William Eaton

Separate but Unequal: The Sexism in Forcing Women to Play Softball

June 7, 2014 by William Eaton

I can hardly convey the long-awaited validation I felt this morning when I woke up to find Emma Span’s New York Times Op-Ed piece, Is Softball Sexist? In this article she lays out a very articulate explanation of how women were forced out of playing the sport of baseball, and why the option to play softball does not justify that exclusion. As a young girl, I was one of the best players on my co-ed little league team, 95% of which […]

Categories: Caterina Gironda, ZiR • Tags: American history, baseball, sexism, softball, sports, women

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I travel to learn – Part 2 of 3

June 5, 2014 by William Eaton

Part 2 of 3 of Mark Twain’s memoir of his 134-day European and Holy Land cruise in 1867, the biggest selling book in his lifetime . So said Mark Twain in is classic, travelogue, The Innocents Abroad or, The New Pilgrims’ Progress. And while he and his companions indeed discover “half the world,” the reader learns more. Page after page of Mark Twain’s Innocents (like all of his books) illustrates his brilliant writing. Twain’s facility with language, his immense […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: travel

The silence at the end of the tunnel

June 1, 2014 by William Eaton

In La société de la consommation (1970; The Consumer Society) the sociologist Jean Baudrillard wrote of how the urbanization and industrialization of human life had created new rarities: “space and time, clean air, greenery, water, silence . . . Some goods, previously free and readily available, are becoming luxury goods that only a privileged few can enjoy, while manufactured goods or services are widely available.” This fits with my sense that luxuries can now be defined negatively: not owning […]

Categories: William Eaton, ZiR • Tags: Bob Dylan, consumerism, death, music, noise, Pascal, silence

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This book is a record of a pleasure trip – Part 1 of 3

May 29, 2014 by William Eaton

Part 1 of 3 of Mark Twain’s, classic travelogue. This one discusses pilgrims, humor and innocence. Mark Twain’s first book, The Innocents Abroad or, The New Pilgrims’ Progress is one of the best-selling travelogues of all time. Twain’s “record of a pleasure trip shows readers how they would likely see Europe and the East with their own eyes instead of the eyes of those who traveled” before them. Describing, discussing, pontificating, and observing his and fellow pilgrims’ 134–day cruise on the […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR

Where Men are Mended

May 27, 2014 by William Eaton

In her poem, “The Stones,” Sylvia Plath opens: “This is the city where men are mended.” She was speaking about hospitals, where people are in fact reconstructed. The eerie way in which the poet described the process of healing makes it clear that she is not nearly as well as she would like. Below is the full extent of the poem and Plath’s dark descent. Please click here to hear her read the poem herself. The city in the picture that […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: literature, poetry, Sylvia Plath, women, writing

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The beginner sees the whole ox

May 25, 2014 by William Eaton

A nice story from the ancient Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu, which will also allow me to call attention to an aspect of know-how and of awareness that interests me particularly. We might call this a non-Eastern idea of connectedness. My adaptation here is based on Jean François Billeter’s French translation of Chuang Tzu’s chapter on “nourishing the life in yourself” and on Burton Watson’s English one: Ting, a cook, was cutting up an ox for the prince Wen-hui. The […]

Categories: William Eaton, ZiR • Tags: Chuang Tzu, philosophy, Zen

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Wildlife and bird songs, trees and eternal fires – Part II of II

May 22, 2014 by William Eaton

Part II reviews Bryson’s writing about conservation and ecology in his travelogue, A Walk in the Woods. Part I discuses Bryson’s masterful use of humor: click here. In a Walk in the Woods, the account of his hike along the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson balances his gift for making readers laugh out loud with his concern for the environment. He writes of the population decline in song birds and wildlife in the eastern United States, by 50% at least, […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: Bill Bryson, travel

The (Counter-) Power of Deejays

May 21, 2014 by William Eaton

The Racialized Other Moves Still The (Counter-)Power of Dance, Dance Floors, and Deejays By Ghaida Moussa Click here for PDF version. My entry into the practice of deejaying stems from my deep-rooted relationship with music. I know firsthand the power of good soundtracks to pivotal moments in life. I think about a good drive after a break-up, with a best friend picking the best tunes to sing our hearts out to or the way family members who do not […]

Categories: Article, Spring 2014 Issue • Tags: music, postcolonialism, queer theory, race, racism

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Doing and Nothing

May 21, 2014 by William Eaton

An exploration of Song Dong’s Doing Nothing Garden and the possibility of renewing ourselves and our environment through not doing By Vanessa Badagliacca Click here for PDF Version. I grew up hearing the recurring expression that if you—a general you—didn’t catch “the train” passing right at that moment you would miss it. You would lose your chance to do something, to meet someone, to experience something, to get something, to take the chance of a lifetime. Reflecting on […]

Categories: Article, Spring 2014 Issue • Tags: art, environmental philosophy, environmentalism, garden, Giorgio Agamben, landscape, LaoZi, philosophy

ZETEO

Zeteo (ζητέω): to challenge, question, dispute, explore the forgotten and ignored

Author Archives: William Eaton

Separate but Unequal: The Sexism in Forcing Women to Play Softball

I travel to learn – Part 2 of 3

The silence at the end of the tunnel

This book is a record of a pleasure trip – Part 1 of 3

Where Men are Mended

The beginner sees the whole ox

Wildlife and bird songs, trees and eternal fires – Part II of II

The (Counter-) Power of Deejays

Doing and Nothing