Response to readings

Johnny Temple’s comparison of music roots to writing hit me hard. In a way that I’ve realized writing is one of the last things left in our society that still holds onto punk rock ethics.
Music is too easily capitalized on. Three minute songs and chorus lines can buy homes and diamonds. What is available in mainstream music exists because there are big corporations telling society that what we want to hear is chorus lines that don’t challenge much more then how we swing our hips at a Logan Square house party.
The publishing industry does the same thing as big time record labels. They tell us what we want to read and even have control over what kind of politics can be represented in print. By doing this and paying the gigantic advances to big name writers, David Barsamian asks if this takes away the money that could be invested in the writers not mentioned in the New York Times.
But the major difference between the newest Kings of Leon album and these big name writer’s new books is the fact that there is very little money to be made.
The fact books do not make as much money as movies or music made me think about why people do not read as much as they used to. I don’t know if it’s the stupid naive college student in me, but I really don’t believe the amount of people reading books has fallen because American’s don’t want to read. I think the reason why there are less readers out there is connected to the fact books don’t make a lot of money. Our society is sadly controlled by big corporations and if these corporations can not make as much money off literature as they could with a new album then why would they want consumers to be readers?
Seeing how the destruction of independent bookstores has also greatly affected book sales scares me. Mostly because as people like Johnny Temple and us pull up or sleeves and fight to keep independent publishing and literature alive, it’s hard not to acknowledge there is a chance we might all fail- that the big bad corporation can crush us.
I think it’s kind of beautiful that books are not commercially strong. People don’t become writers because they want to be rich and famous- I think realistically we all know that just because we went to college for writing we are not going to write the Great American Novel that will become the Great American Movie. We write because it’s just what we do- because we love it.
Johnny Temple and Jim Munroe are keeping independent literature alive not because they want fancy cars and penthouses. They are doing it for the same reasons why we all wanted to become writers.
I guess that’s why I believe books are the last punk rock culture alive, because a majority of it exists for the art and not a pay check. I also believe this is why Zines are so important and why small presses need to stay small. If the entire United States became one big corporation (although who says it isn’t already) there are still tons of writers and publishers living off the grid- who are not accepting what is being fed to us- but are craving and fighting for the alternative.
Jim Munroe said “I’d rather participate in culture by making it instead of buying it.” And I believe this is the kind of ethic that will save us from the cavity infested fangs of corporate America. With the economy in the crap hole it’s in, big box businesses deflating like balloons and the record Industry begging for a pace maker to keep their heart pumping, maybe we’ll get lucky and the Johnny Temples and Jim Munroe’s will survive and grow while still holding onto their morals and ideals. But if worst comes to worst and we all crash and burn, I think we can be reassured to know that no matter what, small presses and zines and the people who have kept it alive this long will always be doing it.