Notes on moving (or rather on avoiding to pack more boxes)
Welcome to the 107th edition of this newsletter!
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One of the many stereotypes used by Western writers who produce books about the Japanese is that unlike Westerners, who, and this is always implied but never spelled out, have become soft and don't value neither hard labour nor attention to detail any longer (which idea is deeply reactionary), Japanese people tend to be obsessed about bringing enormous attention to the tiniest of details.
Typically, craftspeople are being brought to the fore as the shining examples of this idea: hey, look at this carpenter who will source the rarest of woods just for this particular flooring that without any other wood would simply be an affront to his sensibilities.
The problem with this stereotype is not that there isn't a kernel of truth to it. There exist such craftspeople in Japan. The problem is that they're in fact not typical of the country as a whole. Japanese people will not go out of their way to fix their broken tea cup with gold. Some will, sure. But the vast rest will simply buy a new cup. Another problem is that you can find craftspeople with huge dedication anywhere else in the world.
You might remember that I'm currently in the process of moving. The house I am moving into was built in 1844. It has been incredibly well maintained, and some of what I imagine must be the old door handles are still around. The house also has the most incredible hardwood floors. In one section, I was told, the owner -- a carpenter -- had been on the look out for a particular type of tree. You see, the house had been constructed from that tree, and he wanted to make sure that the wood used for the floor matched the rest of the house.
I personally would have never been able to notice that detail. In fact, I don't even remember the name of the particular tree (which is, if I remember this part correctly, native to the area).
Why do the people who grow up from little boys -- I believe we call them "men" -- love photographing sticks and stones so much?
I should probably be packing more boxes instead of writing down these missives. Thing is, though, yesterday I spent all day moving boxes of books. While there will be movers coming (in about a week), packing has become a game of tetris: if I were to simply pack books, the resulting boxes would take up all the space not occupied by shelves.
Furthermore, I'm running short on boxes. So I thought that I'd move some boxes myself, creating free space and refilling my repository of empty boxes.
Yesterday, I moved about 350 pounds of books. I'm not giving this number to brag. It's just that I had to carry all of these books down a flight of stairs and then up another one. Furthermore, 350 pounds sounds more impressive than the number of boxes. So there's that.
Why do the people who grow up from little boys -- I believe we call them "men" -- love talking about their achievements so much?
Right after having moved in the first batch of boxes, I stopped to take these pictures around the little parking area of the house. I have the feeling that the move will be good for my photography because the area is altogether a lot more lovely than the one I'm living in now.
I should really be doing some more packing. It's just that I needed a little break. Plus, it's Sunday, and I had saved a two-part essay written by Laurie Stone for today. I don't know whether you follow her writing; it's very much worth it.
The two-part essay centers on a trip to Vienna in the 1980s. If you're old enough (like me) you might remember what that meant. If you're younger (good for you), you might not know the particular circumstances, but you'll learn them from her essay.
"I think," Laurie Stone writes, "this piece is timely because it looks at how misogyny was attached to the anti-Semitism that fueled Nazism—the way Jews were considered in all sorts of ideological and intellectual frameworks “a feminine” race that needed to be eliminated." And:
"We are all being held hostage by a group of six-year-old, school-yard bullies who believe in the deepest recesses of their hearts that real men prove they are real men by showing they have power."
In the second part, Laurie Stone dives into feminism. Much like her I think that this could have been written yesterday.
Lastly, I know that you're probably as tired of all that AI image stuff as I am. But when Ben Davis writes something, it's worth looking at, even as, and this is the case here, an editor probably should have cut this two-part essay down into something smaller. So maybe just read the first part, that's where the real insight it to be found. (There's a link at the bottom that will take you to the second part in case you don't believe me.)
I should really get back to packing books. So I will. There's a lot of snow coming down where I am, meaning I'll be constrained to being inside.
As always thank you for reading!
-- Jörg