Friday, April 30, 2010

Artist Statement?

here it is- (hopefully, revisions to possibly come...)

The Trek Project is the culmination of a journey. For me this project has been an experiment, an investigation, an interrogation. Creating this project has sent me into some of the most uncomfortable places in my soul; time spent interrogating systems of oppression that I have both opposed but also supported. Examining all of this I repeatedly asked myself what is my stake in all of this? Who am I to create this story?
It is a question that this movie does not answer, rather it pushes it further, complicates the lines of borders, travel and story. I created this project to give back to an organization that has given me endless opportunity and perspective. What I give to you, the viewer, is a piece of this, a piece of the journey and a chance for perspective. What will you do with it?

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dear Parent:

A letter to parents dealing with talking to your kids about puberty and bodies.



DEAR PARENT:
Perspectives from a young, queer, genderqueer, disconnected, late blooming, female body:

OK, so I am writing this letter to talk to you about how girls develop shame around their bodies and the way that girl’s bodies are thrown even more into the spotlight as they begin to develop. I am sure that most females out there understand for the most part what I am talking about but I think that it is extra important to re-iterate this especially as you prepare to talk to your child about their body changing. I’m writing this in the form of a letter because I think it is the best way for me to share with you my own experiences with my changing body and what I wish my parents had known, or atleast expressed understanding/support of. Growing into my female body, especially as a late bloomer was always strange for me. I think the Pussycat Dolls, while they perpetuate the images that often oppress young women, do make a good point about growing up in the song “When I Grow Up”-

When I grow up,
I wanna be famous,
I wanna be a star,
I wanna be in movies
When I grow up,
I wanna see the world,
Drive nice cars,
I wanna have boobies
When I grow up,
Be on TV,
People know me,
Be on magazines
When I grow up,
Fresh and clean,
Number one chick when I step out on the scene

Now, I know that not every girl wants to be a superstar, but most girls are fighting against invisibility and shame in a very real way and they strive for positive attention. They have been engaged in this struggle all their lives and when a “woman’s” body begins to develop this is emphasized. Within my own history, although I began to develop shame around my body when I began to notice the differences between girls and boys. This happened around age 5, when my parents told me I couldn’t run around without a shirt on, and it started to become inappropriate for me to bathe with my male bodied cousins. While, my male cousins were learning how to take off their shirts and run around in the hot sun, when I stripped off my top to join them I was scolded. This and countless other incidents taught me that my body was something to be hidden. When puberty started to hit the other girls in my peer group, I felt ashamed for new reasons. I was flat until age 14, and didn’t start my period till second semester of my freshman year of high school. Within my peer group my development was delayed in often-visible ways and I was teased. We live in a world where society sets standards on beauty, which are often hard and impossible to reach, but girl culture does not make this easier. I spent most of my teenage years trying to fit into a cookie cutter mold of what my body should be like, at first the mold was too big, and then all at once it became to small. Female standards of beauty ask all girls to immediately embody a tall, white, blonde, skinny ideal. There are hygienic standards that must be kept to as well, legs and armpits shaved at all time, no acknowledgement of her period, or for that matter any bodily functions.
From birth our bodies are called into question and judged, when an adolescent enters puberty their bodies are judged on a whole new scale. Judgment and body talk comes from all over, parents, peers, medical professionals, teachers, the general population and ourselves. Parents struggle with accepting our changing bodies. Peers judge our development timeline. Medical professionals evaluate if we are “on track” and tell us if our bodies are appropriate or not. Teachers attempt to tell us what these changes mean, and what is “normal”. As our bodies develop the general population begins to judge our appeal, and believe me, no young female is safe from being judged by older men. And of course, we judge ourselves, as a combination of all of these other judgments and as we start to deconstruct the images that we see we build up judgments around ourselves as to whether or not our bodies are “good” and appropriate.
I know that this is not what you would typically expect to find in a packet about puberty, but I think that it is important for parents to understand the battle that girls go through, and especially those who struggle with a sexuality and/or gender identity. Puberty, and the teen years, are a time when bodies are put in the spotlight, they are emphasized by peers, parents, medical professionals, teachers, the general public and ourselves. Learning to deal with body shame is important for all girls attempting to reach 20 in one piece. I don’t have any solutions, or key lines that you can tell your children, but I think beginning to understand is important, and so that is why I wrote this letter. While there are not any magic words that I can tell you, I do think that for me I would have appreciated more support in experimenting with my body. The adjustment to a changing body is hard, it is not something that anyone should have to learn to embrace all at once, and it often takes a great deal of time to come to terms with one’s body. I would have appreciated it if my parents and other adults had not called out the changing parts of my body. They were mine to deal with, not theirs to criticize or judge. Feeling safe within the home is the first step to feeling safe within the body, so please, allow your children to feel safe within their homes and bodies.


-Helyx
Video Artist. Activist. Student. Life.
HHspeaking.blogspot.com

Thursday, April 8, 2010

go jump off a bridge

Will Phillips made national headlines last fall in Arkansas when he refused to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance on the grounds that there was not "liberty and justice" for LGBT people. When asked to stand and recite the pledge he told his teacher, 'politely', that she could go jump off a bridge.

What do we learn from Will Phillips? According to Will what he did took a bit of a risk but it was worth it in the end and he encourages others to take a risk as well. I do commend this 8 year old for standing up for others and possibly himself (that remains to be seen?), but why was he specifically thrust into the spotlight. Well, for one, he is white and male, images of him and his family evoke the prototypical "american" family aesthetic. What about the thousands, and probably hundreds of thousands of kids who refuse to stand or recite the pledge of allegiance everyday, those who are swept under the rug and forgotten?
And how does his position as a young, innocent white boy allow him to tell his teacher to "jump off a bridge" and still he is enrolled in school and now glorified for his actions (although he did issue an apology for the manner in which he talked to his teacher)? How is this boy able to take this risk and be safe within that?

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

division III, say what!?

For those of you who do not know in the final year at Hampshire College students embark on a year-long massive independent study project:

Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories

This division III is a collection of stories, a preservation of lives and a reconstruction of histories. Untold stories posses the power to analyze, restructure and overthrow the systems that hold us captive. Communities must unite around stories of common history to seek the roots of oppression and fight the systems that hide those stories in the first place. Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories is a multi-media exploration of history, her-story, my-story, and your-story.
The (his)Stories project is the central focus of my Div III, other components of the project feed into and are fed by this project. The project will also incorporate a website as an online forum for showcasing and archiving the stories that are captured and created as part of the project. Additionally, this endeavor will become the first undertaking of the Midnight Media Coup, which is the organization that I will be creating throughout the course of the next year to support my work and the work of others when I leave Hampshire.
The Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories Project is an opportunity to explore the borders of our lives, and the ways we cross them; borders of technology, government and community. Those who choose to participate in Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories will have the opportunity to explore who their communities are and how the histories of those communities have been recorded. Participants will then have the opportunity to create a media history of their community; which is a cross between an oral history and a more standard interview; media histories give the interviewer the opportunity to present their interviews in multi-media formats. This project provides space to tell and re-frame these stories, which have been appropriated, misrepresented and simply untold in the past.