I propose to go on a 2-week trip from my recently-native Brooklyn, New York, USA to various cities in Taiwan including Taipei, Taichung and Kenting, and showcase all of my findings and conclusions in a running Web chronicle that uses not only insightful writing, but drawings, video, and photographs.
some examples of my work:
----------------------------------------- drawing http://www.chingching.com/illustration/subway.html , http://www.chingching.com/experiments/selfPortraits.html video http://www.chingching.com/experiments/aptRotate.html , http://www.chingching.com/experiments/fortGreenePan2.html , http://www.chingching.com/experiments/donnasGuitarist.html online journal of my then band's tours from 1996-1998 http://www.monsterbit.com/adults/tourchoices.html -----------------------------------------
The path to Asia would begin with an investigation into the mysterious appearance year after year -- always in the spring -- of the controversial church of Q. Little is documented of the bizarre music and dance rituals practiced by the triad of its principal members -- and particularly intriguing is the reclusive Reverend Billy Bob Bloodworth. Reportedly they shall be spreading their odd gospel this spring between the cities of Taipei, Taichung and Kenting. If I am to understand correctly the rumors that have been circulating, there is also to be a wedding -- the first of its sort -- at said church. I would make sure I was there to cover it for your readers.
When not chasing down substantive journalistic storylines, however, I'd be thrilled to try my hand at earning a little extra cash by engaging in one of the oldest professions in the world : teaching. I hear you can pull down at least a couple dollars a day in Taichung (which means "middle city" because of its location in Taiwan) teaching English to Taiwanese youths, and the possibility of establishing a lifelong source of postcards in Chinglish is an opportunity for spiritual connection I cannot deny.
There is also the phenomenon of Spring Scream, which is a Woodstock-like, 4-day music festival in rural Kenting. It draws tens of thousands of people each spring and features a wide variety of performances by all of Taiwan's biggest underground bands, as well as acts from the international community. In one day you may see anything from fog machine smoke-enshrouded, minimally-clothed temper tantrum rock to euro-dance posturing, from cutesy power pop to borderline performance art ravings courtesy of drunk honky ex-pats. My chronicles would display the sights and sounds in gritty, mundane and exhilarating living color!
I imagine there is quite a bit of interesting food over in Asia as well, and food is something to which I'm rather partial. You see, I grew up eating food. I understand prawns are eaten frequently in Taiwan. In addition to all this I would spend plenty of time just wandering, open to find and report new experiences wherever I could.
The bottom line is that whatever I write would be fun. I'm of the mind that, when writing something of this nature -- a description of something that not everyone in the audience sees/does every day -- that the writer must function as somewhat of a seeing-eye-dog. My observations will have subjective color to them, but my focus will be on creating as true-to-life a portrait of my experiences there as possible.
Paul Ahern
Brooklyn, NY