Marta's Mathoms

Back at the NY Tolkien conference, I picked up a copy of Adam Barkman's Imitating the Saints: Christian Philosophy and the Superhero Mythology. I haven't actually gotten past the introduction because I keep getting hung up on how the author tries to define philosophy, let alone Christian philosophy. (Which seems more in to apologetics than, say, the analog of working with Islamic philosophy or British/analytic philosophy; but that's another post.) Add to that the fact that a riend posted this NY Times article about philosophy's laser-like focus on dead white men's contributions to human wisdom, and maybe it makes sense. Or maybe it doesn't. In either case I'm thinking quite a lot about what philosophy actually is.

(I'm going to try not to get too pedantic here. Would love folks' thoughts of course. But I'm a philosopher talking about philosophy, so it may well be a losing battle...)

Barkman defines philosophy as thinking seriously about something. I think I get what he's driving at, but he also takes it too far very, very quickly. I'm too lazy to dig out my copy so paraphrases will have to suffice, unfortunately. He then goes on to say that Tolkien Lewis are philosophers of mythology because in addition to writing both did quite a lot of serious thinking on what counted as myth, what made or good myth, all of that. Focusing on JRRT (because my knowledge of Lewis is really scandalously slim!), I'll grant you that in "On Fairy Tales" or some of his letters he probably is doing philosophy. He's trying to define and discuss it and give other people good reasons to go along with what he's saying. But speaking as a writer, it's really very hard to write well without thinking seriously about what you're writing. JRRT's trying to create (or re-create, or sub-create) a British mythology. That's part of good world-building. But certainly philosophy means something more than that? Seems too broad to be useful, and pretty insulting to people who don't think of themselves as doing philosophy to boot. (As if a musician or a particle physicist wasn't also thinking deeply about his art/science!)

So let me be a good philosopher and try to do better. As a first step: philosophy means doing serious thought about some subject - philosophically. Which is really horribly circular because it doesn't get us any closer unless we already know what philosophy is. Adding -ly does worse than nothing here. But what it gets at, I hope, is that philosophers don't have the market cornered on serious thought. We're one type of serious thought, done through a certain method.

Next natural question: what does it mean to think (or do anything) philosophically? I'm not going to try to define something humans have been doing for 2,500+ years now, but I'd say most philosophy includes:

1) Identifying a belief hat philosophers would describe as epistemologically virtuous - true, correct, the kind of thing we ought to believe/hope for/have faith in/etc. That kind of thing.

2) Working out in detail why it is good (etc.) to believe (etc.) this thing to be true. Typically this is through writing it out, but I suppose it could take other forms. Important thing is, you're working out the kind o things that should convice any unbiased person - reasons, arguments, etc.

3) Sharing #2 with other people in a way that allows dialogue. Typically this means trying to convince someone you're right, and actually taking it seriously when they explain why they aren't convinced.

Let's put this in fandom terms. Anyone can enjoy Johnlock fanfic. The writer has to think seriously about what that would look like, but the reader doesn't actually have to believe Doyle Mofftiss etc. meant for John and Sherlock to be getting it on - someone who doesn't buy into that can still enjoy a well written Johnlock fic. (I read Sherlolly the same way - not my read of canon but I can certainly enjoy it when done well.) Writing Johnlock meta is a big step closer: here you're explaining why you believe the Sherlock plot will end with John and Sherlock as a romantic couple, or why it should, or why it's good to hope for that even if it will never happen, something along those lines. There's a definite belief, and you're trying to explain why open-minded people should agree.

But that's really just apologetics, making the case for your belief. Philosophy really starts when another fan who thinks Sherlock is asexual and John happily married to Mary comes along, you talk and actually hear each other, and you come to some kind of an agreement (maybe a happy middle, maybe one convincing the other to change her mind). (Worth saying: sometimes it's a long game. I've got friends who've explained why they disagreed with some meta and I've not always responded, we've not always reached quick and tidy agreement but I've mulled over what they said and often over my months at least some of their points make it in to my own beliefs. That's philosophy, too.)

The point is: philosophy is one part making your case, one part actually dialogueing with someone and reacting to that in a productive way. There's a method here. It doesn't look like the scientific method, or the typical creative cycle, but it's a method nonetheless. When JRRT talks about what myths are and actually hopes to convince people, or better yet, perfect his ideas through their feedback, that's philosophy. But when he's actually myth-making, he's doing something else entirely.

Back to the other thing that prompted this: the Times' piece. The author points out that philosophy is very white, and he thinks if we're not going to correct that the least we can do is rebrand it as American and European Philosophy. And... well, I have quibbles with the name, and with the idea that Plato and Aristotle (let alone Augustine) would be counted as Europeans in their day, let alone that American philosophy is at all respectable in terms of philosophy's history, but the basic idea? I can get behind it really easily. Philosophy is hostile to folks who don't come with a certain experience set most common in white men. And the curriculum is definitely old and melanin-deprived.

Thing is, the "white" thing is a bit misleading as I said. The real issue is privilege and power. (Europe, nevermind America, is not synonymous with these things.) And the bigger problem: or a variety of historical reasons, I don't see a lot of non-western voices taking part in the same dialogue philosopher are talking about. Sometimes we don't have enough surviving source materials. Sometimes we don't have the training to parse them like they were meant (Lao-Tzu seems more poetry than nonfiction to this westerner, though I'm not sure that distinction translates all that well). And part of it is we westerners talk about "Indian philosophy" the way we never would "German philosophy" - it's almost anthropology, not really digging into the specific writings of specific figures so much as a broad discussion of that culture's beliefs and values and approach to life, as if anything is that neat and unified.

But the biggest problem for me is Lao-Tzu wasn't in dialogue with Socrates, either directly or through the work of later minds. Sure, we can force them into conversation, but that always seems a bit reductive to me - you're either taking Lao-Tzu somewhere he never intended to go, or else you're only focusing on the part that's relevant to what westerners have been interested in. Not saying non-western philosophy can't be enlightening (look at the free will debate and the way a lot of people use what they call Indian philosophy to reframe the problem of determinism) - but it seems more than a bit racist to say non-western philosophy is only interesting because it solves western philosophy's problems.

Yet I don't have a better answer. In practice, (western) philosophy is where the spotlight is.

Anywho. It's 1:43. I apparently still have some passion and Thoughts (TM) here, but I also have another ghastly workday in front of me. Meaning the path of wisdom probably leads to my pillow just now.

(1) I'm trying to get back into the practice of writing fic and I'd like to do something for Advent which will be here before I think any of us would like to admit, so I'd like to ask for prompts.

Give me a character or pairing, any requests you have about gen vs. het vs. slash, ratings, etc. you'd like me to keep in mind, and a few elements or themes you'd like me to work in. Aim to be specific enough to give me something concrete to latch on to, but open enough that my creativity could do some work. I'm most comfortable writing Tolkien (any Tolkien or the Jackson adaptations) and Sherlock Holmes (Doyle or BBC), but I'm willing to stretch myself and try to take on some of the other things I enjoy (Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Avengers, X-Men, pretty much anything you see me discussing or posting about over at Tumblr). [ETA: Or Swordspoint, the first Kushner novel. Swordspoint is always fair game, that almost goes without saying.] Fics may be un-beta'd and un-Brit checked because I'm really trying to encourage my muse which often means offering little resistance. But that doesn't mean sloppily written or unresearched, and I hope they'll be enjoyable.

So please. Prompt me in the comments of this post and I'll do as many as I can.

(2) I'm also planning on doing holiday cards. I'm fairly certain my address book is around here somewhere but I can't lay my hand on it easily, so even if you think I have your address please send it to me again. Comments are not filtered on this post; probably best to send me a private message through LJ or Tumblr or email if you don't want to broadcast your particulars to the whole internet. Similarly, if you do the same and need my address (which is, to be clear, neither expected nor required), PM me and I'll share it with you. It's the same Cambreleng address I've lived at for the last several years.

(3) In honor of Rosh HaShannah, I wrote up a little retirement-era BBC!Sherlock headcanon. Because, you know, bees.

My headcanon, in honor of the season:

Sherlock celebrates Rosh HaShannah (though he would never go so far as to admit it), not because he is spiritual let alone Jewish, but because any holiday built around the byproducts of bees is eminently more beautiful to him than one whose main markers seem to be getting drunk and blowing things up.

Once they moved out to Sussex he somehow fell in the habit of making muffins for days on end in the early autumn, bran flavored with apples from a local market and honey off of his own hives, more than the two of them could possibly eat, and they ended up giving most of them away to the local boys’ home. John asked him about it once, only once, to which Sherlock grimaced something about being boooooored, and also having a mild scientific curiosity about the precise way heat denatured the viscosity of the honey. Of course he did.

John wisely decided not to pursue the matter, though he didn’t complain about all the dishes nearly as much as one would suspect. The timing of it all is surely a coincidence, whatever Mycroft would have said.

Also, the inimitable Ellen Kushner shared artwork of apples in honor of the holiday, to which I added honey and a peaceful little rendition of "Shalom Aleichem," here. A L'Shana Tova to all who celebrate it.

(To those that don't know, I'm theologically Christian but my family is ethnically Jewish and because my German family included camp survivors growing up, it was actually something that got woven into our family life and I grew up in a beautiful mix of Catholic and Jewish traditions. I also have always found the philosophy and theology to be particularly beautiful, perhaps because it's a minority faith which lets it do some interesting work. Suffice it to say, while I don't claim to represent or practice Judaism in any standard way, it's always been very important to me and I do mark most of the major holidays, Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur included, after my own fashion.)

I'm heading down Dixie-way (if Florida counts, which it doesn't). A friend's kid is being baptized and as I am officially the godmother I should probably turn up.

Just when did I become such an adult? I cannot adult and the thought that, even theoretically, I could be tasked with this kid's wellbeing is... heady, heady stuff. Also, foolhardy. But I can wear a nice dress and turn up with a decent bottle of wine, at least.

By way of starting your weekend off right, this photo is making its way around Tumblr. No idea if it's genuine, but it made me laugh.

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Also #1: (BBC) Sherlock fans, if you want a good laugh, you really must check out The Adoption of John Watson by cyerus. In which Mummy Holmes adopts John Watson without consulting him first, Mycroft is offensively Mycroftian, John is less than impressed by both of them, and the sibling and family dynamics are so wonderfully in-character it hurts. Well, pre-series three in-character, with a much more public school Holmes family than we got in the actual show, but that actually was just as I imagined them, so...

Also #2: Fellow Tolkien fans, I've felt like I've not been including you all, but I did want to point to this lovely fan-art built around the Oath of Feanor. I've actually been sharing a good bit of Tolkien-themed fanart, research posts, and quotes and what-not over at Tumblr, which you can find here if you're interested. Also-also, don't forget that lotr_community released their essay challenge entries, and some of them look like a good read.

Right, so I don't got time for a fast train. See you guys beginning of next week.

I can't sleep, someone at Tumblr posted a getting-to-know-you meme, and this seemed like a better venue. So here you go. Anyone who likes feel free to play along.

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(No spoilers for "Deep Breath," though I will be talking about some of the Matt Smith Doctor Who episodes, so as River Song would put it, spoilers...)

Leading up to the new Doctor Who episode, I ended up watching rewatching most of the Matt Smith DW episodes, including some Christmas specials which I'd never seen before. there may be such a thing as consuming too much story out of Team Cardiff, and it really may be as simple as siting through the better part of three series in the last week. But at the moment I really have one thought running through my head It would be so, so nice if Team Cardiff could stop making woman-bashing into a joke.

I try to be realistic. I know that sometimes it makes sense for a certain character, for them to have a less than positive view of women, and I can run with that. But in the years since Steven Moffat's taken over as the show-runner, there's been a serious uptick in jokes made about how awful women are. They're not even particularly good jokes - it's like the mere presence of a woman is enough to earn a cheap laugh. A few examples that jump to mind: the bit in "Let's Kill Hitler" where the Doctor says on top of being a psychopath, River Song is a woman so of course she'd behave irrationally; the description of River Song in "The Wedding of River Song" as "hell in high heels"; the way the monk crosses himself at hearing the person reaching out to the Doctor in "Bells of st. John's" is a woman; and other cheap one-liners like that. I wouldn't mind these so much if they actually wored at some level, if they told us something about the Doctor, but they just don't add anything at all to the story. Casual misogyny seems to be what the current DW crew thinks is funny. And it just doesn't match with the Doctor we've seen so far.

The weird thing is, I actually like what they did with Amy Pond's character. I found her easily the most compelling of the companions, psychologically; the only one I found who really came close was Martha, and it was less that I liked her arc as much as there was just something about her spunk and the fact that she actually had her life halfway together that I found compelling. River Song, too. I found her an exciting, fun character when she wasn't a wreck over the fact that she had to kill the man she loved. But I'll admit on both fronts, I got pretty frustrated pretty quickly with how the Doctor tried to shoehorn them into those roles, of emotional lover and mother-figure. I thought "The Asylum of the Daleks" was one of my favorites once it got started, but I really, really really hated what they did with Amy's and Rory's relationship. The whole idea that she couldn't have kids so she wasn't entitled to marital happiness was bad, even if Rory denied that he'd ever have wanted anything like what she was doing there. And the fact that Amy was suddenly a professional model was just... yeah. I've watched that opening enough times to suspect I'm never going to be able to make sense of it. I don't know what they were thinking there, because on top of sexualizing her (this is the only possibility once you strike off motherhood?), but it also made seeming like successful fashion model was something any kissogram from Leadworth could just kind of stumble into with no connections and no work-up to it? It infantilizes women - I mean, you'd never accept Rory turning up as a professional football player in the same time window, even if Rory was the naturally athletic type.

There's also this sense that women are supposed to be natural carers. This can be in a good sense -- Clara is the governess and the girl who cared so much she can't be turned into a dalek; the mother in the WWII-era Christmas special is strong precisely because she is a mother; etc. -- but also in a bad sense. I'm thinking of the way River Song's not wanting to kill the Doctor even if it means time itself ends in "The Wedding of River Song," where the Doctor basically tells her to pull it together, compared to the way we get a very similar scene in "Big Bang" (or was it "Pandorica"?) where Rory basically says that Amy does matter more to him than all those other people who will die if the Doctor takes the time to save her, which is treated as a sign that Rory's back to his true self. I definitely felt my love for Amy taken a notch or two down the longest they focused on her pregnancy and missing child (and in the way it was always Amy asking after her daughter and being upset by that more than Rory).

I don't know. I feel like I'm complaining quite a bit here and still haven't listed everything about the way this creative team is handling women that really, really goads me. I think at some level it's a loss of faith, though. I can't trust these people to handle a woman as something other than a very specific type (love with a strength strong enough to melt carnivorous snow; have kids or be defined by the lack of that ability; be the caring, emotional one but not too caring and be ready to be corrected by the clear-thinking man when necessary). That means that when a female character does have a fault my mind will read it as bad writing rather than a seriously flawed character. It's actively getting in the way of my ability to connect with the story, and that's a Problem with a capital P.

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On a more personal note, I had a viewing party for "Deep Breath" tonight,but didn't actually get to watch it. The neighbor who usually watches the small kids of the people I was having over had to do a work thing. She let me use her apartment but I had to do the hostess thing and do the actual babysitting myself while my friends watched the episode in my flat. I have the copy I bought off Amazon, though, so I can wath it tomorrow. It's actually just as well. I'll benefit from a bit of breather and a cleansed palate, I think. As it is, I'm more frustrated with Team Cardiff than anything and not feeling ready to really open my heart to what they've got in the pipeline.

In otehr-other news, I still haven't written. Second day I've had a ficlet all but planned out in my head (fleshing out a friend's headcanon re: John, Sherlock and bees). The file has been open. I want to write it. But it's just not happening, no matter how hard I try. Ah, well. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm feeling a good bit better today. Still sick, still congested and a bit loopy and disoriented, but manageably sick rather than properly miserable as I was this weekend. I don't know whether it's the antibiotics or if it's simply the acetaminophen (yes, I really am hardly fit to claim the label "adult" some days; it never occurred to me that the same medicines that could fix sore muscles and aching heads would also work on scratchy throats.) I'm not 100% and still am taking it easy, but for the first time in a while there may be hope on the horizon this ickiness will actually go away.

As I'm stuck in bed, I thought I'd try to catch up on some of the sherlock60 stories I'm behind on. So I spent the better part of the day (between frequent naps and a bit of Tumblring) making my way through "The Man with the Twisted Lip. I'm positive I'd read it before – I'd read all of the Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories as a teenager, with the exception of two of the novellas, one of which ("The Sign of the Four") I've now read and the other ("The Valley of Fear") I still need to read – but for whatever reason I completely couldn't remember the ending. So I was really pleased with myself that I figured it out before Holmes did, though he thought he was the biggest fool in Europe to make that mistake so perhaps I shouldn't be too self-satisfied. There are lots of very human moments, you get a more tender Holmes in a lot of ways, and there's also a lovely image of Doyle!Mary Morstan being a kind of neighborhood den mother who has this great heart that just draws everyone toward her.

As a BBC fan it was really nice reading about the canonical Isa (Isaac) Whitney and comparing it to the opening of His Last Vow. Also to the way the John/Mary relationship is portrayed. And at the risk of giving the ending away, there's an interesting parallel between what Doyle is doing with the shame of professional begging, and what the BBC is doing with the shame of drug addiction. I'm not entirely sure it's intentional, and I certainly don't have the brainpower to work it out today, but I did notice it and thought it may be worth further thought.

I know I haven't been talking very much about Tolkien lately, but I have been getting a bit back into it, it by bit. Mostly it's been over at Tumblr, though – there's a readlong of the Silmarillion I think I mentioned, and a lot of people have been doing some interesting Silm-based fanart and cosplay associated with that. You can find all of the Tolkien-based stuff I share over at Tumblr here, but I'm a bit hesitant to repost it because I'm never quite sure what the standards are for sharing art in particular on a different site. Anyway, I did want to point out that the BBC has an interesting piece up about how World War I effected the writing of Lord of the Rings, here. Again, I'm bumping up against the "brain not quite functioning" thing because I can't quite work out what I agree and disagree with it. But there were a lot of claims I hadn't come across before, and it's pretty interesting so my fellow Tolkienophiles might want to check it out.

I was able to schedule an appointment with a doctor for this afternoon, and on top of that I found someone to "cover" my place in a fanfic exchange so I can focus on maybe getting better. (I am so ready to be physically better.)

Thanks to everyone for the medicine recommendations. There was an error on the pharmacy's website and they closed at five rather than six so I was only able to get the basic kinds of medicines you can pick up at the grocery store (throat lozenges and Sudafed) yesterday. In some ways that's not all bad, as I'd downplay any symptoms if I possibly could. But I've been doing the salt-water gargle thing and may try out some of the rest when I hit the store this afternoon. Just having things I can try without having to know what to do myself helps.

I've been working through job sites most of the day, did a Skype interview for a job at the New School, and caught up on reading some fanfic including two nice short ones that are full of slices of life from unconventional relationships: one from Sherlock's and John's life (which with them being emotionally intimate and physically demonstrative but not sexually so) and the other with John and Lestrade having a friendship that looks (to some outsiders) like it's a bit more than that but really, truly isn't. I'll probably write up proper reviews at some point, but they were both refreshingly uninterested with boundaries and fitting into the different fannish boxes we draw. So that was a really nice way to unwind.

One of the things I've been doing a lot lately is listening to jazz. Today it wsa a Vince Guaraldi (as in, the Charlie Brown composer). SOme of the songs were original and non-Snoopy related. Some were almost covers or reimaginings of those soundtrack pieces, and it's them that have really caught my fancy. Case in point: "Charlie Brown's Wake-up," which is pretty much the same song that plays when Snoopy and Woodchuck try to get stuff together for the dinner in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." "Little Birdie," I think it's called?



What I love about this, aside from the obvious attraction of nice jazz keyboard work, is that it's just similar enough to the canon song without it being repetitive. There's the sense of slipping into really well-worn jeans that are soft almost to the point of fraying but not quite, so they just fit. But at the same time, there's something new, it's beautiful and good. So it's like wearing those old jeans but paired with a new snazzy top you just bought and are wearing out for the first time and it's a bit more fun and exciting than normal. If I haven't pressed the metaphor to the point of absurdity.

Anyway, it got me thinking about fanfic and the BBC Sherlock show, which is really glorified fanfic in its own way. It's the stories that feel like coming home but at the same time feel like they're telling me something new as well, that I love most, I think. And that's what the music reminded me of.

Dunno if that makes sense, but it's the thought I've had in my head today so I thought I'd share.

Also, I finally got to the new chapters in earlgreytea68's "Working on the Edges." It's a John/Sherlock AU, but Sherlock meets The Cutting Edge, where the boys are both a washed-up hockey player and a washed-up figure skater. With just enough connections to the BBC show to make it interesting and new at the same time. It's a recently-finished WIP, and I'd read I think the first six chapters when I first discovered it, all that had been written at the time. Now it's finished so I started it again from the top and just now reached new material. And it's really kind of lovely and has me in a nice mood, but I'm going to put it away and try to work on my own stuff at last now.

Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday yesterday, at LJ and Tumblr and FaceBook, along with the few of you (too few!) I made the time with to chat or actually talk (as in old school, exchange of physical voices). I even got a few snail mail cards, more electronic cards, and generally lots of people wishing me well. Which is nice.

I'm still working through it all, and am not sure I'll have the energy to reply to each birthday wish individually, because this isn't the easiest of weeks and because while I'm physically a lot better than I was I'm now facing all the stuff I didn't get to last week on top of feeling like I'm walking through molasses and everything takes entirely too much energy, and... yeah. That sounds like I'm complaining about too many things to reply to, as if that was a bad thing. It's an embarrassment of riches, actually. But I know me and know I could feel a lot of pressure to reply to them all. So I'll reply as much as I can, but if I forget, do know that I saw it and appreciated it genuinely.

The big event was that I had some friends come over and we watched a British comedy mini-series, "Clone," with Mark Gatiss and Jonathan Pryce and also, in a bit part, the actor who plays Anderon on "Sherlock." The premise is a government scientist tries to clone a super-soldier, but the process doesn't work, and the doctor who created him tries to hide him away from the government so he can "fix" him and save his reputation. Pryce is the scientist, Gatiss the government agent who wants to kill and autopsy the clone to find out what went wrong. It's violent and bloody in an "Inglorious Basterds" kind of way but also really, really funny. And Mark was great. (I... may be obsessing a little bit over him, and don't think it's all because I love Mycroft Holmes. He's just great fun to watch.) We watched all six episodes in a single sitting. Also there was cake and wine and just hanging out until about two in the morning.

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Right, that brain working at molasses pace is making itself felt. This post has taken over an hour of getting distracted and coming back, and now my brain is threatening to crawl out of my ear. So I'm going to say good-night. :-)

I'm in one of those rare moods where I actually want to say something nice about FedEx, of all things. But they finally, finally got my computer back to me. It was a hassle this go-around because apparently the doorbell outside my apartment has Angela's name, not mine. I could point out that not only does it also have the apartment number but they also required (but never called) my phone number. But the good thing: they said they would try one last time but it would be tomorrow rather than today because the truck had already left the rebel base central dispatch point. And they got it to me today.

All of which means my baby is back home. The sheer emotional attachment I have to this piece of plastic is really a bit ridiculous. Also-also means that I am mildly amused by FedEx's foibles rather than peeved. Also also-also, I am not loopy and contented rather than loopy and stressed from the strep.

And even the strep is really okay because now I have a sound card so I can finally sit down to watch Winter Soldier tonight. First I must clean so I can go get groceries (those are connected because I'm on a fifth-floor walk up, sans garbage chute and I have respiratory sickness so gathering up the stuff to throw out before I go down actually makes a lot of sense.

As a bonus, someone over at Tumblr shared a Sherlock-and-Redbeard-as-Russell-and-Dug-from-"Up" picture, which got me thinking about some imagined Up/Sherlock crossovers. Just a bit of silliness. Read them here if that sounds like your things.