The Self and The Dead

I have now been in Germany for two months. The past eight weeks have been heavy, to say the least. A lot of new information to perceive. My somewhat infrequent newsletters home have undoubtedly helped in the decompression process.

- nearly two hours of playing along with Grateful Dead here -

This blog, however, will be somewhere I can jot down more frequent reflections and ramblings. I just started my actual semester at Ludwig Maximilian Universität, although two of my classes there are in English. It seems a bit lame, taking English classes in Germany, however it is a must if I wish to retain any hope of acquiring my desired second major. They are also really great classes. The one - "Self and Society in the Victorian Novel" - has already peaked my interest a great deal. Last year I wrote an involved paper at Lewis & Clark which analyzed this same theme in George Eliot's Silas Marner, an excellent Victorian work. Said paper was also not the first time I had explored the topic. In fact the themes of society, the individual, and the relations therebetween have been persistently following me since I began studying literature. The works spanning roughly 1830-1925 seem to address this topic continuously. So many great and terrible forces assaulted traditional societal forms in those years. Shattering the safe and familiar foundations of how one's self was perceived, baptizing the individual through tempestuous revolutions both industrial and civil. I am currently reading William Thackeray's Vanity Fair for the aforementioned "Self and Society" course, whereon I must present a small paper and discussion in a few weeks, focusing on this ever so prevalent theme.

My language skills are improving, I suppose. The biggest challenge upon arrival was understanding actual Germans. Although my pronunciation and vocabulary have both benefited from these first immersive weeks, I feel that I could have expressed myself regarding most mundane topics (employing perhaps odd and/or roundabout methods or tactics) before having visited the fatherland. Understanding Germans, however, is entirely its own facet of this foreign adventure. Thanks to my ever-increasing cognition of spoken German I am now aware of how often Germans make fun of us Americans. Not to imply that Germans are particularly mean, on the contrary the communities of Munich and Ludwig Maximilian Üniversität therein are both quite familiar with international students. One might even regard them as largely international communities. They do, however, cherish their "Ami" (German abbreviation for "American") jokes. Generally they are somewhat apologetic and always surprised when I make it clear that I am quite capable of communicating in the comical tongue, as it were.

I sure do enjoy The Grateful Dead. Anyone who as iTunes should go into the podcasts, there is a free GD podcast named "The Dead show on KOPN 89.5". Each week sees old Dead show tapes (mostly high quality) posted by this fellow John Henrikson. He executes the whole affair with admirable craft. The notes for each session/show are articulate and complete. Good stuff. Podcasts in general are definitely one of the nicest vehicles for the free dissemination of art. You'll be surprised at what one finds sometimes.


Well, it is done. I, Ezekial Hale, have blogged. A blog has been - by me - written.

I believe I will end this post with a verse from the Townes Van Zandt song titled "To Live is to Fly":

"Goodbye to all my friends
It’s time to go again
Think of all the poetry
And the pickin’ down the line
I’ll miss the system here
The bottom’s low
And the treble’s clear
But it don’t pay to think to much
On things you leave behind.
I will be gone
But it won’t be long
I'll be a’bringin’ back the melodies
And rhythm that I find."