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Froghoppin' with Gatsby

2010-01-14 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · reflection essay

Answering Hank's teaching-week jab, John corrects 'froofy' and the Gatsby billboard (the eyes, not the billboard, stand for a God who sees but does not act) and argues that critical reading and a liberal arts education teach what to think about, citing Pat Robertson's Haiti remarks; he also rides the Frog Hopper as his punishment.

What is said

00:00:00 — Reply to Hank's ecosystem services video: 'froofy' is not a word (froufrou); off to Xscape for the Frog Hopper

  • ★★ John says he liked Hank's ecosystem services video and learned a lot, but Hank's attempt to rib him there was an 'epic fail'. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says 'froofy' is not a word; Hank probably meant froufrou, a French word for frilly ornamentation, which more fine arts classes would have taught him. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John is on his way to pick up his friend Chris to go to Xscape and get on the Frog Hopper. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Not the billboard but the eyes on it are the metaphor for God; like math once did, critical reading feels pointless to many; Frog Hopper ride

  • ★★ John rides the Frog Hopper, screaming; the ride's audio is cut because Lady Gaga music was playing; afterwards the operator says he was the biggest guy she'd seen on it. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John corrects Hank: in The Great Gatsby the metaphor for God is not the billboard but the disembodied, bespectacled eyes depicted on it. — 00:00:29 · The Great Gatsby
  • ★★★ As he once felt math was arbitrary rules made to hurt his feelings, many people feel critical reading of literature wastes time; John argues it is not as boring and inconsequential as masters of science claim. — 00:01:01 · close reading

00:01:30 — Plot events under the eyes, Owl Eyes; eyes only see; an unjust world where wealth escapes what's coming to it

  • ★★ John points out that key plot events happen beneath the giant bespectacled eyes, and at the end only Nick, Gatsby's father and Owl Eyes, a character with big eyes and glasses, are there for Gatsby. — 00:01:30 · The Great Gatsby
  • ★★★ Eyes only see, John notes, and in the novel's context that matters: life isn't fair, bad people often escape what's coming to them, and wealth and social standing improve those chances. — 00:01:59 · The Great Gatsby
  • ★★ John calls it a huge challenge to live in an unjust world without, in Nick's words, closing out your interest in the sorrows and elations of men. — 00:01:59

00:02:47 — God in the seeing business, not the doing business; Pat Robertson on Haiti as bad reading; what a liberal arts education does; sign-off

  • ★★★ John reads the eyes as Fitzgerald arguing that God is in the seeing business but not the doing business; how far God or the universe cares about human sorrows is, he says, a very interesting question. (hedged) — 00:02:47 > «God is in the seeing business, but he's not in the doing business»
  • ★★★ John says Pat Robertson, explaining why an active God allowed the earthquake in the worst possible place, claimed Haitians made a deal with the devil and were getting payback; John calls that stupid. — 00:02:47 · Haiti
  • ★★★ John argues such stupidity comes from bad reading, teaching and thinking; a liberal arts education teaches what to think about, and critical reading, like math, helps him learn what is interesting and grapple with an unjust world. — 00:03:17 · close reading
  • ★★ John says his liberal arts education and time spent on the billboard eyes let him listen to Hank talk four minutes about something he doesn't understand yet; and he now knows 'frou-frou'. (playful) — 00:03:46

Humor (significant)

  • Hank called John's degree 'froofy'; John plays the clip back and delivers the verdict. — 00:00:00 > «Froofy, I regret to inform you, is not a word.»
  • The Frog Hopper footage is silent, John explains, because of his screaming and the music playing. — 00:00:29 > «there was the mellifluous tones of Lady Gaga, and Lady Gaga loves her copyright.»
  • Just off the Frog Hopper, John reports what the ride operator told him. — 00:01:30 > «the girl operating the Froghopper said that I was the biggest guy she'd ever seen on it. Thanks?»
  • John quizzes himself on what eyes do, getting 'They see. Good job, smarty pants.' — 00:01:59 > «They blink? Not when they're making videos, they don't.»

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