ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing the archives for the Art category.

To Tell Or Not To Tell

I have just returned from a talk by Frank Warren, author of PostSecret.com at the Meridian Ballroom at SIUE. He has been called “The Most Trusted Stranger in America”, and for a good reason. He collects postcards from strangers all over the country who post them to him anonymously with their deeply held secrets written on them like an artwork. PostSecret.com is described as a community arts project. He has published four books, and another one is upcoming.

scan0045The highlight of the talk was a chance for audience members to express themselves back to the speaker, and many used the medium to tell secrets never before revealed. It was such an emotional moment, listening to the women especially, who mostly couldn’t complete their confessions without bursting into tears. A student confessed that she blamed herself for the death of a baby boy because she couldn’t get to him on time. Another one confessed to having felt better after sharing an earlier secret about sleeping disorders. The one that got the most laugh and applause was from a confessed kleptomaniac who confessed to having obtained all of Frank’s books by thieving. One other student confessed to having used a fake ID to come to the event, while another one came out just to express his deepest wonder at why God would spare his life from a horrible car accident and take that of a friend of his who died in a similar but different accident. In a response to a question about whether he ever thought that some of the secrets sent to him are untrue, sent only to manipulate, the visiting author replied that he saw all the postcards on which the secrets were written first as artworks, then later as medium of communication.It was a nice show, which I’m glad I attended. I got one of his books, titled “The Secret Lives of Men and Women”, and I also got it signed.

Here are some of the secrets from the book:

  • Every time I’m alone in an elevator, I take the opportunity to pass gas, pick my nose, and adjust my bra.
  • I long to go fishing with my ex-husband
  • When I was young I used to hate my body… Now that I’m older, I know better. I’m HOT!
  • I should have been more of a slut while I still had the chance.
  • Every day I contemplate suicide. And if you knew why, you’d want me dead too.

However I did not make it up to the microphone to ask my questions, or share any deeply held secret to a crowd of almost a thousand students. Why? Well, let that be the secret: because I was afraid that even though I didn’t need the applause, I might feel awkward if the applause for me was less than for the other guys who had more juicy tales to tell the crowd, and more tears to shed. However, I will send Frank an email tonight to let him have my secret. Had I gone up the mic, I could also have asked this question, among others: how does he sleep at night?

PS: According to Wikipedia, “with permission from Frank Warren, a French version of PostSecret was launched in October 2007 under the name PostSecretFrance and in February 2008, a German version was started as PostSecret auf Deutsch. There is also one in Spanish called Los Secretos Dominicales and now a Chinese version 邮寄你的秘密 PostSecretChina. The Chinese blog is not officially affiliated with PostSecret.”

To Tell Or Not To Tell was published on September 29th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the adventures, Art category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

I’m Being Jazzed

A John Coltrane CD for my birthdayJazz has taken over my life.

It’s definitely not the jazz you’re thinking about in Nigeria right now, but something a little less involving of incantation or some kind of juju charm and hypnotism. Now that I think about it, I wonder why Nigerian music and Nigerian traditional medicine seems to have similar naming systems: juju and jazz don’t just refer to music, do they? Now, in jazz music, the only horn you have is the one that makes music, and not the one for incantations; and the only charming you get from it is the one that mesmerizes you, and not the one that hpynotizes.

On Saturday, I was hosted along with Reham at the home of the Palestinian American family of the Tamaris. The food was nice, the conversation was splendid, and the children were fun. The two kids spent the whole time playing a game called “Life”, and their parents’ response to them when the children invited them to come and play with them was “Why should I play Life when I can live it.”. Splendid.

The Autobiography of Miles Davies

The other surprise of the evening came when the host opened up his audio library and gave me a ton of jazz cds to choose from. I’ve never seen so much jazz and blues albums in one place. Well, I have, actually, but that was at Jazzhole in Lagos, Nigeria, where one needs a large amount of money to be able to get a really nice cd, book or picture. I remember spending hours and hours going through Jazzhole looking for something I could buy with my little student stipend, but I was disappointed. Anyway, I digress. I left the Tamari’s house with a bag of songs from Chess, Joe Turner and T-Bone Walker, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, Buddy Guy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis Rush, Etta James, Little Milton, Koko Taylor, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Miles Davies, Julian Adderley, Paul Chambers, James Cobb, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Big Bill Broonzy, Bonnie Raitt, and a guy called Taj Mahal. Earlier on Tuesday, I had been given a gift CD of John Coltrane by my artist friend for my birthday, and Ben has complemented it with another gift of the hits of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. All of these songs have now found their way into my iPod, and when I look at it, the little device now looks so surprisingly heavy.

Now, coming back from a visit to my artist friend’s house, I found another library of a different kind: books. The food was good. The movie we went out to see was even better: Love Happens, featuring Jeniffer Aniston, which is really a beautiful, moving story of family and loss than romance. I think I must have shed a tear somewhere towards the end. Now I have in my hands “The Augobiography” of Miles Davies, one of jazz’s musical pioneers from East St. Louis, written by Quincy Troupe. It is 441 pages long, and I won’t finish it soon, because I have a lot to do in class during this week, but it’s enchanting to read. I’ve started, and I’m loving it so far. I am being jazzed, but this is one time when it comes with a total feeling of satisfaction.

I’m Being Jazzed was published on September 28th, 2009, with the tags , , , under the adventures, Art, Fun category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Postcard

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A Postcard for Black Studies in the Department of English, SIUE.

Postcard was published on September 18th, 2009, with the tags , , , under the Art, Observations category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.