In June of this year, George Booth passed away. Like so many people, especially
readers of The New Yorker, I love his cartoons. For the last three years, this one I
look at every day and shout, “What the hell is happening?”
But, more importantly, for several years starting in the early 2000s, my brother
Tom placed the cartoon in the upper right corner of copy paper he used to write
letters to me, always written in large capital letters. His letters, sometimes unable
to read without having a dictionary nearby, were always informative.
He once wrote:
“OOOOOPS . . . LOST MY FOCUS . . . (WHAT A HOOT!) I’VE BEEN, AS OF LATE,
DWELLING UPON THE YIDDISH IDEA OF DRECK . . . “MATTER” WHICH PRESENTS
ITSELF AS NOT WHOLLY RELEVANT (OR INDEED, AT LL RELEVANT . . . WHATEVER
‘RELEVANCE’ IS!) . . . BUT WHICH CAREFULLY ATTENDED TO CAN SUPPLY A KIND
OF ‘SENCE’ OF WHAT-IS-GOING-ON. THIS ‘SENCE IS NOT TO BE OBTAINED BY
READING THE WORDS, THINGS . . . SORT OF NON-SEMANTIC STUFFING OR
‘SLUDGE’ WHICH ARE EASILY CONFUSED FOR CONDUITS OF COMMUNICATION . . .
BUT PERHAPS OBTAINED BY CHECKING OUT THE INTERICES OF THE DRECK . . .
SPACES SURROUNDING THEM.”
Events are always perceived
with reference to a particular
frame; in another system of
coordinates, the ‘same’ events
are not the same.
— kenne
Very true everything depends on its relevance to you 💜
Hi Kenne, Love the wisdom of George Booth … and what your brother Tom had to say on this. BTW … Stephen Colbert has a schtick, called “MEANWHILE”, which he introduces with a similar theme as your ‘events/coordinates’ paragraph! walt
On Fri, Nov 15, 2019 at 12:54 AM Becoming is Superior to Being wrote:
> kenneturner posted: ” CARTOONCOLLECTIONS.COM In June of this year, George > Booth passed away. Like so many people, especially readers of The New > Yorker, I love his cartoons. For the last three years, this one I look at > every day and shout, “What the hell is happening?” But, m” >
It’s nice to know that others are scratching their heads in bewilderment. I always thought ‘dreck’ meant SHIT. Not far off; it’s the “news” from end to end.
Every day there is something to scratch our heads about.