The Last Trick of Dr. Uranus
WebStory
RE-ENTRY
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In this chapter:
I meet Dr. Uranus for the last time after coming back from China, recall his visit to Yanshan University,
reflect on "The Uranus Prediction"--the last trick he taught me--and try out some framework stories that Dr. Uranus told me over the years.
I meet Dr. Uranus for the last time after coming back from China, recall his visit to Yanshan University,
reflect on "The Uranus Prediction"--the last trick he taught me--and try out some framework stories that Dr. Uranus told me over the years.
This is how the story called "The Last Trick of Dr. Uranus" was going to begin:
"Back in the days of the iPhone and iPad, after The Lord of the Rings movies came out and during the making of the new Star Trek movies, I saw Dr. Uranus for the last time. I had not seen him often since finishing my studies at the University of Georgia and even less since 1998 when I started teaching in China, seldom returning home to Athens.
He sat beside our Christmas tree in Tivoli apartments, teasing the children, trying Kristin's cookies, asking about my new job teaching English at Athens Technical College. He looked wilder than I had ever seen him, Jedi beard and Einstein hair floating around liquid-green eyes.
'Why is the game of poker forever interesting?' Dr. Uranus asked in his familiar Socratic way.
'It's pure plot and conflict. It's story in it's most elemental form like all sports' I ventured.
'Maybe, maybe. Or maybe it's the risk and reward of money, the chance to win or lose something real. Magicians just focus on the spectacle mostly, just use the cards for the special effect. Gambling demonstrations are more meaningful outside of the special effect--like mind reading tricks or even fortune telling.'
As usual, I wasn't sure if Dr. Uranus was working out a problem as psychologist, folklorist, literary scholar or magician--or more likely some strange combination of them all. He had once told me that he had been an English major as an undergraduate but had become very frustrated at how subjective the studies were, so he took up the more analytical side of psychology. He said that for years he used approaches based on the hard sciences, using empirical data and statistics. By the time I knew him in college, he was already experimenting in the immersion studies of folklore. About 20 years later, when he visited my family in China, he was writing poetry and doing original storytelling. I suppose he had made his peace finally with the subjective side of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia."
This was the beginning of the story before I invoked the Muses and Isis. Now I watch and wait for a sense of presence from the divine or a sense of wisdom and certainty in how to proceed.
Thinking back, there were many parallels between Dr. Uranus and the Hermit: Odin as wanderer and the travels of Dr. Uranus, Odin's capture of the Mead of Poetry and Dr. Uranus's love of wine and poems, the shared love of language and wisdom. I even have an eerie feeling seeing images of Odin with the missing eye, said to have been traded for wisdom, and remembering how after a certain amount of wine, Dr. Uranus would close one eye as he spoke or told his stories.
"Back in the days of the iPhone and iPad, after The Lord of the Rings movies came out and during the making of the new Star Trek movies, I saw Dr. Uranus for the last time. I had not seen him often since finishing my studies at the University of Georgia and even less since 1998 when I started teaching in China, seldom returning home to Athens.
He sat beside our Christmas tree in Tivoli apartments, teasing the children, trying Kristin's cookies, asking about my new job teaching English at Athens Technical College. He looked wilder than I had ever seen him, Jedi beard and Einstein hair floating around liquid-green eyes.
'Why is the game of poker forever interesting?' Dr. Uranus asked in his familiar Socratic way.
'It's pure plot and conflict. It's story in it's most elemental form like all sports' I ventured.
'Maybe, maybe. Or maybe it's the risk and reward of money, the chance to win or lose something real. Magicians just focus on the spectacle mostly, just use the cards for the special effect. Gambling demonstrations are more meaningful outside of the special effect--like mind reading tricks or even fortune telling.'
As usual, I wasn't sure if Dr. Uranus was working out a problem as psychologist, folklorist, literary scholar or magician--or more likely some strange combination of them all. He had once told me that he had been an English major as an undergraduate but had become very frustrated at how subjective the studies were, so he took up the more analytical side of psychology. He said that for years he used approaches based on the hard sciences, using empirical data and statistics. By the time I knew him in college, he was already experimenting in the immersion studies of folklore. About 20 years later, when he visited my family in China, he was writing poetry and doing original storytelling. I suppose he had made his peace finally with the subjective side of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia."
This was the beginning of the story before I invoked the Muses and Isis. Now I watch and wait for a sense of presence from the divine or a sense of wisdom and certainty in how to proceed.
Thinking back, there were many parallels between Dr. Uranus and the Hermit: Odin as wanderer and the travels of Dr. Uranus, Odin's capture of the Mead of Poetry and Dr. Uranus's love of wine and poems, the shared love of language and wisdom. I even have an eerie feeling seeing images of Odin with the missing eye, said to have been traded for wisdom, and remembering how after a certain amount of wine, Dr. Uranus would close one eye as he spoke or told his stories.
Origin of Dr. Uranus | |
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File Type: | docx |