In the Freak Revolution Manifesto, we talk about diversifying your monkeysphere as a way to change the world. In the manifesto, we’re talking about getting to know a diverse group of people.
Today, we’re talking about doing the exact same thing with imaginary people instead of real people.
Produce Imaginary Lesbians
If you’re an artist (author, screenwriter, painter, poet, whatever), create art that diversifies others’ monkeyspheres. Create art that broadens the mind. Create art that helps people connect with those who appear different, unfamiliar, or freaky.
Consume Imaginary Lesbians
Even if you didn’t have any lesbian friends, you might still have some lesbians in your monkeysphere from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or even The L Word.
Can you think of books, movies, or TV shows that portray other types of freaks as actual human beings that you can relate to and empathize with? Bisexuals? Poly people? Transsexuals? Homeschoolers? Raw foodists? Pagans? Muslims?
Consume more of those. Stretch your boundaries a little. Learn about people who you’re not already comfortable and familiar with. It can be fiction or nonfiction — reading someone’s autobiography can certainly pull them into your monkeysphere.
Freak Revolution Book Club
What are your recommendations for monkeysphere-diversifying books (or any other kind of art), and why?
How about reading a book that someone else recommends?
Have you read the Connection Manifesto? It tells the story of why there is so much hurt and sadness in the world, and how we can heal through connection.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
“Consume Imaginary Lesbians”
I love that. I’ll be saying that to myself all day. *giggle* Mmmmmm, tasty lesbian.
Here are some book recommendations I can think of right now:
- Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides: about a hermaphrodite with Greek immigrant parents
- Misfortune, Wesley Stace: about a boy who is raised as a girl
These are more about different cultures:
- What is the What, Dave Eggers: the story of one of the Lost Boys in Sudan
- 28: stories of AIDS in Africa, Stephanie Nolen: intrigueing read that shows African culture and how people deal with disease
- Daughter of China, Meihong Xu: about growing up in China and being among the first women in the People’s Liberation Army
- Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden: the story of a Geisha in Japan
This is so weird (but in a good way). Back when I used to do NaNoWriMo every year it seemed like at least one character would turn out to be a lesbian. It just seemed natural and that’s who the character wanted to be! Probably because I find lesbians (and other freaks, truth be told) incredibly courageous and inspiring. But that’s just my armchair analysis.
Speaking of art, it’s been a while but back in 0-something (2003 I think, that’s what my page says) there was a rash of anti-gay violence against books in the SF Public Library. I was one of the artists that got a chance to turn one of the damaged volumes into something else, in my case an altered book, that got shipped off and displayed.
A while later I got a sweet email from a couple that had been married in SF during that lovely time when same-sex marriages were being allowed, who had toured the exhibit on their wedding day and bought a couple of pieces (mine included) when they went up for auction to benefit the library.
If you’re curious, the pictures of my piece are here: http://scrapsoflife.com/out.htm (pardon the hideous web non-design, redoing the page is definitely on my to-do list)
.-= Jennifer “Scraps” Walker´s last blog ..Lines, Boxes and Rules =-.
But my monkeysphere is full of imaginary lesbians! ;-)
.-= Oliver Danni´s last blog .. =-.
The problem with Consuming Imaginary Lesbians is that media portrayals of marginalized subcultures are still rife with stereotypes and misconceptions. You may find that people who have been subsisting on a steady diet of Imaginary Lesbians don’t know how to deal with Real Live Lesbians because they have this perplexing habit of being human beings rather than Hollywood constructions.
Fortunately, there’s this marvelous thing called the Internet, which contains this thing we know as the blogosphere. If you want to know how the Other Half lives, you have the option of lurking on blogs and message boards where Real Live People talk about their lives, instead of waiting for Hollywood to distill their experiences down for your easy consumption.
.-= Sheila´s last blog ..Word Art: The Rules of the Game =-.
Great timing – I’m working on the storyline for a comic idea I have, and it follows a group of fairly unconventional people. :)
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Learning & the Renaissance Soul =-.
We rented “Pageant” last week and learned a TON about the people behind the Miss Gay America Pageant: all gay men who dress as women (and gorgeous, heavily made-up women at that). I loved that the documentary was produced in a way that you could see, behind the costumes, the fears and loves and dreams of human hearts.
Are all gay men like those in the movie? Of course not, but it was fun to stretch!
As a lesbian, I do get a little tired of hearing about the L-Word. I mean it’s nice that we have our own show and all that, and yes, we *have* come a long way baby in the media, but the women on that show don’t act or look anything like me. As if my life would be interesting enough for TV! (laughing)
Great topic, Pace. The titles sure got my attention. (grin)
.-= Jennifer Hofmann´s last blog ..How do YOU get perspective? =-.
Well, if anyone wants to put vampires into their imaginary monkeysphere, I can recommend various books (or series of books) by various authors.
But that’s probably not what you’re shooting for here. :)
What may be more in keeping with what you’re after is recommendations of books about autism or autistic people.
Before you start reading about autistic people, or interacting with any once you’ve read about a few, be aware that if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person. Period. You can’t generalize from one autistic person to the next; if you do, you’ll miss something. There may be similarities, but there are going to be some pretty big differences, and if you’re not expecting them, you may run roughshod over some poor unsuspecting autist with your assumptions. (The word “autist” is used by some autistic folk on the internet as a shorter term for “autistic person”. I like it, I’m using it.)
Temple Grandin has written some good stuff; just be cautious and know that she doesn’t speak for all autistic experiences.
Elijah’s Cup by Valarie Paradiz is a mother’s experience of her autistic/Aspergers syndrome son.
Susan Senator’s book, Making Peace with Autism, is also about an autistic son.
Not Even Wrong by Paul Collins alternates accounts of historical autists with his own experiences with his young autistic son. (This one was awesome, IMO.)
Donna Williams has written several books about her autism; I’ve read Nobody Nowhere and can recommend it with the usual caveat (see above); I haven’t read any of her other books, although I have one in my possession. (But I’m spending more time reading about fictional vampires than I am reading nonfiction right now.)
Elizabeth Moon’s book Speed of Dark is a science-fiction book about an autistic young man. Her own son is autistic, and she’s spent a lot of time, both in person and online, with autistic people. (OK, some of the non-vampire reading has been other science fiction of hers….)
There are a ton of blogs out there by autistic people and parents of autistic people. http://www.autism-hub.co.uk/ will take you to a bunch of them. (I’ve been enjoying Comet’s Corner recently, for example. And Susan Senator has a blog listed there.) Also, Amanda Baggs’ Ballastexistenz blog at http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/ is one I read.
That’s all I have right now, if I think of anything else, I may come back and comment again.
(The list of recommendations by Inge is looking mighty tempting!)
I gotta admit, watching Big Love expands my monkeysphere, hahaha. Also a documentary about objectumsexuals (I Married the Eiffel Tower or something like that). Can’t think of any books off the top of my head… maybe “Aint I A Woman” by Bell Hooks but that’s more having that person’s reality explained to me then having them become a part of my intimate circle :)
Musically, there’s several spots you can check out. First and possibly most obvious, dig into the folk and classical musics of other cultures: Tuvan throat singing, Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, Turkish classical music, Zimbabwean mbira music, and zillions of other stuff.
My personal area of specialization is classical music, particularly stuff from the past 50 years or so. For those who think Western Classical music is by and for rich, white males, the good news is that paradigm has been changing for a very long time and there’s pretty much something for everyone out there, whether you’re looking for stuff that sounds like rousing film music, stuff that is meditative, or anything in between. Here are two recommendations of non-traditional, yet classical, music:
For example, Julius Eastman wrote experimental, collective works that challenged listeners’ ideas about being black and/or being gay, with equally challenging titles like “Gay Guerrilla,” “Evil Nigger,” and “Crazy Nigger” but also less confrontational stuff like “Stay On It.”
http://www.mjleach.com/eastman.htm
(hosted by Mary Jane Leach, a composer also worth checking out!)
Eliane Radigue is a devout Buddhist and writes massive, grand, drone-based works, often illustrating the lives of important figures in Buddhism. Her stuff is on several labels and worth hunting down.
http://lovely.com/bios/radigue.html
Plus there is tons and tons and tons of other out-there, mind expanding stuff.
I’ll leave you with my latest favorite quote about music:
“We are moved by music because musicking creates the public image of our most inwardly desired relationships, not just showing them to us as they might be but actually bringing them into existence for the duration of the performance. This will clearly involve our deepest feelings, and thus the act of musicking, taking place over a duration of time, teaches us what we really feel about ourselves and about our relationships to other people and to the world in general, helping us to structure those feelings and therefore to explore and evolve our own identity.”
— Christopher Small, Music of the Common Tongue
cheers…
Piggybacking on Andrea’s comment –
Thea Musgrave.
http://www.theamusgrave.com/
(Now, I can’t handle her music, wasn’t able to at 6 months, wasn’t able to at 16, and wasn’t able to last time I tried a couple of years ago — but if you can, she’s written some good operas, among other things.)