Love, friendship, community

An interesting discussion at Long Sunday on Hannah Arendt and her controversial response to Gershom Scholem's admonishment that she did not have Ahabath Israel-- "love of the Jewish People." ( I've always admired Arendt in this instance, it led, in great part, to my larger interest in her work--what are the conditions that the mind must engage in in order for it, for "us," to think of/against/with/beyond "our own.") This aligns interestingly with Kasey Mohammad's response on limetree to Lisa Robertson's recent journal post on friendship and community at the Poetry Foundation. (It's really worthwhile reading her posts in their entirety; she is truly amazing, one of my idols, and Kasey's response is very interesting, illuminating.)