The Parable of the Cave

I taught Greek philosophy today in class. I always teach the "Parable of the Cave" from Plato's Republic. The prisoner in the cave makes his way out to see a world of new things. But when he returns to tell his fellow prisoners, they refuse to be released from their bondage and threaten death to anyone who releases them.

On their less than outstanding Pop album (I believe that Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree set the bar way high-- Pop could only underachieve), U2 has a song called "Staring at the Sun". This song, one of my favorite of many favorite U2 songs, is Plato's "Parable of the Cave" in a metaphor.

Not just deaf and dumb
Staring at the sun
I'm not the only one
Who'd rather go blind

When the prisoner leaves the cave, he is instantly blinded by the sun. After adjusting, he sees a reality not present in the cave. It's not always comfortable-- bugs crawl, grass itches. But it's real. Unlike the "reality" of the shadows of the cave. And the others refuse to go see it.

There's an insect in your ear
If you scratch it won't disappear
It's going to itch and burn and sting
You want to see what the scratching brings

Sunday Observations - Feb 15

- My last week was consumed with the Regional Wrestling Tournament at North Henderson. We ran a pretty good tournament and debuted our new mat lamp. The Knight finished tied for 4th and qualified 4 wrestlers to the 1A-2A State Tournament in Winston-Salem. Here are some links:

WLOS Video
Hendersonville News Video
Hendersonville News Article 1
Hendersonville News Article 2
Citizen-Times Article

- Here's a great picture from the tournament that the Citizen-Times took.

Wrestlers are warriors, but they often display some of the greatest class. Seth Stewart from Owen was the heavy favorite, losing only once this season to an out of state wrestler. Brevard's Trey Hemphill is a good wrestler, who barely placed at the conference tournament but fought his way into the finals at the Regionals. Stewart took the early lead and almost had Hemphill pinned before Trey miraculously turned Stewart onto his back and pinned him. The two shared this long embrace after shaking hands. Classy. Nice.

- And it shows how cool our mat looks under the lights.

- If you want to know how busy I have been: These are the times I LEFT the school this week:
Monday- 7:00PM; Tuesday (we were hanging the mat lamp) - 11:00PM; Wednesday (seeding meeting) - 9:00PM; Thursday (pre-tournament) -10:00PM; Friday (Regionals- Day 1) - 11:00PM; Saturday (Regionals- Day 2) - 11:30PM.

- Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the State of Oregon. Hooray for the Beaver State.

- I went snowtubing with the Grace Youth today. It looked like this:

Crush of the Week:
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue arrived in the mail sometime this week. I haven't even looked at it. Seriously. It's still sitting on the kitchen table among some unopened mail and unread issues of Time, Sports Illustrated, Bike and a few catalogues. This week's crush my favorite SI Swimsuit model, Stacey Williams. Stacey was featured in Sports Illustrated from 1991-1998.

Sunday Observations - Feb 8

- Knights wrestling lost in first round of dual team playoffs. That completed our dual season. Now individual regionals and state.

- I stayed home on Wednesday for our snow day. I always go in because I have to try to sort practice and schedules for wrestling and I have stuff to do. Well, I was planning on giving the guys Wednesday off since we lost on Tuesday and don't compete again for another 10 days. Also, I stayed late on Monday and caught up on my grading. So, I had no reason to go in on an optional workday. Nice!

- Everything regarding a bailout scares me. If there are holes in my backyard, that's just where I buried my money in mason jars. Doh! I wasn't supposed to tell anybody...

- Nice weekend. No wrestling tournament and mid 60s. I actually pulled the motorcycle out of the basement and rode Saturday and Sunday. And played frisbee today. It was marvelous. Rode up 276 because I wanted to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway past Graveyard Fields and Devil's Courthouse and back through Balsam Grove. Alas, they had closed the Parkway, but beautiful ride through the Pisgah National Forest still.


Crush of the Week:
As a Track and Field coach, I have learned to appreciate the art that is the sport. Watching a perfectly excuted handoff in the 4x100, a smooth glide in the shot or the proper approach, plant and takeoff in the high jump is thrilling in the same way as seeing a Matisse, Degas or Dali. You just know it's special.

The events I love watching the most are, ironically, events I did not participate in: the 4x400 and Pole Vault. The 4x400 is the last event in a typical meet and, to me, the most exciting. The Pole Vault is fun because it is such a technical event and so difficult to do. It takes a lot of practice. In many things, athleticism will carry you and you can get by with flawed technique. In the pole vault, flawed technique hurts.
This week's crush is Jen Stuczynski, the 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist who this past week at the Millrose Games in Boston, set the new American record in Women's Pole Vault at 15' 9 3/4". Go ahead and try it. Take a fiberglass pole, and 7 stride approach at full speed, plant into a 60cm wide, 20cm deep hole in the ground and get the pole to bend and trust it to sling you safely 15 feet into the air. It's hard, which is why my vaulters cannot practice without a coach present.

Sunday Observations - Feb 1

- Just got done watching a surprisingly exciting Super Bowl.

- Commercials not really great. But you did have your talking babies and man getting hit in the groin commercials. Those seem to be the recipes for success.

- Can "Go Daddy" go away? Their commercials stopped being interesting and original a long time ago.

- Coke always has a nice commercial. I liked the animated insect one. And my favorite last year was the Charlie Brown Macy's balloon commercial.

- I love Bruce Springsteen but I did not love the halftime show. Don't get me wrong, the Boss still rocked. I guess I might have set the expectations too high. My favorite show is still the 2002 U2 show.

- The worse thing about the whole Blagojevich impeachment: I think the former governor really believes he's telling the truth when he says he did nothing wrong.

- New "Transformers" and "GI Joe" movies coming soon. I find myself excited about that. I also feel like I am 9 years old again.

- Knights wrestling update: Lost to Pisgah on Tuesday and beat Brevard on Thursday. North is the second seed from the Western Athletic Conference in this week's playoffs.

The Knights did, however, win the WAC Conference Tournament yesterday. It was our second tournament title in a row. North had 7 in the finals and 6 went on to win their weight classes (including German Ramirez, pictured above, Conference Champ at 103).

Crush of the Week:
For a guy who turns 60 this year, he still is able to move and rock out. The Boss has not aged in 20 years. Here's a guy who played at Obama's inauguration just a week ago, the Super Bowl today and just released the first single off his new album. The Boss still rules... 'Nuff said!

Sunday Observations - Jan 25

- Not to sound to cliche, but Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President will be one of the defining moments in American history. What a great country we live in. For the first time in history, a country with a white majority has elected a minority candidate to lead the nation.

- I miss football season already. And I am just not excited about this year's Super Bowl. Maybe Bruce at halftime.

- Knights wrestling went 3-0 last week. The highlight was a 36-33 win against rival West Henderson. The Knights were down by 3 going into the last match and won a pin in :27 seconds to claim the victory. With the win, the Knights remain undefeated in the conference and tied with Pisgah for first place. Tuesday's match with Pisgah might be for the Conference Championship.

- Time flies. February is nearly here already.

- Life is hectic... wrestling is heading into the final stretch and there's a lot to do with playoffs and regionals (which we are hosting) coming around. Also, last week was the end of our semester so we had exams. They were made more chaotic by Martin Luther King Day and then an impromptu snow day on Tuesday. This week, we have a workday on Monday and I get new classes on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday I am in Chapel Hill for meetings. In between, we have home wrestling match on Tuesday, away on Thursday and Conference Tournament on Saturday. Yeah... busy week.

Crush of the Week:
Lost is back! The new season premiered this week! Admittingly, I didn't watch it. I never watch anything when it comes on because I am never home to. But I will (Netflix rocks, so does ABC.com). It's one of the greatest shows ever. Every episode is a captivating, well written, suspenseful and features Evangeline Lily as Kate Austen. I'm a season behind, so please don't spoil things for me. So here's Evangeline, this week's crush:

Reverse Cow Tipping

I read this bit in the Wednesday, January 21 USA Today. The last sentence is my favorite:

Colorado: Boulder - A woman who was mountain-biking on the South Boulder Creek Trail was knocked down and stepped on by a cow, a city park ranger said. The woman had stopped to let the cow cross the trail. Her name was not released, and she was not seriously hurt. The cow left the area before rangers arrived.

Hope

"Barack is selling hope. And I'm buying."
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin
on Barack Obama after winning AFC Championship

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders... For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled.