Fall 2018 - Arts and Activism Class Blog

Jesse LeVesconte 1. Radical art creates conversations  2. When creating work be aware of context (physical, economic, etc.) 3. Representation and the question of who should represent what under which circumstances is important to locating the social, cultural, and political context of a  work 4. Aesthetics and optics are political tools 5. The relationship between truth, meaning, and communication is a moving target. 6. Living in imagination and for imagination 7.  It is important to me to be generative and I hope being generative will become important to more people 8. Art is a tool for contemplation 9. Art allows one to question convention and behave in ways which challenge the status quo and affirm humanity  10. Art allows one to become and explore unknown versions of themself and others 

One: I was so stuck in the angry teenager phase of my art practice and for such a long time that I quite forgot how to value any approach that didn't feel to me "active" enough. But that was so long as I refused to believe that "active" could take any form other than ripping people's throats out or stomping stilettos through their tongues or throwing every provocative thing imaginable up onto the stage; because I feared I never could be "active" enough, I trembled at the thought of tenderness as a plan of action--it would have meant that I was doing enough at the start, back where I first began. If I remember correctly, the only reason I threw myself onto a stage at age eight was because I needed to share my joy with the people in the room. My joy was too big for me to carry alone. By the time it became my career, I had been fed for years with the thinking that a faggot's joy was shameful, culpable, condemnable. My rage became my power and the ...

One of the most beneficial parts of the discussion with Noga and Josh to me was when they shared the elements of serious process needed to complete their work with the credit it required. The methodology of going back to something that was gold for months only to realize it has become contextually irrelevant or even harmful. The formula of always making work the best it can possibly be is the only way to let work survive. Sorry for being late again, Witkacy and illness are killing me.

TEN KEY TAKEAWAYS:  1). Do not be afraid to question yourself/peers/instructors. Fear of confrontation only stifles growth for you and others learning around you.  2). Ask for elaboration and/or rephrasing before jumping to response. Context is key in a “safe” learning and explorative environment. Often times these spaces can breed heated debate and discussion; to deepen this inquiry it’s best to better know the person you’re engaging rather than assume you know all the information.  3). A game can be a quick and fun way to become familiar with the ways you and other artists navigate obstacles. Games provide a less hypothetical, more tangible, problem and solution based experience than discussion often times and especially in the earlier stages of a group relationship understanding is essential.  4). Power is always present, even when you’ve attempted to negate it entirely. No matter to what level you’ve tried to strip away a singular power in a situation like t...

I have already taken away a lot of key information, new understandings and inspiring tactics that I plan to add to my “artivist” toolbox so far. Ten key takeaways that I plan to add to my “artivist” toolbox include: Melodrama paved the way for Romanticism in theatre. Romanticism departed from Neoclassicism and aimed for larger audiences. Romanticism in theatre was performed by enhancing the drama of human life. It worked to combine the ugly and beautiful. Performances were what could be seen and interpreted as a reflection of human life. Something that the audience could relate to. Recognizing Privilege is also something that opened my eyes up when we started going through the Privilege Checklist. Also, a new understanding of recognizing privilege that resonated with me was listening to "Radical Hope Is Our Best Weapon" with Krista Tippett and Junot Díaz on Krista's podcast "On Being". At one point during the podcast Junot Díaz said "...how peopl...

Intention versus Impact Accessibility in Art Everything has a Spectrum. Binaries simplify. Research the Act Asking Listen Understand then reply Radical Hope We all have blind spots We are all privileged to a certain extend

10 Takeaways 1. binaries help to specify 2. every story is important 3. be careful not to exploit people's stories 4. if you aren't the right person to tell the story, find someone who is 5. trial and error is effective 6. silence is privilege 7. collaboration opens new doors 8. all art is political 9. art is anthropological 10. there are ways to tell the story without making it about yourself

Privilege is not black and white. The are many ways in which we can be privileged and all of these different ways are in conversation for us to better understand one another's individual experience. It is important as artivists that we make work consciously.  When we stop asking ourselves the hard questions and having open and thorough conversation with ourselves and our collaborators we stop serving the people we are trying to help. Recognise power in pre-existing structures and use them to your advantage. Being a complete anarchist can only take you so far, it is by infiltrating the system that we can make real change.  We must keep the people we are serving at the centre of the work. When we get lost in our own practice we may do more damage than good. We must be brave in our art making practice. Change can start from within a community. Do not shy away from preaching to the choir, sometimes that can be the change itself. It is incredibly important to actively liste...

1. Research is never done, and it is your job to get as much information as possible. 2. Silence is a privilege. 3. We live in a binary society, and binaries don’t really exist. 4. Not all art is made for me, but it’s my job to understand its importance in context. 5. We all have our blind spots, our responsibility lies in identifying them. 6. Keeping and maintaining a radical hope. 7. Pause and listen. Listen to understand not to reply. It’s not always your place to speak. 8. Listen to your critiques through a filter. Who are they coming from? 9. Make your own work. Make a lot of work. Keep creating. All over the spectrum of “good” and “bad” art. 10. Ask questions. But also know when it’s not their job to educate you.

1. Power in vulnerability. 2. Importance of conversation. 3. Research, research, research. 4. How to identify privilege. 5. How to use privilege to create positive change. 6. Don’t be precious. 7. Create a BRAVE space. 8. No change is too small. 9. Pick the advice you listen to wisely. 10. Take up space.

1) Many people see the worlds issues in black and white, as artists it is our job to explore and expose those grey areas in between 2) Regardless of if you are aware of it of not you are always using tactics, principles and theories 3) Ask questions 4) Don't be precious about your work, don't be afraid to destroy something to make it better 5) Being aware of who it is that is critiquing you or your work 6) Successful / unsuccessful artavists and their movements throughout history 7) How can you use your voice to tell others stories 8) How to appreciate/ learn form work that isn't intended for you 9) Research is key 10) The importance and use of silence

1. Privilege is not a binary 2. Binaries can be helpful in understanding that everything exists on a spectrum 3. Silence can be a privilege or a survival skill 4. Not all art is made for everyone, but we should all strive to understand 5. Do your research 6. You can make a large statement with simple means 7. Ask when you are unsure 8. Making personal art is making universal art 9. Take criticism with a grain of salt 10. Create, correct, repeat

1. The importance of silence being a privilege 2. Make art that is accessible 3. Preach to the choir 4. Listen 5. Empathy can be tangible 6. Research everything 7. Binaries are dangerous when defining complex forces 8. Learning never stops 9. Intention is the main defining factor of a project 10. Make space for other stories than your own.

1. Research is never done 2. Explore where you stand in the spectrum   3. Know thy enemy (the structure you’re challenging) even better than you know your cause 4. Great change has small beginnings 5. Question everything   6. Listen 7. A leader holds no power 8. We are subject to other people’s subjectivity   9. The balance between being objective and empathetic to find greater clarity 10. Immerse yourself into your ideas - have radical hope

1. Connect to your intended audience  2. Research, know where you stand, know your opinion 3. You don’t need to do everything alone, sometimes gathering a group is more powerful 4. Be courageous, fight for what you think is right 5. Some art is not meant for you, but it’s still your job to understand where it comes from 6. It is important to know other peoples positions to your idea & opinion 7. Know your blindspots and how to work to overcome them 8. Never get discouraged in your beliefs based on the state of your culture, people, community. 9. There are other ways of protesting than gathering and causing havoc 10. Do not be afraid to ask questions  

1. Understand what is ACTIVISM means. I only thought that political activism can resonates a issue. However, I learned that there are different kind of art form, which can be activism. 2. Learned Activist more than before. I did not know there are many activist artists in the world.  3. How people express their opinion with reasons 4. Research is crucial process to express my mind. proof my work and freedom. 5. Existence of war without weapons.  Only weapon is my brush and paint to express it.  6. How to understand LGBTQ community and respectful mind.  7. Be connected to the world. Watch the news, read newspapers that encourage more.  8. Listen and react.  9. There are at lest one person who stands for you.  10. Be more cautious about people in the world. 

1. Attention to detail 2. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH 3.  A process requires trails and errors 4. You can't do everything yourself, ASK FOR HELP 5.  Not all work is made for you 6. It's important to explore unheard stories 7. Puppetry is a was to transport the audience into another space where stories can potentially receive a new perspective 8. Not glorifying tragedy 9. What's the purpose of telling other's stories? Can you? 10.  Need to know your audience when marketing

While listening to Noga and Josh talk about their project Red and Boiling, I was so moved by their artistic process in how they created the show and how what we have learned in Arts Activism can be directly used in the real world. My 10 key takeaways are: 1.)Understanding your privileges and then using that knowledge to check yourself in your artistic practice, but then not letting that stop you from telling the story you know needs to be told. I learned that its how you use your knowledge of your privilege to go about your artwork. For example, Noga telling the stories of black lesbian women and how she used her privilege of being white to better understand HOW she has to share their story. 2.)Being curious and courage to ask questions or tell stories that are controversial or where some may think you don't have the right to share that story. Ex. me asking Nic what pronouns mean. You may make a mistake and fall on your face, but as long as you're constantly seeking understa...

The most important thing I have learned from this class is to not be afraid to ask a question or be afraid of my own ignorance. My topic from the slideshow on The Declaration of the Rights of Man was helpful as an example of another country trying their best to achieve civil rights. The Federal Theater project; that was the first time I had really learned a concrete example of when the government funded the arts. I had never heard of Brutalism before this class and that style of life/architecture really affected me. I had never heard about Maquailopolis before I watched the documentary and it taught me about the reality of the lives of the people affected by mass labor exploitation. Another key takeaway, also from the same documentary, was that the physical presence of someone documenting your experience can embolden you to make radical change, and can also affect the way others see you professionally (ie the crew going with the women to the lawyer meeting with the compan...

Arts and Activism - 10 Key Take-aways - Chance Lang   10 Key points to take away:   Regardless of whatever discovery you make, what is the counterargument?   Don’t create form a place of guilt or shame.   Know your blindspots so you can ask for help from the right people.   Have radical hope. Initiate change in your immediate community first before you thinking of reaching millions.   I’m not yet ready to make my own work. I need to gain some life experience first.   Cultivate your emotions into tools you can use to create.   Nobody wants you to be an artist, so what’s your reason to be one?   Binaries create the extremes of the spectrum.   If you want to be heard, you need to listen.  

Abigail Stanton 10/19/18 Maquilapolis is a transparent political documentary. La Promotoras have an empowering story to share. Their story challenges multinational capitalist and the toles it takes on the environment and addresses their human rights as workers demanding better working conditions. The relevance of the film is extremely provoking. Carmen and her fellow promotoras show us a small victory which seems mere as we leave their community still struggling at the credit. The film has ethnographic qualities as female workers in Tijuana capture the environmental devastation and health issues industrial waste cause. Mass dumping is documented as we watch the streets of Tijuana flood with chemical discharge. Toxic smoke and ash pollutes the local communities harming the locals. Mothers and children show the dark spots on their skin to the camera. Abandoned factories fill the air with lead contamination, nondecomposable materials bury the Earth’s surface, nothing has been d...

Maquilapolis is a film that utilizes a somber beauty and unforgiving honesty. When the starring women described their inhumane working conditions, the ways that their lives were affected long after their shifts were done, left me with a feeling of claustrophobic unrest. One of the tactics used in this film that I found to be striking was the conversational tone used by the narrators and part, the following shots of severity. In many documentaries I've seen, there is a general script and the film is "casted" in a certain way to support the filmmakers thesis. In this case, I found myself listening in on what felt like unedited conversation, with visual support. While no conversation is truly unedited, the curation of this film was extremely well done.

What resonated with me? Maybe it was the innumerable accounts of children, infants, babies either dead or dying at the hands of hazardous chemicals in their water, in the air they breathe, in the dust that settles on every square inch of Tijuana. Maybe it was the myriad hate crimes against mother Earth inflicted by American corporations so tyrannous in their stupidity that it's heinous, or the very deliberate American way of making a socioeconomical wasteland of the rest of the world and somehow still evading, punishing or shamelessly ignoring every recrimination, every allegation of human rights violation and every law that should have had them axed on the spot a long time ago. Maybe it was the despairing reality of our multinational economical hierarchies or the guilty reality that every day I participate somehow in the globalization of commodity fetishism, every day I put my money where my mouth is when I fund the corporate hegemonies that value and handle humans as commodities,...

What resonated with me through the video diary was how poorly the workers were treated, the lack of care the factories had for their employees overall health and life, the damage that these factories have continuously done to the environment of the people, the amount of lives that are at risk because of the way these factories are working, and the fact that Manuel García Lepe (Baja California Office of Economic Development) believed that the workers living conditions and the amount they are being paid was all fair and fine because they settle down illegally. He said he’d go around the city everyday, and that he knew and loved his city and knew that the city was “in good shape” (Lepe). It also baffles me that action was taken from the government once the international media coverage was involved. The tactics/strategies that the artists employed in this piece in order to engage with the issues identified by the groups they worked with in Tijuana were interviewing people that had bee...

I really enjoyed the Maquilapolis documentary because it I learned about something that I didn't even know was going on. I am floored that these women who go from factory job to factory job enduring these terrible chemicals because they must support their family. This documentary highlighted the strength, willpower, and dedication that women have and how they are doing everything possible to provide. In light of our country's recent political events and outlook on women demonstrated by the president of the United States, this documentary really made me feel proud to be women. Although I have never been in their situation, I was damn proud that aside from bureaucracy and corruption of their government, these women were enduring the conditions AND fighting these major companies for the rights they lawfully have. I liked how the artist of this piece helped the women's cause of gaining awareness to their conditions BY doing her art. Making this documentary sheds light on the ...

What resonated with me in this video was how these big buildings are supposed to mean somehow an advance in the economics of the place they are in. In their own words, these buildings mean globalization. But the reality is that the economic growth is exclusively for the place they come from, and an abuse to the place they are placed.   The people who work in these companies know that these buildings mean tax breaks for the owners of the companies at the expense of cheap labor. The workers know that these companies and their owners care absolutely nothing about the workers health and a life with dignity. But these companies mean jobs as well. For the workers, no matter how little they gain, at least is something and they can bring some food for their families. All of it at the expense of their health and their families future. The tactic that I see was employed by the artist was to be with the interviewees, not only when they were being interviewed, but ...

The part of Maquilapolis that hit me with a serious feeling of anger at the injustice these female laborers faced was listening to the story of the woman who was elated to have won only 2000 dollars in a settlement. This made her and her co workers happy because most people had received less that a quarter of this from the same company. The true cowardice and repugnancy of these manufacturing of these companies is seen most clearly when she later goes the the site of the factory where she was employed. She is met by the man whose family rented the building, and he tells her that she has been lied to. That she did not become unemployed because of the company going bankrupt, but because they left the factory to avoid paying taxes.

     When one goes to the store and buys a new television set or simply a small set of batteries, they usually never think of how they were made or how they ended up in their hands.  This documentary puts the faces to the item and opens your eyes to reveal how large corporations take advantage of lower class communities and puts them and the community at risk. One of the things that resonated with me in the film was that even though the community was both physically and metaphorically living in the shadows of the big corporations, it did not stop the small group of woman from gathering their voices and taking on the big manufacturers in order to get the benefits that they lawfully deserve.  Not only did the small group of women gather to take on the big corporations for benefits and the money that they deserve, it is also a start on gathering as a community to make the living situation as a whole cleaner and more safe.        One of the...

"I have no complaints, it's a good job. The only problem is the lead contamination." There is a tone to this documentary, an everyday, day-in-the-life style pacing to the piece and a matter of fact way of conveying the information from these women that evokes such a visceral response. To hear these horrible details of their work environment - low pay, contamination and disease risk, etc. - combined with their soft gratefulness for the job, an gentle insistence or reassurance that it's a good one and matter of fact manner in the text - this is just how it is, creates a strong reminder of one's own privilege. This combined with the slow editorial style pacing in the actual filmmaking process create a world that we could recognize as a real space in time, now - there are no theatrical speed-ups, large jump cuts to constantly hard pressing action against these women, dramatic music in the back to let you know something bad is happening - it's real life. The ever...

week 5 This piece allowed me to digest the information given in a very personal way. it is provocative in the sense that you can't watch this film without stirring up feelings of discomfort and sympathy towards the subjects. It also caused me to reflect on my position in this world in relation to these women. One who feels that they have more privilege than the subjects undeniably feels responsible for helping or taking action in one way or another.

As a general lover of documentaries, I was really excited to sit and watch. One of my least favorite things in a documentary is the tendency to watch a director soouly focus on the things that make them interested in the subject they’re speaking of. When watching documentaries, I want to hear from and through voice of whats being documented, which is exactly what this piece allows. The use of video diary really allows the authenticity into the space of the piece. No, prepared questions, just an honest act of living. I think this is a great reminder that our voices, especially when brought together can make a huge difference (cliche, but true.) The fact that those who made this were not seeking anything but telling the truth shows the need to be heard. This wasn’t made to hit the film circuit and gather buzz, it was made by a group of woman who needed to be heard. Though there was a positive outcome, the unknown ending resonated with me the most. Carmen was able to provide a home for...

The creator of the documentary presented the subject of the film with such a masterful distancing. For most of the documentary, I felt a lack of the creator's opinion on the piece which allowed me to really invest in the story being told as opposed to mindless being spoon fed by someone who is trying to figure out what was witnessed just as much as I am. The blunt frankness of the living conditions made me actively uncomfortable. It felt like a call to action without the actual call, which was very effective. The allowance of storytelling from the source as opposed to through a medium made viewing the documentary much more important.

I know very little about making a documentary, but I do know that one of the most important things is not telling your subjects story for them. This film doesn't feel like a Buzzfeed documentary that's more focused on the interviewer and their interpretation of their experience in learning about the subjects they decide on. This film lets the wide variety of those effected by the hazardous living conditions and maltreatment speak for themselves, treating them as equals as anyone working to tell the stories of underprivileged should do. Seeing people living in these conditions instils a lot of emotion, and it makes me think of the communities like the one featured in Maquilapolis all around the world. I think utilizing resources like the voices of those directly effected, showing strength and hope without romanticizing it, and all around making sure you are doing nothing but providing the space for someone to speak their truth for themselves are all extremely important things to...

Group of women and children's health resonated with big pollution due to the factory. All the chemicals impacted people who live in the community. Then, when it rains the factory waste water came to the neighbors. There were young kids who suffered from illness because of the pollution. Although people were getting money from factory, they were sicking of the environment. I think when group of women workers gathered and spoke up in public, it was great start for them. Also, they arouse their concerns together.  If they have more public opportunity to spread this issues in the world. There will be the changes.  

MALQUILAPOLIS - WEEK 5 - MARCUS BALDWIN This film makes think of the tyranny that comes with the supply and demand ethic of capitalism. Ultimately efficiency, repetition, mass production, and profit come before humanity in the work environment. I think the eye opening thing about this documentary is that this exploitation is legal and common. And yet, it is clearly a violation of these women's health and rights by the standards we live under in this country. The working conditions and the wages are none that the average American citizen would settle for, and to realize this isn't coincidence but the very reason these big companies outsource to Mexico, further shows how unethical the system is. I think the documentarians made a meaningful step towards subverting the system that treats these women as expendable, by allowing them to dictate the narrative of the documentary. Some of the imagery at the beginning of the division between the U.S. and Mexico at the boarder and the sc...

Things that I resonated with: The women and children's living conditions  The shot of the factory's waste water that was released during the rain The corruption in the government - how high up it is What is worse? Sinning to get paid? or paying to sin? Tactics/Strategies: The women choosing to use local representation in their first case rather than a government appointed lawyer The gathering of workers to get the PROFEPA rep to travel to them and address their concerns The gathering/rallying of people was essential to all of their successes - Success meaning to cause fear in the big companies and/or getting the higher up officials to have a conversation with them. Stacia Marcum

The treatment of women and the effect these factories had on the nearby neighborhoods resonated with me the most. The women all knew exactly why they were being taken advantage of, stating that they knew that the companies perceived them as weak and docile. The children being affected by the wastewater and exposed wires gave me visceral nausea. It is impossible to not be reminded of people you know, or even your own family, when watching these women's stories. Some strategies that the documentarians used when gathering this information was making sure to talk with many different types of families in a range of areas affected by these factories. The documentarians focused on the women who were receiving the brunt of the labor oppression and their stories, presenting the subjects as insightful and inspiring as they really are, not just people to be pitied. They used a lot of footage that the women captured themselves, showing their actual POV without judgement. They followed them to...

Maquilapolis     Watching this documentary was heart wrenching and simultaneously unsurprising. Constantly I felt the impulse to say "how could we let this happen," or some other meaningless drivel. The filmmaker used very effective timelapse techniques that really stuck with me. Watching the women stand in place as the world flew by them really solidified this feeling that the world is literally passing these people by. We use them and their land and don't bother to give them a second glance. The filmmaker also used layering techniques using nondiagetic sound to have one of the women talk about their experience while simultaneously forcing you to experience what that's like. What a minor part in a tube tv these women work to make, at slave labor wages, and receive health problems as a result. Then their jobs are taken because the wages are even lower somewhere else? What terrible things are we inflicting on those people? The filmmaker also expertly weaved many w...

I found this film to be extremely eye opening. When i get a pack of batteries from the store ,  i never stop to think about the obvious fact that someone, or i could assume many people took time to make them. I never picture them, there family , their home or life. This documentary put face to just a few of the many faceless workers for american goods. This film let the women effected tell their story and it really felt like they were in charge of telling it. The film humanized these women , detailing there real experiences and showing their families and homes. They even let them record video diaries in order to let the women further control their story. I felt little to no "crafting" of the story from the filmmakers, or their point of view at all.  My one critique of the film was that they repeatedly had  many different women do voiceovers saying items they make in the factory while showing an empty factory or the smocks they wear while various  women said where t...

This film was pretty heartbreaking, even with the the positive outcome of the trial. One of the things that struck me the most was the unwavering determination of Lourdes and Carmen.  Their determination in fighting for what they are entitled to, and their determination in the face of living in unlivable conditions. Live wires hissing in sewage water, lead and ash and chemicals and not being able to wash your clothes with the rest of your family due to contamination isn't humane. Their level, even tone when discussing their living and working conditions was so powerful and disheartening at once. They carried themselves with such strength throughout the film. I was glad that no one saw it necessary to fetishize the community's hardships, as documentaries often do. Just seeing the community living it was heartbreaking and effective. This really comes through when they are walking near the uncovered, abandoned factory. The air smells of chemicals and they are getting ash all over ...

        This film put me in a confused state. I’ve tried starting this 4 times now, because the right words aren’t coming to me, so I’ll settle with words that are coming to me. This film made me feel defeated. I didn’t feel hopeful or provoked, or angered or even sad. Maybe that’s because the material is content I’ve heard before. Specifics were new and interesting, but most of it was stuff I’ve been aware of. In watching it, I just kept thinking, what does one do with this info? Now that I’ve seen this, what do I do? I felt like there isn’t much to do. I don’t feel like there’s anything I can do to stop massive corporations from pursuing capitalism. It’s the foundation of the country.   Corporations have money and can afford to higher expensive people. Those people will take advantage of those who aren’t as smart or as financially secure to take advantage of them. This has been going on since the beginning of time. It hasn’t changed, so will it ...

The three principles I investigated were, "Use your radical fringe to shift the Overton window", "if protest is made illegal, make daily life a protest", and "Jury-rig solutions (or how would MacGyver protest).

1. PRINCIPLE: KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS. When I take the Values-In-Action Character Strengths Inventory test , I discover that Kindness is fourth on the list of strengths I exercise most effortlessly, right after Forgiveness, Creativity and my most-utilized strength, Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence. How far I have come from those days I used to scream from the rafters in my writing, thinking the least of Kindness in the heat of my "cranky wingnut" rantings about the violence that is our cultural dominion. But so long as I could convince myself that indulging my spirit for revenge was activism enough, I was doing no better than haunting old halls; my protests never left the paper. But I went back to nature, this time sober, and it revealed to me some moral high ground. It reminded me of one of the most powerful forces at play in this world: the power of faith. That's why, in this report on "Killing Them with Kindness," I was so struck by these words: ...

KILL THEM W KINDNESS (Principle):         My mother has always told me you get more with honey than with vinegar. I’m an advocate for the method "killing them with kindness.” But I believe this offers a great challenge to a protester. It can become too passive— You keep getting kicked out happily singing a song as the police lead you away. Sure you look like the good guy and the police bad. But that’s not a new story and I don’t think very effective. This is where I think repetition plays a key factor. That is how the civil rights movement and flower power movement made this strategy so popular; repetition. They practically took over the 60’s.  BLOCKADE (Tactic):         We see a perfect example of a blockade in Les Miserable. The French middle class makes a barricade in the street to create a common space and protect their people and make it a point of entrapment against the government. This blockade, as should all, have unified significant ...

Anger works best when you have the moral high ground: It was nice to read about the complexities and misdirected ambiguity of anger, especially in this day and age. There is pressure put on our generation to almost "rebel for rebellion sake" because of the omniscient surveillance through social media. This excerpt describes the importance of anger and when it should be used as a force of advancing change rather than a force of self-righteousness.  Beware the tyranny of structurelessness:  “there is no such thing as a structureless group.” stood out to me from that excerpt the most. is reinforced the ideas I've thought a lot about, the idea that you need the box in order to think outside of it. Build strength through repetition: To me, repetition meant to repeat the same thing over and over-almost monotonously- until whatever is being repeated becomes second nature. I've never thought of that concept on a campaign scale, let alone a community scale. The str...

Entry 1: Anyone can act After reading this entry from the Tactics page, I was a bit appalled and yet found it funny. Being an actor I know that acting is much more difficult than people make it out to be. Reading this post felt like a general explanation on acting given by a person who has never acting a day in their life. This article says, " The second key to keeping your shit together (AKA acting) is to realize that once you’re up there, pretty much anything you do is going to be fine. After all, you’re the most important person in the room!" For starters, acting is much much more than keeping your shit together. The reason rehearsal is a huge part of the process is so your lines become second nature allowing you to respond organically. Yes at times you feel so lost in notes that you question what you're doing, but this process is how  you eventually arrive at discoveries, which inform your acting. Secondly, anything you do as an actor is not fine. You must honor the ...

The three entries I decided to explore were: “Bring the issue home” (Rae Abileah and Jodie Evans), “Invisible Theater” (Tracey Mitchell), and “Expressive and instrumental actions” (Jonathan Matthew Smucker, Joshua Kahn Russell, and Zack Malitz). In my opinion, I believe that the principle of “Bring the issue home”, is a very strong way for artists to, as Abileah and Evans say, “make an otherwise abstract, far-away issue relevant by making it personal, visceral and local.” I feel like this particular principle, in a way, motivates to actually get people to take action instead of just fluffing it off to the side because it doesn’t affect them directly. Abileah and Evans point out that “People care, but usually not enough to act on that concern, at least until they understand viscerally what’s at stake.” Some ways to bring the issue home are by showing the human cost, which is followed by an example of when Nancy Kricorian had stood outside of her senator’s office and set up “a row...