David Murdock Column: On some random things to start the new year
As I’ve said before, I keep a little notebook with me at all times, and I jot down a lot of ideas in it. What was really odd about 2022 is that I started a new notebook on Jan. 1 and finished it on Dec. 31 — that’s never happened before.
There were several things I left in my notes for 2022 — subjects that really never got “big enough” to deserve a full column, so I wanted to write a column about those random things.
Right off the bat, I suppose that I have to make a comment of some kind about the poetry anniversary being discussed all over the internet since October. Literary scholars love marking significant anniversaries — of the births or deaths of writers, and of the first publication of a book or poem, that sort of thing.
Late last year, depending on how one dates it, marked the 100th anniversary of the publication of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” There have been quite a few articles on the poem and on Eliot. At least three significant books on Eliot’s life and poetry were published late last year.
This poem is widely regarded as the most significant long poem in English of the 20th century. Rightfully so, I think. Although it’s a difficult read, it changed everything … in hindsight.
It’s one of those poems that people either love or hate. And it’s a difficult poem. Lots of students just “tune out” when I teach it, but I’ve seen more than one weep silently at some of the more emotionally draining parts of it. It’s intense.
Eliot himself is a difficult figure in literary history, so I won’t even get started on his personal life. The fact that he was likely the major figure of 20th century Anglo-American literary history cannot be denied, however. His influence is still significant today.
There’s more than a column’s worth of material concerning “The Waste Land,” but it’s been written far better than I could have written it. I’ll just say I mentioned it and move on.
Back in March, there was the oddest thing on the interstate one day: an ambulance without any markings whatsoever. I suppose it was new and headed to its future area of service, but it struck me as strange. I jotted down a note that I’d seen a “blank” ambulance.
There was only one thing I jotted down last year that I have no idea now what I was talking about: On April 23, I wrote, “Product, price, place, people.” Your guess is as good as mine.
Y’all know “déjà vu,” the French phrase that means something like being in a place where you’ve never been, but it “feels” familiar? It literally translates as “already seen.” It turns out that there’s an opposite phrase: “jamais vu.” That translates as “never seen,” and it means being in a familiar place that “feels” unfamiliar. I missed that one all these years, but I’ve certainly had the experience.
I wrote down lots and lots of quotes last year — many more than normal. Most of them have to do with the nature of education, learning, awe, wonder and wisdom because I was working on something along those lines.
However, my favorite jotted-down quote from last year has to do with advertising. I liked it so much that I wrote it down twice, a couple of months apart (did I forget?). In his novel, “Infinite Jest,” David Foster Wallace wrote, “It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase.” And that’s exactly what advertising is.
Wallace is a tragic and controversial figure in contemporary literature. A brilliant essayist, he can really turn a phrase. I’ve never read “Infinite Jest,” his best-known novel, however, because it’s so long. Not planning to read it this year, either, but one never knows.
In October, there were a lot of road-killed raccoons in Reece City. I wonder what got into them.
Also that month, I made a note to write a column comparing pocket watches to wrist watches. I may have to write that one this year.
“Arenology” is the scientific study of sand. Why that was important?
There are lots of weather observations in that little notebook, but my favorite is an “old saying” I found somewhere: “If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but the same amount of snow.” If I replaced “snow” with “bitter, freezing cold,” that might better describe Christmas week.
I never really found joy in the bitter cold, but I found a lasting chill — even after the temperatures rose into the 60s the next week, I still felt cold. Weird feeling, but it lasted a couple of days.
On my traditional Christmas morning trip to Waffle House, I wrote down that it was 14 degrees … and that there is a festival in the Bahamas on Dec. 26 called Junkanoo. It’s celebrated in some parts of the U.S. with large populations of Bahamian immigrants. I’d never heard of it, but I’ll certainly be reading up on it. Sounds fascinating.
Now that those are out of my system, on to 2023!
David Murdock is an English instructor at Gadsden State Community College. He can be contacted at murdockcolumn@yahoo.com. The opinions reflected are his own.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: David Murdock looks back at his 2022 notebook heading into 2023
