From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Jun 29 2003 - 22:48:41 BST
Rick, Ian and all:
IAN said:
> Nice pitch for NYC, but the relevance to Pirsig is ... ?
RICK said:
Umm... How about... Pirsig described NYC the most Dynamic place on Earth
(LILA ch17 p252). David, apparently intrigued, decided to come and
investigate for himself and inquired about where he might find some "fun" in
NYC. As Pirsig tells us, Dynamic Quality is pure fun (LILA ch11 p 171). So
if you read between the lines, David was asking about how he might get
closer to DQ via his upcoming New York experience... and that's not really
any less relevant to Pirsig than any other thread about experiencing DQ, is
it? How's that for a save?
dmb says:
I've been trying to get the inside scoop for a while now. (Thanks, but
broadway shows and museums are already in the plans. To put it crudely I was
hoping to find something really edgy, really out there, but my friends tell
me the newest scene has moved off the island. I suppose its not reasonable
to expect to be able to find the edge in four days, but I am quite willing
to be lucky.
Q: Why are Times Square? A: Because Rudolf the blue nose reigned there.
And even more to the point...
Pirsig in chapter 17:
"When something new and Dynamic wants to come into the world it often looks
like hell, but it can get born in New York. It can HAPPEN. It seems like it
can happen anywhere, but that's not so. There has to be a certain kind of
people who can look at it and say "Hey, wait a second! That's good!" without
having to look over their shoulder to see if somebody else is saying the
same thing. That's rare. This is one of the few places in the world where
people don't ask if something's been approved somewhere else. That, Phaedrus
thought, is how the MOQ explains the incredible contrasts of the best and
the worst one sees here. Both exist here is such terific intensity becasue
New York's never been commintted to any preservation of its static patterns.
Its always ready to change. whether you are or not. That is what creates its
horror and thatis what creates its power. Its strenght is its looseness. Its
the freedom to be so awful that gives it the freedom to be so good."
"When you pass a lot of static laws to cut out the worst, (which Giuliani
did.) the best goes with it, (To Long Island and New Jersey, if my friends
are correct.) the sparkle disappears and what's left is just a lot of
suburban blandness." (Which, by most accounts, is what has happened to Times
Square. It has gone from porn central to McDisney circle.)
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