How many Books do you own?
- Guessing? 500. More if you count periodicals, comic books and magazines. To paint a picture, I have about two shelves worth in my studio, a few on display in my hallway, a bookshelf worth in the attic, a small bookshelf worth in the bedroom, a small bookshelf worth in the living room and another bookshelf worth at my work office.
What was the last book you bought?
- Ceremonial Costumes of the Pueblo Indians by Virginia More Roediger
Haven't read it yet. Beautiful illustrations. Bought at an antique book store, written in 1941, this edition is from 1991.
What was the last book you read?
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The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow.
An excellent read, just know it is not exactly relaxing beach reading. While very funny at times as well as vulnerable and intimate at others, the authors of this book are out to prove their argument, not entertain the masses. Their argument is that recent discoveries in archeology and anthropology demand us to re-write the way we tell the story of history and how societies develop. For example, the history of the indigenous peoples of California prove that a city can come about without agriculture and therefore the creation of surplus reserves. The indigenous Californians were a forging society but still created large cities. Another example is the retelling of the enlightenment not as originating from the brainy writings of Rousseau but from the critique of European culture coming from what Rousseau called himself “the noble savage(s)”. Specifically, Graeber and Werber tell the story of Kondrionk, a Wendat Indigenous leader from the Great Lakes region who debated the governor of Montreal in Paris Salons on the topic of which was superior; Indigenous American culture or European culture. It is this critique of European culture coming from indigenous Americans which is what inspired the Enlightenment, and therefore the American Revolution, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, etc.
While long, the book goes by quick as every page makes ones mind blown from the telling of practices of ancient and indigenous cultures that are so radically different from our society today. I was left believing that humanity, and therefore reality, is far more plastic and adaptable than we give ourselves credit. Life can be many things, and we are not constricted by imaginary social constructs.
Name Five Books That mean a lot to you:
The following books are listed in no particular order of preference. All of these books are books I read at least five years ago with the exception of one. This is because I have a tendency to be particularly jazzed on whatever I just read.
1. Che: A Revolutionary Life by John Lee Anderson
Ernesto “Che” Guevara is a controversial figure, particularly in the United States. The left celebrates him, the right villianizes him and the intelligentsia critique him in an attempt to separate the man from the mythology. It is hard to know who Che was when everyone tells a different story. But by most accounts, John Lee Anderson’s expertly researched biography is considered the definitive, most trustworthy telling of Guevara’s life in the English language.
In the United States, there is a segment of the populace that embraces rugged individualism. As a teacher, I myself prescribe to this philosophy to a certain extent; the achievement of self-sufficiency is one of the ultimate goals of a US public school education. This rugged individualism can be traced back to the abundance of land that European settlers and colonizers claimed upon their invasion of American shores. There is not much need for proletariat camaraderie when everyone’s needs are met thanks to the abundance of resources provided by the acquisition of under inhabited land. Thoreau wrote beautifully of this. Unfortunately, in 2023, there is a housing crisis and the nation is roughly 4 million units short of housing everyone. This has created a homelessness epidemic in which average citizens cannot get roves over their heads. As evidence of this, it is estimated that half of the Los Angeles homeless population is employed to some extent.
The philosophy of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, “Guevaraism”, which is, essentially, his own spin on Marxist-Leninism, is based around principles of camaraderie, love and anti-exploitation. His philosophy was so foreign to me it was straight up exotic. Nobody in the United States makes statements like “Individualism as such, as the isolated action of a person alone in a social environment, must disappear in Cuba. Individualism tomorrow should be the proper utilization of the whole individual, to the absolute benefit of the community.”
Guevara not only made me think in new ways, but he made me believe that the impossible was possible. Today we champion people based on identity and their “takes” on twitter (I guess now “X”) but in Che’s time, those who were championed were the people who sacrificed the most for their causes. The activists of today may be far more “woke” than Che ever was due to their access to the internet, but in terms of actual actions accomplished in real life, Che has us all beat.
If there is one quote from Che we should be left with it is “Be Realistic; Demand the impossible.” Che is a historical figure who did the statistically impossible. Though humanized and humbled later on by his failures, the Guerilla Warfare of the Cuban Revolution will go down in history as one of the greatest military campaigns of all time. Politics aside, how does a crew of 20 smelly, hungry, half-alive guerrillas take over a country of 7 million in the course of 2 years? It sounds impossible. And yet it happened.
The Cuban Revolution is just the tip of the iceberg of Che’s adventures and accomplishments. This mammoth 800 page book will keep you riveted as you travel from Argentina, to Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico, the USA, Cuba, Ireland, France, India, Japan, China, the former USSR, the Congo, Tanzania, Bolivia and more. Che was a utopian thinker and a citizen of the world whose perspective was international. Again, the impossible is possible.
We are living in a time where we must demand the impossible to preserve our environment and therefore, way of life. Figures like Che prove to us, once again, we are not constricted by imaginary social constructs and humanity can be many things.
2. The Adventures of Tintin by Herge
Today, Tintin is criticized for its colonist, even racist, satires of cultures. But I would be lying if I didn’t say this series of books didn’t profoundly inspire me growing up. While the authors political implications and leanings range from right to left, we are ultimately left with a promotion of a world view that can be described as Cosmopolitan although problematic.
To put it simply, The Adventures of Tintin makes you want to travel the world and interact. It promotes curiosity about those who are different from yourself and ultimately comes back to the representation of our shared humanity. Herge’s skilled ability to kinetically put his characters in constant motion or progression of plot is a treat and a must study for anyone wishing to make graphic novels.
With this said, not all the volumes in Tintin are created equally. “Tintin in America” seems to be a historical artifact of how poorly Europeans understood what life was like in the United States and nothing more. “Tintin in the Congo” should be straight up ignored and let to live in racist obscurity, an embarrassment to the integrity of the series. It’s bad enough that Africans are depicted in blackface through out the series, let alone this particular volume which is specifically damaging.
Still, if Che didn’t read Marx’s Das Capital due to Marx’s casual anti-semitism and racism towards Mexicans, Che arguably wouldn’t have accomplished what he did. Therefore, the cartoonists, writers and artists of our era must learn from the successes of Herge to progress the form, therefore correcting his problems with our new art.
The lessons of form and design that Herge can teach us are endless. Even Warhol himself was a deep admirer of the Belgian cartoonist. Herge’s aesthetic mimics the elegant minimalism of Ernie Bushmiller mixed with the research and reference engagement of the best 20th century illustrators. He is a master of observation drawing, facial expression and he’s a good writer to add.
Tintin has been translated into 35 languages, an irony due to its subtle colonial perspective. This is evidence that while still a product of its time, the ultimate message of Tintin is a message of Cosmopolitanism; that the world is thrilling and worthy of exploration.
There are 21 Tintin books excluding early works and Herge’s unfinished book he was working on upon the time of his death. A good starting point is “The Black Island”. This adventure is arguably Herge’s most kinetic; each page feels like a cliffhanger and the attention to the books environment is fantastic. Other recommended titles would be “Cigars of the Pharaoh/The Blue Lotus”, “The Secret of the Unicorn/Red Rackham’s Treasure”, “The Calculus Affair”, “Destination Moon/Explorers on the Moon”, “Tintin and the Picaros”, "The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun” and “Tintin in Tibet”.
I have visited Canada, Sweden, Belize, Italy, Spain, England, Hungary, Germany and France. I have been to the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Nevada, California and Oregon. My desire to travel was deeply inspired by the Adventures of Tintin of which I am grateful.
3. Censorship Now!! By I.F. Svenonious
Having gone to art school during the height of what is being called “indie sleeze” and the war on terror, I have been exposed to a culture of absurdity, provocation, obscenity and controversy in the name of free speech and art. However, as we have learned from the Trump administration, the obscene can be weaponized politically when there is no check on the freedom to our speech. It seems you can just blurt out “Hilary Clinton runs a child prostitution ring in a pizza parlor basement” without any consequence these days and there is no punishment for slander.
This is, however, not historically new if one remembers the start of the Spanish-American war in 1898 was caused by “Yellow Journalism”; the misleading reporting of the bombing of the USS Maine in Havana harbor.
Svenonious convincingly and persuasively argues for the need for censorship; not necessarily a state censorship or a government censorship, rather a proletariat or people’s censorship; the banning of false and toxic art and messaging.
Even if one does not agree with Svenonious’s cry for censorship, he makes you think about the sources of ones information and their potential agendas. He is correct about the bombardment of drivel we are exposed to on television, computers, the radio, ads, etc. and perhaps a little bit of “turning off” isn’t a bad thing for ones mental health.
As an advocate for censorship, I was an outlier in art school, a place where having all gates and doors open is romanticized. This is why in my graduate papers I coupled the writing of Svenonious with stills of the occasionally disturbing performance artist Paul McCarthy, who once performed a piece so disturbing and anti-social it was only over when everyone in the audience left. And yet, having the open mind to consider censorship as a tool for liberation has led me to being on the “winning side of history”. I felt very venerated when the “me too” movement brought the guillotine to teaching artists whose assignments and behavior were justified by these “Free Speech” warriors.
Of course governments should not censor the people, but this does not justify public displays of aggressive anti-social behavior and making people do things they are not comfortable with in the name of artistic exploration. Justifications for allowing such acts only takes value away from the arts. Those who defend the obscene in the arts will say “It’s just art!” - without realizing how insulting to the institution of the arts they are being. Svenonious argues this is why art is undervalued in the United States, or, “The Free World”.
Originally published in 2015, this collection of essays, especially its title essay, has stuck with me. It suggests that what is morally correct may involve sacrifice. Ultimately, it is an empowering essay.
It ends with a great quote. “The State can’t be the censor. The state must be censored. Along with its vile servants and its freakish masters, censorship. Termination, eradication and liquidation. Censorship until reeducation! Censor the state! Censorship NOW!!”
4. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The main reason why Moby Dick gets a bad wrap today is there is evidence that Melville wasn’t particularly nice to his wife.
Again, our job is to progress upon the shoulders of our ancestors. In order to do this we must critique them, but ultimately our job is to surpass them in accomplishment, which only can be achieved when we study them. Therefore, I am a strong advocate for the reading of Moby Dick.
With this said, I think too many people read Moby Dick too early on in their lives and it sort of doesn’t work as a result.
Moby Dick can only be read and loved by those who have experienced their scale in comparison to the planet. Young people eager to leave their hometowns to shoot their shots in the New Yorks, Nashvilles and LAs of the world will have a hard time appreciating Moby Dick. One must first be humbled to appreciate this book.
Scholars have made almost endless metaphor for the great white whale Moby Dick, but one thing we can all agree on is that Moby Dick, the leviathan, is big. To take him down is therefore an almost impossible achievement. Captain Ahab is hellbent on doing this so he can get revenge on the whale who took many of his loved ones along with his leg. He is obsessed with getting his revenge, even though doing so seems like a suicide mission. Captain Ahab thinks he is bigger than he actually is, he believes in himself and believes he can accomplish the impossible.
Doesn’t this sound like the goal of my first two books? “Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible?” - well, you should always try your best, but Melville message is a statistically true one; the world is large and we are very small. We should not expect that the world is going to bend to our needs. We are not at the center of the world. This isn’t a movie and a lot of people fail. But most importantly, sometimes the world brings you misfortune and there isn’t anything you can do about it, because the world is big and we are very small.
Long story short, Ahab can’t accept this reality and Ishmael meditates on it. This is only my overarching take-away of the book, too. There is so much to take away from this book, that there are books ABOUT this book.
But that was my main take away; the acceptance of our scale in comparison of the world and how one can make peace with that reality.
5. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
This book is like an old friend. Pynchon is an American literary master and the narrator voice and vibe of this novel converges late sixties hippy slang with film noir detective pulp. Pynchon was always presented to me as an inaccessible author; his book Gravity’s Rainbow being considered one of the harder books to read in the English language by many scholars. So when I read this, I felt accomplished.
It was the beginning of my adult life as a reader I believe and the majority of my reading of this book occurred on the MBTA in Boston on my way to work in Somerville from Jamaica Plain.
I first watched Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie remake, which was convoluted in a typical hard boiled detective movie way, but not to the point where its plot wasn’t obtainable. After deeply enjoying the movie, I had the confidence to give the novel a go.
I love how Doc Sportello’s stoned paranoid predilections are sometimes dead on … and sometimes dead wrong; the movie echos the loss of innocence felt in 1970 LA. Hippies were once cool, but now they’re scary in the aftermath of the Manson killings. The mainstream went from smiling at hippies to desiring to exterminate them. The movie invites a critical eye to the idealism of the era at the moment when Woodstock turned to Altamonte, when peace and love turned to drugs and paranoia.
This is the vibe of Utopian thinking meeting reality; again, the desire to accomplish the impossible and the acceptance of defeat. It can also be used as a metaphor for the loss of a loved one and how grief manifests in our minds, as the loss of the sixties corresponds to the loss of the Doc’s “missing girl” - Shasta Fey Hepworth.
When attempting to accomplish the impossible, it is important to remember to balance this with the realization that we are not the centers of the universe. Upon the topic of affairs of the heart, for example, if one truly loves another, then they wish to give, serve and support their loved one. This may include letting that loved one love someone else, which may mean watching the person you love marry somebody else because they make them happy and you don’t. In this situation, a demanding of the impossible may be morally incorrect.
Again, an American book about the disillusionment of the American dream and utopian thinking.
It seems my favorite books promote Cosmopolitan curiosity, travel and wrestle with when to be idealistic and when to be practical.
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