Interview 1, Part III

[talktooloose]

3. Why are you interested in Yiddish?

My father was born in Toronto, my mother in Montreal, both to Eastern European Jewish Immigrants from, variously, Poland, Russia and Roumania. Both of my parents spoke their parents' language, Yiddish, before they began learning English from playmates at the age of three. Despite the fact that my parents never spoke Yiddish to each other, I still heard it when they spoke with my grandparents and I grew up hearing Yiddish songs and jokes. All of this must have filtered into my consciousness more deeply than I realized because in 2001, when I began recording my father's CD of Yiddish jokes and songs, I understood almost everything.

The flowering of Yiddish culture was, I have come to realize, synonymous with Judaism to me as I grew up. Though I now know that Jews come from many lands and encompass a wide range of cultures, it is the legacy of the Ashkenazim -- the Jews of Germany who spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe -- that I feel most strongly connected to. Gey vais!

4. You're interested and skilled in music and the graphic arts. Were you ever, or are you now, ever interested in math?

I like numbers. I'm very aware of the mathematical underpinnings of music even as I write or perform it. In fact, music is amazing for making the world of math visceral. When I work on graphic design on the computer, I relate to position and size mathematically and have a good sense of the number of pixels or the percentage of size of an object's transformation. In music, I guess numerics well, whether in trying to find a tempo or pitch shift in cents.

In my final year of high school, I took two math courses: Functions and Relations in which I got an A (and fell in love with a handsome young pilot) and Calculus which I dropped in utter confusion in November. The night before I was destined to fail my last test in Calc, I contemplated suicide for the first and only time. I believed my failure meant that I would never fulfill my father's dream that I would become a doctor.

5. What is the etymology of "Forceps to the Stone", and why did you pick it?

You don't mean "etymology". "Genesis," perhaps or "origin". You haven't been reading me long enough to know that I change my journal name regularly. I have been, in the past, Sweet Nectar, Commie Jew Fag and others which I've already forgotten. "Forceps to the Stone" is a lyric fragment from Joni Mitchell's "Hejira":

I know - no one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone

In fact, I've quoted it wrong in my LJ name, but my version works better in isolation. "Talktooloose" comes from Joni's song "Talk to Me". Forceps to the Stone also reminds me Samuel Beckett's pithy summation of life in Waiting for Godot (from memory; may contain errors): "A difficult birth astride an open grave. The gravedigger applies the forceps."

Thanks for the excellent questions, Randy. Do you want me to return the favour?

Others out there! I want more interview questions!

Comments

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

I'm very aware of the mathematical underpinnings of music even as I write or perform it. In fact, music is amazing for making the world of math visceral.

I see. Myself, I wonder if my large CD collection has anything to do with my high-school interest in math and continuing interest in design and symmetry.

(Any types of music that you particularly prefer?)

And you're right, I mean "genesis." :-)

If you wouldn't mind, I'd be delighted to answer your questions, whenever you've the time. :-)