Friday, October 20, 2006

Fables of Faubus

Following our discussion of the Little Rock incident and Governor Faubus' role, what are your reactions to Charles Mingus' music? Feel free to comment on either the music or the text specifically. What meaning do you think the marriage of both conveys?

Monday, October 16, 2006

Interesting Reading

Here's a link to a great article that appeared in yesterday's Washington Post. It addresses many of the issues we discussed back before break and is definitely thought-provoking even if you disagree. Thanks to Kate for forwarding me the link.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301426.html

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Dylan and Meaning

Since we're looking at Dylan this week, I thought the following quote from a recent interview was worth reading and considering.

"Words go by awfully quick," he says. "Maybe it's hard for a listener to comprehend them all. Maybe they don't want to. I couldn't say what these songs add up to, any more than I can say what the rest of my songs add up to. They mean what they say they mean. They strike you where you can feel it, and you can feel what they mean. With this kind of music, you want to move somebody, and you have to move yourself first."