notes on circle k

sorry for the lateness of this... i am a mess.

i really enjoyed circle k cycles as a read, but it was definitely not what i was expecting going in (given the trajectory of the class thus far and the types of text we'd been reading). i'm interested in how this text is a graphic memoir. and maybe, how it isn't one. it definitely pushes a lot of boundaries and methods of classification and categorization, which feels central to its discussion and interrogation of identity, hybridity, culture-- what is a part of culture, where cultures collide, how images, visual and textual content, etc mediate and represent culture, etc.

the mixed genre and mixed form can't be anticipated. sometimes you have sections that are like daily journal entries, sometimes a collage of news clippings and ads, sometimes phone conversations, sometimes straight narrative. the book pushes and pulls in various different narrative directions. it is at times memoir, at times story, at times artifact, at times essay.

many of the images included are text as image/found language: ads, clippings, street signs, forms, charts, notices, etc. there's something going on with found language and found image in relation to how cultures and ethnic groups are communicated and represented. the found language and images woven throughout the book span many areas: public language, private language, intimate language, functional language (language of the workplace and such-- signs, forms, notices, instructions, etc), brazilian, english, japanese (multiple systems used and interchanged).

what is the language around work? "dirty, dangerous, difficult." work that brazilians came to do. factory work. previous professions had in brazil can't be pursued in japan. they came with "new and different uses for their lives." in this way, laborers are thought of in terms of their usefulness, what they can do and produce. their lives were narrowly reduced to their function and output. they are replaceable (those injured or suffering from health problems can be replaced by "another clerk with fingers, another grandmother with a heart."). their lives are for a purpose so long as it can be met.

i was struck by the way she illuminated things about the functional language around trash and how the varying perspectives around trash. she approached trash with a critical eye. we don't normally think about what our consumption means. we don't think of the economics of our candy wrapping. all the specialized manufacturing labor that goes into creating the many compartments of a candy box. the labor that happens after our mindless disposal of our stuff. the time it takes to package, ship, distribute these items doesn't match up to the time it takes to buy, consume, then dispose of them. we have developed institutionalized processes for waste removal-- different strategies and nights and times depending on where you are. an intricate series of processes to deal with what we throw away, what we don't consume, what we're finished with, etc. there was something about thoughtless and thoughtful waste... thoughtless relating back to the economics of packaging and wrapping-- we are desensitized to how anything we use, eat, buy gets created or how much waste we're producing as a result of using it. and thoughtful relating to the diligence shown by folks around disposing of their trash-- the different processes for different types of items, holding self and others accountable to the rules... measures that don't challenge how much we waste, just somewhat deal with it as we produce it.

the culture clashing around trash was interesting too. you could identify ethnic or citizen status by how people dealt with their trash. did they adhere to the disposal rules? did they know them? did they only buy new? did they rely on hand-me-downs and stuff kicked to the curb?