Chapter2: Dignity on the Street/街上的尊嚴
“街上的尊嚴”從我住在馬尼拉時街上的一個朋友的故事開始 (他不是”遊民”，也非”無業”，他就在街角一個空間吃喝拉撒睡，以撿破爛和幫人修東西維生) ，講到我這輩子頭一次在生活的日常中看到橫陳在街邊的屍體的經驗：不是老死病死熱死餓死或凍死的，而是雙手被反綁在背後明顯被人行刑式處決的年輕男人的屍體。“Dignity on the Street”is about a homeless man - more accurately, a man who lives on the street corner fixing things for others - who was friendly to me when I lived in Manila, and how he ended up a life trapped in the city. This chapter also tells a horrifying experience of mine, that, as a person who had been spoiled by 1st-world middle-class comforts growing up in Taiwan and then living in the US, I never thought I’d see a corpse - a dead man who was obviously killed by violence - on the street just outside my apartment. I did, in Manila.
雖然我個人對漫畫的口味是無論什麼題材都希望能搞笑一下，在<哈囉哈囉>的其他篇章包括政治犯、環境污染、語言學，及獨立樂團都有多少放進幽默的元素，但唯獨這一篇搞笑無理，作不到就是作不到，所以今天就寫到這裡囉。My personal taste is comedy over tragedy. I hope to be able to deal any subject with humor (and that’s why I adore R. Crumb’s and Joe Sacco’s works). But I was unable to add much of a humorous element to “Dignity on the Street”because the experiences here really weigh heavy in my heart.
什麼? 讀者們堅持要我講一點有趣的來? 好吧好吧那我就講囉(喂喂喂沒人逼你啊幹什麼自問自答)。其實”街上的尊嚴”對我還有個特別的意義：在2014年底的時候，因旅法漫畫家林莉菁的介紹及出版社幫忙報名，我有幸帶著這個故事受邀參加法國克雷蒙非杭旅行圖文手記國際大展( Rendez-vous du carnet de voyage, Clermont-Ferrand)。在當時，我已獨自一人花了三年畫一本除了編輯和太太以外沒有任何生物物種看過的漫畫，去參展終於能夠看看其他人類對我的作品的反應實在是灰熊感動，結束後有一種充滿電後再重開機的感覺非常爽快。(這…這到底有什麼有趣的呢? 要講快講啦) 但，請注意，這個展的名稱叫作”旅行圖文手記大展”，也就是說雖然也有一些其他漫畫作品，也有如歐洲老兵回憶錄之類較嚴肅的主題，展的主流是以彩色的旅行筆記圖文書為主，絕大多數來參觀的人(應該)是帶著想想下次要去哪個地方愉快旅行的心情而來的吧… 我就這樣被夾在色彩繽紛的”越南水上人家風情”“世界之都巴黎”和”巴塞隆納美食好讚啊”三個攤位之間 - 也和三位藝術家成為朋友 - 賣力推銷沮喪感加倍的馬尼拉無彩人生街上有死人喔…也未免太奇怪了吧~也未免太奇怪了吧~~也未免太奇怪了吧~~~ “Dignity on the Street”has an additional meaning to me because it brought me to my first arts convention/expo: Rendez-vous du Carnet de Voyage, in Clermont-Ferrand, France. It was Nov. 2014 and I had spent 3 years making this comic book. The only living creatures besides myself who had a remote idea of what I was doing were my editor Pei-shan and my spouse. I was creating something supposedly for others to read but I received very little feedback, so to be able to bring a finished story to a convention and meet with new readers, many of whom shared encouraging words with me, was quite something. And I made friends there, and nice train rides (!), and French food and drinks… can’t argue with that.
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住在街上的朋友/My “friend on the street”telling his story
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凌晨，公寓外頭傳來嘈雜聲，出代誌了/An otherwise normal morning, something terrible is about to be revealed outside of my apartment.)
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克雷蒙非杭的策展人 Michel Renaud 先生是位臉上常帶著溫暖笑容的法國阿公，我在展覽期間承蒙他的照顧了，沒想到，展後才隔沒幾個月我就在關島聽聞他於巴黎<查理週報>的恐攻中喪生的消息…他不是<查理>的作者，只是那天剛好去看朋友。I made this to remember Mr. Michel Renaud, who organized the convention in Clermont-Ferrand and who took care of me when I was there. Just a few months after I came back from Clermont-Ferrand, on Jan. 7, 2015, I found his name in news among the victims of the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. He was not a contributor to the controversial magazine. He was just there visiting friends…
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