The Loaded Surfaces of Life

I have my class read “Subculture: the Meaning of Style”, just the intro and the first chapter, to get an idea about what culture is, and subculture, and some intro semiotics, and some investigation into the ideas of “ideology” and “hegemony.”

At the end of the first chapter, Dick Hebdige writes:

Jean Genet, the archetype of the ‘unnatural’ deviant, again exemplifies the practice of resistance through style. He is as convinced in his own way as is Roland Barthes of the ideological character of cultural signs. He is equally oppressed by the seamless web of forms and the meanings which enclose and yet exclude him. His reading is equally partial. He makes his own list and draws his own conclusions:

I was astounded by so rigorous an edifice whose details were united against me. Nothing in the world is irrelevant: the stars on a general’s sleeve, the stock-market quotations, the olive harvest, the style of the judiciary, the wheat exchange, the flower-beds, . . . Nothing. This order . . . had a meaning – my exile. (Genet, 1967)

I try an experiment tonight, where I say to the class, ok, what is your list? What is on it? The things that order your exile. I say, I don’t want to imply that you are homosexual thieves, but I do know that there is a list in all of us. I had them write five things, first, and then give me three. Here’s what they wrote:

Messed up teeth, southern accents, working class
Time, space, degree
Forced/expected motherhood, television, expected consumerism
Consumerism, apathy, conformity without question
Aging, body image, teeth, loss of optimism, acceptance/success as returning student
Perfect wrinkle and scar free skin, large houses
Financial institutions, subjective beauty, corporations
Stock market, politics, money, fashion, hair, conversation, drugs
Leering men in public, sexist advertising, need to get married to be legitimate/have kids
Not feeling safe on the street at night
Language barriers, motherhood/reproductive rights/class in relation to who your father is
Men “outing” me in public, clowns (happy face with unknown meaning), jealousy
Body image, economic standing, language barriers
My gender, my culture, experience
Adult and Family Services, child welfare, fashion
Appearance, education, money
Self-acceptance, money, time
Minimum wage, bras, cars, meat consumption
Skinny women, war, politics
Sexism, ignorance, negative attention
People, being white, sexism
Fear, class, religion
Woman, young, in college (expected to pay for everything, but not able to have a career)
Religion, ignorance, lipstick
Female, young, unable to support myself financially w/o help
Woman, young, appearance/body
Church pews, aluminum siding, entitlement
Wanting to not have a schedule
Being reduced to a piece of ass b/c of my looks
The sucky economy
Fashion changes, money, fitting into the social norm, racism

This order . . . had a meaning – my exile.

Back for More/Oprah

I have not posted on this blog in four years. I posted right when I got cancer and thought that was going to be enough to propel the blogging. It was not. Maybe if it had been more painful or protracted. It was really too boring to blog about. Here I am, alive, four years later.

I have a tiny photograph in Oprah Magazine, in this month's November issue. It was because I won an essay contest and went to New York for a conference called (and I am not kidding) "Women Rule!".

To give you a sense of how strange this whole experience was, I refer you to the "sound bites" which are on the Oprah website. (Thanks to Casey for pointing this out, btw).

My sound bite: "[At the the girls rock camps] we're giving them an opportunity to really kick ass. We want to differentiate ourselves from 'rock camps' where girls learn how to pluck their eyebrows or try to be the next Mouseketeer."

Typical of other sound bites: "Women Rule! was like drinking pure, clean water after biking to the peak of a mountain. I feel validated, having taken in knowledge, wisdom, and inspiration to quench my thirst for success and leadership."

If only it were that easy!

Here is a note I wrote to a communications expert about it. She had some questions, and I had answers.

One thing is this: I work with the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, which is the international coalition of rock camps.

This is about the thing in Oprah this month which does not feature me or the GRCA, but I'm in there, participated in this thing, so Sarah Stephan from the Pyramid Communications place is trying to help me and Sue Hildick who runs the Chalkboard Project on leveraging this publicity into something...I think that's right. I'm not really sure there's much to leverage except to blog about it.

1. Leadership and women: how do you feel about the topic?
Although I believe Sarah Palin has injected a toxic element into this topic, I am a progressive feminist and believe that it does not matter if women are in leadership if they are steering the wrong course. There is nothing inherently awesome about women as leaders.
2. How did you start working with young women?
I am a professional musician and a teacher, and started working with young women in both capacities through the rock camp. I also teach college and work with homeless young people at p:ear now.
3. If it wasn't a rock camp, what would you have done to help young women?
Literacy/education
4. Do you want to see more mentoring? What's next?
More mentoring for whom? I could use a good mentor. I work as a mentor daily.
5. What national publications have featured you or the camp in the past?
NY Times, Venus, Oprah, Bust, Bitch, Curve and other ones.
6. Can I get a quick list of all previous pubs and reporters who've interviewed you?
7. How does this recognition compare to the others that you've already received?
8. What did you want out of the White House Project experience?

To answer all of these questions in a lump: I myself, Sarah Dougher the Musician, has had much publicity in the past. I do not want publicity for myself, but rather for the project. It is run collectively by people all over the world, and I did the White House Project thing to draw attention to the project. Because of the non-hierarchical leadership structure, it does not mesh very well with the White House Project model, which is frankly kind of conservative. It is a more complex story than "Sarah is a woman ruler and she runs this great organization." That is not the case. I mean, I'm a ruler in some ways, most of them private, and I am certainly not the LEADER of this organization. It feels a little like there's only room for one ruler at a time.

I'm not sure how to leverage the publicity of this Oprah thing. Or even if that is interesting.