Spiro’s Sight

From The Great Gatsby:

[H]e stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward -- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock (25-26; emphasis added).

The New York Times recently featured an article entitled, "Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers". As you think about what it is that you desire most, consider the responses of these urban and immigrant students in a Boston high school.

From Shawn:

After 40 you are old.  I believe Dostoyevsky put in best in Notes from Underground:

"I am forty years old now, and you know forty years is a whole lifetime; you know it is extreme old age. To live longer than forty years is bad manners, is vulgar, immoral. Who does live beyond forty? Answer that, sincerely and honestly I will tell you who do: fools and worthless fellows. I tell all old men that to their face, all these venerable old men, all these silver-haired and reverend seniors! I tell the whole world that to its face! I have a right to say so, for I shall go on living to sixty myself. To seventy! To eighty! ... Stay, let me take breath..."

[http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/]
Consider our class discussion today regarding the statement: "We live in a democracy where every voice matters." Then watch this video, based on a speech by Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig. Does every voice matter?

http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/millennials-confident-connected-open-to...

Interactive tables available at http://pewresearch.org/millennials/

From The New York Times:

MIND: Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much

New research analyzed physical contact to see whether a rich vocabulary of supportive touch is in fact related to performance.

http://s.nyt.com/u/zfH

WORDS and MUSIC: Togai Atac
RECORDED by: Spiro Bolos @ killjoy

--
We got to get some peace in here
My mind's crowded with thoughts
I'd had a few hopes for what you'd bring
But it's not what you brought

A new world unfolds where you go
A different world for each of us
I hear about it on the phone
Fate can be so treacherous

The new world order tolerates
Miles too far to walk
I been walking these streets
Keepin' a deaf ear to the talk

One last match burning out slow
Frail as a leaf in the snow
Keeping my eyes steady on the glow
I care for you honey but it's time to let go

I was certain we would win
Of that I was sure
But who's on what side
I ain't so sure anymore

At some point you learn to give in
You can't win it all
I'm starting to wonder if we had
A chance at all

One last match burning out slow
Frail as a leaf in the snow
Keeping my eyes steady on the glow
I care for you honey but it's time to let go

I carved my life into you
Then lost you in a photograph
The picture's getting blurry
I'll see you in the aftermath

My eyes are dry from the wind
The books are on the shelf
Now I care less for their words
Than the Gatsby himself