John Tiedemann, this Bud's for you

I find myself having, for the first time....ever, the following thought:

"I need to include some Aristotle in my class."

Searching for a set of texts to read in my "Writing Memory" course, I find this:

"Memory is, therefore, neither Perception nor Conception, but a state or affection of one of these, conditioned by lapse of time. As already observed, there is no such thing as memory of the present while present, for the present is object only of perception, and the future, of expectation, but the object of memory is the past." (From "On Memory and Reminiscence")

I'm imagining a close reading exercise as yet unformed but early in the quarter, in which students grapple with the language here, teasing out the nuances of memory, reminiscence, and recollection, and then perhaps using a rhetorical production (like a selfie) to test this theory. Would Aristotle acknowledge, for instance, that the taking of a selfie is "a memory of the present while present"? Students could test this theory or develop their own in a two-part assignment: part 1) an academic analysis and application, and part 2) a short podcast a la Radio Lab for an audience of their peers. Both would involve a discussion of exigence and kairos: why does it matter that we discuss memory now?