by Jerome Pearson
January 2015
See Jane Run was the first sentence in the first book I ever read! It was one tiny little book among a series of tiny little books we had to read in the first grade with such characters as: Little Girl (Jane); her brother (Dick); baby sister (Sally); and dog (Spot). Their parents apparently had no names and were simply referred to as “Father and Mother!”
None of these characters resembled anyone in my school, but these books did inspire me to read, and would serve as the beginning of my great love for reading! There was, however, a little South Carolina history book which contained a picture of a little kid standing in the middle of a watermelon patch! Now that kid did look like me!
When I was a freshman at a little college in the small town of Tyler, Texas, all students were required to participate in work study; for this we were paid 10 dollars each month, and believe me, that 10 dollars came in handy. The work study was a requirement as part of the scholarship that everyone at the school seemed to have. Each student was given a specific assignment. These jobs were randomly given and had nothing to do with choice; you simply went where you were assigned, and you had to work a prescribed number of hours each week. You would keep the same assignment for the entire year!
My friends, John Green and Clarence Hilton, were assigned to a local day-care center that was controlled by the college, and which was run by a lady name Mrs. Ross; a lady who they both hated more than any woman alive. Our other friend, Ronald Nelson, had the most fun job of us all, which involved working in the recreation center. Ronald told me that all he had to do was to play Ping-Pong several hours a week and empty the trash can when it was filled. We used to tease Ronald for having such an easy and fun job which was merely recreational. And knowing Ronald, he would probably empty that trash can in less than 5 seconds, and then return to playing Ping-Pong!
I, on the hand, was assigned to work in the Library. My assignment, however, was not administrative, and had nothing to do with putting up returned books; I was responsible for periodically cleaning the library. I would have to vacuum the library when required and clean the two bath rooms. Here I was a freshman in college, and my job was janitorial. There is nothing wrong with being a janitor, mind you, but at that age I would not have wanted that known.
However, there were advantages to working in the Library, mainly because you were not working all the time. After all, it did not take long to clean the bathrooms and they were not cleaned each day; the library was only vacuumed twice per week. The other consolation was that the Librarian, a very nice lady named Mrs. Jefferson, was always professional and very kind. Therefore, if nothing else, I certainly had less displeasure with my job than Clarence and John.
The other advantage was that I could always hide amongst the many book shelves, particularly in the back where the Philosophy section was located. As I was hiding in those rows, my eyes would scan the various titles that intrigued me because they were always so provocative. Bertrand Russell’s “Why I am not Christian” was certainly provocative because at that time I had never heard anyone being so bold. Therefore, you would want to read it to find out what was motivating his thoughts. There would be books with titles such as the “The Meaning of Existentialism”, “The Social Reconstruction of Reality”, “Being and Nothingness”, “Origin of the Species”, etc. I wanted to know what was in those books and what did those titles mean! Additionally, I was starting to learn new words every day. In my mind, philosophy books contained the most interesting words.
In order to improve our vocabulary, my friends and I (John, Clarence and Ronald), started a new words list. Basically, our list consisted of a sheet of paper where we would record new words we might happen to discover with a brief description of their meaning. These words were often called “big words” because they were relatively new to us. I am sure that when we did use these words in a conversation; they were probably being used out of context because we did not have enough appreciation of their true meaning. One of the first words I entered on the list was “Ameliorate”, which in a general sense, means to “make something better!” As an example, if you were hungry and did not have any food, I could “Ameliorate” your predicament by giving you food. I was proud of that word! This list was taped to the wall within our dormitory room. I think most words were added by me and Clarence!
One of the reasons we were inspired to used big words came from a teacher at our high school: Our Band Instructor (and teacher of Social Science), a man name Mr. Gary, would always try to use big words. As he was using these big words, he would place his index finger in front of his lips as if to draw our attention to the wisdom he was now providing. He would coolly raise that finger to his lips and assert: “let me “elucidate” or “expound” upon this thought.” He would then pause for a few seconds, as if to savor the musical sounds emanating from the words that were being articulated: Elucidate! Over the years I would realize that Mr. Gary’s vocabulary was probably very limited because he would use the same big words repeatedly. It seemed to me that Mr. Gary had an arsenal of only about 5 big words!
Another inspiration for learning new words came from reading the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was also a lover of big words. It was Dr. King who would lead me to the German Philosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel, who would write “truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.” Even if I did not know what it meant, I just loved the way it sounded! I recall several years later using that phrase in a class at Morgan, and the professor was very impressed.
During my second semester at Texas College, I stole a brand new hard-cover book from the Library. It was a book on psychology, which covered numerous subjects, from human sexuality to psychopathologies of everyday life. I was at that age where I was curious about everything and that book contained so many interesting topics that felt that I needed to have it for myself. Since I worked in the Library, I was able to walk right out of there with that book one day without anyone noticing. It was so new that it had never been checked out. I justified my theft as my reward for being forced to clean the library. In addition to my primary classes, I would read that book throughout the remainder of the semester. Towards the end of that semester, I felt kind of guilty, knowing that I would be leaving that school with no intention of ever returning; therefore, before leaving for home, I took the book back to the library and placed it back in the slot where I had taken it several months earlier.
When I look back upon that year at Texas College, I do find it rather prognosticative that of all jobs that were made available at Texas College; I would, somehow, wind up in the Library. I say this because throughout the years very few people have felt more at home in bookstores and libraries than I. If there is such a thing as divine intervention, then placing me in the library might just be one of them. I doubt if the word “prognosticative” was ever a part of Mr. Gary’s arsenal.
Years later, as a young US Army 2nd lieutenant in Germany, I live on the economy, which means that, rather than living on a military base, I lived in a town among German civilians. It was difficult to get American Television stations in my apartment; therefore, I would always ensure I had plenty of books around to entertain me if I got bored. When I say entertain, I mean reading a book that would entertain you like a television show or a movie. While on the military base one day I observed a Black Soldier reading a novel by guy I had never heard of: Donald Goines. Donald Goines was a writer of popular novels that were reminiscent of Black Exploitation films from the early seventies, and Donald’s writings coincided with that period. Sadly, Donald’s life itself seemed to mimic the characters he was writing about, as he was killed by a drug dealer in Detroit in 1974, which was during the height of Black Exploitation films. But before his Death, he had written many books, and the first one I read was titled “Never Die Alone.” After reading that book, I would then have to find all his other books, some of which had titles such as “Black Girl Lost”, “Eldorado Red”, “Dope fiend.” These books were not found in Libraries but were found in the American Military Stars & Stripes book stores, probably because they were so popular with the Black soldiers. So, whenever I would travel to another base, I was sure to check out Stars & Stripes to see what was available.
When I was in High School, one course we had to take within the English Department was called “Literature.” Although I have always loved to read, I absolutely hated that course! While I am sure they all meant well, I do think that the teachers at the time did not do an effective job getting us interested in the books that were being referred to in that class. However, I would remember the authors and titles, and would later read a lot of what each of those writers has written. As example, I only truly read the novel “Native Son” when I was a freshman in college. Had I known that the story involved young black man who accidentally killed a young white lady, and was then on the run, I would have read it in high school! Also, Had I known that James Baldwin could do “tricks with a pen”; I would probably have read him earlier as well. I must also concede that it is highly likely that the teachers had not read those books themselves!
Over the years I would become obsessed with Bookstores. There was a time when I would have this recurring dream about my favorite bookstore; sometimes I think that this bookstore must be some place in Germany, but when I am awakened, I don’t know where it is. I no longer have those dreams, but I still think there had to have been a bookstore or Library I used to visit while in Germany for which I was uniquely fond of, but strangely, I can never recall it. I sometimes think those dreams had to do with my wish for the perfect bookstore, which, perhaps, was only accessible in my dreams.
Over the very recent years I have visited bookstores in New York, Washington DC, London, Copenhagen, Vienna, Rome, and of course Germany! One of the largest bookstores in the World is “The Strand” which is in lower Manhattan; I used to enjoy roaming the shelves and perusing the titles, looking for any book that would spark my interest. I had read the book “Invisible Life” by the late E. Lynn Harris a few years before he was known; I discovered that book in a little bookstore in California when it was self-published. It was later re-published with a major publishing house, but I had already read it.
I love books that are written by foreign writers because I always feel that they are more likely to challenge my basic assumptions. My favorite books are those that are provocative; I also love books that are mysterious. An author I discovered while visiting the Strand bookstore several years ago is the Spanish Writer Javier Marias. His novel “Tomorrow In the Battle Think on Me” begins with this premise:
Marta has just met Victor when she invites him to dinner at her Madrid apartment while her husband is away on business. When her two-year-old son finally falls asleep, Marta and Victor retreat to the bedroom. Undressing, she feels suddenly ill; and in his arms, inexplicably, she dies. What should Victor do? Remove the compromising tape from the phone machine? Leave food for the child, for breakfast?
Wouldn’t anyone want to know what happened? That’s why I love to read!
And, just like this essay, it all began with See Jane Run!
Jerome Pearson