Rubbing Shoulders with the Air-Heads
The question always arose at these events a blunt “Do you also write political commentary and critical poems?” It usually came up after first introductions at a Government initiated public event happening in the nation’s capital. Henrique Verlopen was there because the organizers liked to bask themselves in the thought of having invited some “real authors”. As if those well-paid and economically secure bureaucrats had any idea whatsoever what “real” meant.
It was a conversation starter of sorts and Henrique was fully able and competent to answer such half-witted questions. The only issue was that he did not easily hold back with his honest opinion and was much tempted to ridicule such questions. To do so would be at the risk of not being invited to any future event. So Henrique, the constantly struggling author he was, came up with pleasantries.
“Both art forms are within my authors’ repertoire”, he confidently responded. He could have made a reasonably good actor he thought, before he’d follow up with “Political dynamics are intrinsic elements of any serious critical modern writer”. Never did the logical question arise how any critical writer could not be a serious one.
Eventually questions would move on to topics closer to home for the self-indulgent bureaucrats. Their egos were easily stroked when you would ask “How on earth” (some admiring drama please) did they “manage” (a key word to get them to latch on to) to reconcile high-flying political agendas with the real world issues civil servants were confronted and dealing with on a daily basis (a rhetorical question of course).
Henrique eventually slipped away from the now more heated (serious !) discussions. He had served his purpose, his invitation had been justified. His presence proved beyond any doubt that “managing administrators” were not just yes-men and women, but were in fact cultured contemporaries. Any simple man, woman or other person could plainly recognize that, be impressed how attentive the event organizers were to the world of culture creators.
Regrettably no such simple folks (except for a few others, who had been invited to satisfy a totally different agenda) were in attendance. Surely those folks would have wanted to know how much the whole dog and pony show had cost. They were so uncultured and predictable, hence not invited.
As for Henrique, such host-upsetting questions were not of interest. Once he said his smiling “adieus” and left the event he dropped the inner facade and did a reality check. Yes, he had sold out, prostituted himself. If he hadn’t, well he knew that for sure there would be no invitation for any future events. He had departed timely and on a positive note, recognizing that the buffet had emptied and no more alcohol was being served. People like himself would not have much other incentive to stay much longer. In any case, the mini-bar in his paid-for hotel was still well-stocked.
In the morning there would be a nice hotel breakfast, his first class train ticket was already in his pocket. The cash allowance per diem he would receive from attending the event, would be a welcome little boost to his generally meagre finances. Henrique Verlopen could carry on with his “real author” life for another week. A small royalties cheque was also expected to find its way to his mailbox in the coming month. However the small-talk and pompousness of the event itself, had provided next to nothing in terms of author-worthy writing material.
… and a reminder tht also as a non- (paid) subscriber you can access past Briggi Stories (from 2023) in paper-back as well as in hard-copy format.
The book can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/4u4s8f2s