Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

The walkie-talkie resembles the human body, but also is formed for the part of the body that is meant to use it, a hand.  

In the voice of the object:

I am Walker, a walkie-talkie.  I reach my hand up towards the sky searching for connection.  Press on my foot to walk the talk.  Speak to my face and I shall reply, but I may just have to adjust the volume control with my ear.

I am a cute little fellow who wears Morse code clothes.  I have a big heart that powers my body and a brain that receives all the info (that is in turn projected/voiced).  In my back pocket I carry my information.  I was born in China.  I have a twin sister and a very large family.  A bunch of us came over to America and from there we separated into our own dwellings.
I lived with my twin sister for a while until I moved to Value Village where I lived along amongst many other families.
I am not living with an awesome roommate, Julia who takes pretty good care of me.
Today, Julia took me along to the college where she teaches.  The students were very nice.  Said I looked like Kenny from South Park.  I don't mind the nickname.

 

Mac and Manda!  A beautiful duo!

Manda fell in love with Mac over the internet.  She did extensive research to make sure Mac was a perfect suit for her.  She dreamt of Mac for a long time and googled over him online in hopeful desire.

As soon as she came in contact with the physical Mac, she was instantly in love.

He was this luscious white being.  The first thing he did was offer her a bite of his apple.  What a generous and thoughtful fellow.

The duo has been a match made in heaven ever since...

First story:

The time is nearly 11:15.

A beautiful woman sits on a park bench holding a small umbrella above her head shielding her beautiful face from the scorching sun.

This moment seems frozen.  Time stops.  She envisions herself dancing in the park, twirling above the fallen autumn leaves underneath her feet.
Music is playing on a machine; a record player and a dancing, beautiful woman in a flowing pink skirt.
Twirling, twisting things.

A man rolls up to the woman on his peddle bike.  Everything in this little spot on Earth seems to have stopped.  Thin rubber tires that reside on metal rings and spokes screech to a stop.  How can such a machine hold a person up?
He hops off the contraption, gently laying it on its side.
The two are now sitting on the park bench together.  He reaches a courteous hand to the woman.
They sit together hand in hand on a park bench on a little spot on Earth where time has stopped.

Second story:

This girl is on a journey of discovery.  She is full of dreams and wishes.  Behind her is a boastful Mother who looks down on this dreamy world.  “Snap back into reality, daughter!”

This girl is trapped in an unimaginative world where her mind is the only place worth visiting.

She hops in her old hand-me-down BMW and cruises to a nearby lake where her fantasies can be explored.

She lays under the shade of a tree with a pen and notepad.

Ideas float on the page like notes on a music sheet.

http://www.sew-dolling.com/ 

 

Check this site out.  There's all sorts of different types of dolls.

To be asked whether or not one is a real man or a real woman may seem like a simple question. In the documentary, Southern Comfort, we see that there is much more to being a real woman or being a real man. As Kate Bornstein points out in her book My Gender Workbook, one difficult part in this simple question comes when remembering times when “we’re not quite as manly or as womanly as we could be or should be” (Bornstein 2). In both the film and in Bornstein’s writings, the “issue” of the gender binary is captivated.

What constitutes a real woman or a real man? Bornstein talks about how there isn’t any concrete definition for these two binaries. The definitions of gender are made and then if enough people agree with the definitions, they are assumed to be natural. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “natural” is something “existing in, determined by, conforming to, or based on nature” (Oxford). Lola, in Southern Comfort reflects on the fact that, “Nature delights in diversity, why don’t human beings” (Southern)? Diversity in nature is important. No matter how small a species may be, every species has an important role to play. It is because of these diversities, that disasters don’t hurt the Earth detrimentally. It is because of these diversities that humans have medicine, shelter, or anything. There is so much depth and diversity involved in nature. Why, then is Trans sexuality so sensitized in societies? It is simply just gender diversity.

“Being a man or being a woman has nothing to do with your genitalia. It has to do with what’s in your heart and your mind,” said Robert Eads in Southern Comfort. This physical piece of one’s identity has been the basis for whether they are a girl or boy. “From the moment we take our first breath, the cry ‘it’s a boy’ or ‘it’s a girl’ ushers us into this world” (Bornstein 1). There is much more to anything than what meets the eye. Robert Eads may look like a simple rough necked man on the outside, but he is much more than that.

I am an organized, fun, and outgoing chic looking for group soul mates who are organized, outgoing, and willing and open to learn!  I like positive people!

People to bring elements of (just throwing out ideas of potential soul mate contributions):

1. Photography

2. Study physical body/ body image

3. Statues/art form study (ex. Michelangelo statues, like The David)

4.  The Body as a machine
 
5.  The physical self

What I am exploring:

Studying different elements of the body in fitness.  Why is there such an obsession with fitness and muscles?  I think fitness and health is very important and I love "the body" and it's muscles.  Body as a machine; how body works.

An inspiring figure/ artist to study: Michelangelo and how he took a block of marble, imagined the body and its every muscle (skin folds, angles ,etc.) and then take this body image and manifest a being into an inanimate object.

Another inspiring figure: Leonardo da Vinci and his robot (possibly built the first humanoid robot in Western civilization).  He modeled the human limbs with cords to simulate the tendons and muscles.  Definitely a good example of the body as a machine.

I want to eventually teach some type of fitness class/s (kick boxing or weight training) and this project will help me on this path.  I think it is very important to keep active and I enjoy working out.  I think the human body is beautiful and I want to explore the different aspects of it and the way it works, more specifically through fitness.

Knowledge is Power

Michel Foucault continually brings up the idea of the “will to knowledge (Foucault).”  What does this concept mean?  Foucault considers all knowledge arbitrary.  By keeping the sense of knowledge arbitrary, solely based on personal wishes, the overall power system may still continue functioning (Michel).
What is this power system anyways?  The terms “power” and “knowledge” should be viewed as one.  Without one, the other seizes to exist.  Our actions are responsible for the elements of the power structures themselves. For instance, there cannot be “forensic DNA without police <or> medicine without the clinic (Michel).”  Ultimately, power is not possible without the knowledge (Michel).  People in a society are controlled by the fabric of knowledge that’s fashioning the body (Foucault).  There is not one hierarchal power controlling this influence.  The influence is crafted by the fabrics of every node of a societal net which ultimately shapes it’s people; the body.  The body then can be viewed as the whole of society; a body of power; a body of creation.  The power structure and influence of society shapes it’s people, just as a spider shapes his web.  Every angle and connection on this web is accounted for and meticulously arranged to make a whole creation.  Every aspect of society, every node, makes up an entire net of societal influence.
    If someone knows something, that knowledge in itself is manipulative of the person.  When someone fills out a census form for example, the boxes or lines that they are instructed to fill out, gives them a choice, but a limited choice.  In this act of choosing a “title”, the title chooses the chooser.  There are limitations as to what the person can decide upon, therefore, the realization in the “title” becomes a part of the decider. There are limitations with anything.  There are limitations on what to write.  The words that appear on this page have come from a person who chose to write the words.  The knowledge embedded in this person’s “mind” has been revealed onto the page in a jumble of nonsense or sense, whichever may suffice.
We are controlled by our knowledge.  The way people are raised controls them.  If someone didn’t know any other way about something, how could they know any different?  Their knowledge owns them.  There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, depending on how a child is brought up in society, depicts what they will know and what will control them.  “…the will to knowledge has not come to a halt in the face of a taboo that must not be lifted, but has persisted in constituting—despite many mistakes, of course—a science of sexuality (Foucault 13).”  In this passage, Foucault recognizes that the will to knowledge; the want to know more; has somewhat stopped, but has formed a science of sexuality.  In relation to the knowledge-power concept, the “science of sexuality” is the knowledge portion of the equation and the “sex” is the power portion.  There wouldn’t be science of sexuality if there wasn’t sex.  This is a “cause and affect” type of relation.  One of Foucault’s goals in talking about the term “knowledge,” is to bring forth the “will to knowledge;” a further want to know.  He wants people to be imaginative in their thinking; to think outside of the box; outside of the monotonous way of thinking.  This will-to-knowledge “serves as both their support and their instrument (Foucault 12).”  To know more about something gives support for an idea; almost a better means for debate. The will to knowledge also gives someone an instrument or tool, which is the way to gain power.
Now, let’s move away from Foucault’s deployment of the word “knowledge” and see how his ideas differ from our ordinary understanding of the word.  We can break away from Foucault’s deciphering of the word, to a more literal sense of this knowledge concept.  The “mind” is an appropriate area to start.  Our mind is a tool.  This tool is a means of gaining more knowledge.  What is the “mind” exactly?  There really is no exact way of defining the “mind.”  In fact, the specificities of the mind are not clear and are still open for debate.  The mind is a term referring to “the center of human thought, individuality, rationality and recall (Live).”  This mechanism or rather, machine is believed to have functions that solely belong to humans.  The mind’s power can be affiliated or related to the term “brain power,” but the mind and the brain are different.  The brain can be explained and studied scientifically, where the mind cannot be.  This will-to-knowledge can then be viewed in a broader sense than just the will for more brain power.  Your mind, whatever that may be, could be in fact yearning for more knowledge in a different sense than the brain would.  This idea is a further recognition than the physical being; that of a physical brain.  It is still unknown as to how the mind works and has been suggested to be capable of traveling beyond the body.  This theory supports the idea that humans have supernatural abilities.  
    Michel Foucault brings new light to the knowledge concept and shows the importance in thinking creatively.  We must see other means of understanding the world and everything in it.  Intervene amongst the order and be a part of the disruption.

Works Cited

Foucault, Michel.  The History of Sexuality.  An Introduction.  New

York: Vintage Books; A Division of Random House, Inc., 1978.

Live Science.  “Mysteries of the Mind.”  2007.  09 October 2007  

<http://www.livescience.com/mind/>.

“Michel Foucault.  Power/ Knowledge.”  2001.  09 October 2007.

    <http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Speech/rccs/theory54.htm>.

“Oxford English Dictionary.”  Knowledge.  Oxford University Press.  2007.  

09 October 2007 <http://0-

dictionary.oed.com.cals.evergreen.edu/cgi/entry/50127602?query_type=word&qu

eryword=knowledge&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place

=1&search_id=32ml-6bKJrR-13473&hilite=50127602>.

"People are not in the habit of thrusting out this organ to the gaze of others except in illness for the inspection of the doctor, or in rudeness, to express contempt of an opponent."

This hidden red thing; what a peculiar object!

Yet so useful to a poker, a proder: A Doctor.  The Doc pokes and prods at this lip licker, this red thing.  And in doing so scrapes at the state of the depths.  This old fashioned Doc trusts this indicator; this lip licker.  "Scrape it, delve into the caked fur and reveal the fortune."  Oh, you silly fortune teller.  Can this piece of the body be like a card?  A tarot?

No, it is like a jigsaw puzzle.  It is a piece of a body.

This red piece of jigsaw puzzle sits, quite literally sits, in a space amidst a head.  It lays centered inside a closed toothed jail before a long hallway with no existing lights.

It is a taste tester that is exhausted.  It has certainly passed the test though.  A+ little student!

"Ugh...tobacco.  Why must I be tortured?  Really?!"

"Oh, yummy chocolate; I bring pleasure to you, The Chooser."

I am the chooser of things for this lil' student.  It learns of new things, new tastes, new touches.

Teeth:

Tongues' companions sit out front, typically able to see the light of day that the gate opens to reveal.  Teeth of "pearly white" (or at least this is what is strived for) compliment the deep pinkish red of the inner organ.

I am the key master to the lip gates.  The bone bars keep the tongue creature in.

 

"The tongue creature!"  "Ahh..."  It is a hidden thing that no one really wants to see.  It is like so many other things in society that is shuned from the surface.  Expendable pieces.  But, it is not expendable!  Just like many things that seem expendable are not necessarily so!  Like a transexual in this world.  Like an elderly person with Alzheimer... 

Here is a quick free write that our guest speaker, Scott Turner Schofield instructed us to go for:

 

Oh life! Oh my life!  Where to start.  I'm going to pick one single instance in my life, an instance that could be a part of a play.  As we learned from Scott, life stories make for a good performing art piece and anything in our life could be a play.  We are the directors!

 

Yes, I am going to start my story with a waking moment.  How about I start with a Monday.  Ode' to Mondays.  I wake to my cell phone alarm after an extensive , ever lasting play of dreams (could be a whole play in itself or rather nightmarish opera).  I grab the phone and turn off the waking tune.  An obtrusive banging and clanking sounds in the near distance.  I am ever reminded of our obnoxious neighbors being illegally loud on their disgusting piece of land right behind us.  We've tried to get them our of there, but politics once again prevail, having "the power" over us wee neighborhood who seizes to exist in the eyes of these money hungry fools!  Ok, long story...

So, my dreams have been ok lately.  In fact, my life is pretty sweet so my dreams mostly mirror this.  I met a wonderful guy, Zachary who is contributing to my happy, beautiful life!

Ok, back to the story.  :-)   I move my feet around under my covers and bump into something.  Yep, my cat is still curled up at the foot of my bed.  I wonder how she manages to stay there all night, especially me being her Momma (I tend to toss a lot).  So, I extend a sleepy hand to my beautiful cat, Reeses and gently pet her between the ears.  She has an instant purr box, so I'm comforted by her noise in my room.  Aside from the sporadic bang from the neighbors, my cat's purr and my waking yawns are the only noise in this space.  

 

I could continue this story, but I'm not.  :-)  Thanks for reading. 

 

The play of plays! This identifying specimen presented by the Bureau of the Census holds the key to it’s peoples identities, where it’s puppets are strung about by the puppeteers across a stage. Why this constant masquerade, why this intrusion and control of these delicate puppets?
Maestro, sound the music! Hold fast to your seats, audience, for we present a masterpiece of wood! We give you an influence!
Now…fantasy bubble fades, reality sets in motion. Check the boxes! “What are you? Who do you belong to?” “The head of the House?” comes a questioning response.
How the societal influence of such a specimen can inflict on a being. Now, the uniqueness and supposed individuality is categorized and squeezed into areas next to a check box. “Check yes or no, darling!” Where do you fit in with society?
“How useful is your body” could be the main title for this questionnaire of questionnaires! Utility is the key ingredient in this whole apple pie. The body; the self is no use unless usable. Questions about a person’s usefulness and validity of citizenship blur underneath a pen (blue or black ink of course) as these humans full out lines, check boxes, and ultimately discover deepening identifying characteristics of themselves.