John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

2023-12-30 · review / recommendation · John · 21:28 · watch on YouTube

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

In his yearly New Year upload of The Anthropocene Reviewed episode on Auld Lang Syne, John weaves the song's history from Robert Burns to the 1914 Christmas Truce and the trench soldiers' recursive lament with his friendship with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, arguing the song holds longing without romanticizing it and that hope is true; he gives it five stars.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A very old song for new years; what the Scots words mean; Amy Krouse Rosenthal emails Booklist in 2001; John praises her Might column and she asks if he is a writer; The song's age, Robert Burns's 1788 draft and its eternal themes and 5 parts more

This part replays Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed (2020-12-31); what is said here is covered on that page: 45 statements.

00:17:42 — Amy turns the soldiers' lament into hope; hope is true; sing along; five stars

★★★ The trenches were a world without whys, meaninglessness all the way down, where modernity came to war: Robert Hughes's 'peculiarly modernist hell of repetition'. — 00:17:42 · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed
★★ Playful and optimistic, Amy was not deluded about suffering: her work acknowledges misery without giving in, as in one of her last lines about not leaving her glorious bath for death. — 00:18:13 · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed
★★★ In public appearances Amy would ask audiences to sing the soldiers' recursive lament with her, transforming it without changing the tune or the words. — 00:18:46 · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed
★★★ Singing the nihilistic song with Amy, John always saw hope in it: we are together and not alone, we exist, and astonishing unlikelihoods made us possible. — 00:19:10 · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed
★★★ We might never know why we are here, but we can still proclaim in hope that we are here. — 00:19:39 · meaning of life · first in: 2017-11-03, Because We're Here
★★★ Such hope is not foolish, idealistic or misguided: John believes hope is, for lack of a better word, true. — 00:19:39 · hope · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed

“I believe that hope is, for lack of a better word, true.”
★★★ We live in hope that life will get better and go on, and that love will survive though we will not; John cites Emily Dickinson's poem on hope. — 00:20:08 · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed
★★ John asks listeners wherever they are to sing the soldiers' song with him, thinking of those across the broad and roaring seas; they won't be more off-tune than he is. — 00:20:37 · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed
★★★ John gives Auld Lang Syne five stars. — 00:20:58 · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed

In the description and comments

★★ The description calls the episode a history of Auld Lang Syne, the New Year's Eve song, and an introduction to John's friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal. — video description · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast) · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed
★★ John says that every year around this time he uploads this podcast episode with a different video; this year (2023) it plays over a tumbling river. — video description · first in: 2020-12-31, Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed

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, saying he uploads this podcast every year around this time with a different video. (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. (00:04:57)
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. (00:06:04)
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. (00:06:29)
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. (00:12:20)
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. (00:12:46)
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. (00:14:56)
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. (00:18:46)
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. (00:19:39)
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. (00:19:39)

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

Projects: The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)

Works: 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 · star (classification)

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

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 · We're here because were here.

Also centred on Robert Burns: still learning · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed · We're here because were here.

Also centred on We're Here Because We're Here: Because We're Here · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed · We're here because were here.

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