scruta http://www.scruta.org Either you are sorting it out, or you are full of it. Mon, 14 May 2012 17:08:28 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Shanghai as a Locket http://www.scruta.org/shanghai/shanghai-as-a-locket/ http://www.scruta.org/shanghai/shanghai-as-a-locket/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 17:08:28 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1474 I will be asked why I stay here, and I will say it’s a secret. It’s a secret locked inside a silver talisman that never leaves my beating chest.

I will share it with no one, I say.

But there’s a deeper secret: the locket is locked, has always been locked and I do not have the key.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/shanghai/shanghai-as-a-locket/feed/ 0 Epigram #15 http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-15/ http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-15/#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:45:04 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1471 Learning Chinese in Shanghai:

A shopkeeper insists on using English

To sell me Chinese books.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-15/feed/ 0 New Words: Quincunx and Plangent http://www.scruta.org/names/new-words-quincunx-and-plangent/ http://www.scruta.org/names/new-words-quincunx-and-plangent/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:59:46 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1466 Quincunx

Plangent

]]> http://www.scruta.org/names/new-words-quincunx-and-plangent/feed/ 0 Epigram #14 http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-14/ http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-14/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:12:04 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1463 The checkered patterns of these linen hearts

Will ripple in the summer breezes

Dry and fresh, they will wonder how they’ve grown.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-14/feed/ 0 False Start #65 http://www.scruta.org/false-starts/false-start-65/ http://www.scruta.org/false-starts/false-start-65/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:20:14 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1459 I am tired of loud revolutionaries. I’m sick of bullhorns and shanytowns with pizza deliveries. I’m tired of movements, of seasons of change. The world that is growing needs them; in fact, it cannot exist without them. This is why I am sick of them.

The loud mouth wailers and those intoxicated with self-righteousness are essential in the game of liberal democracy. They are the pawns in the great game – easily sacrificed. Rarely do they rise to greatness, and when they do, the end is near.

The revolutionaries I admire stay away from rallies. They avoid them altogether. They see the whole thing for the game it is. And, besides, they are too busy designing new games.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/false-starts/false-start-65/feed/ 0 New Words: Shako and Tribades http://www.scruta.org/names/new-words-shako-and-tribades/ http://www.scruta.org/names/new-words-shako-and-tribades/#comments Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:08:51 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1454 Shako

Tribades

]]> http://www.scruta.org/names/new-words-shako-and-tribades/feed/ 0 Epigram #13 http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-13/ http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-13/#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:18:43 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1452 And about humanity?

We are just not monkeys –

Where you put the emphasis tells the tale.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-13/feed/ 0 False Start #64 http://www.scruta.org/false-starts/false-start-64/ http://www.scruta.org/false-starts/false-start-64/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:25:39 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1448 A friend of mine slings a new rap record over to me, Drake’s Take Care.  “Over My Dead Body” rattles around in my head while I’m in the shower.

Rappers. Every single record it’s the same, gloating about the money, the fame, the life. Bling blingin’ and shit. Show boatin’, ego affirming drivel. And still, I never get tired of hearing about it. “Why?” I’ll ask myself.

Then I realize, that deep down, deep down in the lonely vault of the heart we see our lives as great productions with booming synthesizers in the background, productions worthy of projecting into the minds of others, billboard productions to spring others to life… if only we had the words.

Yeah.

Like feeling my power, steppin’ in my shower, soakin’ down my hair with pert plus, man it’s the bes’,  don’t make a fuss.  Jumpin’ out an dryin’ off in the freezin’ cold,  see my face in the mirror, man I’m gettin’ old. I’m almost 30 and I got less than 30 g’s, sing it wit’ me, man, if you feel me, please.

Yeah.

People keep asking me where I’m going. If I’m really hitting my stride. What the hell, man, you think I just do what I do for fun, turning down promotions just to keep myself alive? I’ve got projects on the pot, I’m waiting to set them live, I live my life in China land, sweet so sweet it ain’t a dive.  But you get distracted, man, pulled away from the things you think are right. Drank too much beer at my local pub last night man, lost everything I came with.

Yeah.

What you online bloggers? Silent scribblers in the midst? Think you’re livejournaling is the shit, man. You want to be a funny guy? I’ll crack my fingers and flick off something that you can’t handle, man. Leave you shame commented you can’t hold on to nothing, not even your pride, huh?

But yeah, it’s alright feelin’ stronger. Feelin’ better. Livin’ life alright. Gonna sleep tonight. You just keep goin’ on and on. And there’s crazy folks all want iPhones over here, out in China, man, and it’s alright.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/false-starts/false-start-64/feed/ 0 Epigram #12 http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-12/ http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-12/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:34:34 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1443 You have to step away from the past

To see that it’s passed.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/poetry/epigram-12/feed/ 0 Li and Zhou: Applied Theater http://www.scruta.org/li-and-zhou/li-and-zhou-applied-theater/ http://www.scruta.org/li-and-zhou/li-and-zhou-applied-theater/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:48:06 +0000 ferret http://www.scruta.org/?p=1440 Li

Ha!

Zhou

What?

Li

Here’s a good one!

Zhou

What?

Li

Oh, man. This is crazy. I have no idea how they thought they could print this.

Zhou

What the hell is it?

Li

Okay, so there’s a theater guy, a young guy from America. He’s here on a Fulbright.

Zhou

Oh, a Fulbright, he must be very smart.

Li

Yes, very smart. A Fulbright.

Zhou

Wow. A Fulbright! Where did he go to school?

Li

Yale.

Zhou

Yale! Wow!

Li

Yes.

Zhou

Wow. Yale.

Li

Anyway, he’s in China. He studies theater and Chinese. He does a new kind of theater.

Zhou

A new kind of theater?

Li

Yeah. It’s called applied theater. I’ve been reading about it. It’s not so new in the West.

Zhou

What is it?

Li

Basically, you make the audience into actors.

Zhou

Oh. Well, what’s so bad about that?

Li

The idea is that you explore social or political issues by getting the audience involved in particularly difficult situations.

Zhou

Political issues?

Li

Yeah. This guy went to northern Yunnan near Tibet and did a workshop with Tibetan and Han residents.

Zhou

Oh no.

Li

Yes. He presented them with a scene where a Han man got in fight with a Tibetan man and his girlfriend. The audience came in and took the rolls and tried to resolve the situation.

Zhou

Well, did they resolve it?

Li

Of course not. A teacher had to make a speech about harmony.

Zhou

Really? He had to give the harmony speech?

Li

Yeah.

Zhou

Wow.

Li

And they wanted to print this story.

Zhou

Ha. Wow.

Li

Yeah.

Zhou

But Li-

Li

Yeah?

Zhou

He has a Fulbright. He went to Yale. Why is he doing this?

Li

I don’t know.

Zhou

Yale.

Li

Yeah, Yale.

]]> http://www.scruta.org/li-and-zhou/li-and-zhou-applied-theater/feed/ 0