The World Cup kicks off in about twelve hours.
For some reason, I have more faith in football's (what you Americans call soccer) ability to impact the world than poetry's. I am of course deluded. But for thought, the president of the Ivory Coast managed to sign a ceasefire with rebel forces (Ivory Coast has been in a state of civil war for the past three years) because this World Cup marks this country's first appearance in the tournament.
Eduardo Galeano also describes in his book Soccer in Shadow and Sun how one Christmas during World War I, the Brits, the French and the Germans stopped shooting at each other to play soccer in no man's land. This was, I believe, also adapted into a movie.
Sure, the members of Solidarnosk were reciting lines by Czeslaw Milosz in 1981, but the Poles had already been pissed off for a while. They only picked up Milosz's poem (I think it was "The World") because it was an angry Milosz poem.
And Albert Camus was quite a fan of soccer himself. Eluard, on the other hand, was too sickly as a teenager to play. He would have been picked last, but at least, he would have volunteered to play.
For some reason, I have more faith in football's (what you Americans call soccer) ability to impact the world than poetry's. I am of course deluded. But for thought, the president of the Ivory Coast managed to sign a ceasefire with rebel forces (Ivory Coast has been in a state of civil war for the past three years) because this World Cup marks this country's first appearance in the tournament.
Eduardo Galeano also describes in his book Soccer in Shadow and Sun how one Christmas during World War I, the Brits, the French and the Germans stopped shooting at each other to play soccer in no man's land. This was, I believe, also adapted into a movie.
Sure, the members of Solidarnosk were reciting lines by Czeslaw Milosz in 1981, but the Poles had already been pissed off for a while. They only picked up Milosz's poem (I think it was "The World") because it was an angry Milosz poem.
And Albert Camus was quite a fan of soccer himself. Eluard, on the other hand, was too sickly as a teenager to play. He would have been picked last, but at least, he would have volunteered to play.
Comments
Camus was born on my birthday. Or, I was born on his.
I'll have cheese whiz and crackers waiting.
logan: i am bringing the beer, jessica cake.
I think I'm going to have to resign the cake diet for awhile, though, I'm getting that "freshman 15"
I wonder how long it does take to get from Charlottesville to SF.
What's "freshman 15"?
I'd say four days? Maybe five? Maybe we should ask one of our millionaire friends to charter us a private jet ... Wait, I don't have any millionaire friends ...
you're not gettin any cake!
"freshman 15" is the 15 lbs that freshmen gain when they go off to college and start eating pizza all the time instead of their parents' well-balanced family meals (assuming that their parents make such things, which is a big assumption). lots of kids play sports in h.s. and then stop when they get to college; and kids get lots of calories from drinking too much beer.
actually i am about at my weight midpoint. my weight tends to fluctuate by about 20 lbs (hence a huge wardrobe of sizes 4-8) so it's not a desperate situation by any means.