Monday, November 27, 2006

12:58 PM - yet another post where I get sidetracked partway through

stillness

The main point of this post is to share a little cartoon which I unashamedly stole from Wil Wheaton's blog. It's like a choose your own adventure story: do you click the link above or continue reading Tony's blog?

I'm such a dork. Which you would have learned if you had followed that link.

In other news, I don't actually have a lot of news. I enjoyed Thanksgiving here in Vermont with a friend and her family, and the quinoa-stuffed squash seemed to go over well. Like always. (If you laugh at the inside joke, turn to page 35. If you let if fly over your head, turn to the next page.) I had a really enjoyable time, and the rest of the weekend went by way too quickly for my tastes.

I feel like one of those pools of water where everything looks very calm and still on the surface but lots are changing underneath. Like a pupa. Because... you know... not only am I a dork, but I am apparently a dork who mixes metaphors.

Back to ocean-pupating for me!

Friday, November 17, 2006

9:59 PM - videos, anyone?

a little nugget to start your weekend

Tonight, completely by chance, I got a video from my October fabric performance. The lighting made things really difficult for taking pictures or video, but I made my best effort with every video editing filter I could find, and the result seems okay. As an experiment, I have hosted the video through YouTube instead of through my usual "embed a Quicktime Movie" method. I am curious to know if YouTube works well for any of you who weren't able to see Quicktime in the past, or if YouTube annoys those of you who had pristine Quicktime experiences.

I'll stop being a web nerd and give you the link now.

My fabric performance from October.

I also uploaded my blindfolded spinning piece to YouTube. It's accessible through the circus pages or directly through YouTube.

Anyway, let me know what you think! The fabric piece is definitely in the beginning stages of an in-progress piece, but I'm still quite proud of it as a first solo performance.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

8:57 PM - the inner workings

sleepy...

I was browsing the web just now, and I wanted to go to a new site, so I typed MMM.

Because... you know... They are Ws. Upside down.

Going to bed now.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

1:09 PM - triangle man, triangle man

the lay of the land

Almost every day for the past three months, I have passed surveying crews making measurements as I drive to work. In that time, they have covered about 3 blocks along one road. My question is this: why is it so important to know the topography of a shopping center and car sales lot to such excruciating precision?

I think it reinforces my theory that the smaller your world is, the more disproportionately important each bit of your locale becomes. If you've never left Brattleboro Vermont, then it might be pretty damn important to know the exact topography of not only the shopping center and car sales lot, but also the fast food restaurant and laundromat across the street. In case, you know, they move in an earthquake or something.

Monday, November 06, 2006

1:38 PM - touched by its noodly appendage

preachymouth

Just recently Ted Haggard joined the ranks of James Guckert and Jim West in the ranks of vehement conservative activists whose secret gay lives have been revealed in the media. Traitors. I think that in theory, I'm supposed to get all up in arms about their hypocrisy and kick them in the teeth and laugh at their ironic undoings. After all, these were people who aggressively worked to oppress their own rights as well as mine. I already get upset when I see queer people who aren't as passionate as I am about the same-sex marriage issue, so shouldn't I also savor the delicious downfall of each pathetic monolith of conservative ill logic?

Sadly, this is not delicious to me at all.

I remember, through the protective haze that shields my ego from the embarrassing annals of high school, that I didn't always embrace critical thinking. I grew up Catholic and very confused, and there was a kind of refuge in the religious absolutism of morality, even though that structure was what kept me oppressed in my school, family, and community lives. I wasn't self-aware enough to really describe the mechanism of oppression at the time. Instead, I embraced my Catholicism and definitely had my moments as a preachymouth. I remember one specific incident where I was mean to a guy I had a crush on (note to M: I am always mean to guys when I have a crush on them. I know I need to grow up, but in the meantime, *nudge*) and I know I had my self-righteous moments. I feel lucky to have navigated a different path with several years of education and life experience, but I still feel strange when I think about the lives of bewildered, hypocritical individuals like Ted Haggard. I hate them for working against gay rights. I hate them for being yet another example for hateful fundamentalists about how queer people are hellbent on infiltrating their ranks and subverting their message. But I think most of all, I hate them because they remind me of a potential which existed in myself.

This weekend I watched The Root of all Evil, a documentary by atheist Richard Dawkins. He takes a very confrontational approach, with quotable quotes like, "Religious education is child abuse." While my personal conclusion on the same topic is that I don't participate in organized religion because I've seen how people can use an all-powerful concept like "God" to manipulate and control one another, I think Dawkins's approach is just as alienating and nasty as the hateful behavior of religious fundamentalists. I don't believe in further polarizing people and insulting them until they yield. Despite my experiences with spiritual abuse, I still respect other people's right to whatever spiritual beliefs and view of the universe they choose to embrace, as long as that does not infringe upon the rights and freedoms of other people. Most religions, at their core, are about being good to other people. I'd like to see that as a starting point for building bridges... I think we've all seen enough hatred.

Okay, I'm still an idealist and a preachymouth.