Star Bellied Thoughts Again

Dr. Seuss had a happier ending than I see usually occurring when he scripted his Star Bellied Sneetches Allegory, but I love it nonetheless. I spent a portion of today reading theoretical writing that tried to place "other" in context with the dominant discourses of western society (see dead white guys) and of course I thought of the green stars upon thars. That's what it is and will always be. During my Environmental Masters I did a paper on Dr. Seuss's yellow critters -- emblems of the postmodern conundrum because Sylvester McMonkey McBean gets away with the cash while the "others" are left with frankfurters and friendship. That was a late-capitalistic reading though.

Now, I'm transcending McBean's role to the University. They cash in on the power of knowledge, but this power plays into the socio-economic structure of a larger culture. Those there speak academese and police, via peer review, those who aren't worthy of their hot dog parties. The current structure operates this way because knowledge is not democratic by the Germanic model of eugenics that created higher education. The result is, even though cultures are more global and multiple, and many institutions have had to change, the university's way of "measuring" knowledge, quantitatively and qualitatively, has not. Esoteric rambling in a game of language gymnastics blurs the important points such writing is trying to make.

I am feeling like actions speak louder than words. I prefer doing over pontificating, but I value the interplay between them. What I'm trying to say here, however, is thanks Theodore for a metaphor I'll use throughout my life. Too bad Bizarrely Bonked Bryan, McBean's crazy nephew, was never written into the story.