They brought a woman from the street And made her sit in the stalls By threats By bribes By flattery Obliging her to share a little of her life with actors
But I don't understand art
Sit still, they said
But I don't want to see sad things
Sit still, they said
And she listened to everything Understanding some things But not others Laughing rarely, and always without knowing why Sometimes suffering disgust Sometimes thoroughly amazed And in the light again, said
If that's art I think it is hard work It was beyond me So much beyond my actual life
But something troubled her Something gnawed her peace And she came a second time, armoured with friends
Sit still, she said
And again, she listened to everything This time understanding different things This time untroubled that some things Could not be understood Laughing rarely but now without shame Sometimes suffering disgust Sometimes thoroughly amazed And in the light again said
This is art, it is hard work And one friend said, too hard for me And the other said, if you will I will come again Because I found it hard I felt honoured
“…And with these the sense of the world’s concreteness, irreducible,immediate, tangible, of something clear and closer to us: of theworld, no longer as a journey having constantly to be remade, not asa race without end, a challenge having constantly to be met, not asthe one pretext for a despairing acquisitiveness, nor as the illusion ofa conquest, but as the rediscovery of a meaning, the perceiving thatthe earth is a form of writing, a geography, of which we hadforgotten that we ourselves are the authors.”
Did I tell you guys I was teaching the good children of the future at Pace University?
Well I am.
I am now Professor Silber.
Like... there are pieces of paper, official looking pieces of paper with THAT EXACT MONIKER on the top of the page.
"Prof. Silbs" if you will (and I know you will...)
You know what happens when you have to travel for work in the winter?
There is inevitably a blizzard.
And you know what happens when there is a blizzard?
They cancel all the flights back East.
And thus, you cannot TEACH THE CHILDREN.
For [*War Movie Voice*] ...you cannot get to them.
YOU ARE STUCK.
In the middle of the desert.
With nothing to comfort you but the sunshine.
And a hot tub.
But does that stop Al Silbs? Why NO.
Because Al Silbs makes her class a VIDEO.
With her iPhone.
and THAT is how you handle being stranded! ReSULT!
Welcome to the [*alienating lighting shift*] THE AVANT-GARDE. [*aaaaand BLACKOUT*]
Enjoy good students of Pace University.
And enjoy, ye readers of London Still.
FIN.
PS) Feel free to do the homework in the comments if you like!