Through Pen and Lens

This blog began as my journal for the course Identity and Popular Media under the instruction of Dr. Venus Opal Reese at the University of Texas at Dallas. (I included Dr. Reese’s entire name as I have a friend who thinks it is the coolest name ever.) But the semester has come to an end. For those of you, who enjoy reading my tangents, don’t worry; I will continue this blog. It has been cathartic and a bit addictive, so it wont be going away anytime soon. And I will begin to include more of the “lens” aspect. I have been quite busy, as I’m sure you’ve read. But before I end the semester, there are a few things that I neglected to include in previous posts. The first thing I overlooked is an overview of my degree plan – the when I will complete things. Well, if things go as I plan and I am granted transfer credit, I will finish my coursework Fall 2011. OMG that seems so freaking far away! That means I will take my field exams Spring 2012. If all goes well there, and I am determined tha...

Well, here we are at the last official class, and again, I have screwed up. Okay, that's not entirely true. I have been working on ideas for my final project, and needless to say, I have been going in all sorts of directions. So, when we were to give a little presentation on where we were, I had to kind of bullshit my way through because I hadn't yet found my focus. And then there's Dr. Reese. That woman can read a person like a dictionary. There must be some mystical force hovering over her. She didn't comment on my all-over-the-place-probably-not-readiness. But she did see something in the images I presented that made her suggest the eye in the I. See. Told ya she's brilliant. And that's not sucking up, just fact. Anyway, I've decided to do sets of images. A person's eyes close-up, and create an image based on their response to the question, If you could have only one visual image represent you, what would that image be? Should be interesting. The ...

Fun stuff! We had to do a commercial about self-help books, etc. I decided to do a radio spot because I don't have access to a video camera here in Dallas. That would mean appropriating Ashley's, and that would be wrong. Guess I know what I'm adding to my "with my student loans" list. There were video, slideshow, and live-action commercials. I even helped Allene with her live-action by flipping the cards as she did the funniest commercial ever. Thank god we practiced it before class because I would have cracked up and been off cue. Things are getting easier when it comes to getting the theory in. Guess it's just practice. Or maybe not sweating about it so much. Well, here it is. I tried to do it with a sexy voice. If I can figure out how to load it, I will post that part later. Are you tired of those self-help books nobody has time to stop and read? Hi folks. This is Judy B from the Quiet Storm, FM 106.2, G-Trouble Radio. And speaking from personal experi...

Dr. VOR pushes, pushes hard, the buttons. You  will  if she has anything to say about it. And she usually has something definitive to say. So, let me catch you up on the goings on this semester, most due to the afore mentioned personage. Today, I had lunch with an influential person in the art world in Houston; an associate provost with all sorts of ties; a director looking for an editor; an administrative assistant who may be connected to my mother's family; and a student who, among other things, is experimenting with spinach in his cooking, something I look forward to sampling. How in the world did this eclectic grouping become my lunch companions? What's the title of this post. Dr. Alvia Wardlaw (the first of the lunch companions) was the guest speaker today for the UTD National Diversity Month Celebration. (I would love to sit in on one of her classes at TSU.) The program was "Icons, Emblems, and Ancestral Legacy: African-American Art and its Impact on the 21st C...

Before I forget, I believe I owe the class a party. I stated in the post, Popcorn Venus, 28 September, that when I got it right the first time, I would have a party. I've been so busy, I kinda forgot about that. Excluding the sonnet which worked but I didn't like all that much, the first assignment I got right without having to do anything more to it and that I actually liked when I completed it was (drum roll here) the monologue. Actually, that's not entirely true. If we go in the order in which they were due, the monologue is it. However, because we were behind in class, we presented the dialogues first. I got that one right, too! Haha! So, the semester is quickly drawing to a close, just as we all  (yeah, that's me, too) begin to comprehend the significance of the assignments for this class. When you know the theory, you can apply it anywhere; you can see it everywhere (evil scientist's laugh here). Me, I can remember the idea of the theory but have a tendency ...

Okay, there's a lot to be said for the fluidity of identity, but I will be brief. The following is the assignment for today, a manifesto. What's great about it, I truly believe it. I hope it inspires you. We have policed ourselves into believing the definition of a Sexual Self imposed upon you by the Other – the Powers that Be. But we had forgotten two fundamental truths: Power is EVERYWHERE; and Where there is Power, there is RESISTANCE! Meet Your resistance : Sex and gender, male and female. Disavow these repressive limitations, these marginalizing concepts of your bodies. They do nothing to envisage aspiration. Therefore, there is no longer – there never was – an obligation to cleanse your Within . We have come from Within to celebrate your diversity Without ! We Queers as Folk will blur – NO! Obliterate those supposed lines. Break and remake their daily Implementations of Identity – one no more true or “false” than the last. But they will be Y our Own ! We w...

Ethnicity – Now there’s something that can truly fuck with your identity. Was that too harsh? Too bad cause it’s too true. Most of our identity is wrapped up in our ethnicity. Whatever your ethnic background, who would you be if it were changed or taken away? Really think about it for a while. Talk amongst your Selves. I can wait. Deep shit, aint it? I am so loving this class! But we didn’t actually meet today. There is a performance scheduled for Friday that we are to attend as a class, “Keeping it Real: Hip-Hop has Gone Gay” with Tim’m T. West. Unfortunately, I will be living one of my other identities down on the coast and will be unable to attend. But, we did have an assignment: a dialogue. Some of you might recognize a couple of phrases from your own lives. But let me remind you, everything I hear, see, etc. is up for grabs. And as always, names have been changed to protect me from possible suit. Let me know what you think of the dialogue. Scene: Brothers Edom (moved to Franc...

I seem to be doing that quite a bit lately, talking to myself. Perhaps it is the underweight white noise in the apartment. I’m used to birds and turtles doing it at all hours; dogs barking or worse: snoring; aquariums splashing; the washer and dryer continuously in motion; “beeps” from computers; and at least two TVs on, on different stations, calling to me. That’s home. The apartment in Dallas is my “studio,” and I haven’t quite got it right, yet. Maybe this weekend I’ll record the sounds of home, load them on my laptop, and play them on a loop when I get back. What was I supposed to be writing about? See, not enough noise to keep me focused. This is why I’m talking to myself. (Cue music!)  Who am I, anyway? Am I my resume? That is a picture of a person I don’t know. What does [she] want from me? What should I try to be? Apparently, I am the embodiment of Paul from A Chorus Line right now. And he definitely doesn’t what to know himself. Hmm. Wonder what that means? No. I have no...

… There was a girl named Charley who screamed to her self, “Damn it! What the hell were you thinking, going back to school?” Sorry, just had to get that out. I think I’ve figured out what has been blocking me from getting these projects to work. I know I say that almost every week, but I sat and thought about it for a long while the other day. I haven’t done that in years – no time for long periods of reflection with three kids, a husband, two-three jobs at a time, school, and a household to run, not to mention the menagerie that is trying to take it over. What I’ve been doing is reading the texts and highlighting the parts that stand out for me. Then I try to make those parts fit into the context of the assignment. But I have a tendency to add an additional layer, I’m beginning to believe, as a way to focus whatever it is I’m doing. I think it’s the challenge of the additional limit that I like. (Ooh, what does that say about me?) But I think I haven’t been looking deep enough into ...

Don't you think that's a cool title for this entry? Doesn't matter. I didn't make it up. Now we are getting to the stuff I know - popular media. Well, the late 50s (before I was born) to probably the last decade. I've been a little busy lately. But what is funny (probably just to me) is that although I was there when rap first hit the scene, I know little about the artists making it today. So, when the assignment was to create a rap from the theory, I texted Chelsea (my middle daughter) and asked her to recommend some artists (my other two kids - Ashley and Wesley - know less about rap than I do). She suggested Steriogram (never heard of), Common, and Missy Elliot (knew them but only a couple of pieces from each). Also, Karen sent us "Rap Poetry 101," a chapter from a book she found, which helped a lot. (Thanks, Karen!) Here's my rap. It's called Popcorn Venus . The reference is to Gaunlett's text, not Dr. Venus Opal Reese, although I didn...

Oh, my freakin heavens! Sonnet plus theory. One without the other can be insane in the membrane, but both together? Just shoot me now... I'm only half serious. By the way, happy birthday Dr. Reese (9/23). If I ventured a guess; actually, I wouldn't try to guess. As Oprah is fond of saying, Black don't crack, so there's no way of knowing. But she can't possibly be as old as me, and I'm not ready to say how old that is. Yet. (For those of you who already know, keep your mouths shut.) And to the rest of us, happy first day of autumn (same day). Finally, it just might cool off. I had no idea Dallas gets hotter the Houston. So, on to sonnets and theory. How about first, I compare thee two (he he he). Shakespearean sonnets have specific rules. Three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end for a total of 14 lines. The quatrains' first and third lines rhyme as do the second and fourth. Each line of the sonnet is in iambic pentameter. Very structured. Theory...

I love finding contextual clues in other artists' works. There's that concept again - intertextuality. But not everyone will be coming from the same context. There in lies the breakdown in communication, that is, if we expect those same cues to register with the receiver of our information. I know this; I know this. I know this! So why do I always forget this when I'm working on assignments for this class? I think maybe it's the whole creative element. See! I said I was going to regret not having to write traditional papers. This time we were to make a collage of images that represent the elements of Butler's arguments from The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection . Great! I think in images anyway, so no problem. BIG Problem. As usual, I was too abstract. I decided to take images from The Breakfast Club to show things like ambivalence, power, interpellation. But apparently the images could only work if you saw the film, and for most people, recently. M...

I've recently figured out something about myself and my photography. I like to take pictures of "events," for the lack of a better word. If I take photographs of people, it is generally while they are doing something other than posing, most often without their knowledge. I'm not a voyeur (or maybe I am, in a sense). I just like to record things others might miss, moments that are gone and too soon forgotten. While people are doing something other than posing, they often let their guards down, and you can catch some of the most revealing identities, I mean images, ones that may never come again.  Houston to Dallas, 7:30a.m. Forget the date  The same with clouds - the never coming again part. They can change in seconds. I'm the duck that walks outside, looks up and says, "Gorgeous! Wish you were here!" or simply, "Bravo!" Also with clouds is the recording of things others might miss. Most people want sunny skies. Might look good in color, ...

So, we presented our first assignment, the legal brief. OMG! Well, actually, the advice I got from Daddy was right on the money as for what should go into the brief except for the - well, you'll see... I think mine was the second one read. Dr. Reese said that I was a concise writer (lol - I know you want to. Daddy's suggestion, by the way). And she picked up on - no! She read me like a book when she said that Austin frustrated me, that it showed in my writing. For those who might know the professor at UHCL who has a habit of talking in circles as he tries to explain theory (I'm not going to say what kind of theory - that would be giving away too much, as if I haven't already), sitting in on one of his classes would be a cake walk compared to Austin. Not that the professor at UHCL is all bad. Really, he is brilliant and knows his stuff backwards and forward and wants to make sure his students "get it." However, he explains things so many different ways th...