Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter, which was waiting for me
when I managed, after plugging in this and that, here and there,
to turn on the computer which then attached itself to the Internet
and retrieved among 28 messages, three that were worthwhile: yours,
one from Klemens, and one from Helmut, who was perplexed by John
Updike's sonnet, "Fair Helena" which contrasts the beauty of the face
that launched a thousand ships with the disreputable contents of
her lower gastrointestinal tract. Gave me occasion to trott out
my hobby horse "Deidealization" and explain why I would not let
"Deidealization" compete in the esthetics derby, but considered
this horse a slam dunk to take all in the ethics and epistemology
competitions.

The trip south was uneventful. Traffic was only moderately heavy,
no delays, good weather, sciatica radiating down the right leg
when sitting behind the wheel, with the arthritic knees and feet
starting to complain as soon as on getting out of the car, I importuned
them with even the most modest demands. All medical problems, however,
disappeared when I forced myself to empty the overloaded minivan
and distribute its contents to various rooms in the house. We arrived
at about 8 p.m., and immediately I started limping around the premises,
up the stairs, down the stairs, carrying bags and boxes here and there,
in a determined effort to preserve order and to avoid chaos, until
by 1 a.m. I was ready to give up and go to sleep, arthritis and/or
sciatica be damned.

I can't deny that I was shaken up by the Court's decision, which seemed
to me so incompatible with the evidence and the law. But it didn't take
me long to lapse into my Rilke mode. I refer, specifically, the poem
"Der Schauende" which I discussed in my letter of November 15, 2007,
with its claims of edification in being vanquished when, like Jacob,
one wrestles with the angel. I've sometimes been charged with being
masochistic and asking for punishment. In any event, my insolence
is such that I have learned to interpret losing as a kind of transcendental
victory, an interpretation especially pertinent to the Appeal, where I have
a chance to explore the implication of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s
dictum that the life of the law has not been logic but experience.
What Holmes was in fact saying, although in all his pomp he wasn't
aware of it, is that there comes a point at which the law repudiates
itself and turns into its opposite.

There's more to be told, but as of now, nothing is clear in my mind.
I'll stop here, with the threat of writing more even before I receive
your reply.  Stay well, and give my regards to Ned.

Jochen