NY Media Ecologists 1991

Well, well, well, look what turned up on the internet, over on Pinterest of all places.  The photograph was taken on October 19, 1991, at the annual meeting of the New York State Speech Communication Association, held in Albany.

Over the past two decades I've changed a bit.  Yeah, that's me, front row, left of middle, sitting next to Neil Postman, with Christine Nystrom to the left of Neil, and Bill Petkanas to the right of me. 

Standing behind us, from left to right, are my good friend and former classmate Robert Albrecht, Paul Thaler, Gene Secunda, Janet Sternberg, Sal Fallica, Mary Alexander, Thom Gencarelli, and Casey Lum.  

It's a gaggle of media ecologists.  Or is that a giggle?  Or a flock? Maybe a mob, because some call it the media ecology mafia.  But let's keep that in the family, okay?

Somehow, seeing myself so young in this photograph, I'm reminded of the Bob Dylan refrain from "My Back Pages" from 1964:  "Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."  The Byrds did a cover version of the song in 1967 that turned into a Top 40 hit, and here's an amazing live version of the song reminiscent of the arrangement from The Byrds, and featuring the band's leader, Roger McGuinn, along with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Dylan himself, all jamming out, and segueing into another Dylan tune, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door":  





And let's get Bobbie's original lyrics to "My Back Pages" in here as well:

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ’neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now 

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now 

Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now 

A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now 

In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now 

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

I am not trying to make any connection between the photograph and these lyrics, I hasten to add, beyond the remembrance of time's past.  But given that all of us in the picture studied general semantics with Neil Postman and Chris Nystrom, I wonder if lines like, "using ideas as my maps," "abstract threats," and "good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehow," don't all suggest a certain non-Aristotelian influence on Dylan's thinking?

As for the photograph, it is a map of sorts as well, a map of a territory no longer accessible, a territory that no longer exists.  And I know this makes no sense, but somehow, I used to think the lyrics said, Ah but I was so much older then, I'm younger then, not now...  And, after all, I am.