I remember / je me souviens
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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


Wednesday, December 18, 2013
I remember our first desktop computer. I remember it took some time to get used to the mouse. I remember exploring all the installed programs except PowerPoint because I assumed it had something to do with the power source for the computer. I remember how unresponsive and unexciting the old DOS terminals at schools seemed in comparison.



posted by sravana 7:16 AM
. . .
0 comments


Sunday, December 15, 2013
I remember smoothing and holding down the pleats of my mother's sari once in a while when she was getting dressed to go out. I remember her saying she did the same for her mother, who did the same for her mother.

I remember the 9th grade history teacher telling us that saris are draped over the left shoulder so the right, dominant arm is free. I was impressed with this little bit of pragmatism in its design.


posted by sravana 1:33 AM
. . .
0 comments


Wednesday, December 11, 2013
I remember my parents taking us to Venice, and all the pigeons in St. Marks.


posted by William 9:02 AM
. . .
0 comments




. . .