大甲媽祖連續八天的繞境行程在週日結束，但是這幾天下來間歇可以看到對於大甲媽祖議題的持續討論，例如在《中國時報》的民意論壇上，就先有人認為在大甲媽祖繞境中發生了民間陣頭之間的械鬥，造成了社會動盪，而在日本殖民時代由於禁止陣頭活動，所以才有較好的治安；另一頭則有人說，治安與陣頭沒有關係，日本在台維持治安用的是其他的嚴刑峻法。這一頭政府說從大甲媽祖這樣重要的文化活動要用來振興台灣的觀光事業，另外一頭則有人說政府要提振文化提振觀光每每都是在像大甲媽祖這類的時刻說說，但是等了熱潮過了之後一點實際的施政也沒有。而剛剛收電子郵件，收到南方電子論壇寄出一篇由署名柚子的大甲鎮居民所寫的〈脫下文化節的外衣，心中的信仰不曾質變〉，強調無論如何，顏清標啦陣頭械鬥啦這些事情都與真正的大甲居民無關，大甲居民認為最重要的，還是心中那一份對於媽祖對於善良的信仰。
接下來我要談的，跟上述的議題無關。我要談一本有趣的書，是美國籍的自由新聞工作者丹步隆（Dan Bloom）所做的《丹布隆哈上台灣夜市》。丹布隆在1996年時來到台灣後，就愛上了台灣，尤其是台灣的夜市文化，目前住在嘉義，擔任英文報刊的編輯工作，他以寫書表現他對台灣的熱愛，《丹布隆哈上台灣夜市》是第二本，之前還出版過一本《我就這樣哈上了台灣》，他本身不諳熟中文，是以英文寫成後由朋友為他翻譯。在《丹布隆哈上台灣夜市》中，提到了他在台灣的如何感受基隆廟口還有嘉義各地的夜市，提到在嘉義地區默默貢獻的民俗工作者，提到平日生活的點滴，也提到了他曾經去過媽祖慶典，不過不是大甲媽，是北港媽。
丹布隆說，這次廟會對他而言，是一次難忘的經驗，而作為讀者的我閱讀他的文字，也是一次奇妙的閱讀經驗。丹布隆這麼寫著：
我讀到這一段的時候差點噴飯。—小王子與小公主？不就是金童與玉女嗎？金童與玉女應該疊合的，不該是在鄉土連續劇中手指伸出去就會發出無窮法力的雷射光線，或透果剪輯技巧跳到半空中突然不見，下一個畫面就開始騰雲駕霧的那樣的形象嗎？這怎麼會是小王子與小公主呢？
可是我突然發現一件事情，那就是，如果我非要向丹布隆解釋那不是小王子與小公主，我似乎沒有適當的詞彙。在英語當中的金童玉女是什麼呢？是 Boy of Gold 以及 Girl of Jade 嗎？黃金男孩與翡翠女孩？不要說向外國朋友解釋了，路上隨便抓一個人問他說，黃金男孩翡翠女孩是什麼，我看也沒有多少人可以馬上理解那就是金童玉女。丹布隆就以這樣奇妙的理解，繼續發抒了對北港媽祖的觀感：
討論媽祖繞境有很多種角度，就像在前面第一段的時候提到的，包括文化觀光的角度、包括政府政策的角度、包括廟宇與派系政治的角度、包括陣頭與治安的角度、包括居民信仰的角度，而丹布隆選擇的是台灣人沒有注意重視的角度，是在慶典當中的兒童，他可以不同於台灣人講到大甲媽祖還是北港媽祖可以扯到那麼多的政治經濟問題，單純的用「眼睛」去觀察，用「耳朵」去聽，用「心」去感受慶典中的兒童所帶給他的喜悅。這類單純的喜悅是好的，我想沒有人可以磨滅在丹布隆心中的那一份深刻且悠長的感動，而丹布隆也在北港媽祖慶眼中，得到了與台灣人自己不能夠感染的美感。
反過來說，這其實又是問題所在—這個問題不是對不對的問題，如果說你說愛台灣是對的，丹布隆的書中表現了足夠對台灣的熱愛，但是有的時候，愛台灣也是會愛得很好笑的，例如「用小王子與小公主」這樣的理解。在丹布隆的書中還有其他的例子，比方說在〈有趣的文字〉這篇中提到：「在美國加州小鎮上，有間醫院換了新的電話號碼…是為了避免文化上的敏感，因為這個小鎮中有很多中國人，在中國人的觀念裡認為『8』是『發』的意思，比較吉利，而『4』不好…」（頁164）四這個數字不吉利是沒錯，但是醫院「發」也不是見多好的事情吧。或是〈跑江湖〉裡頭說到一個夜市裡丟乒乓球的攤位：「小朋友…把乒乓球丟進杯子裡，大部分的人都會得到獎品，即使是很便宜的東西，他們都會很開心。看他們認真玩時的神情，以及得獎時眼睛裡喜悅的淚光…」（頁59）我的天啊，去夜市丟個乒乓球眼睛會泛出喜悅的淚光，我前陣子去逛住處附近的一處夜市，花了三十元台幣丟了個乒乓球，得到的獎品是「太空泡泡」兩條（就是包裝容器長的很像香港腳藥膏，裡頭是某種具黏性、好像是聚乙氥什麼的—忘記名稱的化學物質，玩的時候要幾出一些在吸管上可以吹出泡泡的東西。也就是各酐仔店都有得賣，小時候你阿母一定會阻止你玩，說吹了會中毒還是腦死變成植物人的那種東西）我得到「太空泡泡」的時候是頂想哭的，但絕對不會是喜悅的淚水。
還有，如果您要說美感的第一性，那麼丹布隆絕對是正確的，相對來說台灣本身的討論卻又是何等的庸俗。但丹布隆的美感是來自於距離，距離所以導致誤讀，丹布隆的美感是來自於簡單，來自於其他脈絡的過去，來自於不經意的忽略。所以你在想要表達發抒自己的時候，你還是有著更多在你的言說之外的東西，當你說你看到什麼的時候，其實你在說的不只是你看到什麼，你也同時說了，你漠視了什麼。
這類的事情，用一句不負責任的話簡略帶過：這就是文化。
這樣說來這丹布隆真的是看台灣看的蠢笨了點
囉?還是異於台灣人?我真不懂!
簡單來說,發表人喜不喜這個作者呢?
好奇!!!
Hi. Nice to meet you. DAN BLOOM in Chiayi.
Hi again. I forgot to tell you. THANKS for writing about my books, every comment is good. I appreciate the feedback. Please write to me if you have any other questions. I can mail you a free copy of my book, too, and sign it for you, too. It’s my pleasure. AND THIS: I am writing book 3 now, it will be about travelling around Taiwan by train, first class express and slow 4th class open-windows pinquai. It will be in bookstores in February 2004, if SARS doesn’t kill me first! Good luck, everyone,and be safe, stay healthy! — Your friend, DAN BLOOM
給小黑：
該怎麼說呢…。或許這麼說吧，我覺得人與人、文化與文化、領域與領域之間的相遇是很奇妙的，經常可以見到相互激盪的火花，但是又經常可以看到好像是鬧了笑話。
舉個例子吧，大概去年這個時候，某個國立大學新聞系的某位老師（咦？好像所有的國立大學只有一間有新聞系）教導學生搞了一個「新聞美學」的版面，結果這個新聞美學版面上的作法，就僅只是將新聞報導改了呈現的形式，比方說用什麼小說還有現代詩的手法寫作，但是寫得也不甚理想，搞得就像是自由時報民意論壇上面的打油詩一樣。（對，就是什麼「宋叛A錢真厲害」之類的句子），他們在自己的實習報紙上還把「小小羊兒要回家」改成歪歌，講頻果日報要來台灣創刊，就改成什麼「紅紅的蘋果來台啦，依呦嘿，呀嘿…」這樣的句子。
他們宣稱這就是「新聞美學」，乍看是很有創意，但問題是，這樣就是美嗎？美學的問題不是形式的問題而已啊。而我查過一下資料，新聞美學的確有這樣的東西，這是一套共產主義美學的說法，忘記這個新聞美學是誰提出的，大意就是，車爾尼雪夫司基當年提出共產主義美學，主張「生活就是藝術」，意思是藝術不是為了宗教與君王服務，藝術的目的該是為了無產階級大眾，所以美的來源不在於神仙神話，真正的美不存在於虛幻的事物中，世上最美的事務就是無產階級的勞動生活，無產階級的生活就是藝術。而（理想的）新聞報導的目的在於呈現社會，所以新聞報導符合共產主義美學，所以新聞也可以當作是一種美學的來源。
這一篇寫不完，換篇繼續。
上面舉的例子是，雖然他們似乎很用心的想讓新聞與美學相遇，但是似乎有著某些驅力，讓創意變得不三不四。
所以有的時候我會覺得，人與人之間的相遇，有的時候似乎就常常會暴露自己的無知，有的時候你會發現自己也經常有著先入為主的心理圖示（schema），即使是怎樣「用『眼睛』去觀察，用『耳朵』去聽，用『心』去感受時」，人還是似乎以一種預設的立場去理解。
有的時候會覺得人會這樣很不好，但有的時候覺得人若是沒有一些先驗想法的存在，如道德之類的，似乎也不行。
另外我喜不喜歡啊。老實說，我不太習於暴露自己的好惡…。
Nice to see you, Dan. I am so surprised that you may visit my weblog and give me such a good comment. Well, I bought your book last year so that you so not need to mail your book to me.By the way, I hope that you may be good luck with the writing of your third book, I believe that must be a great book.
I also hope that everyone in Taiwan can get rid of the terror of the SARS as soon as possible.
not bad!
yes, let’s hope that we can get rid of SARS quickly, and Treasure Island can go back to being a real “Treasure Island,” and not a “disaster island.” I hope everyone will be safe from SARS and stay healthy this summer. In spite of it all, life is good and we must live for the future. But right now, things look gloomy because of SARS, yes. Ouch!
Take care, be safe. — DAN
Dan:
I’ve read your poem, wow, what a lovely poem! Your poem encourages people to start a new life at once and to return to innocence as a child. I love it and all the lovely pictures within that page.
Thanks for sharing your great work!
The Making of an (Inspirational) Bestseller
Taiwan Internet News Service
TAIPEI, THE WORLD — When American author
丹布隆 sat down in the
shade of a Taoist shrine in Taiwan one afternoon two
years ago, he had no idea that he was about to jot
down a 50-line poem that he hopes will become a
bestselling book with a worldwide audience. But as
soon as he was seated inside the shrine’s inviting
shade, “a voice” he says he heard within himself began
dictating the first lines of what was to become “In
the Eyes of a Child, It’s Never Too Late to Begin
Again.”
“The entire poem came to me in about ten minutes, and
I really felt as if it was being dictated to me,
although I have no idea where the voice was coming
from,” says 丹布隆, a journalist and
teacher who has
lived in Asia for the past 13 years and plans to
remain there for the rest of his life. (Editor’s note:
丹布隆 is named Dan Bloom in
English.)
If “In The Eyes of a Child…” began innocently
enough, it is now slowly becoming ia global book,
with translations planned in over 15 languages and an
Internet
audience in the millions.
“It’s a simple message,” 丹布隆 says
via email from
his home in southern Taiwan, “but something that
everyone needs to be reminded of from time to time,
and that is that if you fall down, pick yourself and
keep going. It’s never too late to start again, no
matter how many times you fail. Life is full of second
chances, third chances. People need to keep trying,
and they’ll get whereever it is they’re going.”
Ever the optimist, 丹布隆 says he
has always lived by
this credo, but never wrote it down in a poetic form
until the words came to him inside a Taoist temple
near his adopted hometown in Taiwan, where he has
lived since 1996. Before that, the Boston-born Tufts
graduate spent five years in Japan, studying Japanese
and working as a newspaper reporter in Tokyo.
Life Potential Publications of Taipei found
丹布隆 on the Internet, where
his poem first appeared in Chinese, Japanese and
English versions. When editor Stella Huang suggested
that there
might be a book there, 丹布隆
contacted a literary
agent in New York, who shepherded
the poem into book form.
“Everything about this book is an example of
serendipity,” says 丹布隆, a
fortysomething single man
who studied philosophy in college and always dreamed
of being a writer someday. “I found my agent, my
editor, the children’s artwork that illustrates the
book, all by extraordinary good luck. I almost feel as
if some kind of guardian angel was looking after me,
looking after this book, because it didn’t get
published in the normal way.”
“Eyes” is a short poem about starting over again when
you fall down, picking yourself up and giving yourself
another chance, according to the publisher. What gives
the book its special sparkle, in addition to
丹布隆’s
lovely text, are the children’s drawings — over 50 of
them in all — that serve as a counterpoint to the
adult message. A website titled The Global Children’s
Art Gallery, which 丹布隆 found
after surfing around
the Internet two years ago, contributed the lovely
artwork that makes the book so special. The children’s
drawings come from over 25 countries,
丹布隆 says,
adding that the artwork has a United Nations feel to
it.
“This book belongs to the kids who did the artwork, as
much as to me,” 丹布隆 adds, noting
that Oregonians
Jan Hunt and her son Jason, whose website is at
http://www.naturalchild.com, were instrumental in providing
the artwork to his publisher. “The Hunts helped make
this book happen, and I am eternally grateful to
them.”
Although 丹布隆 wrote the book in
English, he
envisioned translations right from the start, and
asked friends in Japan and Taiwan to help with those
translations first.
“Then I put the poem on the Internet as an email, and
I let it circulate freely, gathering momentum on its
own,” 丹布隆 says. “I don’t feel I
am the owner of
this text, just the caretaker of it, and I really feel
that it came to me in a kind of a vision in order to
share it with the world. That’s always been my
philosophy about literature.”
丹布隆, who doesn’t own a car or a
home or even a
computer (“I use a local e-mail coffeeshop as my
informal writing studio,” he says), has been writing
since his college days in Boston, but says he never
had much success until now.
“I had a dream that I could make my living as a
writer, and I never gave up,” he says, admitting that
in the 30 years since graduating from Tufts he has had
over 30 jobs and saved only a small amount of money.
“I honestly believe it’s never too late to begin
again, no matter how old you are. Look at me! I never
gave up my dream, never had much success, and then,
thanks to my lucky stars, this book came to me. I feel
blessed. Taiwan has been good to me. This book is my
gift to Taiwan, and through Taiwan, the world!”
The book is being published this month in Taiwan, in a
bilingual edition, with plans for a global launch
later in the year or early next year. What began as a
local book for Taiwanese readers may very well become
a global bestseller. For 丹布隆,
it’s a dream come true.
“I want to start this book off in my adopted country
of Taiwan, a place that I love and which has given me
so much, in terms of creativity and time to write,” he
says. “This book begins in Taiwan, but I hope it
reaches the world outside Taiwan as well, and I am
very happy to have it begin here. Not all bestsellers
have to begin in New York or London. This one is going
to begin here, in Taiwan!”
[ I will send a free copy of the book, when it is published in August, to anyone who requests one. just write to me: danbloom@reporters.net ]
給Zonble:
謝謝你的答覆．
我很認真的看了又看．
我想，就丹布隆這位美藉作家來說，起碼他對台灣是友善的．先不論他美感的第一性，因為絕大部份的人，都認為外國的那個地方，是他們理想中的淨土和天堂，我們也常聽到人家說：他夢想著可以在那裡那裡（他心中的淨土）居住，那都比台灣來得好的那些人．看了丹布隆的書之後，我覺得他是一個比我這個台灣人更加肯定台灣的．當然，我並沒有忘記了你告訴我的所謂的距離的美感之於丹布隆，和他自己本身其它脈絡的過去．如果，我現在人身在我最嚮往的國度－－埃及，距離的美感會讓我的感受產生月暈的效果－－朦朧美．但，我相信，我必然不會捍衛埃及也不一定．畢竟我在台灣都認為這不過是瑣事和小事罷了，我在自己的國家付出多少心力和注意，到外國去應該會付出的更少吧，我想．在我讀到丹布隆的書後，我覺得他是支持我們的，更是支持我們這升斗小民的，比起那些常聚在鎂光燈下的名人政客等，突然發現自己也是被重視，或許我的生活也可以有點不同．
最近，讀到Joyce的Araby．雖然男主角一直都活在自己浪漫想法裡，而結局卻是得到了無情的嘲笑而不得不變得拋棄屬於自己的pure,可是我一直反覆的思考，面對於現實生活，難到我們必須完全的屈服嗎？不能保有一小角自己的prue嗎？其實，我並不想一直活在大齒 輪的被動下忙碌啊！誰想呢？
就你所寫的「新聞美學」來說，的確似乎丹布隆的書有點遠離所謂真正的共產主義美學，我想那也只是一個告知他人－－這裡有一個丹布隆與你一同向生活挑戰的橋樑罷了．
我想自已經瞭解你所要回答我的問題了，
簡單來說,發表人喜不喜歡這個作者呢?
並且，我也向你回覆我對你答案的想法，就不知道自己有沒有會錯意呢！
以上，純屬於小黑的猜測而延伸的回答．
北港的大拜拜在臺灣的大拜拜裏是最有看頭的一個，他的藝閣、轎班、虎爺、陣頭多得讓人目不暇給、許多民俗學者和攝影家都是每年必到。
有三百多年優良傳統，尚能維持一定水準，確實值得一遊。
那些小王子小公子、事實是民間故事、神話或歷史演義的各種人物。為了滿足小朋友參與的熱情還經常多添人物，真是『鬧熱』極了
所以有距離就有ㄌ美感
男女之間好像也是降子ㄋ
另外
就算他真誤解ㄌ
又怎樣ㄋ
只要自己高興就好ㄌ吧
生活那咪可悲
總要為自己找點可依憑生存下去的快樂信念嚕
特別是那些異文化所帶來ㄉ新鮮撞擊
哈
不過話說回來
我大概是最有台灣夜市味ㄉ小女生嚕
我家在夜市賣牛排ㄋ
從小賣到大
有空來板橋ㄉ南雅夜市捧場拉
地圖請點我ㄉ名字…
在相簿ㄉ某一張照片裡
有時候真希望自己就這傻傻ㄉ單純下去
也許就是最幸福ㄉ人吧
就算是自認也無所謂
大概就是這樣我才會一值看似沒長進嚕
嗚~
丹布隆ㄉ詩真是感人…
南雅夜市啊…
離我住的地方很近。
優
真ㄉ押
所以你是在南雅夜市丟乒乓球吹泡泡嚕^_^”
地圖還看ㄉ懂吧
有空來吃算你便宜點喔
百里香牛排…