-->
Hello People of the World;
My my, it certainly has gotten much colder since we
last got together, hasn’t it? Who would have thought that temperatures would
drop to winter-like numbers IN DECEMBER?! I really hope we were not caught
off-guard by the slooooooow tilt of the earth. I typically layer up when the
temperature drops this much. So much so, that at times I have to peel off a
layer to cool down.
Despite the colder temperatures, the vultures have
not been deterred in ransacking my local Dominick’s store now that everything
is 50% off. In between one day and the next the stock has reduced dramatically.
Too bad. The store in my neighborhood is closing due to that slate of Chicago
Dominick’s stores being sold off by Safeway Inc. Some will be spared closing if
they find a buyer before the end of the year. The one I live near was not so
lucky.
Now, it was not because they lost money. No, no,
no. Safeway Inc. believes they were NOT PROFITABLE ENOUGH to keep. Yes, you
read that right, though they made money off the stores, it was not enough money
they felt that they ought to maybe, keep a food desert from springing up in the
more poorer neighborhoods of Chicago. Go figure. “Enough with the Soapbox
Preaching, Ernest! We want the funny!”
Wait, I’m supposed to be funny?
Let’s get this edition started, shall we?
1:[ First
Item of the Month:
Coming back to something Louis CK said about not getting his children cellphones on
CONAN. He believes that giving them to very young kids will not give them a
sense of empathy towards others. It was a good point that made a laugh on the
show but no one really believes that. So, I was on the train the other day when
a bunch of young kids get on, on their way north to Evanston. Where they were
heading may have some bearing on their attitudes or maybe not, point is, the
reason I mention where they were heading is because they would not shut the
f*ck up about it.
They were all tinkering on devices in between bouts
of “Where are we?” But what struck me is how casually one of them mentioned a
co-worker at a pool, a co-lifeguard from what I gather from trying to avoid
their loud chatter. Apparently, this young lady was attempting a dance at
poolside, slips and stumbles into a wall, hitting her head. They all laugh and
one mentions, again, very casually, “Yeah, she got a concussion.”
I mean, the callowness of their recalling the event
was surprising. I correct myself: it was not only callowness. It was casual and uncaring. They laughed at her
dance attempt, her head injury and one even mentioned she was too big (fat) to
be trying to dance. Louis was correct in this sense as they were on phones and
checking apps the whole time they were talking: no empathy….
2:[ My Truthfulness Stuffs:
My Useless Self: STRANGE
MAN
Looking back is always an easy thing to do. As Joel
Hodgeson stated, it is easy because “We always know what we’re going to say.”
So, instead, I am going to try and look forward
before eventually looking back, especially this month as the road ahead grows
short for me by another year.
I want to live an exceedingly long life. I mean two
hundred, fifty years at least. Impossible, I know. Stingy and selfish, as well,
to want that, but we are all stingy and selfish when it comes to life.
So much so, we always try to force our own ideas of “life” upon others.
But also, I am just plain curious.
What is ahead for us as a human species? What will
we accomplish? What will we utterly fail at, or destroy completely? In simple
terms: how will we change, evolve? I want to see what happens to us.
I want to see what happens to us politically. Will
we become more vitriolic and dangerous before giving way to something more
cooperative and compassionate? What about science? Will we continue to be
afraid of finding the hard answers that contradict our notions by plugging our
ears and eyes with the cotton wads of ignorance?
I am not satisfied with the easy answers, with
seeing that our world just is and accepting that. It changes constantly and we
along with it. I think evolution is fact and because of that, the human species
is also prone to extinction. The real question becomes, what are we going to do
in the time we have left?
I guess that makes me a strange man for wanting
such a long life, to hold the ideas I do on art, life, science, and identity
and to just see, what is around the corner for us as a people. But, when it
comes to those called strange man, I think I am in good company….
Updates from my other Truthfulness Projects:
+ NAMELESS: The Authentic and Magical Ledger Art of EW3
A Treatise on
American Indian Art
“All you care
about is money. This city deserves a better class of artist. And I’m going to
give it to them.”
It is taking me a bit of time to get all the things
I want to do, done. HAMLET, is being shot piecemeal mainly due to everyone’s
schedules. But, look for info on upcoming shooting on that. My ledger art
project, NAMELESS is on the backburner as I try to find showings of the over 70
drawings I have. I did pick out around 25 pieces that I thought were pretty
good to show. But people seem to keep missing the point of the project, of all
my projects: to circumvent the expectations of Native artistry and the
separation of art from its monetary leanings.
Plus, it does not help my cause when most of my
ideas on art are not in synch with the norm. Not that I try hard to make it
that way. That is a lie, kind of, as I am aware of how I promote and how I
consciously give away much of my work, trying to circumvent the notion that art
is only something real if paid for. It’s a dumb concept to many people I am
sure, that art is not commerce, and I am fully aware that I am in this for the
long game because expectations and ideologies do not change overnight. But most
artists really want overnight success. Some Native artists will jump on the Art
Isn’t Commerce bandwagon to be sure. But once the idea of drastically changing
the system pops up, off they jump from the wagon. Because people love, Love,
LOVE being seen fighting the status quo, but NEVER actually changing it.
Which is why I am trying to put my ideas of the
separation of art and money into action. I am going to revive several projects
next year: “Mikey Redshade Saves the World”, my webstrip, and NAMELESS will
rear its head once more. I am going to work on my “My Courageous Women” photo project
again. We’ll see. Stuff I hope is of interest to gallery spaces and exhibitors.
Plus, I will try to do it all for free. Besides, just because I am not “Rez
Famous” means that those that are, are making any kind of change.
You see? It needs to be a struggle for it to be
considered art. I am fully aware that my stuff will probably never be called
that, or at least, not while I am living. It would be up to society at large to
determine and not for me to call it that. Stop right there, I know that you are
thinking: that you do not make art for an audience but for yourself, to make a
living doing what you love. That is the first lie of ART that we all tell
ourselves when we sell out our culture. To quote the great man, ‘It’s not about money. It’s about sending a
message…’.
+ The Five Six SEVEN Hypocrisies of Native America:
(Because Seven is a sacred
number):
Lately, I have taken to posting just random
nonsense on my Facebook page because let’s face it (get it?), Facebook has
outlived its usefulness. I am constantly reminded of this when I look at my
activity feed and see nothing but posts with “BE Happy” nonsense or lazy
political activism. Reposting something does not an activist make. What it does
make you is lazy. The root word in Activism is Active. Some of our country’s
biggest changes in society have always come through confrontation. Sitting on
your ass clicking buttons is the least active thing to do. Facebook has
basically become a place to promote our own sh*t, to advocate ourselves. I use
it in this capacity too. It is a promotional tool now.
“At least I’m raising awareness.” That only means
you are doing nothing but pointing and yelling, “EWW, LOOK!”
I am reminded of Stanhope’s rant about “The 10K Run
for Nobody”. Especially in context of the whole Mi’kmaq affair in Elsipogtog a
few months back. I saw re-posting after re-posting of news links and of people
sending thoughts and prayers while 40 people were fired on and arrested in
their blockade of oil trucks in protest of fracking on tribal lands. Of course,
the web warriors had to post about Support Marches and Drummings that took
place a thousand miles away where they were safe. Of course. What good does
that do the Mi’kmaq?
All the awareness raising did was to make what is
visible, invisible. It made it easy to ignore because it is too saturated in
irrelevance and was taking place too far removed from us. What we basically did
was this: “Well, I am on Facebook anyway
posting bullsh*t. But no one is Liking my typical “Get Happy” Quote nonsense.
So, I’ll just post something about Native Rights that I will never take part in
and pat myself on the back for just doing what I was doing anyway – posting to
the Internet.”
It’s silly. You know what would have helped more
than those thousands of marchers in other towns thousands of miles away? Those
thousands of marchers standing next to the Mi’kmaq ready to be fired upon and
arrested. But no, we have our art shows and movie fundraising to do. Or, maybe
I’m wrong. I am not an Activist; just another guy promoting his stuff on
Facebook….
+ No One Ever Sees Indians – Native Americans in Media:
I was able to present my updated version of “No One
Ever Sees Indians” to a mostily Native audience at the annual UIC Native
American Heritage Days. I usually measure the impact by how many people come up
to me and talk to me afterwards. If I made them mad they will avoid me. But a
good number of people stopped me and said they liked what I did and that it did
make them think about Native American presentations.
Thus, the month of November comes to an end and the
calls for such presentations will go cold until next year. I will try to find
places that I can hone this into some sort of show or the like. Something I
would like to make a video out of. Then, I will retire this version of the
presentation and revert it back to a more informational form.
NEXT MONTH’S TRUTHFULNESS:
Ego and _____?
Let me know what I should
cover next in my series on Truthfulness.
3:[ More MOVIE TIME ADVENTURES:
+ Doctor Who:
The Day of the Doctor: I have never been a huge Doctor Who fan, but I grew up aware
of him thanks to Starlog and other sci-fi movie magazines. I remember Peter Davison
taking over for Tom Baker, which I recall, caused a tizzy because “he is too
young!” Then, in turn, read about Colin Baker taking over for Davison in Comics
Scene magazine, which I started buying because they had the best info on comic
book-based movies at the time. Which was RARE then, believe me, because back
then they used to try to make actual movie-movies.
Time passed and I had heard that the series was
eventually ended, again, in Comics Scene and the huge bruhaha in Britain this
caused. I didn’t care because Tim Burton’s Batman was getting made. Fast
forward to the Ought’s in Skokie. I then heard via the Internets that the
series was being revived with a new, younger Doctor, Christopher Eccleston,
whom I did not know then. I was aware of the mythology of Doctor Who, a
banished Time Lord who travels through time and space in a Police Box called a
Tardis with a young lady companion. (Such was the limits of my knowledge.) By
chance and being at home sick, I decided to watch an episode of Eccleston’s and
thoroughly enjoyed the humor, the action, the invention of story mechanic and
mostly, the character of the Doctor. I thought that I should watch more.
Unfortunately, I never got to. But that is mostly a
matter of timing and the demands of two little girls. So, I kept up with the
changes of actors mainly through YouTube clips. Then, again, by chance, the 50th
Anniversary episode was being screened to theaters worldwide and I simply
decided to go see it. Which is why this television episode is in my Movie Time
Adventures.
I really enjoyed the episode and was not lost at
all thanks to all the clips and promos the fans and BBC put out beforehand. I
was laughing at the humor, cheering the bravery, saddened at the dramas and
excited by the completely cool endings. I will not give a synopsis of the
episode because it ties in way too much with the rest of the season and prior
seasons. There would be too much to explain and that is coming from a
fair-weather fan like myself, who revels in these sorts of mythologies.
If you are a fan, a Whovian (as they call
themselves. I prefer the Who’s of Whoville.), I recommend it based on my own
limited knowledge. I mean, if you haven’t seen it already.
For the casual observer, it may not be your cup of
tea.
+ Rifftrax Live: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: To be perfectly
honest, I have not seen too many actual movies in the theater this year.
First-runs, anyway. I have seen TV broadcasts, theatre broadcasts,
re-screenings of classics and of documentaries. Mostly, what I have seen are
the live Rifftrax broadcasts. There were three this year. This particular one
fell on my birthday. What a great present it was. “Santa Claus Conquers the
Martians” has been riffed thoroughly over the years, first as part of the
greatest TV show ever, Mystery Science Theater 3000, then as a downloadable VOD
by the sequel project Rifftrax, then again as part of Joel Hodgeson’s sequel
creation “Cinematic Titanic”, and once again as this Rifftrax live broadcast.
The jokes were new, fast and furious and the
audience enjoyed it greatly. Especially, one fella in our row who laughed so
loud that he became a part of the performance. It was a joy to hear him bellow,
then as the next joke fired, to bellow again. But what really made this
memorable was that Char came with Bonnie and I, and she really loved it. She
was asking when the next one was. Great night.
+ The Hobbit:
The Desolation of Smaug: Interestingly enough, I found this tidbit on “The Hobbit”
(Book)’s Wikipage – “Tolkien began a new
version in 1960, attempting to adjust the tone of The Hobbit to its sequel. He
abandoned the new revision at chapter three after he received criticism that it
"just wasn't The Hobbit",
implying it had lost much of its light-hearted tone and quick pace.”
This perfectly sums up for me the error in the
entire idea of adapting “The Hobbit” to cinema and what Peter Jackson did wrong
with it…. Do not recommend.
+ My typical “BEST OF 2013”
List will be posted soon, you know, in case you were curious….
4:[ So, one morning on my way
to a school visit, I take the Purple Line downtown. At one of the stops, a
fellow gets on and sits a few seats away from me. More people get on but are
distracted by the man laughing out loud several times. They all peer at him
like he is crazy or something. I look and the guy is watching a movie or
something, more likely a comedian’s show on his phone and listening via his
headphones. Now, this was a tall, thick guy. Not, thick as in fat, but thin in
that sense that you do not want to mess with him. People gave him space. But
they still looked at him as if he were crazy. I thought it was great he was
enjoying his show so openly. Why can’t people be open about things?
I am always talking about living a balanced life
and how we do not really practice that when all we want to expose ourselves to
is the happy, spiritual and delightful aspects of the environments we live in.
That is still an unbalanced life. This fellow sort of shows the flipside of how
we treat overly happy people. We mistrust them immediately because assume they
are not open to experiencing the realities of living life on this orb. This
fellow reminded me that we should enjoy parts of life as well and that in our
search for a balanced life, we can laugh out loud from time to time….
5:[ Ah yes, settle in Dear
Readers for more of:
Adventures in
the Coffee Shop and/or on the CTA!
Lately, I have been finding myself on the CTA more
than inside a coffee shop of any sort. Adding to the fact that I do not drink
coffee right now, is that my job takes me all over the city for school visits.
Also, in the month of November, I find that I am making a lot more Native
Americans in Media presentations. Go figure:
+ Once again, I was on the bus on my way home from
a school visit when this dude gets on talking loud. I chalked it up to a form
of mental health. I did not know. Until he sort of chatted this other guy up
who refused to enable his antics and told him that he was merely a drunk. This
was surprising to me until I saw him open up his bottle and take a swig. So, it
turns out, he was simply drunk off his ass insulting people. Then, as if people
had forgotten, he was begging for change. It struck me that was not a good
approach if you are asking for help. He did ask if I was Eskimo….
+ The Petition Man on the Blue Line platform: He
walked up to me and asked if I was a registered voter. He mumbled it actually.
I, not hearing what he said but was interested in what he was petitioning for,
said “Yeah, okay”. Then, he just walked away. It struck me that he is so used
to rejection that he did not recognize I was ready to listen….
6:[ I have noticed that my
Internets interaction has been declining in ever-decreasing circles of late.
People seem to have this talent for distraction where they can spend hours
perusing through endless Interwebs content, following clicks and links to
endless possible sites that contain whatever they happen to be led to in their
search for said distraction.
I find myself only concerned with seven or so
websites to satisfy my search for whatever news, movie info, comics and social
media that I keep track of. I don’t play Internet games or do video chat or
message boarding or the like. I mostly use the webs to keep track of my work,
promoting my movie and art making, and posting nonsense to Facebook.
I do not think it was a conscious decision to do
so. It was something out of boredom, of being bored with the sameness of the
Internet. Lately, I find myself on YouTube watching videos or mainly typing
stuff like this. I am always reminded of Neil Postman’s introduction to his
book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” in which he quotes Aldous Huxley, about our
enslavement to the very oppressions we seek to fight, to oppose, because we “failed to take into account man’s infinite
appetite for distraction.”
Which is why I am wary about how much we stare at
our phones and how far we push the technologies of entertainment. It takes our
gaze away from the reality of what is around us. SO, take a moment right now,
to look up, to your left and right and behind, just to keep track of where you
are and what is going on around you. Do this now. I was reminded of this push
in technology recently when my coworkers were talking excitedly about the new
virtual reality tech that gives people a 360, 3D perspective. They were so
excited about experiencing shitty jobs like truck driving and the like that my
comment that “pretty soon we’ll all just be batteries for the matrix” went over
their heads. I don’t know. I put on the tin foil cap from time to time just to
see things from a different perspective.
I don’t visit as many websites as I used to is what
I’m trying to say….
7:[
-->And now Wisdom of the Sages presents:
“An Ever-growing List of Things That MUST Stop!”
+ Geek Complaining must stop. Really. You simply do
not have the clout to get the changes you want made to a comic book movie and
should pitch your efforts towards homelessness and poverty. But no. You rant at
how much Affleck has ruined the very movie you haven’t even seen yet and yet,
you still have the smug hypocrisy to say, “…But I’m going to see it anyway.”
Just don’t. Vote with your wallet and do not
encourage the studios to keep putting out dreck. But no. You just have to see
it. Stupid. You could end your misery with a simple “No.”
+ At the coffee shop, please stop asking me if I
want a caramel apple something or other right AFTER I ASKED FOR AND PAID FOR A
STEAMED APPLE JUICE!
+ Standing in line at the Barnes & Noble, I
could not help but overhear these people talking about their daughter/sister
dying her hair blue…. But it was all about how it affected THEM! Why do we do
that?
+ Speaking of, I have noticed that people only
righteously complain about things that only affect them personally. Take these
two men on the train: first they complained that their taxes were not going to
the building projects they wanted. They complained about the homeless in the
city but praise “this one guy, who is white and genuinely appreciated the
sandwich I gave him.”
You see? Even our charity is about our ego. He only
gives to this one guy because the guy makes him feel good about his charity but
he does nothing substantial about changing the system to end homelessness, to
help this one guy from being homeless. Instead, he will give this white dude a
sandwich because it makes him feel good and he gets praised from the people he
thinks he is helping. Get the man a job or something. The guy was a “Wine
Consultant” for Grocers, not grocery stores like Jewel or Dominick’s but those
high-end grocers. He made that distinction for some reason. So, what that has
to do with his attitude? I don’t know. But, he was pretty smug about describing
his job.
Then, the near-endless complaining about the CTA
Yellow Line schedule and how it never is there for THEM when they get off the
Purple Line but always seems to wait for the Red Line! Scandal! Geez, people.
Shut up…. My complaining about people complaining needs to stop….
8:[ AWESOME DAD REPORT (Pt. 2): A Man on the Purple Line was walking
around on the platform with two princesses in tow. Now, under any circumstances
this should have been a heavy task and the cold weather would only add to the
chore. But this dad was cool. He kept them in hand and moving along the
platform. He did not yell or scream at them.
They got on the same train as I did and sat across
from me. He fed them snacks of crackers. He allowed them to talk freely to each
other and to move around freely, seat to seat, look out windows, because they
had the room to. They were two cuties that kept asking questions but dad was
cool and talked to them and let them switch seats often. Then, after a while he
handed out candy as a treat. The girls were so happy to have it. But little
sister dropped some of hers and asked dad for more, before dad could reply, big
sister shared her snacks with her. Awesome, to see that their parents are
trying to raise the people they will become. They got off in an orderly fashion
and the girls seemed genuinely happy to be with dad. It was awesome to see….
9:[ From the “This Just In” Department: Men’s brains
are hardwired differently from women’s. Who knew? According to this article,
men are wired front to back WITHIN each hemisphere of their brains so that they
are more apt with motor skills and yet women are wired BETWEEN hemispheres
where they are more intuitive and have higher reasoning skills.
My question: why the f*ck did we need scientists to
figure this out?
10:[ Last Item of the Month: On my way to one of my school visits, I got
off the bus and walked toward the school a few blocks away, when approaching me
was this young mother and her little girl, maybe four or so. The day was rainy
to begin and the mom had just handed the little girl her purple umbrella, which
went fashionably with her coat and rain boots.
As soon as the little girl gets the umbrella, does
she do a swashbuckler flourish and points it right at me as I near to pass
them. She holds the pose, keeping her eye and umbrella on me. I can only smile.
The mom wonders “What on earth are you doing?”
I give the mom assurance, “It’s okay, she only
looking out for you.”
That was pretty cool. Kids rock. They just do….
That will do it for this month and this year.
Look out for my usual Best Of Lists on my other
blog page: WoS Reviews. There I list the best of the year in music, books and
movies. It is turning out to be a light year this year. Oh yeah. I published a
book: WHICH YOU CAN FIND HERE. It is a short stories collection that I
self-published for e-readers. (Also, viewable on laptops and tablets!) No big
deal. I will try to publish two things next year. So, to celebrate, the first
15 readers to PM me, I will give you an online coupon to download it for free.
All right, enough of the shameless self-promotion.
(Hey, I never denied being a hypocrite. In fact, everyone should also stop
doing that.) Feel free to comment, correct or contradict anything you read
here. I get a feeling that something this month could trigger feedback. (I also
never pretended to be an activist.) Let me have it. I want the conversation to
begin. So, get to it, already. I’ll allow it.
Until Next Time, “I try to show the schemers how
pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”
2013 Ernest M. Whiteman III
