Gregarious Expressions

A link to a recording of my poem “Radical Fermentation,” composed for John Bromberg upon request to appear in his Scranton Fringe Festival production of the same name can now be found on SoundCloud. There is one major word order error in the recording, but I posted it anyway because our imperfection is a reality to be honored and embraced.

A photo slideshow / video excerpts of the production can be found on YouTube, here: https://youtu.be/mC-LzNMhuu8.

Thanks to Stacy Grega for her help recording while I was on stage.

-ali

Stopped into the Goodwill on the way home from yoga this morning in search of light-colored fabric for a photo backdrop. They had several options but also … this 99 cent plaque.

It might be a little cheesy if it weren’t so damn true. And exactly what I needed to hear right now.

In case you do too…

-ag

Art is really just an idea,” Mr. Axelrod said. “It’s follow through and direction. What makes a great artist nowadays is being able to put together a team. And he was willing to give up money to put his ideas to life.”

Maybe the greatest quality an artist can possess today isn’t skill or talent — it’s commitment to making a vision real. That means money and time. To create something to make the masses remember your name. What else is fame for?

“Gallery Hopes to Sell Kanye West’s ‘Famous’ Sculpture for $4 Million,” The New York Times; 31 Aug. 2016.

feedback always welcome …

Untitled poem (forgiveness is…) from Alicia Grega on Vimeo.

-ag

Walking to work, I cross the path of a woman with tattoos on the back of her thighs. She skips downhill into the projects like a schoolgirl backpack swishing side to side under sun and cirrus clouds on this opening day of the Olympics.

This is why the every four years coincides with the presidential election. We need the news break. We need a distraction from America:  Land of the privileged and home of the suppressed (but never not great). We need to feel young again- excited about the sports even amid exotic economic and social protests.

The radio describes a Rio in recession. Dirty filthy water, rodents and snakes, rampant crime, and other #rioproblems.

A physical education teacher who loves sports but he’s angry at the Olympics because there are no balls and no courts for kids to play but they came up with all that money to hold this international spectacle.

Radio program host tells us the BBC reporter at the base of the Christ the Redeemer statue is dancing when the cameras are off. Why shouldn’t she dance dance? Would you, if you were there on this glorious day?

-ag

excerpt from Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang:

“(Rejection) involves another person saying ‘no’ to us, often in favor of someone else, and often face to face. Rejection means that we wanted someone to believe in us, but they didn’t. That we wanted someone to like us, but they didn’t. We wanted them to see what we see and to think how we think and instead they disagreed and judged our way of looking at the world as inferior. That feels deeply personal to a lot of us. It doesn’t just feel like a rejection of our request, but also of our character, looks, ability, intelligence, personality, culture or beliefs. Even if the person rejecting our request doesn’t mean for his or her ‘no’ to feel personal, it’s going to. Rejection is an inherently unequal exchange between the rejecter and the rejectee and it affects the latter much more than the former.

When we experience rejection, we can’t easily blame the economy, the market or other people. If we can’t deal with it in a healthy manner, we are left with two unhealthy choices. If we believe we deserve the rejection, we blame ourselves and get flooded with feelings of shame and ineptitude. If we believe the rejection is unjust or undeserved, we blame the person and get consumed by feelings of anger and revenge.”

I’m listening to the audiobook. Hoping there are chapters coming up that will provide answers on how to deal in a healthy manner. 😉 -ag

Communicating with others is an art that can be practiced and should be, if we value our relationships with others. -ag