h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for the link to the Durito story online. I hadn't found that page before, and the way it's laid out means I can grab it all onto my Palm for reading at odd moments.

Cheers, jd

Let me know what you thought about the Durito stories. Some of them were amusing, but some parts were really profound.

I think my favorite is where Durito tells a childish story about a mouse machine-gunning a cat, ends the silly story and then tangentially says, 'I remind you that the divisions between countries only serve to typify the crime of "contraband" and to give sense to wars. Clearly there exists at least two things that are above borders: the one is the crime which is disguised as modernity and distributes misery on a world scale; the other is the hope that shame exists only when one fumbles a dance step and not every time we look in the mirror. To end with the first and to make the second one flourish we only need to struggle and to be better...'

NOTE TO MODERATORS: As far as I know, the story excerpted above is not copyrighted. It can be found at [URL emoved by moderator]titled "Letter from Durito," and even if it had been copyrighted, quoting three sentences from it should be acceptable.

Are you aware of Marcos' other childrens stories, for which he applied for a US government grant to get published in the US (under the name Subcommandante Marcos) and which he was awarded - the book was published last year and the government only realise who he was a few days before it came out, so it comes with a hastily printed disclaimer slip.

Oh the victories may be small, but boy are they sweet.

Full details of the book repeated here:

MARCOS,SUBCOMANDANTE. STORY OF COLORS. El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press, 1999. 4to, glazed pict. bds. ISBN:0938317458
Originally published in Guadalajara as La Historia de los Colores.
A folktale from the jungles of Chiapas that promotes new ideas and free speech. This book by the Mexican rebel known as Subcomandante Marcos has been the focus of much controversy because the chairman of the NEA cancelled the grant that provided funding for its publication. The grant was pulled at the last minute, the book was already printed, laid in is a erratum slip noting the withdrawal of support from the National Endowment for the Arts, which had originally pledged support for the book but withdrew it when it was discovered that the author was the guerrilla leader, a thanks to the NEA is still credited on the colophon (last page). On the inside of the front flap, Marcos is shown in full military regalia speaking to a crowd. Illustrated boldly in color on every page by Mexican folk artist Domitila Dominguez.

Thanks, autist. Got to see if I can request this from my local library...

It's been republished now by someone else. I'll get the details...

CONSORTIUM BOOK SALES
ISBN:0938317458

Available 2nd hand from
Cornwall Discount Books, P.O. Box 156, Cornwall, NY, U.S.A., 12518-0156. Email: [email protected]
at $12.95

My local library has a copy of it, but I owe them about $5.25 in late fees for videos and cd's. It's a pretty progressive town -- where else but Ann Arbor could you borrow "Manufacturing Consent" the movie about Noam Chomsky, from your public library?

It's really a sad statement of Americans' ignorance of current events. The leader of an active rebellion in a country bordering ours can submit a childrens' book to get federal money, apparently without hiding his identity in any way, and they pass it all the way through without recognizing his name! Typical.

Especially as he is billed in the title as Subcommandante Insurgente Marcos and is featured on the dustwrapper in fatigues!