"No, this is not a disentanglement from, but a progressive knotting into..."
This line from Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow inspired the name of the site (in case you were looking for Celtic designs or nautical instruction...). So, what does one "knot into", you may ask? Well, anything you love and care about -- stars and planets, your garden, friends and family, pets, science, art, the person you plan to spend the rest of your life with, deep philosophical questions à la "how come we have five fingers on each hand, rather than four, or seven, or whatever?" books, nature, projective geometry... not necessarily in that order. For you, "knotting into" may mean deep sea diving, Japanese haiku or Rilke's poetry, racing cars, C++, rock hunting... you get the picture; anything you take seriously. Something you're actively involved with, a process, not a result.
And so, this website is a collection of some of the things I'm knotting into; while some items have a long history, others are more recent. Moving to the right from 'start here' will take you to Gravity's Rainbow, where you'll find an essay about one of my alltime favorite books. If it wasn't impossible to make absolute statements about things like that, I'd say it is the most favorite book... Eventually, I'll add other Pynchon-related items, and some links.
With the next hot spot, you can pay a virtual visit to Abiquiú, the little village I moved to a little while ago. Its population makes up more or less three pages in the local phone book, and coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, I went through a phase of mild culture shock that lasted for almost a year... It's about as non-typically American as one can find it in the United States, and I love it.
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Actually, my three cats need to be woven in too, so here is Lila -- the softest, most sensuous, cuddly creature one can imagine. Before she came to stay with me, she hung out with Harold (right -- he also lives here now), who never barks but only makes funny, grunting noises, and she must have thought that's how cats talk, because she makes exactly the same sounds.
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If you click on the thumbnails, they'll open in a separate window.
The next link on the main page of Knotting Into will take you to a few papers I wrote about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe while I took classes at The California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. I'm currently working on a dissertation that, among other things, examines Goethe's worldview and his scientific endeavors. I love Goethe; although some of the results of his research in the areas of optics and color for example may have been superceded by later scientific studies, I find his worldview completely relevant for contemporary culture, whether one is a scientist or not.
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And here is Chaco. There's a general consensus among his human acquaintances that, as far as intelligence goes, he's far advanced compared to average cats. His favorite toy is the little seal/ring from soy milk cartons, and he's training my friends to throw it for him, so he can run and bring it back. Not only does he grasp the concept of play, deliberately enhancing his pleasure by placing his toys in unusual locations, but he knows how to open just about every drawer and cabinet door in my house. The only safe place where to hide things from him is the refrigerator. And I had to install safety latches on some drawers, the kind one uses for children.
My cats aren't allowed outdoors because of the coyotes. When I adopted Chaco from the Santa Fe Humane Society, I had to promise to keep him inside the house at all times. This may sound a bit overprotective, but coyotes are perfectly capable of cornering, surrounding, and killing a cat. Chaco would make a welcome dinner for owls too, so he, Lila, and Angelina can't go out -- to the great relief of the many finches, chickadees, woodpeckers, juncos, nuthatches, and other feathered creatures that live around the house.
The top link on the main page will open a section on Nurturing Arts, a stress-reducing and relaxing process that involves watercolor-painting, clay-modelling, and a variety of drawing techniques. Participants in Nurturing Arts workshops often report enhanced creativity, inner balance and harmony, and a hightened awareness of sense perception. The pictures were taken at San Francisco State University where I have been teaching an introduction to Nurturing Arts and Artistic Therapy in conjunction with a course about anthroposophically oriented medicine.
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Last, but not least (of my cats): Angelina; she's the youngest and smallest. When she was a kitten, Chaco turned very motherly and groomed her regularly. For some reason, he decided that her whiskers just didn't look good enough, so he always chewed them off. She didn't mind, and once she was old enough to take care of herself the whiskers grew right back. Angelina comes from a family of feral cats and is still small, although fully grown. She loves to be petted, but try and pick her up or put her on your lap -- no way.
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And here is the latest and hopefully last addition to my critters: Mieze. Some horrible person abandoned her when she was a tiny puppy, after cutting all her toenails through the quick, so they were bloody and infected. The people who found her asked me whether I would take her, and I couldn't refuse after one look at this abused, skinny little creature.
Despite her miserable early days, Mieze has grown into a lively, sweet, and trusting dog who is eager to please. I thought she was a mutt, but she is a mutt with a name: she's a 'Yellow Blackmouthed Cur'. One of her breed's characteristics: they climb trees!
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