ephemeralchemex

detachment will be delayed ! here’s something to keep your mind busy

my classmates don’t seem to understand how things work and are!! which infuriates me but what do i know ! but here’s how the story goes!

the final draft

Characters

1. lenii, a moody student with morphing mind ,an absurdist 43
2. Sarah, a student who is always getting into trouble , desolate soul 12
3. Mr. Faraday, a narcissist retired armed force turned teacher
4. Max, a super chill teacher on happy pills

Settings : matig campus ,

Note: the worst college in existance , people dont study here , they date , commit crimes and are unruly in class!

The teachers are fed up and just go along with it .

the situation takes place within the realm of matig

little did we know , faraday never went to college and his tough life swung his life

never have I felt so deeply at one and the same time so detached from myself and so present in the world I didn’t care for school socially it was nice , I kinda just went along

during the hurricane , gloria! i was on the phone with my brother who said he was off from school ….you are on a holiday when I’m on the trammy working? sounds like a good deal

I would never become a teacher , i’ll be a shepard ! anything except a teacher !

act 1

(Scene opens surprisingly with students sitting jolly at their desks in a classroom with veracity for annihilation . The students are texting on their phones trolling every living creature on twitter .)

just as the bell rings. They rushed to their seats, panting and out of breath.

43: (breathing heavily) Sorry I’m late, I overslept.—-

12: (shaking her head) Again? How do you expect to pass this class if you’re always late?

43: (laughing) Relax, it’s just one class.

How can the day end without something goin wrong with 43?

(Mr. Faraday walks into the room, carrying a pile of papers.)

Teacher : (sighs) “Alright class, let’s focus. let’s stimulate some dead neurons.”

(Students reluctantly put their phones away and pay attention)

Student 1: (whispers to Student 2) “Why do we even need to learn this stuff? It’s not like we’ll ever use it.”

Student 2: (nodding) “Yeah, it’s boring.”the teacher keeps yapping and does not stop or questions us on everything

Mrs. Faraday: (looking around the room) Who can tell me what the capital of France is?

43: (excitedly) Paris! Paris is the capital of France!

Mrs. Faraday: (smiling) Very good, 43. You’re always so quick with the answers.

12: (rolling her eyes) she’s just a suck up.

12: (laughing) Yeah, she’s the teacher’s pet.

(Mrs. Faraday turns her attention to 12, who has been talking during class.)

Mrs. Faraday: Sarah, is there something you’d like to share with the class?

12: (smiling) No, not really. I was just telling 12 about the party I went to over the weekend.

Mrs. Faraday: (firmly) I’m sorry, but this is not the time or place for that. Please pay attention and have your pesky conversations after class.

faraday: What is assimilate?

What is ubiquitous ?

What is ubiquitous assimilation,

43:Absorbing everything everywhere all the time?

How are you supposed to use your imagination if everything is in picture form?

(12 sulks in her seat, while 43 continues to answer questions and impress Mrs. Thompson. As the class continues, 12 becomes increasingly bored and starts to doze off.) Mr.faraday : good job 43, you’ve reignited the passion for learning

12:and the passion for sucking up

faraday: why would and should students listen to the teachers if they have nothing to give/add.

School used to be a place where people and ideas come together and break boundaries while reading the ingredients list on a bubble gum wrapper

Now its just a bunch of delinquents doin crack and throwing their life away for a a mcdonalds!

Knowledge used to be something you strive for not ignored

We used to wage wars on poverty not poor people . We build the worlds greatest economy , leaped through decades of technological advancement and didnt identify ourselves by who we voted for !

max::Dude you dont have to be so rough on them

They are kids , they’ll get it slowly , we dont need to rush them

faraday converges with the students

12:Sir ! Its boring ! We dont understand anything And its not fun!

43:We know most of it already! And its wasting our time ! We attend only cause of the attendance clause

faraday:Did you ever notice ‘the last guy Sitting behind’ No ! You’re tooo busy falunting your stupid presence and doin nothing

But sir , we learn so much more outside

State reasons!

in the past 5 years IT field hired 23% more applicants compared to 2010-2015 years with no degree but some prior experience, which gives some young professional advantage over those who choose education.

12:Dude , i think sir hates us ! He scolds us for no reason and teaches like a sloth and he talks soo fast (curse of knowledge)

12:Its soo stupid, why do we study ? To get ourselves food , go places and get stuff . We don’t study just for the money or a cubicle job to eternity. Its an endless cycle! People funnell into school and another 4 years with large souless classrooms and teachers with no morale and a jampacked gaff with and it’s sooo expensive ! I don’t know how people agree to this … it’s like a cycle of money churning people’s minds ,

Over consumption leads to depletion and rationing in the end.

43:Well to me the idea of not paying rent sounds soo much better

I could have just saved that money and got some experience cause that is as important as the graphic designer .

Dude ! Very few require a degree and if you know the right people then you are already at the top.

Also there is no structure , our entire class has been desolved for what? Cause there are less people ? WE STUDY CAUSE WE HAVE AN INTEREST IN IT , not cause a durag told us to!!

12:Online college sounds sooooo interesting and fun!

faraday:potatoes if pealed look nice and smooth on the inside unlike gingers which a ugly either way!

max:Did you just call them ugly!

faraday:Yes and no!but what are they? Gingers or potatoes?

max:(irritated)I dont get it ! Do you always talk in metaphors?

faraday:Fine ! The world – boiling water

Boiling water stays the same! Boiling ! The same boiling water makes the potatoes soft and eggs hard! Now get it??

max:Facepalm!

(43 sits on the floor out of Frustration )

43:I KNOW WHAT YOUR THINKING ….ohh 43 on the floor again ! She’s gonna explode and have a breakdown! OHHH POOR 43! NO QUIET ! I HATE IT TOO ,DO YOU SEE ME SACKING OFF?

Sir we dont feel like humans, and we dont get treated like humans, we dont get to express ourselves ! Neither with looks nor thoughts ! Innovation and freedom starts with one the individual!

faraday:Who would you trust your life on? A person that follows rules and looks uniform or a person that dresses drag and has a rainbow for hair?

When we look at some of the greatest minds in history, we can clearly see that they all had one thing in common: a never-ending commitment to learning and improving their skills. From Albert Einstein to darren, these brilliant individuals had the same drive to broaden their knowledge and sharpen their skills constantly. This is what makes a genius.

the watchata tribe live really happy by hunting trough and trough till afternoon and dance around the fire and life a really happy life! they have no idea of depression

12:The quality of competition fell!there is no glory for perfection ! They take everyone and anyone ! And hassan minaj says that college tuition rose 200% and wages grew only 20% !

faraday: you did not say !Ohh please! Dont blame it on money! We live with money! How do you get your makeup kits and dominos??? All that takes money !

Ok! Riddle me this , if you learn everything you want online …lets say pharmacy! Learnt it and get through it ! Are you gonna be one of the peeps figuring out ebola?? Or are you gonna be an underground chemist cooking crack?

I want yall to write something ! Thats your penance ! Imagine yall die, and at your eulogy….how will people talk about you?

max:This is what i have to say…. If you don’t like college then you can find something else equally if not more challenging . Or it makes no sense .

faraday:i’ll explain in hippie terms …. you are jumping off the plane and you need a parachute , if that fails you have a reserve chord and if the reserve fails , you have a third chord for the reserve’s reserve and if that fails too!! you bring it back and you get a refund !

12:that sounds like a good deal and a terrible parachute! So we get our money back if i dont like college?

max:THAT’S NOT THE POINT !

All the greats went through it , louis Armstrong ,joe jones threw a cymbal at charlie parker’s head .

How would you pay for awesome teachers like me if It’s free???you think tax payers wanna pay for some crazy kid with no aim in life?

Except artistic professions , who’s willing to take the risk. As far as i know , even room service needs a degree.

43 and 12 leave enraged and 43 starts venting

43:

Kim Kardashian is described in Wikipedia as quote, “A media personality socialite and model,” end quote. Has she changed society? Well, let me think about that, will she leave a lasting imprint? Sounds like a celebrity to me. But wait, you might say what about her capacity to attract social media followers and put social media performers and platforms such as Instagram on the map. Maybe she IS a genius, or is she just a celebrity? You decide! Warren Buffet. Although the University of Nebraska School of Business has a course called The Genius of Warren Buffett, I at least don’t think making money is an act of genius. Money per se is not genius, it’s only a facilitator or fuel of genius that can be put into action to change the world. But you may have a very different opinion and we’ll discuss money later . Concert Cellist, Yo-Yo Ma I love his playing but he is playing the music that other people compose. Performer Ma I would argue is like a carpenter carrying out the blueprint of the architect. The architect is the genius not the carpenter to make the point. Can you name a single cellist or pianist of the 19th century. You can name, I’m sure many composers who created new music in the 19th century. Beethoven Brahms, Schubert, people such as that. But can you name a performer of the 19th century? They’d be surprised. We forget the performers because in the long run they may be inconsequential. Performers, no matter how good, are celebrities of the moment. The genius is not the performing cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, but Mozart the guy who wrote the music for Yo-Yo to play. And the same thing might be said about actors and actresses and that’s why I put Meryl Streep with celebrities. Well, surely we’ll get descending opinions and debate on that point and that’s all to the good. But I would ask you to consider who’s the genius, the performer acting on the stage or on the screen OR the person who wrote the screenplay or the play? We still perform the plays of Shakespeare, but we have almost no idea who his actors were. The philosopher and mathematician may wear their crowns for centuries. The actor seems to be quickly forgotten and the same may be said of athletes, following what I will call the creative imperative. If there is no creativity, there is no genius. The geniuses are those who create something new and useful and thus we may eliminate athletes such as Lebron James. He is simply playing out the game, thE game basketball, the game that someone else invented. James Naismith is the genius, not Lebron James, but you might disagree with this decision as well and if you do good for you as we will come to see contrary thinking. Even rebellion can be a hallmark of genius. Maybe, in the spirit of contrary thinking, you can think of exceptions to my “no performers and no athletes” rule and indeed let’s pursue this just for a moment. Which athletes might have changed society permanently. Think about it for a moment. Here’s one and indeed three possibilities. Allow me to show you three images. What do these three famous athletes have in common? Why do these athletes differ from celebrities? Because as film director Spike Lee said in a Netflix interview, people like Muhammad Ali used their excellence and in effect moral capital earned in their sport, in this case track, baseball and boxing, respectively, as a platform or foundation upon which to build or to campaign for, to argue for, something better. In this case racial equality and also in the case of Ali to protest a war that most people now would agree was ill advised. So perhaps performers and athletes can be considered geniuses if they move beyond the arena in which they first gained fame and, building on that fame, effect change throughout society. That’s just an idea for us to consider.

All right, having thought about the celebrities, those false positive geniuses, let’s turn our attention now to those whom I at least–and I get only one vote here–perceive to be genuine, yes, genuine geniuses. Here’s my group of people that I consider worthy of that title and one or two of these might surprise you. Musk, Gates, West, Parton, Doudna. First a couple of obvious choices. Elon Musk, who else has started his own space company thereby cutting the cost of putting satellites in orbit in half. Who else has revolutionized the automotive industry, thereby holding out the prospect of radically reduced carbon emissions so as to reduce global warming. And did I mention the Boring Company, Solar City in Hyperloop these other ventures, successes or failures. These two are among the exciting transformative initiatives of genius Elon Musk. Bill Gates of course he’s the brains behind Microsoft and one of the pioneers of the tech revolution. But there is much more to Gates that will talk about with regard to viruses and global warming later on. Kanye West people think of him as a star of hip hop and rap music and maybe a fashion design. But I think he is a genius strangely for the power of his insightful contemporary poetry. It’s the poetry, not the media hype as we will see and of course that might matter here. Some of my grandchildren now study Kanye West’s poetry in high school as I once studied Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Times change. Here’s perhaps a surprising genius on my list in my opinion, Dolly Parton. But why? Well we could talk about how she brought country music into mainstream pop music and that was a big change and how she composes her own original songs. But I think from what I read, Parton is remarkable for having encouraged and empowered millions of working class women to have faith in their own powers. And by example, to demand that women get the same credit and the same pay as men, ironic as it may be with all wigs , dolly that she calls herself. Parton has made observers comfortable, established an empathy with them. And then after having done so, she has been able to deliver a powerful feminist message, treat women equally. Jennifer Doudna, she and French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier recently won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. And anybody who wins a Nobel Prize is a genius, at least in my book. Doudna won the Prize for her work on mRNA. and CRISPR, the biochemistry that led us to the recently successful Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against the Covid 19 virus. Okay, I had my list and you had yours. Is everyone furious with me, arguing with me, debating with me telling me why I’m wrong? Good, and my job is done. You’re engaged, even angry, and thinking through the issues. But who here is correct? Is there a correct response equally interesting. Who is it that determines who is correct and who is a genius? Well again, you as much as I according to the definitions and standards that each of us sets sometimes. However, genius sometimes seems to be determined by a committee of experts. We’ve just mentioned the Nobel Prize with its committee. The Macarthur Foundation has a committee that gives out a fellowship that’s called the Genius Grant. The Macarthur committee puts money on or backs–empowers–people who may prove to be game changers– the geniuses of the future. But most of the time it is simply We The People who decide who is a genius. How do we decide, how do we vote? Well, the books, the biographies of famous people, that we buy can be seen, in effect, as a vote for a genius. Of course today we have books about both celebrities and geniuses. But think about this: Do we write books about celebrities who lived over 100 years ago and in the 1920s let’s say? In fact, now that I think of it, can you name a celebrity about more than 100 years ago?

Rudy Vallee. An early version of Wikipedia once called Rudy Vallee, the first pop idol. He actually was a Yale graduate and a philosophy major but he didn’t write his own songs. I repeat, he didn’t write his own songs. He was a performer of songs composed by others. Rudy Vallee was a hugely known celebrity in the 1930s. Today, nobody writes books about Rudy Vallee. But they still do and will continue to do so about Albert Einstein as have Walter Isaacson, and my Yale colleague and physics professor Douglas Stone, both have done so in recent years. Art museums are institutions that also allow us to vet or to vote for geniuses. Taste and fashions change and art museums usually also change with the times paintings get bought and sometimes sold de accession it’s called. Or they get put in storage in the basement, paintings that were once in the basement get brought up and put in the center, front and center. Puvis de Chavannes, ever heard of him? 100 years ago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York dedicated an entire hall to his works and it’s still there. But now everyone comes in and blows right by them, no one knows his name, no one cares about his art really. For 200 years, no one paid attention to this painter. But now I bet you can identify his name, yes, it’s Jan Vermeer. Now, every museum in the world would die to have one of his works. But the point here again, the face of genius is not absolute and permanent but changeable relative to time place and culture. Our values change, our heroes, our geniuses change and the easiest place to witness the changing attitudes about genius, and about culture over time, are places like bookstores, concert halls, theater stages, movie theaters and, most readily, art museums. Okay, I promised you this would be fun.  You will see the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen to battle with our mystery guest. Carlsen is on the left and the mystery guest is on the right there playing speed chess. It’s a fun game that moves things along quickly. The guest, a middle level player, has two minutes to make his move, Carlsen has only 30 seconds. Who’s the genius? Carlson won … but he did not invent chess nor did he with new strategies .

faraday leaves with max also annoyed faraday:dude they don’t seem to get it! do you know how much work we had to put to get to this mediocre point ?? the world ain’t rainbows and sunshine

max:calm down faraday!! why do you think I take happy pills? if I took that rubber room too seriously I would have ended up mass killing ! here…..I’m gonna talk! you listen.

For the longest time I believed that there were two types of people:the knowers, who knew what they were doing with their lives,and then the feckless plebs like me, who were just wandering idiots going from plan to misguided plan.Thirty is now spitting distance away from me, and, you know, the most traumatic part of exiting one’s twenties isn’t the sudden random failure of body parts, nor the blissful crushing hug of student debt,or even losing the ability to party past six in the morning and not die –it is the realization that this model is bollocks, because these people do not exist.Now, clearly, expertise exists –don’t trust a barista to fly your plane, nor a pilot to make your double frothy laxative anxiety juice –but when it comes to wisdom, or working out how to be happy, or big boy and big girl meaning of life stuff,no one has a damn clue what they’re doing – not your heroes, not the smartest among us.When it comes to matters of the soul, it is open season. And this is a wonderful thing, because it means that as far as art or innovation goes, the world is anarchy,and while you may have convinced yourself that there’s no point trying to do anything groundbreaking or novel because someone will do it better –whoever the greats are that you respect, obviously they had the same doubts, and they pushed through it.They were intensely interested in or devoted to something,while simultaneously feeling lost all the time.A long period of confusion isn’t a side effect of trying to do something radically interesting –it’s the price of admission.We forget that Van Gogh was 27 before he even bothered trying to paint properly,that Darwin told us: “I was considered by all my masters and my father a very ordinary boy,rather below the common standard of intellect”,Emily Dickinson was barely even recognized during her lifetime,that it wasn’t until a hundred years after Melville’s death that anyone really gave a damn about Moby-Dick.They were beset on all sides by mean critics, or the worst critic of all – themselves.Cthulhu’s wig!, I have heard of art classes where the teacher begins the first semester by assuring the students they’ll never break through, and it’s pointless to try;rejection letters writers received, instructing them to put down their pens and never bother at it again;vacuous ,jaded, bollocks that convinces young artists to give up !but may I humbly recommend that if one is informed you will never do anything remarkable with your life,perhaps the most appropriate response isn’t”Yeah, you’re probably right”,but rather,”Fuck off! And who the fuck are you anyway?!”The shit they will tell you –”you’ve had all your good ideas”,”it’s all been done before”,”you’re too old, too young, too dumb”,”there’s nothing new under the sun” –let’s say your lifespan is 80 years, or about 29,200 days.If you’re 18, you’re about 6,500 days through.28 – about 10,000 days through.38 – about 14,220 days through.Regardless of whether one believes in an afterlife or not, these days are not coming back,and there is not enough time to listen to cynics.By the power of Grayskull, look at where we are –historically, technologically, galactically – the whole game!This isn’t normal, is it?Act without expectation.Make cool stuff just because. Give darren complements always.Oh, for fu- Have you been editing the script again?Today, this week, this month, year, decade, and century –it will occasionally be referenced in history, and that will be that.If one is cautious about pursuing an unusual path,it may help to remember that the cynics will be forgotten just as readily as your failures will be, too.There has never been a better time to do a thing.And just by virtue of how weird existing is in the first place,there are a trillion interesting things still undone, unmade, and unsaid.Those areas have not been drilled, .It is a wilderness out there for everyone. It always was.The greats didn’t know they were greats – they were just mortal humans who refused to bow to cynicism.And were we to draw some collective lesson from their lives,

the University of Nebraska School of Business has a course called The Genius of Warren Buffett, I at least don’t think making money is an act of genius. Money per se is not genius, it’s only a facilitator or fuel of genius that can be put into action to change the world.

Even rebellion can be a hallmark of genius. Maybe, in the spirit of contrary thinking, you can think of exceptions to my “no performers and no athletes” rule and indeed let’s pursue this just for a moment.So perhaps performers and athletes can be considered geniuses if they move beyond the arena in which they first gained fame and, building on that fame, effect change throughout society. That’s just an idea for us to consider.

Is everyone furious with me, arguing with me, debating with me telling me why I’m wrong? Good, and my job is done. You’re engaged, even angry, and thinking through the issues. But who here is correct? Is there a correct response equally interesting. Who is it that determines who is correct and who is a genius? Well again, you as much as I according to the definitions and standards that each of us sets sometimes. However, genius sometimes seems to be determined by a committee of experts. We’ve just mentioned the Nobel Prize with its committee.

Our values change, our heroes, our geniuses change and the easiest place to witness the changing attitudes about genius, and about culture over time, are places like bookstores, concert halls, theater stages, movie theaters and, most readily, art museums.

43 and 12 were walking past when max was enlightening faraday and they were astonished and walk in with pure bliss on their face! 12: that was remarkable! 43: I gave a huge intellectual lecture too you know?

max:it might sound something like:in your projects,in your silly pursuits,in your unlikely follies,and your expeditions into the abyssto recover those strange mental metals you will fashion into something no one has ever made before.I wish you the very, very best of luck.Now so0d off and be remarkable please!