2.10.2014

Linked

On a lighter note from the previous heavy post, here are some snippets of projects I was working on last week. Business card, poster, blog header.

I recently got around to updating my LinkedIn account after ignoring it for . . . three years? A long time. Their emails were so frequent they were on the verge of being spam, and thus I chose to unsubscribe forever and ever. As a SAHM the need to keep up my resume hasn't been pressing, and as a freelancer my active online presence doesn't really need any help from LinkedIn. I do just fine working with indie authors and friends/family, and I'm not jonesing for a busy schedule because, you know, the Mom thing. If I consider working at a brick and mortar building again, it will be after the kids are in school.

But after signing up for an ipsy account, I checked out ipsy's careers page to see that they were hiring a copywriter (starting salary is probably more than my teacher-husband makes . . .) and they requested a LinkedIn profile. Ugh. So, with the future in mind, I gave in finally updated my profile. And who knows what that gleaming, dropping-off-the-kids-at-kindergarten future will bring? I used to say if I worked for a company again it would be with one that gave the same amount of side-eye to LinkedIn that I did, but they've proved themselves over the years to be worth their salt, so whatevs.

Do any of you do make up subscriptions? I used to do Birchbox, but wasn't terribly impressed as a lot of the samples were tiny. Meaning I could get the same thing by just being barraged by salespeople during a brief walk through Macy's. ipsy is supposed to include a lot of full size items, along with a make up bag each month. And they intentionally don't capitalize their brand name because that's just how artsy they are. Awesome.

2.07.2014

Art & Artist

I've had a few blog posts lined up, but have been passing on them since they were kind of abrupt and silly and I've had more serious things on my mind.

Have you guys heard of Woody Allen? Of course you have. Have you read that piece Dylan Farrow published in the New York Times? The one about Woody Allen sexually abusing her as a child? And how her whole life it's kind of been brushed aside because "it's Woody! Annie Hall was so good!" I've been thinking about this, about how easily media wants to debate/disprove her claim of abuse because they love the accused . . .

Anyway, it's been on my mind because I recently found out someone I knew was sexually abused by Stanley Marsh 3. For those who don't know, I grew up in Amarillo, TX and millionaire Stanley Marsh 3 is kind of our Andy Warhol. The rest of the world sees him as this inspiring and quirky artist (best known for Cadillac Ranch) but those of us in Amarillo know him as a pedophile. It was known in our community that he targeted young guys in the punk scene and would invite them to his mansion to become fellow "artists." Plenty of allegations had been brought on him before, but he always, always, paid them off. I remember laughing about it as a kid. "Oh, that Stanley, what an awful man!"

Why I ever found it funny is beyond me. After reading the previously linked article I sat in my room, alone, feeling dark and disgusting, thinking of my friend and all he went through. Looking back at our relationship, I know the time period it happened, when everything changed between us, when he started running with Stanley's crowd, how what was possibly happening to him always lingered in the back of my mind and I never said anything. How, after moving from Texas, people would ask where I was from and when I said "Amarillo!" they said "Stanley Marsh 3!" and I would say, "Yes, the terrible pedophile," and they would dismiss it, because no no no, he's a great artist.

"Separate the art from the artist."

We're more important than art, aren't we? Human beings and our experiences, more important than art? I had a friend once tell me she wouldn't read or go see Ender's Game because Orson Scott Card belongs to a church that doesn't support marriage equality, and no matter how good a story, she couldn't support him. And I respect that. I, too, struggle with my church not supporting marriage equality, because I belong to the same church Orson Scott Card does. And even though I want change and he doesn't, at the end of the day we still belong to the same organization, and if someone decides never to read my work because of that, I'll respect that decision too.

If you ever do decide to go see Cadillac Ranch, I want you to notice the group of boys lingering to the side in lawn chairs. They're there to spray paint the cars at the end of the day, so the canvas is fresh for the new set of tourists to graffiti tomorrow. That's what they do, maintain the art for Stanley. They've been there for years, faces always changing, ages always the same. Maybe they're not there anymore, now that Stanley's had a stroke, now that the pile of paid-off allegations has gotten too high. But the fact that they were ever there, instead of some professional, middle-aged paint crew . . . if you ever do decide to go see Cadillac Ranch, I challenge you to try and separate Stanley's art from Stanley's darker activities when they're standing side by side in front of you.
 
Andy Warhol's studio was called "The Factory" because he was able to produce several works of art on an assembly line. But, after reading a biography on Warhol, I think it was called "The Factory" because it treated people as nothing more than objects to be exploited, used, and recycled. I'm wary of the artist who uses people for art, and those who insist I separate art from people. Why? The artist doesn't.