(retrospection)
Another e-mail from the retrospection files. This is a slightly edited version of an e-mail I sent out to a friend on October 12, 1996, shortly after starting Calvin.
How are things going? I imagine by this time your classes have started. Are they going okay? Do you have a lot of homework?
Things are pretty good over here. I've got a lot of homework, but it's not so much that I can't keep up with it.
It's been raining a lot over here, and beginning to get pretty cold. I got completely drenched on Tuesday, because I had to bike through the rain . (For my English assignment, we all have to interview and write about people in retirement homes. I went there by bicycle and got absolutely drenched in the downpour).
Today was an exception though. We had our first warm day in about a week, and it got almost up to 70 degrees. (I think someone told me 67 degrees).
I haven't done any swimming for about a month now. I really don't intend to keep it up either. I'm done swimming competively.
Link of the Day
FBI Looking for Informants to Infiltrate Vegan Potlucks
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Second Grade Journal: 1985-1986
(Retrospection)
When I was in 2nd grade, our teacher gave us a journal in which we could write whatever we wanted to.
It was my first journal, and I thought it was a really cool idea. I spent a most of our free study periods writing away in the thing.
Looking back on it now, I really wish I had written something of value in it. Instead of being filled with my thoughts on the world, or childhood memories, the whole thing is just me writing about the movies I saw. And what's worse, instead of reviewing these movies, I just try to to retell everything that happened. (I don't know why I thought this was a good use of time.) So, as you can imagine, instead of containing a lot of valuable memories, this journal is just mostly crap.
However in a strange way, long before the age of blogging this journal ended up being an eerily accurate prediction of what I would write on this blog 20 years later: lots of time spent writing, very little of much value, and most of it just recounting what movies I had seen.
You'll notice that every single one of the movies I wrote about in this journal were Disney movies, and there's a very simple reason for that. When I was in 2nd grade, the only TV I was allowed to watch was PBS and The Disney Channel.
(We weren't technically allowed to watch He-man, Voltran, Transformers, or the other popular 80s cartoons, although in reality we saw them from time to time at friends' houses and when my mom wasn't home and our dad or the babysitter was watching us).
Although I thought it was the height of injustice not to be allowed to watch those cartoons like most of my school-mates could, I also really got into the Disney channel at the time. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to supplement my Disney viewing with regular TV, but as you can see from this journal I really fell in love with Disney. I was still at a young enough age to enjoy the old Disney cartoons, and shows like "Zorro" (W) and "Davy Crockett" (W) satisfied my 7 year old desire for action and swashbuckling.
(In fact, come to think of it a lot of those old Disney adventure movies and TV shows were probably just as violent as those afternoon cartoons we weren't allowed to watch. I never questioned the incongruity of it at the time though. I guess it must have been just easier for my parents to say everything Disney was okay than to fight battles over every single TV show.)
...So anyway, long story short, if this journal seems rather "Disney Centric", that's why. [Oh, and one final note: Back in 1985 the Disney Channel was a lot different than it is now. Although it has since remodeled itself as the new hip pre-teen channel, back in mid-80s, the Disney Channel existed almost exclusively just to air out the Disney vault and re-run old Disney movies and TV shows from the 1950s,60s and 70s].
In transferring this old pencil written journal into blog form, I've taken liberties here and there. I've corrected spelling in places, and even changed syntax when I thought the meaning wasn't clear. But where ever possible I tried to leave the original idiomatic grammar of a second grader in tact. Hopefully this doesn't result in too much of a bi-polar feel.
You'll also notice I never get too far on any one topic before I switch into another topic. Sometimes I'll go for as long as a paragraph. Sometimes I'll just write one sentence.
To understand this journal, you need to imagine it through the eyes of a 7 year old who had just barely learned how to read and write, awkwardly gripping his pencil in his hand and laboriously writing each letter. It would take me several free study periods spread out across many days to write one of the larger paragraphs, and you can imagine I didn't have the patience back then to stick with anything that long.
Anyway, I'm going to be interspersing this whole thing with commentary throughout, but without any further ado here's the beginning of the journal.
I am a journal. If your name is not Joel, please close this book.
Our first story: on my birthday I got a transformer. His name is Optimus Prime. I like him. I got other transformers at home. One of them is named Jetfire. My Dad gave him to me. I like him too. Do you know who gave me Optimus Prime? My Grandma Swagman. A nice story.
---I must have written this in the beginning of the school year recounting my 7th birthday from the previous year, April 1985.
I was allowed to have "Transformers" toys, but not to watch the cartoon. (The same held true for He-man and Voltron toys). This actually seems like more of a contradiction now than it did then. At the time, it seemed like it was every boy's right to have "Transformers" action figures, whether or not they could watch the show.
Our second story is me telling you a story: the Black Cauldron. It began with a boy who was an assistant pig keeper for an old man. A horned king had once destroyed their country. The boy's name is Tarn. Tarn's pig was a magical pig. It can look into the future. Tarn wanted to be a knight. Everyday Tarn said, "I want to be a knight in shining armour. One day it happened that Tarn woke up. He was the one who made breakfast. He made breakfast and went to the window. It was not a real window, just a square carved out of the wall. He went to the window to dream about being a knight. The old man made fun of the horned king. The old man had a cat. Breakfast began to over boil and no one noticed except the cat and the cat was the only one who was hungry, and he made such funny actions that the old man noticed. But Tarn, who's job it was, did not notice. The old man got mad. But the old man talked kind because he was kind.
"Tarn," he said, "What are you doing by the window."
Tarn did not answer but said the same as always, "I want to be a knight in shining armour.
"Oh," said the old man. That--
Ah, "The Black Cauldron" (W). Remember that? Even now thinking about it brings me back to the 80s and tie in children's marketing. I can almost still taste the cheese poofs that had the special Black Cauldron sticker inside.
Now I am sorry but that story is too long. Our third story is me and my sister are going to build a fort. I built it. It got wrecked.
I am going to stop numbering our stories, but I will say "next story". Our next story: a little bit from Condorman. The ending part of Condorman. "Quick, into the boat," was the word and in went Condorman, Harry, and Laser Lady. The enemy was after Laser Lady. The boat had lasers in it. The enemy chased them in another boat. The enemy chased them in several boats. Harry grabbed the laser gun, but he couldn't hit anyone.
"Shoot better," Condorman yelled.
--Anyone else remember "Condorman" (W) ? I've never heard of it since, but I loved it as a kid.
It was a Disney movie, and it was run on the Disney Channel, which meant I was allowed to watch it.
That is the end of that story. Now I am tell you about Halloween. I was a knight, my sister was a Ewok, and my brother was a cowboy. Something strange happened. After we finished trick or treating, my dad picked up my brother's cowboy hat. There was a piece of candy on the brim of the hat, but no one knew how it got there.
Now my class is studying Indians. We have Indian names. My Indian name is "Spotted Tail." My friend David's name is "White Chief."
--If you've got a long memory, you might remember the above paragraph. I used it as a retrospection entry before back in 2007. At the time I was thinking I would do this journal in installments, but now I think it makes sense just to put it all in one long entry.
You all know this is a journal and me and my sister are making another journal just for kids.
Now, you've all read about a lot of adventures in this journal, but I would like to write about some more action. I think mountain stories are the best. Like "Third Man on the Mountain". You all probably think that the name of this story means that only two men ever went up on the mountain, and then after a long time a 3rd man climbed up the mountain. But no, that is not how it got its name. Its name is "3rd Man on the Mountain" because in this story a man looked through his telescope and saw 3 men climbing and said, "There's a 3rd man on the mountain."
--"Third Man on the Mountain" (W) was another Disney movie being run on the Disney channel. And another movie I loved as a kid. Haven't seen it since, but there's a thorough online review of it here for anyone interested.
I am going finish telling you that story later.
Now we have a baby sister. Her name is Jessica. Now we have me--Joel, Kyle, my sister Kirstin, and my second sister Jessica. I am in 2nd grade. Kirstin is in Kindergarten. Kyle is 2 years old and Jessica is a baby.
Now I've told you that Kirstin is in Kindergarten and I am in 2nd grade, but I did not tell you what are ages are. Well, mine is 8 and Kirstin is 6.
Now I'm going to make up an adventure for all 4 of us.
One day we were driving in China. When we stopped the car, 2 men with guns started shooting them at us. They were hiding in the bushes, but we could see them. Then they ran forward to attack us. I unbuckled my seatbelt. My Kindergarten sister unbuckled hers. Kyle unbuckled his and I got Jessica out of the car seat. That is how our adventure began.
--I was in second grade when my youngest sister Jessica was added to the family. I still remember picking her up at the airport, and making her laugh by hopping around on one leg. (This worked for a while, and then she started crying again).
If you're well versed in the Disney archives (as I was back then) you know that there have been tons of Disney movies about a group of kids who are separated from their parents and have to make their own way through a series of adventures and defeat the bad guys all on their own. No doubt I was heavily influenced by all of this. Although even if I hadn't been, I suspect the idea of saving the day all by themselves is probably a pretty standard fantasy for children anyway.
As usual, I got one paragraph into this adventure story, and then I lost interested and wandered into another topic.
Now I want to write about "One hundred and one Dalmatians". But first I would like to tell you what happened yesterday.
Yesterday a space shuttle exploded and seven people died.
Now I want to tell you what I got for Christmas. I got Lion Voltron. I got the Transformer's Racing track. I got Webstor. He's a He-Man action figure. He came with a rope, that he can go up. I got a book from my dad. I got a mobile car. I got a photo album, a clock a bookmark. I got clothes. The book my dad gave me is "The Black Stallion." My Dad was also the one who gave me the Lion Voltron and the transformers racing track. My sister gave me a Go-bot. My mom gave me the mobile car. My Grandma Swagman gave me a transformer and a nice sweater and a game called "connect four". It's fun. I got a squirt gun from a boy in my class. I got a Garfield eraser from my teacher. I got Webstor from my Aunt Mary. I gave my sister "Crystal Castle" and my Dad gave her She-Ra.
--This is another section that I've used before in my retrospections. At the time I claimed it was a writing assignment, which was perhaps a bit misleading. It was a writing assignment in the sense that our teacher encouraged us to write about it in our journal. It was never something that was collected and graded. Which is why I only gave the Challenger explosion one sentence before my usual short attention moved me onto other topics.
When I claim to give my sister the "Crystal Castle" (W) playset, that just means I selected it. My dad paid the money for it.
I think "The Black Stallion" book referred to here wasn't the genuine article, but a kids book based on the movie--lots of pictures from the movie and text that had the barebones story on each page. I loved this picture book, and read it over and over again.
I never did read the real book. I started it a couple times, but it never grabbed my interest, probably because I already knew the story.
Lion Voltron (W), with the 5 different robot lions that transformed and then connected to make one big robot, was the popular toy that year, as you may remember. And it was a really cool concept. It was like 5 different transformers in one. Every kid had to have it.
You probably also remember, if you had one, that it was one of the most fragile pieces of crap ever. Parts started breaking off of it left and right almost from the moment you opened the box.
I had somewhat of a fair warning on this, as my friends at school had been complaining about how easily their Voltron figures broke before I even got mine. So I wasn't very shocked when mine started doing the same thing. I tried to be careful with it, but pieces will snap off just from moving the thing around.
My dad declared at one point, "I will not tolerate a toy that breaks so much." He brought it back to the toy store and demanded a new one in exchange.
The new one faired slightly better, but inevitably some pieces eventually snapped off of that one as well.
February 26, 1986: Good, now I like a man who died. His name is Walt Disney. He is very famous. He made many movies, like "The Black Cauldron". You may think "The Black Cauldron" is dumb, but it is not. It is an adventure story. Remember the horned king? He came back and Tarn has to fight an evil power that is held inside a living Black Cauldron. The black Cauldron is living and evil can only come out if the Black Cauldron makes it. When the horned King gets the Black Cauldron, then the fighting becomes twice as hard. But thanks to a little guy named Georgi, they saved the world and Tarn learned a lesson.
February 27: Walt Disney was a movie maker and he made the Black Cauldron. Walt Disney could make a movie about any kind of animal, including the ones that are extinct. He made "The Black Hole." I will tell you that story.
March 5: The USS Palmino was in space when they saw the USS Signus. Now the Signus had disappeared many years ago, so the crew was curious .
Then Kate said, "I saw something move. There are people on board."
"Let's take a look," said the Captain.
They came just a little bit too close, and the black hole started to suck them up Vincent, the ship's robot, went on to the top of the ship to help.
After a second, the captain said to Kate, "Make contact with Vincent." You see, Kate and Vincent could make contact with each other. Kate tried.
After another second, the captain asked, "Anything?"
"No," said Kate. Then she said, "Oh, here comes something now."
That's all I remember about "The Black Hole."
Remember "The Black Hole" (W)? Another bad science fiction movie from the 80s. Despite the black overtones of this movie, I was allowed to see it because it was Disney.
Actually it was a bit of fight to be able to see this. My parents bought the story book and tape for us to keep us occupied on car trips, so I was familiar with the movie. And it was aired that year on the Disney Channel. My mom watched it first to make sure it was alright for us, and only after a lot of pleading were me and my sister allowed to watch it.
I absolutely loved this movie when I was in second grade. But like a lot of things I liked back then, watching it now the movie has not aged well.
April 9: Well, here we go on another adventure.
Actually, no, let's forget about that.
Well, Walt Disney sure is great, as you can see. OK.
April 16: I will tell you something. My birthday is coming up soon and I hope to get a Bambi record. Do you know who Bambi is? Well, I will tell you. He once was a prince, now he's a king. I will tell you his story:
April 30: A prince was born. All the animals came. All the rabbits and bunnies, including one bunny named "Thumper", who said, "What are you going to name him?"
And the mother said, "I think I will name him 'Bambi'."
Then Bambi tried to walk. Now that is part of his story.
Bambi always had a special place in my nostalgic heart, because it was the first movie I saw. My mom and aunt took me to see it when it was being re-shown in theaters sometime in the earlier 80s.
I'm not sure what I mean when I say I wanted a "Bambi Record". I already had a Bambi story book and record that went along with it. Maybe I meant I wanted it recorded on VHS. I don't remember exactly when our family got our first VCR, but it was around about this time, maybe 3rd grade.
(For a long time, Disney animated movies like Bambi weren't available on video because they were still re-releasing them into the theaters every 5 years. I didn't always understand these marketing issues as a kid though, and kept asking for videos that hadn't been released yet.)
May 8: Walt Disney also made "Return to Treasure Island." I want to tell that story, but to tell that story I will first have to tell the story of "Treasure Island". Here we go.
May 14: There was a boy whose father owned an Inn. And the boys name was Jim Hawkins. One day a visitor came. The visitor asked the father if he had some rooms, and the father said yes.
The father asked the visitor what his name was, and the stranger did not tell his name. But he said, "Call me captain. Yes, call me captain."
Then he said, "I'm a plain man. Bacon and eggs are all I need. And rum. And a place where I can warm my boots."
Jim's father said, "You can stay."
The Captain was a very silent man. All day long he sat in the parlor drinking rum, but at night he haunted Jim's nightmares.
Actually, let's let Jim tell the rest of the story.
OK. One day, said Jim, the Captain called me into his room and said, "Do you see this here penny piece boy?"
I said, "Yes sir I do."
Then he said, "I'll give you one of these every month if you keep your eyes open for a man with one leg."
The Captain seemed terrified of the one legged man, but no matter how long I looked for him, I saw the one legged man only in my nightmares.
Soon, my father became very ill. Our doctor, Doctor Livesly, came often to help him. Sometimes Doctor Livesly stayed for dinner. "Delicious meal, Mrs Hawkins," he would say.
One day Doctor Livesly asked me, "Doesn't that man frighten you?"
I said, "Yes sir."
Sunday, the captain came over to our table and said, "Silence there between decks!"
Doctor Livesly asked, "Were you speaking to me sir?"
The Captain said, "Aye, That I were San Pale--."
Doctor Livesly interupted and said, "Now you listen to me sir. If you keep on drinking rum, you will soon die. And perhaps that would not be a bad thing."
At that, the Captian drew his knife and said, "You take those words back!"
But the Doctor answered in a calm and steady voice and said, "Put that knife away, or I promise you that you will go to the gallows. I'm a judge sir, as well as a doctor, and if I hear even one complaint against you, I'll have you thrown into the gallows for many nights."
After that, the Captain was very good, but he stayed with us that long night as my poor father's heart grew worse and worse.
Then one January morning, another stranger came. The stranger asked, "Have you seen my mate Bill?"
I said, "I don't know your mate bill sir. We do have one guest that asked if we'd call him captain."
The stranger was pale and evil looking. Two fingers on his left hand were missing, but he wasn't the one legged man. In fact he didn't even seem like a sailor at all. Then he said, "I think your guest is Bill. I'll wait for him I will."
Then he made me hide behind the door with him.
When the Captian came back, the stranger reached out and grabbed the Captain. "Hello Bill," he said. "Remember your old shipmate? Have the boy fetch some rum, Bill, while you and I have a good honest talk."
I tried to listen from the next room. I could hear nothing for a long time, and then they began to shout and yell at eachother. I heard the Captain yell, "No, I'll never give it to you. I'd rather die." Then there was more shouting, followed by the sounds of swords.
Then Black Dog, the name of the stranger, ran out the door. I ran to the captian and asked, "Sir, are you okay?"
The captain did not answer but said, "Rum, Jim, fetch me Rum." Then he fell to the floor face first.
The Captain was dead.
Now Jim, stop. Tell us all the details.
Ok, ok, well the captain was killed. I went on a ship with some other men and a crew. The crew and the cook attacked us. But in the end we won. And the crook turned out to be my friend. The end
Ok, so that story was not by Walt Disney. But Walt Disney made the movie of it. And Walt Disney not only made the movie, but he made "Return to Treasure Island". And I'll bet he made "The Third Man on the Mountain".
Did anyone else see "Return to Treasure Island" (W)? It was a mini-series that was rerun occasionally on the Disney Channel back then. I was absolutely obsessed with it. I thought it was the greatest show ever. After watching it I would be pumped up for hours, pretending I was sword fighting in the backyard and singing the theme song to myself.
I was also obsessed with Treasure Island, a story I knew via the Fisher-Price delux comic book and tape set. I listened to it over and over again until I had it memorized, as you can see from the passage above. (I wrote that whole thing at school from memory). In fact even now as I re-read it, I can still hear the voice actors and the narration from the tape in my head. There's a bit of awkwardness in the retelling, since the version I had memorized in my head was all in the first person, and I attempted to re-write it in the 3rd person. Eventually I gave up and just and said, "let's let Jim tell the rest of the story." There were 5 other comic books and audio tapes in the series, and eventually our family collected them all (Robinson Crusoe, Frankenstein, Arabian Nights, Alice in Wonderland, and Robin Hood). And all of them I pretty much listened to until I had them memorized.
(I guess there must not have been too much else to do back then. We were probably the last generation before kids just got overwhelmed with media and video games . We didn't get a nintendo until a few years later.
Plus I had parents who very closely limited my TV intake.)
These books (and similar "classics for children" series) both caused me to fall in love with the classics, and also kind of ruined them for me. Several times I tried to read the real "Treasure Island" book by Robert Louis Stevenson, but I could never get through it. When you have the whole story memorized, what's the point?
The same is true for all those other books. (Other than "Robinson Crusoe", which I read in a class at Calvin because I had to. And I found out that the real book is a lot more dry and boring than the comic book version would lead you to believe.)
I never did finish "The Third Man on the Mountain" story. Well, I will not tell that story now.
And remember the story about my family in China. Well, once all the children got out of the car, we killed the two men. The end.
Part 3 of this journal is all about my family. Kyle and Jessica are adopted from Korea. Kyle has a hole in his mouth, and he can not talk good. Jessica has only one arm and a half of an arm.
The whole family has a pen-pal from Korea. And I also have a penpal of my own.
I have sandy colored hair, and so does Kirstin. Jessica, Kyle and Dad have black hair. Mom has brown hair.
We have a dog. His name is Brandy. He acts like a watch dog. But really he is a Lhasa Apso. His fur is gray. It is my job to give him his food and water. He s a strange dog.
He is a strange Dog. He doesn't like mats or baskets. The only bones that he likes are milk bones doggy treats.
And he sits at the window barking at everybody for most of the day. If someone comes in, and it's someone he knows, he doesn't bark at them.
When he gets outside, he runs away a lot, but he always comes back. When he gets outside, he will chase joggers and bikers. Once he got away one the same day that Grandma Swagman was coming over. Grandma Swagman found him tied up to a lamp post. Some jogger or biker must have tied him up. I remember Kirstin was being a real brat at the time. Well, anyway, some jogger or biker had tied him up. When Grandma Swagman saw him, she untied him. Brandy did not bark because he knows Grandma Swagman.
You know, I never minded Brandy's barking all that much. Maybe because the dog was around before I was, I just grew up with it. Or maybe I was young enough that I could still tune it out. But it used to drive my parents crazy. Although a bit of internet research (W) reveals that the Lhasa Apso was specifically bred to for the purpose of barking at everything in sight.
You know, Brandy being a watch dog makes me remember a joke. Here it is:
Bob: Why is your dog running around like that?
Judy: He's a watch dog. He's winding himself up.
That's all the news about Brandy I know of. You all know about Grandma Swagman. She is the mother of my dad, by the way. But who was the mother of my mom? My other Grandma. Grandma Dik.
You know something about me? I am very good at creative writing. Here is one of my stories. It is called "The 3 Giraffes" by Joel Swagman.
Once upon a time there were three little giraffes.
The first giraffe built a home in a haystack.
The second giraffe built a home in a leaf pile.
The third giraffe built a home in a wood pile.
But little did they know a bunch of pirates were looking for giraffe soup....
My second grade teacher gave me an "O" for outstanding on creative writing. It was the only "O" I recieved on my report card. (Everything else was marked "S" for satisfactory.)
She also gave me a lot of praise for my stories, and even went through the trouble of signing me up for "Young Author's Festival at Calvin" the following year, even though I was no longer in her class.
I had never thought of myself as a writer before, but this put the idea into my mind. And in fact it was a notion that stayed with me for a long time, even when I got into high school and my English teachers there were a lot less enthusiastic about my writing abilities.
As a result of this, I developed the hobby of writing stories (mostly for my own amusement) all through my childhood, high school, and even my time at Calvin . (And although I'm somewhat embarrased to admit it, I still fool around with writing fiction from time to time even today.)
Like most amateur writers, I never worked constantly on anything as a child, but wrote in the usual fits and starts. I spent more time walking around day dreaming and thinking of ideas than I ever got around to writing on paper.
The "Three Giraffe Story" was originally a school assignment. But my teacher praised my story so highly that I became very proud of it. She asked me for permission to photocopy it so she could keep it in her files, and I was unbelievable proud of myself. For reasons I don't really remember, I decided I wanted to rewrite the whole thing down into my journal. I guess I just wanted to keep all my writing in the same place.
By the time I started re-copying my "Giraffe Story", the year was over and I was in 3rd grade. I worked on the table in the basement slowly rewriting everything, still in the phase were writing down anything was a laborious project.
The papers were left on the downstairs table for several nights, and eventually my mom just went through and threw everything out except the journal itself.
I was devestated and in tears. My mom agreed to call up my old second grade teacher, and she still had a copy of my story in her files which she recopied and gave back to me.
A few years ago I posted this story on one of my other blogs, so it seems unnecessary to re-post it here. Just click on the link if you're interested.
When I was in 2nd grade, our teacher gave us a journal in which we could write whatever we wanted to.
It was my first journal, and I thought it was a really cool idea. I spent a most of our free study periods writing away in the thing.
Looking back on it now, I really wish I had written something of value in it. Instead of being filled with my thoughts on the world, or childhood memories, the whole thing is just me writing about the movies I saw. And what's worse, instead of reviewing these movies, I just try to to retell everything that happened. (I don't know why I thought this was a good use of time.) So, as you can imagine, instead of containing a lot of valuable memories, this journal is just mostly crap.
However in a strange way, long before the age of blogging this journal ended up being an eerily accurate prediction of what I would write on this blog 20 years later: lots of time spent writing, very little of much value, and most of it just recounting what movies I had seen.
You'll notice that every single one of the movies I wrote about in this journal were Disney movies, and there's a very simple reason for that. When I was in 2nd grade, the only TV I was allowed to watch was PBS and The Disney Channel.
(We weren't technically allowed to watch He-man, Voltran, Transformers, or the other popular 80s cartoons, although in reality we saw them from time to time at friends' houses and when my mom wasn't home and our dad or the babysitter was watching us).
Although I thought it was the height of injustice not to be allowed to watch those cartoons like most of my school-mates could, I also really got into the Disney channel at the time. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to supplement my Disney viewing with regular TV, but as you can see from this journal I really fell in love with Disney. I was still at a young enough age to enjoy the old Disney cartoons, and shows like "Zorro" (W) and "Davy Crockett" (W) satisfied my 7 year old desire for action and swashbuckling.
(In fact, come to think of it a lot of those old Disney adventure movies and TV shows were probably just as violent as those afternoon cartoons we weren't allowed to watch. I never questioned the incongruity of it at the time though. I guess it must have been just easier for my parents to say everything Disney was okay than to fight battles over every single TV show.)
...So anyway, long story short, if this journal seems rather "Disney Centric", that's why. [Oh, and one final note: Back in 1985 the Disney Channel was a lot different than it is now. Although it has since remodeled itself as the new hip pre-teen channel, back in mid-80s, the Disney Channel existed almost exclusively just to air out the Disney vault and re-run old Disney movies and TV shows from the 1950s,60s and 70s].
In transferring this old pencil written journal into blog form, I've taken liberties here and there. I've corrected spelling in places, and even changed syntax when I thought the meaning wasn't clear. But where ever possible I tried to leave the original idiomatic grammar of a second grader in tact. Hopefully this doesn't result in too much of a bi-polar feel.
You'll also notice I never get too far on any one topic before I switch into another topic. Sometimes I'll go for as long as a paragraph. Sometimes I'll just write one sentence.
To understand this journal, you need to imagine it through the eyes of a 7 year old who had just barely learned how to read and write, awkwardly gripping his pencil in his hand and laboriously writing each letter. It would take me several free study periods spread out across many days to write one of the larger paragraphs, and you can imagine I didn't have the patience back then to stick with anything that long.
Anyway, I'm going to be interspersing this whole thing with commentary throughout, but without any further ado here's the beginning of the journal.
I am a journal. If your name is not Joel, please close this book.
Our first story: on my birthday I got a transformer. His name is Optimus Prime. I like him. I got other transformers at home. One of them is named Jetfire. My Dad gave him to me. I like him too. Do you know who gave me Optimus Prime? My Grandma Swagman. A nice story.
---I must have written this in the beginning of the school year recounting my 7th birthday from the previous year, April 1985.
I was allowed to have "Transformers" toys, but not to watch the cartoon. (The same held true for He-man and Voltron toys). This actually seems like more of a contradiction now than it did then. At the time, it seemed like it was every boy's right to have "Transformers" action figures, whether or not they could watch the show.
Our second story is me telling you a story: the Black Cauldron. It began with a boy who was an assistant pig keeper for an old man. A horned king had once destroyed their country. The boy's name is Tarn. Tarn's pig was a magical pig. It can look into the future. Tarn wanted to be a knight. Everyday Tarn said, "I want to be a knight in shining armour. One day it happened that Tarn woke up. He was the one who made breakfast. He made breakfast and went to the window. It was not a real window, just a square carved out of the wall. He went to the window to dream about being a knight. The old man made fun of the horned king. The old man had a cat. Breakfast began to over boil and no one noticed except the cat and the cat was the only one who was hungry, and he made such funny actions that the old man noticed. But Tarn, who's job it was, did not notice. The old man got mad. But the old man talked kind because he was kind.
"Tarn," he said, "What are you doing by the window."
Tarn did not answer but said the same as always, "I want to be a knight in shining armour.
"Oh," said the old man. That--
Ah, "The Black Cauldron" (W). Remember that? Even now thinking about it brings me back to the 80s and tie in children's marketing. I can almost still taste the cheese poofs that had the special Black Cauldron sticker inside.
Now I am sorry but that story is too long. Our third story is me and my sister are going to build a fort. I built it. It got wrecked.
I am going to stop numbering our stories, but I will say "next story". Our next story: a little bit from Condorman. The ending part of Condorman. "Quick, into the boat," was the word and in went Condorman, Harry, and Laser Lady. The enemy was after Laser Lady. The boat had lasers in it. The enemy chased them in another boat. The enemy chased them in several boats. Harry grabbed the laser gun, but he couldn't hit anyone.
"Shoot better," Condorman yelled.
--Anyone else remember "Condorman" (W) ? I've never heard of it since, but I loved it as a kid.
It was a Disney movie, and it was run on the Disney Channel, which meant I was allowed to watch it.
That is the end of that story. Now I am tell you about Halloween. I was a knight, my sister was a Ewok, and my brother was a cowboy. Something strange happened. After we finished trick or treating, my dad picked up my brother's cowboy hat. There was a piece of candy on the brim of the hat, but no one knew how it got there.
Now my class is studying Indians. We have Indian names. My Indian name is "Spotted Tail." My friend David's name is "White Chief."
--If you've got a long memory, you might remember the above paragraph. I used it as a retrospection entry before back in 2007. At the time I was thinking I would do this journal in installments, but now I think it makes sense just to put it all in one long entry.
You all know this is a journal and me and my sister are making another journal just for kids.
Now, you've all read about a lot of adventures in this journal, but I would like to write about some more action. I think mountain stories are the best. Like "Third Man on the Mountain". You all probably think that the name of this story means that only two men ever went up on the mountain, and then after a long time a 3rd man climbed up the mountain. But no, that is not how it got its name. Its name is "3rd Man on the Mountain" because in this story a man looked through his telescope and saw 3 men climbing and said, "There's a 3rd man on the mountain."
--"Third Man on the Mountain" (W) was another Disney movie being run on the Disney channel. And another movie I loved as a kid. Haven't seen it since, but there's a thorough online review of it here for anyone interested.
I am going finish telling you that story later.
Now we have a baby sister. Her name is Jessica. Now we have me--Joel, Kyle, my sister Kirstin, and my second sister Jessica. I am in 2nd grade. Kirstin is in Kindergarten. Kyle is 2 years old and Jessica is a baby.
Now I've told you that Kirstin is in Kindergarten and I am in 2nd grade, but I did not tell you what are ages are. Well, mine is 8 and Kirstin is 6.
Now I'm going to make up an adventure for all 4 of us.
One day we were driving in China. When we stopped the car, 2 men with guns started shooting them at us. They were hiding in the bushes, but we could see them. Then they ran forward to attack us. I unbuckled my seatbelt. My Kindergarten sister unbuckled hers. Kyle unbuckled his and I got Jessica out of the car seat. That is how our adventure began.
--I was in second grade when my youngest sister Jessica was added to the family. I still remember picking her up at the airport, and making her laugh by hopping around on one leg. (This worked for a while, and then she started crying again).
If you're well versed in the Disney archives (as I was back then) you know that there have been tons of Disney movies about a group of kids who are separated from their parents and have to make their own way through a series of adventures and defeat the bad guys all on their own. No doubt I was heavily influenced by all of this. Although even if I hadn't been, I suspect the idea of saving the day all by themselves is probably a pretty standard fantasy for children anyway.
As usual, I got one paragraph into this adventure story, and then I lost interested and wandered into another topic.
Now I want to write about "One hundred and one Dalmatians". But first I would like to tell you what happened yesterday.
Yesterday a space shuttle exploded and seven people died.
Now I want to tell you what I got for Christmas. I got Lion Voltron. I got the Transformer's Racing track. I got Webstor. He's a He-Man action figure. He came with a rope, that he can go up. I got a book from my dad. I got a mobile car. I got a photo album, a clock a bookmark. I got clothes. The book my dad gave me is "The Black Stallion." My Dad was also the one who gave me the Lion Voltron and the transformers racing track. My sister gave me a Go-bot. My mom gave me the mobile car. My Grandma Swagman gave me a transformer and a nice sweater and a game called "connect four". It's fun. I got a squirt gun from a boy in my class. I got a Garfield eraser from my teacher. I got Webstor from my Aunt Mary. I gave my sister "Crystal Castle" and my Dad gave her She-Ra.
--This is another section that I've used before in my retrospections. At the time I claimed it was a writing assignment, which was perhaps a bit misleading. It was a writing assignment in the sense that our teacher encouraged us to write about it in our journal. It was never something that was collected and graded. Which is why I only gave the Challenger explosion one sentence before my usual short attention moved me onto other topics.
When I claim to give my sister the "Crystal Castle" (W) playset, that just means I selected it. My dad paid the money for it.
I think "The Black Stallion" book referred to here wasn't the genuine article, but a kids book based on the movie--lots of pictures from the movie and text that had the barebones story on each page. I loved this picture book, and read it over and over again.
I never did read the real book. I started it a couple times, but it never grabbed my interest, probably because I already knew the story.
Lion Voltron (W), with the 5 different robot lions that transformed and then connected to make one big robot, was the popular toy that year, as you may remember. And it was a really cool concept. It was like 5 different transformers in one. Every kid had to have it.
You probably also remember, if you had one, that it was one of the most fragile pieces of crap ever. Parts started breaking off of it left and right almost from the moment you opened the box.
I had somewhat of a fair warning on this, as my friends at school had been complaining about how easily their Voltron figures broke before I even got mine. So I wasn't very shocked when mine started doing the same thing. I tried to be careful with it, but pieces will snap off just from moving the thing around.
My dad declared at one point, "I will not tolerate a toy that breaks so much." He brought it back to the toy store and demanded a new one in exchange.
The new one faired slightly better, but inevitably some pieces eventually snapped off of that one as well.
February 26, 1986: Good, now I like a man who died. His name is Walt Disney. He is very famous. He made many movies, like "The Black Cauldron". You may think "The Black Cauldron" is dumb, but it is not. It is an adventure story. Remember the horned king? He came back and Tarn has to fight an evil power that is held inside a living Black Cauldron. The black Cauldron is living and evil can only come out if the Black Cauldron makes it. When the horned King gets the Black Cauldron, then the fighting becomes twice as hard. But thanks to a little guy named Georgi, they saved the world and Tarn learned a lesson.
February 27: Walt Disney was a movie maker and he made the Black Cauldron. Walt Disney could make a movie about any kind of animal, including the ones that are extinct. He made "The Black Hole." I will tell you that story.
March 5: The USS Palmino was in space when they saw the USS Signus. Now the Signus had disappeared many years ago, so the crew was curious .
Then Kate said, "I saw something move. There are people on board."
"Let's take a look," said the Captain.
They came just a little bit too close, and the black hole started to suck them up Vincent, the ship's robot, went on to the top of the ship to help.
After a second, the captain said to Kate, "Make contact with Vincent." You see, Kate and Vincent could make contact with each other. Kate tried.
After another second, the captain asked, "Anything?"
"No," said Kate. Then she said, "Oh, here comes something now."
That's all I remember about "The Black Hole."
Remember "The Black Hole" (W)? Another bad science fiction movie from the 80s. Despite the black overtones of this movie, I was allowed to see it because it was Disney.
Actually it was a bit of fight to be able to see this. My parents bought the story book and tape for us to keep us occupied on car trips, so I was familiar with the movie. And it was aired that year on the Disney Channel. My mom watched it first to make sure it was alright for us, and only after a lot of pleading were me and my sister allowed to watch it.
I absolutely loved this movie when I was in second grade. But like a lot of things I liked back then, watching it now the movie has not aged well.
April 9: Well, here we go on another adventure.
Actually, no, let's forget about that.
Well, Walt Disney sure is great, as you can see. OK.
April 16: I will tell you something. My birthday is coming up soon and I hope to get a Bambi record. Do you know who Bambi is? Well, I will tell you. He once was a prince, now he's a king. I will tell you his story:
April 30: A prince was born. All the animals came. All the rabbits and bunnies, including one bunny named "Thumper", who said, "What are you going to name him?"
And the mother said, "I think I will name him 'Bambi'."
Then Bambi tried to walk. Now that is part of his story.
Bambi always had a special place in my nostalgic heart, because it was the first movie I saw. My mom and aunt took me to see it when it was being re-shown in theaters sometime in the earlier 80s.
I'm not sure what I mean when I say I wanted a "Bambi Record". I already had a Bambi story book and record that went along with it. Maybe I meant I wanted it recorded on VHS. I don't remember exactly when our family got our first VCR, but it was around about this time, maybe 3rd grade.
(For a long time, Disney animated movies like Bambi weren't available on video because they were still re-releasing them into the theaters every 5 years. I didn't always understand these marketing issues as a kid though, and kept asking for videos that hadn't been released yet.)
May 8: Walt Disney also made "Return to Treasure Island." I want to tell that story, but to tell that story I will first have to tell the story of "Treasure Island". Here we go.
May 14: There was a boy whose father owned an Inn. And the boys name was Jim Hawkins. One day a visitor came. The visitor asked the father if he had some rooms, and the father said yes.
The father asked the visitor what his name was, and the stranger did not tell his name. But he said, "Call me captain. Yes, call me captain."
Then he said, "I'm a plain man. Bacon and eggs are all I need. And rum. And a place where I can warm my boots."
Jim's father said, "You can stay."
The Captain was a very silent man. All day long he sat in the parlor drinking rum, but at night he haunted Jim's nightmares.
Actually, let's let Jim tell the rest of the story.
OK. One day, said Jim, the Captain called me into his room and said, "Do you see this here penny piece boy?"
I said, "Yes sir I do."
Then he said, "I'll give you one of these every month if you keep your eyes open for a man with one leg."
The Captain seemed terrified of the one legged man, but no matter how long I looked for him, I saw the one legged man only in my nightmares.
Soon, my father became very ill. Our doctor, Doctor Livesly, came often to help him. Sometimes Doctor Livesly stayed for dinner. "Delicious meal, Mrs Hawkins," he would say.
One day Doctor Livesly asked me, "Doesn't that man frighten you?"
I said, "Yes sir."
Sunday, the captain came over to our table and said, "Silence there between decks!"
Doctor Livesly asked, "Were you speaking to me sir?"
The Captain said, "Aye, That I were San Pale--."
Doctor Livesly interupted and said, "Now you listen to me sir. If you keep on drinking rum, you will soon die. And perhaps that would not be a bad thing."
At that, the Captian drew his knife and said, "You take those words back!"
But the Doctor answered in a calm and steady voice and said, "Put that knife away, or I promise you that you will go to the gallows. I'm a judge sir, as well as a doctor, and if I hear even one complaint against you, I'll have you thrown into the gallows for many nights."
After that, the Captain was very good, but he stayed with us that long night as my poor father's heart grew worse and worse.
Then one January morning, another stranger came. The stranger asked, "Have you seen my mate Bill?"
I said, "I don't know your mate bill sir. We do have one guest that asked if we'd call him captain."
The stranger was pale and evil looking. Two fingers on his left hand were missing, but he wasn't the one legged man. In fact he didn't even seem like a sailor at all. Then he said, "I think your guest is Bill. I'll wait for him I will."
Then he made me hide behind the door with him.
When the Captian came back, the stranger reached out and grabbed the Captain. "Hello Bill," he said. "Remember your old shipmate? Have the boy fetch some rum, Bill, while you and I have a good honest talk."
I tried to listen from the next room. I could hear nothing for a long time, and then they began to shout and yell at eachother. I heard the Captain yell, "No, I'll never give it to you. I'd rather die." Then there was more shouting, followed by the sounds of swords.
Then Black Dog, the name of the stranger, ran out the door. I ran to the captian and asked, "Sir, are you okay?"
The captain did not answer but said, "Rum, Jim, fetch me Rum." Then he fell to the floor face first.
The Captain was dead.
Now Jim, stop. Tell us all the details.
Ok, ok, well the captain was killed. I went on a ship with some other men and a crew. The crew and the cook attacked us. But in the end we won. And the crook turned out to be my friend. The end
Ok, so that story was not by Walt Disney. But Walt Disney made the movie of it. And Walt Disney not only made the movie, but he made "Return to Treasure Island". And I'll bet he made "The Third Man on the Mountain".
Did anyone else see "Return to Treasure Island" (W)? It was a mini-series that was rerun occasionally on the Disney Channel back then. I was absolutely obsessed with it. I thought it was the greatest show ever. After watching it I would be pumped up for hours, pretending I was sword fighting in the backyard and singing the theme song to myself.
I was also obsessed with Treasure Island, a story I knew via the Fisher-Price delux comic book and tape set. I listened to it over and over again until I had it memorized, as you can see from the passage above. (I wrote that whole thing at school from memory). In fact even now as I re-read it, I can still hear the voice actors and the narration from the tape in my head. There's a bit of awkwardness in the retelling, since the version I had memorized in my head was all in the first person, and I attempted to re-write it in the 3rd person. Eventually I gave up and just and said, "let's let Jim tell the rest of the story." There were 5 other comic books and audio tapes in the series, and eventually our family collected them all (Robinson Crusoe, Frankenstein, Arabian Nights, Alice in Wonderland, and Robin Hood). And all of them I pretty much listened to until I had them memorized.
(I guess there must not have been too much else to do back then. We were probably the last generation before kids just got overwhelmed with media and video games . We didn't get a nintendo until a few years later.
Plus I had parents who very closely limited my TV intake.)
These books (and similar "classics for children" series) both caused me to fall in love with the classics, and also kind of ruined them for me. Several times I tried to read the real "Treasure Island" book by Robert Louis Stevenson, but I could never get through it. When you have the whole story memorized, what's the point?
The same is true for all those other books. (Other than "Robinson Crusoe", which I read in a class at Calvin because I had to. And I found out that the real book is a lot more dry and boring than the comic book version would lead you to believe.)
I never did finish "The Third Man on the Mountain" story. Well, I will not tell that story now.
And remember the story about my family in China. Well, once all the children got out of the car, we killed the two men. The end.
Part 3 of this journal is all about my family. Kyle and Jessica are adopted from Korea. Kyle has a hole in his mouth, and he can not talk good. Jessica has only one arm and a half of an arm.
The whole family has a pen-pal from Korea. And I also have a penpal of my own.
I have sandy colored hair, and so does Kirstin. Jessica, Kyle and Dad have black hair. Mom has brown hair.
We have a dog. His name is Brandy. He acts like a watch dog. But really he is a Lhasa Apso. His fur is gray. It is my job to give him his food and water. He s a strange dog.
He is a strange Dog. He doesn't like mats or baskets. The only bones that he likes are milk bones doggy treats.
And he sits at the window barking at everybody for most of the day. If someone comes in, and it's someone he knows, he doesn't bark at them.
When he gets outside, he runs away a lot, but he always comes back. When he gets outside, he will chase joggers and bikers. Once he got away one the same day that Grandma Swagman was coming over. Grandma Swagman found him tied up to a lamp post. Some jogger or biker must have tied him up. I remember Kirstin was being a real brat at the time. Well, anyway, some jogger or biker had tied him up. When Grandma Swagman saw him, she untied him. Brandy did not bark because he knows Grandma Swagman.
You know, I never minded Brandy's barking all that much. Maybe because the dog was around before I was, I just grew up with it. Or maybe I was young enough that I could still tune it out. But it used to drive my parents crazy. Although a bit of internet research (W) reveals that the Lhasa Apso was specifically bred to for the purpose of barking at everything in sight.
You know, Brandy being a watch dog makes me remember a joke. Here it is:
Bob: Why is your dog running around like that?
Judy: He's a watch dog. He's winding himself up.
That's all the news about Brandy I know of. You all know about Grandma Swagman. She is the mother of my dad, by the way. But who was the mother of my mom? My other Grandma. Grandma Dik.
You know something about me? I am very good at creative writing. Here is one of my stories. It is called "The 3 Giraffes" by Joel Swagman.
Once upon a time there were three little giraffes.
The first giraffe built a home in a haystack.
The second giraffe built a home in a leaf pile.
The third giraffe built a home in a wood pile.
But little did they know a bunch of pirates were looking for giraffe soup....
My second grade teacher gave me an "O" for outstanding on creative writing. It was the only "O" I recieved on my report card. (Everything else was marked "S" for satisfactory.)
She also gave me a lot of praise for my stories, and even went through the trouble of signing me up for "Young Author's Festival at Calvin" the following year, even though I was no longer in her class.
I had never thought of myself as a writer before, but this put the idea into my mind. And in fact it was a notion that stayed with me for a long time, even when I got into high school and my English teachers there were a lot less enthusiastic about my writing abilities.
As a result of this, I developed the hobby of writing stories (mostly for my own amusement) all through my childhood, high school, and even my time at Calvin . (And although I'm somewhat embarrased to admit it, I still fool around with writing fiction from time to time even today.)
Like most amateur writers, I never worked constantly on anything as a child, but wrote in the usual fits and starts. I spent more time walking around day dreaming and thinking of ideas than I ever got around to writing on paper.
The "Three Giraffe Story" was originally a school assignment. But my teacher praised my story so highly that I became very proud of it. She asked me for permission to photocopy it so she could keep it in her files, and I was unbelievable proud of myself. For reasons I don't really remember, I decided I wanted to rewrite the whole thing down into my journal. I guess I just wanted to keep all my writing in the same place.
By the time I started re-copying my "Giraffe Story", the year was over and I was in 3rd grade. I worked on the table in the basement slowly rewriting everything, still in the phase were writing down anything was a laborious project.
The papers were left on the downstairs table for several nights, and eventually my mom just went through and threw everything out except the journal itself.
I was devestated and in tears. My mom agreed to call up my old second grade teacher, and she still had a copy of my story in her files which she recopied and gave back to me.
A few years ago I posted this story on one of my other blogs, so it seems unnecessary to re-post it here. Just click on the link if you're interested.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Beppu University: 100 Year Anniversary
This Thursday was the 100th Anniversary of Beppu University. Initially we were all told we would have the day off from school, which made us very happy. Then we were later told we would have to attend a special ceremony that day instead of school (at which attendance would be taken) for which we were not so happy.
A Korean friend complained to me. "I hate these Japanese ceremonies," he said. "They just go on and on with speeches. In Korea we try and wrap everything up in a half hour, but in Japan they just go on and on. The opening school ceremony was awful."
Actually I had missed the opening school ceremony, because it was on a Saturday and I had a conflict with work. But over the years I have attended more than my share of ceremonies in Japan, so I knew what he meant.
The day before the ceremony, the principle gave a short talk in which he told us what to wear (suits), where to go, and what time to show up. He mentioned the first hour would all be speeches, and then the rest of it would be a concert by Minami Kosetsu. "Of course you're all quite young, so I doubt any of you know who Minami Kosetsu is," he added.
...unless of course you have some sort of strange fascination with Japanese oldies like me. So I knew who Minami Kosetsu was. (In fact I mentioned him by name is this article). I even have a couple of his CDs in my apartment. (Well, if you want to get technical, they're actual mini disc copies I made. But the point is I'm a fan).
Minami Kosetsu was part of the folk music boom in Japan in the early 70s. He's also a native son of Oita prefecture, which is his connection to Beppu University.
And he put on a really good show. He played several songs I knew, and told lots of interesting stories between them. (My Nova students tell me that lots of talking is characteristic of his concerts). And even though he is an aging pop star, his voice still sounded as clear and as clean as it did on his old records. In fact even more so because it was a live performance.
The thing that was too bad was that it was a mandatory school event. So the auditorium was packed full of people who didn't really want to be there. And all around me there were people who would shift in their seats or groan whenever he started a new song. But many other people really got into it. Several of my classmates later said they had never heard of him before, but really enjoyed his music.
Link of the Day
The World at 350A Last Chance for Civilization By Bill McKibben
Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start — even for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.
It’s not just the economy. We've gone through swoons before. It’s that gas at $4 a gallon means we’re running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It’s that when we try to turn corn into gas, it sends the price of a loaf of bread shooting upwards and starts food riots on three continents. It’s that everything is so inextricably tied together. It’s that, all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the “limits to growth” suddenly seem… how best to put it, right.
All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it’s dusk on planet Earth.
There’s a number — a new number — that makes this point most powerfully. It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A few weeks ago, our foremost climatologist, NASA’s Jim Hansen, submitted a paper to Science magazine with several co-authors. The abstract attached to it argued — and I have never read stronger language in a scientific paper — “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.” Hansen cites six irreversible tipping points — massive sea level rise and huge changes in rainfall patterns, among them — that we’ll pass if we don’t get back down to 350 soon; and the first of them, judging by last summer’s insane melt of Arctic ice, may already be behind us.
The rest.
A Korean friend complained to me. "I hate these Japanese ceremonies," he said. "They just go on and on with speeches. In Korea we try and wrap everything up in a half hour, but in Japan they just go on and on. The opening school ceremony was awful."
Actually I had missed the opening school ceremony, because it was on a Saturday and I had a conflict with work. But over the years I have attended more than my share of ceremonies in Japan, so I knew what he meant.
The day before the ceremony, the principle gave a short talk in which he told us what to wear (suits), where to go, and what time to show up. He mentioned the first hour would all be speeches, and then the rest of it would be a concert by Minami Kosetsu. "Of course you're all quite young, so I doubt any of you know who Minami Kosetsu is," he added.
...unless of course you have some sort of strange fascination with Japanese oldies like me. So I knew who Minami Kosetsu was. (In fact I mentioned him by name is this article). I even have a couple of his CDs in my apartment. (Well, if you want to get technical, they're actual mini disc copies I made. But the point is I'm a fan).
Minami Kosetsu was part of the folk music boom in Japan in the early 70s. He's also a native son of Oita prefecture, which is his connection to Beppu University.
And he put on a really good show. He played several songs I knew, and told lots of interesting stories between them. (My Nova students tell me that lots of talking is characteristic of his concerts). And even though he is an aging pop star, his voice still sounded as clear and as clean as it did on his old records. In fact even more so because it was a live performance.
The thing that was too bad was that it was a mandatory school event. So the auditorium was packed full of people who didn't really want to be there. And all around me there were people who would shift in their seats or groan whenever he started a new song. But many other people really got into it. Several of my classmates later said they had never heard of him before, but really enjoyed his music.
Link of the Day
The World at 350A Last Chance for Civilization By Bill McKibben
Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start — even for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.
It’s not just the economy. We've gone through swoons before. It’s that gas at $4 a gallon means we’re running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It’s that when we try to turn corn into gas, it sends the price of a loaf of bread shooting upwards and starts food riots on three continents. It’s that everything is so inextricably tied together. It’s that, all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the “limits to growth” suddenly seem… how best to put it, right.
All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it’s dusk on planet Earth.
There’s a number — a new number — that makes this point most powerfully. It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A few weeks ago, our foremost climatologist, NASA’s Jim Hansen, submitted a paper to Science magazine with several co-authors. The abstract attached to it argued — and I have never read stronger language in a scientific paper — “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.” Hansen cites six irreversible tipping points — massive sea level rise and huge changes in rainfall patterns, among them — that we’ll pass if we don’t get back down to 350 soon; and the first of them, judging by last summer’s insane melt of Arctic ice, may already be behind us.
The rest.
Friday, May 09, 2008
太陽の子エステバン / The Mysterious Cities of Gold
(Japanese Video Series)When I saw this Anime series in my local video store, I thought: what a great way to combine Japanese study with childhood nostalgia.
Remember this show? Of course you do. If you grew up in the 1980s, and if you lived in a house with basic cable, then I have no doubt this show has a special place in your heart.
And it turns out not only for Americans. I mentioned to my Australian co-worker that I was working my way through the series, and he said, "No kidding. I'm a member of the 'Mysterious Cities of Gold Webring'," (apparently such a thing exists) and then he proceeded to wax nostalgic about the series himself.
For anyone not familiar with this show:
It was a French / Japanese co-production. (My co-worker tried to tell me it was primarily a French project, so I couldn't really count it as Japanese anime. My own internet research leads me to believe it was mostly initiated by the Japanese side. I'm not going to waste a lot of space here on the debate though. Suffice it to say I'm counting it as a Japanese anime series for the purposes of this blog.)
It was then translated into English, and broadcast on Nickelodeon from 1986 to 1990. Which is where I, and many of you, saw it as a child.
In fact for much of my childhood I wasn't allowed to watch normal TV, and my viewing was restricted to just 3 channels: PBS, The Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon. So I used to watch this show a lot. And yet I never managed to make it all the way through to the end. I remember one summer when I had watched the show almost to its end, and then I was forbidden from watching TV for one week because I forgot to weed the garden. Another time I missed the conclusion because we had to all go pick my sister up from camp at Spring Hill, and I was given no choice about coming along for the afternoon.
(Also if memory serves correctly, this show used to be on at 2:30 in the afternoon. Which meant I couldn't watch it on a school day, and it was mostly a summer vacation show. But my memory grows hazy on this point. Does anyone else remember more clearly?)
Anyway, it was nice to sit down and watch the whole series on DVD from beginning to end. And of course watching it in the original Japanese helped me with my language studies.
For comparisons sake, I was just watching some of the English episodes on google video (there seem to be a lot of episodes floating around on the internet), and I realized how horrible the English dub actually was. This was something that never bothered me as a child, but I notice it now.
First off is the way all the dub voice actors are always rushing to finish their lines before the character's mouth finishes moving. For whatever reason, this seems to be a common problem when dubbing Japanese anime to English. (A phenomenon spoofed excellently on South Park).
That may be an unavoidable evil when dubbing from one language to another. What is less excusable is that the English voice actors seem to be sleepwalking their way through the performance. "Oh no. Oh let me go. Oh Esteban help me" (All spoken in a monotone).
Neither of these bothered me as a child. In fact I don't recall ever noticing it. But I notice it now.
So for voice acting, the Japanese version is far superior. Unfortunately the Japanese sound track is a big disappointment.
Remember the theme song from "Cities of Gold"? It had a mysterious feel to it, which really set the mood for the show.
Granted I was easier to impress back then, but go over to youtube and watch the opening sequence again. It still sounds pretty cool. And the French version is pretty much the same.
....And then, watch the Japanese opening theme. I'm a big fan of Japanese music, but the J-pop scene has more than it's share of cheesy pop ballads, and this is a prime example.
The series consists of 39 episodes. (Apparently 39 being the magic number needed to accommodate the Japan Broadcasting Corporation airing schedule during a year).
39 episodes is a lot to sit through when you're trying to watch them all on DVD. (Especially with school starting up , it took me about 3 months to work my way through this series). And yet at the same time, part of me was surprised there weren't more episodes. After all, 39 episodes is nothing really, considering Nickelodeon aired this show 5 days a week for 4 years. They must have run through the whole series every 2 months, and rerun the whole a thing a total of (...hold on a minute here...) 24 times in total.
But somehow it seemed a lot longer back then. If I missed the ending episode, it would seem like an eternity before the series would cycle around again to the conclusions (I would have guessed about half a year). I guess time really does pass slower when you're a child.
Anyway, I've gassed on long enough. I suppose I should finally get around to reviewing the actual content of this series.
This cartoon is clearly not adult entertainment for any number of reasons:
*the slapstick cartoonish humor is aimed straight at a child's sensibilities (as well as the buffoonery of the comic relief characters Sancho and Pedro) ,
* the action sequences take a lot of liberties with the laws of physics,
* the whole premise of the show requires a suspension of disbelief on a level more readily achieved by a child ,
* the adults defer to the decisions of the children in a way that only happens in children's cartoons,
et cetera.
So it's no good watching this show from the perspective of an adult. However, if you can try and watch this show from the perspective of a 10 year old child, it has aged surprisingly well. Especially compared to all the other junk we used to watch during the 80s.
Have you ever tried re-watching 80s cartoons as an adult? Superfriends, He-man, Thundercats, all the stuff we used to love back then is hard to sit through now. (When I was living back in the states 2 years ago, I was overjoyed when I discovered the cartoon network was re-running Superfriends, only to discover I couldn't even make it through a whole episode).
"Cities of Gold" on the other hand, was an absolute pleasure to re-watch. Sure I had to work hard to suspend my adult reasoning at several points throughout the series, but the story is well written, and a sense of exotic adventure pervades the whole series. Whether you're navigating the straits of Magellan, shipwrecked on the Galapagos Islands, in the jungles of South America, in the forests of the Amazon women, or deep in the caves of the Olmec's, you have a sense of being on a classic adventure in the tradition of the best pulp fiction writers. Burroughs would have been proud.
When I was a child, I had read in the school library about the real life historical Spanish quest for the cities of gold. At the time, that was yet another attraction to this series, as it gave it a real historical connection.
Watching it now, the historical connection seems very loose indeed. Especially once the series turns to science fiction and fantasy and blatantly abandons any pretense what so ever of historical accuracy. Still, it was a stroke of genius for someone to turn this ancient Spanish myth into a children's cartoon. The whole series has an air of ancient mystery to it.
The characters are surprisingly complex as well, by the standards of children's cartoons. Mendoza is the action swashbuckling action hero of the series. If one of the children gets in trouble, you can bet it will be Mendoza who swings in on a rope (with the dramatic music and his cape fluttering behind him) to save the day. In any other series, Mendoza would have been the title character of the show; like "He-man" or "Superman", or any other 80s cartoon, where the strongest and bravest character is also not only the lead character but also the moral strong point. (Didn't He-man even give moral lessons at the end of each episode?)
But in "Cities of Gold" you're never quite sure until the very end where Mendoza stands. You know part of him wants to protect the children, but another part of him just might sell them out for the gold if he ever got the chance. And the children, especially Zia, never fully trust Mendoza for most of the series.
And of course there's the whole concept (completely new to all of us 80s children) that this was an on-going story. Not everything was wrapped up and finished in 25 minutes, and then completely restarted the next day. The story developed, and the characters and their relationships also developed with it.
Finally, despite the fact that this series was produced in the early 80s, the animation has also aged very well. None of the cheap stop motion techniques you might expect from cartoons of this period. It could hold it's own against anything on TV today.
In conclusion: watching this video series straight through was a very pleasant trip down memory lane. It might have been a children's cartoon, but I never thought to myself, "how could I have liked this crap as a child?" Instead the thought that constantly went through my head while watching was, "No wonder I loved this show as a child. It's the perfect show for an 8 year old boy."
And plus I finally found out how the series ended!
According to wikipedia, a film based on this series is currently in production. If true, I'll be looking forward to seeing that when it comes out.
Link of the Day
Enough
The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Anime Series Review (Scripted)
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Japan E-mails: September 3, 2001: Book Reviews
To: Bob (Media Mouse)
Bob, here are a few reviews for you as promised. I think I have a couple more in me that I'm not thinking of right now, but I'll send them along as I think of them. You'll notice that:
1) All of my reviews are novels. However I think as we develop our book review section could comprise a wide variety of both fiction and non-fiction
2) I'm kind of hogging the classics a bit, and someone else on Media Mouse (or connected to Media Mouse) could probably write a better review of several of these books. But, I think it might even be cool to include more than one review on a given book if more than one person is interested in reviewing it. That way we could get different takes on stuff. These are just my takes.
3) I hope it's not too much trouble to copy--paste out of hotmail. I'm not good at using attachments. If it is too much trouble, just let me know, and I'll figure this attachment thing out. Peace.
Author: Victor Hugo
Book: Les Miserables
Victor Hugo's classic, "Les Miserables" has become so popular in mainstream society that it may seem strange to claim this book as a piece of radical literature. And in truth there is little in it that is radical by today's standards. Although Victor Hugo did deal with themes of political rebellion in this classic, religious ideas and the theme of redemption are more dominant in the work.
Nevertheless, the book is not without political relevance. Victor Hugo, who himself became a nominal socialist in old age, was no stranger to the political world. He was expelled from France after resisting Napoleon III's coup d'etat, and wrote "Les Miserables" in exile.
Anarchist-feminist Louise Michel, arguable the most famous figure associated with the Paris Commune, considered Victor Hugo her childhood hero. She referred to herself as Enjolas, after the fictional leader at the barricades from "Les Miserables" and she was even sexually involved with Victor Hugo when he returned to Paris.
Victor Hugo himself was not involved in the Paris Commune, but earned the anger of the conservative bourgeois by pleading for leniency once the Commune fell. It was because of this stance that an angry mob smashed the windows of his house one night shouting "down with Jean Valjean" (again, another reference to a fictional character from "Les Miserables", this time the protagonist).
Through the fictional ABC club in "Les Miserables" Victor Hugo offers a glimpse into the world of the Paris radicals of 1832. Granted this was in a time when republican ideals by themselves were enough to be considered radical, but there are references to other causes. For instance, one of the revolutionaries is obsessed with the idea of freedom for the Polish people, even though he is not Polish himself. This is a reflection of a time when Justice for the Polish people was the darling cause of European radicals. Mikhail Bakunin himself, when he was first becoming involved in politics, was swept into this cause and gave speeches to the Polish exile community.
Many would be readers are intimidated by the length of Les Miserables. However, large sections of the book have no relevance to the plot, and can safely be skimmed over, making the book not as long as it seems. Many readers are happy with an abridged version of Les Miserables. However many, like myself, can never read an abridged book without an uncomfortable feeling that they might be missing something important. For this reason I recommend investing in an unbridged copy, and simply skimming over the irrelevant parts. This allows the reader to be the editor, instead of having the publisher decide which portions of the book are worthwhile.
Besides which, some of the tangents Victor Hugo goes off on might actually be worth reading, such as the passages describing the problem of inequality in Paris. On the other hand, the long passages he uses to describe some of the architecture can probably be painlessly skipped over. The reader should just use their own discretion.
Finally, this review would probably not be complete without some mention of the various sequels to "Les Miserables" floating around. The most widely circulated one is probably "Cosette" by Laura Kalpakian. The book deals with the surviving characters from "Les Miserables" as participate in the 1848 revolution and live through the following coup by Napoleon the III, and the repression of radicals that followed. No doubt the period covered is a fascinating time in French History, but Kalpakian pales in comparison with Victor Hugo. The attempt to recapture the drama of the original "Les Miserables" results in a somewhat cheesy and melodramatic storyline. Nonetheless as there appears to be a shortage of English historical novels covering this period, I suggest anyone interested in this period might do well to at least try out "Cosette", but keep your expectations low.
Author: Tom Wolfe
Books: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Radical Chic, Mau Mauing the Flack Catcher,
I apologize first of all for including in this radical book review section an author who by his own admission is a conservative. However, while one might disagree with Tom Wolfe on ideological points, one has to admit he does a good job of painting a vivid picture of his subject matter.
The three works I have read by Tom Wolfe, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", "Radical Chic" and "Mau Mauing the Flack Catcher" (the last two are quite short and usually included in one volume) all deal with the New Left movement of the late 1960s. However Wolfe's books are not love letters to the radicals, as he pokes subtle fun at the New Left participants throughout. Nevertheless, Wolfe's descriptions of the events he describes are so detailed and so vivid that I recommend his books to anyone interested in this time period, provided on reads with a critical mind.
And one could even argue Wolfe makes some good points in his criticisms; for example, when he pokes fun at government bureaucracy and wealthy liberals who enjoy the prestige of hanging out with the Black Panthers. However it should be noted that Wolfe always chooses easy targets for his barbs.
"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" is about Ken Kesey (author of "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest") who travels around with his band of Merry Pranksters, and experiments with LSD. Most of the book is more cultural in nature than political, but there are interesting sections about the uneasy alliance between the hedonistic minded counter-culture and the politically minded New Left.
"Radical Chic" is a description of a party hosted by Leonard Bernstein to raise money for the Black Panthers. It is an interesting commentary on rich liberals who, Wolfe believes, are into radical politics because of the image, and not because of conviction. The primary focus of Wolfe's satire are the rich liberals, but he manages to take a few jabs at the Black Panthers as well. However, because of the detail in which Wolfe describes the event, this book should be read by anyone interested in the Black Panthers, provided this is not used as the only source on the Black Panthers.
And "Mau Mauing the Flack Catcher" is about organized militant minority groups, and the strategies they use to try and manipulate government bureaucracy. Again, some of what Wolfe says should be taken with a grain of salt, but I enjoyed this book the most out of the three, and often found myself laughing at Wolfe's satire.
Author: George Orwell
Books: 1984, Animal Farm, Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Because he is primarily known as an anti-communist, George Orwell was the darling of the political right all through the Cold War. However, while George Orwell was appalled by Stalinist style communism, he never gave up on democratic socialists ideas, and for this reason he has also been popular in anarchist circles.
His two most famous books, "1984" and "Animal Farm" both deal with thinly veiled allegories to the Soviet Union. However most of the criticism made in these books could be applied to any type of totalitarian government. Orwell also criticizes, through satire, those citizens who are uncritical of what the government tells them to believe.
"1984" is truly brilliant, not only for the political content involved, but Orwell has a writing style that makes him a joy to read. The book explores the nature of totalitarian states, and how they maintain their power. Although all of this is described in an exaggerated fictional context, the general points Orwell makes are sound. Orwell also describes how people react to totalitarian states, whether they comply, seek their own personal liberation, or seek to destroy the entire system. Orwell gives examples of all three reactions through his characters.
"Keep the Aspidistra Flying" is one of Orwell's lesser known works, but it is not without value. It is the story of Gordon, a man who had success in the advertising industry. However Gordon becomes so appalled by capitalism, and his contribution to it, that he decides to drop out of the whole system and work in a bookshop. The book describes Gordon's struggle to live a happy life in his self-imposed poverty. Although it is always dangerous to assume autobiographical content, much of this book parallels Orwell's own life when he was working in similar circumstances. The book describes a struggle many of us face in different circumstances: How much of our principles are we willing to compromise in order to live in mainstream capitalist society, or should we live out our lives on the outskirts of society? Orwell's ending may be inconclusive, but the question cannot be ignored.
Author: Richard Wright
Book: Black Boy
Richard Wright is certainly a master of English prose, and his books are a pleasure to read no matter what the subject matter is. Therefore when he writes about an interesting subject, it is all the more reason to check out his writings.
"Black Boy" is Richard Wright's autobiography, and is divided into two parts. The first part concerns Richard Wright growing up as an African American in the South during the first part of the 20th Century. This makes for excellent in itself, but the second part of the book is more noteworthy from a radical perspective.
In the second part, Wright moves to Chicago in the 1930s. It is there that he encounters the Communist party. Wright is impressed with the communist party's dedication to the cause of civil rights for African Americans, and so enlists. It is, for the most part, a very sympathetic portrait of the Communist party, even though at the end of the book Wright leaves the Communist party thoroughly frustrated. As Wright becomes more involved in the Communist part, he realizes how authoritarian the party is, and how there is no room for dispute within the party itself. In short, the book captures both the good and bad points of the Communist party: the dedication for equality is mentioned right alongside of the authoritarian structure.
[Editor's note: Unfortunately none of these reviews ever saw the light of day on Media Mouse's web-page. I never heard back after sending them over, so I'm not sure what happened.
Most of the things we had discussed for the Media Mouse web page at that time never happened, so I suspect the web master just got either burnt out or distracted by other projects. No doubt the fact that September 11th happened a few days after this e-mail was a factor in most of our old projects fading away, and a change of focus.
A few years later, however, Media Mouse did start up a book-review project on their site. It was clear from the wonkish style of books being reviewed that they were interested in books with detailed policy analysis, not just novels by writers with vague left-leaning sentiments (as I had sent them).
Nevertheless, despite the fact that these reviews never saw the light of day, I have, over -the past- few - years-, gotten several other book reviews published on their webpage. ]
Bob, here are a few reviews for you as promised. I think I have a couple more in me that I'm not thinking of right now, but I'll send them along as I think of them. You'll notice that:
1) All of my reviews are novels. However I think as we develop our book review section could comprise a wide variety of both fiction and non-fiction
2) I'm kind of hogging the classics a bit, and someone else on Media Mouse (or connected to Media Mouse) could probably write a better review of several of these books. But, I think it might even be cool to include more than one review on a given book if more than one person is interested in reviewing it. That way we could get different takes on stuff. These are just my takes.
3) I hope it's not too much trouble to copy--paste out of hotmail. I'm not good at using attachments. If it is too much trouble, just let me know, and I'll figure this attachment thing out. Peace.
Author: Victor Hugo
Book: Les Miserables
Victor Hugo's classic, "Les Miserables" has become so popular in mainstream society that it may seem strange to claim this book as a piece of radical literature. And in truth there is little in it that is radical by today's standards. Although Victor Hugo did deal with themes of political rebellion in this classic, religious ideas and the theme of redemption are more dominant in the work.
Nevertheless, the book is not without political relevance. Victor Hugo, who himself became a nominal socialist in old age, was no stranger to the political world. He was expelled from France after resisting Napoleon III's coup d'etat, and wrote "Les Miserables" in exile.
Anarchist-feminist Louise Michel, arguable the most famous figure associated with the Paris Commune, considered Victor Hugo her childhood hero. She referred to herself as Enjolas, after the fictional leader at the barricades from "Les Miserables" and she was even sexually involved with Victor Hugo when he returned to Paris.
Victor Hugo himself was not involved in the Paris Commune, but earned the anger of the conservative bourgeois by pleading for leniency once the Commune fell. It was because of this stance that an angry mob smashed the windows of his house one night shouting "down with Jean Valjean" (again, another reference to a fictional character from "Les Miserables", this time the protagonist).
Through the fictional ABC club in "Les Miserables" Victor Hugo offers a glimpse into the world of the Paris radicals of 1832. Granted this was in a time when republican ideals by themselves were enough to be considered radical, but there are references to other causes. For instance, one of the revolutionaries is obsessed with the idea of freedom for the Polish people, even though he is not Polish himself. This is a reflection of a time when Justice for the Polish people was the darling cause of European radicals. Mikhail Bakunin himself, when he was first becoming involved in politics, was swept into this cause and gave speeches to the Polish exile community.
Many would be readers are intimidated by the length of Les Miserables. However, large sections of the book have no relevance to the plot, and can safely be skimmed over, making the book not as long as it seems. Many readers are happy with an abridged version of Les Miserables. However many, like myself, can never read an abridged book without an uncomfortable feeling that they might be missing something important. For this reason I recommend investing in an unbridged copy, and simply skimming over the irrelevant parts. This allows the reader to be the editor, instead of having the publisher decide which portions of the book are worthwhile.
Besides which, some of the tangents Victor Hugo goes off on might actually be worth reading, such as the passages describing the problem of inequality in Paris. On the other hand, the long passages he uses to describe some of the architecture can probably be painlessly skipped over. The reader should just use their own discretion.
Finally, this review would probably not be complete without some mention of the various sequels to "Les Miserables" floating around. The most widely circulated one is probably "Cosette" by Laura Kalpakian. The book deals with the surviving characters from "Les Miserables" as participate in the 1848 revolution and live through the following coup by Napoleon the III, and the repression of radicals that followed. No doubt the period covered is a fascinating time in French History, but Kalpakian pales in comparison with Victor Hugo. The attempt to recapture the drama of the original "Les Miserables" results in a somewhat cheesy and melodramatic storyline. Nonetheless as there appears to be a shortage of English historical novels covering this period, I suggest anyone interested in this period might do well to at least try out "Cosette", but keep your expectations low.
Author: Tom Wolfe
Books: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Radical Chic, Mau Mauing the Flack Catcher,
I apologize first of all for including in this radical book review section an author who by his own admission is a conservative. However, while one might disagree with Tom Wolfe on ideological points, one has to admit he does a good job of painting a vivid picture of his subject matter.
The three works I have read by Tom Wolfe, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test", "Radical Chic" and "Mau Mauing the Flack Catcher" (the last two are quite short and usually included in one volume) all deal with the New Left movement of the late 1960s. However Wolfe's books are not love letters to the radicals, as he pokes subtle fun at the New Left participants throughout. Nevertheless, Wolfe's descriptions of the events he describes are so detailed and so vivid that I recommend his books to anyone interested in this time period, provided on reads with a critical mind.
And one could even argue Wolfe makes some good points in his criticisms; for example, when he pokes fun at government bureaucracy and wealthy liberals who enjoy the prestige of hanging out with the Black Panthers. However it should be noted that Wolfe always chooses easy targets for his barbs.
"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" is about Ken Kesey (author of "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest") who travels around with his band of Merry Pranksters, and experiments with LSD. Most of the book is more cultural in nature than political, but there are interesting sections about the uneasy alliance between the hedonistic minded counter-culture and the politically minded New Left.
"Radical Chic" is a description of a party hosted by Leonard Bernstein to raise money for the Black Panthers. It is an interesting commentary on rich liberals who, Wolfe believes, are into radical politics because of the image, and not because of conviction. The primary focus of Wolfe's satire are the rich liberals, but he manages to take a few jabs at the Black Panthers as well. However, because of the detail in which Wolfe describes the event, this book should be read by anyone interested in the Black Panthers, provided this is not used as the only source on the Black Panthers.
And "Mau Mauing the Flack Catcher" is about organized militant minority groups, and the strategies they use to try and manipulate government bureaucracy. Again, some of what Wolfe says should be taken with a grain of salt, but I enjoyed this book the most out of the three, and often found myself laughing at Wolfe's satire.
Author: George Orwell
Books: 1984, Animal Farm, Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Because he is primarily known as an anti-communist, George Orwell was the darling of the political right all through the Cold War. However, while George Orwell was appalled by Stalinist style communism, he never gave up on democratic socialists ideas, and for this reason he has also been popular in anarchist circles.
His two most famous books, "1984" and "Animal Farm" both deal with thinly veiled allegories to the Soviet Union. However most of the criticism made in these books could be applied to any type of totalitarian government. Orwell also criticizes, through satire, those citizens who are uncritical of what the government tells them to believe.
"1984" is truly brilliant, not only for the political content involved, but Orwell has a writing style that makes him a joy to read. The book explores the nature of totalitarian states, and how they maintain their power. Although all of this is described in an exaggerated fictional context, the general points Orwell makes are sound. Orwell also describes how people react to totalitarian states, whether they comply, seek their own personal liberation, or seek to destroy the entire system. Orwell gives examples of all three reactions through his characters.
"Keep the Aspidistra Flying" is one of Orwell's lesser known works, but it is not without value. It is the story of Gordon, a man who had success in the advertising industry. However Gordon becomes so appalled by capitalism, and his contribution to it, that he decides to drop out of the whole system and work in a bookshop. The book describes Gordon's struggle to live a happy life in his self-imposed poverty. Although it is always dangerous to assume autobiographical content, much of this book parallels Orwell's own life when he was working in similar circumstances. The book describes a struggle many of us face in different circumstances: How much of our principles are we willing to compromise in order to live in mainstream capitalist society, or should we live out our lives on the outskirts of society? Orwell's ending may be inconclusive, but the question cannot be ignored.
Author: Richard Wright
Book: Black Boy
Richard Wright is certainly a master of English prose, and his books are a pleasure to read no matter what the subject matter is. Therefore when he writes about an interesting subject, it is all the more reason to check out his writings.
"Black Boy" is Richard Wright's autobiography, and is divided into two parts. The first part concerns Richard Wright growing up as an African American in the South during the first part of the 20th Century. This makes for excellent in itself, but the second part of the book is more noteworthy from a radical perspective.
In the second part, Wright moves to Chicago in the 1930s. It is there that he encounters the Communist party. Wright is impressed with the communist party's dedication to the cause of civil rights for African Americans, and so enlists. It is, for the most part, a very sympathetic portrait of the Communist party, even though at the end of the book Wright leaves the Communist party thoroughly frustrated. As Wright becomes more involved in the Communist part, he realizes how authoritarian the party is, and how there is no room for dispute within the party itself. In short, the book captures both the good and bad points of the Communist party: the dedication for equality is mentioned right alongside of the authoritarian structure.
[Editor's note: Unfortunately none of these reviews ever saw the light of day on Media Mouse's web-page. I never heard back after sending them over, so I'm not sure what happened.
Most of the things we had discussed for the Media Mouse web page at that time never happened, so I suspect the web master just got either burnt out or distracted by other projects. No doubt the fact that September 11th happened a few days after this e-mail was a factor in most of our old projects fading away, and a change of focus.
A few years later, however, Media Mouse did start up a book-review project on their site. It was clear from the wonkish style of books being reviewed that they were interested in books with detailed policy analysis, not just novels by writers with vague left-leaning sentiments (as I had sent them).
Nevertheless, despite the fact that these reviews never saw the light of day, I have, over -the past- few - years-, gotten several other book reviews published on their webpage. ]
Japan Hitch Hike video 4
(Retrospection)
Again, after converting the old VHS tapes to DVD, here is part 4 of our hitch hiking trip across Japan. (See also Parts 1, 2, and 3).
As you can see in the video, at this point we arrive at the bridge crossing over between Honshu and Kyushu. (Honshu is the big long island. Kyushu is the Southern most island. If you're not familiar with Japan, you can always look at a map.)
I had gone back and forth between Kyushu and Honshu several times by this point, but never by car. And I had never had the opportunity to actually look at the distance dividing them. And quite frankly, as I say on the video, I was surprised by how small it was. I was expecting some big divide like the English channel, but it was barely even a river separating them. I was surprised it even shows up on the map.
Up until now we had been using a hitch hiking sign that said, "Honshu". I suggested that it might be time to get to work on a new sign, since Honshu was now walking distance across the bridge.
Greg had these signs down to a bit of a fine art. He figured that if we had a destination that was too far away, nobody would pick us up, so he always tried to estimate a good distance to aim for.
We decided that Hiroshima was a good city to aim for, so Greg set to work on making a sign. It had already been decided early in the trip that my attempts at making signs were artistically lacking. Greg believed that if you put a lot of work and care into the sign, it would show you were serious about hitch-hiking, and people would be more likely to give you a ride. (After all, who wants to pick up a hitch-hiker with a shabby sign?)
Greg set down to work on his sign, giving it his usual careful attention to detail. "You know," he remarked as he put on the finishing touches, "I'm actually going to be a bit upset if someone gives us a ride all the way to Hiroshima in one go after all the work I put into this sign."
While he was still putting on the finishing touches, before he had even gotten the sign out to use it once, a girl passed by and offered us a ride all the way to Hiroshima (and in fact a bit beyond). I got a good laugh out of that.
The girl was from the Hiroshima area, and worked as a nurse, if I remember right. She was driving back from a weekend surfing trip down in Miyazaki.
It was several hours up to Hiroshima (6? 8? I forget exactly) so we stopped at one point to get something to eat, and Greg and I switched places..
The rest of the drive up I was in the passenger seat.
She, I think, was happy to have company for the long drive up to Hiroshima, and Greg and I did our best to be good hitch-hikers by keeping up a lively conversation and trying to make her laugh.
As you can see in the video, at this point we arrive at the bridge crossing over between Honshu and Kyushu. (Honshu is the big long island. Kyushu is the Southern most island. If you're not familiar with Japan, you can always look at a map.)
I had gone back and forth between Kyushu and Honshu several times by this point, but never by car. And I had never had the opportunity to actually look at the distance dividing them. And quite frankly, as I say on the video, I was surprised by how small it was. I was expecting some big divide like the English channel, but it was barely even a river separating them. I was surprised it even shows up on the map.
Up until now we had been using a hitch hiking sign that said, "Honshu". I suggested that it might be time to get to work on a new sign, since Honshu was now walking distance across the bridge.
Greg had these signs down to a bit of a fine art. He figured that if we had a destination that was too far away, nobody would pick us up, so he always tried to estimate a good distance to aim for.
We decided that Hiroshima was a good city to aim for, so Greg set to work on making a sign. It had already been decided early in the trip that my attempts at making signs were artistically lacking. Greg believed that if you put a lot of work and care into the sign, it would show you were serious about hitch-hiking, and people would be more likely to give you a ride. (After all, who wants to pick up a hitch-hiker with a shabby sign?)
Greg set down to work on his sign, giving it his usual careful attention to detail. "You know," he remarked as he put on the finishing touches, "I'm actually going to be a bit upset if someone gives us a ride all the way to Hiroshima in one go after all the work I put into this sign."
While he was still putting on the finishing touches, before he had even gotten the sign out to use it once, a girl passed by and offered us a ride all the way to Hiroshima (and in fact a bit beyond). I got a good laugh out of that.
The girl was from the Hiroshima area, and worked as a nurse, if I remember right. She was driving back from a weekend surfing trip down in Miyazaki.
It was several hours up to Hiroshima (6? 8? I forget exactly) so we stopped at one point to get something to eat, and Greg and I switched places..
The rest of the drive up I was in the passenger seat.
She, I think, was happy to have company for the long drive up to Hiroshima, and Greg and I did our best to be good hitch-hikers by keeping up a lively conversation and trying to make her laugh.
Japan E-mails: September 2, 2001
I'm going to have less e-mail time in the future than I have been accustomed to, because school has just started. So no more sitting in the office and e-mailing all day. But I'll figure something out and still do my best to keep in touch with everyone. I gave my introduction to the students on Saturday, and today is the first day of real classes. I'm a bit nervous because I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to be doing. That's the way everything is around here. I don't know what's going to happen until it happens. I think it's because of the language barrier mostly. Anyway, I hope I'm not supposed to have any lessons or anything prepared for today, because I don't.
Oh, hey, and while I'm e-mailing you, we've started up a new project at Media Mouse (who I have been corresponding with via e-mail) for a radical book review section. Pretty neat huh? So if you have any radical books you would like to review for the Mouse, just sent it along to me, and I'll make sure it gets to the web guy.
*************************************************
unfortunately we don't get a long weekend over here. In fact, until you reminded me via e-mail, I totally forgot labor day even exists. No one seems to celebrate it over here. And, not only did we not have a long weekend, but the first day of school was Saturday September 1st. That's right, the first day of school was on a Saturday. What a country!
I went to a tug of war festival the other day. It was fun, and they had lots of tasty food. Some one gave me little bread balls with kind of BBQ sauce and a chewy center. "These are good," I commented. "What's inside them?"
"Octopus," my Japanese friend answered. Well, naturally I was a little disconcerted to find out I had just eaten an octopus. "You son of a bitch," I yelled out, grabbing him by the throat.
******************************************
Since I last wrote you, I bought another car. It was hard for me to drive the manual, but I think I was beginning to get the hang of it near the end. The thing is though that Japan has a bit of a weird system concerning cars. Every two years the car needs to be certified as road worthy, and sometimes the process of getting the car up to code can be so expensive that it is cheaper just to buy a new car. This was the case with me, so I got another car for roughly the equivalent of $1500, and I don't have to get it certified for a whole year now. And it is automatic, so driving is basically a piece of cake, although there are a few things that are still problematic. Driving on the left side of the road isn't too bad usually, but every so often I catch myself automatically turning into the right lane, and I have to hurriedly correct myself before I cause an accident. (No accidents yet though). What really gets me is that the roads here are so damn narrow. But I'm getting used to it.
Japan E-mails August 31, 2001
From: Chimes listserve (In response to my previous e-mail asking for book reviews):
Hey Joel...I thought you were in Japan.
My response:
Yes, still in Japan, but I've been corresponding with Media Mouse via the magic of e-mail. School hasn't started yet, but I have to show up for work anyway. So I just kind of sit in the office all day and study Japanese or do e-mail or whatever. So, I've had a bit of free time to bat ideas back and forth with Media Mouse about how I can contribute from overseas, and I like the idea of compiling a book review archive on-line.
***********************************************
To: Media Mouse
Wow, the ideas for the new site look great.
I'll write up some book reviews, maybe this weekend, and send them to you on books that I have read within the past year. And I have taken the liberty of extending the invitation to a few of my Calvin college friends to join in the reviewing. I don't know if any of them will do it or not, but if they do I'll send the reviews along to you.
I look forward to seeing your write up on the May '68 uprising. I wish I would have known you were interested in it, because I had a couple of books lying around on it that I never got around to reading back in the states, and I just ended up getting rid of them. I should have given them to you before I left.
Oh well, too late now, right?
I'll keep an eye on the website from here in Japan. Best of luck to you.
***************************************
Dear Mom,
I'm not sure exactly what the time difference is. I think I'm 13 hours ahead, but I'm not positive. We'll figure it out when I call, I guess. The time difference is going to be a bit of a pain in the neck. I figure I'd only be able to call before I leave for work, or before I go to bed. Neither is really ideal. If I call before work, it would mean I have to wake up very early. And if I call before bed, then it will be really early in the morning your time.
Plus it's difficult for me to schedule a call because I never know what I'm going to be doing on any given night or when I'll be back, because other people are always taking me out. So I'll just try the hit and miss approach for phone calling.
Hey Joel...I thought you were in Japan.
My response:
Yes, still in Japan, but I've been corresponding with Media Mouse via the magic of e-mail. School hasn't started yet, but I have to show up for work anyway. So I just kind of sit in the office all day and study Japanese or do e-mail or whatever. So, I've had a bit of free time to bat ideas back and forth with Media Mouse about how I can contribute from overseas, and I like the idea of compiling a book review archive on-line.
***********************************************
To: Media Mouse
Wow, the ideas for the new site look great.
I'll write up some book reviews, maybe this weekend, and send them to you on books that I have read within the past year. And I have taken the liberty of extending the invitation to a few of my Calvin college friends to join in the reviewing. I don't know if any of them will do it or not, but if they do I'll send the reviews along to you.
I look forward to seeing your write up on the May '68 uprising. I wish I would have known you were interested in it, because I had a couple of books lying around on it that I never got around to reading back in the states, and I just ended up getting rid of them. I should have given them to you before I left.
Oh well, too late now, right?
I'll keep an eye on the website from here in Japan. Best of luck to you.
***************************************
Dear Mom,
I'm not sure exactly what the time difference is. I think I'm 13 hours ahead, but I'm not positive. We'll figure it out when I call, I guess. The time difference is going to be a bit of a pain in the neck. I figure I'd only be able to call before I leave for work, or before I go to bed. Neither is really ideal. If I call before work, it would mean I have to wake up very early. And if I call before bed, then it will be really early in the morning your time.
Plus it's difficult for me to schedule a call because I never know what I'm going to be doing on any given night or when I'll be back, because other people are always taking me out. So I'll just try the hit and miss approach for phone calling.
Japan e-mails August 30, 2001
Things are not too bad over here. I thought about you on Monday because I went to a Japanese drum circle. I was just hanging out with one of the other JETs in the area, and he brought me over to play at this drum circle he goes to on every Monday night, and there were all sorts of traditional Japanese drums we played, and some of them reminded me very much of that little drum you used to play as we sat around the apartment at Camelot. (Ah, those were the days. Those sweet old Camelot days).
Anyway, school hasn't started yet over here, so I'm just kind of chilling at the moment. How's work going? Are you still working as an Intern, or did they hire you on full time?
**************************************************
To: Chimes listserve
Greetings and Salutations
I'm writing this message to you on behalf of Media Mouse, which is working on compiling an archive of independent book reviews of radical literature. Now, I realize this listserve runs the whole political spectrum, but surely everyone will have to grant me that if I was looking to find a bunch of books worms with leftist leanings, this list would be an ideal place to start.
The specifications are loose and flexible. You can review any book, movie, music, etc that has a leftist or radical tint (preferably radical as opposed to middle of the road liberalism). You can make the review as long or as short as you want it. Send anything to me, and once I've compiled a bunch of them I'll send it to the Media Mouse web guy. The reviews will eventually be posted on the Media Mouse website, so let me know if you want your name published with it, or if you just want it anonymous.
Anyway, school hasn't started yet over here, so I'm just kind of chilling at the moment. How's work going? Are you still working as an Intern, or did they hire you on full time?
**************************************************
To: Chimes listserve
Greetings and Salutations
I'm writing this message to you on behalf of Media Mouse, which is working on compiling an archive of independent book reviews of radical literature. Now, I realize this listserve runs the whole political spectrum, but surely everyone will have to grant me that if I was looking to find a bunch of books worms with leftist leanings, this list would be an ideal place to start.
The specifications are loose and flexible. You can review any book, movie, music, etc that has a leftist or radical tint (preferably radical as opposed to middle of the road liberalism). You can make the review as long or as short as you want it. Send anything to me, and once I've compiled a bunch of them I'll send it to the Media Mouse web guy. The reviews will eventually be posted on the Media Mouse website, so let me know if you want your name published with it, or if you just want it anonymous.
Golden Week
It's Golden Week again in Japan. (For a description of what Golden Week is, see this post here. Or this post here as well).
I don't actually get any time off from NOVA during Golden Week. But I did at least get some time off from school. I ended up with a total of 3 days off from school this year. I only had to work 5 hours at Nova, and then had the rest of the day off. It wasn't enough time to go on any big hiking adventures, but it did give me time to relax, do some reading, catch up on my homework and, of course, some blogging. (I also had time to finish watching another Japanese video series, one which I had started months before but put on hold when school started. Expect a review on this site in the next couple days).
In the meantime, since I have the time to blog, I thought I'd throw up a few more thoughts about school the past couple days.
School Field Trip: Kuju Flower Park
The school organized a field trip out to Kuju Flower Park last Friday. This had absolutely nothing to do with Japanese studying, but it was a fun little trip and a nice idea on the part of the school. Apparently they do something like this once a semester. This is more for the benefit of the regular students, who are freshly arrived in Japan and haven't had a lot of time to sight see, then for someone like me. But I thought it was a great idea as well. And although I had been hiking around in Kuju mountain before, I had never been to the Flower Park.
It was nice. A lot of flowers. I thought it bordered slightly on being a tourist trap. The French students remarked the same thing, saying they didn't see what the big deal was because you can see flower gardens all over the place in Europe. But the Chinese students were absolutely amazed and said you can't find anything like this in China.
To me, what saved the whole experience from being just another cheesy tourist trap was the beauty of the mountain side on which the flower park had been build.
I had a nice walk around the place, and ate lunch with a bunch of Chinese students, who generously shared their lunches with me. I had brought with me a convenience store lunch, but it didn't compare to their home cooking. I'm always amazed at how much work they put into making their lunches. And they in turn are constantly amazed by the fact I'm perfectly content to buy my lunch at a convenience store.
...What you don't see on these pictures however is the 2 hour bus ride it took to get here. And the 2 hour bus ride to get back. I had almost forgotten how much I hate buses.
I suffer easily from motion sickness. And like a lot of people who suffer from motion sickness, there seem to be a lot of influencing factors. For instance if I'm behind the steering wheel, it's almost never a problem. If I'm the passenger, it becomes a bit more pronounced. But it's slightly better if I'm in the front seat instead of the back seat. (Why all these factors make a difference I couldn't explain to you rationally. But they do).
What I do know is that there is nothing worse for motion sickness than riding in the back of a bus. (Oh, how I hated those yellow school bus rides from in childhood).
And being in the back of a bus on a 2 hour drive winding up and down the mountains is the worst case imaginable.
It sounded like a fun outing with my classmates, but by the time I actually got to the flower park my head was pounding and my breakfast felt like it was just one good bump in the road from coming up again.
At least I can take comfort from the fact that I wasn't the only one suffering. Halfway there, one of the Chinese students behind me asked for a bag to throw up in. And once we arrived, another threw up outside the bus.
...We had slightly less than 2 hours to enjoy the park, after which, to everyone's dread, we had to load up in the bus and go back again. By the time it was all over, I reflected to myself I would have been a lot happier to go somewhere a lot less scenic that happened to be walking distance from the school. (I guess I just don't travel well. This is no doubt why I've gone on so few trips during my time in Japan).
Nor was the day a lot of use practicing Japanese. On the trip to the flower garden a Bangladesh student who wanted to brush up on his English sat next to me. On the way back, a Chinese student who also wanted English practice filled the open seat.
In Asia, an English teacher is never truly off duty. And generally I don't mind. After having received so much kindness here in Japan, I figure the least I can do is let people practice their English on me.
But you can imagine it didn't do much for my headache on the bus: having to use excruciatingly slow and simple English, and having to repeat everything I said several times. At last I just put my head down and pretended to sleep the rest of way back.
Interesting Conversations
The Japanese school continues to be an interesting source of cross cultural exchange.
On May Day, the Chinese students asked me if it was a big holiday in America as well. When I said no, they were very surprised. "But it's a world holiday," one of them said. "Not just China. The whole world celebrates it."
"Not in America," I said. (In Japan it's not an official public holiday either, but they are at least aware of it over here, and the labour unions always hold some sort of May Day rally. In America of course the US government created Labour Day to co-opt May Day, and the Unions hold their marches on Labour Day instead. I doubt very much if the majority of Americans could even tell you what May Day is.)
"You know what's even stranger," I continued. "May Day actually originated in America."
This resulted in a number of blank stares, until one Chinese girl clapped her hands with recognition. "Yes, I remember now," she said. "We studied this in junior high school history class. Long long ago, the Haymarket martyrs in Chicago."
Of course they all wanted to know: since May Day originated in the US, why didn't the US celebrate it? I couldn't answer that question easily, so I just let it go.
....Really though, who wants May Day to become an official state recognized holiday? Can you imagine it? It would be just like Martin Luther King Day. People would wave American flags and talk about what great patriots the original labour leaders were. Right Wing pundits would get on TV and talk about how they are the ones keeping the true spirit of the Haymarket martyrs alive. The whole thing would get ridiculous in no time at all. It's much better to keep May Day as an unofficial holiday.
In other news...
Justin wrote in his blog about a few months ago about a Japanese woman who came by to his apartment to advertise her English class, and ask if he wanted to enroll his kids.
I don't know if it's affiliated or not, but I just had the same experience just now.
I'm sure the girl doing the job had to ask everyone on the block for the sake of completeness. Still, isn't it a bit bizarre to ask an American if he wants to enroll his kids in an English class taught by a Japanese woman?
Link of the Day
From the Media Mouse website: Re-launching the Progressive Directory of Western Michigan. (I just wanted to link to this so I would have an excuse for saying that I was part of the team that put the original together).
also: How The Rich Starved The World and Heartland Institute Condemned for "Major Ethical Transgression"
I don't actually get any time off from NOVA during Golden Week. But I did at least get some time off from school. I ended up with a total of 3 days off from school this year. I only had to work 5 hours at Nova, and then had the rest of the day off. It wasn't enough time to go on any big hiking adventures, but it did give me time to relax, do some reading, catch up on my homework and, of course, some blogging. (I also had time to finish watching another Japanese video series, one which I had started months before but put on hold when school started. Expect a review on this site in the next couple days).
In the meantime, since I have the time to blog, I thought I'd throw up a few more thoughts about school the past couple days.
School Field Trip: Kuju Flower Park
The school organized a field trip out to Kuju Flower Park last Friday. This had absolutely nothing to do with Japanese studying, but it was a fun little trip and a nice idea on the part of the school. Apparently they do something like this once a semester. This is more for the benefit of the regular students, who are freshly arrived in Japan and haven't had a lot of time to sight see, then for someone like me. But I thought it was a great idea as well. And although I had been hiking around in Kuju mountain before, I had never been to the Flower Park.
It was nice. A lot of flowers. I thought it bordered slightly on being a tourist trap. The French students remarked the same thing, saying they didn't see what the big deal was because you can see flower gardens all over the place in Europe. But the Chinese students were absolutely amazed and said you can't find anything like this in China.
To me, what saved the whole experience from being just another cheesy tourist trap was the beauty of the mountain side on which the flower park had been build.
I had a nice walk around the place, and ate lunch with a bunch of Chinese students, who generously shared their lunches with me. I had brought with me a convenience store lunch, but it didn't compare to their home cooking. I'm always amazed at how much work they put into making their lunches. And they in turn are constantly amazed by the fact I'm perfectly content to buy my lunch at a convenience store.
...What you don't see on these pictures however is the 2 hour bus ride it took to get here. And the 2 hour bus ride to get back. I had almost forgotten how much I hate buses.
I suffer easily from motion sickness. And like a lot of people who suffer from motion sickness, there seem to be a lot of influencing factors. For instance if I'm behind the steering wheel, it's almost never a problem. If I'm the passenger, it becomes a bit more pronounced. But it's slightly better if I'm in the front seat instead of the back seat. (Why all these factors make a difference I couldn't explain to you rationally. But they do).
What I do know is that there is nothing worse for motion sickness than riding in the back of a bus. (Oh, how I hated those yellow school bus rides from in childhood).
And being in the back of a bus on a 2 hour drive winding up and down the mountains is the worst case imaginable.
It sounded like a fun outing with my classmates, but by the time I actually got to the flower park my head was pounding and my breakfast felt like it was just one good bump in the road from coming up again.
At least I can take comfort from the fact that I wasn't the only one suffering. Halfway there, one of the Chinese students behind me asked for a bag to throw up in. And once we arrived, another threw up outside the bus.
...We had slightly less than 2 hours to enjoy the park, after which, to everyone's dread, we had to load up in the bus and go back again. By the time it was all over, I reflected to myself I would have been a lot happier to go somewhere a lot less scenic that happened to be walking distance from the school. (I guess I just don't travel well. This is no doubt why I've gone on so few trips during my time in Japan).
Nor was the day a lot of use practicing Japanese. On the trip to the flower garden a Bangladesh student who wanted to brush up on his English sat next to me. On the way back, a Chinese student who also wanted English practice filled the open seat.
In Asia, an English teacher is never truly off duty. And generally I don't mind. After having received so much kindness here in Japan, I figure the least I can do is let people practice their English on me.
But you can imagine it didn't do much for my headache on the bus: having to use excruciatingly slow and simple English, and having to repeat everything I said several times. At last I just put my head down and pretended to sleep the rest of way back.
Interesting Conversations
The Japanese school continues to be an interesting source of cross cultural exchange.
On May Day, the Chinese students asked me if it was a big holiday in America as well. When I said no, they were very surprised. "But it's a world holiday," one of them said. "Not just China. The whole world celebrates it."
"Not in America," I said. (In Japan it's not an official public holiday either, but they are at least aware of it over here, and the labour unions always hold some sort of May Day rally. In America of course the US government created Labour Day to co-opt May Day, and the Unions hold their marches on Labour Day instead. I doubt very much if the majority of Americans could even tell you what May Day is.)
"You know what's even stranger," I continued. "May Day actually originated in America."
This resulted in a number of blank stares, until one Chinese girl clapped her hands with recognition. "Yes, I remember now," she said. "We studied this in junior high school history class. Long long ago, the Haymarket martyrs in Chicago."
Of course they all wanted to know: since May Day originated in the US, why didn't the US celebrate it? I couldn't answer that question easily, so I just let it go.
....Really though, who wants May Day to become an official state recognized holiday? Can you imagine it? It would be just like Martin Luther King Day. People would wave American flags and talk about what great patriots the original labour leaders were. Right Wing pundits would get on TV and talk about how they are the ones keeping the true spirit of the Haymarket martyrs alive. The whole thing would get ridiculous in no time at all. It's much better to keep May Day as an unofficial holiday.
In other news...
Justin wrote in his blog about a few months ago about a Japanese woman who came by to his apartment to advertise her English class, and ask if he wanted to enroll his kids.
I don't know if it's affiliated or not, but I just had the same experience just now.
I'm sure the girl doing the job had to ask everyone on the block for the sake of completeness. Still, isn't it a bit bizarre to ask an American if he wants to enroll his kids in an English class taught by a Japanese woman?
Link of the Day
From the Media Mouse website: Re-launching the Progressive Directory of Western Michigan. (I just wanted to link to this so I would have an excuse for saying that I was part of the team that put the original together).
also: How The Rich Starved The World and Heartland Institute Condemned for "Major Ethical Transgression"
Hitch Hike Video 3: summer 2003
(Retrospection)
Now that I have my old home videos converted to DVD, here is another shot of our hitch hike trip in the summer of 2003.
The Kyushu summers are scorchers, and after a couple years getting terrible sunburns I had begun to develop a healthy respect for the sun. Hence the sun hat, and neck towel. (The neck towel was a bit of a fashion tip we learned from watching the farmers in Kyushu. They almost all have a towel around their neck which helps block sunburn, but is also useful for wiping away sweat.
The hat brim rubbing against my sweaty forehead all day used to give me a huge rash of bloody acne in the summer time, so I added a bandana around my head to try and ease that somewhat.
And the sunglasses. Interesting enough hardly anyone in Japan wears sunglasses. Or if they do wear them, it’s almost always as a fashion statement and not as eye protection.
During the middle of a summer day in Kyushu I physically can not go outside without sunglasses. I feel blinded by the sun, and I’m squinting, and covering my eyes, and just can’t function at all. Japanese people don’t seem to mind it a bit. I've had several conversations with Japanese people about this, and they usually claim that Asian eyes are stronger than Western eyes. There may be some truth in that, although I've noticed Asian Americans wear sunglasses, so I wonder if acclimatization has anything to do with it.
Anyway, Greg always wanted me to take off my sunglasses because he thought in Japan sunglasses had a gangster image, and it would make people reluctant to pick us up. We went back and forth on this, but looking at the video, I don’t think I could possibly have looked like less of a tough guy in that outfit.
We played Greg’s favorite game: predict how long the next car ride would be. Up until now I had always picked the longer time, he had gone with the shorter time. Now we reversed our predictions. I went with the shorter time, and he still won. I had the worst luck ever in that game.
The Kyushu summers are scorchers, and after a couple years getting terrible sunburns I had begun to develop a healthy respect for the sun. Hence the sun hat, and neck towel. (The neck towel was a bit of a fashion tip we learned from watching the farmers in Kyushu. They almost all have a towel around their neck which helps block sunburn, but is also useful for wiping away sweat.
The hat brim rubbing against my sweaty forehead all day used to give me a huge rash of bloody acne in the summer time, so I added a bandana around my head to try and ease that somewhat.
And the sunglasses. Interesting enough hardly anyone in Japan wears sunglasses. Or if they do wear them, it’s almost always as a fashion statement and not as eye protection.
During the middle of a summer day in Kyushu I physically can not go outside without sunglasses. I feel blinded by the sun, and I’m squinting, and covering my eyes, and just can’t function at all. Japanese people don’t seem to mind it a bit. I've had several conversations with Japanese people about this, and they usually claim that Asian eyes are stronger than Western eyes. There may be some truth in that, although I've noticed Asian Americans wear sunglasses, so I wonder if acclimatization has anything to do with it.
Anyway, Greg always wanted me to take off my sunglasses because he thought in Japan sunglasses had a gangster image, and it would make people reluctant to pick us up. We went back and forth on this, but looking at the video, I don’t think I could possibly have looked like less of a tough guy in that outfit.
We played Greg’s favorite game: predict how long the next car ride would be. Up until now I had always picked the longer time, he had gone with the shorter time. Now we reversed our predictions. I went with the shorter time, and he still won. I had the worst luck ever in that game.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
July 2003: Hitch Hike 2
(retrospection)
Here is the second video of our hitch hiking trip in the summer of 2004 (uploaded after putting my old videos onto DVD). Greg and I had gotten picked up here by a mother-daughter pair who brought us as far as Kitakyushu.
This tape is mostly in Japanese, although the daughter had spent some time in New York, and Greg and I tried to get her to talk in English a little bit for the tape. She started out with her self introduction, then stops abruptly and says [in Japanese] “I’m so stupid. I forgot all my English.”
We continue talking, half in Japanese, half in English, about her memories of New York. She said the thing she remembers most is how cold it was. I said that the temperature of New York, and the temperature of Kyushu, are very different. I continued to say that Michigan has a similar temperature to New York, so for me, I have the opposite experience living in Kyushu. I feel like it is much too hot for me down here.
(Or at least that’s what I intended to say. Listening to the video now, I realize what I actually said in Japanese was “Michigan is a narrow place” not “Michigan is a cold place.” Oh well.)
Here is the second video of our hitch hiking trip in the summer of 2004 (uploaded after putting my old videos onto DVD). Greg and I had gotten picked up here by a mother-daughter pair who brought us as far as Kitakyushu.
This tape is mostly in Japanese, although the daughter had spent some time in New York, and Greg and I tried to get her to talk in English a little bit for the tape. She started out with her self introduction, then stops abruptly and says [in Japanese] “I’m so stupid. I forgot all my English.”
We continue talking, half in Japanese, half in English, about her memories of New York. She said the thing she remembers most is how cold it was. I said that the temperature of New York, and the temperature of Kyushu, are very different. I continued to say that Michigan has a similar temperature to New York, so for me, I have the opposite experience living in Kyushu. I feel like it is much too hot for me down here.
(Or at least that’s what I intended to say. Listening to the video now, I realize what I actually said in Japanese was “Michigan is a narrow place” not “Michigan is a cold place.” Oh well.)
Japan E-mails August 29, 2001
[From my predecessor, Ben]
Have you gone from to any of the waterfalls around Ajimu yet? Drive past Tsubusa and you’ll see signs for it. I used to go swimming there after working out.]
My response:
Yes, I have seen the waterfalls, although I haven’t had a chance to spend a lot of time there. And speaking of working out, I’m looking to get into a work out routine. Is there a gym or something around here that you can go to?
Driving has been going okay. As I mentioned beforehand, I am unused to driving a manual transmission car. And there are a couple other things that threw me off about driving in Japan. The whole left side of the road thing was okay when I was thinking about it, but sometimes I would be concentrating on the shifting instead and would automatically turn into the right lane of traffic. (Don’t worry, no accidents yet).
Also, the roads are so damn narrow. I think even in the states I had a tendency to drive too far to the side of the road (just from being an overly cautious person that I am and not wanting to hit the cars coming the other way) and of course you can’t do that over here because you’ll drive the car right into the irrigation ditch. (And again, don’t worry, I haven’t actually done that yet either. Although I won’t mention just how close I did come).
Anyway, I’m afraid I must have given the impression that I couldn't drive at all, because they've been giving me driving lessons in the parking lot. And they've been using an automatic transmission car to teach me on. I tried to explain that I can drive an automatic no problem, and that is was only the manual transmission that was given me problems, but I don’t speak Japanese and their English is limited so it is often hard to get these concepts across the language barrier. (I guess this isn't all bad however. The lower their expectations are for me, the easier it will be to impress them).
Here’s the thing though: they went looking for another car that I could drive more easily, and they found an automatic for me. At first I insisted that I was learning the manual gradually, but they made a good case for me to switch over to the automatic. It is in excellent condition, so I won’t have to worry about it breaking down or repairs. The Shaken [Japanese road worthy certification] is good until next August, and the car I inherited from you is good only until January. Plus the price sounded very reasonable.
So, I’m going with the new car. They want me to trade in your car for it, and I tried to explain that it wasn't my car to trade, and that I was just borrowing it from you, but again the language barrier is limiting how well I can get this across. They are insisting that it is not your car, that you drove another car, and that this is Sam’s car. Anyway, what do you want me to do with your car when I change over to the other one?
And another thing. I found 98 American dollars in the apartment, possibly left over from a trip to Thailand (it was with some other Thai stuff). Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I’m new at this whole living overseas thing, so what is the best way to get the $ back to you?
[Editor’s note: the case of Ben’s forgotten money represents both my best and worst qualities: my good intentions matched against my laziness. I had every good intention of sending him that money, as evidenced by the fact I e-mailed him about it. Which was very nice of me (if I don’t say so myself). I could easily have just kept quiet about it.
Ben told me to just hide it in a card and mail it too him, but I was new in Japan and out in the countryside simple things like mail seem like a huge undertaking. Where do you buy stamps and envelopes out in the middle of nowhere? How do you communicate with the post office staff? I wasn't even sure where the post office was in those early days.]
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To my cousin Jeff,
How are things going for you? I am in Japan now, and getting myself settled in. You’ll have to forgive my forgetfulness, but I don’t remember where in Japan you will be when you come here (or have you arrived in Japan already?) Anyway, last time I e-mailed you I don’t believe I knew my address yet. Actually I still don’t know my address, but at least now I have a vague idea of where I am. I am in the town of Ajimu, near the city of Usa, in Oita prefecture, on the Island of Kyushu. So, tell it to me straight Jeff, are we anywhere near each other, or are my chances of running into you about equal with my chances of meeting the prime minister?
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To my supervisor:
Hope your new hotmail account works out good for you. Hotmail is very nice because it is free, and also because lots of people use it so it is easy to remember your e-mail address ending. However it can be frustrating at times too, so be careful. Sometimes the system crashes, and if you’re writing a letter when it crashes you will have to start all over again. At other times hotmail can be very slow, because many people are using it at the same time. And sometimes you can get a lot of junk mail in your hotmail account.
Hope this helps.
[This was an e-mail I sent at my supervisors request to test out his hotmail account. I had been trying to explain to him how the internet works, and that he could check his e-mail from any computer he wanted to ( he had a hard time understanding this concept, and I had to draw pictures of how different computers are all connected to a central internet, and his e-mail account was not actually located on his computer). Because his English was limited, and because he was my supervisor, I composed this e-mail using very simple (and perhaps, on reading it, somewhat patronizing) English.
At the time a number of my friends had been complaining about losing long e-mails when Hotmail would suddenly crash on them. I think they've since fixed that problem, as well as developed more controls on junk mail, but you can see I included these concerns here in this e-mail.]
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Things are going good over here. I went swimming in the Ocean last night. It was the first time I had a chance to go swimming in the Ocean since I got here. The water was surprisingly warm, but I still like Lake Michigan better. After you go swimming in the Ocean, you get all sticky and salty from it.
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To Bob (from Media Mouse)
I have been corresponding with Erica via e-mail, and we have been batting ideas back and forth together. I have been thinking of ways I could still help out Media Mouse even over here from Japan, and I have a couple of ideas for the website that I thought would be cool, but I don’t want to create any trouble for you [the website designer].
I've been tentatively thinking about doing some writing about periods in radical history, but that might be a little down the road at this point. I thought maybe something easier to set up might be a radical literature review section. I think maybe this could really take off pretty well. I mean probably each person at Media Mouse is well read in radical literature, and could, if they wanted, probably contribute at least 5 reviews each.
Admittedly this project isn't very activist oriented, but it would be a good way for us to recommend (or not recommend as the case maybe) books to each other and anyone else who visits the site.
Now, be honest with me here Bob, for each review I send you how much trouble is it going to be for you to add to the site. If this is going to create significantly more work for you, I don’t want to do it.
[Editor’s note: with my typical ignorance of computers, I was completely unaware of how much trouble it would or would not be to add book reviews to the website. I’m now a little less ignorant, and am aware that is simply a matter of cutting and pasting.]
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To: my sister
Things are going well here. I just got done with my tour with the Back Street Boys. No, don’t worry, I didn't do any singing, I just drove them around in their bus and helped them set up their microphones before they sang. It was okay, but I don’t think they’re music was near as good as N’Sync. Hopefully if N’Sync comes to Japan, I will be able to tour with them too, but I might be very busy teaching during the school year, so we’ll see.
I gave the bandannas you made to my supervisors family. It was nice because there were 4 bandannas and 4 people in the family. They liked them very much and are currently using them as place mats at the table.