Aw shucks, the polls are closed...

This is my first post--and it's just some caffeinated rambling. I'm wondering about the "Voting" for a theme...why are these closed? Will they be opened? Could we start a discussion on themes, in lieu of, or in addition to a vote? I was enamored by the (awesome) democratic chaos of my precinct’s caucusing…as each resolution was introduced, someone would introduce the resolution, and then it would be opened for discussion. The discussions were invaluable in that so much research, passion, opinion, and perspective was shared, allowing for a much more informed (influenced?) vote.

That being said, I’m intrigued by the theme of “The News from Accidental Vestments.” It’s classic culture-jamming (in Kalle Lasn’s Culture Jam, he implores that culture jammers aren’t polarized…none of that conservative vs. liberal, hippie vs. banker b.s., instead, that culture jammers are a rich mixture of individuals and groups who are fed up with fill in the many blanks and are going to take the status quo media and perverse it, inverse it, use it, ignore it in an attempt to make people stop and notice…think Ron English’s billboards, the Daily Show, even the newest issue of Adbusters that arrived in my mailbox this morning—a mockup of a People magazine cover…). It implies that AV has “news,” or rather, should have news.

It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
(William Carlos Williams, from “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower”)

And it begs the question, what IS news? East Timor? Britney? Who makes the news? Can we--should we--create and manipulate news (anyone listen to Malcolm Gladwell on This American Life this weekend?)? What happens when "news" is just spinning us in the direction the powers that be want us to go in?

Anyway, that’s my two cents. Maybe I'm drawn to this theme because of what I'm working on. Also, I’m all for the idea Aby brought up in Stephanie’s studio of bringing failed/incomplete/uncooperative objects/poems/paintings to a meeting and having a big adoption-fest for these poor abandoned pieces. When is our next meeting?

And thank you to Nikki, Stan, Charlie, Marius, and Stephanie for sharing your work/thoughts last week. I was blown away--it was pure inspiration!

Onward! because The sun isn’t yellow, it’s chicken!
Chloé