Silence
I apologize for what must look like indolence and sloth; I’ve been working right along on an essay comparing the development of scientific protocols and tools for assessing earthquakes over the past century with the development of protocols and tools for assessing reading comprehension.
If we think of the Earth as a skull with mysterious activity going on inside, activity not easy to study scientifically, we immediately see parallels between the human skull and the mysterious activity going on inside. Trying to measure these activities poses similar challenges; looking at similarities affords insight into comprehension assessment. Earthquakes and comprehension also have metaphorical and metaphysical commonalities.
Rather than trying to prepare a meal from leftovers (piecing together bits of draft posts percolating on the back burner), I’m going to offer you another recording from practice today. I recorded the tracks maybe two or three years ago and recently came upon the project when I was searching for a different project stored on the Cloud. A little remixing, a little time getting the song back in out fingers, me and my bassist, and it’s good to go. We’ll play it at the Sunrise Market next week if we don’t get rained out. It’s getting a little warmer so it probably won’t be below freezing.
Sounds of Silence (a Paul Simon cover)
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams, I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
In tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence
