Most
of the time you will find my writing unacceptable…you will either hate it or
tolerate it, but you might find what I have to say very relevant and often
agree with me.
Dear
follower:
I am not
presumptuous enough to think that I can write; after all, English is my third
language and I remember when I started college I had arrived in America barely
four years before. I had one of those English 101 classes and for the midterm I
had to write a short story. The professor, Mrs. Applegate gave me an F on the
paper because I used “bitter cold” and she said that it was trite.
To me, English was new, fresh and bitter cold was also new
and not trite. For the final, I wrote and wrote and had some of my friends read
it and offer advice. By the time the final came, I had almost memorized word by
word what I had to write. The story started with “my mind was like a skillet
full of scrambled eggs” and Mrs. Applegate thought that was brilliant.
Somewhere along the way; I realized that the English
language was somewhat bland. It was devoid of the passion and volatility of the
other languages I knew and could express myself so well. My solution was to
interject some salt and pepper into the otherwise bland English language
stew…profanity. That is why I use it often and I am not apologetic for it. Let
the criticisms flow as I stand behind all the FUCKS, SHIT, GOD DAMNED and any
other expletive I can come up with.
That is why sometimes I come across as abrasive,
opinionated, controversial and arrogant…but hey, Rush Limbaugh has made
millions being a pompous, controversial arrogant asshole. In my case, I don’t
even aim to make a single penny out of my writings because as you can see, I
don’t take advertising.
I have no illusions that I will ever write the great
American novel. Before I retired I thought that once I stopped working I could
paint, write and travel. I thought I would find time to do all these things and
the first year I painted 12 paintings, the second year I wrote “Los Cuentos de
la TÃa Eloi” in Spanish got it copyrighted but never published it; the third
year I got so busy I didn’t have time to scratch my ass and it has been like
that ever since.
The only thing I humbly request of my followers is to offer
criticism when they notice a major blunder…but if you are going to scrutinize
every word, each and every sentence just to award yourself validation…go fuck
yourself. I welcome constructive criticism but not self-serving ego trips.
Saludos,
Raulito
PS: Please don’t make anonymous comments…I don’t publish
them.
