I remember / je me souviens
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For those limbic bursts of nostalgia, invented by Proust, miniaturized by Nicholson Baker, and freeze-dried by Joe Brainard in his I remember and by Georges Perec in his Je me souviens.

But there are no fractions, the world is an integer
Like us, and like us it can neither stand wholly apart nor disappear.
When one is young it seems like a very strange and safe place,
But now that I have changed it feels merely odd, cold
And full of interest.
          --John Ashbery, "A Wave"

Sometimes I sense that to put real confidence in my memory I have to get to the end of all rememberings. That seems to say that I forego remembering. And now that strikes me as an accurate description of what it is to have confidence in one's memory.
          --Stanley Cavell, The Claim of Reason


Saturday, March 06, 2004
I remember the parkas that were fashionable in seventh grade or so: green (later there was a blue variation) with faux seal fur in the hood, and pockets galore, including one on the upper sleeve of the left arm, where you could put a pen. They were so cool! I was so glad to get one -- late, but not that late. I'm sure they have a name, and occasionaly you still see them around. I just loved them, and everyone I had a crush on seemed to have one.


posted by william 1:37 PM
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