People of the Internet, I have returned.
I'll spare you all from a variant of MacArthur's speech and get right to the point: I'm back on the web after the summer. And what a summer it was. First and foremost, I learned how to drive. I don't have my license yet, thanks to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I'll be taking my road test in October...on a Friday...at ten in the morning. But that's hardly important. In addition to my escapades behind the wheel, I participated in a production of the renowned Cole Porter musical Anything Goes as the British aristocrat, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. I can say without a doubt that I've never had so much fun playing any character in any musical as I did last month. To cap off the summer, my family hauled down to Charleston for a week. It's radically different from New York, even though both cities are centuries old: while Manhattan has sprouted and boomed, Charleston remained content as a quiet harbor town through the years. The architecture was stunning, as were the views, and the chunks of Civil War artillery shells embedded in some walls were right up my alley.
On an academic note: this quarter, in STAC, we'll be reading The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa, a novel by Michael Kimmelman. Starting now, my reflections on the text will compose a portion of my blog. Having read the introduction, I'm hardly displeased. The book certainly seems to be interesting, and not only for those who love the fine arts. The author's style is flowing and poetic, reminiscent in a way of Shakespeare. Kimmelman has that gift for making history seem fresh and interesting, rather than drab and dull. Each anecdote was perfect, and not a single simile was out of place. Perhaps it's my affinity for history talking, or maybe my love of lyrical prose, but the introduction was - for lack of a more fitting word - a pleasure to read. The allegory to one Dr. Hicks, who amassed an astonishing collection of light bulbs, appealed to me in some odd way. I'm neither a hoarder nor overly sentimental, but Kimmelman made it easy to understand Hicks's fascination with the bulbs. The highlights of Hicks's collection certainly attracted my attention, thanks to my infatuation with the historical. If The Accidental Masterpiece lives up to its introduction, I'll definitely enjoy the book.
Well, good luck on your road test tomorrow morning, first of all.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I noticed, while you were complementing Mr. Kimmelman's writing, that your own writing seems to have matured over the summer. What were you reading???
Luke