Licking The Boot That Kicks Us

Licking The Boot That Kicks Us

Last month, on January 6th, I published in this blog a column entitled, “Chilling Me Softly.” The topic, generally, was about censorship, about the intentional cultivation of censorship as a promotional strategy, and about the the subsequent chilling...
Chilling Me Softly

Chilling Me Softly

We are all, I am sure, familiar with the concept of “the chilling effect,” by which legitimate forms of expression are discouraged by fear of consequences such as censorship, lawsuit, or arrest. The chilling effect is one of, if the the most, dangerous consequences of...

How to tell your parents that you’re majoring in art

One of my duties as a Lecturer of Foundations at Northern Arizona University is to provide give tours to prospective students.  In an email follow-up to one of these tours, I was asked about the viability of a career following an art degree, and how one might explain...

The Road Behind: GWAR After Oderus

Well I’m traveling down the road And I’m carrying that heavy load I walk around in a stupor Sleazy, I cant do the show   Last April, Dave Brockie, better known as Oderus Urungus, lead singer of the band GWAR, died of a heroin overdose. I wrote about...

An Introduction to Relational Aesthetics and Social Practice

By the title of this essay I imply not that I am providing an introduction to this topic, for the uninitiated, from the perspective of experience.  Rather, I intend to share the experience of my own introduction to this topic, in preparation for a course I will be...