News From Home

For some reason as I experienced this film I found my brain going quiet for the first time in weeks..I knew that no matter what I wanted to jump up and do to keep "productive", I couldn't. I had to sit and let thoughts come and go. I was sitting waiting for something to happen..soaking it all in and zoning out at the same time.
I love walking around downtown..taking the bus..people-watching. It felt soothing in a strange way to watch the people walking and going about their daily activities..car noises..people seemingly unaware of the footage being taken..recording their slightest actions and mannerisms. It was a nice little escape. It made me think about sitting somewhere for a long amount of time and soaking up the details. But when does anyone ever have time to do that? I guess I am realizing that I need more of this in my life. More fresh air, more time to sit, to observe the world around me. I also found that watching the people go about their daily life made me think about how fleeting moments are. The man waiting for the subway was there for a moment and then was gone. Who knows where that same man is now? He is not an actor to my knowledge, just someone caught on film. Was he aware that he was captured. Did he ever see the film? Who is at that same subway station as I write this? It made me think about all the hundreds of people who use public spaces in one day. They are there for a few minutes and then are gone. We fade in and out of places we go. A small bit of history was captured in the film..a small, fairly insignificant piece of someone's life. What kind of day were they having. Were the people in the film happy or depressed about their life. And why were so many people looking down as they walked along? It was strange to be an onlooker to a scene that has no obvious value or significance besides just being. The people are just existing..the cars are just driving..and we are just observing. After I got into it I found watching this film brought up a lot of questions and wonder in me. The mother trying to communicate with her daughter and keep that connection added some tension to the film as well as a semi-understood reason for the particular footage. Not hearing the daughter's voice except through her mother's narration was interesting, too. It was one-sided and the daughter's character seemed not to have any character. We did not experience any of her emotion. This film was a combination of very personal and very impersonal. The mother added a personal narrative and the footage of random people and places took away from that. I thought the juxtaposition of the two was a great idea and made for a very unique film.

A Whole New World

Right Foot Red

My two roommates and I decided to take time out of our busy Saturday morning to play a few games of Twister. Since we are all limber dancers we were able to do pretty well and it became more of a silly game of attempted body contortion than balance alone.
What a game like Twister tells us about everyday life is that..well..we are not alone. We must interact with other people and how they are living the same day. We must encounter people we don't necessarily want to and we must make things work. In all of our "everyday" we have an agenda for ourselves or else we are just wandering aimlessly. Either way, we are going to bump into people, have to get around them, and change our agenda to be flexible in that way. In the same way, if we are in close proximity to others, whether physically or emotionally, we are going to affect each other in many ways and one should be prepared for that in the everyday. If one person falls, often others around them will also fall. In Twister however, there is an element of fending for yourself but being blocked and limited due to others. Sometimes you will fall alone, and this is to the benefit of the other players. There is no teamwork whatsoever. It was interesting to analyze something like Twister on a deeper level involving the everyday and see the many different metaphorical aspects that could be attributed to it.

Stream of Consciousness: The Daily Grind

Sometimes my lifestyle cracks me up. At this point it seems so ordinary because I am ALWAYS involved with performing and rehearsing. When I take a step back and look at it again I realize that my "everyday" is very unique. As unusual as it is, I consider the Can Can a huge part of my "everyday" environment and experiences. The obscenely cluttered dressing room, the low ceilings, the random vintage mirrors hung on the walls. I see it vacant. I see it full of people. I live most of my life under 1st avenue in this hidden venue that I had only ever seen in my head before coming upon it in real life. I always saw it in my head as I grew up. I knew that I had to perform at a cabaret. Its dark lighting and otherworldly ambiance..I saw it all before. My everyday is the market. The short man yelling about Belgium waffles outside the Pike Place Bar and Grill every morning when I go to rehearsal. We chat. He is the most full of life person I've ever seen. No matter the weather, he still addresses the crowds of tourists with the daily specials and tells them to "Come on in folks!". These are the things I see in my daily life when I take a step back. It's refreshing. My everyday is the flea market in the back corner of the Pike Place Market. I converse with the vendor of the day. They give me good prices on silly shiney things that I like. My everyday is the rain of Seattle on the cobblestones in the market..the crowds of people darting past each other. You can always tell the locals..they are the one's darting around the slow-poke tourists who have nothing else to do with their day but meander around and take their sweet time. My everyday is the crumpet shop..I would say I am a regular. I know every twist and turn of that market. I love how much character it has. I feel the most invigorated there, and knowing that I am a part of the workforce there makes it even better.

The Transformative Potential of Everyday Art

As I began reading the text I found myself agreeing with a lot of what Johnstone put forth. He speaks of "the vast reservoir of normally unnoticed, trivial, and repetitive actions compromising the common ground of everyday life" (Johnstone 12). The idea that what is present in everyday life is virtually a never-ending supply of material for art and creative license in our lives. The repetitive could be seen as boring and uninspiring, unless of course we recondition ourselves to see the world with more appreciative eyes. We should not let our eyes glaze over as we scan the block we live on or as we walk by people downtown. There is material everywhere and just by recognizing it as important and interesting down to the smallest details it can be given new meaning and value.

A quote that stood out to me as I read through the text was, "Commitment to the everyday can also indicate the desire to give a voice to those silenced by dominant discourses and ideologies - a commitment couplesd with the responsibilty to engage wth the everyday's transformative potential" (Johnstone 13). Johnstone is saying that by becoming aware of the value in things we take for granted and giving value to the undervalued, people and things are removed from the binds of society's social constuct and appreciated for all that they are. Creating art from the everyday means that anyone can shine the light on any subject of their chosing to show that that person, place, or object is worth praise and recognition as much as a Picasso painting or other form of widely appreciated art. There is beauty all around us. Attention to detail in this form of art and creativity refers to finding the details that already exist, as opposed to creating them. By becoming immersed in the world around us we can begin to see, perhaps, how things must change, and art gives us a means of doing so, or at least bringing issues to the public eye in a creative way. By creating art that is honest, organic, and raw, it gives a voice to matters that may be important but so deeply ingrained in the everyday that no one stops to think about it. Bringing attention to peoples' habits, priorities, and the scenery in which we exist can be a strong agent for transformation on a larger scale.