Melange vol.7 April 2003

Poems
Just Like You
flower of the night

Round Table Talk
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Novel
Adonis Blue (6)
Adonis Blue (7)

Relay Writing
Cafe Evergreen

Notes on Group Writers

- Why did you choose the print publication in the era of the Internet?

Megumi: We need to ask Itsuka because it was she who chose the print publication.
Emiri: But we even didn't think of making a website from the beginning.
Itsuka: The reason is simple - I hate reading on screen! I have to admit that computers and the internet save heaps of paper but if I have to read some important information from the internet I always print it out. I think many others agree with me. So we were saving time for people to print our magazine out!!

Chang: Websites are soft copies. It can be given anywhere in the world, but hard copies are only limited locally. A lot of people can find and read our website on the Internet, and the website can be kept for a long time.

E: But I thought it's interesting we have stuck to the local community. We were invited to poetry readings in the city library and local radio. If we had chosen publishing on the Internet, we wouldn't have communicated with the local people so much. It was a good experience for me.

Richard: Melange is now on the Internet. You can even publish it as e-books or things for people to download. I don't like reading on the Internet. I like to have copies so I can sit down and read it. Most people don't look at computers as a recreational resource whereas a book is.

Daniel: Personally I believe that the internet will never completely replace the printed page. There is something more personal and tangible with print media. Why is it that printers for computers are so popular and why do people always print their work to check it?

Most people can only spot their mistakes or see improvements via the printed page and not on the screen. Hence, enjoyment of literature is best accomplished by means of physical print media.

C: I major in computer science. Even my lecturers ask us to print out copies when we check the code. It's easier to find errors on hard copies.
M: Yeah, I think so too. It is easier for us to have and read hardcopies of literature.

Another thing is if we publish the magazine on the Internet, only people who are interested would access the Internet and read it. But if we pass hard copies on to the campus or the city library, even people who are not particularly interested in literature may pick them up. I think it is an advantage of the printed publishing.

C: Also, the Internet can be time-consuming because of bad design of websites or too slow Internet connection speed.

- With writing for Melange, what lessons have you learned?

E: My impression about Melange is that I communicated with a lot of people. Even when I went to the photocopying company, I needed to talk to people or complain about the quality of printing. I used so much energy, but that influenced me to some extent.

For writing poems, it was the first time to show my poetry, and it was interesting to know how my friends perceive them.

C: ...... (six dots). What lessons? - I published something, it's not a cause and result.

M: I agree with Emiri. I had never shown my works to other people. Even if we have arguments on expressions or meanings of words, it's good to show my works to other people so they can make comments. It's not I may be too subjective.

But I think the most I used up my energy was communication. Especially the latter half of the period, to get the magazine published was the hardest part for me. Also, it was the first time for me to make a website. I had never learnt HTML, but came to be able to make the website little by little. That was a new experience for me.

The most difficulty was we were running out of time. Especially Itsuka, who was so busy that I somehow succeeded to be in charge of all editing work for the publication (laughter).

The most I learnt was communicating with other people to achieve a project or goal. That was another thing I had never experienced before and I can extend it in the future.

D: For me it was a slightly different medium - without the rigid boundaries, regulations and house style stipulated by my newspaper company and lately by college lecturers. Thus I felt a sense of artistic licence and freedom I have not experienced before. Thus I learned to be more expressive and vivid in my writing and not to think of the house style or expected structure.

I: It was a bit painful but I had to learn that there is a limitation to what you can write and what you can understand in your second language. It is quite frustrating when your emotion wants to flow but you struggle with how to express it. You know that you can do it in your mother tongue but when it comes to the second language it is a different story.

Some people complimented the idea of an International English literature magazine involving many non-native English speakers. I do agree that the poems and stories that non-natives write is quite interesting and quite different but there is a limitation.

In this regard literature is rather exclusive unlike painting or music - but that is one of the most interesting things about literature.

- Poetry readings

Photo: a poetry reading in Palmerston North city library on 30 June 2002 for its community language project launch (taken by: Emu Izaki)

E: Actually I attended nearly all the poetry readings. I think poetry readings are not held very often in Japan.
R: There are not many in New Zealand either.

E: I used to think that poetry is not to be read aloud. So, every time when I read my poems, I got nervouscnow I am used to it a little though.
M: When one of our proofreaders, Jamie read my poems aloud, it was embarrassing to me.

C: I didn't take part in any poetry readings. How can I read my poem 'Drunk' in the public...? Should I drink something first and have the same feeling so I can express well?
(Everyone laughs)

M: We were also invited twice to Air to Ear Radio programmes. I was surprised that there was no rehearsal or previous arrangementcI'm not sure how many people were listening, though.
E: The second time, we had a rehearsal for 30 minutes and we could decide what to read and the order of reading.

- Multilingual page

M: Since many of us were interested in languages, we started the multilingual page. We had done English, Chinese, German, and Arabic. The first idea was to introduce how to write the words on cover pages in different languages, but it was a little time consuming.

The Palestinian man Mohammed's scribbles for the name "Emily" (from vol.6)

E: Then, we thought of focusing on one language and writing an article on it. But finally we found it could be easier and really interesting to interview experts of languages. For example, when we had an interview with a Palestinian man living in Palmerston North, I learnt a lot about Arabic and I really enjoyed it.

M: I think we have become better at interviewing. We can use this skill somewhere else (laughter).
I: I could learn a lot from interviewing experts of the languages... but problem was that we were always fighting with time!!!

(Continued Overleaf)

<< Prev / Next >>