The Artist as a Young Man

I'm finding it very difficult to sequentially read through Armand's 1940-46 diary because his maps, lists and drawings keep enticing me back and forth. I hope I don't weaken the book's spine with all of my page-flipping enthusiasm.

In this volume, Armand's entries aren't made on a daily basis but they are longer and descriptive. Whenever he wanted to remember specific details, he sketched them as he did one day during their road trip to Mexico:

Friday, August 1, 1941. This morning we went to the famous basilica of Guadalupe. Ordinary exterior. Inside is lofty, not as over decorated as most Mexican churches. The shrine, or altar of the Virgin ornate but well done. However, the air of "miracles", stench from incense and candles was there and outside!

We saw what is probably as "picturesque" (in an interesting unsanitary sense) a sight as they come: a man carrying a whole skinned (unwashed) animal across his shoulders - probably a calf or pig - and allowing it to rest on his uncovered head. The part that clung to his head seemed to be just gut or flesh - probably the lungs with lights removed - taughtly stretched over his whole head of hair. The thought of the bloody skin, touching him; and he is so unconcerned - enough to turn one's stomach.

This is where Armand stopped to include his rendition of the "picturesque" scene as shown above. Although the sights and scents overwhelmed him at times, he was intrigued by the people and culture of Mexico in the 1940's and made this observation:

After careful consideration and weighing of all facts at hand, M. and I have come to the conclusion that what ails Mexico today is not the agrarian question, foreign capital, disease, illiteracy - no, but the survival and flourishing state of Aztec nomenclature: unendable, unspellable, unpronounceable, unrememberable, undistinguishable one from the other, Aztec place names! Think of the burden on school children alone!

There we have it, a bit of Armand nomenclature, recorded for posterity and interesting conclusions from two young language professors. In present day Mexico, education experts rate Mexico's system among the world's worst and political analysts point the finger at the teachers' union, said to be the biggest and most powerful in the Americas. Donde esta Armand?

Illustration: Armand E. Singer, 1941.