blogos

It’s about the process, not the result… the journey, not the destination…

… even though a satisfying outcome would still be ideal.

Ithaca

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon — do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,

as many sensual perfumes as you can; visit many Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.

Without her you would have never set out on the road.

She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.

Wise as you have become, with so much experience,

you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

QR

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Is this what I come down to? How did I bring myself to this? Was this with me this whole time?

Obsession with Others

THE REST IS SILENCE

* !Shhh! *

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* Shhh *

PASTICHE.  COLLAGE. SYNTHESIS. COPY/ PASTE mnemonic. Cheese!

A photograph. A snapshot. A digital image. Encoded. Conveyed. Accessed. Thank you, Boston.com.

Image of vandalism. Vandalized Image.

Rigas Feraios stood before me. The interface separating us, yet bringing us closer.

Blasphemy.

His statue lay before my eyes. Black paint defacing it.  Beautiful picture. “Not just paint,” says Boston.com, “it is the anarchy symbol.”

Whatever.

Athens, Greece (2009). Wall outside the Greek parliament. Riot police officer standing next to the wall. The slogan on the wall was written by anarchists protesters that joined hundreds of migrants to demonstrate against police violence and demand more liberal immigration laws.

British popgroup Pet Shop Boys used QR-code for the artwork of their download-only single Integral in 2007. The videoclip for the song also features QR-code. When the codes are scanned correctly, users are directed to petshopboys.co.uk, and web pages about the British national identity card plans, respectively. ***

Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks. Users can also generate and print their own QR Code for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR Code generating sites.  (Wiki)

Cavafy Revisited

The didactic aspect to Cavafy’ s poetry is hard to ignore. Perhaps because my teachers insisted so much on it. Perhaps because my mother is a philologist and taught me to appreciate this kind of creativity. Perhaps because Cavafy is a national icon and, like a myth, he functions didactically through his work.

This poem is meant to pass on the wisdom of an older and wiser poet to the Greek youth. For Cavafy, a destructive ignorance is embedded in the convictions of youth.

The poet’s words are meant to be taken as an oracle. The clarity in Cavafy’s instructions seems to make his prophecy different to the cryptic prophecies given by Oracles. But, like the Oracle’s prophecies,  foresight of the [self-repeating] future does not prepare us for the disaster, for the disaster is time-less.

In a sense, Cavafy’s words cancel themselves out in the face of the disaster and render him just as powerless as the youth he is trying to educate.