Jewel's Gem

Below is an introduction to some elegant and intelligent writing by our friend Jewel, writing about the difference between a half-naked creep celebrating some nihilistic personal urge to destroy, and the making of a high-precision and high-intelligence piece of work in the form of a musical instrument. This is one of the nicest pieces of short prose I've read in a long time. The link at the bottom will take you to the original.

Is the young anarchist in the photograph proud of himself? Is he? He is all but naked, he is holding in his teeth a pair of very expensive sunglasses, and though frozen for a moment forever, you can make out the swagger of a man who believes he has accomplished something very important with his wanton act of vandalism. He has made a statement, of course.

Death to the police! The law be damned.

But I am not interested in him...he's a piece of wondrous crapmanship, all right. No. It is the trumpet that has caught my eye.

The trumpet was made according to very strict guidelines. The combination of copper and nickel and other metals was exact, the precise width and bend of the pipes were carefully hammered out, and it was passed on to someone else who buffed and cleaned and polished and buffed again and again and again.

http://tastyinfidelicacies.blogspot.com/2010/06/if-trumpet-could-speak.html