I enjoy the extra bit of information embedded in “They say they have letters for you.” This makes it clear that they are not showing them. They’ve got them secreted away somewhere.
Or it’s evidence that the servant can’t read and doesn’t trust the report on any piece of paper.
I mean…”They have letters for you” is the heart of the information. We don’t need “They say” – but the “They Say” gives us a reason to be suspicious, for whatever reason. It creates a bit of suspense, perhaps.
There’s something about sailors that is just sexier than other jobs. Like, if Horatio asked “What are they?” and the servant said “Bankers, sir.” Uhh…No Thanks.
“Lawyers, sir.”
“Teachers, sir.”
“Soldiers, sir.”
I mean, there is not one another professional title that has the sex appeal of sailors. I’ve always found the idea of architects sexy – but I’m not sure I’d be too excited about a bunch of architects at the door.
Likewise with painters – another profession I have historically responded to.
“Painters, sir.” It’s gonna sound like they’re there to re-decorate.
It’s interesting that he uses “What” here, instead of “Who.” I’m not quite sure why – but it does seem like “What” may be SLIGHTLY more specific than “Who.” If someone asked me “Who are you?” I’d have a lot of answers. I’d likely start with my name, maybe include my nationality, likes, dislikes and general aspects of my personality. If asked, “What are you?” I’d go with “artist.” Unless I was being asked by an alien from another world or an animal – and then I’d go with “human.” Maybe even “human artist.”
I’m not a parent and I don’t spend a lot of time with small children lately but something I have noticed is how readily they will respond to an invitation. If you offer a place to go, if it sounds fun, they will follow. They don’t have to know what it is or choose it necessarily. But one can get anywhere with an invitation to run or skip or slide.
Enforcements are not so productive. Try to get a child to do something by your will and the child will quickly dig in her heels. Why would they ever do something they did not want to? There is nothing stopping them following their every whim. Except of course, safety – except of course, limits. Of course – except social structure.
What if there was a giant axe of justice in the city? And it stood at the center of the square, just waiting to come crashing down on offenses.
I mean, I suppose that’s what a guillotine is – and that’s essentially what happened during the French Revolution, from some folks’ perspectives. A giant axe, dealing out justice.
But of course I’m picturing a very different sort of axe than a guillotine. I’m imagining a Viking axe or a Paul Bunyan tree falling axe – and I picture it set up like a gate to the city – suspended over the entrance, ready to fall at any injustice.
The dings and scratches on my ego happen so often. I sometimes miss that they’ve happened until later. But an artist’s life is a landmine for this.
In a scarcity arts economy, there is intense competition that is usually heavily veiled. It is competition disguised as community or cooperation. But jealousies abound. And to retain the idea that somehow my art is still worth something even as I watch my peers get the opportunities I’ve been refused, I have to pull a neat trick not to start beating myself, metaphorically speaking.
But I must find ways to support my own vision – as no one else will. So I shall.
Maybe it’s the way the actors said it in those first imprinted productions, but I had always thought this line was about Hamlet. I thought it was Laertes planning for Hamlet’s murder. But he doesn’t know from Hamlet yet. This is a litany of crimes against Polonius. These are all the issues with Polonius’ death. Only one of which is not Claudius’ fault. Claudius didn’t kill him, it’s true. But it must have been his decision to not give him a decent funeral. It is curious. Why make himself vulnerable by not honoring a statesmen? Why hush it up? How does this benefit him? There must be a reason. But I’m not clear what it could be.
I’m ready for the revolution, ladies. The time has long passed but we don’t always know until we’re old enough to no longer give a fuck.
Just now, for example, some punk ass privileged white kid thought he’d interrupt what I was doing by asking a banal and patronizing question. And in the past I’d have worried about a punk ass kid’s feelings. I’d have laughed, coyly, perhaps and tried to dismiss as nicely as possible. But times have changed, y’all. I ain’t feeling so nice. When asked a dumb ass question, I just said “no” – like they taught me at model mugging. No hesitation. Just force. Just clear. And then I moved away – just like they taught me to do when approached by a predator.
Now – do I think this particular asshole is dangerous? No I don’t. But…he’s good practice. And I’m just not having it anymore.
The thing is – what I learned from model mugging (years ago now but it remains vivid) is that a lot of assaults on women happen because we are socialized to be so polite, we are even polite to dudes who mean us harm, we are even polite to predators. It’s not that we want to be assaulted …it’s that we are so threatened by not being polite that we will risk assault rather than addressing an asshole’s asshole behavior.
Anyway – my prayer for myself is now: May I have the strength and peace of mind to respond to assholes appropriately. That is, quickly and forcefully.
While I would absolutely NOT like for a man like Claudius to labor with my soul – I am intrigued by the idea of someone with the ability to do that. What if there were soul laborers? Or soul whisperers? Perhaps who could bypass your conscious intentions and just speak directly to your soul.
Actually, we do have these people. They’re called artists. Not every artist speaks to every soul but there are artists who speak to many at once. There are artists who perhaps only speak to one soul but even that is valuable. There are many artists who labor with my soul. Remedios Varo, Robyn Schiff, Shakespeare, Joni Mitchell and on and on.
My soul laborers.
Ah, the collateral hand. The collateral hand has been quite busy in our current political moment. No one is guilty, it would seem, but so is everyone, by collateral hands. I have to hope and expect that there will be prosecutions, there will be convictions but right now, the collateral hands are so busy, there is no pausing long enough to them.
And just to remind you – I wrote this at the beginning of 2017. There have been so many prosecutions and convictions already though not nearly enough.
Archive 1980–2024
Feldenkrais for Artists in NYC
You aren't stuck in traffic. You are the traffic.
The Hamlet Project 