Round Robin

It is fascinating that such deep stories can be told in a picture and 20 words. I feel like the round robin gives us an opportunity to have these collective, small bursts of creativity, that can turn out to be quite beautiful. It was interesting to see how the stories progressed as they went through each set of hands. I didn’t imagine where the story would end up, when the idea originated. The first idea seemed the most difficult, and the later rounds became easier to write. It was as if the first Idea was a little spark and once it caught, it was easy to put wood on the fire. The beauty of collaboration is that you have to give up control. Most of the best art is produced when it is created with restrictions because it causes the artist to think outside of the box. When several artists work together that's that much more box to think outside of. 

One interesting result of this project was that upon sending off the latest story to the next person, it was rare that the next story would convey what the original author believed to be the important or interesting aspect of the story. Some stories meant to be taken literally were read by the next person as containing a deeper meaning. Other times, the story was meant to be deep, but the next author took the story at its surface. Regardless of the author’s original intent, the next story was often surprising and enjoyable. Each string of stories goes off in a direction the original author most likely did not imagine. These results exemplify the idea that stories are more creative when working as a team.

In the article about the Exquisite Corpse by DJ Spooky, he talks about how fragmented, varied puzzles reflect more accurately the collective memory of our culture and how we as a whole progress. Perhaps this idea could stand a few more test runs from us, but the point is valid. It is simply a silly thing to assume complete control over anything, let alone a creative process, and indeed when a person freely gives up what control they have they not only have an opportunity to be presented with new, interesting points of view, but also insight into other people. 

Spooky compared the exquisite corpse and other similar methods of creation with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—as accurate as any comparison could be in two senses. Firstly, in the literal sense, it really is sort of a mismatched and vague representation of a story-isn thing, which is beautiful in its own right. It is also a figurative compilation of numerous consciousnesses, opinions, experiences, and interpretations. A “living” thing,” according to Spooky, as “‘text’ is never inanimate”—an entity of sorts built up from the minds of five independently thinking people.

While writing these blurbs, I felt that I was building up part of a community.  As a collective we have our own personal beliefs and experiences, but then putting it together is like a realization of how we fit together as people.  In a community, when new people come in contact, lives are changed and a person has a choice to take different paths in their life.  This process is similar to when a character beat is formed within story.  Now within this exercise, it as if we are introducing the characters developed in the stories to a new person, who has their own perspective and experience to change the life of this character forever.  Mimicking this natural process allows the story and characters develop more naturally.  Just as we do, the characters have the opportunity to be influenced by the introduction of new ideas.   Then the community grows the with the development of new characters and the introduction to new ideas to each of us as creators.  

Music Mosaic: Sing! Sing! Sing!

"Sing, Sing, Sing" by Benny Goodman


An easily recognizable song, Benny Goodman's Sing, Sing, Sing is a staple at many dances and featured in media even today. The song is upbeat, lively, and speaks of a classic American age defined by an outspoken and hard-working public and a collective national spirit. The boisterous melody reflects a fighting spirit as well as it reflects the epitome of a grand old time. 

This piece, and many like it, is meant upfront to make people feel good and optimistic. It's a dancing song, without a doubt, meant for enjoyment. The first three images here are a representation of that aspect; the first two with bright colors and the third with a depiction of the informality and inclusive nature of the music. The first, with the dancing couple, is perhaps something of a stylized version of what most people probably think of when listening for the first time (or at least the first time when looking for meaning). The second is a more abstract image, evocative of a fast-moving night life. The excitement of being overwhelmed with instruments and color and people is what inspired this, capturing for me the feeling of being okay with having life move on around you, if for just a moment, happy to just watch--watching anything that this music accompanies is sure to be something to behold by itself. The third image is meant to show the easygoing artfulness of the music, where the body danced just as much as the notes did. If the song is being listened to right, there should be no reason for anyone to be sitting still--least of all the musician.

The next image is a pretty outspoken one, but then America has never been a nation to take anything quietly, has it? The point of the lipstick art was to remind people of this. One must remember what the country was like in this time--this particular song came out around the end of the Great Depression and held its popularity through the 1940s--war time; this music thrived in a time where little else did. Odd as it may seem--what with the differences between the seriousness of the American situation and the joyfulness of the music--swing music such as this was actually a very good fit. If one was to think about it, doesn't it sound just like someone talking back? Proving that, yeah, we got knocked down a few pegs but we're alright. This fourth picture, as well as many of the others, stands for our knack of getting right in the face of our troubles and displaying complete defiance when other people seem to think that we'll just sit and take it. Other images include the fifth, portraying a soft-looking woman in harsh light and definitely not helpless, as the song is inclusive of everyone in dance and play (also applicable to the third image of the man of color being the one to play); the sixth image, the draft letter with the kiss, as a sign that such a thing as fighting for what was right was supported openly; and back to the first image, where half of the dancing couple give service to the military, and still manage to be happy.

Say what you will about America today; I think it's a bit of a mess myself. But regardless of who you are or what you stand for, I truly believe that as Americans, we all still believe in the unity and optimism displayed with this music. It may take a good kick in the pants to get us back on track, but every time we've been knocked down so far, we've gotten right back up as a stronger people. Maybe we don't agree on the how, or the why, but everyone is united in the basic understanding of what we're supposed to be.

The last two images are less fun-loving and joyful than the formers. The two together are something of a memorial, a reminder after a few musings that there was a reason for the "fighting spirit" to exist in the first place. We wouldn't be who we are today without the strength people before us had already built up. The roses are for remembrance, but still carry the bright color and stylistic expression I associate with this piece of music. The last image is one of two that was not created digitally (the lipstick seemed more efficient to do on one's lips, as it so often is). It is ink on paper, where I simply spilled the ink and dragged it out with a brush to create the image. It's supposed to be messy. It's supposed to be subdued. It's supposed to make a person think, because in the end, if we hadn't hit rock-bottom, we'd have never had a reason to get back up stronger and better than before. 

The amount of people I used in my drawing was intentional. This song, and many like it, is a story of the people before anything else, telling of how they respond to the trials thrown at them and what they invest their time and efforts into--in this case, rebuilding America to be stronger and proving that we as a people will not be knocked down for long. The story cannot be told without exhibiting the people who played a part in doing just that.

Thinking and Writing: Mary Watson, the Proper Feminist

An ever-growing trend in media is to portray the strong-willed, independent woman. Feministic ideals surround us from every side and pull us in with promises of equality—and we readily hop on the wagon, because after all, isn’t all this a good thing? Women are in fact equal to men and can do everything that they do, and ideally feminism expresses this opinion. But does the media do it right? 

Personally, I think that there are very few instances that the feminist woman is shown in an appropriate light. Granted it is hard to do, balancing charming stubbornness with general femininity, but every so often, someone manages to get it right. Such is the case with the most recent portrayal of Mary Watson (née Morstan) in BBC’s Sherlock, played by Amanda Abbington.

Mrs. Watson has been something of a strong character in her own right since being introduced in Sir Doyle’s stories, even in a time when women were still very much oppressed. It would have been something of a radical choice to create such a complex and important female character, but Doyle did it all the same, even as she retained something of a demure and soft personality reflective of the day. In today’s media, it would have been so easy for someone to write her into a script while modernizing her in such a way that she matched every other strong female character on television, but this did not happen. She has only been in a few episodes of the series, and she already displays wonderfully how a woman can be intelligent and independent as well as likable and feminine. One episode, The Sign of Three, is a wonderful example of her charms. 

It is evident rather early that Mary is an intelligent individual, and not long after that do we realize that she also has a very large influence over the people around her. John, Sherlock, and various other characters are keen to do as she asks not because she is a woman, like someone might assume at first, but because she quietly, effectively proved herself to be dependable and smart enough to make important decisions. In The Sign of Three, she is shown to have a firm grasp of her relationships and those of the people close to her when she convinces, separately, john and Sherlock to take the other out for a case. This was done in a way that was subtle and that no one else would ever see—no one would ever know that she managed it. Another female character might’ve made something of a stand and loudly told the boys exactly what they should do, and that they were being childish, and they would’ve listened because she was Woman and she had final say. 

This is unnecessary. And unrealistic. 

One may also notice that, aside from special circumstances, Mary does not fight with her husband. They disagree, sure, what couple doesn’t? But she never raises her voice, she never attacks him, she simply explains herself firmly and clearly. She gets her husband on board with her plan, she does not kick him down and drag him along. 

This is what the essence of feminism is. The characters I see portrayed regularly in various media are, at best, caricatures of what a feminist is, and to be honest I strongly dislike most of them. There is nothing strong about a woman who has to belittle everyone around her, fighting to be on top. Nowhere in the rules does it say that an independent woman must also be cold and unfeeling, and often rather “butch”. And there is hardly anything more insulting than a woman overly sexualizing herself because she kicks butt, like proving yourself once gives someone the right to dangle themselves in front of the masses and completely erase all the work they think they’ve done. 

Feminism is not supposed to be women demanding or begging for special treatment, which indeed is what the above examples are. The goal here is to overcome the patriarchy in favor of equality, not of a matriarchy. If women are equal to men, and we want men to listen, then the best way to do that is by being equal, not self-righteous. 

Mary Watson did something right in a way that I believe is extremely beneficial to both sexes, proving that a strong, smart, independent woman can also be collected, warm, loving, and likable. There is no need for women to dehumanize themselves to be their own person.