I’m often fascinated by the subtleties of the english language. Not only in terms of style and other grammatical structures, but also in terms of the considerable nuance and ‘feel’ afforded by similar words. Take, for instance, ruminating, dwelling, and thinking. Building, Dwelling, Thinking as Heidegger used them, have three different meanings that he binds together in an elegant argument about being-in-the-world. In the case of this post, ruminating, dwelling, and thinking all vied for a place in the title. I chose, as is apparent, to use the word ruminating. Why ruminating over dwelling or thinking? Besides the fact that my alliteration wouldn’t work without it, I found ‘ruminating’ to be particularly descriptive of my work regarding my thesis over the course of this last week. One ruminates on ideas as one might dwell on ideas, or think about ideas, or mull over some idea. The subtlety comes in the word’s association with regurgitation as we find in the 150 or so species of ruminants including cows, goats, deer, and other ungulates. Ungulate rumination, according to wikipedia, “typically requires the fermented ingesta (known as cud) to be regurgitated and chewed again. The process of re-chewing the cud to further break down plant matter and stimulate digestion is called rumination.”
I haven’t been dwelling on my thesis (seems so foreboding), nor thinking all t0o much about it (i.e. I haven’t bee generating new ideas to work with), instead, I’ve been ruminating on the work I’ve done so far. That is, reading over my posts and thoughts from last semester, reading over my notes from interviews, revisiting my outline, and of course writing the 1,000 word summary I shared earlier. This process has allowed me to recapitulate my argument with care, and with a helpful review from Jim I found that I do, in fact, need to clarify certain things and spend more time arranging ideas so that they flow throughout the paper. Principally, I need to make sure to fully introduce conceptual material I wish to apply in my analysis towards the beginning of my paper, apply that material in specific ways built around focus questions in the middle of my paper, and finish with clear recommendations/implications for architectural production.
I think It’s time for me to start working on my first draft. As these issues begin (continue, rather) to arise, I feel like instead of addressing them each individually on a case-by-case basis, it’s time to put all of my writing together in a single document. By doing so I hope that the important issues to address will become apparent, and the bits of my thought that are unclear will make more sense in the context of the work as a whole.
Now, to turn to the last ‘R’ of this post’s title. This week I’ve been reading Tim Ingold’s book “Being Alive” which I’ve written a review for on ENVSpedia. The book has been surprisingly relevant to my thesis, and I might just employ some of Ingold’s thoughts to help me articulate the notion of finding life in Living Buildings. I have my concerns with the author’s use of ableist language, but I’ll save that discussion for my review.
Until next time,
-Ben