Coastal Peoples
Back home now. Didn’t want to write, or draw or do anything, from the road for the same reason I’ve greatly reduced my photographic efforts. Effort documenting takes attention taken away from experiencing*. You know, the dad watching the child’s performance on the tiny screen of his phone which blocks the view of the actual performance?
South Beach, Oregon, is an unincorporated community just south of Newport on the Oregon coast. And unincorporated it is. From the highway you just pass by a few spread out buildings, a lawn mower dealership, storage lockers, a shack that may have something to do with animals. Then we passed by a joint with a loose collection of picnic benches packed with dining people. Beside them was a plywood stand with the world’s largest pot expelling steam. This was a must stop. It seemed most people went for the boil. I went with the crab sandwich, which is now how I assess seafood joints**. A mound of crab meat on wonder bread, a touch of mayo, and some token veggies (although I think the veggies only act to diminish, when I asked to hold the lettuce, the lady told me it is romaine and I’m gonna want that in there. I did. It added a nice crunch. Trust the experts). This was fuss-less seafood. As opposed to the refined stuff I generally see here. Another reminder that there are two different kinds of coasts, I think.
While hopping between rocks looking for tidal pools, I saw a dark whale out in the ocean. A large black blob in the distance which could have been lost in the roil of the breakers if not for its blow. Then you start to discern its tail and other anatomical features. Just hanging out. Good feeding I guess. But also too close to the beach? Is this how they get beached? I’ve seen cetaceans in their natural settings before; dolphins (a pod following alongside a ferry I was on) and killer whales (whilst salmon fishing in the Georgia Straight). While these events were quite entertaining, the dolphins were jumping out of the water possibly in some kind of unison which gave the experience an aquarium like feel, they looked somehow muted or even domestic. As fantastic as our natural harbour is, what I forget is how wild a thing that a coast can be. Watching this dark whale was the most visceral oceanic faunal experience of my life***. Moby Dick means slightly more to me now.
*Although it’s true that drawing or photographing or writing in situ can be an experience by their own right and they can filter an experience in a way that it is an integral part of any overall experience. It’s just that I tend to get distracted by those actions and I suspect I miss things.
**Not that you can get a sense of each item on the menu from a sampling of one item. But if you do a crab sandwich right, does it matter what you do wrong?
***Mostly due to the fact that I haven’t really been out in the open ocean much. I think I would enjoy a cruise.
Jae-Ho
I’m trying to figure out if these letters demonstrate a side to you that I didn’t know, or if, given the time to work out thoughts in writing, you present a tailored version of yourself that does not exist in the immediacy of human contact, and whether either of these is necessarily different from the “real Jaeho”, and whether there is such a thing as the singular, real “Jaeho”.
I also wonder why when I’m reading these I’m taken back to my English degree. I suppose because in part they sound like what you’d say if you were taking the piss, and I’m performing a textual reading of that. And then I wonder if they only sound like a piss-take because of the ur-Jaeho I have in my head.
I mean, the whole thing is fascinating. I’ve known you longer, and in a more in-depth way, than almost anyone else in my life, and yet these short missives have my brain doing gymnastics trying to place you.
I will try to help:
What, preferably with specific examples, is so discombobulating?
Yes, a written down version of myself must be quite different, almost even a contrast, to the immediate self. Remember, I keep this site public, so I have to be more considered, considerate, and careful (read responsible) than what you might be use to. This is intentional. As for “is that the real me”, yes it is. If I haven’t always been this way, thinking and recording in this way have made me more this way. Which is also an intended outcome.
I’ve always been a compartmentalizer of my personality; in the same way one is different around his boss than he is around his college friends. I suspect I do this compartmentalizing to some unusual extreme when compared to the general population. So what comes out in this space could be one of these compartments that had been set aside in the past. As far as which compartment is the real me, I’m of the opinion that the version of a person who lies to get out of an appointment and the version of that person who almost always tells it straight is the same person since both could be operating on the same set of moral rules.
I’m not sure what “piss-take” means. I think it means a fake opinion expressed in order to ridicule. If this is what you are saying, I’ll say I do say things for effect (much more so in person and much less so here) but the intention is not to mock.
Mostly, I am very much interested in this subject so some specific examples would be helpful.
1. While I’ve enjoyed all of these observational snapshots, the Archimedes story was the one that had me sitting up and taking notice. Here was a static piece of text that somehow managed to evoke the finer aspects of our in-person back and forths.
2. I know you say things for effect, but I think in person there is all the rest of it—the look on your face, the way you’re sitting, the inflection and tone—and the specific “effect” is consumed by the rest of your manner. Whereas on paper/screen, there is only the words, and so I am left to infer whatever I please.
3. With Archimedes, all of it felt earnest, even though it was written entirely in the third person (or even 4th person). There were multiple turns of phrase that I would call Jae-Hoisms, yet nothing felt like it was done “for effect” in the sense that the words stood out from the others.
4. In this one, several of the phrases seem deliberate, as opposed to the entire contrivance, and so I think this makes them seem to be standing up at a sit down dinner.
5. These phrases are:
“This was a must stop.”
“This was fuss-less seafood.”
6. Having taken the time to think about it I don’t think I meant piss-take. I believe I meant, “pitched to a certain tone that I’m unaccustomed to hearing from you.” But what comes through now is that this new tone is actually a written version of your in person tone. Whereas before I would have relied on an eye raise, or spreading of the hands, I can now look to a simple phrase.
Thanks. That helps.
I guess the tone and content of this space are so different from what you are accustomed to, that you have to wonder if I am pulling your leg or something like that. But you now you think it’s the same guy with just a novel or uncanny style.
Also, we all adapt and our thoughts evolve. I feel I’ve done these at an accelerated rate recently. In case I get accused of immodesty on this matter, an ability to adapt can make you appear inconsistent and erratic, two things I am always cautious of. Inconsistency and erratic behaviour, if present, would be confusing indeed.
I should point out that it’s not everything. A Jaeho who has a system to rank seafood joints fits squarely inside my conception of you.
All you said is important stuff. But some house keeping first.
Seems the comments notifier it broken. Did you get an email notification for this comment I just left?
I did this time, but hadn’t the previous one time.