Earl Brunner on thu 21 mar 02
vince pitelka wrote:
> My quote:
> > Have you hung out in a public school lately? try it, the de-emphasis on
> > "acceptable social behavior" is taking it toll, and doesn't bode well for
> the
> > future of our society.
>
> Good point about the public schools, Earl, but it has absolutely nothing to
> do with John Waters being irreverent and obscene in front of a bunch of
> adults. Let's at least stay in an appropriate context.
> Best wishes -
> - Vince
>
Vince,
But it does have everything to do with the quote that I was responding to. Which
was:
"Dwiggins, Sandra (NCI)" wrote:
> I think that some of us are too tied to "acceptable social behavior" because
> we want to make a living. But, some of us have that "other side" that
> doesn't often get out...at least often enough.
>
I was simply suggesting that in our society today, major erosion of what was once
considered acceptable and normal and appropriate in civilized society has taken
place. Some changes have perhaps been good, but many have not. It seems that in
today's society "anything" goes. The cruder, the more disgusting, shocking or
irreverent the better. Since I admittedly have not chosen to view or hear any
thing that John Waters filmed, or said, I can't speak to specifics. Some of what
he says and does may actually have some redeeming quality, I wouldn't know. Based
upon the description in the program I elected not to hear him. From some of the
things that people have reported, it is probably just as well. I haven't heard
anything that would have reformed my opinion.
The assistant principal of my elementary school today mentioned a conference that
she had with a parent and a student. It seems that the student was mad at her
teacher and wrote some "bad" things about the teacher. If she had kept them to her
self it might have been ok, she was upset with the teacher, but she elected to
share the things she wrote with many other students in her class.
In three separate instances with the teacher, the assistant principal, and the
school office manager, she admitted writing the note. She told her mother that
another girl wrote the note. So the assistant principal pulled out the note and
they compared the note to other samples of the students handwriting. She wrote the
note. Mother was than all upset because someone had retrieved the note from the
trash. Not mad at her kid, but mad at the person who took the note out of the
trash.
This perhaps has no direct connection to Waters, I wouldn't presume to blame him
for all of the ills of society. But the trend is unsettling. In recent years less
and less is required or expected from parents, and more and more is required of the
schools. They limit what the schools can do, but blame them for the failures. How
can schools teach morality? Would you WANT schools to teach morality? But who is
teaching it? We are in trouble. We are in big trouble. And much of it has to do
with our expectations. Art is in many ways a reflection of our society as a
whole. If we focus on the crude, the sleaze, the trash, all things of bad taste,
then that is what we will become. There will be more Columbines, more killings,
more erosion of values. For what?
Garbage in, garbage out.
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
mailto:bruec@anv.net
Earl Brunner on fri 22 mar 02
So you see no correlation between focusing on the baser side of life and the trends
in "modern" society? "The Pope of Trash, , the Prince of Puke, the P.T. Barnum of
Scatology, the Sultan of Sleaze, the Baron of Bad Taste, shock value, his vision
of worldwide trashiness"?
I repeat, focusing on the lower end of society and it's imperfections will tend in
the end to bring all society down to that level.
If following your creative impulses and being "true" to yourself means lowering the
bar, than the world will become a sadder and darker place. Art and artistic
expression, whether it is in music, film, painting, dance, sculpture, or even
pottery are powerful forms of communication. But communicating powerfully isn't
enough. What is being communicated has to be considered.
I know that in the art world today there are people that would seek to minimize the
message of a piece of art. They sometimes say that what the artist was or is
trying to communicate is irrelevant. And that may be true to the extent that what
the intended message is, really has no bearing on whether it is "good" art or not.
But when this argument is used to justify anything and everything then I think we
have a problem.
In all aspects of our lives standards keep being lowered. Kids do poorly on
standardized tests, change the test. Not enough students prepare well enough to
get into college, lower the admission standards.
Finally, whether this has any bearing at this point to John Waters or not, I really
don't care anymore.
"Dwiggins, Sandra (NCI)" wrote:
> Earl--
> I absolutely hear what you are saying about parents and their irresponsible
> behavior. I think what you are speaking about is a disturbing trend. What
> do you do when a convicted teen-aged drug dealer and killer is protected by
> his family? This was a case in Wash, DC a few years ago, when the police
> were finally able to get enough evidence to bring this person to court.
>
> But,that has nothing to do with John Waters or anything he did or said, or
> creativity...and following your creative impulses and being true to
> yourself.
>
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
mailto:bruec@anv.net
Dwiggins, Sandra (NCI) on fri 22 mar 02
Earl--
I absolutely hear what you are saying about parents and their irresponsible
behavior. I think what you are speaking about is a disturbing trend. What
do you do when a convicted teen-aged drug dealer and killer is protected by
his family? This was a case in Wash, DC a few years ago, when the police
were finally able to get enough evidence to bring this person to court.
But,that has nothing to do with John Waters or anything he did or said, or
creativity...and following your creative impulses and being true to
yourself.
I think, Earl, that you should be forced to sit in a chair and watch
"Hairspray"...John Water's first commercial feature-length film in which he
told the story of the integration of segregationist Baltimore, MD,in the
late 50's,... and also showed that poor families and fat women can be seen
as equals to rich families, thin blonde bombshells, and literal airheads...
And not a singing anus among them.....
Sandy
-----Original Message-----
From: Earl Brunner [mailto:bruec@ANV.NET]
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 8:26 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: the Randall Sessions (NCECA 2002) O T
vince pitelka wrote:
> My quote:
> > Have you hung out in a public school lately? try it, the de-emphasis
on
> > "acceptable social behavior" is taking it toll, and doesn't bode well
for
> the
> > future of our society.
>
> Good point about the public schools, Earl, but it has absolutely nothing
to
> do with John Waters being irreverent and obscene in front of a bunch of
> adults. Let's at least stay in an appropriate context.
> Best wishes -
> - Vince
>
Vince,
But it does have everything to do with the quote that I was responding to.
Which
was:
"Dwiggins, Sandra (NCI)" wrote:
> I think that some of us are too tied to "acceptable social behavior"
because
> we want to make a living. But, some of us have that "other side" that
> doesn't often get out...at least often enough.
>
I was simply suggesting that in our society today, major erosion of what
was once
considered acceptable and normal and appropriate in civilized society has
taken
place. Some changes have perhaps been good, but many have not. It seems
that in
today's society "anything" goes. The cruder, the more disgusting, shocking
or
irreverent the better. Since I admittedly have not chosen to view or hear
any
thing that John Waters filmed, or said, I can't speak to specifics. Some of
what
he says and does may actually have some redeeming quality, I wouldn't know.
Based
upon the description in the program I elected not to hear him. From some of
the
things that people have reported, it is probably just as well. I haven't
heard
anything that would have reformed my opinion.
The assistant principal of my elementary school today mentioned a
conference that
she had with a parent and a student. It seems that the student was mad at
her
teacher and wrote some "bad" things about the teacher. If she had kept them
to her
self it might have been ok, she was upset with the teacher, but she elected
to
share the things she wrote with many other students in her class.
In three separate instances with the teacher, the assistant principal, and
the
school office manager, she admitted writing the note. She told her mother
that
another girl wrote the note. So the assistant principal pulled out the note
and
they compared the note to other samples of the students handwriting. She
wrote the
note. Mother was than all upset because someone had retrieved the note from
the
trash. Not mad at her kid, but mad at the person who took the note out of
the
trash.
This perhaps has no direct connection to Waters, I wouldn't presume to
blame him
for all of the ills of society. But the trend is unsettling. In recent
years less
and less is required or expected from parents, and more and more is required
of the
schools. They limit what the schools can do, but blame them for the
failures. How
can schools teach morality? Would you WANT schools to teach morality? But
who is
teaching it? We are in trouble. We are in big trouble. And much of it has
to do
with our expectations. Art is in many ways a reflection of our society as a
whole. If we focus on the crude, the sleaze, the trash, all things of bad
taste,
then that is what we will become. There will be more Columbines, more
killings,
more erosion of values. For what?
Garbage in, garbage out.
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
mailto:bruec@anv.net
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