Christian Holmes Outside Topic #4

            Tonight I went out for a drink with two professors that I have had during undergrad. We were sitting at Schooners (yes, I know I’ve talked about Schooners before… it’s kind of my special place) when our waitress brought over our round. All of a sudden, a glass slips from the waitress’ hand and the glass shattered onto the table in front of us. The beer spilled everywhere as shards of glass landed around the table. We immediately leapt from our seats to avoid the spilling beer, but as we stood around the table, helping the waitress clear the table, we were able to take notice of how the shards of glass and puddles of beer formed over the table.

            As we sat back down at our newly cleaned table, we engaged in a casual conversation about what the shards of glass and puddles of beer resembled or reminded us of. I shared that I thought the jagged; upwards facing shards of glass amidst the shimmering beer resembled the Rocky Mountains that I used to visit as a boy. One professor compared it to the Aurora Borealis. The other professor compared it to his childhood perception of what Narnia looked like while trapped in winter. I was taken by just how much that situation speaks for the idea of the observer bringing himself into the subject being observed. I was reminded of John Tyler’s painting for his final paper and how so many people had different thoughts and ideas when seeing this visual representation of a lion.