“Give Me Jesus,” Langrum Branch Baptist Church, York, S.C., 2000
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The authentic and pure values—truth, beauty, and goodness—in the activity of a human being are the result of one and the same act, a certain application of the full attention to the object.
—Simone Weil (1909-1943), Gravity and Grace (translated from French by Emma Crawford)
If it was a radar contest, then why play the game, right? Velocity is nice, but command and movement are better.
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He has the ability to throw a two-seam fastball to both sides of the plate. Most pitchers are four-seam to one side and two-seam to the other. If you can throw your two-seamer to both sides of the plate, that’s an advantage to the pitcher.
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He has the ability to recognize when a hitter is sitting on a certain pitch and throw something else.
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He relies on the low fastball that sinks pretty good. Very good at trying to keep the ball in front of the outfield with that pitch. That’s what it’s about—locating your fastball, changing speeds and keeping the ball in the ballpark.
Steve Reich (1936-), Six Marimbas (1986); Undergraduate Recital (Colin Van de Reep, Noam Bierstone, Sandro Valiante, Mark Morton, Ben Reimer, Ben Duinker), McGill University, Montreal, 2011
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Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.