If you read a post of mine in February, I said that I had lots of drafts waiting to be edited and published. This is still true. There they are. Just sitting there. Neglected, collecting cyber dust, jealous of their counterparts that sit adjacent to them polished and published. The thing is, as attractive as those pieces are, I've discovered blog posts are like one night stands for me. I have to do it quickly, vigorously, and excitedly, but after that, it should only be remembered pleasantly every once in a while when the sting of loneliness kicks in. Maybe I'll rekindle the flames by reading about more current events.
Learning to have long-term relationships with his blog posts,
Jamin
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
A Plea For Americans
It's no secret that our political environment is toxic and has been for a while. Growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s I never got to witness for myself winning strokes in political history. The image of my first president was tainted by a sex scandal. My first memory of the voting process was littered with doubt about its legitimacy. My second president spoke less articulately than most of my classmates. The national crisis I lived through was used as a tool to begin an everlasting war justified by false evidence, vague notions of a world ruled by democracy, and thinly veiled economic interests. The first president I believed in, while projecting an earnest image, seems caught in the same agenda that propelled us eastward in the first place. Aspersions are cast about his credentials and citizenship by a man with hair implants and a woman who can't be bothered to be more informed than the average citizen. The intellectualism and honesty of the conservative party is all but gone. The bravery and push for change of the liberal party seems misplaced.
I write to you today not to complain about the state of our political system. I'm sure every generation when they're my age feels like their world's falling apart and great things were only accomplished in some long-forgotten era of political triumph. I could probably make a case for an ailing nation in every decade. What I want to remind you of today is the importance of the people. While practically we can do little, our voice can still shift America's attitude.
What I want to ask is this: please, know your politicians and what they're up to. You don't have to understand the science of tactical manipulation to know when someone's not being forthcoming. However, if you let information only travel to you from the general public or propoganda, you deserve not to have an opinion. Please, don't accept the level of ignorance, inadequacy, and iniquity that's making its way into our seats of power. If someone is as imbecilic as Palin or Trump or as personally dubious as Edwards or Spitzer, don't stand for it. Our politicians SHOULD be held to higher standards of conduct and pedanticalness. Finally, please be courteous to your fellow citizens.
Dissatisfaction with the government crosses party lines. I suppose that's why people are especially obsessed with credulous conspiracies right now. They want the bad to have a source. The thing disuniting us as a people is where we apportion the blame. I posit to you that some of our current circumstances are driven by political forces beyond anyone's control. Some of them are caused by past failures in leadership. And some of them are caused by our unwillingness to compromise and make educated decisions as a people and as a nation. If we, the people, all promote an attitude of unity and intellectual perserverance in the face of hard times, our politicians may follow. If we ignore the problems most of the time, throw wild accusations across the room, and remain mostly misinformed, we give our leaders license to do so as well.
The Founding Fathers didn't give us freedom and democracy lightly. Originally, only land-owning, educated, white men could vote. Obviously we know now that race, class, and gender have little bearing on a person's competency, but what then becomes the great equalizer is knowledge or lack thereof. So please, don't squander your amazing right and don't poison the American image with more misplaced anger. Follow some news, talk with friends, talk with people with opposing views, be a good citizen and maybe the next generation can tell better stories of their political system.
I write to you today not to complain about the state of our political system. I'm sure every generation when they're my age feels like their world's falling apart and great things were only accomplished in some long-forgotten era of political triumph. I could probably make a case for an ailing nation in every decade. What I want to remind you of today is the importance of the people. While practically we can do little, our voice can still shift America's attitude.
What I want to ask is this: please, know your politicians and what they're up to. You don't have to understand the science of tactical manipulation to know when someone's not being forthcoming. However, if you let information only travel to you from the general public or propoganda, you deserve not to have an opinion. Please, don't accept the level of ignorance, inadequacy, and iniquity that's making its way into our seats of power. If someone is as imbecilic as Palin or Trump or as personally dubious as Edwards or Spitzer, don't stand for it. Our politicians SHOULD be held to higher standards of conduct and pedanticalness. Finally, please be courteous to your fellow citizens.
Dissatisfaction with the government crosses party lines. I suppose that's why people are especially obsessed with credulous conspiracies right now. They want the bad to have a source. The thing disuniting us as a people is where we apportion the blame. I posit to you that some of our current circumstances are driven by political forces beyond anyone's control. Some of them are caused by past failures in leadership. And some of them are caused by our unwillingness to compromise and make educated decisions as a people and as a nation. If we, the people, all promote an attitude of unity and intellectual perserverance in the face of hard times, our politicians may follow. If we ignore the problems most of the time, throw wild accusations across the room, and remain mostly misinformed, we give our leaders license to do so as well.
The Founding Fathers didn't give us freedom and democracy lightly. Originally, only land-owning, educated, white men could vote. Obviously we know now that race, class, and gender have little bearing on a person's competency, but what then becomes the great equalizer is knowledge or lack thereof. So please, don't squander your amazing right and don't poison the American image with more misplaced anger. Follow some news, talk with friends, talk with people with opposing views, be a good citizen and maybe the next generation can tell better stories of their political system.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
All I Want for Christmas Are My Rights
Dear Readers,
After opening night of Assassins a parent voiced concern over the content of the show, specifically the violence. At our show last night a news crew from Krem2 came to film the first part of the performance. After some deliberation with the administration, the n word was struck from the show. While the initial scare of cancellation has died down, this controversy brings to light many important issues.
The first concern underlying this parent's, and other people's, sentiments is that teenagers should not and can't deal with obscenity, political complexities, psychopathy, and violence. This is simply not true. High schoolers are capable of dealing with sophisticated material. Assassins is a controversial show by nature but this uproar was rooted in doubts of "appropriateness". While many teenagers don't exhibit their finer qualities to the adults in their life, most kids have the intellectual and emotional prowess to not only understand darker issues, but have meaningful discourse on them as well.
You are laboring under delusions if you think teens are blissfully unaware of the atrocities committed by humanity. You are also mistaken in thinking that teens don't discuss sexuality, frustrations with the government, and all things obscene. Conversely, they tend to be major topics of discussion because during these formative years is when we gain enough knowledge and confidence to discover and form opinions on these matters. Just as English and History classes have to tackle the darkness of humanity, so too must theater. We would be denying parts of ourselves and our world if we didn't read books like Huckleberry Finn and Crime and Punishment (which are required reading and are centered on issues of racism and murder respectively), study the foundation of our nation or World War Two, and put on theater like Sweeney Todd and Assassins. All are essential for our growth as people and censoring them will potentially make our new generation socially stagnant.
I think much of the offense to this show stems from not understanding its message. This shows questions the negative effects of our nation's spirit on our citizens. But Assassins does not condone, support, or promote the use of violence to achieve what you want. It simply shows what happens upon the unfortunate marriage of falling short of the American Dream with psychopathy. In fact, through the assassins' examples, the audience gets to see that radical acts are only good for infamy and not effecting social change. At the end of the show none of the characters find fulfillment or assuage their discontent. Some people rise to glory and others must learn to live simply, but the beauty of our nation is that "EVERYONE is free to fail" which inversely means that everyone can succeed.
Assassins is more relevant to our lives than any other show I've been in. A new film was just released about John Wilkes Booth and his fellow conspirators. This year, another desperate man tried to change his world by shooting our US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Now, just as ever, we need to challenge ourselves to tread morally murky waters IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM to quell ignorance and radicalism.
Finally, a high school theater, and any theater for that matter, should be allowed to put on shows that are meaningful to them and true to historical context without censorship. If we don't stand up for our art we don't truly believe in free speech. When our teacher sets out to do pieces like this, she does so to provide our communities with something more than run-of-the-mill frivolous entertainment. She has taught us that art is often the best way to ponder some of the harsher aspects of ourselves and society. Together, we set out to educate and shape our world. But ultimately, art IS meant to entertain and we hope we've delivered a quality production that can do just that. If you as audience member don't like the content, don't go to the show.
Thank you for your time. I hope you will show your support by coming to Assassins at University High School!
After opening night of Assassins a parent voiced concern over the content of the show, specifically the violence. At our show last night a news crew from Krem2 came to film the first part of the performance. After some deliberation with the administration, the n word was struck from the show. While the initial scare of cancellation has died down, this controversy brings to light many important issues.
The first concern underlying this parent's, and other people's, sentiments is that teenagers should not and can't deal with obscenity, political complexities, psychopathy, and violence. This is simply not true. High schoolers are capable of dealing with sophisticated material. Assassins is a controversial show by nature but this uproar was rooted in doubts of "appropriateness". While many teenagers don't exhibit their finer qualities to the adults in their life, most kids have the intellectual and emotional prowess to not only understand darker issues, but have meaningful discourse on them as well.
You are laboring under delusions if you think teens are blissfully unaware of the atrocities committed by humanity. You are also mistaken in thinking that teens don't discuss sexuality, frustrations with the government, and all things obscene. Conversely, they tend to be major topics of discussion because during these formative years is when we gain enough knowledge and confidence to discover and form opinions on these matters. Just as English and History classes have to tackle the darkness of humanity, so too must theater. We would be denying parts of ourselves and our world if we didn't read books like Huckleberry Finn and Crime and Punishment (which are required reading and are centered on issues of racism and murder respectively), study the foundation of our nation or World War Two, and put on theater like Sweeney Todd and Assassins. All are essential for our growth as people and censoring them will potentially make our new generation socially stagnant.
I think much of the offense to this show stems from not understanding its message. This shows questions the negative effects of our nation's spirit on our citizens. But Assassins does not condone, support, or promote the use of violence to achieve what you want. It simply shows what happens upon the unfortunate marriage of falling short of the American Dream with psychopathy. In fact, through the assassins' examples, the audience gets to see that radical acts are only good for infamy and not effecting social change. At the end of the show none of the characters find fulfillment or assuage their discontent. Some people rise to glory and others must learn to live simply, but the beauty of our nation is that "EVERYONE is free to fail" which inversely means that everyone can succeed.
Assassins is more relevant to our lives than any other show I've been in. A new film was just released about John Wilkes Booth and his fellow conspirators. This year, another desperate man tried to change his world by shooting our US Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Now, just as ever, we need to challenge ourselves to tread morally murky waters IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM to quell ignorance and radicalism.
Finally, a high school theater, and any theater for that matter, should be allowed to put on shows that are meaningful to them and true to historical context without censorship. If we don't stand up for our art we don't truly believe in free speech. When our teacher sets out to do pieces like this, she does so to provide our communities with something more than run-of-the-mill frivolous entertainment. She has taught us that art is often the best way to ponder some of the harsher aspects of ourselves and society. Together, we set out to educate and shape our world. But ultimately, art IS meant to entertain and we hope we've delivered a quality production that can do just that. If you as audience member don't like the content, don't go to the show.
Thank you for your time. I hope you will show your support by coming to Assassins at University High School!
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