June 4, 2014

"We Exist."

Untitled

I chose this photograph — of a door in the East Village — as the next picture to blog from the trip we took to NYC over the weekend. I chose it for 2 reasons:

1. I'd just blogged "Beautiful woman reads a book in Russian by the light of the refrigerated pastry case" and got caught up thinking about the other woman in my photograph. She too exists.

2. We were talking about Maureen Dowd's pot freakout. She'd broached the topic of her possible nonexistence: "I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me."
In the comments, Drew W paraphrased her: "She said 'I know what it's like to be dead/I know what it is to be sad'" and asked: "Do you think Maureen Dowd sat up during her pot trip and said, 'Oh my God! I totally get that Beatles song now!'" I thought of The Byrds' "5D": "All my two dimensional boundaries were gone I had lost to them badly/I saw the world crumble and thought I was dead/But I found my senses still working...." And Meade thought of the stories of the origin of the word "assassin" in the word hashish, which some say was used to make newcomers believe they were seeing an afterlife, to which they might hope to return.

I see that "We Exist" is an Arcade Fire song, and the video tells "the story of a young person's struggle with gender identity." I sense wan didacticism on the familiar, trending topic. That's less universal and existential than I was hoping for when I took the photo and when I selected it for this post. We all exist. Isn't it strange to need to be reminded? "Reminded" is a funny word. It could be misread as meaning getting a new mind... which is something that might happen with Maureen's drugged chocolate.

(Here's the new Arcade Fire album that has "We Exist," and here's an old Arcade Fire album that I listen to sometimes.)

AND:  Serendipitously furthering "We Exist" theme, the disembodied hand in the upper left corner of the photo drapes gently like Adam's hand as he comes into existence in Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam":

12 comments:

Quaestor said...

Do you think God has trouble eating soup?

madAsHell said...

Maureen, you did die, but no one told the NYT.

Smilin' Jack said...

I'd just blogged "Beautiful woman reads a book in Russian by the light of the refrigerated pastry case" and got caught up thinking about the other woman in my photograph. She too exists.

Oh, God...that is so cruel. I hope she or anyone she knows never sees this.

Oso Negro said...

Could this be the opening salvo in an Althouse crusade for trans-acceptance? Will she soon be advocating for cis- and trans- restrooms at the UW School of Law? Or do I trail the times, and they are there already?

Danno said...

We should be so lucky to have MoDo die and leave the NYT. Do you think she will be reprimanded for her stupid dope/candy revelations?

tim maguire said...

You're making me miss New York.

dbp said...

I don't think the "We Exist" is a reminder to the person saying it, that they exist. It is a statement to others that people like us (here in this picture) exist.

tim in vermont said...

Quaestar, Glad I didn't have coffee in my mouth when I read that comment.

Peter said...

The phrase makes me think of Darwin's phrase, "Struggle for existence."

Except in this case, the "existence" the writer is seeking seems to be a piece of the mindshare of others?

Others perceive me, therefore I exist?

(As if you'd know if you were really lying in a coma on a terminal cancer ward somewhere, dreaming that you were walking in New York's East Village.)

Ann Althouse said...

"I don't think the "We Exist" is a reminder to the person saying it, that they exist. It is a statement to others that people like us (here in this picture) exist."

I know. That's what I found disappointing. That's what I called "wan didacticism."

Jupiter said...

Seeing MoDo's picture on Drudge this AM, I realized that I feel sorry for her. I think it is starting to dawn on her that there are more important things in life than being a columnist for the New York Times. She had her chance, and she blew it.

tshanks78 said...

"Down on their knees
Begging us please
Praying that we don't exist

We exist"

Not so disappointing when you include the preceding lines.