[-empyre-] regroup, re-charge, and relax

[rtf9 at cornell.edu]

Thanks to Christina et al for an engaging month of -empyre.  Tim is 
in China and I have been in Berkeley, California at CNMAT, but we've 
been keeping tabs throughout this active month on empyre.

Yes, we indeed all need a vacation and will take the month of August 
to regroup, re-energize, and relax.  We will be back in September 
with a new discussion topic and a new set of guests! See you then!

Renate (now via Ithaca ) and Tim (via China)



>Well on that blue note, i"m going to put out the patio lights, let in 
>the cats, clear the dishes, and channel Lennon.
>
>Thanks everyone for participating in our  somewhat less/more than 
>Platonic symposium- on queer relational...
>
>Simon, Johanne, Lessa, David, Nick, Kip, Marc, Tara, Tim. Saul,  
>Julian, Christiane, Judith, Robert, Reggie, Renate, Davin, Micha, 
>Virginia, Brad, and Esquizo-trans
>
>See you in Sept.
>
>
>Out the blue you came to me
>And blew away life's misery
>Out the blue life's energy
>Out the blue you came to me
>
>=John Lennon
>
>
>peace,
>
>c
>
>
>naxsmash
>naxsmash at mac.com
>
>
>christina mcphee
>
>http://christinamcphee.net
>http://naxsmash.net
>
>
>
>
>
>On Jul 31, 2009, at 6:47 PM, Robert Summers wrote:
>
>>  I have been thinking about whether or not to post this to the empyre
>>  listserve, share it at the proverbial sumposium, and then reading an
>>  advanced copy of David Halprine's, et al.'s new anthology titled _Gay
>>  Shame_, esp. Ellis Hanson's essay on queer pedagogy, made me decide
>>  with a resounding decision.  Yes, I shall post it!
>>
>>  I was standing in front of my mom's house -- I've been staying at her
>>  Laguna Beach house for a while, another story -- and I was drinking an
>>  iced tea and smoking a cigarette.  Walking up the street was a young
>>  boy (17? 18? 20? 21?): he was 21 -- I would later find out.
>>
>>  He asked me if I was drinking a beer and if he could "bum" a
>>  cigarette.  I told him I was drink tea, and I gave him a cigarette --
>>  even lit it for him.
>>
>>  We talked for a bit: he was walking over to his friend's to "smoke a
>>  bowl."  I laughed.
>>
>>  We talked some more: there was a subtext, which I was clueless about 
>>  till later.
>>
>>  It was a random meeting: "out of the blue."  Walking the streets of
>>  residential Laguna is not the place one would expect such an
>>  encounter, a relationship -- no matter how brief, or how temporary.
>>
>>  He asked if I lived here.  I told him no. I am just visiting my mom.
>>
>>  He asked if he could come in out of the sun: a hot day for Laguna.  
>>  Sure.
>>
>>  I finally knew what this talk was "really" about.
>>
>>  We had sex.  In the words of Ellis Hanson, "the only good sex is the
>>  type you are ashamed about afterwards."  Indeed, I was joyfully in
>>  shame.  He was shameless.  Shame and shameless: separated by a suffix.
>>
>>  Soon enough, after our other encounter, I walked him out, he "bummed"
>>  another cigarette (I though of Genet's Un Chant Amour).
>>
>>  I walked to the curb and lit up a(nother) cigarette (myself: a
>>  metaphor for one of this actions that took place 40? 50? behind me.
>>
>>  I saw him walk down the street: to (really) "smoke a bowl" with his 
>>  friend?
>>
>>  I realized this was "queer relational". This was one art of living.
>>  This was queer: perhaps, peculiar is a better word.
>>
>>  I never saw him again, and I doubt I ever will.  But this does not
>>  mean it was not a valuable experience: it was.  And, this does not
>>  mean that there was not a relationality (queer to be sure) that took
>>  place, which left me in a different place -- as well as leaving me
>>  otherwise.
>>
>>  I guess what I am writing now (here, now) is what I wrote about Miwon
>>  Kwon and John Ricco and queer relational a few days ago, but this took
>>  place on a grassy lawn and then a wooden floor not the pages of books,
>>  which is not to say those types relations are not just as valuable and
>>  engaging and dangerous.
>>
>>  Shamelessly,
>>  Robert
>>
>>  Robert Summers, PhD/ABD
>>  Lecturer
>>  Art History and Visual Culture
>>  Otis College of Art and Design
>  > e: rsummers at otis.edu
>>  w: http://ospace.otis.edu/robtsum/Welcome
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  empyre forum
>>  empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>  http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
>_______________________________________________
>empyre forum
>empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>http://www.subtle.net/empyre


-- 
Renate Ferro
URL:  http://www.renateferro.net
Email:   <rtf9 at cornell.edu>
,
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
Cornell University
Department of Art, Tjaden Hall
Ithaca, NY  14853

Co-moderator of _empyre soft skinned space
http://www.subtle.net/empyre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre

Art Editor, diacritics
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dia/