Think Pink

A strange glance in Charleston, I came face to face with this beauty. I shot it quick on my camera phone to preserve here. Yet I feel like others may contract this same sight in other places.

What is striking about this Victoria's Secret ad is the traveling of the word "Pink"-- from a slogan on the label of their clothing line, to a subject noun in a simple sentence. This is a mighty ascent. A subject noun that loves: if Pink is elevated to the status of a subject noun what else might it do accomplish with the aid of various verbs?

Seriously, why does this campaign work so well? Who is "Pink"? A theory: pink catches every association of feminity. Instead of displaying a beautiful model, "Pink" transcends to every perfection as an unembodied concept. Much like John Keats' Ode to a Grecian urn, perfection is only such when it is not embodied, but remains instead in the realm of ideas. "Pink" works like this. It is begonias and ribbons, milkshakes, nice shoes, whatever a person can connotate with ultimate femininty... without the baggage of a physical body, fitted with limitations or narrow definitions.

As a word to capture the imagination, "Pink" is open to everyone, as an ink blot is open to everyones interpretations. But as a single word splashed across store windows, enjoying music-video-life-spans of pool parties and yoga class with never a boring day, "Pink" is attainable for no one.

Taking Time, Version 2

aka "poetry magnet version"

A life time of systematic, wholesome production yeilds predictable time. What is a plea to slow down in unknown softness? A journey, a path, an adventure: a look to swords, moss, duty, and light.

"adult poetry"

My first poetry contest entry since 4th grade:

“Adult Poetry”

Each entry fits into a category (i.e. adult-poetry) (i.e. child-fiction) (i.e. adult-nonfiction)

Ad ult poe tree

Ad Ult

See how the first word jumps and hooks? It is an orc in the mud-- an irk in the mind

But now the last word, the last word

Poe Tree

It grows small to tall, nice and filled with lights.

This is adult poetry. An entry.

Taking Time, Version 1

I am going to preview this post with a warning and a summary. First, the warning: this will be a long and rambling post. Next, the summary: I will tell a story about high school; I will link it to a tendency I have when approaching a project; then I will lament the feeling of a lack of time to do something which inspired me from a recent NY Times series-- I will post a reference to this article from the series; next, I will blame the "McDonaldization" (link provided) of the industries and institutes of the world for heightening this feeling of pressed time, and lastly I will contrast that state of mind (McDonaldization) with excerpts from Lord of the Rings and the characters' ethical decisions.

***Also, I want to note that I might try re-writing this post several times in several different ways to experiment with saying something effectively. I want to balance an "effective post" with a "patient post." So this is more of a self-conscious exercise and isn't for the readers benefit, so they may skip it if they wish.***

I. The Story

In high school, I took a photography class. The curriculum was based upon the "old school" version of film development: that is, the dark room, the chemicals, the canisters, the whole nine yards. I was excited to be in the class, proud of my clunky camera from my mom's college days. Soon into the semester however, our art teacher had her first baby and faded fast to mother-land, not to return for another semester. We had a substitute, but like many subs, she did not know the subject. We photography students were left to languish in unproductive woe. It wasn't that bad actually. We sat around during class and talked or worked on other assignments. I was, for the most part, easily one of the more disappointed students. I took my camera out anyway. I took lots of pictures. I figured that I could experiment with my camera, and that way if Ms. L returned, I'd have rolls worth of experience to show for the time. But I didn't know the way of things. The dark room was a mystery to me, and before I learned how to develop pictures to see what worked and what did not I had too many canisters to know what to do with. I was left with film that (once developed) showed poor picture taking ability and no memory of what aperture or focus was what.

This high school experience of "jumping the gun" and "half-baked ideas" is an allegory for similar problems that I fear now. I see from experience that I have this tendency to become really excited about something jump in an effort to produce something, anything. This personal habit may tie to larger things at a work, namely "Mcdonaldization" discussed below. Even with this blog website, I feel a mounting pressure to produce blog entries, one and then another. I keep several ideas on the back burner so that I will always have the momentum to write. I do not think this is a bad thing, but I fear that by rushing to produce something I will neglect to give an idea its proper time to germinate and unfold. Given, the whole point of this blog is to have an informal "space" to write. So I'm not trying to produce a finished thesis here or anything. Ultimately I guess I am trying to negotiate the area in between off the cuff impressions and polished rhetoric.

II. Lament for the Incessant Pull of Time, NY Times Link

I still am amazed by this sense of rush, however. As cited in a recent NY Times opinion series, (credit to Keaton for the link) to philosophize means to take time. To paraphrase, A philosopher, unlike a lawyer, slows things down to consider them at leisure. Many people, including myself are uncomfortable with this idea. I am actually nervous that if I slow down now, things will move fast past me. Is it a symptom of a "McDonald Age" or "McDonaldization"? I was talking about this with some theatre students a few weeks ago, how the rise of the fast food industry and its standards of assembly, cost efficiency, and productivity are now echoed everywhere in many industries and institutions. For example, schools now could be argued to run like little McDonald's. Students must be effectively sent the through the system, systematically achieving suitable grades in a cost efficient way. Indeed progress is measured in a break down of points, levels; teachers meet quotas. This normalized way of functioning further heightens that distrust of lingering, the sort of lingering that philosophy calls for.

III. Lord of The Rings

I would like to consider how far now we have come. In a time where stillness and silliness seem more and more marginalized, reading Lord of the Rings is a breath of fresh air. Sam and the

other hobbits often sing songs to mark an occasion or entertain for an event. Even in the midst of a strenuous journey where time is of the essence, time is still frequently made to tell stories or sit guard over a campfire. Lastly, and importantly, it is the way that the characters make decisions that I most admire. Among the chapters, the need to choose a course of action arises constantly. The characters, be it Gandalf choosing to trust Sauruman in Book I or Aragorn choosing to ride out in battle with the king of Rohan (in book II), all make decisions not based on the consequences, but rather what is in line with their duty and what is right.

I will maybe write a longer post on the Kantian ethics at work in LOTR, but for now the main point is, is that when Sam, believing Frodo to be dead at the end of Book II, decided to take the ring from Frodo, he turned back. Not because it made sense. In fact, the journey of the ring demanded that it be kept from the enemy and destroyed. Turning back to watch over his "dead" friend's body made no sense to Sam's assumed position, but he did it any way because it was the right thing for him to do. (As Tolkien loves to do, there is a karma-twist to this Kantian take, where doing the right thing in the face of defeat (Kant) yields unexpected rewards (Karma). Tolkien throws versions of this scenario all over the pages and of course the over-arching narrative of the ring is one master-version of the Kant-karma-twist). Either way, these decisions, based on virtues like kindness and bravery seem to be lacking today. Often now, decisions are made seemingly in purely terms of consequences (think cost efficiency and results). Maybe this is how it has always been, and "McDonaldization" is made up. But does that make it the best way?

I am trying to tie this together by saying that I wish for the wisdom to conceive of time as something I may manipulate and slow. I want time to tarry with me, so that I may have the leave to discern and philosophize without the consequences of debt and bills, lineage and expectation. This anxiety to choose, and to choose efficiently and quickly and reasonably, are weights to the leg, a heavy gold ring, a hamburger off the dollar menu, an anxiety in the night.

Red walls, small for crumbs, and leaky windows--

Mold for mice left in corners to stew, I cried eating sweet corn

I cried over my kitchen sink, I filled it full for you.

"Kirikou and the Sorceress"

A small movie thought: we watched an animated cartoon, some French extra credit for Leslie's class... yes a foreign film. Set in Africa. A small boy of a village bests an evil sorceress. This evil sorceress has many minions, which are called "fetishes" in religions like Animism which believe in souls belonging to inanimate objects. This sorceress's fetishes all have a quality in common (besides them all being inanimate objects); they were also all machines. Odd, considering the pre-industrial nature of all the other movie's drawings. The villagers wear swaths of colorful fabrics, carry water in jugs, wield spears. The sorceress commands machines on mechanized wheels and submarine-style periscopes to spy on enemies. What was this linking, or camaraderie, between the magic and the scientific technology? Aren't these two spheres and their respective bailiwicks considered opposed to one another? Not in this movie. Magic and mechanized technology are cohorts in cahoots against the villagers. In the end, the small boy wins out over these forces through virtues like courage and compassion as well as common sense. This "triumph" gives me mixed feelings. I am not sure if I should buy into the values, or raise more questions. Now, I cant think of any more questions to ask, or anything more to say.

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Ah, a neglected freshmen reading requirement. I scoffed at the back cover description. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder"... account how one man [Paul Farmer] can make a difference in solving global health problems..." Immediately, almost unconciously, I was hesitant to show any interest or empathy in social justice, because the danger of caring for one thing is that you must care for it all. Acknowlege sickness and poverty in one child, multiply by millions across nations? It was a path I did not to begin on, because I feared where it would lead. I did not read the book, and instead wrote it off as preachy.

Obviously I was wrong. And now that I've finished off the read, I can say that it is not a feel-good biography... but rather a hopeful challenge: to stay engaged with the world and do what you can and more. I would love to just rattle one quote off after another. But instead I will say this: I want to have the courage to care, and care deeply, about patterns of life that are radically different, yet more common place, from my own.

And about going down a path of empathy? Ok, maybe one quote, or rather paraphrase. Paul Farmer, at some point on a hike to visit a patient in Haiti, says he has aligned himself with the historical "losers": the world's poor. By accepting this battle, he knows it is probably a life time of defeat, but he must still fight to win. This past month I have been crewing (working backstage) for one of UT's musicals The Man of La Mancha. If anyone is familiar with the show, this is the sole ballad of knight errant, Don Quioxite (character and plot based on the famous peice of literature by Cervantes). In order to battle the evil of his world, Quixote goes insane. Yet the audience knows, it is not Quixote, but the world that is probably mad. Paul Farmer challenges orthodox ways of doing things, approaches infectious disease and health care from new angles, and doesn't accept anything has "just the way things are." To dream, the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe...