by way

of a

preface

a number of years ago i was giving a talk very much like the talks

from which the pieces in this book took their origin and i was trying

to think my way through the difficult issues of what it means in this

culture to be a professional and why i was never quite comfortable with

the term after about forty minutes of this talking and thinking

feeling i had done as well as i could for the moment i came to a

provisional ending and as soon as i was done a woman who had been

following the course of my talk with apparently intense interest rushed up

to me and said with a strong sense of relief thank god i was so afraid

youd forget your words but there were no words my talks are not

lectures theyre thinkings and meditations i come with concerns and

reflections with questions and matter for thinking even obsessions

but there are no words not ahead of time

i could use the word "improvisations" ive used it before but ive

come to distrust what most people think it means the idea of starting

from a blank slate nobody starts from a blank slate not charlie

parker nor homer nor ludwig wittgenstein started from a blank slate

each in his different way going over a considered ground that became a ix