emchy

Yes, but at the same time, there needs to be dialogue about what it is that the artist is actually trying to say and what kind of social impact it has. If it were not for people rallying against the fact that all queer love stories ended in suicide, death, or straight marriage, then that's all we would be presented with today. And in the same way that we now get to have those stories without those morals slapped on the end of them, I also think it's important to try to have stories of balanced people who are not suffering from drugs or sex work. Straight people have a wide variation of stories...and there needs to be space for us to have ours, or at least raise consciousness about why that is.

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red-eyed-soul.livejournal.com

this is amazing, and i wholeheartedly agree. it's funny, because last night, i was at the kerouac festival, and during david amram's performance he kept saying (and singing) basically the same thing you did - whether you want to write, paint, dance, sing, play, or just be, each and every one of us has our own unique story.

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indeed.

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the dialog is in the creation. if people tell their stories flawed or otherwise - then different experiences are presented out in the world. i don't need my art to save the world. i think that just by creating it - we're making the world better - no matter the morality of the story. after all - morality is subjective.

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exactly.
and may i add
SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU SOON.

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doppmonster.livejournal.com

This passion is one of the reasons I go to QOM as often as possible -- you put this philosophy into a public space and make it loud.

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i try... :)

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Of course morality is subjective. But reception of art should also be. We can't just support everything on the plant because it's queer and made by hip people. If I sound mean knocking down drug memoirists, it's only because i'm thinking critically about it and asking people to think of something else to put out there that's positive. To raise the bar. Because the fact is that the majority of books and films about lesbians is about tortured girls on heroin or speed-- but it's not like when I go to the movies, every single hetero romance I have to see involves Jennifer Aniston snorting cocaine with Ben Affleck. Why do only straight people get normative lives and it's mandatory that queers have to be a big drug addicted freak show?

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i wasn't referencing only queer art.

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If you want more varied stories, tell them.

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HERE HERE!

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In the process of it, which is the whole reason I went to grad school and just spent a year trying to write a book. I also think it's silly to compare my output to people who have been alive on the planet anywhere from 1-2 additional decades than me.

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Ok-- but we know what topic sparked this LJ.

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not comparing you
and not criticising you

just saying that people creating art is the only way for art to get made...

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Sure...and when nobody shows up to support my book because there will be no tortured prostitute narrator on speed...well, then at least we can say it exists.

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It's not about comparisons. It's about people telling the stories that are real to them and writing about their own experiences. This in itself can be a healing and redemptive process. If you find a memoir or novel reflecting drug use or sex work or what-have-you problematic for whatever reason, then don't buy it; there are plenty of other things to read.

But who are you to decide what is or isn't relevant literature--shit, as a woman, as a person of color, and as a queer person, there are plenty of people who will find your stories unnecessary, immoral, and unimportant just by dint of who you are and the subjects you may address. Do you really want to join these moralizing elitists in deciding what is or isn't literature, not based on the skill with which it is written but because you have moral issues with the content? Especially when not that long ago, you were, let's say, an ardent fan of a local writer who addresses these topics regularly?

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yes - but this is actually a separate post about bigger issues that are mine to talk about - since last i checked this was my lj and i get to rant about my own feelings over here. no one lives in a vacuum. things said in one place often inspire different things said in another.

i actually think it's kind of tacky to bring that conversation over to this - which is actually about something different than what you were talking about.

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yea - wow - i have been so unsupportive of your performances.

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I think everyone is missing the point that i'm not pro-censorship and saying that nobody can create these stories, etc. What I am saying is that people need to THINK about why this is important. Because it's "hip?" What's the big deal if someone does a bunch of drugs and makes a ton of money off of it a la James Frey? What about the actual quality of the writing? It's not even about the morality of the subjects-- it's about the fact that they're done to death.

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