Karl Haley, comet forever
Jul. 5th, 2005 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusThe other day I watched a bit of the Fred Astaire musical "Daddy Longlegs". My mother gave me a copy of the Jean Webster book it's based on when I was 12 and I read it at one of my lowest ebbs, when I was miserably incarcerated in an Edinburgh boarding school. "Daddy Longlegs" tells the story of a vivacious orphan, Judy Abbott, who's being put through school by a millionaire philanthropist. The money has one condition attached: that Judy write letters to "Mr Smith" telling him about her life, her intellectual discoveries, her feelings.
Well, it's time to admit that Click Opera has its own "Mr Smith", a patron-philanthropist by the name of Karl Haley. When I've been at my lowest material ebb this year (and this holiday weekend, for instance, I ate only hummus and bread, trying desperately to spin out $60 to last a New York week) Mr Haley has appeared as if by magic to make Paypal donations, quite substantial ones, which have allowed me to carry on. He has agreed to let me make his identity be known here on Click Opera, and has sent me a photograph of himself with his girlfriend Elsa. He also included a picture of Gustav Hertz, the man who pioneered the electrical transmission of energy. Haley, who resembles Hertz, has transmitted plenty himself.
Hertz means "heart" in German, and heart is a term we could perhaps map to "solidarity". Every e mail my benefactor has sent me is signed with the motto "contingency, irony, solidarity", which happens to be the title of a book by Richard Rorty, but is also a nice encapsulation of values Karl and I seem to share.
So who is Karl Haley, patron, benefactor and comet forever?
"I'm a graduate student at McGill University working on my second masters in Library and Information Studies. I lead a discussion section on online information retrieval. My previous background was in contemporary American history, focusing most recently on Ronald Reagan and the rise of the Christian Right in the 1980s. I'm currently trying to publish a section of my thesis on Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority Inc., which ominously resurfaced in recent months. If all goes well, I'll begin my PhD in political science at the New School this Fall. I'm fearful about returning to the United States, especially New York with its batallions of police and soldiers. Yet, I have a beautiful Chinese Canadian girlfriend at Columbia who has somehow coerced me to return. You may have read some of her recent articles in Azure or Metropolis — her name is Elsa Lam.
"As a native Los Angeleno, well-accustomed to living under tight surveillance, I've relished the last few years I've spent in Montreal. I'm sure you'll find that Montreal has improved greatly since 1975. Separatism, once a trigger to violence and cultural division, is now largely a political device used to keep Ottawa in line. As an anglophone with limited French, I haven't encountered a single hostile reaction since moving here. In fact, it seems that Montreal revolves around fashion, sex and food more than questions of "identity."
"Apart from my academic interests, I'm something of an amoeba. I spend most of my time glued to my computer, impartially absorbing data and consumer information. Your journals have opened my imagination — I've resolved to become a world citizen, and have the patience and (borrowed) resources to pursue it. In particular, I've become especially interested in Japan. After living in Montreal, I've learned how to become "foreign." Now I want to carry it to the next level, embracing a life where language, history and values systems are entirely new. I have you to thank for this.
"As for my donations, sometimes I get a bit heady after a bottle of wine and become Peggy Guggenheim. Moreover, I know that I would only spend the money on idle amusements, such as cheap Spanish champagne and foie gras mousse... It's difficult to put a price on the insights I've gained through your writing and music. The only thing I ask is that you remain as you are ...confident, unabashed and hopeful."
Dear patron, dear Longlegs, dear Guggenheim, dear Hertz, dear Haley, comet forever, thank you! You have taken the "starving" out of artist. I shall dine tonight on sake teriyaki and raise a glass of bubbly to you. The best seat in my free cinema now bears your name.
Well, it's time to admit that Click Opera has its own "Mr Smith", a patron-philanthropist by the name of Karl Haley. When I've been at my lowest material ebb this year (and this holiday weekend, for instance, I ate only hummus and bread, trying desperately to spin out $60 to last a New York week) Mr Haley has appeared as if by magic to make Paypal donations, quite substantial ones, which have allowed me to carry on. He has agreed to let me make his identity be known here on Click Opera, and has sent me a photograph of himself with his girlfriend Elsa. He also included a picture of Gustav Hertz, the man who pioneered the electrical transmission of energy. Haley, who resembles Hertz, has transmitted plenty himself.
Hertz means "heart" in German, and heart is a term we could perhaps map to "solidarity". Every e mail my benefactor has sent me is signed with the motto "contingency, irony, solidarity", which happens to be the title of a book by Richard Rorty, but is also a nice encapsulation of values Karl and I seem to share.
So who is Karl Haley, patron, benefactor and comet forever?
"I'm a graduate student at McGill University working on my second masters in Library and Information Studies. I lead a discussion section on online information retrieval. My previous background was in contemporary American history, focusing most recently on Ronald Reagan and the rise of the Christian Right in the 1980s. I'm currently trying to publish a section of my thesis on Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority Inc., which ominously resurfaced in recent months. If all goes well, I'll begin my PhD in political science at the New School this Fall. I'm fearful about returning to the United States, especially New York with its batallions of police and soldiers. Yet, I have a beautiful Chinese Canadian girlfriend at Columbia who has somehow coerced me to return. You may have read some of her recent articles in Azure or Metropolis — her name is Elsa Lam.
"As a native Los Angeleno, well-accustomed to living under tight surveillance, I've relished the last few years I've spent in Montreal. I'm sure you'll find that Montreal has improved greatly since 1975. Separatism, once a trigger to violence and cultural division, is now largely a political device used to keep Ottawa in line. As an anglophone with limited French, I haven't encountered a single hostile reaction since moving here. In fact, it seems that Montreal revolves around fashion, sex and food more than questions of "identity."
"Apart from my academic interests, I'm something of an amoeba. I spend most of my time glued to my computer, impartially absorbing data and consumer information. Your journals have opened my imagination — I've resolved to become a world citizen, and have the patience and (borrowed) resources to pursue it. In particular, I've become especially interested in Japan. After living in Montreal, I've learned how to become "foreign." Now I want to carry it to the next level, embracing a life where language, history and values systems are entirely new. I have you to thank for this.
"As for my donations, sometimes I get a bit heady after a bottle of wine and become Peggy Guggenheim. Moreover, I know that I would only spend the money on idle amusements, such as cheap Spanish champagne and foie gras mousse... It's difficult to put a price on the insights I've gained through your writing and music. The only thing I ask is that you remain as you are ...confident, unabashed and hopeful."
Dear patron, dear Longlegs, dear Guggenheim, dear Hertz, dear Haley, comet forever, thank you! You have taken the "starving" out of artist. I shall dine tonight on sake teriyaki and raise a glass of bubbly to you. The best seat in my free cinema now bears your name.