2008 Woodie Awards
Shakespeare reading makes other books look simple
By Mike Goodwin
Rocket Staff Writer
Issue date: 1/20/06 Section: Opinion
I'm reading Brian Greene's compendium of Physics in its entirety entitled, "Fabric of the Cosmos." Barring any Pat Robertson-like literal translators of the Old Testament, this book challenges our reality as we know it. Unless you're an actual Physics major. In which case, you probably know it all by heart already, and I blame you for ruining the curve in any Science class that utilizes one. And yes, that was a poorly executed accelerated motion pun.
Moving on, although I'm only a fifth of the way through the book at this point, one of my favorite quotes thus far is, "...from the batters point of view, a well-pitched fastball might be approaching 100 miles per hour. From the baseball's point of view, it's the batter who is approaching at 100 miles per hour. Both descriptions are accurate; it's just a matter of perspective." I like it for its versatility. It can be used to describe just about anything in life really. I suppose perspective is relative (take that Einstein!) to any a number of occurrences we all experience.
So the typical questioning of an episode we all experience began, "are you happy/relieved/excited to start your last semester?" Everyone has heard this question before, just in different forms. For instance, replace "last" with "next." So I think many of you can relate to this line of questioning somehow. I don't really know what people truly think when they answer that question though because it's so predictable. I personally shrug my shoulders and stare blankly into space (or is it space-time…) while thinking how wonderful it would be to own a flask tinged with enough alcohol to get me through the banal questions of everyday life.
I just have better thoughts to dwell on like wondering why in the world Luke postponed his wedding to Lorelai. I mean come on! Why must you toy with my heartstrings Luke Danes? And don't even get me started about Logan.
Seriously, I am not happy to fill out index cards on the first day or have a syllabus read to me word for word. I am not relieved to have the pressure of memorizing information for tests when, in any given career, I'll have immediate access to the answers, if there ever is a need to know what Shakespeare play Shylock is a character or who the Normans (no, not Mormons, Normans) were. And if you knew me, excitement isn't exactly an emotion in my award-winning personality's vocabulary.
Moving on, although I'm only a fifth of the way through the book at this point, one of my favorite quotes thus far is, "...from the batters point of view, a well-pitched fastball might be approaching 100 miles per hour. From the baseball's point of view, it's the batter who is approaching at 100 miles per hour. Both descriptions are accurate; it's just a matter of perspective." I like it for its versatility. It can be used to describe just about anything in life really. I suppose perspective is relative (take that Einstein!) to any a number of occurrences we all experience.
So the typical questioning of an episode we all experience began, "are you happy/relieved/excited to start your last semester?" Everyone has heard this question before, just in different forms. For instance, replace "last" with "next." So I think many of you can relate to this line of questioning somehow. I don't really know what people truly think when they answer that question though because it's so predictable. I personally shrug my shoulders and stare blankly into space (or is it space-time…) while thinking how wonderful it would be to own a flask tinged with enough alcohol to get me through the banal questions of everyday life.
I just have better thoughts to dwell on like wondering why in the world Luke postponed his wedding to Lorelai. I mean come on! Why must you toy with my heartstrings Luke Danes? And don't even get me started about Logan.
Seriously, I am not happy to fill out index cards on the first day or have a syllabus read to me word for word. I am not relieved to have the pressure of memorizing information for tests when, in any given career, I'll have immediate access to the answers, if there ever is a need to know what Shakespeare play Shylock is a character or who the Normans (no, not Mormons, Normans) were. And if you knew me, excitement isn't exactly an emotion in my award-winning personality's vocabulary.
