- Call – Don’t Dis’ Me, Theme of the Month
- Response – Musings on Nobody’s Perfect, GLASSYglass
- by – Mimi Peterson
OBSERVATIONS #9 is a variation on the theme Don’t Dis’ Me. It means to suggest a source of defense for disabled people, often regarded as part of the Other. It advocates for the reduction of environmental and social barriers, thereby removing stressors, which could be the difference between life and death. Glass is an interpretive model. When it is broken, glass becomes a signifier of collapse and possible reconciliation of cultural attitudes – a symbol not of wholeness and integrity, but of the shattered debris in the life of those less able. Broken glass is evidence that life can collapse. It also predicts life and style can be put together again and repaired. We judge what is whole or more fragile via cues offered by linguistic and cognitive elements. Glass seems most like itself, and yet betrays its purpose – to hold, to protect, to capture beauty – when it is breaking.
Musings on Nobody’s Perfect
There is power within the process of conversation. I met with locals to talk about Don’t Dis’ Me , after which the theme took on a life of it’s own. In assembling the anecdotes, it became evident that similar ideas and subjects reappear – energy and love, are but two. It’s an ‘aha’ moment when finding crossovers. The field of marketing might analyze it as consensus opinion, but I think of it as a phenomenon called our human connection. The participants innovative spirits illuminate feeling and fact that is layered, complicated socio-political messaging. Their anecdotes challenge the status quo attitude and policies toward members of the Dis’ed-Abled community.
Ice breakers like ‘what’s your favorite color?’ or ‘ what music are you listening to?’ were unnecessary. Muses spoke openly about their personal experiences in dealing with disabilities, their own or helping others. I first introduced B, next comes C, J, L, followed by M & M, S comes last. Thank you for your patience as the Muses and I continue to develop the theme. In the meantime, take a read of GLASSYglass. It’s mosaic of words hint at the contradictions, compromises and frustrations ahead.
GLASSYglass
Find the paths to the planets, Trace the myths of ancients, Follow spaceships to celestial fields, Gather stars, whole or fragmented, Back on Earth, Landed, shatter like glass.
Grounded, or up high, Glassy stars form patterns, connect passages through light and shadow, Along the route, dancing prisms enter the milky white,
At first sight, stained glass schemes seem like mere decoration, In reverse, mirror the storied designs of the Dis-ed Muses, Measured by time, made by word, shaped by feeling, a blend of material, mosaics of meaning.
My Muses, bold and brave, know their space, Invisible boundaries made visible while trading anecdotes, Their stories turn toward happy endings, imagining reality.
The material has traveled, had a life of its own, Enshrined in lines, cracks, and curves, orbits disaster, fragility and danger, Their anecdotes represent being present in light, transparent, not in crisis mode, My Muses dare to use forbiddens with destructive connotations, meant to nurture respect.
Broken glass and stars taken as an interpretive model, show an impulse to put things back together, New again, perhaps not quite like that which was important before, expresses an imperfect wholeness.
We talk of 'future optimistic' steeped in memory, hopes held in precious simplicity, Individual points-of-view, like dots of color, fragments of starry glass, Give a sense of mosaic, reveling parts of our total lives.
Mimi Peterson
28 September 2024
More OBSERVATIONS coming 10.5.24
ArtRoot Writer-In-Residence 