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elisa

elisa

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
  • member since November 14 2007

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elisa’s last login was 3 days ago. show recent activity »

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Public Notes

  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    Hello elisa,

    you're right: it takes more to steer a country than good intentions. I hope, for the sake of the world, Obama knows what he's doing. In any case even more important than one man muscling his country through are millions of citizens showing responsibility and concern toward politics, as you seem to be doing.

    Right now, I am actually reading Obama's Audacity of hope, but I'm sort of lagging halfway and pulling the more tempting fictional books instead... Although based on what I'm reading, he does seem to have great intentions. Although that might not be much, that is a good starting point, I think, although hopefully in what nears one year of term I hope he'll get past it...

    Anyways, what are you reading?

    posted 4 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Patricia T

    Patricia T says

    Ben, en fait, je sais pas…
    Je m'attendais tellement à un livre qui allait me toucher alors que j'ai plutôt trouvé que la manière dont le texte est écrit et le vocabulaire qui est utilisé étaient plutôt insipides et redondants…

    Mais c'est probablement juste à cause de la façon dont c'est écrit parce que lorsque je résumait l'histoire à mon père, je me suis rendue compte qu'il se passait pas mal de choses particulières et même intéressantes :P. Malgré tout, je te conseille quand même de le lire, je crois qu'on ne peut pas passer à côté :)

    J'habite en banlieue de Montréal.

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    :)

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    Hi elisa,

    I found it funny how you minced no words in your description of Obama's Nobel win... You seem to me to have captured the essence of Obama's presidency: all talk and yet to deliver. I never really bought the cult of personality surrounding him-- although I recognize he doesn't cultivate it and therefore it is not really his fault. He seems to be a good and well- intentioned man and he shows it, which, as the Nobel committee deftly noted has done a lot in improving the international atmosphere, or so I think as well;

    However, actually fixing the world's problems requires more than being a visionary filled to the brim with good intentions. Obama marketed himself as the leader of change, to whom all people helpless in the face of the machinery and political intricacy but nevertheless chock full of good intentions can flock to and trust to lead them, or suggest to them, or to help tell them, what they can do. Unfortunately it seems to me this past few months Obama has shown himself to be just as floundering in the tough issues as the rest of us. He's seeking the middle ground in a lot of issues and consulting left and right but as you know. There should be a point where compromise sets its limit and he accepts the responsibility to make the decisions which will inevitably cost some sides some pain... Somehow it seems that what carried Obama through his win was never so much his actual detailed plans on the issues but the country's collective if vague hunger for an escape from the ?mediocrity? Bush had set in which a lot of people thought found satisfying answer in the shape of Obama. And perhaps in some ways it has. It was so heartening to find so many ordinary people in your country actually having hope that they were rewriting history for the better and actively participating in making this hope of theirs for the better by lobbying and campaigning for Obama. And it is good to have such an apparently good, great, honest, well-intentioned man like Obama in the seat of power of the world's most powerful country, turning the cogs of the world. Only he has to start showing that mettle. And a good-intentioned man could be just as wrong as the next guy, and he's probably more prone to wrong influence, having less experience. Right now he just doesn't seem to know how to deal with the war. But as the Nobel prize committee sensitively thought in awarding Obama the prize (and which seems to be, though they carefully phrased it, their only reason for doing it), maybe some similarly good- intentioned people who ACTUALLY have definite ideas on how to make good intentions work can point him in the right direction, and Obama would listen enough to probably do it. I really think he would. And here's to hoping he would, or the Nobel Prize would be void, because as you said, apart from the hope that he would fulfill his message of Hope, there's really no reason to give him the award. It must have been unfair to the other potential awardees who have actually made contributions to the furthering of peace,

    except that those potential peace awardees are probably mature enough not to need the recognition of the award (though yes, it's still unfair to them and all humans would like recognition, it's a credit to them that they further peace even without it), and that, if somehow this awarding of the Nobel prize actually does a great deal in swerving Obama's steps to a firmer dedication to the pursuit of peace, then the Prize has been given so justly indeed.

    So here's to hoping. You've probably heard all these opinions before, but this was all I could think of in response to your note.

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    dearest elisa,

    thank you for the note you sent me. what you said about people having individualized needs and experiences yet being fundamentally the same was very wise. I think I will remind myself of that thought every moment that I cross someone difficult or different from me.

    A lot of disasters are happening so suddenly in so many places (particularly here in Asia, I suppose) that it's really a saddening thought that so many people are in so much suffering, losing their lives or homes or thought-of futures. In the meantime- Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, what did you think of that? To be honest, I was surprised. He is, after all, still relatively new to the presidency. But with the rest of the world whose hopes are attuned to him I hope his potential to rise up to the great position and responsibility which has fallen as his share will be realized in the coming years, and that he'd leave the world truly changed. But what do Americans like you think?

    :) I sincerely hope all is well and glad with you..

    Lord M

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Patricia T

    Patricia T says

    Je crois que tu viens de me convaincre de louer Pride & prejudice la prochaine fois que je passerai à la librairie!

    Ce que j'ai lu ses derniers temps? The Catcher in the Rye était pas mal quoique j'ai été un peu déçue, étant donné sa très grande réputation. Sinooon… J'ai lu the Life of Pi, que j'ai bien aimé!

    Au fait, tu habites où :)?

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Patricia T

    Patricia T says

    En effet :D. Je vois que tu as beaucoup aimé Pride and Prejudice! Jusqu'à tout récemment, je voulais vraiment le lire mais ces temps-ci, je me demande si le niveau du texte ne serait pas un peu trop difficile pour moi, étant donné que je viens tout juste de me mettre à lire en anglais… Peut-être que je devrais plutôt lire des œuvres modernes avant de m'y mettre :).

    (I don't know if you're at ease with french… If you prefer, I don't mind writing in English instead :) )

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    and btw, in that compiled book einstein spends nearly a paragraph praising george bernard shaw! all those great men fattening up each other's heads, can you imagine.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    Dear elisa,

    There are mornings when I wake up and the thought that occupies my head is the very last sentence of "A Tale of Two Cities", and it just rends my heart, to be so suffused with that sad peace. It's a very powerful line, I won't say it lest you hate being spoiled, but it almost seems at that moment as if Sydney Carton was a wise man standing over us all, and when I remember that line it removes the daily bustle to a distant noise. Anyway, what I'm saying is that A Tale of Two Cities is such a special book, I'm glad you started reading it.

    As to the special books I'm reading. I'm afraid that I would tell you, as Charlie does in Perks of Being a Wallflower, that every last book I read seems to me the greatest and most special. I'm sure somehow you feel that way too. But Albert eInstein is Albert einstein, and when I read "The World As I See It", a compilation of einstein's letters, speeches, and essays regarding the meaning of life, religion, international politics, and Zionism, I truly felt that I was in the company of a great man, not only because he was extremely gifted in articulation (I've read "lit" more dense than he is) but also because, as he himself remarked, "I want to know God's thoughts; all else are details.." and when he views these things, international relations and the rest, he gives a sweeping view and not the small chunks of daily diatribe that, say, a news column would provide. You might be interested with his list of opinions and praises about America. I was so surprised that somebody who only spent months there could capture the soul of America's people and the workings of its economy so succinctly. I mean, ask me about my country of 17 years and the most intelligent I could cook up would probably be some commentary on the traffic, or on the politics, or on the rank poverty, all details that fail to reflect on the big picture...

    Anyway einstein is an insightful read and his opinions are certainly instructive. It wasn't only physics he knew and could teach the world a thing or two about.

    Right now I am also reading the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. Before I was faltering for a book that could step-by-step and idiot's guide instruct me on the meaning of life; all this great men writing literature, certainly knowing a thing or two about how life would be best lived, and yet they would only scatter grains of wisdom in their collection of books here and there, and a reader must grope his way through all of Literature if he must collect all ideas. Well Boethius speaking from his 6th century solves it in less than 176 pages (or at least gives his picture, if one chooses not to accept it). Step by step in his imagined conversation with Philosophy he dismantles the usual meanings of life raced after by men, in reality if not in what they convince themselves-- and it is not an exercise in abstraction; one truly becomes convinced why wealth, fame, and power are in the end empty goals.

    Anyway by now you might have heard about the catastrophe wreaked in our country (Philippines) by a typhoon, and how hundreds lost their lives and homes. School has stopped temporarily, and even now people are still suffering... I heard about the tsunami and earthquake that struck Samoa as well. Let's hope things get better and everyone learns how to prevent this catastrophes from blowing up again.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    hi elisa,

    i agree with you, although at some level i could understand the necessity for dostoevsky to include raskolnikov's redemption and end the novel on a somber but uplifting note, much like a clockwork orange (another great novel, have you heard of/read it?), i don't much like it either :) anyway, i haven't read it in a long time, so I can't really remember much... all the same it was a very good book...

    So what new book are you now tackling?

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Jassafari

    Jassafari says

    Let's put it like this:

    your name is Elisa correct? Ok, well how would you like it, if I called you "Henry?" Well,
    I believe that if someone created something, then the folk who created it....should have the right to name, that which they created. Don't You? Well, ok then, the folk
    who created JASS, Named their creation JAS!

    Just like if you have any childred, you named your child what you wanted them to be called....Now if I came into the hospital, when you were naming your child....and they told you, that your child's name....after you named them was changed to something else, you wouldn't be too happy with that!

    Same with Jass. And yes, it would make a big difference what you called the music of Duke Ellington, and all of the other artists you mentioned....In which I too must admit,
    I am deeply in Love with Also! But Yes....Thanx for Loving Jas, also. It's a great thing that you appreciate the only True Art form, that was created on these stolen shores,

    called America!

    With Great Love

    JASS!

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Jassafari

    Jassafari says

    Oh,

    and I am not being frisky. JASS, is the original spell for Jazz. Really it was JAS! It was named for the scent of Jasmine. Inwhich the creators of the music said, JAS, was, as sweet as!

    JASS!

    Shalom'

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Jassafari

    Jassafari says

    So, you Love JASS Music?

    As in JASS, Right?

    JASS!

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Jassafari

    Jassafari says

    Hi there,

    Thanx for the friendship

    JASS!

    What are you reading?

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Max G

    Max G says

    Wow! After ya views, i m thinking Things Falling apart isnt such a crap book after all..i knew its gonna be interesting but my friends gave me altogether different views..but now m gonna seriously read it :) Thanks
    N yeah twilight is a bit dramatic..but since ive completed 2..i'll finish the series..da author has indeed got a gold mine..

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    Hello elisa!

    Thanks for the word about Proverbs. You're quite right, there's no better place to look for wisdom than the Word of the Lord..

    About Dostoevsky, drop me a note when you're finished and tell me how you like the ending, especially the pilogue (?)...

    Stay in joy,
    Lord M

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Max G

    Max G says

    Hey firstly I should tell you that - you are not butting in :) Reg Things Fallin Apart, I din get very gr8 reviews frm few of my friends.. wht did u like d most?
    btwl, lately m liking d twilight series

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    Hello elisa!

    No, sorry, I haven't heard of 'Afghanistan', is that non-fiction? Maybe you might get it in Amazon- I mean, I suppose you can get even the most esoteric of things in Amazon, not even 1970 computers can escape... About the Pianist, though- it's something I've vaguely wanted to watch for years, though, never pursued quite actively....

    Crime and Punishment is one book I don't understand that much, so I'll probably give it a reread, because people speak of Dostoevsky so differently - almost as if he is on a pedestal even among the literary greats. In the meantime I'm trying to read, study, and figure out what my life is all about and where it's going all the same time :) Have you any books to recommend about that? :) Anyway, I hope your having a great time with your life,

    Lord M

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Lord M

    Lord M says

    How are you, Elisa?

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Max G

    Max G says

    oh..alrigh..hope ya find it.. I've seen O Brother.I loved the music too..I rem d album had won d Grammy too..

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )


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