its pages, its spirit grows and becomes stronger. When my father brought me here for the first time, many years ago, this place had already existed for a long time. As long, perhaps, as the city itself. No-one knows exactly how long it has existed, or who created it. I will repeat for you what my father told me. When a library disappears, when a book drifts out of memory, we who know this place and are its guardians make sure that it arrives here. In this place, books that no-one remembers, that have vanished in time, keep living while waiting to pass one day into the hands of a new reader, to gain a new spirit. In the store, we buy and sell books, but in reality they have no masters. Each cover that you see here was someone’s best friend."

M. Sempere introduces his son to the Cimetière des Livres Oubliés.

(fra) «Ce lieu est un mystère, Daniel, un sanctuaire. Chaque livre, chaque volume que tu vois, a une âme. L’âme de celui qui l’a écrit, et l’âme de ceux qui l’ont lu, ont vécu et rêvé avec lui. Chaque fois qu’un livre change de mains, que quelqu’un promène son regard sur ses pages, son esprit grandit et devient plus fort. Quand mon père m’a amené ici pour la première fois, il y a de cela bien des années, ce lieu existait déjà depuis longtemps. Aussi longtemps, peut-être, que la ville elle-même. Personne ne sait exactement depuis quand il existe, ou qui l’a créé. Je te répéterai ce que mon père m’a dit. Quand une bibliothèque disparaît, quand un livre se perd dans l’oubli, nous qui conaissons cet endroit et en sommes les gardiens, nous faisons en sorte qu’il arrive ici. Dans ce lieu, les livres dont personne ne se souvient, qui se sont évanouis avec le temps, continuenet de vivre en attendant de parvenir un jour entre les mains d’un nouveau lecteur, d’atteindre un nouvel esprit. Dans la boutique, nous vendons et achetons les livres, mais en réalité ils n’ont pas de maîtres. Chaque ouvrage que tu vois ici a été le meilleur ami de quelqu’un.»

M. Sempere présente a son fils la Cimetière des Livres Oubliés.

Español, me haces falta

(esp) Me hace falta el español. Estaba escuchando la música hoy mientras que íbamos a ver las ballenas, y escuché algunas buenísimas canciones españolas. Normalmente me habría encantado cantarlas (o por lo menos los partes de ellas que puedo cantar), pero no podía — habría recibido un billete blanco (una mala cosa). Y me di cuenta de que todavía me encanta el español — leerlo, hablarlo, no importa mucho. El libro que leo en francés, L'Ombre du vent, me gusta, pero preferiría leer algo en español — es demasiado largo y, aunque me encante la historia, a veces un poco aburrido.

Mañana voy a terminar el otro libro inglés que leía para descansar, pues trataré de terminar L'Ombre du vent para que pueda leer Nada y La Grosse femme d'à côté est enceinte.

Canción del dia

"Viviré para ti"—Los Amigos Invisibles