Pete's Log: Petespero
Entry #2651, (Books, Writing, n such, Parenthood)(posted when I was 46 years old.)
Professor Alan Jacobs announced he is retiring at the end of 2026 and I only hope he will continue blogging in retirement.
But what struck me most in his post was his final paragraph. The penultimate paragraph leads into it mentioning "the loss of regular human connection, especially with young people who have not yet become jaded."
He goes on to cite The Tempest, which I have seen performed several times but never read (this may be true of all of Shakespeare's plays for me):
I have always thought that one of the greatest moments in all of literature, in all of human art, comes at that point in The Tempest when Miranda — who all her life has known only her father, Caliban, and Ariel — sees the party of the Milanese court approaching and cries, “O brave new world, that hath such people in it!” To which Prospero: “‘Tis new to thee.” What makes the moment so absolutely brilliant is that both of them are right. We really need both ways of viewing the human creature. But what will I, a ragged and grumpy old Prospero, deprived of staff and book, do without my Mirandas?
Up until my current job, I think I always had my own Mirandas. DMC in particular was full of young'uns to keep me on my toes.
Now parenthood is its own new adventure.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I want to dwell on how I envy and admire the ability to pull together such references to literature and also remind myself to keep up with the kids. We do need both ways of viewing the human creature. If not more.