Oct. 23 2022
星期天的早晨，吃完早餐，我們到附近的一處公園散步。原本只是想說看看濕地與山脈，認識一下附近的步道，沒想到卻邂逅了一個大鹽池。這個公園位在舊金山海灣的最深處，海水從狹窄的金門大橋灣口進來以後留下營養物與鹽，因而造成鹽分較高的濕地生態圈。漲潮時從海灣湧進乾淨的水源，退潮時潮汐又會帶走這裡的污染物，這裡的生態圈因而有足夠的土壤養分支持許多耐鹽的植物、水鳥。
立冬
睡前沉澱，翻開電子書閱讀器裡靜置許久的徐國能的《第九味》。斷斷續續地閱讀，像年幼時期吃飯一樣，想到時就扒個幾口，只是讓我分神的不在是晚上六點半黃金時段的卡通，而是為能完成生活的各種勞動，二十歲晚期必須看盡的風景。
前幾日讀完了令我意猶未盡的〈雪地芭蕉〉，全篇散文以第二人稱書寫，是作家徐國能對一位「擁有偉大生命與理想，卻未能相互完成的老師」的紀念。散文的開頭是這麼寫的：
Loss, Hope, and Gift-Giving: Teaching Iep Jāltok During the Pandemic
This essay was published …
Against the Politics of Respectability: Writing as Attention-Giving
*Note: This essay was written and delivered as a talk on the online panel of “Writing in the time of COVID-19: Race, Dystopia, and the Humanities in/of Crisis.” The panel was sponsored by EALA, Taiwan, organized and moderated by Professor Andy Chih-ming Wang. My deepest gratitude to Andy, who invited me to be part of the conversation in the first place, and to my co-panelists Jessica Chang and Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose feedback and engagement helped me think with more depth. I am grateful, too, for the audience listening in from different parts of the world and the tech support group for the event.
