A Table Of One's Own
How to Bring Literature to The Most Remote Areas
A) Introduction: This article is a continuation of an earlier article, "On The Dissemination Of Information" ( ), and other writings. It came about this way. One evening, at a "gifted-and-talented" English - conversation meeting, one of the students said, "We cannot understand our reading comprehension texts! Can you help us?" So, at the next meeting, she passed out blown-up copies of a text. We analyzed it together. Sentences were cut up
(with slash- marks for semantic-units, and brackets for "distracting text, parenthetical verbiage"), Then we read the text together. The results were startling. Comprehension of the text was increased significantly. Moreover, the students reported that they did not need their dictionary as before, when reading. It appeared that, if the sentences were divided into semantic- units, then the text yielded up its hidden meaning. (Images of the Boers setting stone cairns on the slopes of Spion Kop came to mind.) The students were very happy with this method of reading.
So, I thought, why not mark up the entire book? So, what began with mere slash-marks (/) evolved into a much bigger, and wider idea... and ambition.
Then came the epidemic. Like everyone else, I sat in my room for a long time– only, I was alone. This little detail made all the difference. I marked up two books, evolving a "system" along the way, and shared the results with the best classes, and the brightest students, from the past 18 years of teaching English in P.R. China.
Preliminary returns seem to suggest that the students like the product, but significant findings will take some time to emerge. However, another student said she did not understand why I made certain marks on the text: I then realized that the "fog of cultural confusion" allows one to be very close, but so far away. (Indeed, a winter tree, covered in rime-frost, can be seen,
but not touched, on account of the glazing of ice. So too, with culture.) Therefore, I decided to write a more systematic exposition of this method, adding in ideas and observations from the past several ideas. The article “On The Dissemination Of Information” has proven to be seminal, indeed; so, it is now time to make seed, and plant! (Thesis statement: "This article aims to explain how to divide the individual sentences of literary texts (ie, novels, essays) into easily understood semantic- units. The texts will also be annotated and marked up in other ways, and then scanned into ".pdf" files. Thus designed, these files will be suitable for readers to use, in very remote, technologically underserved areas, with no equipment necessary other than a printout, a table, and a (non-video) telephone. Thus, two students, in separate and remote locations, will be able to discuss the text, with control over variables".)
It is hoped this article will be very useful to teachers and students alike, who wish to see the reading and discussion of literary texts, in the most remote areas, become a common reality.
B) Body:
(B-1) Purpose: What is the purpose of this article? It is to discuss how to divide the sentences of selected literary texts into more manageable semantic- units, for easier reading comprehension. It is to explain the rationale for intensively marking up a text with all manner of slash-marks, annotations and line-numbers. It is to explain why "pdf" files are a preferred vehicle for widespread dissemination of the texts: why ".pdf" files, and not CD's, as was outlined in the earlier article "On The Dissemination Of Information". It is to discuss the setting into which the files will be sent, the people who will be using them, as well as local resources. Finally, it will show how to put all the pieces together, and how to deal with problems of "local inertia" for remote, low-infrastructure areas known for their conservative attitudes.
(B-2) Theory: As always, theory should be discussed before practical applications.
What is the existing situation, among readers? (Here, we shall assume the “readers'' to be high-school and college students.) What do people usually do with a text (from "Intensive Reading", from "Extensive Reading'', from "Basic "English", from a novel or an essay), and why does this often cause problems? People often try to understand a sentence, fleck by fleck, with a dictionary: they try to assemble the meaning from words (usually directly translated). Instead, they should identify the semantic-units, and let them speak for themselves, revealing the writer's mind and thinking. People also try to reference the text to their own language, at all levels, from pronunciation and grammar at the bottom, through communication, up to the highest and most refined points of style. However, this will not work, as most languages are very, very different– again, at many levels. Ideally, one should read the text in the terms of its own language – but how to do this easily and economically?
Why should one have selected literary texts in such a controlled format? Why not send out the texts, free and unadorned? Simply put, because the end-users do not know how to use them, or what to do with them, alone. It is very important to control the text, at many different levels. These are: text, page, line, sentence, and semantic-unit. To explain: text – what is given to the end-user; page – each page, since it has been scanned, should be self-contained; line– each line should be very easy to find (by anyone!); sentence – the sentence is the basic unit of language, both read, and written; semantic-unit – this is the key to understanding the grammar, structure, meaning and style of a sentence.
The text (a novel, or an essay) should contain everything necessary to the end-user. The text should give excellent examples, from all dimensions of language and literature. Some texts "have everything, give everything"; therefore, they should be sent to the end-users, in the remote areas of the land. Therefore, the best Modernist novels and essays have been chosen for this project. Other texts from other periods are also useful; the author prefers the Modernists, on all counts.
Pages should be self-contained, since they are scanned, and thus fixed. As was noted in "On The Dissemination of Information", the future of shared information lies in scanned documents, and not in "typed, word-processed" documents. Although narrative does run across pages, each of the scanned pages should be able to stand on its own. Remember, the end-product is on one page, on a table, under examination".
We will now discuss the lines. Why all those "end-of-line" numbers? people often ask. Since the pages are fixed, the lines should also be fixed — as points of reference. Misunderstandings can happen very easily, especially a (non-video) telephone conversation, on a dark winter's night between two distant and separate strangers (or maybe classmates) ... and must be prevented. Clarity must transcend all other values and differences, at all times and places. They allow the readers (who may be strangers) to find a sentence exactly, without confusion. Of course, a video set-up is better, but in the remote areas there is no video readily available, or affordable, or socially-and- culturally neutral! Having pages marked by line means one can abolish all need for fancy technology - completely and forever.
The sentence is the principal unit of communicative language. Through it, all meaningful discourse between people takes place. In these selected Modernist texts, the sentence is especially important. Therefore, "divide-and-rule" the text, by isolating the sentences hence, the large "red-dots" on every page of the text).
These "red-dots" highlight the sentence- level nature of the text. Make it constantly obvious to all readers that the sentence is the most important unit of language. The "red-dots" on a page are like star-constellations in the night sky, giving position, and revealing style. Moreover, one can note at a glance the type of sentences that a writer favors, for future analysis work.
Here then, are various types of sentences (in terms of their semantic- units), which have been observed thus far in the selected, Modernist texts:
– Short sentences. These sentences require no division by slash-mark (/), or only one simple division. (Remember, the divisions are meant to isolate "units- of-meaning" not grammar, or otherwise - so that a reader can instantly and clearly understand it.)
– "Balanced" sentences (short). These sentences are like the two halves of a shelled walnut-there is a certain "balance" to them. Sometimes the "balance- point" (i.e., fulcrum) of the sentence is not clearly shown, but is implicitly assumed by the writer; however, for many readers, it is not obvious, and causes difficulty in comprehension. One slash-mark in the right place, and the sentence is explained. These sentences look like this:
– "Balanced" sentences (long). These sentences also have two halves, but each half is complex, and must be further divided. Such sentences are beloved of the Modernists. Without a clear understanding of the major (//) and the minor (/) dividing-points, such sentences are very hard to understand. These sentences look like this: |~||~|~, or:
"Add-on" sentences (semantic agglutination). In these sentences, the semantic units are added, one after the other, like a "chain" of paper - clips. In some Sentences, this goes on for many semantic units. Example:///-//-//-
– Sentences, with parenthetical content. Some writers love long, parenthetical, and rambling sentences! (Not just the Modernists.) These sentences are very difficult for many readers, for they do not know what is central to the sentence, and what is parenthetical. Although there is some punctuation, it is still not clear; therefore, explicit semantic delineation is necessary. There are many forms of such sentences, which require both slash- marks, and brackets, to be understood.
– Long sentences, with changing “stream-of-consciousness". These sentences are like snipe (a marsh-bird), that fly away from one in a sharp, junking pattern. Of course, Modernism is full of such sentences (in certain writers). Here, the slash-marks should be used to indicate "change of direction"; this means the semantic-units will be somewhat longer.
Now, I wish to discuss semantic- units, as part of a sentence.
"Divide-and-rule" each sentence, by exposing the semantic units. Once it is "divided up", almost any sentence can be understood. However, who should do this work? Should it be a privileged caste of assigned foreign experts, familiar with Modernist literature, sensitive to the language, and knowing exactly, through experience, judgment and intuition, where to mark off the semantic-units? Or should it be your own academics? Or should it be you, the people, the end-users? To be honest, I think it should be the former. At least, let it be the former, with the ten most important works of Modernist literature.
Semantic-units can be narrow, or wide-ranging. Sometimes, one divides very carefully, even obsessively; at other times, loosely. When dividing sentences, one should be responsive to the text. Sentences, depending on the writer's style, can be divided in different ways. Different writers have different styles; some writers alter their style from paragraph to paragraph. Sentences can also be divided differently, according to content difficulty (i.e., loose on the easy ones, "picky" on the hard ones).
Splitting sentences, like splitting atoms, or splitting gem-diamonds is an art, requiring experience and judgment. However, once the work is done (and done well), then everything is revealed.
Let each semantic-unit, in isolation, speak for itself, and the whole sentence will appear. Moreover, one will learn English, "the English way", and not through the fitter of one's own language.
Now I will explain the symbols used, that is: the /, the //, and the ().
The slash-mark (/) is the most widespread. It is obvious, simple, elegant and flexible; it is a firm conceptual base, allowing expanded interpretations. Slash-marks should be exact, yet spare; they should inform, but not overload the reader. Too many will cause trouble.
Long sentences can be divided into "big ideas" with the double-slash (//), then each "big idea" further divided with the single-slash (/). Imagine a ruler, which has both "cm." marks, and "mm." marks on it; there are two "levels".
Slash-marks (/) can also be used to register "change-of-thought" (as in "stream-of-consciousness"). This is useful, especially in Modernist texts.
Brackets, (), are useful in marking up parenthetical sentences. In many cases, the "core" part of the sentence is quite small, so it pays to cut out and isolate the parenthetical parts, as well as unnecessary subordinate clauses.
Sub-conclusion: The purpose of all this text -marking is to make reading easier and unambiguous, for the end-user. Remember who it is: one farm-girl, talking to another farm-girl, in two remote villages, by phone, with a print-out on the table. Remember the Irish "hedgerow schools", and how much they achieved, with so few resources. Remember, it is "the art, not the article" that really matters. Better to mark-up four Modernist texts very well, then to manufacture heaps of garbage!
(B-3) Setting: Setting is everything. Upon it hangs all outcome, and the happiness of the moment. If you do not have a good setting, you cannot move forward and succeed. Setting-the most remote areas-is the great variable.
– The setting of the place. In the context of this article, this is a village, a small "Mom-and-Pop" (family- run) copy shop, a place that exists in safety. It is a kitchen, with the smells of mother's cooking in the air. It is a bedroom, with a door and a lock, with curtains on the window in short, a sanctuary. It is a table, with a telephone and a text- printout on it. The table can be in your bedroom, and be yours, always; or it can be the kitchen table, and yours for an hour each day. It is a clean surface, upon which to create and imagine a new world. It is your cockpit to the universe.
– The setting of society. Here, the setting is a village, deep in the high mountains. It is a farmhouse, lost in the immensity of plateau grasslands. It is a small home, under the poplar trees, between fields of cotton, and the great semi-desert. It can be found in a forgotten sub- district of an industrial city, in a small worker's apartment. It exists in a cramped service-dorm, with cardboard partition walls, behind a 24- hour trucker's stop. It can be found in a penthouse apartment, with amazing views of Shanghai at night. It is also in a fenced-in "technical - experts"
compound, somewhere overseas, cut off from everything. It is your own home.
– The setting of time. When do the people in the most remote areas make their tryst with literature? It is when the sun rises, and the birds begin to sing, but the people are still sleeping. It is during the heat of the day, when everyone is hiding in the shadow of the poplar trees, with their feet dangling in the irrigation channels, flowing with cold meltwater from the mountains. It is that special hour, when family bustle slows, and one's inner-self can come out. It is on a long winter night, around the kitchen stove, hearing the sounds, within and without: the sighing of the tea, following the heat-paths in the kettle; the clink of chain, as the family mastiff roams the courtyard outside the window; the wind blowing up the valley; the wolves calling out, somewhere out there, in the darkness. It is in the middle of the night, when all the world is asleep... except for you. It is during the holidays, when everything is closed down, and nothing is happening at all. It is at the appointed time, when you and the other have agreed to meet. It is when you know the other person is waiting for you to call them. It is when the sentence whispers, "Read me, open me, understand me". Then, it is time to arise, and meet the other.
– The setting of the text. The world is called forth, by the text, for you. The text is also a setting: it is an existential and imaginative place for you to enter. The text speaks and you alone, from a far and distant place. The text takes you out of yourself, and away from the monotony of your daily life. Our daily life turns us into trees, deep in winter, and locked under a jacket of rime- frost. The text takes a new world, where your winter is thawed into a new place – spring.
In the text, one sees the delicate environment of each sentence. The text is you, walking among the words, it is like a new forest of sentences. Each text is a new landscape, a new country, for you to look at carefully.
Then, there is the unseen, but unmistakable presence of the author. After studying the text, and thinking about it, you start to become like the author. A good author not only lets you see a new world, but also to become, somehow, a part of it.
– The setting of the telephone line. The telephone line is an existential world all of its own, without any limits or frontiers. It is vast, like the hidden depths of the ocean; as endless as outer space; here, you can go anywhere. The absolute silence and darkness of this world is painted alive by your voice, and the voice of the other. With the text in common, you can both decorate the universe - for one "mao" a minute. Would you like to own and decorate an entire universe with a friend, for one hour each day?
In the darkness and silence of this world, one's words have extraordinary power, sensitivity, and feeling. No other communicative environment can match the power of two souls, talking only to each other, on one telephone line. “In the dark, all cats are back"; on the phone-line, all voices are equal.
However, you must use audio only! Do not use video functions of any kind! Only communicate, using your voice, for it is sufficient, even gifted. All other distractions (of any kind) must be taken away, so you and the other can be alone, on the telephone line, talking about the text. The telephone may be a mere tool, but the telephone line is an abyss, awaiting your voices, to become an environment for sharing and living.
– The setting of the soul. Bringing literature to the most remote areas means two souls meeting in the big existential darkness - you, and the other. The meeting is between two people, yet it covers all of human experience, and goes out everywhere. You, and the other, are candles in a dark room, waiting to be lit, and to share light. The writer gives out life and a vision of the world; the reader receives it; but two souls share it and increase it. This is not about copying your classmate's homework; it is about meeting the other in the forest of sentences. It is between two souls that the previous five variables of place, society, time, text, and telephone-line come together, and mix. Our lives are but "writ on water", so why not do just that, for an hour, with someone else?
– Sub-conclusion. Setting is one of the most important considerations, when planning how to bring literature to the most remote areas. Consider it well, as you determine how to craft your life. If you want to succeed, you must ensure that all of the "setting variables" are in place, and working. Remember, everything is fragile and short-lived, especially in these matters. So, do good planning, and make any needed adjustments, as you go forward.
(B-4) Materials: The materials are simple, but here, simplicity is the essence of full success and achievement. It is important that materials be simple, cheap and easy to find, as resources in the most remote areas are fewer (and the forces of "inertia" more prevalent).
The table. Every house has a table, but not all tables are suitable for you. The table must be "one's own", for ownership is a mystique that gives one power. The table can be in your bedroom, and yours always; or it can be in the kitchen, and yours for an hour – but it must be yours. It can be any form of table; it can be a plank of wood between two stones; it can be a saddle, or a sack.
Of course, a table is a useful object, but more than that, it is a symbolic token of the choice-based life. Just as "a room of one's own" symbolizes the freedom to write, so “a table of one's own" represents the desire to share literature with the other, in the most remote areas. Perhaps this is why generals brought folding tables with them when they were on campaign. On the table-top, you can arrange the universe, to your own particular specifications. The table-top must be free of all "clutter", and of anything not related to the main task.
– The text, printed out. Most small towns, or larger villages, have a small copy-shop that can receive (on-line), and then print out your text. More on this, and related matters, later. Having paper, a printed text of the literature you will study, has many distinct advantages. Only paper can bring out the essence of good literature, and give it to you. You are able to focus on the printed word, without distraction. The feel of paper at your fingertips, and text on the table, right in front of you is very powerful. The message on the paper can be read, re-read, felt also with one's fingers, and passed around. Ultimately, a text- printout is cheaper; you can hide it; you can re-use the paper in many ways. However, paper is, first and foremost, covert, asymmetric, and with one match, totally deniable: it never existed.
If you are using a paper printout, you do not need to have a computer – which costs money, and much hassle. Order, for all time, was determined to be a single page on the table, single and complete. Would you exchange 5,000 years of paper-based literacy, for one or two generations of "flash", which will end in illiteracy, and a mountain of digital trash?
Why then, do the élites get their weekly news-digests, in the form of paper, delivered by hand? Everyone else has rushed headlong into digital things, but they use paper. Now, why is that? I think we all know why.
Paper, and the literature it quietly proclaims, will never go out of date, or require an update - unless we forsake it.
The telephone. Perhaps this part of the article is controversial! So, evaluate it, and make your own choices.
The telephone you use should be "land-line", or a 2G "grandpa phone" (“lao-ren shou-ji"), or a 4G cell phone, on audio-mode, only. At any rate, all video connections should be avoided on the "cell-net" ("shou-ji wang"), all APP's, and all computers. There should only be audio connection, and no video connection.
Let us then examine this position, this way of thinking, from a "materials" perspective.
Even though the "information and technology revolution" has brought phone and computer coverage to many people, certain deficiencies of outreach have appeared. As usual, the country moves forward, but some areas are left behind. Any useful improvements come to them last. In certain parts of the country, there is no or little coverage, no or little data- carrying capacity; or else, it is expensive. Why is it, yet again, that the poor are asked to spend their limited money, as to be "compatible" with everyone else? Can you imagine the financial burden to a farmer, so that his child can have a "suitable" computer, and a cell-phone as well?
Thus, the "most remote areas" are not only geographically remote, and poor, and under-served. They are also faced with the burden of paying for the new technology, out of their own limited financial resources. At the same time, "land-line" phones, and "hua-ba" (a few public phone cubicles, in the corner of a "Mom-and-Pop" shop) have become all but extinct. It is this "mass-extinction" (among others), which is the most tragic thing to happen in the deep countryside, today.
Personally, I think the real problem facing the "most remote areas" is that of data- carrying capacity. The "band-width" is too small, or the larger data-files are too big to be transmitted in, or out. This could be seen clearly, during the recent crisis, in terms of students in remote areas trying to attend on- line classes, and having "connection" problems.
Of course, people say, "Upgrade the system, so that it can meet our new expectations, and grow with the country!". However, the "most remote areas" will never catch up, but will be left behind, in a new fashion, every five years. "Progress" will escape them.
What then is to be done? How should one respond to this state of affairs? Consider: Do not think in terms of being "left behind"; rather, make "going forward" and "faster, better, more APP's!" become no longer necessary. In other words, by-pass the never-ending demands of "progress", and pursue basic levels of reliability, for all, in the most remote areas. The truth is, we do not really need "state-of-the-art, and more"; we need the most basic phone service to all places! That comes first.
So, I say, alter the system of sharing literature to the most remote areas, so that the existing 2G system is quite enough to do the job. That, again is why the printout texts are so heavily marked up; they now require no video treatment! None! Therefore, they are readily accessible to anyone, anywhere in the country– in particular, in the "most remote
areas" who wants to discuss literature.
– Sub-conclusion. This section discussed the three main materials used in bringing literature to the most remote areas – the table, the text- printout, and the telephone. The common theme here is: keep things simple, and "low-tech.", at all times. The table gives you a conceptual platform to view the universe you have chosen. If the selected text has been well written, then many things will become possible. An audio - only telephone allows you to converse with the other, with maximum creativity. Remember: "A good worker does not blame the tools." It is up to both you and the other to make everything work, and create beauty.
(B-5) Resources: Resources are also an important part of bringing literature to the most remote areas. However, the resource infrastructure is very fragile; therefore, it must be managed carefully. This concept is already obvious in the areas of ecology, pastoral husbandry, and soil management. Everyone knows what will happen if those things are harmed: there will be a desert. So, remember the theme of resource management, as you read this part of the article.
– The copy-shop. Having access to a small but reliable copy-shop is of the utmost importance. This shop will import the “pdf” files from the net, and print them out. Usually, such copy-shops make copies of simple things the local people need (ie, documents). In an ideal world, such a copy-shop would also have five phone-booths for the local people to make calls out ("hua-ba").
Having such copy-shops is very important, for it frees the farmers and hill-people from owning digital equipment. It also frees them from the vicious tyranny of understanding, maintaining and keeping up with the demands of "being modern". It also frees them from having to deal with obsolete and useless equipment. What will they do with such rubbish? Remember, "techno-waste" is some of the most dirty and pernicious forms of trash on our planet today! You do not want such trash coming into the ecosystems of the most remote areas-ever! Let the copy-shop owner, and the "techno-apprentice" deal with the hassles of digital life, themselves!
Copy-shops are very much the nerve-center of small-town life, and fulfill a valuable social role, page by page. Lose them, and the sharing of literature text-printouts in the most remote areas will become virtually impossible, for a very long period of time.
When dealing with the copy-shop, try to make every single interaction as simple as possible. You want to be able to go in, "do it", pay, and go out — without any impediment at all! There is only one thing that you need: a text-printout, and that only.
Do not introduce any complexity or complications into your business transaction. Save "other business" for a separate visit; do not mix it with your main purpose. Your main purpose is to get that text- printout, and bring it home to your table, to use it with the other.
Go into the copy-shop and do your business, when there are no other customers there. The world is full of "xiao-ren", and such people always take note of what is being printed. Do not, under any and all circumstances, bring "socially troublesome" people along with you. Leave them in the tea-shop, slurping noodles, and do the job on your own. Or, better still, leave them at home, and come into town alone.
Perhaps you should also "go asymmetric", and visit a copy-shop in the township, and not in your own village. You can do this as part of your normal shopping excursions into the town ship. If you have a good relationship with the boss, have the text printed and ready, before you come. Always, always, always pay in cash, and not with "Wei-Xin" money! Pay, and leave; do not hang about there!
I wish to end this sub-section, by talking about my own dealings with copy-shop owners. The relationship with a copy - shop owner is of absolute and vital importance, and must never, never be compromised. Everywhere I have worked here, copy- shop owners have been very high in my social hierarchy, and of great importance.
Some copy-shop owners, or their "techno- apprentice" are very talented in their digital arts. The best ones intuitively know what I want, and give it to me. (This would never happen in a copy-shop back at home!) Of course, spending a lot of money in their shop helps, as does being flexible, and paying in exact change.
Without a good relationship with a copy - shop owner, I would not be able to do anything! The many ideas I have, and my many creative projects, would never be made and developed. I will say again: over the years, I have had a very good symbiotic relationship with several copy-shops. I have created many projects - my own writing, language-study materials, and curriculum materials - with the technical help of copy-shops and their workers.
Lest you think, "I can do it by myself" (or worse, "You should be doing it by yourself"), think once again. It is almost impossible for an outsider to do these things today, anywhere. This is because the doctrine of "systemic, whole-society, intentional incompatibility" has been fully implemented. (In other words, I am now shut out.) The days of "wildcatting" are over; now, everything is covered over with permanent, cultural rime- frost. All I can say is: I am glad I will be retiring in a few years. My era is over; but it was good.
However, most people coming in to pick up their text-printout will not need such services. I mention this only to stress that the copy- shop workers are important, and should be respected. We really need them!
The town -to-village mini-bus. Usually, there is a once-daily mini- bus from the district township to the outer village. Sometimes, the mini-bus only leaves when it is full of people and baggage. Many times, the drivers will carry parcels on an informal basis for a fee, when asked. Just before the mini-bus leaves, someone gives the driver a parcel, the fee, and the receiver's phone number. When the driver arrives at the other end, he calls the receiver, who takes the parcel. This informal system is used frequently, in the most remote areas, by many people. Every manner of rural commodity is carried around in this manner, day after day. This system is very much the life-blood of the rural community.
So, why not use this existing system, to bring in text-printouts when you need them? Remember, some of the people who want to share literature are too young to travel alone. It is possible to ask a friend to carry the text-printout from the copy-shop to the mini-bus driver. Then the driver brings it to you, or to one of your friends who lives in the village. Sometimes, it even goes one more stage, by horse or by motorbike, up the valley, to your house. There is no rush; there is always someone coming up the valley to visit you. This means you do not have to go to the township, just to get a text- printout. You can stay home and do your own things, free from any pressure, any urgency, or any expense.
You may say, isn't a smart-phone better? I say: the paper way is much better in the long run. You will say, but doesn't it take more time? I say: then plan it all carefully, some time before. The countryside has its own speed of doing things, its own rhythm, its own way. If you fit in with this reality, and do something else, then there really is no waiting. This should be the final gift of the countryside – freedom from the rat-race of "digital progress".
– One "key" shop. It is easy enough to cultivate the local shop- keepers in one's home village; one lives there. However, the nearest township is often too far away on a daily basis. So, it is important to cultivate a "pick-up/ drop-off" relationship with one small shop in the nearest district township.
If the shop owner has a "relationship" with people in your home village, then so much the better. His shop can become a sort of outpost of the home village, where locals can shop,
chat, drink tea, rest, when they are in town.
Ideally, this "key" shop should be near to the mini-bus station, for easy pick-up by the drivers. It should also be near to the copy-shop, for easy drop-offs by the staff, when they have time. If the text-printouts must stay somewhere for a day or two, let it be at this "key" shop.
In this way, one can have an informal distribution system, where the people know each other. Besides, it is always good to have in place in the township, somewhere where one can feel at home, while going shopping.
– Sub-conclusion. In order to be able to bring literature to the most remote areas, one must draw on local resources, or services. The most important resource is a copy-shop in the township nearest to one's village. The imported ".pdf" files can be turned into text- printouts, with no problems, for your use. The town-to-village mini- bus service allows you to access the better facilities of the township. Moreover, if you plan well, you can have the text-printouts delivered to your very home. The "key" shop, in the township, can serve as a forward base for you, and fellow villagers. It also serves as a meeting point between the copy-shop, the mini-bus driver, and you. Just because you are living in the most remote areas does not mean you cannot have services. If you plan well, and are willing to wait (and do other things), you can have service just as good as the city people get!
(B-6) People: Surprisingly, even though this article is about "you" and "the other '', there are many others involved. Most of these people will not see the others; however, they all work together. Although this system has been developed in this article, it is intended to be a de-centralized affair. The various and scattered players are advised not to formally and openly organize themselves in any way.
The only really organized part might be the specialized text-making caste, who are outsiders. This is essential, as only high-quality "product" should be allowed to enter the most remote areas. I am sure that you, the reader, knows what happens when an idea's counterfeit enters some area, and is absorbed deep into it!
Let all involved know at the very beginning, that they have a common objective. That is: to allow two people, living in the most remote areas, to discuss literature, using the telephone. It is a very simple idea.
There are eleven types of people involved, at different levels of society, in this affair. They are: you, the other, the consultant; your mother, friends, people in the village, people in the township; the courier; the "net"-scout, the text-maker, the author. All of them are vital. In this section, I will discuss each of these people- types, and the role they each play, as part of the whole. This should all be spontaneous and decentralized; the moment it becomes a movement or an organization, it is forever finished.
– You. We start with you, because if you know about yourself, then you will better find the other people.
Dare you to read Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself", in English? I dare you!
Who are you? Where do you live? What do you want? If you can answer these questions, you will more easily and successfully share literature in the most remote areas.
Who are you? Self-awareness is the first step to exploring the world of literature. When looking into the deep and silent waters, what to see? Yourself, or things beyond, or others…? Are you defined by things outside of yourself — by people, the past, the tall stone idols? Or, are you a voice and a spirit, all your own, going where you want, and being who you want? Happy is the person who defines them self, and then follows, goes with the wind, from the first moment. Literature is the account of who followed, each their own wind, with a pen in their hand and their eyes open. At the end of the journey they found themselves, wrote down all they had seen, and shared it with others.
Where do you live? Your native earth makes you what you are, and holds your longings. The springs and wells, the streams and ponds calm your thirst, and make your dark eyes into deep pools. The grain you eat sustains you, and the milk of your goats keeps you young and able to laugh. The terraced fields of rice, the steep tea-slopes, the vast and silent pasturelands, all green, are seas where you wander in hope. The forests where you pick mushrooms are the secret places of your soul, the refuge of your imagination. The mountain peaks, haunted by snow-leopards, are where you go to rise above life, and see far into the distant future of things.
Oh child! Out of nature are you formed, and out of land are you born, and given your own unique identity. I saw you for but a moment, as did Cuchulain the sprite, in a lost tea-house beside the trees. Your voice is the joy-song of the larks over the meadows of Balikun during the hot summer. You come from the ends of the earth, the outer reaches of imagination, sing your song, then return to the air.
Therefore, you are very much a product of where you live, for geography is a powerful influence. It is no accident that the poet- shepherdess of all ages came from the most remote areas, of all lands.
What do you want? Perhaps this is the hardest question, especially if you live in a world of limits. Or, do you know, as you lead your goats over the slopes of Takht-e Suleman, over the hills of Loristan? Do you follow the wind in your imagination, or do your very feet take you to the ends of the earth? I might add here, that even when there are few limits, it is still the hardest question. Do you want to "be", or do you want to "do"? Or can you walk in both ways at the same time, both "being" and "doing"?
Whether your life is constrained, or unfettered, do you know what you want, and how to get it? To be able to say what one wants is hard, but it is much harder to say to do it when there are others around you. This is one reason why I say I have chosen to go through life alone, for the complication of "others" is removed.
Then the question arises, what do you want to do with literature in your life? Do you want to read it by yourself? Do you want to talk about it with someone? Do you want to write something? If you are happy to read and write on your own, then fine; just keep yourself supplied. If you want to discuss literature with someone else, how will you do it, and with who? These questions become much more complicated when you are living in the most remote areas. You would do well to consider these ideas by yourself, for the "other" will very likely ask you sometime when you are both discussing literature, on the phone-line.
– The "other". In some ways, the "other" is the most important person, in this drama without a stage. Do you realize that you will be sharing your mind, your dreams, your opinions, with someone you cannot see? You will be in the emptiness of the phone-line, using English, to discuss literature. You cannot see the person, or interpret their face before you, or their "body-language". All you have are your ears, your intuition, pure language, and abstract thought. Almost all other variables are shut out, leaving you alone in the dark with another mind. For most people, this is unfamiliar and frightening; they are not used to this way. However, some people (including me) like this way, as being "safe in the dark" allows them to be their true self. To the extent that you can shut out everything else, and enter abstract language, you will be successful. Of course, I am assuming that you want to discuss literature, and not make "guan-xi". It is in this new environment that you will meet, and develop, the "other". Can you do this?
The rules of engagement. There are distinct conditions and behavior to be observed, when discussing literature on the phone.
The first and obvious question is this: how should you find, and meet the "other"? Almost without exception, the social climate of the most remote areas is highly conservative. Therefore, who you "meet" will be decided by the authority figures around you. In the end, their verdict will win; do not even think of fighting, at this point.
However, you can try to control one variable – that of the physical distance of separation. You do not want them at your table table, face to face, in your house! All social and visual intrusion will utterly violate the authentic experience of discussing literature. Talking face to face at the table, with your mother stirring the soup (and also monitoring you) is not the answer! In such a case, everything will fall apart, and the "experience" will be destroyed. You need to "come away with me", to the sanctuary of the phone-line, to the safety of distance. You need to "come away with me", to the island of speaking and sharing ideas in English. You need to "come away with me", to the private "paradise- garden" of literature, and its ideas. The important thing to "fight" for is a measure of physical separation, forcing the need to use the phone.
In the end, you will probably be assigned a classmate from the same village, or the next valley. “Bide your time", and conceal any frustration, for your day will come to you. Remember, time is on your side; when you are older, you can choose your "other" on your terms. For now, learn the skills well, in a local setting, under the "tutelage" of those over you.
The search. First, one must look for a person who will become the "other" – someone to discuss literature with by phone. You may say, "Why bother? My family will not let me choose! What can I do?" That is true.... However, let us consider how this task is done, for future reference. You must think about the following variables, as you prepare and make your decision.
How far from your home does the "other" live? To what degree do you know this person? Will the other be accepted by your family? Will you search by yourself? Will you ask your friends or former teachers for help? Will you let your family choose? Will you ask your mother to engage the services of a “wise - auntie"? For these people are very well-connected. Or, would you ask her to enlist the help of someone who moves widely in your greater region? Think about this.
Personally, I feel it is better to have the "other" living at some distance from your house. Why? You can take away all distracting variables. You can turn on / turn off the relationship like a light-switch. I also feel it is better not to know them so well (but your family will know something about them). That way, the future can grow in a number of ways, and not merely continue along the old way. So, you know something about the "other" but not very much; it is enough for the future to grow on.
If the "other" is accepted by your family, then you have enough to go forward. In your part of the most remote areas, everyone will know this; what formerly shut you out, will now keep you safe inside.
It is better not to search yourself, unless you are only examining your own village, and areas under your direct experience. Even then, you would do well to ask your mother (who already knows what you are doing and saying).
Do not ask your friends in your village; they are not compatible for this business. Maybe, you can ask your former teachers, but maybe, they also do not know, as their purview is local. I do not want my family to choose for me, but at the same time, I want their tacit protection.
The “wise-auntie" might be useful in a local context, but she would be judged by social/ cultural/ local criteria – she should be utterly free of the prison of culture! Somehow, I think the "wise- auntie" does not know this world, since she belongs to the world of "stasis", local culture, and the establishment.
As for the one “who moves widely in the greater region", and comes into contact with a wide variety of people, here, there is more hope. Who are these people? District workers and inspectors from the local government, or traveling salesmen see much. There is a whole class of people in the most remote areas, who can wander everywhere, see it all, and take note.
These are the storytellers, the oral transmitters of culture at festivals, the makers and sharers of songs and of folk-opera, and researchers in anthropology.
Let us step back, for a moment. I do believe that someone, the "other", does exist; the problem lies in finding that person. So, widen the net. Should you search beyond the district township, beyond the province, and over the whole country? After all, if the text-printout comes from far away, why not the "other", and by the same channels? Instead of having “a nation of villages", why not have "the nation, as one big village", instead? Although the family would like a local solution, I think the "other" will be someone within the nation, in a different valley, far away.
This matter needs further discussion, by local voices from the most remote areas. Let us assume for now, that someone, the "other", has appeared, and is waiting on the phone, to talk.
The encounter. No encounter is the same. All you need to know is: destiny does not knock twice at the same door. Take it now, or lose it forever!
During the recent crisis, while alone in my room, I tutored some of my bright and
eager -to-learn students. They were alone in their homes, taking on-line classes, waiting to return to the university, and bored to desperation.
To one student, I gave classes in pronunciation. We used a "Shu-Chong" book as a text. I had taught her in Oral English for one year, but I did not really know her very well. Then we met on the phone, twice a week, to practice pronunciation, and to discuss literature.
Without realizing it until later, I was discussing literature on the phone, taking on the role of the "other". She, in her turn, became a good example of the "you"-persona, in the most remote areas.
She lived in the countryside, with her farming parents and her cat, far from the big city. However, she was a bit of an Internet warrior, and frequently shopped on-line for clothes.
In the early days, the darkness of the phone-line was a cause for not clearly understanding each other, and embarrassment. The abyss of the phone-line is my creative playground, but for her, it was an uncertain place. She was very shy, and became very flustered when she could not understand some cultural allusion. She was also very embarrassed at her level of oral pronunciation. In time, it improved too.
I am glad that, during our first phone classes, I was not thinking about this article. If I had, the whole of the experience would have been spoiled by over-analysis, and she would have known it. As it was, the first classes were tense at times. I had to watch my teaching carefully. She was shy and embarrassed at her mistakes, and I was trying to be patient. The air was fragile.
Perhaps, it will be like this in the early days with you, as you meet the “other” for the first time. Somehow, my first "you" -persona (she) and I (the "other") survived the early days of our encounter. Do not lose the moment, for destiny does not knock twice at the same door, and especially in the most remote areas. There is no second chance.
Getting used to each other's personality. Then something happened: we started to slowly get to know each other, over the phone. How it happened, I am not quite sure.
Quite quickly, we became used to each other – and this, with all the variables save "audio" removed. I learned to avoid situations where she was "exposed in ignorance", and thus embarrassed. I overlooked some forms of error (to deal with later), and focused on easy things to fix. We talked about simple topics, with easy ideas, much repetition, and no "difficult" areas. More than anything else, it was this repeated discussion of "common things" that melted the ice. Relating to someone on an audio- only phone line requires alternative social and pragmatic skills, and she deployed these with consummate mastery.
Then, we moved on from the sharp "embarrassment" stage, to actually getting the job done, and successfully.
Getting down to business. After we had "figured each other out", it was a simple enough matter to do the actual work. As for the study of literature, we approached it in a slow and almost roundabout way. I was in no hurry to discuss the text: we studied a page, talked about something common, and ended the call. It went on this way, week after week. We discussed many things, and her own confidence and her pronunciation improved.
However, I soon realized something: when I called, she was at her table, ready to begin.
Transcending each other, and entering the world of literature. In time, the crisis ended, and the students came back to university, and their classes.
However, by this time, after three months of twice-weekly tutorials, we were easily discussing literature. We were able to understand each other, and thus make the barriers of culture irrelevant. In the abyss of the phone- line, the "rime-frost" of cultural separation cannot form. "In the dark, all cats are black", and not only that, they can move about freely. In other words, we were able to transcend each other's innate reservations, and the ever-present barriers of culture and habit.
However, this state of affairs could not last forever, as the external variables changed.
Dissolution. Here is a word of warning: this story does not have a "happy ending" to it – only, an ending.
On a certain day, the university called all of the students back to their classes. Upon return to the world of video, the light, classmates, sensory- overload... the audio world collapsed and dissolved. My phone-line student (along with many others) was swept up in a shower of parties, "hot-pot" dinners, girl-talk, and mall-shopping. Anything to do with English, or study,
or classes was picked up and swept away by an invisible, forceful tidal-wave,
Oh yes: we met, we talked; but we talked with downcast eyes; for the world of the phone-line had now utterly vanished. The cultural and social rime-frost fell on her, turning the talking Persephone of the shades, into an ice-statue by day. Such is the total, unremitting and implacable effect of culture upon the individual. I would not be surprised if most of what she learned is lost within two months.
As for me, I will continue with my classes, reading, thinking, writing, and travel. This is why I am an expat: I like the freedom of the "a-cultural" (i.e., without culture) life; there is no one to tell me what to do, and who to be!
Evaluation. So, from this "plague- season experience", I draw the following sharp conclusions, for you to think about.
The "abyss", the dark and silent world of the audio-phone line does work, and it works well. As the writers like to say in their articles, "More research on this phenomenon needs to be conducted".
However, I would suggest this, up front: the "other" should come from far, far away! The inward-looking, prejudice- based disposition of the village is just too hostile to the "other". The cultural and social dynamics of villages in the most remote areas are completely hostile to anything "not of them". It is much easier for a distant "other", known only on the phone-line, to conduct business. What is "business"? It is discussing literature, using a text- printout, a table, a phone. In short, studying literature in the most remote areas is like a telephone romance with an out-of-village and faceless stranger.
The tragedy is this: conceptually and operationally (under conditions), it does work! The monks were right: go and study the sutras in a very isolated place, far from all society and interference!
– The consultant. Over the next few years, as you try different ways of sharing literature, you might want to talk to someone. Is there anyone you can call, if you have any questions: how do I do this; how do I do that; is it right?
Of course, you can ask anyone, but I think it best to be cautious sharing your "table-talk" with the locals. In the most remote areas, anyone who associates with an outsider, or with outside ideas, is always looked at twice.
There is one local person you might ask for help – your village school teacher. However, even here, you should be very careful, for the teacher will ultimately communicate with – your mother!
Perhaps you will hear that an old classmate, now living in the district township, is taking new classes. If your classmate's teacher arouses your interest, then ask to be introduced, after her class. The reason for making this contact is that town-level teachers are often more cosmopolitan than the village teachers. They are also less likely to call your mother (although even in the township, your mother has ears). Perhaps you can ask this teacher if they know someone suitable. They will usually know of someone, but will they share?
Then, there is your college English teacher. (After all, weren't you an English major in college?) I have noticed, over the years, a small but steady trickle of former students who call me, to ask something. What sort of questions would you ask your old college teacher, if you could do this? Since discussing literature on the phone opens up an entire universe, there would be many questions to bring up.
Perhaps you and the other can agree to solve problems together, as you encounter them. After all, isn't this what newly married people must do, in the early years of their marriage?
There will be many questions (how to do this, or that?), but very few people who are willing or able to help you. These days, the "denial-of- access" or the "denial-of-information" have become very common. It is very easy for "a table of one's own" to become "at table, on one's own". Perhaps there will be no one to help you, and you will have to answer all of the questions by yourself. That is not such a bad thing: you are now free, and can look at the world as a kind of field laboratory, to test ideas.
– Your mother. In this article, one's mother has been portrayed as a reactionary and forbidding figure. Actually, she is very important to you, for she controls two things that you need. Of course, she controls the table, and make no mistake at all – everything would fall apart without the table. As a "sort-of" writer myself, I cannot imagine any form of life without a table! However, she also controls the "nest", which means not only your bedroom, but the whole house. Can you imagine having nowhere to go, in the whole village, once the night falls?
Remember those immortal words: "500 pounds a year, and a room of one's own (with a lock)". Of course, that would be wonderful, but in all likelihood, you cannot be so free and independent – yet. Your mother can provide the needed environment, for you to have the chance to discuss literature, on the phone, with the "other".
Where else will you live, and pass the days safely, between leaving school and getting married, if not at home? Of course, the ideal solution would be to flee to the "artist's colonies"
of Paris, but such places are not available to people like you – yet. As for similar (and authentic) places coming into existence here, I doubt it very much. I suspect that if such places grew up (like summer grass), they would be scythed down (like summer hay).
However, there was an institution in Paris (before the time of the artist's colonies), which was the salons. Go, check on the web, for information on the Paris salons, from the times of Madame de Pompadour, up to Gertrude Stein. Maybe the model of the literary salon, re-imaged for the present age and for the most remote areas, can be re-considered. Perhaps, it is time to consider now a myriad of salons, out of a myriad of mother's homes. I think that many mothers would relish the role of "unseen doyenne" of their daughter's salon.
So, remember your mother, for she has many resources to help you succeed – and, she loves you.
– Friends. Friends are useful if they know of someone who might become the "other". However, they will almost always belong to "the local mindset", and are thus different. Indeed, they will see you now as different, and will treat you as such, forever. Hometown prejudice will always prove stronger than any pretense to friendship. Once you have gone out into the big world, and eaten its fruit, there is going back. I have seen former students who "went out", learned new ways, and were rejected by their peers. So, I do not think your hometown friends will help you in this matter. Move on, alone. Even if you do find someone, be careful! The local memory of your encounter will never be forgotten.
– People in the village. People in the village are even more reactionary towards those who are different. In truth it was said, "Only in his home is a prophet without honor". Nothing changes. If you are under your mother's aegis, you should be all right; otherwise, you risk being labeled as a deviant. So, be very wary of looking to the people in your village for help in finding the "other"
– People in the district town ship. Perhaps the people here are a little worldlier, and have more contact with the larger world. However, they also have many "social-climbers", who turn the place into a jungle of competition. Here people want to move up to the next stage, and not better themselves by talking about literature. Who wants to cultivate their mind, or grow their soul? All they want is to become richer and more respected. Still, there might be someone here who is useful, a teacher, a friend of a friend. Always keep your senses alert to the subtle whisper: "Here is something you might use".
Also, realize that the townships are the outer-bases of those urban idealists of the big cities. There is no shortage of people who want to "help" the people in the most remote areas. So, for "operational convenience", they base themselves in a certain township. That way, they can "service" several villages from one central location easily. If you are looking for some form of "urban presence" to communicate with, you can try these people. Remember, you have something they want (local knowledge); but remember also, they will not hesitate to "use" you! They will not have the time to "talk literature" with you, but they might lead you to someone who will. Maybe.
– The courier. The courier is one of the two "intermediary" (in- between) characters in this drama without a stage. His role is to carry the text-printout to you from the shop, should the normal channels fail. How might normal services fail? There is a new driver, who does not know you. The weather is bad. Your family is being difficult, and has shown its own displeasure by chopping onions on the kitchen table. Withholding the post is a common way for conservative families to control their children; it is a terrible burden.
What do you need, at all times? You need another postal worker, who can deliver your text-printouts, without fail. There is always such a person in your life, who, if asked, would be glad to help you. However, you should make the formal arrangements in advance, before any crisis appears. Also, you should state clearly that this is a back-up arrangement, in case of a crisis. If you live high in the mountains, the courier must have horse or motorcycle skills, of a good level.
– The "net" - scout. By now, it is clear that you need a clean and very reliable source of texts, to read and discuss. Of course, you can do a quick search on the "shou-ji" net, and see what there is to download easily. If you want to use the APP-based texts, there are plenty to choose from. Here, you can use a smart-phone, and "go video", like everyone else. Why not? The APP infra-structure is very large, and is getting bigger and better each day.
Meanwhile, finding altered and simplified texts is much more difficult to achieve. First, there are very, very few texts, which have been divided into semantic units. Other texts, which have been altered in other ways, are "limited circulation", and thus hard to find. Also, most people have never heard of "altered texts" at all! It is a new idea for them. They assume that a direct translation into their language is enough for any reader. So, you are now looking for something that most of society would say doesn't exist.
You need the help of a local computer expert, who can find "difficult to search" items on the net. The best place to find such a person is in the district township, where you go shopping. Again, this is because the district township is "in between" your own village, and the bigger towns and cities. A person working there understands village conditions, and can also access information from the city. Also, the "trickle-down" of hardware, software and competence is still strong and up-to-date at the district township level.
You may think that you can do the searching yourself, and do not need anyone to help you. If you follow this way, you will burn up a lot of time, energy and money. You just do not have the ability to exploit and keep up to date with such specialized information. The expert can find solutions in a few hours, but you would need days to do it. Remember: you should outsource troublesome tasks sometimes, to keep your life more free. You will also have more time for "want to", instead of "must do", in your life. This is why you need a "net"-scout, to find and keep you supplied with suitable texts, as you need them.
How do you find such a person? In this matter, your friends can be helpful. Also, the boss of the copy- shop in the district township might know of someone local, who can then help you.
I think you should have a district township person, and not someone from far away. You need to talk with them fairly regularly, and they need to be aware of "local conditions". Above all, the "net"- scout needs to know exactly what sort of texts are looking for you. The only way to achieve that is to meet face-to - face, and talk. Give them printed examples of what you have already, or what you would like to have.
The "net"-scout is also able to find and link up with similar people from all over the country. Over time, once they become familiar with each other, they will become a potent source of information. In addition to finding texts, they might even discover the "other", by chance. Always, at the back of their mind, they should be alert for and looking for the text-maker.
– The text-maker. You will never see the text-maker, although you will wonder who it is. The text-maker is the snow-leopard of the highest and most remote mountains. This person is the snowy owl, flying low over the tundra of the high arctic. Consider those whom the English language gives the suffix – “maker”: deal-maker, king-maker, bomb-maker, widow-maker. In some ways, the text-maker is the most important player in this wide- ranging drama without a stage. If this person is not important, then please, go study literature by yourself on the "shou-ji" video APP's, in a café! In this subsection, I will discuss material issues, as well as the text-maker.
Although this article has ranged widely over the human experience, it all began at one point. That is: if a sentence is broken up into "reasonably-sized" semantic units, it will be much easier to understand. So far, in a very informal setting, this has appeared to be true; this is most encouraging. Initial reactions to sample texts have been positive, with greater ease of comprehension noted. Not only that, some readers reported that they needed a dictionary far less, or not at all. So, having certain texts divided up in this way would appear to be a useful tool for studying English literature.
Of course, this article has been primarily concerned with discussing literature on an audio-only telephone. The hypothetical "you" has been a village plateau-girl, and the "other" a college kid from a big city university. (After all, the poet-shepherdess of the most remote areas has to meet someone, if she is to "come away", and develop.)
However, this romance of "you", a table, the phone, and the "other" all require a specialized text-printout. To have the specialized text-printout requires a skilled worker – that is, the text-maker.
Should this idea leave the social- laboratory, become systematized, and be introduced to the English-speaking and studying population? I would suggest, with caution, and the need for some more research, test projects, modifications: yes!
However, there are certain problems. Such texts are very labor-intensive to produce. If this idea is accepted, then one is faced with the enormous job of "altering" many literary texts. How should one produce these "altered texts"? In what way should this happen? Should one let them appear naturally, or should they be deliberately and very forcefully manufactured, in large numbers? There are very few people who are willing, and available, and competent to do such work; they are the rarest of people.
In all these cases, the operative question is, "How should one enter into production?" Should one wait for the few lone "desert-sages" to do the work, according to their muse? Should one follow the model from the end of "Fahrenheit 451", where one willing person became responsible for one book? (From each person, one labor.) Or like the Manhattan Project,
should there be vast warehouses, full of cyclotrons, each spinning out its quota of enriched material, daily? Or like the Oklahoma land-rushes, the field is thrown open to an army of speculators, wild cats, and opportunists?
Next, one must consider the issues associated with distribution. At present, there is no effective infra-structure in place to share it with the general population. In the early stages, the sharing of "altered" texts will be very informal, and "between friends". Should it always remain this way, or should there be a semi-formal web-site? One should consider this.
This web-site would be a central repository of "altered" texts, for down-loading. It would also be a place where text-makers could drop off their work, in the manner of dropping off "foundlings". Perhaps it could also be a place where "you’ s" can meet "others"; but, maybe this is only wishful-thinking and dreams.
Then there is this question: could one or two texts become part of a formal "shou-ji" APP? There would be a short message with the text: Why not find a friend, and talk about this text? Go on, have a try!" Just the mere, silent existence of two texts in an otherwise video- based APP would trigger a lot of thinking, hopefully leading to reactions.
However, I think there being any web-site is unlikely, due to the "prevailing climate". Perhaps an informal link-up between "desert-sage" text- makers, "net"-scouts, and end-users like "you" is all that can be expected, for now. I have every confidence that people will appear, who will fill in this "niche" - opportunity. The real question is, will it be run decently?
Then, there is the question of quality-control. What I fear more than anything else is for an army of well-meaning incompetents to do the job, and distribute raw garbage. At all the vital points, this operation requires highly-skilled people, master- craftsmen in their chosen field, who will do the job right. In this matter, there can be no compromise. The "desert - sage" text-makers, and the "net"-scouts must be the very best.
The problem does not only come from those who would "do good"; it also comes from those who would make money. There is a raw, insatiable desire to take something pure and useful, and replace it with many counterfeits. All values are compromised, when money is on the table, and "destroy- and-replace" dreams are in the mind. Cultivating the mind, through discussing literature does not go down well in an informal marketplace following a "slash-and-burn" mentality. We have all seen this vile phenomenon in a wide range of products; it is a cancer that refuses to be subdued.
I am deeply skeptical that any country-wide operation can keep itself pure, in terms of quality-control. Perhaps the only way to assure quality-control is to use the informal link-up, set forth briefly in the "distribution" sub- section, just above. It should be enough!
Then, one must consider the attributes of a good text-maker. The top criteria for being a
good text- maker are (at least) the following. One must have a deep understanding of how to read, analyze and write a good sentence. One must have read widely, in many periods of English literature. One must have a good, even exquisite sense of literary judgment. One must be very devoted to the work, so that dividing sentences and living become one and the same. One must put excellence, and the code of the craftsman before all else. One must believe that the choices of where to divide a sentence today, will lead the mind of the poet-shepherdess for every day to come. One must work in a quiet and isolated place, where all one hears is the wind in the trees, and the voice of the author. One must put "art" before "article", master-work before fame, excellence before quota, the sentence before noise. One must trust that the sentence, unlocked and unfrozen, will let the text speak for itself to the mind of every reader. One must think it better to watch the ants running up and down the bamboo, and then work, then to work all day long. One must believe that one year in the forest, in the tea-house, dividing the sentences of one major book is worthwhile. One must be able to absorb inspiration from one's particular source, then give it to the reader, through the medium of the divided sentence. One must defeat the "rime-frost" of not understanding with the clear sound of each sentence, as the author intended, in the mind of the reader. One must believe that out of the walnut comes the universe, and out of the sentence comes understanding of the author's world. This is the person that the "net"-scout needs to be looking for, to share the "art" with "you". These are the attributes of the "desert- sage" level of text-maker you need.
What about the other categories? For they are just as needed for this work. The last scene from "Fahrenheit 451" often goes through my own mind. In it, the hero Montag is shown a forest, with many people in it, walking alone, reciting one book from memory. Since (in the story), all the books in the world had been burned, the memorized and recited text in their mind was the last copy. This is a model, an example of another type of text-maker, one that is open to all. Find a book that you like, and take the necessary time to understand it, and divide all of its sentences. Do not try to do many books; choose one, make it your own, divide all the sentences, and share it with others. This is a very real contribution!
One frequently repeating question. is: "Should the text-maker be a specialist, or can anyone have a try?" Of course, the egalitarians will ask that the field be opened to anyone who wants to try. As for the élitist’s, they will favor a special class, a caste of Brahmins, a chosen priesthood. As for me? I think that only the very best (whatever their backgrounds) should do this work. Therefore, I agree with the second position, at least until the top 500 books have been processed. Some of you may say of me, "This is an errant élitist!" Perhaps you are right, but the results justify the priesthood. Still, if there are some people who want to have a try, let them, with the understanding that they begin their work of making texts at the "second tier".
"First-tier" are experienced, and can work on the texts accepted as literary classics. "Second -tier" are beginners, and can work on the pulp- titles, or on magazine articles. So, remember: the "first-tier" can only contain work of unquestioned excellence. The "second-tier" can be more playful, more experimental; the readers will understand this. I hope that the partisans of both sides will think about this – for the final outcome is important!
– The author. "Behind the deed.... lies the shadow". Never forget the author, who wrote the text. Before you read the text, try to learn something about the author, and those times. Everyone has been influenced, to some degree, by the times they lived in. This is especially true of authors, who provide a window into their world, and also their times.
However, what do people do? They find ways to make them look more like us today! One has only to look at several “historical” T.V plays, to get this point. Why is it that the historical minx-figures look, and feel like our own minx-figures? Their times are not our times, so why do we often try to make them like us? This “cultural revisionism” must stop! They are not us, and that is that! The purpose and beauty of literature is to remind us there are other worlds out there. If anything, we should thank the author, for allowing us to leave our present life, if only for a few hours! The world is often stressful.
So, now we have their text in front of us. How then, should we read it, and understand it? It was Aristotle who wrote in the "Poetics", Let the text speak for itself. Since we live in such a revisionist age now, we would do well to heed these words.
Just as "you" meets the "other" on the phone-line, so every reader meets the author through the text. With the semantic-units separated out, each sentence speaks to us in its own voice. The free-speaking sentences come, one after the other, to make a whole and authentic story. There is no need for you to edit or revise it.
Literature is meant to be read for what it is, not translated into what we want it to become. The former is a relationship with the author; the latter is merely cultural imperialism. Language has been hijacked by cultural imperialism, leaving the original author with little or nothing to say, or share.
So, let the author speak out the original message, sentence by sentence, in the form that was originally intended. The poet-shepherdess becomes who she is, because she drinks pure water from the mountain springs... and also because she reads pure literature. Therefore, give all authors their due, and let their text speak for itself, always and forever-whoever "we" are!
– Sub-conclusion. This section of the article turned out to be much longer than originally expected. Perhaps this is because, at the end of the day, people are more important than things.
There are quite a number of people involved in the job of bringing literature to the most remote areas. Perhaps, you can see yourself in one of these roles, acting out a certain task with
devotion? In a sense, no one persona is the most important, for all to work together here.
For now, I think an informal and de-centralized system is the best way to proceed. It would be good if one of the "shou-ji" video APP's just displayed one text, to get people in all places thinking. It would be good if a few "desert-sage" text-makers began work on a few master-works now – not later. It would be good if a few people asked themselves, "How could it happen here, in my valley?" The truth is, we all belong to one valley, one village, geographically set apart and dispersed, but one entity.
Making literature available to be discussed is a part of general development. We all agree that rural electrification is a good thing, so why not also light up people's minds? I do not want to be asked to set up a system: it should be you, the people of the most remote areas, who do it! However, how might such an outcome appear? There is no "one-way fits all" solution!
(B-7) How to put it all together, and use it. This section of the article will discuss how the above-mentioned parts will fit together into a system. The system will be presented in three different ways: theoretical, "wishful", and practical. Each has its own place.
This article is really theoretical in nature, and speculative. I have done this because I like to imagine, but also out of necessity. Throughout, I have acted as one who is outside, and not allowed to "enter, and walk among". Some of the most walled- off and exclusionary places are the most remote areas. This appears to hold true, in spite of "different, other variables", across regions. These variables would include religion, local ethnicity, cultural traditions, and the relations with all outside people-groups.
It should be said, right from the start, that this is not the final word in this matter. I have no idea how things will turn out, or if they will succeed. At the same time, I know how I would like things to play out, from start to finish. An idea is fragile, especially at the beginning, so one must conceal it, until it is well-formed for use.
It is my hope that this article will get people thinking, so that a "local conditions" product will then evolve. Remember, the final objective is to allow the discussion of literature by phone, in the most remote areas.
– Theoretical perspectives. The first perspective through which to assemble this product is theoretical.
When working with theory, there are many unknowns; this makes things hard to see. However, if I "fill-in" unknown values with some “nonsense - values", at least I can assemble the beginnings of a framework. Since no one will see the crazy first versions of an idea, why should they be a source of embarrassment?
Given that the most remote areas are far-flung, diverse and access- restricted, what research methods did I use? Why did I not walk the hills and valleys of the most remote areas,
patiently gathering field-notes, for later? Why did I not first acquire the heart of this people, by getting to know them on a personal basis? I chose rather, to think from a distance, to operate at an abstract level, and to let my mind wander. I also drew upon a vast archive of 5-second, fleeting travel-impressions from a bus-seat, or wandering the old markets. I decided to look at things, and not ask things; for the people who deny me answers cannot hide the little details speckling their own appearance. When I was shut out, refused, or given bent answers, I made my own impressions; however, I allowed time to modify them. Thus, some input was abstract and from far away, and some was very up- close and personal. It was therefore “charcoal- filtered" in my mind, left undisturbed for a long time, and it came out when it was ready. This gave me a lot of freedom to arrange and rearrange ideas, in many ways. Even now, I am at my table, playing solitaire with the little idea-slips, slowly arranging and rearranging my evolving thoughts.
Always, there came this question, "What, or who is at the center of this semi-imaginary landscape? Do all parts come together, at one place, to serve one person? Then, where, and who? From a theoretical perspective, I think the place is the table, and the person is "you": it can be no other way. Hence the title: a table of one's own. This is where everything of any importance takes place.
However, there are other theoretical models that should be considered, if "for a rainy day". Believe me, in this business, there are always "rainy days"; one must be ready to respond to them. I like the comfort and safety of a fixed, predictable theoretical system, but I must be flexible when it is needed.
– Supply and demand. Bringing literature to the most remote areas is very much an issue of supply and demand, so one should think along those lines. Generally speaking, the continuum runs from end-user, to intermediaries, to suppliers, and also vice-versa. For, who really is driving this – "you", or the text - makers? Maybe, both are.
Fluctuations in the scarcity or abundance of either end-users or available texts will have an effect on the quality of phone-line discussions. We all know that when supplies are good, people are wasteful, but when supplies are scarce, people are careful and innovative. Of course, if the end-users and the text-makers were controlled and regulated, this would stabilize things. But, who would order the life of the poet - shepherdess, and who would muzzle the inner voice of the desert sage? We all know the difference between mushrooms from the secret forest, and the copies that are grown in coal-mines.
One wonders if there are some "blurred analogies" between this, and the "bird's nest soup" trade of S. E. Asia. There are many players, great distances, and sensitive and
very unpredictable variables. There is also a rare and valuable product, which requires an end-user to bring it to perfect fulfillment. What happens when the swallows do not return (and the poet-shepherdess moves to the city for a better life)? What are the sensitive interplays between the big- spending soup-eaters of the big cities, and those who climb bamboo ladders in utmost danger in dark caves to harvest the nests for unseen others? Perhaps someone who understands the "bird's nest soup" business would be in a good position to appraise these issues.
— Flow. One can think in terms of how the material product (i.e., the text) flows from beginning to end. The product must go through many hands, before it reaches the end-user: you. Is this a linear-flow process, or a node-based process, with a central station?
In a linear-flow model, it is the people at each end who are important (i.e., "you", and the text-maker). In a node-based flow model, it is the person at the center of things who is of utmost importance (i.e., the "net"-scout).
I think the early-stage informal systems will be more linear in nature, and the more developed systems will be node-based. I think the linear model is more secure, in the long run, for it only serves a small community, thus causing little disturbance. However, in the node-based system, if the "net" - scout is lost, then at once everything else is automatically lost. The text-makers and "you" have only to be kept separated from each other, to become worthless to each other. Ultimately, which flow model gets used will depend on local conditions.
– The "ups-and-downs" of different people. Different people become more or less important, according to the flow-model chosen. Again, in a linear model, the people at each end are all very important; in the node-based model, the middle people are. Remember, the 11 people are: you, the "other", the consultant; your mother, friends, people in the village, people in the district township; the courier; the "net"-scout, the text-maker, the author. This consideration becomes important when the system is stressed by other people's resistance and opposition (see, in next section).
There will be many forces acting on each of the players, forcing them to respond and adapt. The major question is: should any adaptive responses happen naturally, by all parties? Or, should "flow behavior/ response" be managed by someone (probably the "net" - scout)? In a "my-perfect" world, I would like to see the "net"-scout managing the flow with a light hand. However, this is unrealistic, as intentional management opens the system to harmful outside influences. Perhaps, one should expect change as normal; do not fight it, but factor it into life. What I want to say is: the system is fragile, with various external influences affecting each of the different players.
– Geographical areas. One can also think in terms of distinct geographical areas. These are the village, the district township, and the "outside" (whole country).
At what level should the task of bringing literature to the most remote areas be conducted? For there is a choice. Should everything be a local affair, or should it be a district affair, or should it be a nation-wide affair?
There is something to be said for distinct local and "set-apart" pockets of evolution (as in the highland valleys of Papua New Guinea). Perhaps in a hostile environment (as in the novel "Fahrenheit 451"), such a local model would have a better chance of survival. The main concern here is, what about the text-maker? (The others can be found locally at any time, easily.)
However, with a nation-wide model, much more talent and productive power can be utilized. Moreover, such talent and power will be diversified, coming with many nuances, ideas and contributions. Perhaps the motto should be, "Live locally, and out-source nationally". It should work!
One needs to be able to balance the sensitivity of the local, with the strength of the national. Too much local, and it becomes parochial; too much national, and it becomes faceless.
It is a delicate and abstract eco- system, which if managed carefully, should be able to yield sustainably. However, this very dynamic is something that many people from the most remote areas understand all too well. They know that if they tamper with their unique ecosystem, for whatever reason, they will get a desert.
– Cycles. Finally, one can consider how everything happens together in terms of "cycles".
As in ecology, some of the players (e.g., end-users, and text-makers) have their own "life-cycle". Like college professors, they learn the trade, they produce work of note, they decline, they become silent and are forgotten.
Is this whole process driven by the cycles of the end-people, somehow managed by the middle- people? An astute "net"-scout would pay attention to who is developing, who is yielding, and who is declining. However, in such a management model, no attempt would be made to intervene, and manipulate the variables for higher production. Instead, one would carefully observe the players, and "tap" them at the right time (as with rubber trees).
If there are indeed cycles, should one "harvest" the raw product as it naturally occurs,
and in season, and sustainably? Examples that all people of the most remote areas would recognize would be berries, honey, mohair, snow-lotus bulbs, and mushrooms. Or, should the whole process be thoroughly and clearly understood, and a factory built in some distant city, making synthetic products? There are many examples of this, which I have the decency not to enumerate.... Here, there is no natural cycle of things, only business models from the unseen “bean-counters", who care only about profit.
– Sub-conclusion. These theoretical models are meant to be starting- points for future discussion and analysis. Whichever model is chosen, let it be effective, and fair to the local people of the most remote areas!
"Wishful" perspectives. The second perspective, although whimsical, is necessary for the sake of vision: it is the wishful. Here, rather than describe it, I have decided to just narrate it, as if it was a story. (I have done this for some variety.)
Once, not so many years ago, there was a girl from the most remote areas. Her name was Shirin, and she lived with her family in a small village, deep in the mountains of Loristan. Shirin was a poet- shepherdess; while caring for her father's flocks, she recited aloud the immortal poems of Khayyam, Rumi and others. She was gentle in nature, unless the wolves attacked her goats. Then, she would call her brother, who was a Revolutionary Guard; he brought two "Dishka's", and then together they settled all scores. The wolves understood business very well.
Shirin also studied English, but in secret; she was not sure what her parents would say. Of course, they both knew, but they were far too loving and polite to disturb their precocious daughter. When Shirin was somewhat near to the other shepherds, she would recite the Persian poets, but when she was truly alone she read Sappho, Cowper, Spenser and a translation of Lermontov. Deep in her heart, she wished she had someone to talk with, and to hear the poetry spoken by another. Around her, the mountains of Loristan were silent and shimmering in the noontime heat.
So she asked her friends. They all smiled, said they knew nobody, and made secret songs about her while working:
"Shirin of the mountains, your voice is very fair. Who is it that you wait for, up in the silent air?"
When Shirin heard this, she wept. Her goats came around her as she milked them, and comforted her without words.
Her father knew this, and called Shirin to him before dinner. He spoke to her.
Dokhtar-e man, sit here. I want to talk to you. Before I met your blessed mother, whose food we are about to eat, I was a wild man. With some of my friends, I went to the war in Afghanistan. There, I met a man from the mountains near Herat. He was a poet, like many of his people. I still hear from him, through someone. He has a daughter, who likes poetry – and she reads English! Would you like me to make enquiries, and contact?"
Of course, Shirin said yes, and a few days later, a letter was carried to Herat. Two weeks later, an answer came back, in the form of a phone number in Herat. As Shirin began talking with her new friend, her brother looked at the few old photos that came with the letter, and realized that all the wild stories his father had told him were really very true....
Shirin and her friend Leila were happy discussing the poets, but they needed more material to read. One evening, she mentioned this to her father. A few days later he went to see a friend that his children knew nothing about. It was the governor of Loristan. They discussed "old times" and lost friends. When the father left, he had backing for his idea. He then went home, and wrote a series of letters to old contacts. Then he waited.
During the war, there had been an Englishman – hard, often silent, full of technical knowledge, and an accomplished hunter of ibex. The father had often gone ibex- hunting with him. They had spent many weeks together, silent ghosts in the desolate mountain landscape,
returning to camp with bags of lapis-lazuli. As he left for the last time, he gave Shirin's father a contact address in Muscat. "Don't forget me; I can always be found."
It was to this man that he wrote. A few days later, a smuggler's "cigar- boat" screamed across the water from Bandar-e Abbas at 70mph, avoiding all navy boats, and landed on the other side. Carried informally, the letter reached the offices of a non-descript import-export company in Muscat, in about five days. In a very short time, things happened.
Within a week, the ibex-hunter had cleared the matter with his old superiors, and was talking to his old professor. They discussed the matter in Persian, "So," said the don, "tell me what I can do for you." "Find me a young woman, fluent in Persian, and hard as nails, who can go out to both Losartan and Herat, and tutor the two girls, Shirin and Leila." The don thought for a moment. "I have just the person – and she is good with literature." After they had come to an agreement, the ibex - hunter went back home. That evening, the don made some discreet calls.
How Sonia arrived at Shirin's home just in time for dinner, unseen and unannounced, nobody will ever know. She handed a hand-written note to Shirin's father, along with an old photo, and a small piece of lapis-lazuli. In a few minutes he went out, and came back with some others. "This woman is my guest, and under my roof, and my wife's care." Then they all agreed.
Over the next month Sonia and Shirin discussed everything about literature. They cared for the goats together, and Sonia learned how to gather mohair, and make Lori cheeses.
Then she went to Herat. One evening, two men on two big motor- cycles appeared, and took Sonia and Shirin's brother away. A few weeks later, Shirin's brother returned, full of stories and news for his father, and lapis- lazuli for his mother. As for Sonia, she tutored Leila in the same way. Then she bought her own bike, went to Kabul, and flew home. Her thesis, on linguistic similarities between Lori and Herati shepherd's songs, won her a double-first, and a job-offer.
Many months went by. Shirin and Leila continued to talk on the phone each evening, paying for the phone bills with wild mushrooms and lapis- lazuli. However, Shirin wanted more books, and these were hard to find. One evening, as she was looking through her Spencer, she found a note. It was from Sonia. "If you need more things to read, contact this person." There was an e-mail address at the bottom. Her father was skeptical. "There is only one communications shop in the next town, and the boss is a very difficult man. So, Shirin went to that shop and noticed the man. She also noticed the boss' old mother in the corner, making pashmina shawls with low-grade wool. Well, thought Shirin, we will resolve this.
The next morning, very early, Shirin caught a ride on a motor-tricycle, and went to the base of a very high mountain. Another ride on the back of an army motorcycle took her halfway up, to the radar post. She gave two Lori cheeses to the young officer, explained her business, and started to climb up to the top. It was a long climb.
Only a few people knew that just below the peak was a small alpine meadow, in grass for only a few weeks each summer; no one could see it from below. However, everyone knew there were leopards up there, so they stayed away. Shirin climbed until she was almost at the edge of the meadow. There she met a large leopard. "Hail to thee, σ mighty panther!" she said, leaving a rabbit by the trail. The leopard let her pass, and took away the rabbit to eat, among the crags.
In the meadow, there were several mountain goats, having the finest mohair in Loristan. Shirin sat down, called them to her, and gently harvested enough mohair to fill a small sack. She sang to the goats, slept an hour with the goats around her, then came down the mountain. By dinner time, she was back home. Shirin said nothing, but both her parents knew in their hearts where she had been that day.
The next day, Shirin appeared at the communications shop. The boss was as difficult as ever to all of the customers. Then came Shirin. "Goat- girl! What do you want?" he said. "I want to speak to your mother," she answered. Shirin gave the mohair to the mother, and within five minutes, she was master of the shop. She re-established contact with Sonia, and received a steady supply of texts.
Shirin, the poet-shepherdess of Loristan, fell in love with the young officer at the radar post. They married, and are happy to this day.
(Perhaps you will say, there are no such people as Shirin in the real world! Go to Loristan, and see!)
Practical perspectives. The third perspective reflects what will probably happen: it is the practical, reflecting the final reality of what we live under.
The individual parts already exist "in embryo", in various places. Usually, each person has most of what they need, but they lack one critical part. Usually, this means they are not able to connect with another person. The major problem in bringing literature to the most remote areas is: bringing people together, to fulfill a task. Another problem is producing and distributing the texts, so as to satisfy demand. So, unless there is some form of intervention, it is likely that little will happen, and nothing will change.
The reader may well exclaim, "Then why did you write this article? What was the purpose of all this effort?" I think two things. First, someone has to lay out the boundaries of any theoretical inquiry. Second, once the major theoretical issues are all defined, others need to discuss them carefully. I am an outsider; those who discuss the "application" should come from the most remote areas themselves. Again, I say: this is a theoretical article; others should consider how to actually make things happen. However, remember this well: the poet-shepherdess is one of you; consider her needs, and help her to improve!
Sub - conclusion. This section has been rambling all over the conceptual landscape, and has discussed many ideas. I have tried to set out the important theoretical models; if there are others, let them be clearly presented, for review.
At this point, one would do well to recall the section title: how to put it all together, and use it. For the most part, the product is well thought out and useful, and the players are able to act their role. Perhaps the single most important person for "bringing things together" is the "net"-scout, in the district township. Except for the text-maker, all the players are normal, common, everyday people. Even the text- maker is a person, who can be found somewhere, in a civilized country.
No, the problem is in trying to bring the parts together, in the right time, and the right mix. If this whole idea was a chemistry lab or a cake-mix, everything would be simple to do! However, we are here dealing with people and societies in the most remote areas, and it is these dynamics that are very reactionary. The "system" will always be at odds with innovation, for innovation, once successful, will abandon the system. What the system most fears are brain-drain, capital-flight, the prison-door unlocked, and the people fled. After all, if your daughter was now a successful poet-shepherdess, wouldn't you want her to "move up" to something better?
So, once again, say, the principal ideas need to be set out, so that others can discuss them, and take the necessary next steps forward.
(B-8) Dealing with "inertia". Throughout this article, with all its vision and imagination, there has been a persistent undercurrent of despair. Along with the vision comes the harsh realization that many people do not want it to happen, for a variety of reasons. Let me be very plain and clear: most of the theoretical ideas I have written down, I believe to be very workable. It is a good and right thing to see people cultivating their minds, through discussing literature over the phone. There are many people out there – the poet-shepherdess in the most remote areas, and college kids in the city – who would like to do this. However, the most remote areas are infamously reactionary, and will remain so, for a wide variety of reasons. Some things never change.
So, in this section, I have chosen to list some of the forms of opposition to sharing
literature in the most remote areas. I make no attempt to provide any answers or counter-measures, as that is completely beyond my ability, or energy level. Solutions, as Shirin's father would say, must come from the local people, and be in a form that they can live and work with. It is easy to imagine this plan, and also to destroy it in a day; it is hard to bring people together, and make it happen. Perhaps for some people, this article carries with it the "stench of jubilee", a wind blowing over their outer dominions. Perhaps: but this same wind blows the nodding flowers in the high meadows, and carries the songs of the larks of Balikun!
One can set out the opposing forces of "inertia" in terms of related pairs, and then arrange these pairs in categories. These categories are: naturally occurring; from within oneself; and from outside of oneself (methods, people, from where, business models, strategic). I leave it to each reader, and every poet- shepherdess, to formulate their own response to the problems of "inertia".
Naturally occurring.
Individual/ Systemic. Some forms of “inertia" show up as individual people, or they are an expression of the culture. Examples: certain troublesome people, who are "true to type"; the crowd, on festival days, when "cultural hormones" are running high; from individuals; from the culture, acting as expected.
Internal/ External. Acting against you from within; opposing you from without. Examples: doubt, fear, the demon-spirits of the mountains; acts of assault and persecution, by people acting on behalf of their culture, or under unacknowledged influences; also, from within the community, or without.
Times of plenty, /Times of scarcity. Having more than enough, or not enough can significantly affect your life! In the most remote areas, the concept of "feast, or famine" is well-known. Hunter-gatherer, or nomadic societies live by these precepts. However, to have "too much", or "too little" at an inconvenient time is dangerous. (Imagine: the fish are running in the rivers, but you have no salt to pickle them.) So too, with literature. Examples: text-printouts and the "other" appear at different times; you have a text-printout, but
you must be in the fields, harvesting. Imagine an orchard of apples, but no workers!
Evolutionary/ Catastrophic. There are times when hard times come to you slowly and clearly, like the coming of winter, like the steady descent of the snow-line down the mountain flanks, and into your own valley. There are times when the roof collapses suddenly, killing all the sheep. So too, with the sharing of literature. Examples: your "other" slowly gets bored of you; the bus company phases out service to the district township; the village elders and their busy-body associates tell your mother to shut you down at once.
From within oneself.
Through despair/ Through misguided hope. Many of the people who live in the most remote areas are trapped there, and cannot move out, move up, move on. Stand on a mountaintop, in an on ocean of air; sleep in the melon- watcher's hut in the oasis, under the milky net of stars; stare at the sooty ceiling of your bedroom, in the shack behind the truck stop, and hearing the sounds of money earned, note-by-note, by the one who cares for you: you know what I mean; there is no way out. So, when things go wrong with desire to learn your literature – your only life-line to a "something" better than what you see around you each day – then life becomes very, very hard. The life of the poet-shepherdess, based as it is on idealism and resourcefulness, is at once exalted and dangerous. At the same time, following false hopes is also harmful, for who will pick you up on the day of disillusionment? No one, maybe. Examples: imagine it is you, in the above-written situations.
"Within-group" rivalry/ "Other-group" competition. Sometimes, people form small groups to study literature (as in a "book-club" study group). Don't do this! There should be only you, and the "other", on one phone-line. Small-groups breed small-group ideas and dynamics, which are frequently harmful. They are also places for within-group rivalry. Again, it is better to be alone on the phone-line with the "other". Then, there is the influence of other small-groups, which leads to comparing and also competing. It is unlikely that other groups will appear in your valley by natural means; instead, they will be deliberately put there, by those people who oppose you, in order to rot you out. Examples: book-groups, cults, and unregulated and unregistered groups; such groups have caused much trouble.
From outside of oneself. This is the major part of this section, and has five areas: methods, people, from where, business models, and strategy.
Methods.
Intentional/ Reactionary. In most cases, the "system" is against the individual, the way dogs are by nature against one cat. How this dynamic gets played out has two basic forms. If some action is "intentional", it is conceived, then planned, then executed before you and the "other" have done anything; if an action is "reactionary" (i.e., "re + action + ary''), it is done in response to something that you and the "other" did first. (Here, I do not mean reactionary, in the sense of conservative".) Therefore, both "you" and the "other" can be shut down by intentional and reactive means. In the most remote areas, the mountain village infrastructure is simple and traditional; therefore, it will be more reactive in nature. However, the over-lord class above them, once informed, will certainly be very intentional. I have seen this directly. Examples: (reactionary) village opinion, your mother; (intentional) commissars, "unannounced" visits, disappearances.
Preventative / Responsive. These two are similar to the above, but have connotations with medicine, not social control. Examples: preventative medicine, vs. symptom-treating medicine.
Oppositional / Diversionary. One can obviously use oppositional force to stop someone from doing something, but far more effective is the use of diversionary means. (This whole, blighted year has been one diversion of "maskarovska", after another.) Here, one can get a result, without being seen. Examples: your telephone is taken away, or blocked; "someone" shows you a "better" APP, and you leave the "other".
Direct/ Indirect. This is the difference between the "knock on the roof” (your house), and the knock on the door (your friend's, last night). It is known to all of the eastern peoples. Examples: someone talks to you; the "net" - scout leaves the district township on business, and cannot be found.
"In-kind "/ Asymmetric. Why throw back the same apples, when you can throw back flowers (or better still, place them on the doorstep)? For many years, the forward movement of a "social undesirable" was countered by an "equal-in-kind" force. (Bring out your dogs, we will bring out our dogs.) But now, the game has changed; the counter-reaction now comes from a completely unrelated and unexpected quarter. (Bring out your dogs, we will secretly cut down the rose- bushes of your cousin, far away.) Asymmetric responses have become popular today, and anyone using them in the most remote areas has unlimited opportunity. Hurt one person in the mountains, and everybody knows it; but who knows who lives in the far-away and anonymous city? Examples: the "net"-scout's aunt in the city becomes sick and needs help; your telephone fees suddenly go up a lot.
Suppressive/ Intended "flame-out". Opposition that is suppressive in nature is easy to recognize; they are trying to put out your fire, by using the interpersonal equivalents of a wet blanket, a bucket of water, a denial of air to breathe. They want to extinguish you. However, the opposite approach is even more of danger: what if they were to spray gasoline over your patiently nurtured fire? It would burn down the whole house. The sharing of literature in the most remote areas is a delicate ecosystem; any over- stimulation of the parts would ruin the whole thing. This is well known to your opponents, and cost-effective. Examples: blocking internet access to the "net"-scout's office in the district township; allowing too many people to learn the news that you are you are looking for an "other"; revealing the identity of a "desert-sage", so that he is flooded with requests for more texts.
People.
Through one's friends/ Through strangers. Throughout my life, I have been put down by my friends, and sometimes shut down. Here is how it works. I do some projects alone, because other people disturb me: as the saying goes, "If you want the job done right, then do it by yourself". So, I do. Then, someone (usually unfriendly) says to my friends, "See what your friend is doing". They come; they see but understand nothing at all; there is "dissonance of the relationship", like two wrong musical notes played together. In the small, closely "enmeshed" communities of the most remote areas, such acts of "applied dissonance" are very destructive. (That is why they are used.) "A man's enemies shall be members of his own household”, and also, members of his friends and social media groups. Who needs enemies, when one has one's "friends"? Then, there are the strangers, who walk into one's life, and ruin it, and then walk away. They are sent, one after the other, replaceable, until you stop functioning. That is the key phrase: until you stop functioning. Any means, be it gentle, or be it coercive, will work. Examples: dumb, socially-conformist, culturally-illiterate, unimaginative "friends", who have no orbit, except within the village; English "tax-bailiffs", sent by the local government to live as parasites in your home, until you pay off your taxes.
Through idealists/ Through wolves. There is nothing more destructive than a misplaced idealist (i.e., put into the wrong group). There is to be only one visionary, and that is you, the poet-shepherdess; there will be only one grouping – “you", and the "other"! Idealists should not play in other people's sand-pits, but in their own. Then there are the human wolves, who enter into a group, or a person's life, and then devour it. In the most remote areas, in the shanty-towns of the big cities, wherever there is disadvantage and idealistic pursuit (especially from outsiders based in the nearest district township), there you will find the wolves – disenfranchised, shut-out, and looking for a new opportunity. Examples: sit still and watch, as you would for birds; listen for the inevitable whispers that trail the doings of the "unit-landers"; the man who sold Leonidas to the Persians.
From where.
Systematic, natural "rime-frost"/ Applied, intentional suppression. One can easily be shut down by "natural" means; the most remote areas, with their deeply entrenched, traditional values, are already like the forest of thorns surrounding Sleeping Beauty. Look at the forest, the morning after the terrible night, silent, covered in rime-frost, with birds dead on the ground, dead on the branches, covered in ice, and the ravens beginning their work. Such is the effect of cultural values, and the belief of the priest-class, in most or all societies. In the most remote areas, where scarcity of resources plays a key role, these dynamics are immeasurably increased: that is why these places have priests, dogs, fortresses, and howling tracts of wasteland and wilderness, with wolves. All one has to do is imagine one of the great fortress-temples at night: safe, warm and suffocated within, or wandering, cold, and in dire danger from dogs without. It is very, very hard to be a real poet-shepherdess in such places, sheathed as they are in every place by "rime-frost" (except, of course, in the chanting-halls of conformity). Moreover, all this is "naturally occurring"! Imagine what happens when this is supplemented by the applied, intentional suppression of the over-lords. These two need not oppose each other, but can complement and feed off each other, as allies do. Examples: ask some elders, if you dare.
Locally diffused/ Diffused from above. Locally diffused opposition comes mostly from one's village; one is dealing here with family members, the local busy-bodies, or the village elders. There might be outside influence here, but the transmission to you is through local organs. When the opposition is diffused from above, there are unmistakable posters on the walls; or a black SUV comes up the valley, watched by everybody in the village; or the village elder’s language acquires a new complexion. Examples: tea-room "chats", talks with your mother (and not you), local gossip; posters, blanket phone messages, posters from another world, unsmiling men in leather coats, denunciations, and more.
Resistance from the local culture/ Resistance from the over-lords. This is related to the above. Local culture has its own special reasons for resisting you; usually, it is because your "innovation" is a challenge to the continuity of local traditions. No one has ever discussed literature on the telephone before, so why are you starting it now? Stop it, and become like us!
Such people want to preserve intact the "cultural stasis", as it has been for generations; they rarely look or care beyond the boundaries of the village. With the over-lords, things are very different. They only care about the "big issues" which affect the national collective – unity, security, and the like. There is little concern for local, human considerations; they will step on you and move on, as if it was only a bug. When they come, you are in trouble! Examples:
one of the village elders; a man who resembles an eagle, but comes in a black SUV unannounced.
Business models.
Denial of "start-up" opportunity, Denial of “continuation" opportunity. All new business ventures need a measure of help and protection to get off the ground, and become profitable. So, it is, with setting up your own small operation: you, the "other", the "net" - scout, the text- maker. You are, in effect, a small business. Moreover, it is very easy to shut you down, for your "business infra-structure" is certainly fragile. Perhaps this explains the prevalence of the "show them all up, and shut them all down" posters, which are pasted to the walls of the village forum. It is like a rogue's gallery of troublemakers, which the unseen “they” want you to think about, look for, identify, and report. They are all there: con-artists, tax-cheats, abductors of little children, members of cults, spies, social disturbers, and... poet-shepherdesses?! Well, maybe not yet. However, such an environment makes getting "started up" very hard. All villages have their busy-bodies and bounty-hunters, and all villagers are afraid of unannounced visits from the men in black SUV’s. This is an intentional “anti-business model”, and it works, diabolically well. Then, there are forces denying the opportunities of "continuation". Once again, I say, your "business infra-structure" is very fragile; break it at one point, and it all goes down. For it is the "nodes" that are the weak area. If you have all of your "business infra-structure" in place, with good people around but cannot go forward, what use is it? In this business, one goes forward one step at a time, one social-link at a time, one text at a time. It is very easy to stop things moving forward, and thus ruin everything. Examples: no one helps you at the beginning; your "key-players" are stopped, at times and places they did not choose.
Denial of supply/ Denial of association. Without supplies, an army perishes, and so it is with you. What supplies do you need? There are two: the "other", and the text-printouts. If these are denied you, then you will starve. Without association with the "net"- scout, and through this link the text-maker, you will have no supplies, and you will starve as well. No glass, no straw, no water: death. Examples: Imagine these things are played out in your local context.
Through "rotten" product/ Through denial of product. As is well-known, we live in a world that is full of counterfeit products. The consumers suffer accordingly. However, the producers of "true-product" are the ones who really suffer, and run out of business. Counterfeit products are a weapon of economic warfare, part of the "infiltrate, subvert, destroy and replace" way of business rivals, and effective. The same things can easily happen to you, in two particular areas. The first "product" that can become counterfeited and perverted is the text-printout. One has only to go to some bookstores, to see this phenomenon in action. Whatever the "desert-sage" creates in earnest, the forgers will fabricate, so as to flood the market. Those areas of the most remote areas that have the most noble poet-shepherdesses, will be drenched in the toxic rain of counterfeit products. As a direct result, the communication between you and the "other" will quickly perish. The other area (product) is the "net" - scout's advertising on the internet, to help you to find someone who will become the "other". Obviously, the purity of this product is of vital importance. You need a very good "other", so as to have effective discussions of literature on the phone-line. If you are given false, trash "others", then everything will perish. One has only to observe the unscrupulous, unlicensed "dating companies" sending out trash "partner- profiles" by the hundreds to know how devastating this method is.
Whereas "rotten" product is a mass approach, denial of product is a specific approach. All one has to do is study the flow-system carefully, and cut it at carefully chosen places. One does not need to overturn entire provinces, burn villages as examples, or hang any scapegoats at the crossroads to achieve this: just a few "snips" in the right place will get results. The odds are against literature, because the "pure product" (i.e., well. constructed text-printouts, and well- chosen "others") are relatively few. It takes a long time to set up a good literature system, but only a few carefully chosen acts of cyber- murder to destroy everything forever. Examples: take these descriptions, and play them out in your own imagination, according to your local context; what sort of picture emerges?
Strategic.
“Root-and-branch"/ "At the nodes". Somewhere behind the unsmiling men in SUV's, and far away in an unknown office is an even more unsmiling man at a desk. He contemplates the big picture in his mind, and from the reports on his desk. The most remote areas are for him an abstraction, a chess-board.
How to silence the poet-shepherdess, an anomaly to his own administration? There are two ways. One is to dig out anything and everything, as it is found. If that means burning the surrounding forest, and draining the lakes too, then so be it; no price is too high. However, there is another way. Study the system as it appears and can be mapped, until every permutation is clearly understood. Above all, find out the "node"-points (i.e., where things flow and people meet). Then, at the right time, shut down the "nodes". Usually, this will shut down everything. Examples: imagine you are the chess- player: how would you do this task?
Strongholds targeted/ Weak areas sought out. If you are a chess- player, you need to consider how to allocate your resources. Should you spend energy on the strong areas, or the weak areas? In most of the most remote areas, one can see the ruins of castles, fortresses and major caravanserai, relics of earlier ages. It was understood in those days that if one held the fort, one held the whole area; this was because the land immediately around the fort was valuable, but everything else was wasteland. Therefore, a fort had much symbolic importance. Whoever held the fort controlled the destiny of the whole area. However, taking a fort was very costly.
Today, once the practice of sharing literature in some part of the most remote areas becomes established, certain poet-shepherdesses, certain "net"-scouts and certain text- makers will emerge as leaders in this field: the cream always rises. They are somehow known to the others, and will be examples. They will also attract the attention of the chess- player, but for very different reasons. If he can tear them down, his influence over the others will be much stronger. However, this comes at a price, as with the ancient castles. It would be easier to remove the weak players one by one, in silence, in the dark, until there is nothing much left. An astute chess-player will use both ways, in a variable mix of events, according to local conditions. Examples: have you noticed your friends become silent, one by one?
Attention to individuals/ "Defoliation" of the entire ecosystem. One can have "finesse" and remove some of the players from the board – but only enough to achieve silence in the mountains. Or, one can destroy the whole ecosystem forever by defoliating the forests. (Of course, this was done in Vietnam.) What if, instead of stripping leaves from the trees, they stripped the people themselves from the most remote areas? Do not for a moment think this could never happen! Look around you, right now. Examples: the grouse- lands of Scotland; Chechnya after 1945; certain unmentionable places, today.
Sub-conclusion. Perhaps, after reading this section, you will think that I am paranoid, and imagining things. I have brought out of the shadows of imagination many examples of what some other people might do to you, in order to stop you.
In some ways, the local village reactionaries, and the over-lords, are continuations of personality- types that have always existed. One can find them in all chapters of history, and in every land, doing variations of the same actions. In all likelihood, the most remote areas are very traditional and conservative, but not the cultural "gulags" that I have portrayed. And yet... and yet, in some areas they are. Life, for many, is a very fine balancing act, every day of the year. What most of the outside world takes as normal social commerce is, for them, a daily choice between life and death. (I really mean this!)
I have also alluded many times to the image of rime-frost, covering entire forests in a skin of ice. This is symbolic of the silent and persistent weight of oppression of cultural values, upon any form of independent life- expression or activity. The rime- frost acts on its own, with or without the input of people; it is, in effect, a form of unseen weather. When the overlords learn how to use and manipulate it for their own ends, the effects will resemble nuclear winter. It should come as no surprise that the overlords have made the most remote areas into their inner citadels, and utterly untouchable. They also understand that this rime-frost is a guardian power, unique in all the world, and may be subject to control.
I have made up this semi- imaginary list of situations, to get the reader thinking about what they would do, if such things did happen. As I said earlier, I will propose no actual solutions, for that is a local affair, for the local people. I still believe that distant observation and theoretical ideas have a place, but the task of application should be done by locals. Why not? The other side does the same thing, and has its counterparts: chess-players, bean- counters, unsmiling men, village elders.
The ecosystem of bringing literature to the most remote areas is very fragile, and must be carefully protected. It is a very intricate system based on human contact, high-quality materials, and the means for bringing these parts together. It takes place over a wide area, using basic and available technology, and is quiet, unobtrusive and effective. However, it is very vulnerable to many forms of destruction, and can easily become silent and disappear. However, if one looks at the many famous products of the most remote areas, are they not also fragile and exquisite? The ultimate emblem for this is the delicate strands of saffron, taken from crocus pastures.
One thing I do believe: "inertia " will come, and it will come from a variety of sources. The poet- shepherdess, the "net" -scout and the "desert-sage" text-maker all need to be aware, and still be creative. The list is not complete; there are certainly other situations out there, waiting to happen, and complicating everyone's life.
C) Conclusion: This article was written during the "plague year" of 2020; there was much time spent indoors, in which to reflect on this theoretical topic.
I have been interested in the matter of getting printed literature to the most remote areas for many years, and have thought about different aspects while traveling and working in various places. However, what has goaded me on has been the resistance of those who wish to deny this flow of literature. The suppression of the ability to read, to think, to evaluate can happen anywhere, but for some reason it happens very strongly in the most remote areas. Perhaps, it is because the establishment is afraid of any voice crying out of the wilderness, a place they dread.
This article has eight parts. Part One discusses the purpose of the article. Why should one attempt to bring literature to the most remote areas? Part Two explains various theoretical concepts, especially the rationale for dividing up the sentences of a literary text into easily understood semantic units, for the benefit of the readers. Part Three reveals the various settings, where the act of sharing literature takes place. Part Four examines each of the materials used. Part Five looks at the resources available. Part Six analyzes the different people involved, at each stage of the process of sharing literature. It is the longest part, as the interaction between people is the key element in this story. Part Seven puts everything together into a "big picture". Part Eight discusses how to approach the problem of opposition – for there will always be opposition in the matter of sharing literature. No solutions have been proposed: rather, the focus lies in cataloging the problem-vectors, so that effective solutions can be worked out by the local people, in their own way.
There are a number of themes in this article. I have chosen to list them according to the order of their appearance in the text, rather than arrange them into categories. They are as follows. – Taking one's own choices to every corner of life and experience. – Three people, three materials. – The importance of person-to-person connections and dealings. -- The importance of key people, at the "node" points. – A table of one's own. – The critical role of the “net"-scout. The need for well-designed texts. – The pervasive, pernicious influence of "cultural rime-frost". – Two people coming together, by-passing all obstacles. – The emphasis is on theory over praxis, abstract analysis from a distance over up-close interactions. -- The decision to break all cultural paradigms and expectations. – Keep it simple, so everyone can use it. – Clarity, over all other considerations. – The unspoken control of the learning process, through the pre-determined nature of the text. – “You”, and the “other" are the center of everything. -- The central importance of "setting". – A world in which imagination has unlimited potential. – The need for simple materials, and infra-structure. – The sanctuary of the telephone- line, and the creative darkness of the "audio-only" abyss. – Local community /local relationships, as a framework for getting things done. – Working with people you do not actually see directly. – Informal networks, over formal structures. – A constant return to the basic premise: to allow two people, living in the most remote areas, to discuss literature, using the telephone. – A drama without a stage. – The "abyss" of the phone-line, as a place where the "cultural rime-frost” cannot form. – The total, unremitting and implacable effect of culture upon the individual. – What is "business"? It is discussing literature, using a text-printout, a table, a phone. – The importance of “out-sourcing", to free up time and energy in your life. – From one sentence, to the entire universe. – An idea is fragile, especially at the beginning, so one must conceal it, until it is well-formed for use. – The "place" is the table, and the "person" is you. – “Live locally, and out-source nationally”. – Shirin is you; can you become Shirin? – "Bringing people together to fulfill a task", and "producing and distributing the texts, so as to satisfy demand" are the most critical parts of this venture. – The single most important person for "bringing things together" is the "net"-scout, in the district township. – Except for the text-maker, all the players are normal, common and everyday people. – “Theoretical and abstract exposition, leading to local and practical solutions." – Against the flowers of imagination leading to progress, there are the forces of reaction leading to despair. – The ecosystem of bringing literature to the most remote areas is very fragile, and must be very carefully protected. – It is a system based on human contact, high-quality text- materials, and the means for bringing these parts together. – It takes place over a wide area, using basic and available technology, and is quiet, unobtrusive and effective. – There are many themes in this article, making the texture complex. However, there is always one simple center- point, to which all ideas will return. That is: you, the "other", a table, a text-printout, and a telephone. Never forget: "A table of one's own". It all starts from here!
What are the possible future directions for the ideas contained in this article? What could happen next? Here are some ideas, to get you thinking about it.
Do nothing. Let some time go by. Let the idea form, percolate, evolve and settle in your own quiet mind. Do not blurt out your idea prematurely, so that fools and fifth-columnists run with it: we all know what they will do. As with learning a new language, go on-site, observe, say nothing, do nothing, and then the "little birds" will come to you one by one, and a solution (or, 85% of it) will appear. Then, you can do something.
Conduct more basic research, to better understand things. Since the task of "bringing literature to the most remote areas" is to bring certain types of people together, it follows that they are already in a state of separation; therefore, they can be studied, one by one, on their own. I would recommend doing this work in a distant city, far from the most remote areas, for mistakes will be made, the in-place "passive watchers" will report, and the wolves will begin to look for you. In the most remote areas, there is no mercy, no understanding, and no second chance!
You may say, “But why in a distant city? These people that we want to work with live in the most remote areas!" Your task, now, is not to work with a person (who is hidden from you), but to clearly understand a personality-type. Go to the city.
In time, as you gain experience, you can try out some pilot-projects in the city. There is no shortage of people: the "urban cousins" of the poet-shepherdess; computer whiz- kids who could evolve into being a "net"- scout; intellectuals who could become basic text-makers. You can become the "other", and tutor some kid on the phone. Much is possible. The main point is this: you need to develop "operational experience", in a controlled and relatively safe environment; you do not want to make your mistakes in the most remote areas, and blight the entire ecosystem.
One task which is of absolute importance is to find and develop the first wave of "desert-sage" text- makers, who will divide the sentences of critical books (preferably, Modernist) into easily understood semantic-units. I will be #0001. Who will be next?
These people should be chosen very, very carefully. (If someone is called, "by the muse", that is different.) The current system, in which the big publishing houses contact various universities, and the deans "appoint" some unfortunate junior-academic to translate some book "on demand" is completely unacceptable! All that the nation gets is a midden of owl-pellets.
Again, I say: an informal cadre of "opus lex" text-makers needs to come into being, and they need to be "ronin" – having no masters. Their work will be of the highest quality, with no compromise. Their only allegiance is to the muse that sent them, and to the minds of every poet-shepherdess who reads their text.
Then, you need to consider how to find, develop and relate to the "net" - scout, as well as map out (in your mind!) their future roles and tasks. This is probably the most difficult of all the tasks: there are many skill- sets and nuances that must be learned. There is no tolerance for failure, here; lose your "net"- scout, and you lose everything else, forever!
Here is a crazy idea. Why not go to someone from the "other side", an "aparat-chik" that you have a certain measure of understanding with, and ask them to share some of their concerns and reservations with you so that you can avoid some future areas of conflict? Maybe yes, maybe no....
At some point, you will go public, go forward, publish, have a try. Let the local people of the most remote areas decide what will happen next, as it is their world and not yours!
Ideally, the whole thing will start in the mind and aspirations of one poet-shepherdess ("Come away with me, and...."), and will flow from there. There is no need to interfere in her flow, only to empower her to go forward, for Shirin knows how to be Shirin, always. Each poet-shepherdess will work out her own solution, in keeping with local conditions.
Now, a call to all poet-shepherdesses, in all parts of all of the most remote areas; to all "net"-scouts, tapping away in the district townships; to all text-makers, wherever you may be: your time has come. Already, you have the basic skills for this work. There is no need to get training. Although you come from different areas, appear different, you are really the same. You are one of three types of person: poet-shepherdess, "net"-scout, or text-maker. There are quite a few people, of your type, in various places. If you are a poet-shepherdess, you are many; if you are a "net"-scout or a text-maker, then you are fewer.
I do not know how you will meet, or where, or when, but I hope you will. For now, please consider how you can start to develop yourself, alone, right now. The main point to remember is: do it alone; do not form yourself into some organization. You need to be discreet and hidden; otherwise, people will pull you down. If you organize yourself into formal groups, then you will be pulled down. It is necessary for a viable population of independent poet-shepherdesses, "net" - scouts and text-makers to evolve and grow up, before even considering the next steps. (Does this sound familiar?)
If you are a poet-shepherdess, then continue to study literature by yourself. This is what Shirin did in her early days, before she met Leila. Even if you were to go no farther than this, it would be most useful for you. Books can be found in most countries. Be patient, be resourceful, and you will be able to get some books (if not all). Also, remember that the video-based, "shou-ji" APP’s are getting better and better. There is, and will be, plenty that you can study from this infra-structure on your own, for many years to come.
Remember, the essence of learning poetry is setting. You already live in some of the most beautiful and heart-stirring places in the world. This in itself is a priceless asset. To be a poet-shepherdess is to see, and become, the fusion of poetry and setting. It was Marlowe who asked his poet-shepherdess to come away with me....". She had no need to ask that of him, for she already possessed everything.
Remember, you are not alone, or a "strange thing". The poet- shepherdess has been around for a long time! It is people like you that make the most remote areas famous and original. You are the "je ne sais quoi", the Chanel No. 5, of the mountains, the plateau, the grasslands, the desert; you are the secret envy of the worn-out and jaded metropolis. So, when you meet the "other", you will already have a working, useful foundation.
It is always a good thing for the most remote areas to have a strong population of highly literate poet-shepherdesses, each with a table, a room, a wilderness of her own. Remember, it was Virginia Woolf who wrote that out of this body of women would come, one day, a female counterpart to Shakespeare. Now, wouldn't that be a good thing?
If you want to be a "net"-scout, and live in the district townships, there is a place for you. Think about it. If you are good with computers, and understand the local situation, you can develop your role. Your position is critical, for without you, the other players cannot meet each other. You are the bridge between the poet-shepherdess and the text-maker (and also, the "other"); you are the vital link.
The district township, as an "in-between" place (between the most remote areas, and the more settled parts), is a lively social ecosystem, with all types of people coming and going. It is here that the task of bringing literature to the most remote areas will be carried out. It has many forms of opportunity, as well as many forms of trouble. (Avoid the trouble!) You will manage the most fragile and wide-ranging link-ups, out of a back-street shanty-shop. Such shops already exist, in places like Surabaya, Dakka, Isein, Recife, Batumi, Odessa, Burjuman, Monrovia, Karachi, Qom, Goma, Mumbai, Grozny, Batavia, Cholon, Piraeus, and in many others. It is expected that your business conduct be clean, and suitable to the local expectations. Your success in managing this task is of the utmost importance, and must be achieved.
Consider the local situation, and how you might work within it. For this job, you need wisdom, tact, balance, and the silence of mist in the long grass. Do not talk to anyone about your ideas; plan it by yourself. Do not look for the poet-shepherdess; she will come to you first. Make up another two sets of plans: one for finding and dealing with the text-maker, and one for finding and dealing with the "others". Each of the three groups of people you will deal with have different needs and characteristics, and so should be treated differently. You are in charge, and will have to develop things as you think best, as you evolve. Above all, do not try to set up "mini-empires"! Just serve your local poet-shepherdesses.
If you are a text-maker, or want to be one, consider the following. Which type of text- maker do you want to become: a "desert-sage", or a "one-book", or a “second tier"? This question is very important. Consider it most carefully. Everything you do will grow out of this decision. Each type of text-maker is important; each type serves a different sector of the large pool of readers; no one type is more important than the others.
For those who wish to become a text-maker, the absolute requirement is that you make high-quality products, within the limits of your own natural abilities. There is no need to rush. Take your time, and make a good product. Remember: “Art” before “article”, and, "Art, for the poet- shepherdess". Go, find a place to work, where you will not be disturbed, and follow your art. It is important that you get "into production" early, since making the texts is a slow job. Keep back-ups!
Your job is to make texts, not to establish contact relationships. At first, there will be nowhere to send your texts, but later, there will be. To be honest, I do not know how the text-maker and the "net"-scout will find each other. This "link-up" will not be at the local level, but at the provincial or national level. However, they must link up, once or many times, in order to move forward. This is a question which must be well considered and answered by the people of each country, in their own way, and in their own time. I cannot, and will not dictate this! Beware of all wolves, and charlatans, who claim to be "net"-scouts! Beware!
Now, here are some general ideas and comments to all of you poets- shepherdesses, "net"-scouts, and text- makers. I wish you well in your chosen venture. The main problem, as I see it, is how you will come together: one poet-shepherdess, one "net"-scout, one text-maker. Ideally, this will all happen locally, and naturally, and in the right time, without being forced. I think, if you look around you, and consider the feelings in your heart, you will know what to do, and will do it well. Do not forget that vast group of "the other", which is the college students in the big cities. They also must be brought into the mix, for they are full of energy, ideas, and hope for better things. Here is a chance to make a big difference in the lives of quite a few people who are living in the most remote areas. So, I wish you well. Consider carefully, and have an honest try, and do it well, so that it will last!
My final words in this article are for the most remote areas themselves. I wish for all people in all nations to look on the most remote areas within their borders as a priceless heritage, and a worthy part of the whole entity.
Of old, long ago, it was land that was the source of everything, determined everything, and indeed was everything. Before people, and their history and culture, there was the land, in all its beauty. There were larks in the air, long before people called their town "Balikun". The snow-leopards owned the highest mountains long before people built stone cairns. Lapis-lazuli was in the ground, long before the words "blue", or "beautiful”, or “valuable" were thought of by people.
The most remote areas are the life, the spice, the savor, the raw essential nature of a nation. They are its Ur-text, the source of its great rivers, the dark abyss of its myths. In an over-developed and gutted modern world, they are the last thing that stands between us and the cruel whispers of despair and nihilism. If a nation is to be complete, it needs the essence of its most remote areas woven into the fabric of the metropolitan collective, like the strands of red yarn in hair-braids. Anyone can build a big collective, but who can make it beautiful, unique, and even interesting?
The land yields everything. If the people of the most remote areas are beautiful and very interesting, shouldn't we spare a thought for the land which made them? If you tamper with the ecosystem of the most remote areas, then you will get a desert – and a very terrible desert at that. Rachel Carson wrote of a "Silent Spring". Would you like to have desolation for 10,000 years, or for an entire geological era? So, people, locals, "pied-noirs", travelers, men who do not smile, and all of your chess-players, remember the lands of the most remote areas, for they are our milk - mothers. At the very least, they are our last great watershed areas. Stand on the mountaintop, in the ocean of air; lie on the desert sand, looking up at the city of stars; sit under a tree, in a silent forest grove dotted with mushrooms. Try to appreciate these places! If one night they leave, and you wake up in your house, desolate, know this: they will never return, but be lost.
As for me, I long to return to Loristan, and sleep on the soft grass, in the high alpine meadow, surrounded by mohair goats, in utter peace and tranquility. Khoda -hafez!
This book is dedicated to all of Class 2003 (ZYM ZDX), and to their teacher, a poet-shepherdess of Pei-ping.