THE MEANING OF MARIAH CAREY

 Reading by Aloysiusi Polintan 

 

The Meaning of Mariah Carey (with Michaela Angela Davis)

(St. Martin’s Griffin, 2021)

Flash Book Review No. 238: One may regard The Meaning of Mariah Carey as a documentation of a diva's unfolding. He may consider it a Bildungsroman for the subject to stay relevant. He may look at it as a plea for additional fandom. But, for me, every chapter and every story succeed in debunking the myths surrounding Mariah. The pains she had experienced since she was very young had fueled the spark of her desire to be the best of what she could be. In the beginning chapter, she talked about Mariah in retrospect: "She's been scared and alone for so long, and yet through all the darkness, she's never lost her light." Starting from the confusion and alienation she was made to feel in dominantly white neighborhoods (brought by her interracial origin), continuing with her marriage to Tommy Motola that had shackled her mobility, her individuality, and her spirit, and up through the controversies surrounding the making of the “Glitter” movie and soundtrack—all these challenges against the immensity of light in her heart she had beautifully and convincingly articulated. In every story, I felt the fear, I almost imagined that I was there looking at her eyes from the periphery while she masked her loneliness with the face that the music industry had packaged for her to possess, and I sang the fragments of familiar lyrics that made me understand the heart behind the hymn. "In the end, and in the beginning, it's all about faith for me. I can't define it, but it has defined me." This is the last of the lines in her memoir, a book that helped me gravitate more towards the power of writing, music, poetry, or any art form to heal, transform, and aid one's transcendence. I still remember the first track on the CD owned by my mother, which compiled her best songs in the late 90s and early 2000s, "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)". After reading her, the song will bear a new gravitas on me, one that is personal, monumental....

 

 

*****

Since 2016, Aloysiusi Polintan has worked as a Senior High School Principal in Divina Pastora College. He started scribbling poems and essays when he was 17 years old. These poems are still kept in a notebook and wait to be revised for future publication. This notebook will be revived and will give birth to language already "lived." That is why his blog is named "Renaissance of a Notebook," a blog of poems, personal and academic essays, and flash movie reviews. His book reviews, which are published and featured in The Halo-Halo Review and Galatea Resurrects, are also to be found on the blog, under the series title "Mesmerized." He believes that the ability to judge or critique a literary piece starts with the reader's being moved and mesmerized by the artful arrangement of words articulating some longing for freedom and individuality. He's now working on a manuscript of 50 poems, with a working title of Brittle Sounds.