Joan Staley

            On Tuesday morning I didn’t shut my computer down halfway through yoga as I usually do because my Astro Boy torrent was seeding. I wanted to upload as much as possible because I’ll be watching the shows soon and I want to be able to delete each one after I’ve seen it. I always try to upload as much as I downloaded because that’s the polite thing to do with torrents and it keeps the community active. But the fact that I didn’t shut it off meant that my computer was tired after I’d finished yoga, so it took half an hour to open one document containing my songs. Then after positioning the chords for one or two lines I tried to save the changes and my computer froze. It took until 7:00 for me to shut it down. After song practice I restarted and my computer behaved itself while I positioned the chords for the second verse of “Arthur, où t'as mis le corps?” (Arthur, Where’d You Put the Corpse?) by Boris Vian on Christian’s Translations. But by then there was no time to continue working out the chords for “Laide jolie laide” (Ugly Pretty Ugly) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 87 kilos before breakfast. 

            Today was the first day of in-person classes for my Global Modernisms course, so I started getting ready to leave at 8:45 and left at 9:20. When I got to University College, I stopped at the office to ask directions to room 163. Fortunately, it was just down the hall. Our instructor Apala Das was already there trying to get set up but having difficulties getting the projector screen to come down. Apala recognized me right away from our Zoom classes, probably because I’m one of the only students that used their webcam. I asked her if it was okay to call her “Apala” and she said “Absolutely!” so that’s good. I would have called her “professor” if she wanted and really in French all teachers are “professeurs”, but it does seem a little weird in English calling a PHD student “Professor.” 

            Before class Apala chatted with us about the course. I asked about the essay proposal and the essay and if there are prompts. She said the topic was up to us, but we have to connect one of the novels with one of the articles and also provide six other annotated sources in the proposal that we might use on the essay. Apparently, we don’t have to use any of them on the paper, but we need to mention them in the proposal. Apala mentions an additional text, the chapter “Imagining Justice” from Modernist Commitments by Jessica Berman.

            Apala gave us a heads up that there will be visitors to the class on March 8 and 15. I think she said they are supervisors relating to her Ph.D. candidacy. 

            She says a lot of students have commented on the Discussion board that this is a heavy course. Apala confirms it is. 

            The entire class was a discussion of Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand. It is a diasporic novel.

            Subalternity is voicelessness. Gramsci coined the term. It comes from a term for foot soldiers. Gayatri Spivak wrote, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Is Bakha speaking? Does Bakha’s subjectivity allow him to communicate his experiences in the language of the dominant tongue? He is someone who cannot name himself. 

            Untouchable is Modernist because of internality. Disassociation from where from. 

            Ethical versus political. The ethics of what should done is the responsibility of those in charge. At the end of the novel, he asks why he needs to be emancipated since he did nothing wrong. It is the system of power that outcasted him. Why does he need to worry about ethics? Relating to superiors is a modernist angle. 

            Is this Mulk Raj Anand or Bakha? When interiority is projected, we must be suspicious whose it is. The untouchables wouldn't be able to read this book.

            The narrator says Bakha is a child of modern India, but does Bakha know that? He is a helpless postcolonial subject. He is uneasy with home. The postcolonial subject is westernized. 

            I suggest that the untouchable is less affected by colonialism. Apala confirms that in a sense that is true. Colonialism equalizes the colonized because one brown man is the same as another to the colonists. Muslims have no caste distinctions. Indigenous communities in India. 

            The Modernist question is the relation of the self to the self. Bakha’s status as subaltern. How does one understand this through the lens of modernism? Achebe hasn't been to Congo while Conrad has. So, Anand is like Achebe. 

            I say that since the novel is written for English speakers, what becomes untouchable is Indian culture because the reader is disgusted. 

            Bakha’s ethical dilemma is not racism but rather religion. The upper classes are closer to god. The moral duty of the untouchable is to save the upper castes from the untouchables. Fatalism that everyone is the way they are and cannot change. 

            Apala expects us to know what a literary critical essay looks like. That's why she is starting us with the proposal. It is more about thinking than writing. 

            The scene at the well is a Joycean moment. Bakha wandering in town is a Joycean moment. I say Bakha’s walk through the market reminds me of the James Joyce story “Araby.” After being slapped in the market it's a turning point for Bakha. A Joycean epiphany. This is a Modernist characteristic. 

            I argue that Bakha’s epiphany is that he can go home. 

            After his time in the market all is explainable. 

            I say that it is ironic that it is considered an expression of Hinduism for the Dalits to accept their untouchable status, which is forbids them from being Hindus. 

            B R Ambedkar was a Dalit leader who became a Buddhist. The Dalits have come to appropriate their name the way that African Americans have appropriated the “N” word. Why do they need to be enfolded in religion? There are many converts to other religions among the Dalits. 

            Occidentalism versus Gandhiism. The toilet is a practical foil to Gandhi’s philosophical solution. Self-restraint becomes the route to national identity. 

            How is Bakha a child of modern India? Modern India didn't exist when the book was written. Anand uses Bakha to question the possibility of modern India. 

            After class I rode to College and Spadina to start looking for a new or newer computer. I first went into Canada Computers where I couldn’t see any desktops. I asked an employee, and I was surprised and amused to be told that they don’t display their desktops in the store because there is no room. He offered to show me their PCs on their website. I said I could look at their website from home. It seemed bizarre to me that a place called “Canada Computers” has no personal computers on display. They should change their name to “Canada Laptops.” 

            I went over to Mod Electronics, which is in the location where Modcom used to be. I bought my last two or three computers and two laptops from Modcom. The owner of Mod bought the business a few years ago although Modcom still exists up in Markham. But all the guy had was one thin desktop and the rest of his stock is laptops. He said he can’t have desktops in his store because they gather dust. He told me that there are computer stores in Scarborough with lots of PCs, but they don’t move downtown. He said that if I could give him the specks of what kind of desktop I want he could order it and have it for me tomorrow. I said I wanted to shop and actually see what’s available. 

            I rode down to Staples where I finally found some desktops on display. There were three differently sized black PCs side by side looking like the HP baby bear, the Acer Mama Bear, and the Acer papa Bear, each one priced, it seemed in direct proportion to its size. The bigger Acer Aspire was a TC-1160-ES11 PC with Intelcore i5-11400 processor; 8 gigabytes of Ram; 1TB HDD NO VGA; Super multi-DVD burner; built-in wireless AC and Bluetooth; USB keyboard and mouse; Windows 10 and eligible for Windows 11. For $780. 

            I asked a floor walker if it came with a keyboard and mouse but he didn’t know and so he asked a colleague, who told me he didn’t think so. He thought that when it says “USB keyboard and mouse” that it just means that one can plug a keyboard and mouse into it. That sounded absurd. Why then wouldn’t they mention everything else one could plug into the thing, like for instance a monitor? I asked if he’d ever heard of a desktop that couldn’t receive a keyboard and mouse. He said no, but there might be. I said, “In an imaginary world?” He offered to go to the back and check for me and I said I would appreciate that. They both left together. While I was waiting another employee asked if I was being helped. I said, “I think so.” All three salespeople that I’d encountered were recently from South Asia. After five minutes the second guy came back and told me that I was correct and that a keyboard and mouse do come with the desktop. 

            I told him that I’d always had the impression that Acer is a low-end brand. He said it used to be but through gaming it has climbed up in quality. He said that most desktops have the same components, but that HP is able to keep their costs down by using a lot of plastic parts. He said since PCs just sit in one place there is no reason why they can’t last for ten years. He told me about Staples’ in-store warranty that lasts two years longer than the company warranty, but when he said the warranty costs $250 that seemed awfully high. 

            I rode down to Queen and headed home but on the way, I was passing a little store called PC Shop and so I stopped and went in. The guy says he builds computers for customers, but he also had some refurbished computer for sale. One was an HP for $799: “HP Pavilion Desktop PC Intel Core i5-7400 12GB RAM 1TB HDD Nvidia GTX 1050 8/10 Condition. Great performance Desktop PC, This PC has a Quad-Core CPU (i5-7400), and 12GB of RAM. With a Nvidia GTX 1650 4GB Graphic Card. Ideal as for gaming AND office work. Plenty of ports to cover all your needs, Very Good condition. HP Pavilion Desktop 570-p0XX. Front 1x Headphone-out jack, 1x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 3.1 Type C ports, 1x Card Reader 1x DVD-RW Back 1x HDMI, 1X Display Port 1xDVI, 1X LAN, 2X USB 2.0, 2X USB 3.0. Windows 10 64 bit.” 

            I had a late lunch and took a siesta an hour later than usual. I ended up sleeping for an extra half an hour. 

            I sliced five potatoes, mixed a packet of Knorr herb and garlic potato mix with one and a half cups of milk, and poured it over the potatoes in a baking pan. After half an hour I added a few slices of extra old cheddar and had a quarter of it with gravy for dinner while watching the penultimate episode of the first season of Adam-12. 

            In this story Malloy and Reed are called to a dispute between neighbours who have bought a boat together. Miles Wellman has called the cops on Sidney Roemer. The plan had been for each family to take the boat every other weekend. But Roemer, in whose garage the boat is stored, didn’t always use it on his weekend and Wellman wanted to take it if he wasn’t using it. This resulted in Roemer putting a padlock on the garage. Malloy says they can’t intervene but advises Roemer that it might be a nice gesture to take the lock off. 

            Later Adam-12 gets called back and Malloy and Reed find the two men pushing and shoving. Roemer had removed the lock but as soon as he did so Wellman came in and tried to remove the motor. Roemer mistakenly smashed his own car window with a wrench. Malloy tells them if they have to come back, they’ll arrest someone. 

             A while later they are called back, and the two men are on the ground fighting. Since they both want to charge each other Malloy arrests them both but at the station each drops the charge against the other and they are released. 

            But later Adam-12 is called back again to find Wellman unconscious and severely injured. Wellman had come at Roemer with a boat hook and Roemer hit him with a fire extinguisher. But he then hit him three more times and Well-man was dead on arrival at the hospital. 

            Wellman’s wife Agnes was played by Joan Staley, who was a violin prodigy and played violin in her first film, The Emperor Waltz at the age of 8. When she grew up, she became a backup singer for Sam Phillips. In 1958 she became Playboy’s November centerfold. She co-starred as a scantily clad ca-vewoman in “Prehistoric Valley.” She co-starred in “Gunpoint” and “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken”. She played David Nelson’s secretary on “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”; and Stuart Bailey’s secre-tary on “77 Sunset Strip”. She played Roberta “Honey Lips” Love on the short-lived McHale’s Navy spin-off “Broadside” in which her character is a former stripper who has joined the navy. After marry-ing a Universal executive in the early 70s she retired from acting to raise a family but made a couple of appearances on “Dallas”.