Ecology in Mind: “Word Ecology”
Chris Koliba
| Revision History | ||
|---|---|---|
| • April-May 1992 | Newspaper: Funded by Syracuse University students. | |
| The Alternative Orange: Vol. 1 No. 5 (pp. 7) | ||
| • August 27, 2000 | Webpage:  . | |
| DocBook XML (DocBk XML V3.1.3) from original. | ||
Why must we try so hard to say something with words?
Where does the next word in this sentence come from? Am i limiting my creative potential by using a series of symbols to re-present what i am actually thinking?
What am i trying to say? Who am i trying to speak to? What argument am i trying to persuade you to consider and ultimately accept — thereby proving my rightness, lifting my self-esteem up and spurning me on to think more highly of myself and the ideas i generate?
Start with a theme. . . “ecology.” Make a point, an assertion perhaps, and then follow that assertion up with some facts, a story, a series of symbols which we have come to know and love as “words.” Remember that the next “point” must follow on the heals of the previous point: make “sense” in some sort of linear conception of time and space. . . oh, and be sure to follow the rules of grammar — you know, spell symbols right. . . . A digressive metaphor: The misspelled word is like worshipping a woman nailed to a cross. Just plain sacrilegious, ain’t it? Now glance back to the beginning of this paragraph. Given the topic sentence, does this last regress fit into the paragraph?
Returning now to the structure of words and sentences and paragraphs and articles and newspapers and readers (the present ecosystem that concerns me at the moment.) I have nothing to say. . . . i have no thing to say to any of you; i don’t want to shape your perspectives, or show you how clever i can be by manipulating symbols to form some kind of linear relationship that will convince you that i have something important to say. I could get all humble-like and admit to the fact that i am not capable of having anything important to say. Now glance back to the beginning of the paragraph. Does this regress fit in the paragraph? Probably not . . . poor writing.
Here comes some humility. . . . Hey, i am a poor, lazy writer. I can't persuade water to boil or any of you to wake the hell up and take some responsibility for the world you pollute with your filthy, self-interested existence; love-less, apathetic swine, only caring about where the next meal will come from or where you'll sleep tonight. Now look at ME. Look at MY ideas and take heed because I know what's best for you.
Things are looking bad. We've lost our confidence in our ability to write a coherent column. Someone call a doctor quick. I need help.
Now, i could start this paragraph with the word "i," but instead i start with the word "now" i go against what i really wanted to do. Damn it, i hate it when that happens!
But seriously, have you ever tried to read Foucault? Do you understand anything this guy says? For all i know he could have been insulting my mother, or at best spewing out contradictions. It takes a serious bout of intellectualizing to even have the skills to open one of his books. Buth then again, it takes certain credentials for you, the reader of the column to read this non- sensical chatter.
Let us take a look at your credentials:
1) You must have a reading level of a fifth grader to at least pronounce these words correctly. (This makes no assumption that you can derive some meaning from any of them, however.)
2) You must have been in some physical proximity to a copy of this collection of alternative mind candy.
3) You must have noted the title of the column and generated some reason to commence the long journey that we've traveled thus far to arrive at this . . . word.
Quite an impressive list of attributes you possess. But this still doesn’t make any sense. What does this have to do with possible contradictions in Foccult? Credentials. Contradictions. Looking for a pattern that connects — a linear relationship maybe. . . . They both begin with the letter “c.” They both have an “r,” a “d,” an “n,” an “a,” an “i,” and an “5.” An amazing discovery.
At this point in the column, i am totally lost; swimming in words; filled with angst. You know, it is hard to say something with words. Hey, now isn’t that my point.
It’s time to end this thing. . . shoot the horse, put it out of its misery. I hate long ecology in mind columns anyway. I think i’ll end wid a stupid poem. . . simply for the reason that i can — and you can’t.
Eating words,
nutritious endeavor
Lumping subject to verb
as the world awaits. . . .
the birth of the dream in which people
listen to trees.
Until next time, sustainable peace and stuff like that
♦ ♦ ♦
