Lifesigns

So, things are progressing at an amicable pace. All of a sudden i'm a member of the board of the largest local labour party organization. The lowest level of labour party organization in the country, of course, but still.... It boggles the mind, and if they are at such dearth for viable candidates i must say that i am slightly worried about them. (Which is, mostly, why i became a member in the first place, so it makes sense.) Granted, the meeting i most wanted to take place during the spring semester was one about the lack of political involvement. Preferably a multi-party endeavour. But we've already filled our stockings with lots of interesting meetings. The one i'm most interested in is a look at the actual implications of conservative government in scandinavian countries. That can, if handled correctly, be quite important to bring across to a wider (hrrrrmph) audience. Personally i'll be involved in a meeting dealing with the situation in Egypt. That should be interesting, as long as we don't make it too "hands off". That strikes me as impotent. We really need to show that there are global social democratic structures, since they receive so little play in most media environments. It would seem hollow to just be Egypt-oriented. I don't find that as riveting as actually learning about the opportunities for communication and involvment with likeminded, active persons in different parts of the globe. You can always read up on Egypt on wikipedia or somesuch (wsws? atimes? harpers?), but to figure out what such entities as PES and others do to support such systems in the face of potentially quite brutal repression is another matter. Other than that i'll get to work for a few more months in my favourite kindergarden. That is going to be quite allright. Economically i'm floating, barely. But that will improve during february and march. (Deargodihopeso!) Or was that (Dearmeimustmakeitso!)? :P

The only parallel is the 42nd.

So there i was, at my aunts place for dinner. And, since we are quite nice sheep, and the media and family had mentioned Gombrowicz quite recently my aunt looked through her bookshelves and found Ferdydurke. Learning that the book was about a man in his late twenties given the chance to re-enter an educational environment and that it was about a man in his late twentios who didn't want to grow up was mildly amusing. Leafing through the book and finding the chapter which involved a dinner party the young man attends at his aunts place was slightly more entertaining. Then we sat down for dinner. I can honestly say i will never read that book. As i've said before: If I'm going to find myself parallelized by narratives all of the time then i'm sure going to pick the ones i spend prolonged time on quite carefully. (Good luck with the land-owners, the schlachta and the catholic church though, Gombro!) That's the point though, i guess. I just really don't want to have to deal with their dour catholic trauma. Bygones, even then they were bygones.