continued artist spotlight

so the winner of my "artist to highlight" this week, is my friend gabe. (sorry gabe, no prizes)

i appreciate poetry, but typically have to be in the mood to read it. however, i always look forward to gabe's lyrical stylings. (c: i know a few of you who read my blog already read gabe's stuff...but i don't care, i'm highlighting him anyway.

but to give you newbies a taste...

An Ode to Missing Words

Here's to all the missing words,
the ones that got away,
Here's to the gig's of space,
remaining empty to this day,
Here's to all the trees left standing,
and to the paper mills at rest,
Here's to all the still dull pencils,
and all the books unpressed.

The void they leave has size unknown,
and consequence un-tended,
Leaving disparate thoughts entwined,
And common thoughts un-blended.
They leave voices stalled in sentence-mid,
and journeys uncompleted,
Words sans rhyme, stalled in time,
and epic poems un-ended.

for gabe's writings (poems, short stories, general bloggingness...) check out his blog at http://typinghurts.blogspot.com/

.mary ellen mark.

it's a strange country we live in, eh? where equality and rights are preached from every platform possible, yet where it is ignored just the same. it's the "in" thing to be tolerant to those different than ourselves. but is it all just a passing fad?

don't get me wrong. i love the freedom of this country. that of speech. and of religion. but it seems like no matter how hard we try, hypocracy still gets the best of us.

i experienced a taste of that today and feel the need to share.

an absolutely amazing photographer (and equally amazing human being) mary ellen mark, came and spoke at my school today. mary ellen mark is known for her large body of portraits that share with the viewer a piece of the soul of, not the artist, but of the subject.

mary has the gift of capturing the weak, tired, poor and meek of the world and asks us to look into their faces. not for sympathy. but for knowledge. we cannot understand who someone is until we've seen where they've been. and she shows us unabashedly. unashamedly.








she told of a very recent experience in Iceland...though it may be better if she tells the story...

In the summer of 2005, I was asked to produce five photographic portfolios for the Morgunbladid Newspaper. One of the projects I requested to photograph was a school for disabled children in Reykjavik. The newspaper arranged for me to spend a day at Öskjuhlíðarskóli. It was an unforgettable day. I immediately fell in love with the children as I followed them through their daily activities, which included a swimming class. It was in that swimming class that I met one young boy that especially won my heart. This boy walked with the aid of a walker with unimaginable effort and was fearless in the water. He used precious few words but had a strong presence. I took many photographs of him swimming. On the bus ride back to school, he sat in front of me and kept leaning around his seat to make sure I was still there. His name: Alexander.

That afternoon, my friend Inga took me to the showroom of an Icelandic fashion designer, Steinunn Sigurd. When we were introduced she asked what I was doing in Iceland. I told her about my day at Öskjuhlíðarskóli and how impressed I was with the school and children. I told her I had made a special friend in a boy called Alexander. Steinunn smiled proudly and said, “Alexander is my son.” It was fate....

....I returned to Iceland in August of 2006 and was given complete access to two schools and a day care center for disabled children in Reykjavik. The Öskjuhlíðarskóli is mostly for higher functioning children. Safamýrarskóli is for more severely affected children. The Lyngás Day Care Center cares for the full spectrum of disability. The children I photographed ranged from mildly disabled, both physically and mentally, to profoundly disabled.

Rather than an experience of despair, the seven weeks I spent with these extraordinary children was one of enlightenment and hope. I quickly discovered that within each child, even those who seemed totally disconnected, there is always a personality and a relationship to be made. I was moved by the children’s inner-strength and was also touched by the devotion of the teachers, caretakers, and families. I hope my photographs convey the strength of these children as well as my great respect for them.

During the seven weeks that we spent in Iceland (over three separate trips), my husband Martin Bell, made a film, “Alexander”, focusing on Alexander and his relationship with his parents (Steinunn & Palli), grandparents (Edda & Siggi), friends, teachers, and even his dog; Rocky. Martin’s film also visits Öskjuhlíðarskóli, Safamýrarskóli, and Lyngás. The film shows how the teachers and caretakers make a strong connection with the higher functioning disabled children as well as with children who on the surface seem unreachable.

there was a screening of the movie in Iceland, along with the gallery showing of mary ellen's photographs of the children. mary ellen explained the joy in watching the children gravitate toward their own photographs. the squeals of recognition and the joy and delight expressed through the most innocent and pure expression.







we were privileged to see a screening of the movie today. it was lovely. honest and raw. indescribable.

it was easy to see why she fell in love with alexander and how easy it is to fall in love with each of the children of the Öskjuhlíðarskóli and the Safamýrarskóli. Steinunn did not sugar coat life with a disabled child, nor did she request sympathy. she simply told the truth and it was amazing.

so why did i start the blog ranting of hypocracy? well, mary ellen explained to us the difficulty that she and martin have experienced in trying to share the film and photographs with an american audience. they've been told many times that people don't want to look at handicapped people...least of all, handicapped children.

it blows my mind that for all of our talk of tolerance, we wouldn't want to share in the lives of this lovely family and these beautiful children because they are different from us or because their story might make us uncomfortable.

i doubt this blog will change anything. but i was just speechless when i found this out. if i can share a little piece of what i saw today, i hope that would make just a small difference.

i'm so complex.

i fancy myself a pretty creative person. but lately, my creativity has been a sad little desert of nothingness. not even tumbleweeds. i could probably work with a tumbleweed.

however, i am surrounded by so many inspiring people and have seen a lot of things that have done well at expressing how i'm feeling, even when i cannot.

so until i can get back to that place of creativity, i wanted to share with you...the faithful few...what has inspired me and who has spoken on my behalf.

first up is a blog that was written by alex dezen (lead singer of the band 'the damnwells'). he is a fantastic writer and i thoroughly enjoy reading his blog. this one is an older one, but he speaks to a subject i myself have addressed before...but he does it in such a lovely way. (c: i hope you enjoy it.

**sidebar** he writes the blog on myspace and the first paragraph is in reference to the annoying ads that appear along the top of every screen.


04.24.07

The little game at the top of the screen where you get to catch a bear, slap a fat guy in the belly, or take a picture of some celebrity, is always way too enticing to ignore. Well, for me at least. I mean, who can ignore the weird, phantom Jessica Simpson head flying around outside some cartoon film premiere or award ceremony? And yes, secretly I pretend it's a gun that I'm wielding from the paparazzi line, not a camera. But my intentions are hardly malicious, at least not beyond the most pedestrian kind. After all, this is not the actual Jessica Simpson we're talking about here; it's just her weird, phantom head. And I don't have a gun. At least not yet.

Sometimes people say things to me, assuming I loathe Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake, and other pop stars.

"That's not music!" they bellow.
"Yeah," I cowardly agree, not wanting to stir up any trouble.

The truth is, I don't listen to Jessica Simpson or Mandy Moore. I couldn't pick either of their voices out of a lineup. They're both pretty sexy and all that, I guess. I hope that doesn't make me a pig, I guess. My fiancée doesn't own any of his records, but she loves that one Justin Timberlake song. The DJ is going to play it at our wedding. Everyone loves that song. Everyone will be dancing. And that "d**k in a box" skit was pretty amazing too.

People assume that because I make music, I hate people like Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, and Justin Timberlake, because they're "a fake," or because they're intentions are "untrue." The truth is, I don't really give a shit. Would you assume just because someone's black, they like basketball? Maybe they're an avid Curler? I like what I like, and don't like what I don't like for my own subjective reasons, just like everybody else. What does the validity of someone's intentions have to do with the music they make, and how in the hell can someone infer all that from a 3 minute and 30 second "pop" song? Sometimes I write songs about nothing. Sometimes a bunch of words or guitar chords just sound good together. Sometimes I try really, really hard to write a "pop" song. Does all this make me a fake? Perhaps more so! But more importantly, does any of this really matter? It ain't rocket science. It's just music.

I realize this is a very serious subject to many people, so I don't mean to write about it with such flippancy. It is also a subject that has been talked about to death, so I don't mean to bore you with it either. I simply wanted to say, it doesn't matter to me what your intentions are or if those are your real boobs. We're only here in parting glances. Why scowl?

I'm sure I'll feel differently about all this tomorrow.

If you're interested in reading more of alex's blog or listening to some good music, just go to the damnwells' myspace page at www.myspace.com/thedamnwells.

...or here is a little taste...
alex and his lovely wife angela with an acoustic version of 'like it is'

say it to me now

i haven't heard anything this genuine in a long time.


..there is beauty and pain in the sound.



Glen Hansard 'Say it to me Now'


**edit**3.22.08

apparently the video was taken down. here is another version...poorer quality. but you get the gist.