From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Round and Square Syllabus: Autumn 2015

[a] Round RF
Round and Square Syllabus
All Classes
Autumn 2014
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           2:00-3:30 
363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         2:00-3:30
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment

NYRB and Round and Square readings are due on Tuesdays, and will be a part of both the quiz and class discussion on those days.

Week One—August 25
Syllabic Cycles—Introduction, a-d (read all four posts, not just the first one). 
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Two—September 1
Quotidian Quizzes—Introduction, a-h (skim the first four posts, but read the last four carefully (they get to the heart of our course).
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Three—September 8
Writing and Time—Introduction
Writing and Time—Reading Logs, a-b (read both posts, not just the first one)  
(Filling out "reading logs" is voluntary, but reading all posts is mandatory!)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it! 

Week Four—September 15
Fieldnotes From History—Introduction
Longevity Mountain—Mao and Then
Longevity Mountain—Stone Cold Poetic
Longevity Mountain—Up to South Heaven Gate 
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it! 

Week Five—September 22
Theory Corner—Bricolage, a-c (read all three posts, not just the first one).
Styling Culture: Chicago-style Footnotes and Endnotes
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it! 

Week Six—September 29
Prairie Ethnography—The Thousand Ask Question, a-c (read all three posts)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Seven—October 6
The Philosophy of History of Philosophy (a History)—Introduction
Fieldnotes From History—Introduction
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Ten—October 27
Structure, History, and Culture—Introduction (read both posts)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Eleven—November 3
Structure, History and Culture—Packing the Car
Structure, History, and Culture—Interstate Highways
Structure, History, and Culture—Electoral College Politics (a)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Twelve—November 10
Felicitous Felinity—Introduction
The Power of Five—Introduction
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Thirteen—November 17
Primary Sources—Introduction, e-h (read all four posts, not just the first one)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!
[b] Square RF

China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-28

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/3..................................................................................................................8/26
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
廿
八
五期星
Eighth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day
Astral Period Five
Friday, August 28
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
三時德歲
合德日支
Generational Branch
Virtuous Days
Timely Virtue
Three Linkages
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中凶吉
酉己丑
吉吉凶
戌午寅
吉凶凶
亥未卯
吉中中
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 Inauspicious
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
                             —————————————————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
忌
置問作修
產卜灶廚
Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Divinatory Inquiries
Setting-up Production
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
十
五
丙
子
水
鬼
定
Fifiteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: bingzi (13/60)
Phase (element): Water
Constellation: Ghost (23/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Decide (5/12)
—————————————————  

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
元中
————
宜
修開嫁祭
倉市娶祀
安動納會
門土采友
安上移出
葬樑徙行
肅始地天 
下俱死鼠
兀將氣口
————
Zhongyuan Festival (Ghost Festival)

Appropriate Activities
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Going Out (and about)
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Households
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Raising Beams
Repairing Granaries
Positioning Beds
Positioning Graves

Heaven and Earth Become Severe
(the forty-first of seventy-two five-day micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)
 
Baleful Astral Influences
Rat Mouth
Death Vapor
Everything General
Lower Amputee
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
丫
Bifurcation
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous
碓 灶 廚
Pestle, Stove, Kitchen

Thursday, August 27, 2015

New York Review of Books Syllabus: Autumn 2015

On this date on Round and Square's History 
27 August 2014—China's Lunar Calendar 2014 08-27
27 August 2014—New York Review of Books Syllabus: Autumn 2014
27 August 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 08-27
27 August 2013—Syllabic Cycles: Chinese History and Culture (2013)-b
27 August 2012—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (f)
27 August 2011—Annals of Ostracism: The Crime of Cephu
[a[ Gates to learning RF

New York Review of Books (NYRB) Syllabus
All Classes
Autumn 2015
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           2:00-3:30
363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         2:00-3:30
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment

Please note that the dates next to each week are for the Tuesday and Thursday class meetings for ANTH 206 and HIST 210/ANTH 275. NYRB readings will be "due" on Tuesdays in all classes (including the "Reflexivity" seminar) unless I tell you otherwise through e-mail or in class.

This semester, we will read the complete issue of 
The New York Review of Books for August 13, 2015
Week One 
(25-27 August)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Read all front matter (cover, inside-cover advertisement, table of contents, contributors)
4-6 James Salter  They Began a New Era
        The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

Week Two 
(1 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
8-10 Sue Halpern  The Man For Mars 
          Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
12-16 Ingrid Rowland  The Grandest Art of the Ancients
          Multiple texts and exhibitions reviewed

Week Three 
(8 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading 
18-22  David Cole  The New America: Little Privacy, Big Terror
              Multiple texts reviewed
24-27  Anka Muhlstein  The Victory of Queen Margot
              The Rival Queens: Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite of Valois...by Nancy Goldstone

Week Four 
(15 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
27-29  Anonymous  The Mystery of ISIS
              Multiple texts reviewed
30-31  Alice Gregory  The Riders of the Waves
              Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan

Week Five  
(22 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
32-34  Roderick MacFarquhar  China: The Superpower of Mr. Xi
              The Governance of China by Xi Jinping and...Politics in the Era of Xi Jinping by Willy Wo-Lap Lam
35-36  James Fenton Dennis Hastert: Victim

Week Six 
(September 29)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
36-38  Geoffrey O'Brien  Staggering Local Wonderlands
              The Musical Brain and Other Stories by Cesár Aira
40-49  Jim Dwyer  Charming, Ruthless Andrew Cuomo

               The Contender...by Michael Shnayeron and All Things Possible...by Andrew Cuomo

Week Seven
(6 October)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
49       Robert Badinter  France: The Return of Anti-Semitism
50-51  Bernard Bailyn  Hot Dreams of Liberty
              Revolutions Without Borders: The Call to Liberty in the Atlantic World by Janet Polasky
52-54  Charles Simic  The Incomparable Critic
              The Ocean, the Bird, and the Scholar: Essays on Poets and Poetry by Helen Vendler

Week Ten 
(27 October)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
54-56  Edmund Phelps  What is Wrong with the West's Economies? 
57-58  Claire Messud  Discovery, Bewilderment, Joy
               Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes by Per Petterson and I Refuse by Per Petterson
59-61  Kenneth Maxwell  Brazil: The Corruption of Progress

Week Eleven 
(3 November)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
62-63  Robert Darnton  Great New Possibilities for the Library of Congress!
64-66  Christopher R. Browning  When Europe Failed
              Europe on Trial: The Story of Collaboration, Resistance, and Retribution...by István Deák
67-68  Tim Parks  The Most Influential Invention
               White Magic: The Age of Paper by Lothar Müller

Week Twelve 
(10 November)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
69-71  Amartya Sen  India: The Stormy Revival of an International University
72-73  Ruth Franklin  Forced Into a Double Life   
              The Girl From Human Street: Ghosts of Memory in a Jewish Family by Roger Cohen
74-75  Adam Kirsch  The Ironic Wisdom of Reinhold Niebhur
               Major Works on Religion and Politics by Reinhold Niebhur

Week Thirteen
(18-20 November)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
76-78  Robert O. Paxton  A Surprising Prime Minister              Léon Blum: Prime Minister, Socialist, Zionist by Pierre Birnbaum
80-85  Joyce Carol Oates  Inspiration and Obsession in Life and Literature 
[b] Shepherding the argument RF

China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-27

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
9/3..................................................................................................................8/26
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
廿
七
四期星
Eighth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day
Astral Period Four
Thursday, August 27
———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
合歲
日德
Generational Virtue
Linked Days
—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉中吉
酉己丑
中凶凶
戌午寅
中中凶
亥未卯
中吉吉
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 In-Between

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
                             —————————————————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
忌
栽嫁
種娶
Marriage Alliances
Planting and Cultivating
—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
十
四
乙
亥
火
井
平
Fourteenth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: yihai (12/60)
Phase (element): Fire
Constellation: Well (22/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Level (4/12)
—————————————————  

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜
平
治
道
塗
修
飾
垣
牆
月月
害忌
天重
罡日
————
Appropriate Activities
Leveling and Painting Roadways
Repairing and Adorning Walls and Embankments

Baleful Astral Influences
Lunar Taboo
Doubled Days
Lunar Harm
Heavenly Dipper

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
白 州
White, Landmass
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous
碓
牀 磨
Pestle
Bed, Mortar