Chinua Achebe said

in his book Things Fall Apart:

"There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts." p. 140.

"Living fire begets cold, impotent ash." p. 153.

"He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." p.176

Remember Judy Abbott?

Judy Abbott

"The first Wednesday in every month was a Perfectly Awful Day--a day to be awaited with dread, endured with courage and forgotten with haste."
and
"PS. This is the first love-letter I ever wrote. Isn't it funny that I know how?"

-First and last lines in the book Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster.

Of all the cartoons I have watched when I was a kid (Remy, Heidi, Romeo, Charlotte, Marcelino Pan Y Vino, Princess Sarah, Cedie, Ghost Fighter, Flame of Recca and others) and now as an adult (Barbie series: The Nutcracker, Princess and the Pauper, Mermaidia, Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer, Detective Conan, Slamdunk), I loved Judy Abbott (ABS-CBN Channel 2's title) the most. It's different and unpredictable. Yes, it's bad in a way that it encourages (by showing) a May-December love affair between guardian and his ward, Jervis Pendleton and Judy Abbott.

But, why not?

My friend and I were on the phone the other day (night, actually) when we talked about the cartoons (series and otherwise) we have watched growing up. Her brother, Harold, really knows every cartoon by heart. I asked, "Sino nga ulit 'yung naglilinis ng chimeneya? (Who's that guy who cleans chimneys again?)" Without a pause he replied, "Si Romeo." Oh, di ba? (FYI: Harold's twenty-two.)

Anyway. She told me that Judy Abbott, the cartoon series that I really loved (and miss), is actually from a book. The animated series I watched and loved as a kid was an adaptation after all. So I turned to the ever-ready-with-answers Google. There it was. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster. I immediately wanted a copy. I wished I can buy from Amazon.com directly. But I cannot. I am regretting my (and my parents') decision to not have a credit card.

From this day on, I promise to find a copy of the book though I have the PDF version already. It's just that... having a copy, as in a book copy, is better. It's easier to read. Basta.

Bookstores here I come!

Should I be an assassin?

If I'd name one of the semesters, in college of course, that I had the least time to read, it would be this one. So far.

Factors supporting my claim are:

1) I've bought/read some books just because they were required (Lord of the Flies, McDonaldization, Marx for Beginners).

2) I've only managed (Ha!) to borrow a book from a friend. (Things Fall Apart from Am.) And I have yet to read it.

3) I've bought only five books, using my own money. Downsize This! by Michael Moore, Gentleman's Agreement by Laura-something, A Trip to Quiapo by Ricky Lee, Line to Stroke: Art Techniques from Pencil to Paint by Paul Taggart and J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. Well, I have yet to pay for Chuck Palahniuk's novel Diary that I will get from a friend. (My mother paid for Lord of the Flies.)

4) And I have yet to read the Ricky Lee, and Paul Taggart books. (Nasira kasi yung pagkakabind nung Ricky Lee book. Tsk.)

5) I wasn't amazed with Catcher in the Rye. Yes, it had roaring and controversial reviews. Pero, wala talaga eh. Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold had more effect on me (I was in first or second year highschool when I read it) than Salinger's. Siguro it has something to do with the age I am/was in when I read the books.

It was Jecy who first told me that Salinger's "coming-of-age" book was read, or carried, by assassins and would-be assassins after their crimes or after being caught. Google provided me with case(s) in point: Mark David Chapman on John Lennon, John Hinckley Jr. on Ronald Reagan (failed), and Robert John Bardo on a certain Rebecca Shaeffer (failed).

So, after reading the book, should I be one of them? As I write (type) this, I have read the book for weeks now. And surprisingly(!) I don't find myself feeling so much hatred towards some person/event that can motivate me to kill, or inflict pain. Or find joy in thinking of such act/s.

This article on Catcher in the Rye talks about it (and the Beatles' songs in their The White Album) being "mechanisms of conrol" to motivate (negatively speaking) people, random civilians, into killing political/social icons. "Legend" has it that J. D. Salinger once worked for US Intelligence, specifically with the de-nazification (a code word alluding to the importation of high-level Nazi spies into the highest ranks of the American Intelligence Community under the auspices of Project Paperclip, the top secret operation which smuggled hundreds of Nazis out of Germany. These "reformed" Nazis were then given new identities, in time forming the core of the new U.S. intelligence, defense and aerospace establishments) of Germany. Wow. I love conspiracy theories.

Well. This mini-review of Catcher in the Rye (I say mini kasi I mentioned it towards the end of this entry) has brought to light, on/to me especially the controversy and the hype that came with it that must have led it into being a "cult-ish" publication. Thus, being labelled a classic. Or maybe, I'm not that of a good critic/reader, to like/appreciate this one.

Having read the book, and not liking/appreciating it, am I, now, a candidate for being the Assassin of the Year(s to come)? If I do become an assassin, I think I would not blame (or credit) this book. Maybe someone else's work. He he. And if that day happens *evil laugh*, you'll read about it in the news.

I think, as Ate Avic of San Cristobal tours once said (as we were traversing the dangerous terrain of the Sumaguing Caves in Sagada), "It's all in the mind."