Alright Dan, listen up, I've got a story for you about a brand new Martin Luther King Jr. speech that practically no one ever heard, for real.
So I was arguing with this guy, David, on a train the other day about whether teachers should discourage kids from reading cheesy Young-Adult fiction (him: yes, me: no, and let me tell you, I was madder than a broom at a Swiffer convention). To change the subject, he mentioned how his dad had grown up in Atlanta, and then his wife jumped in with this story about how David's dad, had been friends with the King children, and they used to catch lectures from him about how they were all going to be the leaders of their generation, and so they'd better stop rollerskating in the god-damn kitchen! Now I know you do a fine Dr. King impersonation, Dan, and what I'm wondering is, do you think could reconstruct his long-lost "Don't Roller Skate in the Kitchen" speech? The guy's dad, by the way, grew up to become first a street mime and then an Oregon state congressman (the normal progression), so it's definitely a really good speech.
David's a high school teacher from Portland, and his take on the teen-novel question is that high art is aesthetically complicated and "wakes up" our minds in new ways, so that being challenged to appreciate it makes kids more discerning, critical people, while "low art" just walls them in. David's also a self-taught harpist, a big fan of fantasy lit, and a professed snob, plus he can walk on his hands. I was going to post a picture of him below, playing a tiny bamboo flute, but I don't actually like that picture, so here are some women in Kyoto dressed like geishas instead.
So, here's the story of the Japanese renaissance fair I went to in Kyoto this weekend. It was billed as a festival of street performances and crafts from the Edo period, but it was set in a temple courtyard and everyone was in character as villagers, merchants and actors. No samurai, which was a shame, but a couple people swung some giant wooden mallets around.
Those guys two guys are making mochi, a desert that's like a cross between marshmallows and cookie dough and that's made by beating rice to a gooey pulp while it boils. They're vaguely like red bean paste buns, but in a gelatinous, embryonic form. You should find some in Chinatown if you haven't had them before.
This lady is selling little painted shingles you use in shinto prayer. Every booth had a performer who would drop by every once in a while to gather a crowd around the booth. So basically it was an ad-supported show. That reminds me, there's a TV station here called the Samurai Drama Channel.
Scream. Packs and packs of wild monkeys are roving around on the mountain in Kyoto. With monkeys, I think, the expectation is that you'll usually be told not to feed them. Not so here, where the thinking is that, since we're civilized and get to eat whatever, wherever, why shouldn't the monkeys?
Some monkeys just went with the flow. There's a chicken-wired shelter on the top of the mountain where you can go and be completely surrounded by screaming macaques, but it's really unnecessary since you can leave it and just walk around with the monkeys everywhere else. I don't have a whole lot more to say about all this except I love monkeys and the more of them there are scampering around, the better.
Here's a Buddhist temple complex at night. They never lock anything up here. I'm not sure whether or not people are expected to wander in at night, but it's an amazing place to see in the dark when the whole complex is empty and just the night lanterns are out.
Oh yeah, I'm thinking of buying a Sigma 12-22 and finally ditching my crappy kit lens. Do you know if there's anything about it I should know beforehand, or if there's something else I might want to consider, bearing in mind that I'm planning to get a full frame body in a year or two?
I didn't plan on writing you a letter that was half pictures and ended with a gear question, I just happened to have just gotten back from a weekend trip where I took tons of photos. Plus with Andrew coming to visit in November I've got lenses on my mind, and I want to try and settle on one (or a flash) by the time he gets here. And, well, it hasn't been the best day and to some extent I just wanted to look through the photos and write about what was in them. Actually, I'm more interested in what you think about the Young Adult novel thing. What are you doing lately? How's your plan to focus on your own stuff going? You are still going to be in town when I get back, yes? Give me news, even if you have to make it all up.
No skates inside,
André
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