7/4/2012 (Jordan)

Jordan Kit

 

Dear Monologging Editors,

 

I’ve been feeling voiceless lately. Did you know I’ve just been to China for a few weeks? I went and saw all the sights and wrote the whole trip. I filled four of those composition notebooks with observations, poems, ideas, epiphanies, and more. One hot day in Beijing, I walked with my four notebooks in tow in search of a cafe to sit and edit my ramblings. I set my month’s work on a table, got a beer, and returned to my table to find that someone had swiped my notebooks and my pen.

Now that I’m stateside, it seems almost comical. It isn’t really, though. The problem is that it was the first time I’d written anything since publishing my first story. My sophomore slump finally came to an end, and I’ve nothing to show for it. It wasn’t the next big novel, but it was honest.

Many of the observations I made in these missing notebooks are remarks on how we live in the States. All the financial security and comfort in the world can’t slow life to the pleasurable pace of a Hong Kong fishermen who can catch and cook his own food, play guitar in the village square, and sleep beneath the stars on a straw mat. It seems like people who can relax like that are outcasts here. Someone once said something along the lines of “wise is the man who can spend an afternoon watching clouds pass by” and I’ve always thought there may be a caveat of wisdom in that. Television advertisements are always bothering me to get up and buy something. Pundits and politicians are always bothering me to get up and buy something, but they’re less transparent about the whole transaction. The radio is always bothering me to listen to get up and buy the music they like. I’ve been feeling so voiceless lately. If you complain you’re unpatriotic and if that’s the case, then you’re an outcast. Sometimes I think I should just become a Hong Kong fisherman, but I think I’ll settle for spending an afternoon watching clouds pass by.

With warmest regards,
Jordan Taylor Kit

Read more by Jordan at jordankit.com

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