A Gnarly Week

#159: Brevity, China Mieville, WWI & Tomas Claudio, Nick Cave, Rachielle Sheffler, Drew Gilpin Faust, Sonia Brittain, FogChaser, and Harryette Mullen.

“Red Letter Day,“ collage, 9 x 12 in.. by Jean Vengua, 2020.

HERE & NOW

Briefly

I’m making this issue brief. It’s been a trying week, complicated by a flareup of allergy symptoms, and some badly timed internet issues which happen to be taking place during an AT&T communication workers’ strike that involves customer service employees, technicians, and installers.¹

What I’m reading: China Mieville’s detective novel The City and the City. So far, I’m loving it. Mieville wrote the novel as “police procedural” fiction for his mother. However, as a self-described “Weird Fiction” writer, Mieville takes the reader into shadowy and liminal territory that’s unexpected for the genre—where citizens are conditioned from childhood not to “see” the forbidden city that’s right next to them, across the border. Oh, and there’s a British TV series. It’s good . . . but at about 100 pages in, I think the novel is better.

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THEN & NOW

Filipinos in World War I

In the last issue, “Mining the Silences,” I mentioned that “World War I” was engraved on my grandfather’s tombstone, to my confusion, since I felt that it was unlikely that he participated in that conflict.

However, I’ve since learned that a number of Filipinos did fight in Europe during that war, and at least one, Tomas Mateo Claudio, died of bayonet wounds in France and is celebrated as a hero in the Philippines, with a school and a street named after him. An article by Myles A. Garcia, “Six Profiles – Five in Valor, One in Villainy,” in Positively Filipino, tells us more about him.

Photo of Tomas Mateo Claudio. Public domain photo from Wikipedia article.

Also, the Philippine National Guard was formed in the Philippines during World War I in order to deal with war related issues. And when twenty-three German ships had sought safe harbor from the British in Philippine waters, their ships were seized and rerouted for use in the war, so it’s quite possible that my grandfather could have been involved in that operation. And it’s also possible that he may have been sent to Europe.

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RABBIT HOLE

• Joe Livernois, of Monterey Neighbors & Friends, posted a link to a recent interview with Nick Cave on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. I still tend to see Nick Cave as that gnarly punk rocker who appeared in the film Wings of Desire. But he’s now in his early 60s and has acquired some wisdom along the way. He talks about his humbling encounter with Johnny Cash, the importance of art, and the grieving process.

• Rachielle Sheffler, at Baguio Girl newsletter (also on Substack), is also writing about family history and migration in the Philippines. In “K is for Kabsat (Sibling),” she recalls learning words and concepts in Ilocano.

• “What Students Lost Since Cursive Handwriting was Cut from Common Core Standards.” From a 2022 NPR interview with Drew Gilpin Faust. Another way to approach this issue is to consider: “What knowledge and history are we losing with the end of cursive?”

• In “Display Your Art” (from her Substack, Notes From My Sketchbook), Sonia Brittain writes about the importance of putting your own art up on your walls. I feel that I don’t do this enough. Occasionally, going through my stacks of art, I “rediscover” a piece that I’d totally forgotten, which impels me to bounce off the ideas in that art and get creative. Below, she gives us a video tour and talk about making altered abstract sketchbooks:

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SOUNDINGS

• This lovely latest track from FogChaser (also on Substack): Exploration 010, Rialto Beach, Washington. Just what I need, let me tell ya.

• It occurred to me that I’ve quoted poet Harryette Mullin in my “About“ page, yet I haven’t featured her in the newsletter itself! It’s about time that I did that. Her experimental writing has inspired me. Here she is doing a reading at the Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center in Venice, CA:

• The first time I heard/saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform was in the film Wings of Desire, directed by Wim Wenders:

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My ongoing appreciation goes to the Mysterious M. for his editing.

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1. I definitely support the workers.