Learning To Love You More

Asher's post about Things I Will Mail You reminded me of a project I stumbled upon a year or two ago called Learning To Love You More.

"Learning to Love You More is both a web site and series of non-web presentations comprised of work made by the general public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. Participants accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and see their work posted on-line. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience."

What drew me to the site/project was its interactive nature, that it went beyond people communicating online. Because of the site, people actually went out and did something and those somethings contribute to the further development of the site. Like Things I Will Mail You, easier ones (like draw a constellation from someone's freckles) have more completed assignments but all of the ones I've checked have some reports.

The most recent assignment involves Democracy Now:
Go to http://www.democracynow.org/streampage.pl and watch the current show. When the segment is over, choose someone from the news who made an impression on you. Imagine that you are them, and act out a moment of their day today. Choose an ordinary moment, one without dialogue, when they are alone - maybe the moment after they hang up the phone, or before they go to sleep. It doesn't matter what they are doing, only that you try to feel what it feels like to be them today, given what you know about their life right now. Take a picture of this moment, with the help of a self-timer or a friend. Don't bother dressing up like them, don't worry if you aren't the same race or gender as them. (And don't choose going to the bathroom, everyone else will do that.) Send the caption for the photo in an email - it should include the relevant news, for example: Monday, August 13, 2007: After Resigning as Presidential Advisor, Carl Rove Looks into The Refrigerator

Here's one of the reports:
Daniel Post
Los Angeles, California USA

Wednesday, January 9, 2008: After lending his support to candidate John Edwards on stage in New Hampshire, Desperate Housewives star James Denton reads the label of his new facial cleanser.

- Allison

democracy now!

I try to listen to Democracy Now! every day. According to their website, Democracy Now! is "A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 650 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the U.S."

When I listen to the show, I am struck by how incredibly public it in fact is. On every podcast Amy Goodman comments: "democracynow.org the War and Peace Report. We're broadcasting on over 650 stations... on public access TV and PBS TV stations in both TV satelite networks, on Dish Network channel 9415, Free Speech TV... and we're video and audio podcasting at democracynow.org. Our headlines are also available in Spanish for any radio station to take... and also in transcript form." There is something very powerful in Amy Goodman's reiteration of this public-ness of the show in every podcast. As I listen, I am grateful for the reminder of how available this information is, and therefore eager to encourage others to listen.

On a related note, I think that Democracy Now! is considered a highly liberal news show, and this is due as much to its form (community-created public media) as its content (US and world politics, especially surrounding issues of war and peace). The name "the War and Peace Report" suggests the liberal bent towards aknowledging "peace" as a necessary element in the discussion of "war." According to Hand-Held Visions, "the airwaves (and sattelite orbits) are full of propaganda, and it doesn't come from the Left" (257). Because the "normal" or "traditional" news media is innately commercial and conservative, it seems that any alternative means for media (i.e. community media) gaines a liberal association.

I guess that's just an observation, but I think it's interesting. As I study activist community theatre in my independent study I am struck by this same fact being true. There is a sense that political media is conseravtive and commercial, while political theatre is liberal and alternative. What would conservative political theatre look like? or, because the form of political theatre is non-commercial, is a conservative political theatre impossible? What would a liberal media look like? I think some would say it would look like Democracy Now!, but I would argue that this is liberal in form, and only when held against a conservative media core as a basis for comparison.

~Julia