1564

What do Shakespeare and Galileo have in common? They were both born in 1564. Adam Gopnik used this fact as a starting point for his brilliant exploration and explanation of Galileo’s contributions. Gopnik's New Yorker Magazine article.

I was more astonished at the fact that they both share the same birth year. When I brought this point up with my daughter Hana, she was amused for a moment and then quickly pointed out that they wouldn’t have known each other, or even met. This seems to have made the whole idea a non-event for her.

I remain astonished. Each person causes a ripple effect. If they are lucky, and I think Shakespeare and Galileo fall into this category, they might surround themselves with a circle of people who act as muses and sounding boards for their ideas. This helps them to in turn explore and extend their thoughts beyond what they know and incorporate what other people are thinking into their creations and theories.

Galileo was born on nearly the same day Michelangelo died and maintained a correspondence with other astronomers Kepler and Tycho Brahe. They wrote letters to each other and exchanged theories and ideas. The Guardian newspaper explored a speculative connection between Shakespeare and Galileo on their blog today in the following scenario. Consider also that Shakespeare knew the British astronomer Thomas Digges, who believed the universe was infinite and that the sun was not the center of even our solar system. Digges would probably have heard of Galileo and read “The Starry Messenger.” All of this could have led him to tell Shakespeare about Galileo, and Shakespeare to write about him in the play Cymbeline, which refers to god Jupiter surrounded by four angels, which could be interpreted as the planet and its four moons  The possibility exists that they were connected. The Guardian article on the renaissance brains of Shakespeare and Galileo.

Back to 1564, the renaissance, a time when creativity was at its peak and people like Shakespeare and Galileo were making and publishing amazing discoveries. What do we have happening today that compares to these discoveries? If humans continue to exist, what will our age today be known for? Do we have anyone even making these sorts of innovations today? Are there people that we will remember 450 years from now for their extraordinary contributions? If so, who are these people? Would it be enlightening to follow their work today?

TED, Technology, Entertainment and Design, talks sometimes embody what I am trying to describe. They are short presentations, usually under 20 minutes, which are topical and personal orations of people doing passionate and original work. One example was a talk by Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist who had a massive stroke at age 37. She talks about intimately experience the separation of her right and left sides of her brain during her stroke and how it left her with a better understanding of her place in the world. Exposure to this talk gave me a whole new insight into how my brain works.

I’m glad that I was not alive in 1564. Living conditions for most people, especially women, were pretty limiting. I would like to find and follow the renaissance happening today.

Uneasiness and Downton Abbey

Where do vague feelings of uneasiness come from? I watched the last episode of Downton Abbey, season 3, with Charlie last night. At the end of a very long and uneventful episode where some of the cast to the Highlands of Scotland and others stay home and attend a country fair, Mary has her baby prematurely. After waiting anxiously at home for news, the family was relieved to learn that mother and baby were well. They then congratulate each other for their recent bit of good luck. But, looming just down the road literally was the death of the baby’s father. Having read too many spoilers before watching the show, I knew how it would end and found the writer’s attempt at deception even more annoying. I also found the whole ending a bit jarring. It lacked follow-through that would compel the audience to want to watch next season. But, like the show, next season is nearly a year from now if you live in the U.S., and feelings will lessen over time.

And yet, the show captured the feeling I have every time an unanticipated question or problem arises.  My boss asked me for some reports relating to vacation / sick leave tracking. After trying to figure out what he was looking for, I shot off some reports. Not before trying to find out if they were audit related or what not. At any rate, I felt uneasy, like I had done something wrong. Later I learned, not from him, that the whole system of tracking was having problems.

Charlie is traveling today and for the rest of the week. While I’m excited to have the time to play and watch things with the kids that are out of the ordinary routine, I’m also a little bit more apprehensive about where people are, if they are taken care of, and how things will go while he is away. I think I prefer being the traveler to the one left behind. This might have something to do with the fact that he’s going to New Orleans, a city that I like to visit and have found a new interest in since my folklore studies did readings from the region.

I think the unease may come from something deeper in my nature. It’s a feeling that things that I don’t have view of could go terribly wrong.  Probably a common view, and yet fairly unhealthy since I can’t possible watch over everything, especially as the kids grow up and go away.

Back to Downton Abbey, perhaps instead of deceit, the writers were allowing the viewers to see the joy that should have followed the birth of the baby. It was meant to be an uplifting moment, and the audience was the only party that could see the whole picture.  In this case, the show lives on in a moment of suspended anticipation of how could life continue after yet another tragic event. And yet, life does go on, and vague feelings are overcome.

Remove before flight

Today I saw a guy with a backpack that had tape across it which said “remove before flight.” It made me wonder if he might be afraid of flying and always carry a parachute fully loaded and ready to deploy.  But, if this were the case, why would he be wearing his pack on a campus where the tallest building is not over four stories. It is more likely that he or someone in his family bought the tape with that message as a joke. It is pretty amazing that duct tape has become such a designer product coming in a variety of colors and patterns. Why not use it to send messages as well.

The other possibility is that he or someone he knows works for an airline. This scenario introduces us to a whole host of other problems such as did they steal it, or gain use of the tape in an unlawful manner? What is the intended use for the tape? Does the guy use the tape for other purposes, such as wrapping presents and sending packages?  It could just be that the guy’s backpack was damaged at the airport and he has not bothered to have it fixed or replaced.

 Metaphorically speaking, there are probably people out there who think that their life moves too quickly. They apply tape to their material items as a reminder to let go of what they have before they move forward. In this sense, the guy was attending college to get a degree and hoped that it might allow his life to take flight.

               
My daughter told me the other day that she never has flying dreams. This makes sense since she is a well-grounded individual. Instead she says she had driving dreams. I think this was said for effect since she’s 15 years old and wants me to know that she’s looking forward to her freedom. We often talk about driving while in the car. I point out tough or difficult conditions or drivers. She usually nods while her brother wants to know the particulars. He’s younger than her and is already sold on the idea of learning to drive with a stick shift, the way I learned. We talk about the practicality of being able to drive almost any car along with the economy of renting a manual transmission in a foreign country.

               
Back to the guy with the backpack, what have I learned from this little exercise in observation? First, I’m no Sherlock Holmes.  If I were I would have observed much more about the individual than the tape and would probably have been able to deduce much more than my current musings. Second, I get distracted easily. This little writing exercise started with a guy in a backpack with tape on it, and ended about me. Finally, that writing 500 words takes a bit more work than I expected. How do writers do it? Even if I had an idea of what to write about, how would I make it interesting to readers?