We're here because were here.

2022-12-27 · review / recommendation · John · 21:13 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: History & curiosities, Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, heavy topic, self promotion

Over a winter walk, John reads his Anthropocene Reviewed essay on Auld Lang Syne, weaving the song's history from Robert Burns to the 1914 Christmas Truce and the trench song 'We're here because we're here' with his friendship with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and argues the song holds longing without romanticizing it and that hope is true.

Part of another source

This recording is almost entirely part of Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed (2020-12-31); what is said in it is covered on that page.

What is said

• 00:00:00 — A very old song for new years; what the Scots words mean
• 00:00:51 — Amy Krouse Rosenthal emails Booklist in 2001; John praises her Might column and she asks him for a radio piece
• 00:02:04 — The song's age, Robert Burns's 1788 draft and its eternal themes
• 00:03:47 — Amy's death; WBEZ and NPR; lunches, mugging money and the Writer's Block Party
• 00:06:30 — Adidas; the tune, Burns's death, Hogmanay, worldwide spread, and why the song is genuinely wistful
• 00:08:51 — The fourth verse's broad seas; Amy's finite count of looks at a tree; 'I was here'
• 00:11:53 — Moving to New York; Amy's cancer call and John's 'you do so much yoga'
• 00:14:29 — 'Don't just do something'; the song in World War I, the Christmas Truce and the soldiers' recursive lament
• 00:17:46 — Amy turns the soldiers' lament into hope; hope is true; sing along

Threads in this video

• milestone · John's New Year video of his Auld Lang Syne review, a possible yearly tradition (2020) — John posts his Auld Lang Syne review for New Year again, having done so once before in 2020, and says he may make it a tradition of sorts. (video description)
• retold · John's big break: Amy Krouse Rosenthal gets him recording essays for WBEZ (2002) — John sent Amy three short essays; she liked one and had him record it for her show on Chicago's public radio station WBEZ, his first time reaching such a large audience. (00:04:30)
• retold · Amy Krouse Rosenthal gives John 'Mugging Money' money clips (told 2020) — John told Amy his mom had him carry $40 'mugging money' in his left pocket in Chicago; next time Amy gave him two money clips, engraved JMG and MM, Mugging Money. (00:05:37)
• retold · A complimenter at Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Writer's Block Party praises John's Adidas sneakers (2002) — In April 2002 John read at Amy's Writer's Block Party at the Chopin Theater; a complimenter she hired praised his brand-new Adidas sneakers. (00:06:03)
• looked back · John's 8/8/08 event in Chicago: library talk, Grant Park and The Bean (2008) — John played a bit part in an experience Amy curated for hundreds of people on August 8, 2008, in Millennium Park, but it was never again like the early days. (00:11:53)
• retold · Amy Krouse Rosenthal calls John after her cancer diagnosis and he says 'You do so much yoga' (told 2020) — After finishing Textbook, Amy learned she had cancer and called John, who knew many gravely ill young people after The Fault in Our Stars, to ask how her kids and husband would cope. (00:12:19)
• retold · John's time as a student chaplain at a children's hospital (c. 2000) — When people we love suffer we want to make it better, but often we can't; John recalls his supervisor's words when he was a student chaplain at a children's hospital. (00:14:29)
• retold · Amy Krouse Rosenthal turns 'We're here because we're here' into hope for a depressed John at her reading (2005) — In public appearances Amy would ask audiences to sing the soldiers' recursive lament with her, transforming it without changing the tune or the words. (00:18:19)
• restate · Does human life have real meaning, given oblivion, cosmic scale and an indifferent universe? — We might never know why we are here, but we can still proclaim in hope that we are here. (00:19:13)
• restate · Is it reasonable to be hopeful about the future? — Such hope is not foolish, idealistic or misguided: John believes hope is, for lack of a better word, true. (00:19:13)

Mentioned

Central: Amy Krouse Rosenthal · Auld Lang Syne · hope · Robert Burns · We're Here Because We're Here

Also: People: Edward Hulse · Emily Dickinson · Frances Dunlop · Ludwig van Beethoven · Robert Hughes · Sarah Urist Green

Works: "Hope" is the thing with feathers · All Things Considered · Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life · It's a Wonderful Life · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Minions · Sex and the City (2008) · Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal · The Fault in Our Stars · The Gold Rush

Organizations: Adidas · Booklist · Columbia University · Might magazine · NPR · WBEZ

Concepts: cancer · chemical weapon · love · meaning of life · nihilism · nostalgia · public domain

Places: Belgium · Canada · Chicago (city) · Chopin Theatre · Europe · Hollywood · Japan · Millennium Park · Netherlands · New York City · Scotland · South Korea

Events: Christmas Eve · Christmas truce · Hogmanay · New Year's Eve · winter solstice · World War I

Only in the description or credits: Charlie Chaplin · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Also centred on Amy Krouse Rosenthal: A Video about Videos · Positive Pranking: The TP Edition · The Terrible Burden of Destiny: Chicago and Waupaca · SIGNING MADNESS · Beckoning Lovely · Because We're Here

Also centred on Auld Lang Syne: still learning · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed · John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

Also centred on Robert Burns: still learning · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed · John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

Also centred on We're Here Because We're Here: Because We're Here · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed · John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

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