“... everyone who comes into contact with a child is a teacher who incessantly describes the world to him, until the moment when the child is capable of perceiving the world as it is described. According to Don Juan, we have no memory of that portentous moment, simply because none of us could possibly have had any point of reference to compare it to anything else. From that moment on, however, the child is a member. He knows the description of the world; and his membership becomes full fledged, I suppose, when he is capable of making all the proper perceptual interpretations which, by conforming to that description, validate it ...”
Journey to Ixtlan
Journey to Ixtlan
Higher Education, CDNow & Sting
Many years ago I attended an official university for one year (it was a default thing to do in life). It took me the first half of that year to realize that I didn’t wan’t to be there and the another half to come to terms with that conclusion. My class attendance was slowly replaced by hours at the computer – taking advantage of the internet via dull textual green screens – then available only on university campuses. One of the small treasures was CDNow – I think it was one of the first online shops ever. Using a textual interface of scrolling menus I was able to get my hands on music that I couldn’t get in stores. I spent a long time (I recall it took more then a year, so it must have continued when I could get internet from home) hunting down an audio recording of Sting performing Message in a Bottle in The Secret Policemen’s Ball – until I was finally able to get my hands on a copy. Now the video is freely available for all.