The past is never dead (William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun, 1951)

The 1949 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, William Faulkner, writes in his Requiem for a nun the following lines:

The past is never dead. It's not even past.

As an apt adage, it resurrects time and again. As we try to move beyond communal hatred, misogyny, superstition, religious dogma and authoritarianism, the line utters itself through and again everytime we falter. Our ambition is not trivial by any stretch of the imagination, but that we do not yet know how to rebuild our dreams when they break is alarming and disappointing.

Barack Obama quotes the above line in his preface to Dreams from my father. The book is based in Southern American landscape, like much of Faulkner's other writings.

And babies (Art Workers' Coaliation, 1969)

Described as one of the most futile wars of the US, Vietnam war did not sit well with her people from early on. US journalist Mike Wallace conducted an interview with US soldier Paul Meadlo in which the soldier described the procedure of the massacre, answering in affirmative when asked if babies were killed too.

The Art Workers' Coaliation in NY used 2 exact dialogues from their interview into building this poster as resistance against the war.

The atrocities committed during the war, particularly the My Lai massacre where this photograph was taken, are best left unsaid.

Udu (Igbo women, Nigeria)

The sound of a culture is also a window into the lifestyle of the culture -- especially when we observe its production, prioritisation and utilization.

The Udu doubles as a water pitcher for the Igbo and Hausa people of Nigeria, Africa.

There is not much to say as of yet. I will add as time goes.

Matryoshka dolls (Russia) and Story within a story (Humanity)

aka. Russian stacking doll, nesting doll, Russian doll.

It is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another.

What is interesting is that nested narratives (like 1001 Arabian Nights) are also called Matryoshka stories. The connotation has also expanded in recent years to find technological connotations: Matryoshka Representation Learning in AI, Matryoshka Brain in futuristic structures, Matryoshka Video Format in Video Technology, amongst others.

Etymologically, Matryoshka is a diminutive (conveys that something is small) form of Matryosha (Матрёша), in turn a hypocorism (pet name) of the Russian female first name Matryona (Матрёна), which is taken from the Latin root Mater, meaning mother. So Matryoshka, a common 19th century Russian peasantry name, conveys "Little Mother".

I love music (Ahmad Jamal)

1 March 2025: Somebody once very special introduced me to Ahmad Jamal. Being the brat I was, I scoffed and undermined her taste in music. Jazz was less of a musing to me and more of a showoff.

As time passed, I discovered a tremendous, isolated joy in listening to Ahmad Jamal, particularly this composition. It says that he loves music, but it speaks something very, very different. It is erratic, melancholic, grudge-bearing, sometimes clumsy and sometimes satin smooth -- most importantly it is very, very incosistent. Almost humanly, almost superhumanly so. Even when the accompaniment kicks it. It has a very dissonant progression that loops flawlessly without giving the slightest hint how. It's a well-kept secret, a mystical formula that should never work out, and yet it does.

I apologized for criticizing her taste in music. It was never enough, but she accepted it. I hope she has found a peaceful way to life now, after so many years.

20 March 2026: This is the hymn of someone who has sat down with life's checklist of unfinished business in a bid to make progress. A yellow desklamp, the window beside and the street dimly glowing through, and a notebook in front. Or maybe the laptop. Page after page filling up with words long overdue; or maybe equations. Not sure. Man really only creates out of necessity.

Is 4/4 the rhythm of our biology? (Fiveash et al., 2023)

Fiveash et al., 2023, authored Can rhythm-mediated reward boost learning, memory, and social connection? Perspectives for future research - ScienceDirect states:

One of the most prominent interactions between the listener and external rhythmic information occurs via synchronization/entrainment (we will not go into this distinction here, but see Obleser and Kayser, 2019 for discussion of the differences in terminology, and note that we are discussing entrainment in the broad sense). This process can be conceptualized as the coupling of internal oscillations (or other forms of endogenous timekeeper mechanism) with the periodicity perceived in the external rhythm, such as the musical beat or meter. Rhythmic entrainment is pervasive, and can be observed at physiological, behavioral, and neural levels (Fujioka et al., 2012; Large, 2008; Trost and Vuilleumier, 2013). At the physiological level, beat regularity can, via different tempi, modulate cardiovascular and respiratory patterns (e.g., Khalfa et al., 2008), and even pupillary responses (Fink et al., 2018; Marimon et al., 2022). At the behavioral level, entrainment is apparent from listeners being able to perceive a musical beat, benefit from events occurring on the beat (e.g., faster processing), and also move their body in time with this beat (Damm et al., 2020; Nozaradan et al., 2015).

I think there is significant link between the lub-dub of the heart and common time. You might say 2/2, cut time, corresponds better with the lub-dub of the heartN

Anarchism (David Graeber)

Contrary to common presumptions (even my own) about anarchists advocating for an "anarchism" which destroys social, political and moral order, anarchism is explained here by Graeber as a more fluid self-reorganizing system of functioning. Cells in our bodies develop anarchically to a certain extent: they have a function to perform and do so without interference from a central authoritarian figure unless certain kinds of exceptions get thrown. Of course, it depends on some notion of "purpose awareness" of the units of anarchy in question. Societies that do not share common principles and future outlook are difficult, as they are, to get along in even centralized dictatorial setups -- much harder obviously with an anarchy instated. Anarchy indeed may be a higher, much more developed form of democracy, although democracy does depend on the goodwill, rationality of its subjects.

A very interesting notion Graeber brings up here is that of self-subverting authority: an authority structure that gradually defies the purpose of its own existence. Rose, being a great interviewer, notes that the authority structure does indeed remain intact to other candidates willing to benefit from it, but is relinquished from the relationship the immediate beneficiary holds with the authoritarian. Like how teachers will teach students gradually to the fullest extent of their diction, producing future academicians in and of their own rights, who shall then defy the monopolistic authority of their teacher in all matters academic. This is the signature of a "non-capitalistic" authoritarian. However, the teacher does continue to be a figure of authority to all those who would still like to know more from him. This is then a signature of legitimate authority, something that was not short-lived and temporary.