Observations:
Snow. 8 inches. Walking to the post office I became a snow person. Vandalized by nature. Can you imagine how incredibly beautiful it would be if we could see each snowflake? Sometimes I think about that. We'd go insane from beauty, from detail. I made a miniature snowperson and set him to live by my back door on the stairs. He melted the next day by noon. Nothing was left but his two twig arms and tiny black rock eyes.
Slavoj Žižek. On campus. Talking about Christ knows what. Seriously, about God as the "Big Other." About Freud, Lacan, Kant, Deleuze, (oh god). Good thing I read Interpretation of Dreams last fall. I think I need to read more of those "Big Others" too. Speaking of loving one's neighbors, but usually that only happens when our neighbors look like us, think like us, agree with us. (No news there). He's a very animated man when he speaks. He gestures wildly with his hands and keeps nervously touching his nose. I wondered if he had a cold. He despises counterfeit interest in other cultures, and to prove it, he quipped: "Oh, St. Louis you have a f---ing Arch." He's an obscene man and proud of it. He enjoys dirty jokes, mostly at women's expense, which he also points out. In spite of his infatuation with his philosophical star status, there was an interesting moment when he said Christ's message was "I cannot accept the guarantee of all horrors, but only turn myself into the suffering creation." Then I realized, I was happy sitting there.
Mladen Dolar. Sidekick. Responding to Žižek. He is also from Ljubljana University. He is truly Žižek's foil. He read a lecture on Freud's Irma dream, presenting six different psychoanalytic readings. Talking about hysteria, he spoke in a low, slow, clear, concise voice. Not like Žižek's jerky movements, flashy, nose-grabbing style. Dolar sat perfectly still, hands folded, calmly reading. Not superstar but professor. There aren't any movies about Dolar.
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