<div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Alan,</span><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><br><div>Thanks for sharing your comments on ageism. An organic model of culture loves a multitude of temporalities, a variety of stages living in time in a variety of ways, every node a potential edge, every edge a gift. An industrialized culture flattens then flatters demographic groups, offering us metastatic culture instead of metastability.</div><div><br></div><div>I watched my father.... one of the most amazing people I've ever known.... a working class man, a poet, artist, freak of the silent generation, who made a living as a bartender, and then lost his job as the blue collar bar he worked at was bought and repackaged for what is now a very trendy neighborhood.... He suffered under the fear that the world did not want him. We loved each other. And that, I think, kept him going. But there was a lot of pain. </div></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">I think the thing that makes ageism so toxic is that we all know the scorn that awaits us.... and that activates everyone who is not yet old against the scapegoat. </div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">It cries out for revolution....</div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">davin</div><div class="gmail-yj6qo gmail-ajU" style="outline:none;padding:10px 0px;width:22px;margin:2px 0px 0px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><div id="gmail-:lk" class="gmail-ajR" tabindex="0" style="background-color:rgb(241,241,241);border:1px solid rgb(221,221,221);clear:both;line-height:6px;outline:none;width:20px"></div></div><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 4, 2018 at 8:00 AM, Alan Sondheim <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sondheim@panix.com" target="_blank">sondheim@panix.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br>
<br>
(in line with the open call this month. this essay might be of<br>
interest. thanks, Alan)<br>
<br>
<br>
Old Ageism<br>
<br>
_______________<br>
<br>
Old Men<br>
by Ogden Nash<br>
<br>
People expect old men to die,<br>
They do not really mourn old men.<br>
Old men are different. People look<br>
At them with eyes that wonder when...<br>
People watch with unshocked eyes;<br>
But the old men know when an old man dies.<br>
_______________<br>
<br>
I've been trying to figure out how to approach ageism, which has<br>
come to me in spades, and will come to you as well; there's no<br>
escape, no retribution, no complaint that resonates. It shows in<br>
subtle ways like racism or sexism; like racism and sexism,<br>
however, it also shows in ways that tell the truth but tell it<br>
slant. And unlike racism and sexism, it remains by and large<br>
unacknowledged, or given lip service at best. One just has to<br>
examine the treatment of older men and women on The Simpsons to<br>
see how acceptable this is. We're expected to be feeble,<br>
forgetful, weak, out of touch, confounded by computers and<br>
cellphones, adjudicating at best in relationship to the world of<br>
fifty or a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago. We're not<br>
expected to be able to teach, to think clearly, to speak without<br>
repetition and reminiscence. We're expected to wallow in<br>
nostalgia for the good old days. The poem by Nash says it all;<br>
we're expected to die, to fade away, to disappear, to be a<br>
nuisance at best. We're expected to go into hospices or nursing<br>
homes or die in our sleep or in traffic accidents whose fault is<br>
only our own. We're expected to dote on grandchildren and<br>
populate the National Parks, the network news hours, and<br>
television (never online), until we conveniently disappear.<br>
<br>
For some of us, of course, this isn't a caricature, but a sad or<br>
happy truth. But the characterization is applied across the<br>
board and affects hires, and the ability to function as a valued<br>
and active member of a community; in other words, we're forced<br>
out.<br>
<br>
This is true in the cultural domain where, for all its identity<br>
politics, the old are ignored or seen as 'subjects' for others'<br>
works. Which leads to the issue of 'begging letters' (a phrase a<br>
friend of mine has used), and here I have to speak of my own<br>
experience. I'm an artist/theorist/whatever who is as active as<br>
I ever was, and my thinking/work is as present/presenced as it<br>
ever was. (I'm not alone in this; I'm describing what so many<br>
people I know go through constantly.) If I apply for a job or a<br>
show or a residency or other cultural opportunity, most often<br>
(not all the time), one of two things happens; I don't hear back<br>
at all, or I'm put in a position where I have to constantly<br>
pester the organization or person in charge, to be heard, to be<br>
considered at all. I'm simply no longer on the cultural horizon<br>
- there are other, younger, more exciting, people on the scene,<br>
and it's a scene I'm excluded from. It's never put that way, but<br>
it's the case. We're expected, by the age, say, of fifty, to<br>
have completed our work, our 'product' if it's such, and to be<br>
content with that, to have moved on (perhaps to grandchildren?).<br>
Our rage is internalized, goes nowhere; as friends have said,<br>
literally, "It's no fun growing old" and a good part of this is<br>
the isolation that's forced on us, particularly in the realm of<br>
cultural production. (I speak to that because that's where I'm<br>
active, that's where I am.)<br>
<br>
Oddly, given the filter bubbling at work on social media, I'm<br>
largely speak/writing to the converted; this text won't go<br>
anywhere outside of those in agreement. And if it does, what<br>
would it matter?<br>
_______________<br>
<br>
(Personal note - in 1974 Kathy Acker and I made the Blue Tape<br>
together in New York. Recently, because it's been twenty years<br>
since she died, there's been a minor resurrection of the piece;<br>
a number of venues in the United States and Europe have shown<br>
it. Every time I'm asked for permission, I'll agree and add that<br>
the tape itself is over forty years old, and I've continued<br>
working and would you be interested in seeing what else I've<br>
done? Only one place asked; when I sent copies of the work etc.<br>
in, it was ignored. I understand that KA is a cultural icon at<br>
this point, but the tape was the produced by both of us, and in<br>
every showing, I'm effaced; it's as if I didn't exist. I can<br>
give other examples.<br>
<br>
In all of this I feel I'm taken to be an "old man" or "elderly"<br>
what whatever, and that already pejorative characteristic<br>
becomes fundamental. It's also something I internalize, and hate<br>
myself for doing so. When I walk down the street I literally see<br>
myself through others' eyes, I see an old and useless man with<br>
nothing to say, with nothing of value in the world. It's an odd<br>
and miserable, hateful reflection, but I can't help it at this<br>
point. It what happens. It's concrete. It's an autonomic<br>
reaction. Part of this may be that I'm in a small town,<br>
Providence, which has underlying hatreds as a local flux (which<br>
is true of almost every small town I've lived in). But unlike<br>
racism, for example, it's not acknowledged; it's just there. My<br>
image comes back constantly to haunt me, and if I live and work,<br>
for example, for another twenty years, I'll live with this every<br>
day, without community engagement, with constant begging<br>
letters, with a fundamental isolation that, at least according<br>
to the papers I've read, also leads to early death.<br>
<br>
I apologize for going on like this and recognize that there are<br>
a lot of people in worse situations. The problem with ageism,<br>
however, is that it's invisible and unacknowledged, and that<br>
allows it be pervasive everywhere, to gnaw at the soul.<br>
<br>
There used to be groups like the Grey Panthers, that tried to<br>
counteract this; now there's the AARP with positive heart-<br>
warming stories about successful older people. But these are<br>
people who have had cultural capital in the first place, and one<br>
might speak of an AARP ideology that creates a pleasurable but<br>
utterly fake horizon. It's not the truth and it doesn't speak<br>
to the truth that we bare, that we bear.)<br>
<br>
What is to be done? I honestly don't know. I'd like to see<br>
ageism added to sensitivity trainings. I'd like to see people<br>
hired or shown on the basis of their work, their intellect,<br>
their commitment, and not on the basis of age (while it's<br>
illegal to take age into consideration for teaching positions,<br>
it's done all the time; at one job opening at an Ivy League<br>
university, the cut-off was 40). I know none of this will<br>
happen. I'd like to find a way to channel our rage (which we too<br>
often turn against ourselves); that won't happen. With the fast-<br>
forward evolution of cultural memes, productions, technologies,<br>
and politics, these concerns will appear even less important to<br>
society at large (if there is such a thing). And here, as I<br>
mention above, the filter bubble comes into play.<br>
_______________<br>
<br>
For that reason, I'm asking, if you agree with the above, please<br>
share. Maybe outreach will make a difference to someone.<br>
<br>
Thanks, Alan<br>
<br>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
empyre forum<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>