Psychopathic Privileges v Life Affirming Principles: The Young Are Reclaiming Their Lives in America

I am not a parent of high school students but I am living with someone who is.  I know many of you are parents and teachers, and I too have been a teacher in high schools where safety was an issue. 

In just over two years of living in Washington, my partner Dale and I have had to process three shootings involving the schools his children attend.  To hear a young person cry in the middle of the night while we all sit on twitter live with her, tracking posts to see if there is anyone else she knows who was shot, is not something you soon forget.  But this of course was not an isolated incident, thus the task force subsequently commissioned to conduct comprehensive student/teacher training sessions and drills as the new norm. 

The day before the Florida school shooting, an eighteen year old was apprehended in my little town of Everett. His grandmother, disturbed by his behavior, read his diaries and found terrifying entries of his plans to “get the biggest fatality number”. He wanted to make it “infamous” by using his semi-automatic AK rifle at one high school,  while triggering strategically placed homemade timed explosives at another (where, incidentally Dale’s son currently attends).  This would-be shooter apparently studied the “past shooters/bombers mistakes”, intending for his chosen date of attack - set for April 19th, to rival those of the Oklahoma City Bombing (04/19/1995) and the Columbine High School attack (04/20/1999).

The grandmother reported her grandson to the police and turned in his diaries - and thank God, because she potentially saved scores of children by making that call.  The lucky part here is that he was caught before he killed. The frightening part is that he was armed to do it, planned to do it, and - that his story hit the news the same morning as the shooting on the far opposite end of the country. The cops were all over the schools, with bomb sniffing dogs; the kids all on lockdown. The usual.  Or I should say, full blown epidemic.  

This young man played online video games with Dale’s son; and he should be freaked out of his mind by this, but like us, he is apparently numb from the shock...and why, because he's been through this before. His sister, prior to her graduation, had been through this before. Their friends have all been through this before.  It is to be expected. This is life for high school kids in America. And this cannot be stereotyped by city or State, because Washington is a state (along with Oregon and California) renowned for a broad and progressive local legislative portfolio which much of the country has yet to catch up to.  And yet, for unfortunate contrast, Washington is an open carry State with less than preferable gun control measures. We have at least 11 gun and ammo shops within a 10 mile radius of our suburban home, where with relative ease Dale and I could purchase semi-automatic weapons if we wanted to - and that includes two Wal-Marts.  

 signage on glass gun cases at nearby Wal-Mart store

Last year while traveling in Canada, during a time when I was researching gun violence for a related article, I discussed at length the vast difference in gun control legislation there with my gun-owning uncle who all but spelled out how difficult it is to get one, much less multiple guns even as a “responsible” citizen. 

Based on categories of "prohibited", "restricted", and "permitted" guns in Canada, he informed me of legally mandated articles per gun type when applying for a permit: 

You must get references to apply, permits must state specific use of the weapon, and permit-checks are regularly enforced; there are rules for assembly, and double and triple lock storage and transportation; signed spousal agreement is required for guns to be present in the matrimonial home; mandatory courses in usage and safety procedures must be passed along with thirty to sixty day waiting periods before permits are issued for purchase; and, repeated psych-assessments are conducted to ensure you continue to be a responsible owner at licensing, and for every subsequent renewal. 

You cannot just openly carry weapons, nor is there a lifetime guarantee that you will be granted renewed permits to carry them.   And of course there is a logical list of people who just cannot get one at all - like the mentally ill, substance abusers, and domestic abusers. No free-for-alls there.  And how many mass/school shootings does Canada have? Far fewer than us!  And keep in mind they have a robust gun owning culture too - which makes them the best comparison for what the culture of prohibitive gun laws can prevent.  

Culture and Dangerous Optics

There is nothing new here. We know the numbers, we have over 300 million guns out there.  The threat of this was contextualized thoroughly in an important work made 16 years ago by Michael Moore after the Columbine shooting in Littleton, Colorado - which was the sister school of one of my best friends.  The heartlessness of years of disregard by our leaders after every school shooting since, (especially Sandy Hook - given the number and age of the victims) has left a nation nearly paralyzed in fear and confusion, feeling undervalued and helpless. I know I lost hope after Sandy Hook in particular - because it confirmed in a gruesome and dissonant way for me as an immigrant of color, that if little white children were treated as less valuable than gun sales, then these lobbyists and every old white guy official paid by them certainly cared nothing for anyone else in this country.  That incident alone showed the transcendence of their greed beyond any racial reasoning we often put on our many social troubles.  They value only their profits and no one else - which attacks the very mythology of exceptionalism they wish this nation to uphold.  And when you combine this with Trump’s bill reversing gun control measures for the mentally ill last February, in a nation that has, in the same 16 year period since Columbine, defunded mental health programs nationwide, we see how this has all run amok  - and there is nothing but absolute cruelty to blame this on. 

And the thing is, this isn’t only about being scared for your child being at risk of being killed. There is also the fear of your child  being the killer?! A frightening contention.  What about helping out those parents and family members, who certainly are not aided by an open market for weapons! The shooter in Florida was on watch lists, yet he was able to get weapons.  Conversely, this young man in our town was not on any watch lists, neither was he suspected by even his own friends!  No one saw it coming - except grandma.  I do not know his mental condition - compared with the Florida school shooter, as some may debate, but one thing is clear, he was disconnected and very angry.  And he was able to get advanced weaponry to work that anger out just as easily, because leadership failed again to make that difficult. 

And let’s look at that - we have a very young generation who sees through every promise society has broken.  

Leadership has failed to propose any new gun control laws much less getting any passed - after all these deaths - in every facet of our so-called free lives.  And in that time a whole generation has grown up knowing their leadership does not value their lives, our lives.  

When you teach kids this, then you say to them that they are powerless, and the more violent or angry among them unravel and reach with ease for weapons that give them what they think is power.  They fear nothing.  They have no innocent bubble to burst.  This is not only about immediate safety, this is about a deeply rooted cultural value for LIFE.  

Worst still, this culture exports, and can infect the thinking of children elsewhere who look to America as the arbiter of power in the world. 

As James Baldwin said:  “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

In any other context the NRA and organizations like them would be called a terrorist group or at the very least, sympathizers to terrorists.  In ANY other context. And this includes anyone in their profit stream - especially too as it pertains to jurisprudent action to support their function. But no, in the American context it is called a right as a citizen.  Touting the 2nd amendment alongside your semi-automatics makes you patriot.  

Gun violence in the name of ‘self-defense’ cannot be defended as a culture, it is a violent dogma that is ABSOLUTELY and murderously insane.  

The Youth Revolution of Safeguards

I would LOVE to see every student, teacher, and parent from coast to coast in this country take to the streets, ON A WEEK DAY, or a whole school week to march on their respective Capitols - LEAD by the YOUTH to scare the shit out of these assholes to change this madness. And it is coming. 

A nation of children marching in defense of their lives is the most powerful thing that can happen, and who can deny them this? These kids and educators cannot live this way, and parents should not be helpless and terrified to send their children to school. We should not be terrified to go out with our friends to see a movie, dance at the club, watch our favorite musicians on stage.  This is a sure way to sink this place into total incivility...into civil war.  Yes I will say that - again.

Congress and lobbyist thugs, if you will not protect the children of your nation, you will have not nation. This could actually be a moment when our NRA funded so-called President could create sound, enlightened, historical legislation in his dark destructive portfolio. As Dwight D. Eisenhower said: “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”

This is an awful burden leaders have placed on the backs of their young. It is not fair to them, but these young, articulate, and impassioned teenagers are about to take this country back and they have their own leading voices to guide them. And, they will be old enough to vote soon.   

THIS MOMENT IS POWERFUL.
It is the most hopeful moment I have felt in years. 

Thank you #EmmaGonzalez, you brave #SoulJah

#StudentsDemandAction
#StudentsStandUp 

#WeCallBS 

#TimesUp

#thework

#theywontsleep

#midterms2018

#votethemout

#calledit

#castlestormers

#studentwalkout

#nationwide

#newgunlaws

#guncontrolinAmerica

#gunregulationsnow

Important sites: 
Moms Demand Action

Everytown for Gun Safety

Everytown Research 



Updates: 
Feb 20 - Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/20/how-rightwing-media-is-already-attacking-florida-teens-speaking-out

#NeverAgain

Justice Reform discussions with NAACP and POTUS: Long Game

Back to the grassroots of community organizing to address Justice Reform.  "Back to" I say -  if you actually thought Obama ever left.  I've always thought he was busy gathering and establishing and clearing grounds of power to check some political mates.  Impatience always obscures the view of many and often creates disconnected forgetfulness or... selective memory. But for a few there is that thing called The Long Game.




And here we are now…tackling the problem of the School to Prison Pipeline.  Going down the VERY long list of judicial issues and injustices visited upon the Black and Latino population in particular.  We cannot expect any effective change in equalizing opportunity for education, growth, or sustainable success - or at least a shot at it, if the way we apply law and punishment isn't also equalized.

"If you are a parent, then you know there are times when boys and girls are gonna act out in school. So the question is: are we going to let principals and parents deal with one set of kids while we call the police on another set of kids? That's not the right thing to do." - President Obama




I find it interesting that we live in a country and a time where much of the fodder around this latest headline speech is that our President is becoming what we feared he'd become... Huh?  

#schooltoprisonpipeline #stopthecycle #newdayslavery #disciminatoryincarceration #massincarceration #mybrotherskeeper #juvenilesentencing #futurecitizens #notsustainable #HumanRights #EqualRights #mandatorydiscretion #JusticeReform
#logic

A Letter to Rachel Dolezal

Dear Rachel Dolezal,

As I have posted online countless times, I will offer again, in such times, my deferral to the inimitable James Baldwin:

"White is a state of mind" baby!

Meaning, as I'm sure you know, - RACE is a state of mind.  I am not mad you lady; confused by you, but not mad at you.  So you wanted
to be ME, and play a black woman in this world.  Okay.  You certainly could have chosen easier ways to practice your vocational work in civil rights and liberties efforts, an easier way to do the job as it were.  And from what I understand, you've been doing a great job, which you were not given due to any privileges.  So, this matter is a personal one then.  As far as I see it, you have not hurt the cause, or my cause, nor created any potholes in my lawn.  In fact, you may have helped in some indirect odd way.  Who woulda thunk it - a blondie that supposedly gentlemen prefer now wants to be ME!! Well I'll be.

As far as your identity issues, well - keep exploring. If most of us dig deep enough - we can relate.  After all, we are ONE right? And this is the journey we're all on really...to move from the illusive self...to an integrated self. Just keep it honest would be my only advice. People get really upset about lying you see.

And don't you agree that we should get back to the real business at hand - like flooding platforms with vehement comments and the streets with urgent cries on picket signs about the dire humanitarian crisis that is going on at the DR/Haitian border AS WE SPEAK?!  You know - that racial cleansing, stateless sanctioning, reverse forced exodus of a people just a few miles south - the Palestine of the Western Hemisphere dare I be so harsh???!!! 

I know, I know, Facebook needs this fodder, and those TV appearances and book deals are flooding in, soon to buff your bank account, but aren't you just itching to get to get back to some real work here for the true effective betterment of our black brothers and sisters?  Yeah, me too.

To the cause!! And let the forum of idle chatter scatter you transracial poster child you! But I won't call you a bad mamma-Jenner though. Nope. Don't see the connection.

Oh and nice tan and perm by the way - fooled us all, but - it cost us nothing, so over and out.

~  Sincerely from the Monuments of MLK

"If we are to have peace on Earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional.  Our loyalties must transcend
our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."

Berette Macaulay

BRANDED featured...

 The Wall Breakers - a blog space dedicated to the arts featured my project BRANDED... therefore I AM last month, and it was really educational to see how they marketed the post.  Far clearer than anything I've said about the work - they simply stated:  "What the world would be like if facebook status updates were tattoos."  Better right?  I've tried my hand at marketing but I really must admit I'm a bit too prose-y to be effective.  It's another art form really. 

That said - it's interesting to see that the impetus of the work itself has only increased in relevance.  What James Scully on Wall Breakers had to say on the subject, as well as other images and news feeds addressing the same are pinching me into opening this work up again.  

Within a few days I shared quite the relevant graffiti tag on my Tumblr Blog  which aggressive though it may be, addresses quite directly how this generation is reacting to social media.  Now we live with such wide acceptance of this conditioning where the whole concept of privacy, or the value of solitude is not only misunderstood, but unfortunately undervalued.  We're seeing a counter-cultural push back.  The unique and fascinating, near deviant individual is the one who dares live off this grid.  We all have at least one or two in our lives don't we? And sometimes we harbour secret admiration for them - especially when they exhibit signs of balance, calm, time management, and regular inclusion of activities in their lives.  Yes...join the binary the dots. 

In a recent article on the #BBC, Facebook 'likes' predict personality, shows that beyond the power engine of the LiKe click, are the secrets to who we really are.  I think algorithms may slap us soon with real statistical numbers on how utterly unengaged and thus lonely we've become - because apparently instincts and behavioural signals stopped being reliable sources of information a while ago.  Sigh.


OTHER RELATED BBC Links:

Facebook changes privacy settings

Privacy groups call for Facebook changes U-turn (and that viral copyright hoax...)

 

RELATED JOURNEY LINKS: 

Social Web Divisions??? (July 2012)

Face Lift Off: Leaving My Facebook Mask(erade) Behind (April 2012) 

Prick the 'filter bubbles'(May 2011)

Some talk about a new project ...'BRANDED' (May 2010)

 

 

Social Web Divisions???

I just love the endlessness of social studies on social website behaviours here in the US and around the world.  

Though I started my own work observations on this back in 2010 - I imagine that this work will continue on.  I try to read up on any new findings about how our online actions either mimic or override real life social mores and norms.

The BBC recently posted this on their site:  

Is the social web divided by race?

It's an interesting short read and video on how the different races appear to be statistically clustering to certain social sites on the internet.  Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr are featured - making Facebook glaringly absent...  Hmmm....

Check it out!

 

 

 

RELATED JOURNEY POSTS: 

Next SeBiArt Show in Miami + first time Art Basel Visit (Nov 2011)

Face Lift Off: Leaving My Facebook Mask(erade) Behind

Well oops - the researcher became the subject as it were! 

I woke up one day and realized that I start and end my days with Facebook.  That I carried it with me in my handbag (ie. my phone).  That I was never really OFF the damn thing!  

Well - actually a few things shook me awake - like some very real world experiences that proved my early observations that folks take Facebook WAY too seriously - assuming all representations of their lives there equate reality; that validity is gained there first.  Concurrent with this were a couple of rude awakenings of very aggressive behaviours and presumptuous expectations from  virtual strangers - 'virtual' being the operative word here. 

Facebook and the like (no pun) have never been more for me than sites to promote  professional efforts, to communicate with  supporters in a personable way, to have fun exchanging written banter on shared interests with friends and acquaintances, and to exchange links + fotos with my peeps/REAL members of my physical life.  (Ironically less exchanges actually happen with my physical-world friends on these platforms - perhaps because we have 'reality' - lol).  I guess in short, FB is like an interactive address book, bookmark keeper, and calendar that makes us all appear to have great memories when it comes to birthdays (come on - birthdays on Facebook rock! lol), or far more active lives by virtue of the 'LiKes' and links we share! 

But somewhere in between my sociological/artistic observation and research of this for my project BRANDED... and me being a participant, I engaged in some of the very same behaviours I was analyzing in others.  I remained fiercely private about matters that don't belong there, and never attacked anyone, but around mid Summer of last year I started spending an inordinate number of hours on that thing! I started needing that interaction for ego strokes, a good laugh at stupid jokes (fun times! sigh...), stimulating conversations/debates at a 'safe' distance, blah blah blah.  I also justified this in the name of promotional necessity for my work.   

The first important statistical fact that bubbled to the surface and smacked my face in was the fact that I wasn't really promoting that much - save for a show post here and there, or appeal to 'LiKe' my page...(eye roll).  Further, I felt I was running out of things to promote.  I spent hours here, thus reducing the amount of free time I had for the life I was investing in before, like writing on this blog for instance; creating more photograpahic or collaborative projects; teaching art with orgs I support; writing proposal submissions for my work; soliciting paying jobs...etc.  Though I have met or reunited with a number of great souls and characters there, the bottom line is that much time spent on FB has not resulted in any appreciable improvement to my physical work process as an artist, nor has it resulted in increased commissions and sales for my work.  Not the way all real life and blogger interractions do.  It's like high school where one will forego doing homework so you can play in the right circles for popularity points.  Who wants to miss the next viral post that proves you being current?!  The number one procrastination tool confessed to by millions is Facebook! Wow.  All I'm saying is like all things, there needs to be

...b a l a n c e.  Of course this is obvious  - as I've continually examined here on this journey blog.  But to wake up inside this particular belly as it were has been a bit stinky and I wear this stink with a bit of embarrassment too, hence my need write it all out here. I believe if we cover up, hide, or 'front' - the beast wins.  So...

...the most liberating thing was to decide to take a break from that amoebic blue world beast - at least for a little while - lol.

A friend of mine, Jimmy, who does this often always referred to Facebook as a country - "sometimes I fly in, visit loved ones - hang out in new spots, meet a couple folks, and then I return home".  

And so I've posted this on Facebook and flown home. I've set up my bathroom darkroom and spent hours doing pinhole photography. Sweet liberation to be shared in subsequent posts.

APRIL 27, 2012:

Not that this is MaJoR news yeah,  but I've been told that without prior warning of FB sabbaticals some folks might create the wrong ideas when they suddenly see a 'friend' disappear. 

So...I'm checking out temporarily from MAY 1st to JULY. 

I confess that I have fallen into the FB addiction trap - woke up one day a realized this place is getting more of my time than my actual work is.  I know - such an unusual observation right?!!!   Well I like being on top of  my creative work and blogging about that, and other such pass-times as old-fashioned emails, phone calls, yoga, chocolate, cheese shopping, etc.  I need to plug out of this and plug deep into feeding my soul. :)

I expect I'll see many of you in REAL life, and on other spots like ...twitter  (so far that'll stay up tho I still have NO idea how that thing really works...).  But yah - May 1st (that's Tuesday) FB gets the boot for bit... will play til then. :)

One Love Munchkins and Happy Weekend!

B

A fellow Facebooker who thought it a good idea to do the same - photographer Jim Northorp:
  Cyber-Celibacy Facebook No Mo?

RELATED POSTS:
-Some talk about a new project...'BRANDED' (Oct 2010)
-Awakening in the Illusion (Sept 2010)
-Apathy as Peace of Mind? (April 2010)

Thank You Steve Jobs - You Changed It All

I have no words of my own.  Gobsmacked... 


"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it." ~ Barack Obama

from BBC:  Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies aged 56

More than almost any other business leader, he was indistinguishable from his company, which he co-founded in the 1970s. 

Apple - whose market value is estimated at $351bn (£227bn) - is now the world's most valuable technology company. Only oil giant Exxon Mobil is worth more.

As the face of Apple, Jobs represented its dedication to high-end technology and fashionable design. 

And inside the company he exerted a level of influence unheard of in most businesses.

Prick the 'filter bubbles'

Aim to discombobulate the organizing algorithms of amalgamated trivial feeds: 





RELATED JOURNEY LINKS:

Some talk about a new project ...'BRANDED' (May 2010)

 

Some talk about a new project ...'BRANDED'

So finally - a chat about the creative part of the journey - or at least, the current inspiration for my artistic trippin'.  I know it seems like I've been vacationing and getting rewarded for it - haha.  But the truth is my last couple of trips to Jamaica have mainly been about work, work-work-work.  I have 3 new projects slow roasting on the burner now  - but the higher fire is under a series called BRANDED...therefore I AM which I started in the early Spring of this year.  

I've had a couple of delicious 'AHA' moments over the past year and a half regarding the use of social websites, and the maddeningly-genius-connectivity-of-a-near-socio-psychotic-reality that bothered the heck out of me but didn't seem to bother as many other people as I'd thought!  Of course I'm a player and therefore a part of this online global community shift, so it feels oddly dissociative to criticize the mediums that I use on a daily basis - but, my fascination with human complexities and my studies in psychology just dragged me into this analytical and critical discourse - and naturally I had to figure out how to create work out of it.  Hence the first 'exile' image of the series that I posted back in April:

BRANDED - Fool In Exile

BRANDED... is in essence, a rudimentary representation of the seemingly open and sophisticated, yet phatic self-branding we often create on social websites. It is comprised of a series of location portrait and nude photographs showing aphorisms or phrases on body painted subjects; a video short; and an interactive installation (a secret until showtime);  all serving as observations or portrayals of private thoughts and social fears of rejection, isolation, or persecution, - or conversely - social wishes of mass acceptance, popularity, power, and influence.  BRANDED... however, is raw on purpose. I don't want to create polished imagery because I want to test our senses to see if a crudely created image can still be visually, psychologically, and emotionally tangible. And, in this mass intangible coming together there seems to me to be a new collective isolation which begs at the very least, for some mental masturbation on the matter!

I have interviewed a number of people so far for this work, and in so doing I've been inspired to conduct a full scale survey on the usage habits of social websites (which will take me back to my school days when I had to do surveys for my social psych papers - ahhhh!).  It's so fascinating how we all have deeply rooted ideas about our identities and character traits, and how sharply these ideas sometimes contradict our online (onstage) personas.  And what I've found even more interesting is how some of us seem to need to express these altered parts of ourselves to jumpstart or finish our days!  But sadly, if we're not careful, we can be 'outed' but not-so-friendly 'friends'.

BRANDED - Beautiful Mistakes

Just a few days ago it was reported that a young man, shamed in the virtual world by his roommate, shared his last words on Facebook before jumping off the very real George Washington Bridge in New York.¹  And I just heard on the news this week that the first US internet withdrawal clinic (requiring physical check-ins, as opposed to that of virtual clinics -  a sardonic  contradiction) just opened up in Washington!  Actually the nation with the second largest web user population of 94 million*, China, beat the USA (the largest user pop) to this back in 2005, with the opening of a Web Addiction Center for children and young adults - after government officials  cited concerns that the internet was "eroding public morality". And speaking of that - don't you  find it troubling that face-to-face contact has not only decreased as a result of our online social lives, but with the acceptability of our web/iphone/bberry-time demands, many of us actively create that decrease in our scheduled time for hanging out with our friends?  Will the norm of staring into screens make us socially enept?  I kind of think so.  And as a friend of mine noted, and aptly too, even when we are in each others company - the unspoken understanding is that at least 50% of that time will be devoted to staying connected on our devices while chowing on brunch or in the theater watching a flick! 

I just stumbled upon yet another by-product of this phenomenal shift on the BBC news site where the new business concept of friendship rental services are now popping up in several countries - where, yes guys, people are renting 'friends' so they can have company in their actual lives since their real friends are too busy to go to the movies or check out a new restaurant, etc; like online dating if you will. Now some of you may say, 'that's never gonna take off' - 'those people need to get a life' - 'that shit is for looo-sers'; not far from the general protests to social websites in recent years too, until one by one...we conformed.  The point is - this is not my imagination (well duh Berette!)- the virtual world is so close to really taking over that  I have to ask if this 1984-BigBro-touchless-life-of-staring-into-lit-screens is really the way to get closer or to keep in touch (as we ironically justify it)??? Do we want to live in the matrix; I mean really? And though it may seem like it, no, this is not meant to be a seditious plea against the advertising mecca** of Facebook and the like; I mean, maybe all the entertaining online bonding and networking benefits outweigh the unfortunate  community expropriations*** - who knows? I'm just inspired to examine its effects, on me, my relationships, and social behavioral changes in general - for the good and for the bad.  And where Facebook is concerned, how can one effectively speak out against the Goliath of middle and upper class conformity of 500+ million??!!

BRANDED - Signs of Success

Where ever one stands on this topic (which may soon spark sensitive reactions in proportions akin to the other hot topics like religion, politics, and sex)the newly released film "the social network" from the brilliant mind of Aaron Sorkin, has really put the topic on the big thinking table now, which kinda feels like a notarization of my artistic response - heehee - so I am thus, in a rush to share this with you, on my blog, before the tangible gallery exhibit.  And, um, to the first obvious counter response here - touché.

BRANDED - Running for Stillness

 


More Reading:
 ¹ - UPDATE  Rutgers webcam spy Dharun Ravi sentenced to 30 days,  May 2012 
*Wired Magazine, Beijing Clinic Treats Web Addicts, July 3rd, 2005
**Bloomberg Businessweek, How Facebook Sells Your Friends, Sept 24, 2010 
***Net Addiction Souces



 © BRANDED (...therefore I AM)  in name, concept, and imagery are the copyrighted property of Berette Macaulay/SeBiArt.  All rights reserved.

Apathy as Peace of Mind?

I’m becoming increasingly concerned by the threatening possibility that the only way to stay calm these days, is quite simply to withdraw into apathy, to block the incomprehensible amount of flying bullshit from every direction.

As soon as I’m anywhere near disingenuous or needlessly competitive self aggrandizing energy, or a TV set, or in earshot of any radio station tuned to just about ANY news station, my brain literally begins to block sound and light, and I start tunneling all mental and physical efforts toward escape.

Currently tangled in the net...

Or maybe this is the detritus result, a remnant sensitivity if you will, to ditching anti-anxiety pills in order to preserve my sanity, memory, and sense of control over my faculties.

Long sigh into the vastness...  

People who need health care in America are fighting against its provision;  one of the world’s oldest and certainly one of the largest organizations - the Catholic Church - is cracking under child abuse scandal and scrutiny now directly hitting the leader itself; the US Census Bureau has decided to offer me the choice to be called a Negro; we seek refuge via Facebook-Twitter-Texting-big screen/little screen love-with-no-talking-or-touching but constant me-me-me marketing; earthquakes are shaking up shit everywhere; China is buying up everything and we have a Tea Party; Israel and Palestine… … …; we're in a recession but people are getting richer...; the Congo – the Congo – the Congo – anybody?; and on and on and on… And here I am, in need of creative inspiration, desperately gripping to the idea that photography of the non-journalistic kind is important.  Humpf. 

Deep breath…

TV/Radio/PC ga-ga off.

Click wheel activated.

Headphones in, vital stats normalizing.

Smilin' - in Jamaica.

Nap time.