For want of a library...

I just read in the March 16th issue of the Chronicle that my alma mater was named as a potential site for the presidential library and museum, which will include the Bush Institute for Democracy. This is yet one more reason why I will no longer contribute to the Alumni Association Fund at SMU.

Thankfully, the Faculty Senate had voted down the resolution, albeit by a very small margin. "The faculty skeptics fear that such an institute would become a partisan spin machine and that its work would tarnish [emphasis mine] the university's reputation."

My fear is that the trustees will want the library and museum (presented as an all-or-nothing deal with the Bush Democracy institute -- a contradiction in terms, I know) so much that they will for the first time disregard the faculty senate's vote (which failed the resolution by such a small margin, mind you). One of the questions that the trustees will have to consider is what will SMU betray by accepting this package, by aligning itself with this institute, an institute that was to "be independently directed [...] and not fall within the university's governance structure." By gaining such resources such as a museum and a library for the community, what will the institution be declaring as its mission and vision for the work of the school? And what does the school risk losing or gaining with this particular added association?

SMU being the private institution that it is will most likely end up supporting the new proposal. It is unfortunate that they are thinking on this when there are so many other worthwhile projects needing their money and attention.

Additionally, by abstaining, what do those three individuals hope to say or not to say? I wonder...

Killed by Christmas decorations

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education:

When a fire ripped through a maintenance room in the physics building at the University of Maryland at College Park in October 2002, a master electrician, Kurt G. Tassche, died of smoke inhalation. While four other university workers managed to escape, Mr. Tassche, 41, was trapped by Christmas decorations and chairs stored in the cramped space. The illegally stored items were among six serious violations cited by state safety officials during their investigation of the fire.

Trapped by Christmas decorations. So many things come to mind. Lots of jokes and stories to recall.

But it comes down to safety issues and workers' rights. What happens to our workers -- even at, or especially at, academic institutions? The article stated that less inspections were made even as the number of serious injury incidents arose, and even fewer inspections were conducted at institutions of higher learning. Hazardous work, but does it really have to come down to dying because there were too many Christmas decorations trapping you in place?

The he A cong / Generation @

Hai hom truoc, minh di lui thui tren dien dan Talawas, doc duoc mot bai viet vao nam 2003. Bai viet co passion, va co khong it nhung cau hoi kho tra loi. Tac gia mieu ta The He cua The Ky 21, The He A Cong, voi nhung thac mac chinh dang, voi nhung cau hoi dang duoc nhung cau tra loi thang thang.

Toi hom qua, minh xem mot cuoc phong van nho nho tren cuon bang ca nhac "Asia Video". Anh chang MC Trinh Hoi doc cau hoi tu mot vi khan thinh gia, hoi co Hoa Hau Chau A ti hon (nhin xem nhu co ta chi co 15-16 tuoi ma thoi, nhung chac tai vi co tai "may man" nen moi thay tre nhu vay):

"Dieu thay doi quan trong nhat sau khi em thang giai Hoa Hau Chau A la gi?"

Ngay tu luc co ta mo mieng tra loi, minh da cam thay ai nay trong long, mot chut sau ho, mot chut tuc cuoi, mot chut buc boi trong long.

"Da, dieu thay doi quan trong nhat la...la..."

Camera chieu gan vao khuon mat hoan hot cua co ta. Zoom vao that gan, va mang hinh cua tivi hien ro cap mat cua co Hoa Hau nho be. Liec nhin ben trai, liec nhin ben phai. Chang co ai giup co tra loi.

"La... la..." Liec ben phai, liec ben trai.

Trinh Hoi: "La gi em...?"

"Sao ma... hong biet sao ma em gung wa ah!"

Phai chang day la The He A Cong? Phai chang day la The He Tiep Noi? Phai chang day la tuong lai nguoi Viet chung ta?

Trong nuoc va ngoai nuoc, co ai chung kien canh nay ma khong vua cuoi, vua chat luoi, vua thot len hai chu "tiec thay, tiec thay." Co ai ma khong nghi day la bat dau cua su cuoi cung.

That ra, day khong phai mot cau hoi de tra loi. Neu co Hoa Hau cua chung ta kg "rung" nhu nai to truoc anh den san khau, co le co ta da tra loi mot cach suong se voi su tu tin va cang dam. Co le co ta se noi giong nhu hang tram co A Hau va Hoa Hau truoc day, la thang giai da giup co ta cam nhan duoc su quan trong cua dong bao nguoi Viet, va cam nhan duoc su hanh dien cua dan toc minh, de co ta co the gop phan nho nao do de giup cong dong Viet tai Hoa Ky.

Tiec thay, co ta khong nhung rung, ma co ta con chang co mot y tuong nao het (chat xam da bien mat duoc anh den mau!) de tra loi khoi khoi, va cung khong biet noi tieng Viet hoac tieng Anh cho ranh, va toi nghi co ta cung chang hieu ro cau hoi noi ve dieu gi nua kia!

Khong hieu tieng Me De, khong biet tra loi nhung cau hoi don gian va gian di voi su tu tin, khong biet an noi cho khon ngoan, khong biet to ve mot chut "van minh," khong mang su hanh dien cua Cha Me, Ong Ba, khong bay to su khon lanh cua mot nguoi phu nu hien dai -- lam toi nghi co ta nhu la mot gai nha que duoc tuyen chon chi vi khuon mat "de thuong" ma ban chay thi khong co chat luong chut nao. Nhung nghi vay roi, thi thoi phai xin loi, vi noi vay se lam cho nhung co gai tu mien que (o ben day va o ben kia) rat gian va tu ai, vi co le khong co ai "que mua" va "kho khao" nhu co A Hau nho be nay. Neu toi so sanh co ta voi nhung nguoi phu nu khac, chac toi se bi chung chui vi da xuc pham den danh du cua phu nu Viet Nam.

Ma tai sao Trung Tam Asia lai dua nhung co thieu nu nhu vay dung len san khau? De lam tro he cho khan gia xem? De choc nhung co thieu nu nay, de ho se nghi nho suot doi su xau ho cua Cha Me va Ong Ba khi chung kien con chau minh dung len truoc hang trieu dong bao Viet Nam de lam tro cuoi. Trong mot choc lat, su hanh dien Vietnam da bien mat.

Kinh thua quy vi, mot trang phao tay de nhiet liet chao don The He A Cong. Round of applause, please, for Generation @.

Phien Dich "Bien"

Day mot bai viet rat y nghia tren dien dan Talawas [an insightful commentary on Trinh Lu's Vietnamese translation of Banville's The Sea]:

http://www.talawas.org/talaDB/showFile.php?res=9269&rb=0103

September 1, 1939

I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.

Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.

Exiled Thucydides knew
All that a speech can say
About Democracy,
And what dictators do,
The elderly rubbish they talk
To an apathetic grave;
Analysed all in his book,
The enlightenment driven away,
The habit-forming pain,
Mismanagement and grief:
We must suffer them all again.

Into this neutral air
Where blind skyscrapers use
Their full height to proclaim
The strength of Collective Man,
Each language pours its vain
Competitive excuse:
But who can live for long
In an euphoric dream;
Out of the mirror they stare,
Imperialism's face
And the international wrong.

Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play,
All the conventions conspire
To make this fort assume
The furniture of home;
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good.

The windiest militant trash
Important Persons shout
Is not so crude as our wish:
What mad Nijinsky wrote
About Diaghilev
Is true of the normal heart;
For the error bred in the bone
Of each woman and each man
Craves what it cannot have,
Not universal love
But to be loved alone.

From the conservative dark
Into the ethical life
The dense commuters come,
Repeating their morning vow;
'I will be true to the wife,
I'll concentrate more on my work,'
And helpless governors wake
To resume their compulsory game:
Who can release them now,
Who can reach the dead,
Who can speak for the dumb?

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.

Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

- WH Auden