#DigiWriMo Day 2: Changing My Countenance

I love writing, I love writing, I love writing…

I am not overwhelmed.

I am dazzled.

By the range of ideas that have surfaced in the contributions of participating “writers.” I prefer to call them composers; they craft compositions of text, sound, collaborative stories, blinking images, and links. Manifestations of writing in various forms. Maps, Thinglinks, poems, audio recordings. Opus 1,  Volume 2, Act 3, Symphony No. 4. I’m game to try them all.

I’m inspired.

I haven’t written daily in my journal, 笔记簿, since I was seven? 老师说， 天天写笔记会帮住我掌握语文。 说得一点也不错。

[Transl: My teacher said, daily journaling will help me improve my language proficiency. She’s not wrong.]

Little brown books with tiny squares. I made sure every stroke and character fitted into each box.

年复一年，我不能停止怀念。。。這不是蔡琴的一首歌吗？

[Transl: Year after year, I can’t stop reminiscing… Isn’t that a song by Cai Qin?]

You don’t approve, Madam? I’m sorry. I don’t write those strokes too often now.  The software is doing it for me. I know, my handwriting is getting sloppy. I’m forgetting my strokes for the characters.

返朴归真?

But I am authentic, madam. I’m writing, just not in the way you asked me to in my 笔记簿.

I read, I listen, and then I write, using technology. You don’t think it’s good for my Chinese? Maybe I am just not writing enough in Chinese? You think writing in Chinese is just different from writing in English? Aah! Banging on keys is simply hideous to your eyes trained to behold the gentle calligraphic brush strokes of ideographic representations.

生命最令人动容的时刻不在于它所表现的强壮， 而是当它敞露了自己的软弱。-张千玉。[Transl:

In life, what can move us to the extent of “changing one’s countenance” as the Chinese expression goes, is when life, in full frankness, bares its weakness. – Jane Chong, 1998.]

Yes, madam, I am changed and “changing my countenance” as I write. What I write comes from a place in my imperfect being. My voice falters at times from brokenness and incompleteness, but it will not be silenced by the digital. 对，我变了， 一直在蜕变。对我的写作来说， 用电脑来写作到底会有多大的影响呢？写作变的更复杂吗？值得更深的检讨！

You will be happy for me. With the digital, I’m writing with a tribe I’ve found, the #DigiWriMo community. They share their vulnerabilities with me in the open.

The strokes will go on, Madam.

真正的力量是温柔. – 蔡琴 [Real strength is shown in gentleness. – Cai Qin]