Every time I part with this blog for extended periods of time, which I sincerely regret every time it happens, I always seem to re-enter this place with thoughts on writing. Perhaps it is absence of writing that allows me to appreciate its existence. Writing is one of the few many things in life that never ceases to compel and excite me (this list is increasing, exponentially, hourly). And you have no idea how painful such departures from writing truly are for me. And yet here I am, once more apologizing for doing just that.
To “fix” this problem (or, more realistically, to temporarily remedy this abortion, or to “band-aid” this wound, which is, honestly, just as painful as not-writing, for I would much rather permanently cure this disease), I have, at the moment, four or five specific ideas I plan to write on. For now, these mini-essays will be oriented more to the philosophical partition of my brain, mind, and body, but I intend to prepare more thoughts on art and technology, as well. I want to write again, and here is this place, waiting, for someone to write in it. Perfect, no?
I digress. As I said above, I will (re)start today with writing (hah!).
This, for some reason, reminds me of writing.
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I wrote this piece for a course called “Race and the Pastoral: Aesthetics, Landscape, Embodiment.” The course is, in short, about the pastoral. I am fascinated by “difference” and the pastoral, particularly Jewishness and the pastoral. This is a review of the film Avatar. In it, I refer to Francis Bacon‘s New Atlantis and Hegel‘s Philosophy of History. It is intense. It talks about the “white man” and notions of body, self, and identity. It is honest, as well — more on the side of a freewrite. Anyways, here it is.

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Second Semester has been busy — busier than I had expected. In short, I have been taking five courses (Intro to Psych, Hebrew 101, Philosophy and the Arts, Computing: Simulating Reality, and Race and the Pastoral), and, in addition, have been going through Moderation here at Bard (I will write about this in two weeks). I have also been working at SPARC here at Bard, and have continued to Co-Lead the Bard Jewish Students Organization – been fun, but busy.
Anyways, here are three new essays from two courses and the third is for my moderation (actually, it is a revision of a past essay, but I’m adding this one in addition):
Anyways, I will be writing here more as I go on Winter Break in about two weeks – until then, however, I am swamped – projects, essays, exams, and Hanukkah!
Talk to you soon.
KfL.
Even though it’s coming late, this is the final installment of my, “Life in the Cloud” series. In this last, but certainly not least, post, I will provide a criticism of Web 2.0 and cloud computing and raise some questions and implications about the future of the Internet. Before I begin, I just want to thank you all for your comments and suggestions. You really helped make this series what it was.

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