Well, no one seemed to notice that I didn’t write anything for this column last month. Sometimes, just sometimes, gentle reader, one gets precisely what one pays for.

My Return

But now I’m back. And also recently back from Japan after returning for the first time in twenty-five years, since I lived there and left in 1999. My Japanese, almost nearly fluent from my years there, did not come rushing back as I had hoped. Despite the three months this past winter I had spent prior to my trip studying and reading.

Japanese was the first language I learned after I figured out, while studying Polish, how my brain learns language. Grammatically and even lexically Japanese is still the easiest language I’ve ever studied, and it seemed to take me no time to develop fluency back then. I was also much younger. And I had a private tutor in addition to group lessons at the community center and my own self-study.

After my first semester (I was teaching at a university), I had already begun to teach my EFL courses in Japanese. It was just much more efficient. During that second semester, I also somehow managed to set up autopay for my utility bills through my 銀行, schedule repairs for appliances in my アパート, and begin traveling, from as far as 京都 in the north to 沖縄 in the south, during whatever free 時間 I could find with whatever spare お金 I could afford. All 日本語で。It helped, too, for the most part, that I lived out in the provinces, where I couldn’t really rely on bumping into too many locals or foreigners who spoke English. Not too bad for someone who, when he first arrived, knew only a handful of words: yes, no, please, thank you, beer, coffee.

Now my Japanese is all but nonexistent. I mourn the person I was when I spoke this language. He was much more than who I am today. 安らかに眠れ、フランクさん。

PEN v. Sword

I am not a fan of PEN America. I think it’s a substandard organization and not worth my time, and I’ve often said as much in person and online for at least the last decade. Mostly, though, except for the past month, I don’t ever think about it because it’s never had any impact on my work or my working life, despite starry-eyed attempts to get a translation grant or some other kind of support from them. I don’t have to like you to take your money.

The latest *waves hands in the air at IT ALL* though has been almost too much to countenance. With every news article, every press release, every official statement, its president and its CEO seem to go out of their way to irreparably harm the organization and its members, to provide solid evidence of an embarrassing ineptitude, and to dismiss any reasonable criticism leveled at them, their policies, optics, and attitudes.

Their latest statement, clearly written under the influence of institutional arrogance, bureaucratic malaise, and a heady mix of bad faith, bullshit, and lies, announcing the cancellation of the 2024 World Voices Festival blames “suppressing discourse.” You know what else tends to suppress discourse? Giving a stage and handing a microphone to a celebrity Zionist who underwrites war crimes and genocide, to cite but one recent example. One would think, wouldn’t one?, that the leadership of an organization that “stands at the intersection of literature and human rights” would above all know the slightest little something about words and ethics. What they’re experiencing isn’t suppression so much as consequences.

PEN America has become too much like those terribly famous, self-absorbed celebrities (e.g. Nick Cave, Thom Yorke, among others) who, when asked to support a cultural boycott, can only muster the strength to talk about how showing the slightest solidarity with other humans really puts a damper on their travel plans. And making money. Unfortunately for PEN, they don’t have a back catalog of hits to fall back on when they find themselves hopelessly out of touch with what is right. I’m not very bothered by the fact that this year they won’t be able to throw a party for themselves while the world burns.

An organization for writers that dismisses what writers say can’t really be described as working for freedom of speech at all.

Totality (Totally)

Other than a relatively low cost of living, Dallas rarely has any perks. But on April 8 we were favored by all sun-eating gods and goddesses and got to experience the majesty of about four minutes of totality during the solar eclipse. All from the convenience of my backyard.

Barn Burner

In little more than two weeks I’m heading up I-35 to Lawrence to celebrate Inside the Castle’s tenth anniversary. I’ll be standing at the back of the barn, keeping to myself. Come say hi. I might have some presents.

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Writer and translator Frank Garrett shops in Dallas, Texas, and is essays editor at Minor Literature[s]. His series Better Shopping Through Living will appear (mostly) monthly. He was never going to play Sun City.