October 30, 2006

Blog #1



Once I figure out how to add this photo as an avatar on my profile, I will do so. But I can't do that right now, I'm supposed to be working.

It's a photo of the industrial lesbian worker people of the subway station at 14th Street and 8th Avenue. I'd love to credit the sculptor but I don't know who s/he is. [gendered pronouns will be addressed as an issue in a future blog unless I forget] The name is probably posted somewhere in the station - I'll keep an eye out for it. The photographic genius is my own.

Now, in calling them industrial lesbian worker people, I admit that I'm making some assumptions which aren't necessarily acceptable, such as the fact that (look closely) they both have breasts, so I'm assuming that they are female. Not really fair, but on these sculptures I don't have anything else to go on and for this purpose (appropriation) I need gender, or at least gender presentation, defined. Also, they have arms around each other's backs, so I'm assuming they're in love. Not necessarily so, but art is open to appropriation, that's the risk you take in exhibiting. Last, one of them is holding a big motherfucking hammer, so I'm assuming they are industrial workers. But if I had a hammer that big I'd carry it around just for fun, so it may not be true. Nonetheless, with assumptions and assumptiveness in mind, it's a good sculpture with which to represent myself.

Yesterday amidst a birthday celebration with plenty of liquor, several homos, a few heteros, and many many tater tots, the subject of blogs and blogging came up. [It inspired me to start one of my own; it's wordy already. Shit.] Anyhow the conversation was about how I frequently have something to "put out there" and soon after I do so, I regret it and feel stupid and self-edit until I don't ever want to speak or use words again, ad absurdum (I like to make up latin phrases so deal). A friend commented on the value of just throwing things out there, because you have no idea what will be done with it and it doesn't really matter anyway. At that point it's supposedly no longer yours. I imagine that this statement is related to the above-mentioned appropriation, or rather, is the above-mentioned appropriation, which I clearly support. Still: A#1 I'm not sure I believe that expressing it makes it no longer yours or that it won't be back to haunt you and B#2 I really do hate words right now. They have the capability to really, really fuck me over.

C#3 I feel many reservations about this whole online environment thing, including Myspace, friendster, demographically-targeted advertising, the researchers that design said demographically-targeted advertising, identity theft, keystroke/click tracking software, BIG BROTHER, unauthorized wire tapping bullshit, etc. Besides the Handmaid's Tale aspect, I feel there are larger social problems at play here. (speaking of Margaret Atwood her most recent is a book of short stories entitled Moral Disorder. I HIGHLY recommend it; I find her a genius.)

But what the fuck everything is a problem.

So this is my first blog.

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