Ok, look. Generally I try and stay away from debates about identity politics since it's such a sensitive issue and it's extremely hard to not enter territory that people take very personally (hello, identity.) I have lots of opinions that I feel strongly about for myself but really I feel like people should have the right to define themselves however they choose. That is their business and no one else's and I do not need your opinion yelled at me, people on the internet.
Having said that.
The thing that is making me upset right at this moment is people who care about identity politics feeling ashamed that their behavior is not in line with their beliefs about their identity. This is a generalization to introduce who I am talking about specifically, namely women who believe in and preach strong self-proclaimed "feminist" (in quotes because I have my own issues with the label and wouldn't volunteer it on my own, not because I'm rolling my eyes when I say it) opinions feeling bad that they enjoy moments of romance and traditionally feminine things.
Enjoying the Royal Wedding does not change who you fundamentally are. You can still believe the same things you did yesterday.
I didn't pay any attention to it myself because I just wasn't interested (I hear there were great hats though) but there is no shame, repeat NO SHAME, in enjoying it. If you are a man or woman who identifies as a feminist, if you are not, these things do not matter.
Mostly I am worked up about people who create beliefs that make them feel good and then can't do things they enjoy or want to do because they feel like they aren't compatible with those beliefs. There are probably many situations in which I would disagree with that statement that I haven't thought of or am not directly talking about right now, but that's where we are right now.
Bottom line, please stop being ashamed of who you are.
But while we're sort of on the subject and because it's been a long day, let me also say that just because you are a straight-presenting gay man and just because we are friends, these things don't give you the right to grab my ass or my tits without my permission. Just sayin.
Soapbox over. Blessings, all.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
For me? You shouldn't have.
So the art world, like every other world or community, is made up of several pieces. Camps of people who believe different things about art, who it's for, what it's supposed to look like, what it's supposed to mean, IF it's supposed to mean anything, all those things. I wouldn't know what to do if the community suddenly decided these walls needed to come down and we all suddenly agreed on everything because part of what I love about it is how often I can change camps without having to overhaul my whole self or fill out paperwork or anything. But some days man...some days.
This leads me to say that I'm thinking about accessibility and performance. Like academia, too often you get a lot of people talking about things "for the people" and then talk about it in language that only they, other academics or artists, understand. All full of jargon and what not, hegemony my ass. So too in art you get a lot of folks that want to make art that is so about their own self-expression that they don't care how it is consumed by their audience. Then of course that leads us to the other side of if you get too preoccupied with your audience then you lose what you were originally trying to say. So it's about balance, properly conveying your ideas in a way that the audience receives so everyone feels like can understand what happened, even if they have differing opinions or experiences, which of course they will.
This is especially true of political art. If you are trying to accomplish something by producing some artwork, trying to sway people or influence an institution or what have you, you want to be understood. The Man will not feel affected by a thing that he "just doesn't understand" because he's not "with it." (I feel like by definition the Man isn't with it.) It's one reason I like commedia dell'arte so much. It could simultaneously reinforce and reject the status quo. It's a thing that was designed to appeal to everyone, a thing that everyone could enjoy on some level or other.
This is turning into just a pile of thoughts again.
BUT into that pile we throw other ideas of narcissism and responsibility. And the clown. There's a certain degree of narcissism necessary to become a clown; it's so centered on the clown performing, even if it's a clown that's more reactionary like Buster. It's hard to clown about the world at large, at least in lecoq clown terms, because it's about the world that this clown creates and exists in. The clown isn't responsible for making good choices. In fact it would be an excruciatingly boring clown if she went up there and did the Right Thing all the time. She is only responsible for herself, even if she's decided that her purpose for being there is to keep things proper (oh no the boat is leaking, I'll just plug that so no one notices. Gah! Now there's a leak over there! I'll just stick a toe in there and we'll be fine. Oh no...)
I think one reason there's something of a clown resurgence these days (new vaudeville as it's called by other more official sources) is that our culture has become so individualistic, we've decided/been told that the most important thing in the world is our opinion of things and we are being responsible citizens by voicing those opinions and making ourselves heard and therefore happy. Everyone thinks they're a clown and a comedian and a commentator and a critic and a...carburator (because...it also starts with C.) And this, my friends, is just not true. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but no one is obligated to express it.
So now I've plopped myself firmly on both sides of the original issue, accessibility. Art should be a thing that everyone can enjoy, but not everyone needs to create it because some people should just shut the hell up. I have no answers, friends. If you have something to say about the world, a feeling you need to express, I encourage you to do so in a way that feels good. I can't guarantee that I will like it or agree with it, nor can I guarantee that I won't resent you a little after you've done so. I will just keep being one person.
And as usual, here's a thing that's great. I put it here because it's a thing that may not be accessible to everyone but is so because it's so plainly stated that anyone can have an opinion about it.
This leads me to say that I'm thinking about accessibility and performance. Like academia, too often you get a lot of people talking about things "for the people" and then talk about it in language that only they, other academics or artists, understand. All full of jargon and what not, hegemony my ass. So too in art you get a lot of folks that want to make art that is so about their own self-expression that they don't care how it is consumed by their audience. Then of course that leads us to the other side of if you get too preoccupied with your audience then you lose what you were originally trying to say. So it's about balance, properly conveying your ideas in a way that the audience receives so everyone feels like can understand what happened, even if they have differing opinions or experiences, which of course they will.
This is especially true of political art. If you are trying to accomplish something by producing some artwork, trying to sway people or influence an institution or what have you, you want to be understood. The Man will not feel affected by a thing that he "just doesn't understand" because he's not "with it." (I feel like by definition the Man isn't with it.) It's one reason I like commedia dell'arte so much. It could simultaneously reinforce and reject the status quo. It's a thing that was designed to appeal to everyone, a thing that everyone could enjoy on some level or other.
This is turning into just a pile of thoughts again.
BUT into that pile we throw other ideas of narcissism and responsibility. And the clown. There's a certain degree of narcissism necessary to become a clown; it's so centered on the clown performing, even if it's a clown that's more reactionary like Buster. It's hard to clown about the world at large, at least in lecoq clown terms, because it's about the world that this clown creates and exists in. The clown isn't responsible for making good choices. In fact it would be an excruciatingly boring clown if she went up there and did the Right Thing all the time. She is only responsible for herself, even if she's decided that her purpose for being there is to keep things proper (oh no the boat is leaking, I'll just plug that so no one notices. Gah! Now there's a leak over there! I'll just stick a toe in there and we'll be fine. Oh no...)
I think one reason there's something of a clown resurgence these days (new vaudeville as it's called by other more official sources) is that our culture has become so individualistic, we've decided/been told that the most important thing in the world is our opinion of things and we are being responsible citizens by voicing those opinions and making ourselves heard and therefore happy. Everyone thinks they're a clown and a comedian and a commentator and a critic and a...carburator (because...it also starts with C.) And this, my friends, is just not true. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but no one is obligated to express it.
So now I've plopped myself firmly on both sides of the original issue, accessibility. Art should be a thing that everyone can enjoy, but not everyone needs to create it because some people should just shut the hell up. I have no answers, friends. If you have something to say about the world, a feeling you need to express, I encourage you to do so in a way that feels good. I can't guarantee that I will like it or agree with it, nor can I guarantee that I won't resent you a little after you've done so. I will just keep being one person.
And as usual, here's a thing that's great. I put it here because it's a thing that may not be accessible to everyone but is so because it's so plainly stated that anyone can have an opinion about it.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Pulling the sky
A moment of self-indulgence. But then this is a blog...what else is it for.
It's amazing how reading the right thing at the right time will bring you back from the brink, lower your heart rate and make you look around and realize you're doing ok.
I've been reading "Carry Tiger to Mountain: the Tao of Activism and Leadership" and it's just tops. It helps the reader to negotiate these two seemingly contradictory ideas of activism, which is telling you to...ya know...act and taoism, which is so much about listening and not doing. It's really terrific and I love the writer's voice, he has a great combination of earnestness and straightforward storytelling mixed with a sense of humor.
In the chapter Retreat to Ride Tiger he quotes Thomas Merton saying,
So from the sage's emptiness, stillness arises. From stillness, action. From action, attainment.
Then I revisited my notebook from HPI, the program I did last fall, and found a document given to us at the end that sort of summarized the big ideas of the program as well as giving us lists of books, films, blogs and such of things that we should check out to inspire us. Love those Headlong folks.
It also had a page addressing presence with a list of things to think about. Among them:
Be interested, not interesting.
breathe and be simple
have No Idea, do not anticipate
I sometimes worry that I'm rationalizing, justifying a life that could easily look like laziness, but it doesn't feel like that's what my life is, so I try to let that go. I read things like that quote and these ideas and realize that what I'm doing with myself isn't actually as big a problem as my television would have me believe. (seriously, the more I watch TV the angrier I get. and I am all about TV. conundrum!) These things that I read feel like my life, so it's nice to see someone else give it a name.
blessings, all.
It's amazing how reading the right thing at the right time will bring you back from the brink, lower your heart rate and make you look around and realize you're doing ok.
I've been reading "Carry Tiger to Mountain: the Tao of Activism and Leadership" and it's just tops. It helps the reader to negotiate these two seemingly contradictory ideas of activism, which is telling you to...ya know...act and taoism, which is so much about listening and not doing. It's really terrific and I love the writer's voice, he has a great combination of earnestness and straightforward storytelling mixed with a sense of humor.
In the chapter Retreat to Ride Tiger he quotes Thomas Merton saying,
So from the sage's emptiness, stillness arises. From stillness, action. From action, attainment.
Then I revisited my notebook from HPI, the program I did last fall, and found a document given to us at the end that sort of summarized the big ideas of the program as well as giving us lists of books, films, blogs and such of things that we should check out to inspire us. Love those Headlong folks.
It also had a page addressing presence with a list of things to think about. Among them:
Be interested, not interesting.
breathe and be simple
have No Idea, do not anticipate
I sometimes worry that I'm rationalizing, justifying a life that could easily look like laziness, but it doesn't feel like that's what my life is, so I try to let that go. I read things like that quote and these ideas and realize that what I'm doing with myself isn't actually as big a problem as my television would have me believe. (seriously, the more I watch TV the angrier I get. and I am all about TV. conundrum!) These things that I read feel like my life, so it's nice to see someone else give it a name.
blessings, all.
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