There are some things that just shouldn't be electronic.

Imagine that what has happened to the music industry happens to the world of books and publishing. iTunes and Rhapsody and whatnot have totally transformed music listening; a song is no longer tucked inside the plastic of a CD case, but readily available as long as you have a credit card and a computer.

Now, in the case of the music industry, this is good, because we are no longer as restricted by the radio, and the somewhat "inconvenience" of a CD store being the source of music purchasing (gotta get up to go there, no CD store has every CD ever, etc, etc.), there is an unlimited world of artists at our finger tips, and we are free to comb the folds of it, search from end to end for whatever type of beat our little hearts desire. Big music bosses do not decide what we listen to, what's popular, to such a great extent. It's all out there for us too find. Beautiful.

But books aren't supposed to be digital!

Sure, if you think about it, being able to scroll through an electronic device to choose a book like you choose a song is quite convenient for reading on the train, or in the dark, since the screens are lit. But it will so quickly erode the presence of the hardcover or paperback novel from the face of our establishment, it's disgusting.

There is nothing more satisfying to a reader than the smell of a newly bought book. Flipping through crisp, untouched pages that still retain the smell of ink and paper. The rounded edges of the D's and P's in a font, the commas, the page numbers, the cover, the spine- it all makes the beauty of a book. A real, solid, handheldable, pageflipable, bookmarkable book.

You can't just digitize it! You can't just take away the value of a book from our society. What an insult to the intellectuals, to the authors, the publishers, the cover artists and photographers, to the papyrus-discovering Egyptians and their scribes, to the bible-crafters and modern paper makers; and to the very essence of time itself, even, which prides itself, I am sure, in lending its pieces to those who know how to extract themselves from a vain world and indulge in a thought provoking piece of literature.

Sometimes I think the sun specifically shines for those who wake up and head to The Great Lawn of Central Park after their showers and their morning coffees, with their best blanket and bag of treats and their good books, and that the breeze blows gently for them, knowing that they are blossoming in it, becoming greater in the mind as they absorb the wisdom in their literature. The very hands of the universe sometimes craft a day just for those who plan to open a book and inhale the smell of raw, edited, gorgeously wordy, mass produced creativity.

Okay maybe not.

But it's important!

Books are essential. They just cannot turn into another slowly melted away, phased out, mega-bitten aspect of society. It's not just, hey, let's turn reading into something convenient.

No, reading is not convenient. That's the thing. It's not supposed to be. It's an activity. A whole entire day-interrupting, time-consuming activity, meant to be made way for. You set aside time to read, you don't do it because it's convenient. Imagine, everyone in the world reading good books on their kindles because it's convenient. Disgusting.

No. Reading is an experience. And books go from new, to successfully worn and experienced. They become easily bent and crinkled; their corners turn up stubbornly, and their colored, shiny first layer peels and becomes a wrinkled, used mess, having been up against the friction of fingers and the insides of all kinds of bags. Some become coffee stained, and the good ones tell the tales of the breakfasts, lunches or dinners of their readers as a side story- battle wounds gained when the reader is absolutely hooked and struggling to read at the table.

You see, theses digital book readers, these smarty-techy-conveiniemachines, are abominations. Books are meant to be books, physical forms of creative works all eloquently bundled- cover art, paper texture, font face, binding, and words. There is more to a book than simply the story, you see.

Anyway, all the real readers understand what it's like to love books themselves, besides the content inside them.

So maybe the kindles and the nooks won't blow chunks all over Barnes and Noble stores everywhere.

Because real readers are faithful.

To books, at least.

Because there are always those political shows where old people sit around and argue about things like Iraq and Afghanistan and BP and Obama, and then my dad yells and the TV screen and uses the moment to lecture me about our government and how it doesn’t give a damn about my black ass. And then Like It Is, where they sit around and discuss the fundamental issues with black people as a race, where they sit around and draw up all the emotions of the past, and reiterate the brokenness that stems from the slavery and racism that we endured as a people.

And my parents turn up the volume and force me and my brother to watch it and soak it in. It’s torture, because my dad gets all preachy and ridiculous, and we end up stuck on the couch with him yelling about his conspiracy theories and slavery and this and that, and the room just gradually gets smaller and the couch I’m sitting on suddenly isn’t big enough and I begin to picture myself running away from this building. And I begin to contemplate how possible it is to walk to Manhattan and how long it would take, and I realize it is possible and I am tempted.

It’s not that I’m not feeling black history. I totally get that we cannot forget the past. We can’t. But the way to remember it is not to shove it down my throat and get all worked up about it and forget the progress that has been made and where we stand today. That’s what we forget, too often. And it’s crippling.

Like pasta, and the smell of happy food floating through the air. And I want the floorboards to creak quaintly when I walk to the kitchen.

I want the sun to shine on me when I open my eyes in the morning, or to be able to leave my window cracked when it rains through the night so I can greet the scent in the morning.

I want harmony. Incense, neo-soul, dim lighting at sundown. I want to wake up at sun-down. And drink chicken noodle soup.

http://www.myspace.com/gleeauditions?link=530198936

http://www.myspace.com/gleeauditions?link=530198936

http://www.myspace.com/gleeauditions?link=530198936

http://www.myspace.com/gleeauditions?link=530198936

She gave me chills.

What the fuck? You are not cool. You are stupid bimbos who have nothing better to do than to taint the marraiges of hollywood in a sad, desperate attempt to become a name that everyone remembers. Sure, TMZ is talking about you now, but that’s because you are amusing. You are paying some reporter’s bills right now, only because we are all laughing AT you, not with you. We don’t see you as a victim, you’re just a simple 15 minutes of entertainment.

The names that don’t get worn out are the name that belong to people with talent. Actors, singers, dancers, directors, writers, producers, etc. Not skankbitchhoe mistresses. Keeping your legs open really only gets you so far in hollywood. After a while, sluts are comic relief, and examples of what not to be, and people get tired of them. And just like that, we move to the next story. Even Tiger Woods moved on.  

So go ahead and ”break your silence”. But people will only be listening for so long.