bookstore -> book -> burrito = ode to downtown san jo

when i was in high school i used to spend a lot of time in a used book store in downtown san jose: twice read books (a note by Bay Area Books). [just looking online for a picture of the store has me waxing nostalgic about all those rainy days spent at twice read. i'm going to put off the love letter to the old, rough around the edges downtown of my formative years and get on to the post i'd intended to write. but only b/c it's after midnight and i have a long work day tomorrow...]

when i was sorting through my storage closet i found a book that i'd bought at twice read at least 21 years ago. it's a gorgeous illustrated book of poems by JG Whittier printed in 1886. i'm not a dedicated reader of Whittier or poetry, but this book is beautiful.

so, it's been in my storage cabinet for at least 6 years. before i moved into this apt, i don't know where i'd kept it: likely in another box somewhere. i pulled it from the closet and brought it into the living room.

this collection of poems was first published in 1848. When the 1857 printing was published, Mr. Whittier was still alive and wrote "A Note From the Author" to be included in the book. he regretted that his poor health kept him from editing the selections.
i love this bit:

"That there are pieces in this collection which i would "willingly let die," i am free to confess. But it is now too late to disown them, and i must submit to the inevitable penalty of poetical as well as other sins. there are others, intimately connected with the author's life and times, which owe their tenacity of vitality to the circumstances under which they were written, and the events by which they were suggested.
The long poem of Mogg Megone was in a great measure composed in early life; and it is scarcely neccessary to say that its subject is not such as the writer would have chosen at any subsequent period.

J.G.W
Amesbury, 18th 3d mo., 1857"


how wonderful is it to know that rolling one's eyes at our own bad, teen-poetry is something that's gone on so long?

{these pix of the Whittier book are crappy. i took them with the laptop while sitting in bed. if i can get it together i'll replace them with more representative pix soon.}

**the pic of Twice Read was taken by Avi Morgan. i don't know Avi, but found this pic among some of his shots of downtown San Jo. i got sucked into looking at all his shots of historic san jose. lovely and evocative. i logged a lot of miles on foot and bicycle checking out all the old nooks and crannies of downtown and still have a tremendous fondness for it. since i left san jose in 1989, i have this recurring issue: every time i go home to visit, my favorite places are gone: not just shuttered, but buildings razed and replaced. during the 1990's even streets would go missing, replaced by new highways.
my mom sold the family house (a large craftsman bought by my grandparents in 1964) about 10 years ago. when i do go back to san jose the only thing that really brings me downtown is La Victoria Taqueria. the picture on this yelp page is of the original location on e. san carlos street. they've since moved to...what is the name of that square? fun fact: in this pic of La Vic, you can see a fast food joint next door. it is the same jack in the box where i worked in high school.**

again with the storage closet

the above pic is a left-over VHS tape sleeve for the "reel" i submitted as part of my grad school applications back in January, 1996. the picture on the cover is a scan of a 16mm film frame (film!). it's from my first short with sound, "Étrangé." it's not as pretentious as it sounds. i am a pitiful script writer, so to fulfill the narrative assignment, i wrote the film in remedial French. turned out to be a bit of a cult fave among my film pals. did i mention it's a musical? those are my peepers behind the slate.


this installment of Storage Closet Rummaging will feature things found in the box marked: SHOW BINDERS/PAPERWORK
--instructions for "Using the TC-D5M Crystal Sync Recorder" and "Using the Mini AC Resolver"

--my diploma from Humboldt State U.

--several scripts and writing exercises from my Dramatic Analyisis class. this included an assignment to write a, "Brechtian-Based Central Reflector" scene. (there is a reason i am not a drama-nerd)

--an essay about procratinating the writing of an essay (clever!)

--a list of books carried by the HSU library (circa 1996) relating to submarine warfare in WWII

--hand written lecture notes headed, "Systems of Analyzing Illusion (re: Narrative)" that includes a depiction of the "Stayan Model" (what?) [see inset]

--a note under "Asian films": Compare: "Fistful" to "Yojimbo": Choreography in Fistful more in camera, Yojimbo w/in mise en scene. (mise en scene!)

--a photo copied poem titled, "No, Love Is Not Dead," by Robert Desnos that may be been originally written in French

--left over, unsent, handmade HSU graduation announcements. (these are really good. if i had a scanner i'd post a pic)

--2 issues of the "Polaris" newsletter. the newsletter for the world-wide WWII Sub-Vets organization. (i was researching a documentary that my pal, suzie, and i were brewing. it never came to fruition, but i still have a keen interest in, and middling knowledge of submarine warfare in WWII.)

--this photocopy of an article in a local Chinese newspaper regarding the production of "The Water Ghost" [i'm in the lower right wearing a manly shirt]

this box had about 12 binders and notebooks in it full of the detritus from college, grad school and a little beyond.
at the back of one binder (a university of san diego binder that was a hand-me-down from one of my HSU housemates [shout out, suzanne!]) had 3 xeroxed pages in the back pocket. poems and song lyrics: the aforementioned "no, love is not dead", a page of poems that may have been written by a friend, and the lyrics to "fair warning" from todd rundgren's album "initiation" (of course).

reading through the possible-friend-source poem, i have NO idea why i carried it around. here is a sample:

As I stand
on an empty bed
I wonder if you are still
torturing...
My tears consist
of blood
My blood consists
of wine
The corners of my room
have sprouted cobwebs
of despair

you get the idea.

lord. i don't remember being that maudlin. well, not after high school.

ok. the purpose of this binder clearing was to consolidate the few things i do want to keep (more on those later) into a box with the handful of video tape evidence of work. i've got my narrow selection to clear from the piano bench. along with the re-boxed xmas decorations [that havent' been used in at least 2 years, this one included] this box is going back into the storage closet.
that big (b.i.g.) plastic container full of FILM is still in there. i think that will stay there another year.

and now it is nearly 6:30. i'm looking at either thai food, vietnamese food, armenian food, or cake. all suitable.