alanarosewritingblog-blog

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SUPER HONORED TO BE NOMINATED <3

Nat. Brut giddily announces it’s four nominees for the 2014 Pushcart Prize!! We’ve selected Morgan Beatty’s phenomenal piece “POWER LINES”, Alana Costello’shaunting poem “The Dogs”, RL Goldberg’s exceptional story “Lay Me Down Easy”, and James Yoder’s brilliant piece “The Halcyon Days”. If you haven’t read all of these works, do yourself a favor and check ‘em out! They’re all found in NB Issue Four!!

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Throwback - working on some new artwork now. 

an old painting of mine from the summer that just chills in my house now.

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experiments in paint.

existing in the vACuum.

photo cred. Eveee

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lolz

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Very happy to announce that I was published today! In Nat. Brut's online literary magazine. They're a great publication, and I'm honored to be surrounded by such gifted people.

Check out the link to my work here. 

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saw some of his photocopies today, awesome stuff.

Sigmar Polke, Daphne, 2004.

“Daphne is a book with 23 chapters illustrated in large-format photocopies. Each ‘copy’ of the book differs, as each has been photocopied and manipulated individually, pulled from the machine by the hand and watchful eye of the artist.”

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Journey to Chinatown a few days ago.

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:'(

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"I am inside someone/ who hates me. I look/ out from his eyes. Smell/ what fouled breath. Love his/ wretched women."

LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

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Shout outs to Nat. Brut

Enjoy this poem from upcoming issue 4 contributor, Alana Costello.

(photo by Milton Rogovin)

——————-

The truth is nothing.

    A man with an aluminum foil helmet

sits on a roof in West Virginia

during a 4:45a.m meteor shower

waiting for the imminent abduction.

  Meanwhile the Pope turns in his sleep

onto his holy hemorrhoid,

and shifts uncomfortably.

  This is the state of being—

                        quasi-life. Happiness.

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Classic

Blue Train

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Books I've read so far this summer that are worth checking out...

Snuff by Chuck Palanuik

Post Office by Charles Bukowski

Tristessa by Jack Kerouac

How I Became Hettie Jones by Hettie Jones

Aura by Carlos Fuentes

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<3

Art History Meme [1/8] Artists ↳ Gustav Klimt

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In Response to the Elliot Rodger Case

After hearing out both sides of this argument, I found that I could not contain myself, and needed to break this down.

First of all, in a response to the Elliot Rodger shooting the press & public needs to remember that this is not the first time this has happened. This as in, "a 'poor mentally ill-man', goes on a misogynist rampage (see the ecole polytechnique massacre, 2009 collier township shooting). Second of all we need to remember that he was a misogynist and YES he was crazy, but YES misogyny had everything to do with it. In response to this piece by Time , again, YES he was crazy, and all mass-shooters follow psychological patterns, but they don't get their justifications out of the air. He had a whole online fringe community that supported his misogynistic view points; he felt he had a platform for this. It's not like he was hearing voices that told him he was in Men in Black and had to assassinate hiding aliens from outer space. No, Rodger's felt a sense of entitlement. He felt the rejections (having nothing to do with himself), were unfair, and women were at fault. 

It's an isolated case, but we need to let the dialogue come into the open. Misogynists aren't all Elliot Rodgers, but if this case, in it's wake, can spark meaningful conversations on sexism in the modern day and sexuality, than fucking let it happen. It get's me intensely irritated when people like Ferguson (author of the Time article) want to add polite nods toward feminism and than try to hush it up.  He states that, "We have an unfortunate trend when mass shootings occur to focus on idiosyncratic elements as potential causes. That is to say, we look for something unique about the shooter to explain why they may have done what they did." It's a valid point, however don't try to stifle feminist response. Why defend a man's right to be criminally insane, when we should be defending all women's rights. Period. If there is an "OVER-REACTION" happening, than it goes to show there is obviously a tension in the female community that now has a platform to be addressed. (i.e. maybe it isn't all about Elliot Rodgers. BUT THAT'S OKAY.)

Honestly, why wouldn't there be a tension? It's 2014 and a gender wage gap exists, (it's closing, but still exists), and minority women especially get the bad end of the stick. (and 'mainstream, white feminism' has become a negative and disheartening reality in the dialogue.) Also society has taught us to hate our bodies and our sexuality. Ask any high schooler and you will know the societal norms concerning how boys and girl's sexuality are preached and accepted today. Slut-shaming, cat-calling, and just overall, objectification STILL EXIST EVERYDAY. 

And in the meantime, a lot of women are afraid to call themselves feminists. They have forgotten what the word really means. They've let it be colored by this false image of 'radicalism'. Feminism is not going to lead to a group of Amazon warriors spearing defenseless men, nor does it ever aim to. Feminism is not misandry, and not necessarily 'lesbianism' either (another thing equated at least with college feminist organizations, which is stupid, no one should care either way. We should all be united as women, not divided by our sexual orientations. This also stands with race, too often race is not talked about enough in reference to feminist movements, and causes fissions within the community). Also, most important,  Feminist is not a term exclusively for women. This should be a no-brainer, considering at the heart of it all is the idea of equality. A lot of men care about, and identify, with feminism. As a movement, it has certainly grown and changed over the years, branching off to suit more specified needs, as society changes, but it's rooted in equality. Being a feminist doesn't mean you have to throw a Riot Grrl punk festival, or that you're a "man-hating dyke", or a "bitch". You don't have to take a gender studies course, you don't have to rally. Being a feminist has it's own personal connotations, everyone has their own journey to identity, but people need to wake up and see patriarchy effects EVERYTHING in their daily lives. 

We should be considered humans first, not women. End of story. Elliot Rodger's saw his victims as women, objects unattainable to him, and as most pyscho killers do, alienated himself from their humanity. As women and sexuality still rule the voyeuristic society in which we live as vehicles for advertisement, how often are we alienated from our own humanity?

Let reactions be reactions, if women are fed up with this, let it be righteous, let it be heard. Too often women apologize for ranting. If the conversation strays from Rodger's, then let it stray, let it be a jump off point. Personally, I see it as the only vengeance; imagine a man who hates women being tied forever, post-humously, as catalyst to a new wave of feminist empowerment. Regardless though, Rodgers is dead, but, patriarchy is not. That is our reality.