Umbrellas and Oceans

Journal 9/21 - Narrative Photo



This picture is super interesting to me. It's abstract. But as soon as I look at it I find myself wondering what more there is to it; who is this woman? Why is she on a beach, staring out at the ocean? Why is she carrying an umbrella, when clearly it is not raining? What's up with the stuffy jacket and long pants? (She is on a beach, after all.) Is she alone, or are there others off-frame? Who made all the other footprints in the sand? What is this girl like? A bit eccentric, we might presume, judging from the flowered-and-ribboned hat and the polka dot umbrella. What is about to happen? What brought her here?

To me, this picture is narrative photography simply because of all the questions it presents. Each question provides an opportunity to write a story in explanation. You could create an origin and a backstory for everything in this picture, and decide what the future will bring after this captured moment. Maybe the story is actually about the journey of the umbrella she holds? Or maybe it's written from the ocean's point of view, reflecting on how many different kinds of toes have dipped into its waters.

It's fascinating to ponder all the possibilities.

Are you an Image or a Reflection?

So, I chose two slam poetry videos because I couldn't decide between them.

The first one is by a girl named Kayan James:

I love this because she's so young and so unafraid to challenge the ideas of beauty and the values we hold. As a teenage girl, every line she speaks can relate directly to me. It's amazing and resonating, to listen to her beautifully accented voice blaring out that "Weaves and facades will not hide you in this transparent world," and, "If Covergirl would have made identity, she would have used it too... but they didn't, so she covered girl like the title." She is wise and witty at the same time, and the final line is super convicting:

"Are you an image, or a reflection?"

The second is called "This is for You."

I chose this because I think it's really interesting that there are three performers, and you can just tell they all really believe in what they're saying. There is so much passion and anger and apology, it takes your breath away, and I'm not a feminist, but it was really refreshing to hear how much respect they have for and are trying to communicate to women. And even though I don't agree with everything they say, they way the main performer performs almost makes me want to change my mind. It's aggressive and uplifting and really well done.

"No matter how low your self-esteem is, you do not jeapordize their existence." 

"Crazy, sexy, from the petite sisters to the big mamas, sexy and fuckin' crazy to think you have to do anything to change that."

And only now, after I've posted them both one after the other, do I realize that their messages are totally tied together: one is about abandoning the shallow ideals society has set for us, and the other is about accepting and respecting and abandoning the idea that we should have to change ourselves for the sake of shallow society.

Collaborative Poem

We have to remember
       why we started.

    There is a universe
        of knowledge
            to learn.

            We learn from meditation,
                     from people,
                from nature.

                      We sift the data,
                                   but
                          we can never create it.

                              Sometimes we are kicked down.
                                But when we get up
                                       we stand taller...

                                               until we're tall enough
                                                   to show how cool
                                                           being a dork is.

                                               I want millions of people to hear us.
                                                            I'm a whore for applause.
                                                                                        I want millions to hear me.

         Wait.

                                                  We need to give back.
                         To build each other up.

We have to remember
     why we started.

"Crazy is a Relative Term"

Beautiful, awesome, stunning, I say.
A whole different world
where the rules are shifted
(for the better).

                              Crazy, dangerous, they say.
                              Stupid and risky, they say.
                              Precarious and self-destructive.

Adrenaline, I say. Focus and poise.
Control and balance.

                              Violence and power, they tell me.
                              Crashing and breaking and dying.

Yes, I admit. But tranquility too,
rythm and wonder--

                              Constant interruption
                              of what is irenic.

Exhilaration!

                              Idiocy.

Coordination?

                              Dumb luck.

Speed and triumph,
You've got to give me that,
At least.

                             Perhaps, but
                             speed is accidental,
                             triumph is misplaced.

It is freeing!

                             It is freefall.

No. It is
flight.

A Perception of Art

"What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is related only to objects and not to individuals, or to life. That art is something which is specialized or which is done by experts who are artists. But couldn't everyone's life become a work of art? Why should the lamp, or the house be an art object, but not our life?" -Michel Foucalt

I agree with Mr. Foucalt entirely. Too often the world twists our perception of things, and art as a concept is no exception. Society would have us believe it is an elite thing, only to be accomplished by the outstandingly creative or thoughtful or deep, when that is honestly probably the most snobbish and/or shallow way we could think of it.

My own personal definition of art ranges from trivial to cheesy: "Pretty to look at," all the way down the spectrum to "an expression of the human soul." Does not the mathematician express himself through numbers and formulaic logic? The child, open like a book, through tears and laughter and whining? The politician through speeches and image and manipulation? Everything we do is 'art.' It is us, it is ourselves, in the most personal and pure way possible--material expression of that might turn out to be a magnificent painting, or it may not. Life itself is the greatest work of art there ever was or is. Just look at the mountains driving into Boulder, or all the little flecks of color in your eyes, or all the different intonations and undertones of your own voice. We are gifted with something beautiful. You don't have to be a painter or a poet to be an artist--you just have to be here, now. Alive.

Mannnn, I told you it was gonna get cheesy up in here.

Well, Here I Am

I've only got two years left in this place before
I launch myself off into the world, into the unknown.
I think I'm okay with this. I want to really live my life.
Call me naive, but the world is waiting for me.