All I’ve been reading in the last few years were music papers, music theories, music teaching methods, music outreach literature, music blah blah blah. With so much music, a part of my brain always goes numb, withering like a tree that can’t get enough sunlight because a bigger tree has cast it into the shadow. Going to Yale was good for me because I took Italian and calculus, which kept the music tumor at bay. Going back to NEC for my DMA was like going off the meds and the chemo, but before long I had Boston GuitarFest and Boston Guitar Project to keep my mind active and my curiosity rampant.
But still, the stuff I was reading was just music.
I get my book reviews from 2 places, mainly. NPR and the Daily Show. Occasionally there’s Leno and Letterman too. Thank goodness for Jon Stewart bringing Toobin on to promote “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court”. Admittedly, my brain hurt for the first few pages — I was never too fond of American history or derivative of it. Law is always daunting, though I’m always glad when I get a chance to understand it, regardless of how absurd or reasonable it might seem. But because of the things I’ve done in the past few years and the recent election, I’m finding myself more and more curious about the political and historical currents in America.
The book read like a novel. The justices grew on me like the protagonists and antagonists in a good story. I think learning about the complexities and the intricacies of that secret world, along with some of the cases the rulings discussed in the book, has revitalized my brain.
One night, I was about half way through the book when I turned off the lights and went to bed. I had a strange dream — I dreamed I was a lawyer. I didn’t play the guitar anymore. And it was an oddly stressful morning when I woke up. But what a fantastic book.
