Managed for the 1st time ever to have an Internet connection
lasting over an hour so leaped with glee into the Fmoll archives.
All I can say (well, not actually) is GOLLYS. The
quality and quantity of profound info lurking there is simply tremendous.
In particular, the Bradders insight index factor is simply off the scale.
Levity aside, I am so filled with gratitude. There are pieces I have known
and loved for years which his remarkable and masterful insights have simply
transformed: Thank you. I feel rather abashed at having raced into an
arena where trainee archangels wld think twice...etc., but remember with
appreciation the remarkable No USA trait of such a generous and free flow of
info which I had experienced before. When I was there 2 decades ago it was
extraordinary, particularly given my own country's then very dark
history.
A number of you have asked for my GG history and
background: herewith
What's your background?
An academic, sp. eternal student. First
love = Logic and Metaphysics, now an ecologist working on a 2nd PhD in
Environmental Education (tres depressing in So Africa) re Socio-cultural aspects
of attitude formation
How do you come to know GG?
As a snooty purist and the very humble owner of
a Bill Robson spinet (which I play very badly indeed: I sing a lot better) I
ignored him completely with pfui of distaste. I fell in love with
Bach and harpsichords at age 7...About a year ago I sat in front of a fire
during a major storm at the coast and listened to the GG G/bergs. It was a
revelation. Have tried to put into words....and can really only say that
he engaged me in the dialogue of Bach's towering structures on a profound,
intimate, heart-as-well-as-intellect level. As a singer being part of eg.
Bmoll mass I did have entree to some of this creative intimacy, but it was still
an utter surprise to experience the level at which Gould engaged me. I
have subsequently involved myself in his music at unbelievable costs - with
unbelievable rewards - and his thinking (via "Selected letters", the only text I
have) and gradually moved on from there. I have found myself tripping over
a rather bewildering degree of extreme adulation from rather surpassing number
of sources: am really puzzled by this. So I think my intro via the
ur-texts of the letters has been a good one.
Anyway enough for now. The little meerkat
is dancing around and wanting me to accompany him for a walk in the veld -
he's come back from his first inspection tour (no doubt checking up on the
mysterious movements of the - dare I say it - local Dells) and is now scentmarking everything in sight in my office
with impatience....life here has its very varied problems!
Hope that satisfies most queries as to my weird
existence
Rgrds
Danielle
Primary address: Omdraaisvlei P O Box 494 Prieska 8940 Tel & Fax: +27 +53 35 3333 4 danielle@prieska.co.za Rhodes University: Department of Education P O Box 94 Grahamstown 6140 Cellular: 082 923 8828 D.Law-Jackson@ru.ac.za |