Dear readership, I ask that you would respect my right as an author to write in different voices for different purposes. The following post is copied from my literacy blog. In that blog, I aim for a slightly more sober and straightforward style. For crying out loud, it is a literacy blog. I can't look like I'm all from Queensland or nuthin' can I, Ashley James?
I woke up this morning at about 6:30 and checked my Facebook and my email. Nothing terribly urgent to attend to, so I quickly looked over my blogs. At least I've set myself some pretty achievable goals. No Beethoven's 9th in 30 days for me. Just read a couple of books and keep up with this blogging thing. So that's what I did. I have followed through, I guess, on most of the day's reading goals.
I put on a new pair of pants, and headed off to see the real world of information- a couple of libraries, a Catholic church because it's Easter, a used bookstore and now a media cafe. That's where I'm blogging from- one of my old haunts. I thought I'd put in a plug for them because they were a lifeline for me back in the day when I didn't have my own computer in Japan. It's a really cool place. You can play pool, read comics and magazines or use a computer in a private booth, all for about 400 yen an hour.*
Anyway, at the International center, I read the first chapter of Real Happiness and the Cat in the Hat. I then read about 70 pages of the Narnia chronicles: it was much as I remembered it, a charming, symbol laden allegory that remains faintly quaint and somehow reminds me of a fantasy version of the Famous Five for would be converts. It's still kind of a book of apologetics. Lewis trots out many of the same arguments he uses in Mere Christianity, if you've ever read that. "Don't they teach anyone any logic in school, anymore," Lewis asks the reader, as though the existence of Narnia is common sense. It must be true because it seems just a bit, well, impossible, but in a good way. Sometimes, he strikes me as a better fantasist than a defender of his faith, which I share, incidentally, in my own fashion. I also checked out the kids books on display, and flicked through some Naruto, too. I was so happy to see Scott McCloud's wonderful Making Comics back on the shelf. I've only read in entirety his first volume, Understanding Comics. I'll start this other one from scratch. Scott's simply an amazing artist and visionary. I find his writing both profoundly thought provoking in what he has to say about the nature of that media, and, just, well, entertaining. Perfect for an Easter Monday. Someone must have recently donated a copy of the Windup Girl, so I kept that one for me. What else did I borrow? Oh yeah, Ed Emberley's drawing book. I'll add a link and talk about Ed in a later post. Thank you very much. I'll have those please.
Then, I found my bicycle I( left it there late last week because of the rain) and headed off to the Aichi library. I got one of Richard Dawkins favorite SF books out, a book of poems by Pablo Neruda, a self help book that Cory Doctorow likes and some old English fairy tales. Then I went off to Church. I can read anything I want, and still go to Church, make the sign of the cross, throw out a few hail marys, retire to the most private part of the Church and pray real prayers. At least, I think they're real prayers. I know I really prayed them, at least grant me that. BTW: You want to read some theology, read this. It's written by a mathematician. If you know your Kierkegaard (spell checker?) as well as I do (not very well) you'll understand.
*COFFEE, SODA AND LOTS OF OTHER DRINKS ARE FREE.
UNIQUE TO THIS BLOG AND ITS READERS
Factoid or the beginning of a poem* the beaver in cslewis drinks beer,
PS: I like CS Lewis as a writer and as a man. He does drink beer, and so does the beaver in his book,
PPS: I'm sorry if I'm coming across as overly apologetic. Please forgive me, I don't mean to.
PPPS: So that's that then, Good Friday with Aimee Mann and hanami. Easter Saturday with inner voices and Ashley James and Easter Sunday with libraries, comics, media cafes and church. I hope everyone out there had a great Easter.
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