rehashed-panel

so if i was a devoted and loyal promoter who wanted to pump the festival (the scream) at all costs and pretend the bad things never happened, then i wouldn’t be writing this. but the mouthy critic in me has been clawing at the screen door and trying to get past the old women knitting with back wool so it has to happen:

anyone who was at the keynote panel for the Scream will unanimously agree that it flopped to rank among the “less interesting” events of the festival (and this is using the definition according to Sianne Ngai, who coloured in her new “research” at a lecture at York in the Spring, where she said that interesting is an ambivalent criticism that falls out of the mouths of academics who don’t know what to say about something, generally because it’s not that good, they don’t know what to make of it, they don’t want to show too much enthusiasm, or something is sort of good but not that interesting, or the concept of an art piece is interesting but if fails to evoke any sort of emotion … other possibilities following this train of thought). what i’m getting at is that i wouldn’t even put the panel in this category — that would be too generous — therefore it’s down a grade.

this has absolutely nothing to do with the concept of the night, which i think, by all rights, was an important undertaking given the academic (and literary) climate of the last few years. and you think that a panel that showcased head-honchos Kenny Goldsmith, NourbeSe Philip and Michael Miranda moderated by York’s Marcus Boon, would generate some kind of discussion that would be at least somewhat “interesting” in the Ngai sense of the word.

the fact is that all the panelists managed to avoid discussing anything that was even remotely theoretical or political. for the most part they avoided answering Boon’s questions, or gave half-assessed three word answers. a bunch of academics up on stage talking about work they’re literally piecing together, and not one of them gave the audience a good reason as to why they would undertake appropriation as a method of art production. perhaps “entertainment” is a dear enough reason, but it seemed that the only person who actually took the time to illustrate how and why the entertainment factor is important to her work (and for her readers) was fan fiction author Alexis Muirhead. and instead of answering the question himself, Goldsmith tried to create tension by insulting Muirhead by disdainfully asking if she is a “hobbyist.”

i’m going to do my best not to make this the attack Goldsmith entry, mainly because his Ubu Web is one of the greatest things that has happened to art, literature and the internet. also, he did talk a little bit about that and i almost thought the event would be worthwhile. … but being that it was a discussion panel, it would have been nice to hear a little reason or two concerning the significance of his famous (in very elite circles) book Day, or why we should listen to his closing act/reading which would take the form of a transcribed interview between a police man and a senator. there are lots of scripts out there that someone can find and read. he’s not the first, nor the last, person to think about reading the phone book in front of an audience, and the whole “found art” shtick needs some reinforcement, because it’s in danger of becoming a gimmick.

to be fair to Michael Miranda, he actually was trying to discuss some sociopolitical things, but his movement from thought to thought circumvented the question being asked and i think people, including the panelists, were slightly thrown-off. and i don’t remember being upset about anything Philip said, except i remember wishing that she would speak a little more about her project. i think both she and Miranda did their best to explain the projects given the climate of the panel …

when the “readings” began, there was the lovely presentation by ’90s zinester collagist Sonja Ahlers of slides of things she likes and the boards that she pastes them too. ‘nough said. and she also didn’t give us any reason about why we should care about her cutouts … except something about everyone being an artist or something and world being full of art everywhere. which i suppose is a perfectly fine answer, just not what i was looking for.

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now see, sometime last year i spent months putting together this collage which is posted somewhere on other cl/utter. the piece appropriates sentences, stanzas and phrases, from books of theory, poetry, and fiction. i wasn’t just randomly reading texts finding things i liked. i searched high and low, dug up books i hadn’t glanced at in years to pull out the right words - the asphalt of our crucifix/intersection - the foundation of our city to which my efforts made me martyr, to which we are all martyrs, our institutions, our academies, our heads…. layered on top are discussions and thought processes of the individuals who walk, ride, live on the streets. songs they listen to, on ipods, on the radio, within pubs … things people say to eachother, things they think on the streetcar. each blurb representing a person’s position on this foundation. perhaps my obsession with semiotics and the ways in which language makes up our understanding of some kind of phallo-centric thing that some (white) man decided to call the symbolic order has deeply biased my interpretation of the panel discussion that took place during the Scream. but it’s there, the symbolic, and i live in it, and we all do, and our identities are constructed by the signs we read, the sounds we hear. our thoughts are nothing more than a product of everything we’ve taken in before the moment of the present. ironically, the present is the only thing that actually exists (but that’s another topic).

you know, why appropriate? why take found art, steal lines, pictures reproduced in other media? because it says something dreadfully complex about our humanity and our current social and political circumstances, because it tells a story about knowledge and pedagogy and identity and class structures and politics.

but what the fuck do i know….. apparently reading a transcription of an interview between a police officer and a senator is funny enough left alone …

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on another note:

the Scream’s Lex Revival night was super awesome, and it was only topped off by the following night which showcased four re-inventions (film, theatre, sound poetry, and music) of Kevin Connolly’s “Plenty” by different artists. the Connolly night was a blast. it was better than a blast. it was super fun, real live entertaining, and one of those evenings that just make you feel all warm inside. … other than what it says about individuality and an the recycling of language, art, ideas, etc. … it was one of those nights where the entertainment factor alone was enough to make it more than worth while.

i think that might be it about the festival. moving on to other things.

scream tonight!

i’m about to head down to the Scream in high park.

the festival this year has been splendid. it’s phenomenal to see how many people are doing innovative collaborative projects involving the art of appropriation.

if you missed the festival this year it’s unfortunate for you.

the weather is looking up these days.

will blog more about the festival overall when i get more time. also, you can check out the blogs on the scream website, www.thescream.ca

check out lilly the pirate’s anti-literary video-blog.

cheers!

other news

i’ve edited out the original entry here mainly because i am sorry that my strong distaste for the news media came out as a response to such a sad event.

it still bothers me that a single car accident would be embellished and sensationalized to make the front page news, and was essentially written (like all the news) in a way to instill fear in the audience. and in this case, fear of what? driving? of going up to cottage country?

it still bothers me that nick perkins was run over and then dragged down the street until the driver decided to unhook him, took off … and for some reason the Toronto Star thinks this is significantly less important than the story of teenagers who got into an accident because the driver was going too fast, d.u.i.

i still think the real tragedy is that people are people are ignorant and brainwashed, but i have the suspicion that these aren’t the people who are reading this blog. and of course, i like this link.

scream update

if you’ve been following the blogs on the scream website then you probably gather that the scream has kicked off in a good way.

the opening night was robust. the final five tickets for the book-length were sold in person for this event, and as usual there were not enough t-shirts in women’s small or medium. i don’t know why this is always the case.

i work at a bar where corporations often strut in and think that they have jurisdiction over my wardrobe. after about half and hour of demanding that they pay me if they want me to wear some ugly brand name ridden t-shirt, i stuff the oversized, generally large male shirt that they pass off as unisex, in my purse to wear to bed another day, and continue to wear the slinky little bar top i chose to wear that evening.

well, the scream t-shirts are actually kind of cute this year. they were last year too, and i think the people doing the ordering realised we were on to something by ordering t-shirts that others would actually want to wear, and perhaps even purchase. the shirts are from American Apparel, and they sport the funky little magpies floating all over the scream stuff this year. it’s still pretty unanimous (among t-shirt aficionados) that nothing beats last year’s t-shirts, but this comes close to a tie. unfortunately there is no black. an off grey is the best you’re gonna get (which is actually kind of cool). … and word on the street is that maggie helwig is hiding the small and medium t-shirts for people who are potential buyers, so that the volunteers and staff don’t take them all. … oh well. i managed to get a medium literally off the back of one of the volunteers, who got her grubby little hands on a small. i was appalled to see her putting on a small and demanded to know where she got it. she said the volunteer coordinator (leigh nash - clearly in cahoots with the helwig) found one “somewhere” but not in the t-shirt box. whatever … she was significantly shorter than me, and i already don’t come that tall, so she needed a small by all rights. i sighed and took the medium from her hands and shoved it in my green, city trekking cargo bag, right after flaunting the grey medium before the eyes of the other event coordinators. … which i think is kind of ironic, because i seemed to be the only one of of th loop regarding the hidden shirts.

oh, i missed the event last night, because i was busy serving drinks and entertaining a large group of people from my highschool, who meandered into Revival (where the gala will be held). judging from the other blogs the Type Books events went well.

[that was cris costa on your scream update for this fifth day in july, 2008]

exploited

alright….

it seems like i’ve somehow got suckered into blogging about the scream. i think in a moment of misjudgment i might have mentioned that i had said a few words about the gala on my blog.

the gala not the launch. but that’s cool… the scream website says i spoke about the launch. which is tomorrow. … or tonight. anyway, here i go….

the Scream launch is going to be at the Supermarket on Thursday July 3rd. and it’s gonna be neat. at least i think so. … actually the whole theme this year is pretty neat and is also a pressing issue: the theme being, of course, Copyright, Collaboration and Appropriation … or something along those lines.

i think the festival this year, by virtue of it’s theme as well as many other things, is skimming off the pretension that is often associated with poetry … a topic which has been a prevalent discussion in various circles for the last few years and then some (at least what i gathered from pretending i don’t know anyone (that cat’s out of the bag) and what listening in on other people’s conversations has taught me). another topic which has been floating around the past little while (relatively speaking) is what we have themed the festival … meaning the topic of copyright and appropriation and collaboration, etc. … how fashionable…

on the flip side: a friend recently told me that if you take the pretension out of art you have craft. which in some ways can be a good thing … i suppose. but for all you art lovers out there, i don’t think the scream is in danger of that anytime soon. it’s just cutting out the lard, it ain’t getting a new cow. nonetheless, the launch is telling of this skimming: there will be scream alumni championing younger poets. now that’s fucking cool.

eat this update

why is elizabeth gilbert’s Eat Pray Love still the no. 1 non-fiction paperback?

alas, i’m forced to dig it out from the whole i buried it in, and finish reading it to i can justly bitch about the badly written prose and the american style self-indulgent, self-interested, immature spirituality that gilbert is making millions from.

so stay tuned for that.

also: The Bicycles, acclaimed Toronto indie-pop-rock band will be playing at the Scream Gala this year. the gala is going to be super-awesome. it’s new location is Revival on College St. there will be way better hor d’oeuvres, lots of room to mingle, great ambiance, and there will be dancing following the band, by the regular revival “hello saturday” djs. it will be indie-retro-pop-electro. the upstairs balcony will be reserved as a Scream fest area for all those who are coming out the Gala who will stick around to dance and chill out before the mainstage.

the scream looks like it’s gonna be awesome this year all around. looking forward to all the events.

f-wording outside: godard meets eagleton in centre field passes it to valenti who goes on a breakaway play

In the “Living” section of today’s Star there is an article titled “What we need is an f-word revolution” (by Antonia Zerbisias), regarding New York feminist blogger and author Jessica Valenti’s appearance in Toronto this evening at the Camera Gallery. Valenti is the author of He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know, and Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters. In the article Valenti notes what she calls “The ‘I’m-not-a-feminist-but’ Syndrome” which basically tells the well known tale about women of my generation who were raised to believe (through some female teacher in some elementary school long ago) that indeed, women are of equal value to men, but who also were made to believe (in their homes and through the media) that feminist were beastly, over-the-top unrealistic emotional tyrants who are destroying the family, neighbourhoods, society at large, and would never find a man, but it didn’t matter because they are lesbians. … Let’s hold the obvious and move on to something else:

****

This afternoon I was browsing through back issues of Border/Lines (a critical cultural journal) when I came across an article written by Barbara Godard, titled “Feminist Periodicals,” which discussed, well, exactly that. Godard examines the rise and fall of academic feminist journals, and notes that their purpose is/was to “exist outside of the dominant mode of capitalist publishing, on the margins and in opposition both through its borderline position with respect to the marketplace and its commitment to contestary ideology.” She continues to discuss how these periodicals were/are established “to create new circuits for disseminating knowledge and practices that seek to transform the feminine conditions under which women have been subject to systematic oppression.” Then further down she identifies the downside of their publication: “It’s disinterest in the profit motive is paradoxically both the strength and vulnerability of feminist publishing.” What happens is that these periodicals generally have a short life span as they cannot compete (even with funding) with the larger market driven publications that welcome advertisements, which in turn hold up patriarchal and even sexist standards. Unfortunately, the only readership for these journals is the other feminist academics who know all this stuff anyway. And the information and advice which needs to reach the girls who are reading mainstream “women’s” magazines never does. Even almost two decades after this article was written, Godard’s statements still hold true. And the swampy slew of “women’s” magazines out there serve only to enforce classic stereotypes and unfortunate ideologies of how women should act and behave.

Of course, I have my own issues with completely disregarding the possibility of using mainstream media to promote feminist ideology. Which is where and why I think the problems with feminism arose in the eighties, the problems that Valenti seems to address in her texts and Star interview. Unfortunately, for many reasons (of and not of our doing), the lines of communication between feminist activists and their audience became severed. One would image that suddenly there became a new demand for public rallies and talks, but I think the secondwavers were a little worn from the battles and, by this point, moved en masse into the academies. Once in the academy, the feminists still writing wrote, and this is not a fault but just a condition, for an academic audience. The thirdwavers were too young, or uninformed, or someone told them some lie that claimed the fight had been fought. They couldn’t access the things that were written – it certainly wasn’t on the shelves of magazine racks where I bought Teenie Bopper Magazine, and later Teen (which told me to make sure I shaved my legs and plucked my eyebrows every single day, and also told me that long nails were in, and pink was in, and then brown, and not my hair type, straight hair was in, I have curly). There was no affect because the feminist writers were keeping journals and weren’t penetrating mainstream media – but to their advantage, they also weren’t compromising ideology which needed to remain rock solid.

On the flip side, I strongly believe that feminists can be, with all due respect to these terms, sexy bitches. And they can even wear nice clothes, and if they feel like it, they can wax their moustache (men shave right) … or not, whichever. I think part of being a feminist is recognizing that you don’t have to look a certain way, anyway to look, and you are responsible for your own comfort level and back problems and wrinkles you’ll develop if you consistently insist on upholding beauty standards. It might be important to note also that the difference between rejecting homogeneous ideals of women and beauty (which of course would establishing a new one), and making yourself all dolled up to attend a social gathering, lies more in the difference between commodity and communism than feminism and patriarchy.

****

But why and the left?

Even today feminists consistently align themselves with the political left. Or for some reason, the political left encompasses all issues humanitarian including feminism. This has more to do with the fact that the opposition is the political right, which champions capitalism, dominance, patriarchy. The irony in all this is that capitalism, commodity and production, doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with sexism, it just is because we have continued to allow it to be so.

But the fact of the matter is that despite our efforts, Canada is moving on and moving on in the direction of right. Tuition fees, healthcare costs, monopolies and corporate buyouts. The fashion industry continues to flourish and impostor yuppies are taking over the downtown core, but buying their art from Wal-Mart.

Today walking through the university library I noticed a new section designated for writing and studying assistance. Which means, of course, students coming into universities don’t know how to think analytically, put sentences together, or to study …yet they still managed to get into university—which is the mystery at large. How can we possibly expect these students to pick up academic journals on politics and feminism when they don’t even know what an essay looks like?

Terry Eagleton added more fuel to this fire when I read in an interview from an earlier issue of Border/Lines: “So you might say there is an embarrassing discrepancy between theory and practice; but it is only by holding open that long-term perspective that the energies for short term resistance will be secured. You have to know what you want politically, you have to have a desire and a goal to work towards, to act as a critique of the present. But certainly it’s a kind of embarrassment for the left that there seems to be very little connection between what we might be forced to do just to defend the institution, and the kinds of more utopian ideals that we have, at all costs, to develop.”

substitute the words to read this in a feminist context:

“But certainly it’s a kind of embarrassment for feminists that there seems to be very little connection between what we might be forced to do just to defend our position in the institution, and the kinds of more utopian ideals that we have, at all costs, to develop.”

****

Years ago at the Scream Literary Festival I asked a question in relation to all this: regarding women’s writing and the female author’s role as a feminist to write something that will speak to young women (the audience that Valenti targets). My question was met with much disapproval, I was accused of not understanding the feminist poetry being read (the event was called “Her Poetics”) and of thinking the event “boring.” I was simply addressing the issue that many of us women involved in the academy are consistently faced with. It becomes an even greater problematic for these women who also write (unfortunately still classified as) experimental poetry and fiction. That evening, I would have been satisfied with an answer that said, “Well, that’s not who I’m writing for,” but then I probably also would have noted, “Then you shouldn’t be complaining that there are a lack of young feminists out there.”

****

I’ve raised a lot of issues here, and have pretty much left them hanging. Partly because this is a blog and this entry is already longer than most people will read and because my answers are suggestions and observations that would require more space, and partly because you can come to your own conclusions given the snapshots of thoughts.

This isn’t an essay after-all, and I need not conclude when the conclusion for feminism or socialism is nowhere near. Still, I do believe in the phrase: all change is made on the inside. And I think that women and socialists, both in an inclusive and also mutually exclusive manner, must take this to heart if they want to break the straight-jackets to penetrate out from, or into, those thick walls.

Leonard Cohen lyric superstar

black fedoras, suits, a blues band, three beautiful women as back up singers. i felt like i walked into another decade at the Leonard Cohen concert on his last show, monday june ninth.

it was phenomenal to see a seventy three year old man shaking his leg up on stage with a sex appeal that most men can’t get in their thirties.

the Cult of Cohen has always left me feeling slightly ajar, not because i don’t understand it, but because it consists of people of all ages, genders and styles. the audience was filled with the young and old, punks to literati, and some people who just like plain old religious music. and it is fundamentally religious music … for the most part i can’t stand religious music. he’s a Christian singer and poet who promotes himself as “the little jew who wrote the bible” (his bio) and performs with a vague lit heart wreath from his Book of Mercy shining on the curtains on the stage behind the band (book link).

and since it seems like i’m laying out on the table here … for the most part his song lyrics are pretty bad, they often make me feel uncomfortable in their religiosity (although Hallelujah is still one of my favourite songs), he’s not that great of a singer, definitely not the best looking one to ever exist, and i have the suspicion that he’s slightly sociopathic — re: his bio again, where he is described as possessing an “obsession with Christian imagery, and deep commitment to Buddhist detachment,” (uh … ladies just a warning, stay away from men who are self-proclaimed buddhists, with buddha tatoos, who claim that detachment is what they aim for in all areas of life), not to mention that he still carries a reputation for being a womanizer, at least promotes himself that way in his songs, or as a passionate lover … all of these things reminding me of past bad relationships with mentally unstable, socially inept, womanizing jerks. but his charisma is unbelievable … he shines… and at seventy-three there he is up on stage and … come on now … the man has done it all: he has written brilliantly in prose and poetry and is a famous musician: he is living every writers, every musicians dream.

and it would be unfair if i didn’t admit that while watching Cohen perform, i had a distinct feeling that everything in the world suddenly made sense. that my life wouldn’t have been complete had i not made it to that concert, and the only thing i’ve ever wanted for so long was to hear Suzanne performed live by the real deal. i actually began to exhibit signs of tearing … (before the show started, my accompanying friend told me i had to get my own tissues).

beyond any reason of a doubt, it was one of the best musical performances i’ve ever witnessed, and it’s really too bad if you never get a chance to see Cohen live.

anyway, i’m welcoming comments:

why does Cohen get your goose going?

ttc strikes back

got this link from a fish stained disciple. it’s so funny and so sad.

a post, afterword

being critical of something doesn’t mean that one doesn’t enjoy it. if anything, i thought that by writing two entries that had something to do with the conference was a clear indication that i was thoroughly engaged with/by the material presented.

but, i have been told that i’m somewhat of a hardass when it comes to criticism type things - my friends say that they wouldn’t want to be in my future classes: i’ve chosen to take that as a compliment, but perhaps i should reevaluate how i approach things.

so to clarify:

for robert stacey and malcolm (if they come across this): you guys threw a wicked, fun and intelligent conference that canada needed.

if i didn’t like it i wouldn’t have written anything. it’s better that way. maybe i appear sweeter than i am, so blunt criticism comes across as anger or dislike. i’ve always felt misinterpreted in this department. maybe there’s some kind of etiquette about editing and criticism that i don’t get and probably never will.

regardless, spent the long weekend in a forest away from the clutches of the internet, blogs, poetry and postmodernism. it was good.