strange

Brokedness-roots of Southern Gothic

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I meet the release of Harper Lee’s new novel, with mix emotions. If she truly wants it realized I am all for it. However, I have read a few places that she is not even aware of it. I will say To Kill a Mockingbird, has to be my favorite novel. “Thus began our longest journey”, “Folks call me Dill”, “He was sitting there cutting up the newspaper, and he took the scissors and stabbed his daddy in the lady, and went right back to cutting”, and finally “Don’t say hey to me you ugly little girl, you saw Good Afternoon Ms. Dubois” have become part of my daily at least monthly lexicon.

I want to address the issue of Southern Gothic. Southern Gothic, in literature is not concerning ghouls and goblins – not supernatural. Southern Gothic is a school of writing, to me, that focuses on the brokenness and internal monster we all have. It is the brokenness of life and the human condition. To Kill a Mockingbird to me is seminal Southern Gothic, you have this cast of very odd and very uniquely wounded folks playing out their lives on the stage. Showing their scars as need be. It has not ghost –but recluses. Eudora Welty, is a great one for Southern Gothic. I have had people ask me about Southern Gothic and that is what it means to me. It is the condition of brokenness and the way we deal with it. It is the eccentric nature and habits these internal breaks cause that makes us all so utterly southern.

Memorailia of 2014

For the last decade I have undertaken to write my Memorabilia, this is an old Moravian Custom, where the ministers in towns would write a short summary of the year’s events, and include a pertinent piece of scripture. This is written as everything else, in stream of consciousness via Woolf. I don’t edit I just write what comes to mind. I am often surprised when I got back and read it.


Memorabilia of 2014
Single Brother Ron, artesian


Scripture:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
3 All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. 6 A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.8 A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.

In these first few hours of 2015, I glance back through the sands of time, at what has transpired in 2014. As she exits the stage and a new year enters – bringing a time of reflection and rejoicing. 2014 was a very good year for me. Many changes were wrought; many impurities were burned out in the forge of life. Impurities strew on the floor of time to be forgotten and trampled underfoot.

2014 was the last of my transformative years, for those who have been along for the ride; you have seen the renaissance of Ron – a systematic tearing down and rebuilding of a man. A strong man, who knows his mind, heart, and soul. I am finally happy in my specific skin; I do not need anyone to complete me. I know this now, I have to put it into action. I have lots of wonderful people in my life that I am so grateful for. I have a new person that I hope to make a big part of my life. I have learned to be happy with me, to love me and to know what I stand for. I have also come to terms with my own strangeness and learned that is what draws many to me. I am in the best place ever in my life. La Dolce Vita!
Career wise, I have tried different things and I have many objects on the board. I started my own business and am doing well. I proud of the success I have garnered. But I have not done it alone; I have had tons of support and help for those around me. Usually, my year end reports are longer, but breathe cannot replace results. I am happy, I am content and I am ready to tackle and make 2015 the best year yet. I go into this New Year with a heart full of love, a mind full of wisdom, a Bohemian approach to life, and promise to allow my true personality out more. Mostly I am full of whimsy, and I know how to use it.

I picked Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 because it sums up my life and every life, there are always changes and I am glad. I was once happy to sit back and not change, however, it is the dynamic swirl of life in which we thrive, and we are alive. Happy New year.

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The Shape of Things

10678626_317400531781364_5074648378380029196_nDon’t you love how you re-watch a movie and realize how much you have grown as a person? On the last few days, I have re-watched one of my favorite movies The Shape of Things, by Neil LaBute. LaBute is one of my favorite writers, producers and directors. He first came to my artistic conscientiousness when I saw his play Bash: Latter-Days Plays, and then the movie The Shape of Things, Your Friends and Neighbours, and The Wicker Man.

The Shape of Things has always spoken to me. It centers on an artistic women named Evelyn Ann, working on her M.F.A thesis in Advanced Art Critique. She meets Adam whilst at the museum to deface a Greek Sculpture the Victorians added a pasty of a fig leaf to his penis. She sparks off this awesome yet skewed revival in the life of Adam and his friends. It is Eve this time that changes Adam. She brings a spark of enjoyment and whimsy to his life. To me after watching it again, it is the idea that artists can touch off and start a major realignment of other’s life. We can be the spark that changes and realigns the world.  We can offer advice and help improve the lives of others. When, I first saw it before embracing my inner artist, I hated Evelyn I thought she was just a trouble maker, and there is a HUGE part of her that is. She takes Adam and reworks him for her MFA thesis which is not correct or moral.  However, the way in which she changes his life and those around him, is fascinating to watch.  The manipulation she employs is wrong, but the ripples and changes in the lives of the characters are interesting. Evelyn becomes the catalyst for this group of friends to let lose old feeling and explore them. She creates a safe place in which to do this. I could never do the manipulative things that she does, or change a human for an art project; however the idea that artist have the energy and the tools to change lives and minds is amazing. The first ten times I watched the film, I hated her, I thought she was horrible. However, with my own artistic awakening I see the artistic drive behind her and I like that. I am not found of her methods but it is so interesting to watch the change in these folks lives and also thinking about how I could have inspired some artistic change, or provided a safe space for someone to talk about what is bothering them.

Granted Evelyn is not a person I would want to be, or would do the methods that she uses, but her artistic spirit and her vibe I can totally relate too. She forces those around her to look at themselves and see what is good and bad about them.