"There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now. "– James A. Baldwin
Last week I attended the birthday party of 5-year old fraternal twins Sofia and Samira. The event took place at the Chuck E. Cheese’s in Burlington, MA. I have never been to a Chuck E. Cheese and it was a bit of a surreal, banal and slighly sad experience. A sort of second cousin to Disney mixed in with a kiddie Vegas sort of amusement part feel. The kids seemed to enjoy it though.
Here is the piece Milo submitted to the 100 second festival. He really wanted folks to see his great work. Folks really laughed at the screening last evening at the Revolving Museum.
Within the last two days, I had two separate individuals indicated that putting media up on their blogs (video and / or audio) was more powerful to them than simply putting it on the local cable channel. The ability to reach an audience beyond the geographic boundaries of the municipality were attractive to both. They didn’t like the confines of cable. Here is shape of things to come.
The winter issue of the Community Media Review is about ready to hit the stands. I know its almost summer. Perhaps it is the winter issue for the southern hemisphere. This issue, entitled “Beyond Access,” looks at new forms of community media that are beyond simple access or the technologies of cable. I wrote a piece about the foundations of community media and links to new technology. You can check it out here:
http://communitymediareview.org/archive/2005/number_4/articles/section_1/sullivan
And while you’re at it check out the other articles in the publication.
Here’s the piece that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I submitted the piece for a local writing contest for Renovation Journal .There will be a fundraiser on May 20th to celebrate the 2nd year of Renovation Journal and I’ll read at that. The event will take place at the Revolving Museum.
Any how, here’s the piece I wrote:
December 3, 2003
Dear Landlord:
I hate to be such a pain, but could you kindly look into the small electrical problem in our kitchen. It seems that last night the outlet we had the toaster oven plugged into started to get quite hot and glow red. The result was a small fire that seems to have created some slight damage to the space. The firemen were quite positive in their attitude that we were all very lucky to have survived the incident. If you could look at it, we’d appreciate it since the hole in the side of the house is creating quite a draft and the snow continues to pile up on the floor.
I know this comes right on the heels of our problem with the upstairs bathroom. You’ll be pleased to know that the fire has taken care of the collapsed pantry that resulted from the bathtub dropping onto it.
We appreciate greatly your attempts to solve many of these problems yourself and understand that you are a busy man. While I know it may cause considerable expense, do you think you could hire someone to come quickly and resolve this current round of headaches? I ask since it has been about four months since the hole going from our apartment to the unit downstairs is still waiting for you to free up some time. I fear with this and the other problems, you may not be able to fit us into your workload.
I thank you for your time and attention to our concerns.
Sincerely,
Belinda Pelton
533 Warren Street – Apt. 4
Lowell, MA 01852
p.s. We have finally rid ourselves of the mouse colony that was camped out in the rear bedroom. Your advice to have your nephew, Nate, come with his pit bull was a brilliant solution.
What is it about human nature that prompts us to want to dismantle, pick apart, and destroy. To get preverse joy in tearing down other people. What is it that when dismissed or discounted, forces us to increase our destructive drive. This small petty voice of a child that surfaces again and again leading to dismissal, anger, hate, intolerance and war. If only we could quiet it and work from a stance of love rather than hurt.
Ok, part of my preoccupation with words and the construction of meaning has to do with teaching a media literacy class this semester. So here are some words that are at a crossroads and it seems that big debates are in the air over whose meaning gets the overall thumbs up.
immigrants
Marriage
Life
I’m sure there are more contested meanings, but the big cultural value clashes come from our battles to resolve meaning over what on the surface seem to be very simple words.
OK, so American Express has this new print campaign that has famous folks answering a number of questions. I thought I’d go ahead and fill in the blanks for myself.
My name: Felicia Mary Sullivan
childhood ambition: to be the first female president of the United States
fondest memory: summer, the lake, a raft, and a half dozen friends – I was a teen
soundtrack: a neverending stream of bad television
retreat: a small lake in the Adiroindacks
wildest dream: to travel to outer space
proudest moment: the purchase of my first condo
biggest challenge: to ignore that little voice in my head with all the negative thoughts
alarm clock: the sun
perfect day: no work, blue sky, warm breeze, mountain lake, a good book, classic rock and chatter of family in the background
first job: washing dishes at the local family-style restaurant
indulgence: hot fudget sundaes or skipping work to sit in a dark movie theater watching a film with popcorn
last purchase: 6 Molkeskin notebooks
favorite movie: at the moment, Donnie Darko
inspiration: other people (alive or dead)
my life: definitely a work in progress
my card: I should insert American Express here, but I don’t have an AMEX card so it will have to be Mastercard.
Off and on over the last few years I’ve thought about the variation in meanings these three concepts embody:
They each have subtle differences for me. For instance, “United States of America” feels very constitutional to me. A term that embodies the formal aspects of the country. While “America” is more symbolic. For me it embodies those things like “baseball,” “apple pie,” “the people,” “plains of wheat,” “the rocky mountains,” and the “Statue of Liberty”. Finally, USA is the corporate brand. The snazzy logo that sells us to the rest of the world.
Wonder what others think. What other variations exist?
Just got happy news today. I am the winner of Renovation Journal’s 2nd Annual “Vinyl Siding Award” for my submission to the “Write a Letter to Your Landlord” contest.
OK so this is no where close to the fame my name-twin, Felicia C. Sullivan , a noted writer in NYC, has. Renovation Journal is local and I’m sure there were only about a dozen folks who submitted. But hey, I get to put it on my resume and I get $100. Not bad for something that took about 15 minutes to write.
I think the letter will be published in the Spring 2006 issue of Renovation Journal and there will be a party on May 20th @ the Revolving Museum here in Lowell.