What I'm trying to learn
Over at the Guardian, Natasha Walter writes about the rash of new novels by writers trying to get in the heads of "the terrorist." Here is her piece. This quote sums up what I am trying to learn now:
We want something very different from a novel than what we get from the newspapers: we want imaginative understanding, not political positions; we want to get close to a fictional individual rather than stand in judgment over a real group; we want the challenge of speculation rather than the reassurance of certainty. We want art, not news, at a time when news seems to be drowning out art.
This quote goes perfectly with crg's comments yesterday. Here's my interpretation of what she said:
Show don't tell. Don't write from a place of anxiety or impatience. When you write, listen to the writing. Hear what the writing is telling you, don't tell the writing what to say. La importancia de fijarse menos en las grandes revelaciones que ya entiendes. No expliques. Find a place in the writing where you are finding something new. Write that.
Less control. The readers will uncover something new only if you do. If you already know the writing before you write it, the reader will not need to read it. After the first paragraph she will aready know. Refrain from a need to clarify. Don't be in a hurry to say something, to tell a certain story. Listen to the writing, don't force the writing. Don't just say what's on your mind, produce some new knowledge or intuition that you weren't aware of from the beginning.
We all know the injustices of the world very well. The problem is they don't move anyone. Preachiness is not very effective. Language isn't a tool for moralizing, rather a medium for exploring vulnerable (new) places.
Maybe it's helpful for the rest of yall too? It is for me. It moves me forward, feels like.
We want something very different from a novel than what we get from the newspapers: we want imaginative understanding, not political positions; we want to get close to a fictional individual rather than stand in judgment over a real group; we want the challenge of speculation rather than the reassurance of certainty. We want art, not news, at a time when news seems to be drowning out art.
This quote goes perfectly with crg's comments yesterday. Here's my interpretation of what she said:
Show don't tell. Don't write from a place of anxiety or impatience. When you write, listen to the writing. Hear what the writing is telling you, don't tell the writing what to say. La importancia de fijarse menos en las grandes revelaciones que ya entiendes. No expliques. Find a place in the writing where you are finding something new. Write that.
Less control. The readers will uncover something new only if you do. If you already know the writing before you write it, the reader will not need to read it. After the first paragraph she will aready know. Refrain from a need to clarify. Don't be in a hurry to say something, to tell a certain story. Listen to the writing, don't force the writing. Don't just say what's on your mind, produce some new knowledge or intuition that you weren't aware of from the beginning.
We all know the injustices of the world very well. The problem is they don't move anyone. Preachiness is not very effective. Language isn't a tool for moralizing, rather a medium for exploring vulnerable (new) places.
Maybe it's helpful for the rest of yall too? It is for me. It moves me forward, feels like.
Lo que he aprehendido
Belleza es el asombro que resulta cuando se rompe nuestra manera de ver normalmente. No hay ideas que se puede deshacer del lenguaje. Pensamiento es la emoción de la idea. Se tiene que expresar en el lenguaje. El lenguaje tiene posibilidades infinitas. Poesía es la ruptura de la norma. El hecho estético es la ruptura de lo inesperable. Existe una tendencia cuando uno escribe de ir a la estructura más cotidiana, más normal, más habitual. El lenguaje debe de bailar, tiene que responder a lo que está pasando. Un lenguaje sin emociones o sin conexión erige una barrera entre el lector y el texto.
No importa la anécdota. Lo único que importa es el lenguaje. Con el lenguaje te tienes que emocionar. Primero hay que desaprender a escribir. Escribir sin censura, descontrolarlo, soltar las riendas. Después editar para encontrar la medula. Siempre hay que hacer lo que uno no domine, hay que ir por lo que no sabes.
Cuando uno empieza a escribir, es necesariamente ciego. Libros que consuelan y que no consuelan. Cuando escribes ensayos, tienes que encontrar una especie de agenda arbitraria. Que te des permiso para ser arbitrario. La poesía es el cenizo que cae del cigarro. ¿Viste?
Todas son citas recogidas del taller de María Negroni esta semana.
Last Week in TJ
At the Dali Suites in Playas, Tijuana. I'm in the back, tired and hot. Oh well. Took a nap, read, then went out. As I walked up the hill, the sun was rising over the mountains. Pretty hot.
Around the Bend
Summer is hot for all of us, but it isn't
a combination of the heat, the flies, the hours upon hours of no electricity and the corpses which keep appearing everywhere.
...a perspective from the ground at Baghdad Burning blog.
a combination of the heat, the flies, the hours upon hours of no electricity and the corpses which keep appearing everywhere.
...a perspective from the ground at Baghdad Burning blog.
Forgetting you're remembering
Feeling at home is all about the act of forgetting. When a place is strange to you, you must go through a process of forgetting, which begins when you actively remember its details so you don't get lost, so you can get your bearings. You *must* remember: The street will have tattoo parlors. You will take seven steps up the walk. The key will turn in the lock like this. The room will be painted an early morning sky blue. There will be little green vines on the windows. The back burner of the stove will not work.
You must remember enough so that you can begin to forget that you are remembering. The more you forget that you have remembered, the more familiar a place becomes, until you get to the point that you have totally forgotten because, in fact, you now know it.
This passage (from From longlonglongride.blogspot.com) helps me remember something about home and strange places that i always forget. Thanks to Chuck.
You must remember enough so that you can begin to forget that you are remembering. The more you forget that you have remembered, the more familiar a place becomes, until you get to the point that you have totally forgotten because, in fact, you now know it.
This passage (from From longlonglongride.blogspot.com) helps me remember something about home and strange places that i always forget. Thanks to Chuck.
Desde la costa calurosa...
Ya siento calor... Creo que mi cuerpito ya se ha acostumbrado a estar aquí en Tijuana. Porque siento que me acaloro cuando sé que no hace ni el calor que hace en Houston a las siete de la mañana. Pero para mí, ya no lo aguanto. Pero como soy contradictorio, me gusta el calor también. Me recuerda de mi Jiuston.
I miss my airconditioning, watering my plants, drinking with friends on the porch, going to events where a lot of people recognize me and I recognize them. Home. In a week and a half, the best part of home comes to visit.
I miss my airconditioning, watering my plants, drinking with friends on the porch, going to events where a lot of people recognize me and I recognize them. Home. In a week and a half, the best part of home comes to visit.
AMLO vs. Calderón
A few people have emailed me asking what the election and its resulting controversy feels like in Mexico right now. What my impressions are etc... This BBC quote seems to go to the point.
But, as the rally in Mexico City demonstrates, the electorate is deeply divided. Most of Mr Calderon's votes came from Mexico's industrialized north and its middle and upper classes. The poorer south of the country and urban neighbourhoods, where poverty or trade-unionism can be found, opted for Mr Lopez Obrador.
I am with children of the upper and middle classes mainly from northern Mexico, writers. It is PAN country without a doubt. López Obrador is not looked at kindly at all in these parts. Of course, there are very notable and important exceptions. But this is the feeling I have from people. Either they have 1) no opinion and are indifferent, 2) are mildly anti-political, 3) have real negative feelings about López Obrador (AMLO) and what they see as his rabblerousing or 4) are one of the few public vocal PRD, AMLO supporters (usually intellectual folk). Clearly, I think in Mexico City or in the South of Mexico the experience would be wholely different. Anyway, these are just my impressions. Partial and skewed.
I personally support a recount of the votes. I don't find AMLO's appeal for a recount to be dictatorial or anything like that, or anti-democratic as a lot of commentators have alleged. My two cents. What do y'all think? I'm open to being wrong on this. And only this point. (Joke.)
Los tejanos sólo cruzan el lunes.
Hoy en la línea, un oficial nos dijo en español después de revisar mi identificación, "Los tejanos sólo cruzan el lunes". Le dije que entonces me iba a ir a Matamoros para cruzarme allí. El oficial se río de carcajadas. El primer oficial de la patrulla fronterizo de buena onda. Creo que era tejano y le dio gusto ver a uno de sus paisanos en la línea.
Are you English?
Un paisano gringo de extracción asiatica me paró en la banqueta en Tijuana. Yo le dije que sí. I am English. As in, I am the English language. Not nationality. Not country. We are language. Looking for the Chicago Bar and the Adelitas. I pointed him in the right direction. Told him, when you sees the putas en la calle, you are in the right place.
One Face at the Border
Crossing with Jen Hofer last Wednesday. First, the sign on a vendor's cart working the fila:
Except "BIEN" had quotation marks above and below, four in total. Then, the signs at the garita:
The Homeland Security slogan of the 2003 unification of border revision duties. At the plastic booth, the lady border patrol agent commands:
We were sent back to Mexico. Took two hours to cross in total on Wednesday.
LO ESCRIBO MAL PERO LO SIRVO "BIEN"
Except "BIEN" had quotation marks above and below, four in total. Then, the signs at the garita:
WE ARE THE FACE OF THE BORDER
ONE FACE AT THE BORDER
ONE FACE AT THE BORDER
The Homeland Security slogan of the 2003 unification of border revision duties. At the plastic booth, the lady border patrol agent commands:
"Please don't talk on your cell phone.
We are recording all communication according to the provisions of the Patriot Act."
We are recording all communication according to the provisions of the Patriot Act."
We were sent back to Mexico. Took two hours to cross in total on Wednesday.
100,000 Farmers Commit Suicide.
Pankaj Mishra has an Op-Ed on the myth of the Indian boom in the NY Times. This quote leaves me breathless:
In the countryside, where 70 percent of India's population lives, the government has reported that about 100,000 farmers committed suicide between 1993 and 2003.
Anybody heard about this genocide before? Absurd and horrid.
In the countryside, where 70 percent of India's population lives, the government has reported that about 100,000 farmers committed suicide between 1993 and 2003.
Anybody heard about this genocide before? Absurd and horrid.
Language Poetry Ruled by Jerks
Seems like Language Poetry is hot in TJ nowadays. Not quite sure about it. Was reading Ron Silliman's blog (which according to a Wikipedia entry (probably written by Silliman) is the most widely read blog on American poetry). Seems to be one of the LP biggies. He writes on his blog about being at the Naropa Summer Writers Program in Boulder, Colorado and meeting the students there:
Overall, my impression is that the quality of the students as writers has risen as well. The top-level students are about where they were then, but this time I didn’t come into contact with any folks who were there just because they were lost souls.
Sorry, but Language Poetry is Ruled by Jerks. I just can't be that cold. If somebody is lost, I'll still try to help.
Overall, my impression is that the quality of the students as writers has risen as well. The top-level students are about where they were then, but this time I didn’t come into contact with any folks who were there just because they were lost souls.
Sorry, but Language Poetry is Ruled by Jerks. I just can't be that cold. If somebody is lost, I'll still try to help.
La prueba / The Proof
Aquí va la prueba que estoy aquí en Tijuana. Here's the proof I'm in TJ...
En el Bar Turístico.
En el Bar Turístico.
En la playa de Rosarito con la crg en medio (Cristina Rivera Garza, nuestra directora).
Con el caballero que amablemente me está hospedando, Pepe Vázquez, y otro token gringo.
I'm not in this one. It's Carlos Monsiváis y la crg durante la conferencia la primera semana.
Dos fotos de nosotros los talleristas borrachísimos el sábado pasado, o domingo en la mañana de hecho a las 4am en el Hotel Nelson en la calle Revo. El pelolargo es uno de nuestros maestros, Reinaldo Jimenez.El Laboratorio va muy bien. Everything goes very well.
Hay más fotos en el blog de Lorena Mancilla - Batahola - y de Pepe Vázquez.
Ran.
Haven't really been posting much at all on this blog in the last few weeks. It's been hard to fin reliable contact to the internet. But finally found a cafe with wireless and no pressure to buy more than one drink or to leave after a certain amount of time. Yeah! Have realized too that I have not shared the address for this blog with many people. Maybe it's time to not be so scurred. Que todo va a salir bien. Que, pues, como dice Amaranta, que se tiene que dejar fluir las palabras y no guardar tanto temor a lo que podría pasar. Estoy de acuerdo. Pues, me dí cuenta que me gusta quitar el pronombre en mis verbos en inglés. Y escribir oraciones enteras con una palabra. Walked here from far away. Came in from the cold. Yes. Así.
Estoy aquí en Tijuana, entre idiomas, entre mundos, aquí en California. La California baja pero norte. Al sur del sur de California en el norte de lo baja, pues. Super claro. In Lower California just south of Southern California in the North. Pues, creo que hay un poema aquí.
Todos aquí escriben poesía y me animo también a escribir poesía. (Aunque claro mi enfoque está en mis cuentos ahora.) Y a escribir en este idioma que no es mío y que quizás por este razón me podría ofrecer más. Aquel tejanito con gafas escribiendo desde el norte del norte de México, llamado Tejas. Aquel tejanillo, o ese texanito, escribiendo desde el suroeste que es nada más que el pinche norte, que no reconocemos pues.
But seriously...
Estoy aquí en Tijuana, entre idiomas, entre mundos, aquí en California. La California baja pero norte. Al sur del sur de California en el norte de lo baja, pues. Super claro. In Lower California just south of Southern California in the North. Pues, creo que hay un poema aquí.
Todos aquí escriben poesía y me animo también a escribir poesía. (Aunque claro mi enfoque está en mis cuentos ahora.) Y a escribir en este idioma que no es mío y que quizás por este razón me podría ofrecer más. Aquel tejanito con gafas escribiendo desde el norte del norte de México, llamado Tejas. Aquel tejanillo, o ese texanito, escribiendo desde el suroeste que es nada más que el pinche norte, que no reconocemos pues.
But seriously...
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