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Tijuana Gringo | |
Daniel's Journal | by Daniel Charles Thomas |
11 November 2001. Sunday. |
The sun came in the windows briefly this morning -- it has traveled south toward winter -- of course the sun doesn't move, the earth does. But there are also clouds. I think again and again of the idea of language as art. We're trying to arrange a meeting today, says the Secretary of State on TV. I planted an avocado seed in Balboa Park in my dreams last night. The shape of text is my art dot dot dot.
For a period of _________ time , dot spot point period . __________
To be silent when you stand up is the same, is not the same, as speaking when you stand up. Is the same because we are creatures of communication. Is not the same because gesture is (usually) silent and language is noisy. [mostly]
Is writing silent? Is you brain full of sound?
Or, is
writing , and
text , a form ofv i s u a l
g e s t u r e ?
Hmm?
What night was it... night before last... no, Thursday. The day I scribbled
Monopolar atomic clock clones -- Time Travelhere in my notebook. Or rather in the draft of my notebook, paper and pen, I write with paper and pen, and then go to the machine. Either Typewriter or Computer. Whatever. But first the paper and pen. Write. Right. No, left....Anyway, I met Tere and we came back here for tequila and botanas and talk talk talk. Didn't drink very much, maybe one, no two long, sipping little glasses of Jimador. But they were doubles. Yes. She's got problems with her roomates. They're about to lose all their furniture.
She invited me to her office party! Now we really are a couple.
I cleaned the stove yesterday. Scrub scrub scrub. Went to the conference on the culture of the frontier night before last. What was that, Friday? Andres Henestrosa. Fascinating old gentleman with a curriculum that has stretched across decades. He made some excellent observations. I scribbled notes of some, and translate:
The frontiers are not places where countries end, but rather where they meet.
The frontier implies an idea of meeting (encounter), of battle, of fighting, "frontier" -- in front -- to be opposed... an idea of struggle, fight, defense, confrontation, front-to-front (face-to-face)....
What is it that a people/nation does when it dominates another? It takes away the language, takes away their gods.
The language is the fatherland (patria). In so much that a people speaks their language, that people exists. Or is it the motherland (matria)?
Polite laughter
That is why I am here in Tijuana. This is Mexico. Only twenty miles -- thirty kilometers from where I grew up, but this is across the line. Here I see Mexico from its own side of the line. Here is where the homeland begins. On the other side where I grew up back across the line there are lots of Mexicans in the U.S., yes, but the Dominant Rule There is AngloAmerican English.
The conquered people defend themselves by way of their language.
Conserve your customs, your language, your cuisine.
Here I am truly on the other side. Spanish rules. Spain conquered Mexico. Not England.
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