Panthera Fossilis
A Poem About Pandemic Pedagogy
This is merely a poem
I have an odd idea
These students don’t get it
And I think they have taught me to understand why
Don’t read too much into my next move; the allegory is convenient
Zarathustra described the spirit as passing through three, distinct evolutionary phases:
The camel (obedient and stoic), the lion (roaring disobedience to existing values) and the child (creator of new values)
I think we are in an age of lions, who roar a great no: at convention, at tradition, at the status quo
At one another
They excel at skipping class—they know they are free to be powerfully defiant
In many ways, this is a laudable cultural ethos
It throws off old, onerous, oppressive, ugly garments
But what will we wear to that thing tomorrow?
We are all liberated when a new freedom becomes available
I am encouraged when they find good reasons to question
But too few will pause for a moment: to read, or think, or simply ask themselves, “Are we roaring at everything?”
At reading with care and attention
At writing beautifully and truly
At beginning to create
Which we will, as soon as things calm down
We’re so busy and distracted and frightened, hang on—give us a second
We don’t have time for that [insert a creative activity that we secretly yearn to engage in: the painting, the poem, the novel, the symphony, the most exquisite post ever, the perfect reply to that person—we know our deal. It’s the thing that the thing we get paid to do makes us wish we were doing instead. And if it goes really well, we can go public about it. Without shame, if it’s exceptional]
The lion cannot reign forever
The spirit of the child is impatient
It’s a bit creepy to put it that way
Doesn’t that show that the very idea is important to us?
We do not want monsters anywhere near it
In an age that specializes in hating what was supposed to be valuable, this one is still cherished
It obviously should be
But there are ways of unpacking symbols and metaphors
What would it mean if the spirit of a child swam through the current culture?
Unpack the preposterous, mystical symbol
Make of the allegory what you will
We must turn our attention to creating conditions that are worthy of a yes
We need to value creating values
The old ones are dead, dying or killing each other
No. We get it
Creative play is called for
Ecology? Necessary but insufficient. It’s the most important relationship we have, but it’s mutually destructive. You know how it is with older parents. She has good days and bad. Today’s not great, honestly. I can’t imagine life without her, but I don’t really understand her sometimes. We were close, years ago. Can we change the subject?
Gender? I’m all for getting excited about fiction. As long as it is recognized as fiction, it should be read as such. Almost anything can be done with fiction. What ought to be done with it? What is the most persuasive reading of this fiction, and what can be done next? Familiar tropes, bold innovation; we all know what we like and what we must read even if we don’t like it. Plenty of new freedom here, in certain precincts. More needed in most. Tradition and contemporary fashion are both risky. We can’t talk about this all night. We have work in the morning.
Race? There are many different ways of being human. They are all, obviously, human. We seem to be grudgingly accepting that this is the case in large parts of the world. Others are shockingly obtuse and atavistic. This is worth talking about passionately, at length. But it cannot be the sole topic of conversation all of the time. We are all human. Now what?
Religion? Oh lord. Some seem to enjoy this without spoiling it for everyone else. They are a dwindling minority. We’re fans of the genre, but the new stuff is weak. Stan Lee is running out of material. It’s about time
Class? Conflation of homonyms here. Classy humans are almost extinct. If we all needed less to get by, and getting by was slightly more comfortable and secure, life would be more tolerable. Some have so much they buy worlds. Others worry that the tent won’t last the winter. Something has to be done here. If that isn’t obvious to you, it will be. Soon
New values are still needed
It’s a new story we want. One that gives us a sense of what’s going on and what we can do about it
That’s what we are seeking, with serious energy. We are quick to promote anyone who checks all of the boxes, but we will fire them in a heartbeat and publicly immolate them if they slip up
We all have our favorite snares, but once you are down, you’ll wish you weren’t
The last time humans gave this a try, they were in the mood for epics
So are we, but we pour all of the money into CGI
And ChatGPT wrote the script
Which means that it is ghastly plagiarism completed ahead of schedule
We must come up with something we can live with
For good
Time is short
Plague
War
Famine (not universal, but growing)
How much patience can we afford to have? I count three horses
Do the reading
Create
About the Creator
D. J. Reddall
I write because my time is limited and my imagination is not.
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Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insight
On-point and relevant
Writing reflected the title & theme
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The problem with being a nice person
Who would have thought that being a nice person could be problematic. The majority of people would tell you that’s what they want to be or at least want those around them to be, but as it turns out, what we want and what we say we want are worlds apart. I won't stress or ramble on about how I would like things to be, but I’ll just analyze why this is, I am not sure either if a solution is even possible.
By real Jema2 days ago in Confessions
Comments (17)
Aptly put.
Fantastic :) and We approach the Dragon Year so to make through with them You need to become One - in practice not in a manner :) of cuz but I know what You are writing about and the answer can only arrive diving more into their real life where school is not that much prepared for teaching this way I believe some morning qigong will relax children and bring them focus to be more open to study all but as its difficult with adults its still can be possible with children to try when I worked in kindergarten some years ago I started each class with some qigong movements nobody knew what it is but everybody followed and it was giving me more time to keep them focus on what I needed to deliver in the class to deal with children We need to dive in their worlds first and its not easy as there are so many of them in the class but it worked well and they were improving faster than in other classes without qiong so its an idea for both students and teacher Congratulations on Top story and I even arrive with my sharing Hope You dont mind ! Get some rest and You will come with some great solutions for sure !
I love it! This is fantastic! 💙Congratulations on your Top Story
Congratulations on your Top Story🧨💞💥
This is extraordinary... Your writing style is amazing. And Congratz on the Top story Reddall.
Well-written, interesting, and thought-provoking. You warned against reading too much into your use of a convenient allegory, but I’ll still mention some possible counterpoints to it, since Nietzsche’s story is so fascinating. Don’t take these as criticisms of your text or views but as playing the Devil’s advocate for shits & giggles, a (bad) habit of mine. (I should also clarify that below is only a hasty attempt to roughly sketch one possible neo-Nietzschean perspective––it is not my own view.) ––– One vociferous conflict is between a strident moralism (though as a part of a larger whole irreducible to it), continuing not unpredictably along the trajectories of a partial sociocultural progress––and (as a counterreaction) a return to some old values, represented among others by a weeping amphibian from Canada. Now, of course, the reactive army of frogs & others––the Kermit-stanning room-cleaners and the trollish Pepes, forming a Venn intersection much bigger than a peapod––bear little resemblance to big cats, except when the edgelord frogs border on nihilism (from which ethnonationalists, MRAs etc. are quite far, being super-serious about old norms and having, as Max Stirner’s ghost would say, haunted heads). . . .but the compulsively guilty, too, enforcing strict moral codes at some social cost, boast no nay-sayer’s great mane. Rather, if beast they be, then “the beast of burden, which renounces and is reverent.” The camel too has a ‘no’, renunciation, which seems to characterize the present age: ethico-political norms and mores continuing old ones are revered and wrong speech & action must be renounced––even in old books to censure. The camel also bears the weight of knowledge and truth (being forced to “feed on the acorns and grass of knowledge, and for the sake of truth to suffer hunger in one's soul”); and while our age is often portrayed, simplistically, as knee-deep in pomo relativism, political ideas and norms still seek their foundation, not just in the social sciences, but in brain scans for sex-as-gender and climate science etc. for green politics. A contemporary command is the camel’s: to “humiliate oneself in order to mortify one's pride.” After all, that is how the moralists are caricatured: that they expect people in dominant identity groups to apologize for taking up sociopolitical space, to feel sorry & guilty for their very identity and its sullied history, etc. N: “To create freedom for oneself, and give a sacred No even to duty: for that, my brothers, the lion is needed.” But duty is very much in fashion. It is to duty that our age still says “yes,” quite loudly––at the feet of the scaly dragon of “thou shall.” Thou shall use the right words, apologize, renounce air travel, etc. So that’s what my amply mustachioed ventriloquist doll would say: in this load-bearing age, one elevating either hypocritically humble self-effacement or zombie norms of old, only the dragon itself says ‘no’.
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Panthera fossilis is an extinct species of large felid (cat) that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch. It is considered to be an ancestor or closely related to the modern lion (Panthera leo). Panthera fossilis lived approximately 700,000 to 300,000 years ago. The species was first described in 1829 based on fossil remains found in Germany. It was a robust and powerful animal, estimated to be similar in size to the modern lion. Panthera fossilis had well-developed canine teeth and strong jaw muscles, indicating that it was a carnivorous predator. Fossil remains of Panthera fossilis have been found in various locations across Europe and Asia, including Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and China. These fossils provide valuable insights into the evolutionary history of large cats and their distribution in the past. It's important to note that Panthera fossilis is not the only ancient lion-like species. There were several other species of large felids that lived during different time periods and regions, such as Panthera leo spelaea (cave lion) and Panthera leo atrox (American lion). Studying extinct species like Panthera fossilis helps scientists understand the evolutionary relationships between different cat species and provides clues about their behaviors, habitats, and interactions with other animals in the past.
Phenomenal, recognition as top story was well deserved. This speaks so boldly and beautifully of such a bitter world!
Congratulations on your Top Story♥️💯🎉👍
This really resonated. Teaching in high school I often wonder what we are doing and why? So much live creativity and beauty but we steadilysubdue it into submission and conformity. Beautifully done and so much sad truth x
"I count three horses." Jut one of so many epic lines in this, but a perfect one to exit with. Congratulations on an incredibly insightful piece, and one of the most deserving Top Stories I've seen.
I love, love this! Top story worthy 🙌 congratulations 🥳
Talk about an eye-opening moment! There are some powerful insights going on here! Thank you for sharing and congrats on your Top Story!
This is brilliant, a really valuable read.
Congratulations on achieving top story status!
I like your poem!
What in the world is this??? I LOVE THIS. You have captured my feelings of the past, I don’t know, 7 years or so, PERFECTLY. I need this printed and bound, displayed behind glass, yet framed to be seen, and worn because it's read so often, yet preserved for everyone in the world to read it too! (Did that make sense?) That middle bit, the longer paragraphs, is amazingly well-conceived. You are toeing the line between outright controversial opinions, and subtle, creative edging toward the truth of this culture war in which we are existing. WOWOWOWOW. And THIS: "The lion cannot reign forever The spirit of the child is impatient It’s a bit creepy to put it that way Doesn’t that show that the very idea is important to us? We do not want monsters anywhere near it In an age that specializes in hating what was supposed to be valuable, this one is still cherished It obviously should be But there are ways of unpacking symbols and metaphors What would it mean if the spirit of a child swam through the current culture?" --I am in awe of your brain to have conceived this. Incredible, the best way I've seen yet to encapsulate the heart of the issue. I think your conclusions for the camel, lion, child device are accurate; we are in the lion stage, and I wish it didn't look like we were about to demolish the transition into the child stage. Because you're right--we don't want monsters anywhere near it, yet, I see the shadows creeping closer, the lion about to devour the child. I hope my pessimism is wrong, though. Your idea for hope is truly inspiring and I agree--art pushes us to be better, it communicates these truths to those who are just open enough to even remember it exists, and then gets them to think about things a little more deeply, question the norms in a constructive way, and to stop post-modernizing the beauty out of literally everything. I have much more to say, but perhaps I'll stop there. A really big YES. Just that. And, thank you for this.