Epictetus

“To the rational creature, only the irrational is unbearable; the rational he can always bear.” Epictetus

The Greek Stoic Epictetus, who was born into slavery and lived in Rome until banished by Emperor Domitian in A.D. 93, was a philosopher who believed that self-knowledge is the foundation of all quests for wisdom and that the rational man, being responsible for his own actions, had a moral duty to live an honest life and eschew flattery or frivolous things.  In the “Discourses,” written by one of his pupils from notes he took, he argued: “We have no power over external things, and the good that ought to be the object of our earnest pursuit, is to be found only within ourselves.” In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy I found this statement: “An engagingly satirical portrayal of the potential impact of Epictetus’s philosophy in contemporary American literature may be found in Tom Wolfe’s 1998 novel “A Man in Full.”

I just finished Wolfe’s 742-page novel, admittedly skipping over some parts.  Wolfe writes about a half-dozen people whose lives ultimately come together in Atlanta as a result of a wealthy white coed accusing an African-American Georgia Tech football star of raping her.  My favorite character comes across a book titled “The Stoics” while in prison and vows to live a life according to the teaching of Epictetus. While working for a wealthy entrepreneur, he convinces the man to live by the principles of stoicism with unexpected consequences.

Phil Arnold wrote a tribute to the late, great Little Richard on his Elvis blog.  He bought his first Little Richard in 1957 for 79 cents and at one time had more Little Richard 45s than Elvis records and enjoyed the B sides almost as much as the hits.  He joined a Little Richard fan club, “Rock Bops” and years later got to see him perform live.  Almost all his contemporaries, from Elvis to James Brown idolized him and “American bandstand” host Dick Clark called him “the greatest Rock and Roll legend of our time.”  R.I.P. Richard Penniman.

The heyday of record albums being from the mid-1960s until the mid-1990s, most of my “10 favorite albums” selections came from that era.  No record got more play at 9649 Maple Place than “Duke” (1980) by Genesis. Early Genesis albums had featured vocals by Peter Gabriel; drummer Phil Collins filled in ably on “Duke.” The songs were for the most part a collaboration between Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks and guitarist Mike Rutherford. Every song is a winner, but I particularly like “Misunderstanding” and “Turn It On Again.” The album has numerous long instrumental interludes and a 10-minute finale, “Duke’s Travels,” which harks back to Genesis’s prog-rock roots.

Becca, who will attend Belmont University in the Fall, performed “Teddy,” a song she co-wrote with keyboardist Alec Malenfant and three Chesterton classmates singing the chorus (Emma Kitchel, Jackie Neely, and Alex Wierzbicki) at a coffeehouse special carried live on the Internet.  The group called themselves Probs Finger Guns. “Teddy” is about a break-up and contains the line, “All the little things were just not working.”  It was an awesome performance.

I played Air Lords on-line with Jef Halberstadt, Tom Wade, and Evan Davis, who invented the board game.  Because it involves lots of math and we were using our own map and cards, it took four hours, twice what an in-person game usually took.  It was fun, and I finished second to T. Wade.

IUN library staff member Anne Koehler wrote: “Sixty years ago on May 14 I entered the United States in Newport News, Virginia. Had come over from Germany via a modern freighter from Hamburg. I was wearing warm clothing and the hot humid air of Virginia greeted me. Stayed with friends in Camden, New Jersey and took the bus from there to Chicago where my husband to be was waiting for me. My huge trunk had to be shipped by train as the bus could not accommodate it. Arriving in Chicago the von Steuben Day parade walked past on Michigan Avenue as if to welcome me. I have lived here ever since.”