Artists, Activists and Assholes

First let me just say that I know I suck a tiny bit for not posting in a few days, but so much...okay well, I've just been lazy. If I could hire someone just once a week to transcribe what the voices in my head are discussing this blog would be Pulitzer ready!

I tried to incorporate my right thumb into a design with my new pliers and I'm on jewelry making break for a few more days. Subsequently, as the cliche goes, "Idle hands"...have gotten me into some trouble for lack of a better word; trouble implies that I give a shit, and I don't. It seems as the title of this post would indicate that the lines are often blurred amidst this clever A-string alliteration and, while I'd like to specify where I've witnessed the most prevalence it wouldn't be fair since I don't participate in any other on-line art communities.

I've noticed this inherent need for separation and elitism amongst the artistic community and it is not only hypocritical but fairly counterproductive. Art is; no more no less. Who or how are we anymore well versed in the indefinable as the next person. Who are we then to say their product is not art. It's like saying some one's sorrow isn't theirs. I say this because language is often over looked as an art form (although it was one of the first). When you censor an artist's verbiage, you are in essence telling them how to paint their canvas, how to layout their mosaic, where to trim their fabric, you are trying to alter their genius.

Many will cry first amendment rights to this and that in itself works both for and against the artist. Assuming, that it is an artist's government given right to express themselves versus an intrinsic need. Using government to "protect" said rights is separating the art from the artist or the self. I wonder sometimes if I am an artist or a creative intellectual because much of this, my ramblings that is-are free form, there is no draft, no sorting of ideas, it's all just a natural flow of my ideas. The depth of thought would appear to be artistic in nature, but the rationale and logic would lean more left of that, left hemisphere that is. Wherever it comes from, I'm just not myself without it and will protect my right to exist with all that I am.

There has been much activism surrounding artistic expression lately, from the above language choices right on down to the controversy surrounding Guillermo Vargas Habacuc and Eres Lo Que Lees. Rings bell. (I have now replaced, "This is where I piss people off" with the ringing of the bell-same premise, basically it means prepare to assume your position in the center of the ring, I'll meet you there eventually I suppose). I personally, would never use another creature in my work because I respect the planet. I hope I have their support when my children write tawdry novels about how they never got to go to the circus or eat hamburgers! But, as a society we have been resin casting beetles and scorpions, capturing and pinning butterflies, honeybees et al for centuries. You had to think in the natural order of artistic progression that someone, some heavily wrinkled right hemisphere would think, "Hey why don't I capture and torture a __________."(insert name of any animal perceived to be of greater importance and less socially acceptable to maim than the aforementioned). Every living creature has equal right to propitious existence folks; beetles, butterflies, dogs and dog abusing artists.

And here is where I reheat my coffee and commence to lose my mind. We'll call this,"Bells rings and smoke emits from ears". Wink. Assholes, yes assholes, not anuses-in fact anuses are far more valuable than the assholes I speak of today, ask any woman who has ever had an episiotomy. I am a writer, an artist, a mom, a human, a free-thinker and a pacifist. I do not support the second amendment for all of those reasons and more. Just for good measure I shall add that I am a black woman and the right to bear arms is tantamount in my mind as the governments right to murder my children and the children of others who do not look, speak, think or worship as they do. That, as I have been recently told makes me "crazy and ignorant". (I also contribute to the decline of the American dollar by shopping at Walmart so we can afford to be a one-income family and actually raise my own children.) So, because I do not support fighting for a country, oil, and other assorted propaganda, I'm "crazy and ignorant". I'll take it! Bows and waits for tomatoes. See, as I would like to believe in my stupidity laden limited scope of reality, natural resources do not belong to anyone, rather they are on the planet to be utilized for the survival of all living creatures. When you start training your children to fight for their country and their oil and their right to express themselves you purport that these things are not already theirs to enjoy. This is learned behavior, indoctrination. Babies know one thing, how to survive on the resources of the womb and later the woman. They are free to scream when they are hungry and smile when they are sated. All other survival instincts as they are called, like tensing up when certain people walk too close or purchasing a gun to protect yourself are taught and learned, they are scare tactics and hate speak. If that belief system makes me "ignorant and crazy", so be it but note; believing that teaching and supporting violence as a means to subvert violence makes you an asshole.

Upon finishing this post and carrying on with my day, I heard the news of the verdict in the Sean Bell case. I hadn't thought about the case in a while, and it certainly was not the catalyst behind this post, but upon reading it and witnessing the level of pain the 'powers that be' have cast down, kinda makes you wonder,"If humans are incapable of self-control and sound personal judgment-why do we campaign,vote and exalt them to control and cast fair judgment on an entire nation?"