Ranbir Singh Sidhu's Blog, page 10

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The Slow Death of the American Author

Scott Turow’s excellent op-ed in today’s New York Times. A must read for authors. Link here.

Last October, I visited Moscow and met with a group of authors who described the sad fate of writing as a livelihood in Russia. There is only a handful of publishers left, while e-publishing is savaged by instantaneous piracy that goes almost completely unpoliced. As a result, in the country of Tolstoy and Chekhov, few Russians, let alone Westerners, can name a contemporary Russian author whose work regularly affects the national conversation.

The Constitution’s framers had it right. Soviet-style repression is not necessary to diminish authors’ output and influence. Just devalue their copyrights.

My Glove Compartment, Circa 1997

I made this list in January 1997, when I cleaned out the glove compartment of my 1984 Toyota Tercel, and shortly after I started reading Georges Perec and other Oulipo writers. The reason to empty it was that it was so packed I could no longer open it. It turned out the back hinge was  jammed shut by a Velvet Underground cassette tape case. Perec was a veritable king of lists. He once listed everything he ate and drank over an entire year, and his alcohol consumption alone was astonishing. So this one’s for him.

Here’s the list:

2 Phillips Head screwdrivers

1 Red Luxury lip gloss, very old, probably Maria’s

1 Very battered pocket copy of Tao Te Ching

4 Batteries

1 Immature mammal limb, probably sheep femur

1 Mechanized pencil

1 Green pen from the Courtyard by Marriott Hotels

1 Ticket to Lava Beds National Monument for June 6th (year unknown)

1 Basin Research Associates business card

1 Melted plastic case for fuses

1 PCV valve (in box)

1 Plastic box of electrical connectors

1 Lid to Chinese tea cup

1 Brown band for sunglasses

1 Poloroid of myself with John Sloane excavating a human burial

1 Old medicine bottle

1 1” paint brush

1 Yellow pencil

1 Still from the movie Bhaji on the Beach

1 Letter from Chris in Russia (February 1991)

1 Card for Heath Paterson, Loan Agent

1 Packet of AAA info

1 Biorhythm chart for May 4, 1991, indicating:

good luck
high romance
low creativity
high health
high sex
good ambition
high endurance
low finance
good friendship
high leisure plans
lucky nos: 5 & 52

1 Sunglasses case

1 American Youth Hostel Handbook for 1990-91

1 Saguaro Credit Union checkbook

1 Pink napkin

1 Package of Johnson & Johnson rolled gauze (price $2.69)

8 Cassette tapes

1 Wind-up jumping frog (Stephanie’s)

1 B&W photo of my back from the 1984 Duckpond concert

Various receipts and scraps of paper

9 cents in change

Looking back at this list today, I wish I had written down who the bands were on those tapes. But I am sure somewhere, somehow, that knowledge is known. Because nothing is ever truly lost.

A Walk in Berlin

Late afternoon in October 2012, a walk home along one of Berlin’s many canals. I’d walked this route many times, at day and well into the night, but this was one of the few times I took photographs.

I don’t think of Berlin as being a true walker’s city. The street lights are designed for cars, to make sure they don’t idle too long. The result is that walkers often have to wait an inordinate amount of time to cross a street, and if there’s an island, the only way not to get stuck there and wait for a second light change is to run. For the elderly, this means almost always waiting, sometimes several minutes to cross a single intersection. It’s one of those silly Euro-eco ideas which means it’s much easier to drive around than walk. But that doesn’t take away from the rough-hewn beauty of the city. And it remains one of the most livable cities I’ve ever visited.

The cover for the US edition is out