Amuser et instruire

As a new arrival in the blogging community, I can certainly learn from my friends’ experience so I can achieve the most (or so I think) with the least nuisance. Coming from a background of humanists, I do not know that many geek friends. They probably regard my knowledge and know-how as woefully inadequate. But among all of my friends, I must say I have seen worse. They are highly-educated, on their way to a PhD, but the notion of using technology creatively simply does not appeal to them. As I recommend Firefox and extol its virtues to one, my friend, a biologist, tells me well since all PCs come with Internet Explorer anyway, I just use it, it is not worth the trouble of switching no matter what the benefits one might get. I am fine with that but I am sure should one of my geekiest friends were on the scene, she would have, as we say in Cantonese, “puked blood.”

Sarah’s thoughtful and articulate blog, coffee travails, is the primary inspiration for “On the Ridge of Pratt.” There was a time, not too long ago, writing fieldnotes meant writing on two pieces of paper simultaneously and send the carbon copies off via airmail to your adviser “at home.” Besides a few carbon paper things, a stack of paper, a pencil and a candle, you probably do not need anything else. Not even electricity. I remember reading one renowned anthropologist (forgot which one) posting his (always “his”) fieldnotes in the town square for all his consultants to read. And he notes did stir up discussions and reactions, if I remember correctly. I think, using good judgments, one can disclose such literature to the public. Was there an Ethics Review Board then? Sarah is debating how much and how deeply she should write about her field on her public blog. I don’t really know, but I trust her. Whatever she chooses to do should be fine, I bet. Her topic is coffee. As Marx would say, coffee possess a sensuous form and quality that we can touch and see, but what is at stake is the “fantasmantic social relationships” hidden behind the physical object. It is a fascinating topic and a huge undertaking.

I used to read some friends’ blogs on Xanga or Yahoo, and I thought, my goodness, they looked incredibly ugly. Facebook is unfortunately stupid, being the lowest common denominator. Blogger or Blogspot is a considerable improvement, even my sister started one, and yet I am not attracted to its mechanics. WordPress is, finally, without a doubt, the best platform. Open source could be messy, but not unlike democracy, it perfects itself. I had not known one of my online acquaintances in Hong Kong liked WordPress so much before I first published this blog. Wrong, she does not merely like it; she adores it. I suggest that she should write the music score to accompany the ballade of “WordPress love,” so the Karaoke-addicted Hong Kongers can sing along to her tune. Also, as a big fan of sharing, her song will be in the Creative Commons for the whole world to enjoy.

I have several purposes in mind while starting “On the Ridge of Pratt.” Generally, I shall remind myself of this mantra, “Amuser et instruire.” I forgot who said it, or where I read about it. Was it Molière? Was it a scholar or an anthology summarizing the spirit of classical French comedy? Was it Madame de Staël or the theory of the Novel? Anyway, forgotten. Hopefully, I will try to be interesting. Ideally, I will try to say something of substance. There is so much I want to blog. First and foremost, as a self-appointed family historian, I want to write down the stories my parents have told me. I have read so many good reviews of Lung Ying-tai‘s Big River, Big Sea: 1949 大江大海一九四九, but I have yet to read it. Its review on the New York Times, Untold Stories of China and Taiwan, seems to get its essence perfectly, “Her new book is a tribute to the tens of millions of people “who were trampled on, humiliated and hurt by the era.” It tells the story of the many Chinese families that were broken up by the civil war that ended in the Kuomintang’s defeat in 1949, with some two million escaping to Taiwan. Many, like her own parents, hastily said goodbye to loved ones in mainland China and would never see them again.” Bottom-up history is just as illuminating as top-down history. History is made up of individuals and families; who cares about the rivalry between Chiang and Mao? As far as I am concerned, the two dictators were both butcher assholes. Following Professor Lung’s footsteps, I want to be able to put the stories into words, in a miniature version, and perhaps I could nickname it “Big Archipelago, Small Kampong: 1945.” Stories, as I have hinted in the last post, that span the Dutch colonies, where my grandparents were seeking fortune, all the way to the Crown Colony of Hong Kong, where I was born. Rumors have that there are about 100,000 Indonesian Chinese “stranded” in Hong Kong. The number now should be much smaller as they are slowly dying off. Besides one conference paper, not much has been written on them, to my knowledge.

Family history sounds heavy. True, but it does not have to in the Big River Big Sea-style all the way. I appear to be in the best position in the family to do this, and I don’t want to make it too sentimental or poignant, which could lead to ethical abuse sometimes.

I also like to blog about life’s small luxuries (“small” is the keyword), travel, politics, and sometimes cats. You might be surprised why I choose to refrain from writing about cats. A paragraph here and there, but no more. Cats play a big role in my life, and as you can see in my Flickr, they are everywhere. In still pictures and video clips, they are cute. But in words, who cares? A friend told me about the “baby syndrome” and I agreed wholeheartedly. Once his friend, an avid blogger herself, became a mother, all she blogs about is her baby. Very cute, we all want to see a picture or two, but why does the world have to care about your baby, like, everyday? This holds true to my cats as well. So you will not see my cats too often, unless their stories qualify for what I set out to do here, that is, “amuser et instruire.”

My mom is expecting my sister.