This summer quarter at Antioch University, I participated in the course offering, Kant After Duchamp. It was a one day seminar, professed by the brilliant Justin Cole. The course was similarly titled from the book which was our guide, and authored by Thierry de Duve. In the text, a mathematical calculation was proposed where by one could reference the quality of Art, and consider as such through the If / Then proposal. Not unlike if X=Y and Y equals Art, then X also equals Art. And so on and so forth.
R.L. Vickler, 85, Aide to Truman, articled by John Allen Paulos and re-printed in A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, offers a similar kind of proposal in calculating length of obituary to various factors such as fame, achievement, and other important deaths on the same day, which in turn would of course take up typeface on the page, and perhaps eliminate or contribute to the length of obituary, depending on the very same factors for each.
What is all this comparing and contrasting anyway? Why do we look for a proposal which may or may not consider the quality or dimensional stake one thing or another has? Is this need based on a propulsion to indicate and organize a universe which in all actuality has neither, it just is? In understanding our world do we in fact understand ourselves more clearly, and is a mathematical schemata the best formulaic guide toward this end?
This past month one of my most cherished teachers passed. I was a dancer in his dance company, and worked for him in this capacity for about 6 years. I am now 48 years old. He was 86.
If how much I cherish said individual, C; how long we actually worked together in duration, D; is compared to Said’s lifespan, S; and mine currently, M (and is obviously ever-changing as I continue to live, while Said’s doesn’t); will I be able to register an equitable result which can then be used to evaluate against all other cherished peoples in my life, O-P? Maybe this looks something like C = (D x S / M) + / - (O-P)?
Of course I have no idea on a very basic level how to create a formula in consideration of something simple (how many oranges will I need on a 5 hour road trip if I a.) don’t like oranges, and b.) only have oranges from which to choose for liquid refreshment on such a trip for whatever reason), or something as incalculable as losing a cherished person.
Some things are better left alone. The only person who cares for the length of an obituary, really, is the typeset person and really now, does such a person actually exist? With the push of a few buttons it is set with the aide of a computer, and is simplified, extremely so. Who else cares? The family who remains? Do they count out and measure the space offered for the loved one, or because most likely it is seen on a computer mediated device, no comparison, one obituary to another, is even seen?
Eddie Gasper was my dance teacher, mentor, and dear friend. He worked on Broadway in the original, and in some cases revived, companies of Little Me, Can Can, Oklahoma, West Side Story, Sweet Charity, Irma La Douce, and Guys and Dolls, to name a few. He was Bob Fosse’s assistant for several years, and taught me how to dance. And like the universe, the only measure for this, is in the ineffable.
If Eddie Gasper was a dancer on Broadway and taught by Agnes de Mille, Jack Cole, Michael Kidd, Bob Fosse, Luigi, and Jerome Robbins (to name a few), Then, somewhere in me is distilled all of such stuff, too.
