Long Overdue Update

While maintaining this blog has been something of a failure in recent months, I have recently acquired a number of painting supplies so expect some evidence of this soon.

I've also been to Europe twice since my last post. Here are a couple of my better photos:

AY-OH-OU-AY

Since I've been home I have been putting a lot of energy into music. I wrote two new songs over the course of the last couple months and we have been slowly turning them into Something From the Tree songs. I am very pleased with the way they are turning out. They represent a considerable departure from what we have been doing so far, but certainly a welcome one. It is hard to say when any versions of them will be available online, but for now here is the link to our myspace, which has various versions of some of our other songs.

Additionally, here is the link to a band that I have been getting into lately. They are a British group called Fanfarlo, and their debut album is available for one dollar until July 4th. www.fanfarlo.com

Finally, I am off to Paris in just three days to begin my omnibus trek through France and Italy. I will be keeping a journal while there and posting the highlights here.

Until next time,
Aurevoir

Signatures

All of Tolkien's work bears this symbol, which he created out of his initials.



I have always found this to be tremendously cool and wanted to make something similar for myself. Here is what I have been working on when bored in class.



It's not as cool as Tolkien's, but it is a work in progress.

Thesis Complete

I handed in my senior thesis today. I am proud of it, though it is hard not to think of a hundred ways to make it better with each passing moment.

Here is the abstract of my Thesis. For those who are interested, (though I certainly do not expect you to be), the full document can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/davidloverme

The PCI to the Government, It Costs What It Costs-Abstract

By 1976, the Italian Communist Party had transformed itself from a small oppositional force, closely tied to the Soviet Union, into a powerful autonomous political party, carrying the banner of the Italian left, and perched on the doorstep of government. Its experience as a weak semi-participant in the new Christian Democrat government, however, ultimately led to the Party’s electoral decline in 1979 and beyond. In examining this period, historians have overemphasized the importance of the kidnapping and assassination of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades as well as the role of the United States and the Soviet Union. Consequently, they have generally overlooked the primacy of the PCI’s loss of oppositional flare, both politically and culturally, as the foremost cause of the PCI’s failures. Furthermore, historians have failed to delve deeply enough into the logic of the Party’s decision to coalesce to the weak Christian Democrat government and a much closer examination is required.

Holding the kidnapping and murder of Christian Democratic President Aldo Moro as the primary cause for the PCI’s decline assumes a loss of support from a sector of the electorate that the Party never enjoyed, and a will to include the Communists that Moro never possessed. Likewise, to attribute the PCI’s decline to the unfavorable manner in which the United States and USSR viewed the Party’s entry into majority government places too much emphasis on international conditions without recognizing the prime importance of domestic politics on voting trends. Therefore, the decline of the PCI derived first and foremost from its failure to maintain its oppositional character, both politically and culturally, in the eyes of voters. By attempting to toe the line between radical and conservative, and occupy the terrain between government and opposition, the Party doomed itself. The PCI isolated its traditional supporters by becoming too moderate, but its relatively weak position frustrated any efforts to gain support from the more moderate elements of society. Finally, the Party found itself unable and unwilling to connect with the new oppositional culture of the youth. Thus, as a result of this loss of oppositional character, the PCI dropped 4% in 1979, beginning a continual decline that would follow it to the end of the Cold War Era.

As a party so historically animated by opposition, the PCI’s choice to risk this attribute on such a weak offer from the Christian Democrats is peculiar. Ultimately, it was the result of the Party’s perceived need for a gradual slide into government through alliance, inspired by the lessons of the Allende coup in Chile; the PCI’s desire to be seen as the party of unity, willing to sacrifice its ego and work in coalition to reinvigorate the nation; and of its concern that the reshuffling of the Socialist Party might lead to a renewed alliance that threatened to negate the forward progress of the Communists.

Ultimately, it is necessary to correct the historical record in recognizing the primacy of the PCI’s loss of oppositional character and to understand the rationale behind the decision, in order to understand the current plight of the Italian Left. Only then can one begin to comprehend the political system that views a center-right government, tainted by corruption, as the inevitable norm. Likewise, it is necessary for the Left to realistically confront its past and recognize the errors of the PCI in order to cease looking backwards and invoking nostalgia, and to begin challenging the political order with something new and innovative.

The cool air tickles my face,
chills my bones.
But I do not feel it.
Across miles and years I tour the stars,
running with hunters and prowling with bears.

A new beginning

Among the things I would like to do for a much needed reinvigoration of mind and body is to create more. I see this manifesting itself in photography, music, art, and writing. Hopefully this can be a medium for all those things and more.

I have entitled the blog A Mercury Sunrise, after a painting I did two years ago. I painted a considerable amount in those days and hope to return to that sort of productivity.

I have been doing astrophotography for my astronomy class recently and I am truly enjoying it. Here are the two shots that I am most proud of: