April 8, 2019

‘I do see angels, John, I do!’ (Nicholas Evans)

7.45 am: A communion. Dark clouds and rain descended. All is metaphor. We approach what’s intangible, unseeable, eternal, uncertain, unknowable, felt, and otherwise sensed only vaguely, through that which is objective, substantial, visible, approachable, and comprehensible. This can be our experience of both religion and art too.

8.45 am: In the next few days I’ll need to complete my teaching, assessment, and research obligations before the Easter vacation begins. Once Sunday’s mail had been addressed, I pushed on with editing the incoming exhibition catalogue statements, towards dissertation marking and preparations for my contribution to tomorrow’s postgraduate writing school.

I suspect that the Easter vacation will provide the opportunity for a watershed, consolidation, and period of forward planning. Scheming is always done best away from the context of work and one’s familiar surroundings, in my experience. As you change so, in some small measure, does the world around you. Thus we must better ourselves in order to better others and the context within which we act and are acted upon.

11.00 am: I began my disquisition upon dissertations. Some general observations and recommendations:

  • You can’t, as they say, pour a quart into a pint pot. Therefore, be realistic about how many questions and much content your dissertation can bear.
  • Ensure that what you commit yourself to in the Introduction is fulfilled by the conclusion.
  • Don’t be content with summarising authors’ work. Inject your own observations and interpretations into the mix.
  • Aim to weave together observation, description, interpretation, substantiation, and application throughout.
  • Read more than enough of authors’ work before you begin to write.

2.30 pm: I had to hear ‘God Breathed’ again. One day’s respite is enough to sharpen the ear sufficiently to discern the residual problems and principles. Against the banging, humping, and shunting of Wil ‘the carpet’ and Tomos (ap Wil) downstairs, I devised the afternoon’s plan of action:

I remain astonished at the difference in the sonority of beat tracks when listened to on monitors and headphones. Adjustments were made to remove unwanted harmonics, hum, and noise from the turntable, captured when recording.

7.30 pm: On with the dissertation assessments until the close of the evening.

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