Defense Preface (I’m doing a rather long “prelude” of sorts, one that answers some very pressing questions that come up with this topic, so this will be a part of it, surely, but it won’t necessarily be the whole thing.):

The “Southern Belle” trope is, for some, their only understanding of Southern women. It is so often an untried perception, one that fully excludes those who fall outside of set standards of race, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. The South, or rather the cultural South, is an incredibly diverse place, but the homogenization of society put forth by the current understanding of what (not who, what) a Southern woman is simply irresponsible. It is a complete disservice to all women, no matter their situation. This project seeks not to edit the current bounds of what makes Southern womanhood what it is, but to burn them and build from their remains something that is not a label, but a way of life. It seeks not to prescribe womanhood or to lay out a distinct definition of what Southern women must be, but to create a collective understanding based upon lived experience. It seeks not to say what Southern women must be, but who they are. “What is that definition?” one may ask. Well…I implore you read and find out.

What Did I Learn?:

Looking back onto this course, I find that my perception of writing that creates, or seeks to create, social change has broadened. I remember being a sophomore in high school, looking through spoken work pieces on the Button Poetry YouTube channel and thinking “this is how we change the world.” However, after reading works like “38” or “This Land” by Layli Long Soldier and Boyer’s The Undying, I see that there is great diversity in the ways in which these goals can be a. presented, and b. carried out. It doesn’t have to be loud or aggressive, nor does it have to be elegant and subdued; in fact, it can be both! There’s no right way to tell a story. Language and formatting and imagery all have such important impacts on writing that influences social change and, after finishing this class, I know that.

Question:

Are there any limits to writing’s ability to create social change? Are there limits to its presentation? Are there limits at all?

This week, I was struck by the accuracy with which Brecht’s sentiments mapped onto Schumann’s. Like Helena and Ketaki, I was forced to think about the ways in which I label theatre as “good.” For Brecht and Schumann, theatre is performance, not mimicry. Expecting theatre to be mimicry is foolish on some level, it seems. According to Brecht, theatre’s alienation of the quotidian is “what makes protest possible,” which makes a lot of sense to me. Defamiliarizing and separating from the everyday can be valuable in that has the potential to be refreshing. It forces spectators to see things in a new way, just as many protests do. However, theatre defamiliarizes convention in different ways than, say, Keene or Boyer. Instead of breaking traditional form, theatre so often queers semantic content by applying new meaning to old action. Especially in puppetry, taking the familiar and making charicature of it can be rather valuable in terms of queering topics enough to make new and thoughtworthy comments on them. Although little of the Grasshopper Rebellion Circus performance felt “real,” it still did the work that it set out to do by destabilizing expectation just enough for messy but important topics such as rampant capitalism to shine through. It also queered the subject matter in a way that made it rather enjoyable to watch. It was definitely more entertaining than, say, watching CNN.

The New Southern Woman’s Creed-2

TW: Utilization of sensitive language

Process Notes: For this week’s writing, I was inspired, in part, by the form of Marinetti’s “The Futurist Manifesto.” I wanted to begin with this sort-of repetitive preface to the actual content of the work in order to mirror the structure of many similar gatherings that I have witnessed, such as Cotillion classes or church meetings. We’ve generally moved away from the Southern Belle era by this point, so I liked the idea of trying to recreate an identity. I also wanted to play around with slight, momentary shifts in tone, especially from point to point in the list section in order to play up the complexity of the demographic. I thought that putting it in a two-column format and including the flower images would make it more poster- or handout-like.

After reading Undying for the third time this quarter (in truth, I’ve continually reread it), I was struck this time by the ways in which the tales of cancer patients are so often told not by themselves, but by the peripherals. The stories are told by partners, friends, family members, all of whom are affected by the patient’s cancer, but not by the actually sufferer. Like Allison, I found a quote from page 111 to be of great interest regarding this phenomenon. It’s this idea that one person’s suffering seems to spur other people’s “epiphanies” that I found quite thought-provoking. When people with cancer are seen, so often through the eyes of those who are close to them, it is their appearance that is noticed, not their raw, true feelings. I think that that was why I was–and am–so entranced with this text. Boyer has undertaken this very deep, intense project of interweaving all of these different threads of personal experience, collective experience, and also this address of expectation.

On page 256, the author addresses they ways in which she finds herself altering her appearance to obscure, or perhaps simply defamiliarize, exhaustion. This push to hide or to pretend, to perform health, is particularly noteworthy for me for a couple of reasons. For one, feeling as if one must hide their own, personal struggles in order to preserve the comfort of others is an intensely familiar experience. It also ties back to my topic, this idea that women try to so hard to appear as if it’s all effortless or as if it’s a duck-on-the-water situation, even when it’s just not. Boyer’s acts here, the ways in which she keeps up the never-ending facade of womanhood in the face of the grim reality of cancer should be addressed.

I’ve attached the assignment as a .pdf file in order to preserve some formatting.

Wren, Writing Week 8

Process Notes: This was a fun, but challenging assignment for me. I had some difficulty in terms of tying it to my topic, but I found that talking about my PCOS and the symptoms that accompany applied to my exploration of expectations of Southern women because things like being overweight and sitting in a gynecologist’s office in a paper robe are directly against those expectations (modesty and beauty, respectively). I wanted to experiment with this two-thread structure, with one thread consisting of things that I’ve been told by various doctors (not exact quotes, but they capture the spirit of what was said), and a narration of the time leading up to the actual examination. I had to cut things kind of short since this piece really could have gone on and on, but I wanted to stop at the examination part for privacy reasons (a little bit) and to avoid having some topics being labeled as “shock value” (although I trust that nobody here would do that). I also played around with highlighting key words from conversations with doctors because I wanted to highlight the ways in which weight is brought up in medical environments when the patient is overweight, even when their lifestyle may be healthy.

Something that I found particularly interesting with this week’s readings was how differently Ruskin and Baldwin work between these two types of texts, the very personal and (sometimes, but not always) the very impersonal.

Like Allison, I found Ruskin’s lecture kind of dull. It was very interesting on an informational level, yes, and employed a structure and style that facilitated that well. However, it was also impersonal to a point at which it became a tinge boring. It reminded me of the Lecture portion of my SOSC class, whose purpose is to impart as much academic material as is humanly possible, whereas the Discussion Section can be more personal and, at times, anecdotal. His letter, on the other hand, was really fun to read. It was less stiff and even self-effacing at times. From a Linguistics perspective, I really enjoyed his remarks about one of the sentences’ grammatical structure; those were rather funny. In short, the differences between Ruskin’s letter and lecture were stark and refreshing.

Baldwin, on the other hand, was more consistent between letter and lecture. Both were rather serious and, at times, tense, as he tried to inform his nephew about the situations that he would face as a young black man surrounded by white men. They were both quite sobering, specifically in that he chose to maintain a tone of seriousness despite the two forms’ conventionally different styles. I think that that decision was telling and reflected the issues that he was addressing quite succinctly. He also summed up the difficulties that education can bring up, and the contradiction that exists within it, in a way that I don’t think that I could have.

Letter:

To my Ladies:

Whether you or your mother made the decision to enroll you in this class, I thank you for entrusting me with your Sunday afternoons. I understand the feelings of futility that you may be experiencing right now. After all, who wants to waste three hours learning how to shake hands and memorizing all the pieces of silverware? I know I didn’t. I will admit, however, that these Cotillion classes taught me some very important lessons, lessons that simply weren’t contained within the confines of the manual that we passed out at the beginning of class. During my six years of involvement with this program, I’ve learned to take all that is said here with a grain of salt or a recognition of my own, personal skepticism. I implore you all to do the same. However, you also have every right to make that decision for yourselves. With that in mind, I want to remind you of some things before this year kicks off.

For one, you are strong and you are powerful. We must enter this class with that knowledge intact. You will, for the next six months, be considered the weaker sex. You will be told that you are to be protected and that it is your male counterpart’s responsibility to do things for you. If you are comfortable with those statements, then that’s okay. However, if you find operating under the presumption that you are like a child to be guided jarring if not a bit insulting, you are not alone. The lessons that we teach here are, unfortunately, not as contemporary as the National League of Junior Cotillions claims; much of what you will learn comes directly from Emily Post’s Etiquette, 1945 edition. Here, in the 2018-2019 season, you have every right to determine the rules by which you will live. It is neither my job, nor Mrs. Humphries’ job, nor anyone else’s job to tell you what you can and cannot do. There are many different ways to be an upstanding member of society, only some of which require you to wear a skirt. You can choose your own path.

Your worth as a person is not determined by the path that you take. If you decide to throw these rules to the wind and exist in a less by-the-book manner, you are not giving up your value. On the other hand, choosing to follow these rules does not make you better than anyone else. You never know the choices that you will have to make, so don’t judge those of others. There are some people in this world who do not abide by that instruction. Please don’t let them get in your way. At the end of the day, I hope that you wear what you want, love who you want, and do what you want, because having that dominion over yourself is the most beautiful act of defiance.

I have not said all that I want to say, nor do I have that option. There is simply not enough time, nor are there enough words, for me to share those things with you. In truth, I’d likely be doing you a disservice by telling you everything and not allowing you to discover it for yourself. However, allow me to leave you with this: be good and be kind, be generous and be wise, and don’t let the bastards get you down. Have fun this year!

All love, always,

The Assistants.

Lecture

[From Then to Now: A Lecture on Etiquette and Standing the Test of Time | Mrs. Patrick (Susan) Humphries, NLJC]

Just as in any other field, there are works that remain relevant despite their age. One of these texts, Emily Post’s Etiquette, makes up the bulk of what we will teach this year not because of its age, but because of its continual adaptability to our time. Elegance and class shall never go out of style, after all. Thus, any deviation from our material will not be tolerated. 

I’ve some instructions for you regarding the students. For the ladies, exemplary behavior is key. They will watch you because they crave validation. They will mimic your clothing, so promiscuity may be unwise unless you want them to run amock in crop tops and miniskirts. It’s distracting for the boys. The rules of semiformal attire will be observed. Thus, I expect them to be clean, unwrinkled, and preferably colorful. Also, skirts are to be worn at all times. If they wouldn’t wear it to church, they shouldn’t wear it here, and no respectable woman in this state would wear pants to church. It’s distracting for the boys. Small talk shan’t be tolerated, nor grandiose conversations. Ideally, silent ladies are sweet ladies. I don’t want them gossiping. It’s unbecoming. Ensure that they do not dance together. I don’t want any of these subverted ideas getting into their minds. Instead, gently encourage them to practice the steps on their own. In any case, do not allow them to gather in shrill groups. It’s distracting for the boys. I expect them to be upstanding, classy, and pleasant at all times like the good little girls that they shall be.

For the boys, keep them off of their phones with jackets on. Thank you for your attention and I look forward to working with you this season.

Process Notes: This week’s assignment was particularly interesting. I wanted to explore these two sides of my time in Cotillion–my version of the experience and a brief lecture that my director delivered to us assistants before the year began. The latter isn’t exact, but it’s really not far off; many of these sentences are exact quotes. It was important to me to make rather clear the things that were expected of us as students in opposition to the things that I learned by reading between the lines. I hope that I was able to shed some light on this tradition. I’m not so sure how to feel about these works, but it was an interesting challenge nonetheless.

In particular, I found the Long Soldier readings rather striking due to the ways in which the pieces maintained a sense of consistency and fluidity while remaining, from a certain perspective, disjointed. Like Chloe H., I felt that the legalistic text felt fragmented and detached, creating this interesting binary effect. One the one hand, Long Soldier presents this apology, but it is presented in conjunction with the “whereas” threads. These threads are less detached and less emotionally fragmented. For me, the effect that Whereas creates is sort of montage-adjacent. The author presents these bits and pieces in such a way that, instead of creating a distinct, albeit fragmented, picture, they suggest an essence or an aura for each side: that of Long Soldier and that of the United States Government. The physical form of the poems, whether shaped as a box or scattered across a page, also increases that sense of fragmentation and montage because at no point do I come to expect a specific visual presentation for any of these works. Although these formal elements do have some bearing on my understanding of the works (for example, the poem presented on pages 94 through 96), they do not dominate nor hinder my process of comprehension. While I’m not getting any kind of crystal clear image per se, I’m certainly sensing something about each of the dominant voices that informs my understanding of each. In a lot of ways, I find this creation of essence even more powerful than distinct imagery due to the room that it provides for interpretation and perceptual effort. It also engages multiple senses for me as opposed to just that of mental sight, something that I don’t often notice when reading poetry.

Do You Know How to Wear Clothes? (Or rather, a condescending treatise on presentation and propriety and accompanying commentary)

The woman who knows how to wear clothes is a stage director who skillfully presents herself (okay, so now it has to mean something? Newsflash! I’m wearing these clothes so I don’t freeze to death in this frozen hellscape. Next!). This skill in presentation is something for which it is difficult to write directions, because it is a talent rather than a formula (Talent, right. Because it definitely takes talent to convince my Cotillion director that this dress that I’m wearing totally came out of my own closet and not my girlfriend’s.) Naturally, she who is young and whose skin is clear, whose figure is model “16,” can literally put on any hat of dress she fancies and have both become her to perfection (Okay, Lady. First of all, it’s a hormonal disorder. Don’t be fucking rude. Second of all, culottes are for nobody and I will die on that hill). And yet another girl, lacking the knack of personal adjustment, will find the buying of a becoming hat an endless search through such trials of unbecomingness that she buys, not one she likes, but the one she dislikes least, because she must put something on her head (A hat? A hat?! All the clothes in the world and you choose a hat?! Why not something of substance, like a skirt? If you’re really going to keep up this politeness shtick, at least consider straying from the finery into the territory of, I don’t know, something from the day-to-day?).

The sense of what is becoming and the knack of putting clothes on well are the two greatest assets of smartness (God, I hate that word. “Becoming.” Every time it’s followed by the words “of a lady,” I just want to vomit. Because why does it matter? Why does it fucking matter? Are you just going to take away my “woman card” if I can’t wear a hat without looking like an egg? Besides, to hell with formal titles. I’m tired of being told that my worth as a woman is determined by my ability to hold dinner parties, stand in the corner, and look pretty. I’m not your doll. Not anymore.). And both are acquirable by anyone willing to look at herself as she really is (Look at myself as I am? Okay, fine. I am I. I am me. I exist. I don’t have the perfect body, but I have a body that works. I look like an absolute troll when I wake up, but at least I wake up in the first place. I curse and I cry and I make a fool of myself on the daily, but at least I get the option to do that. Many people don’t. So, if you really feel the need to tell me that the things that are “becoming” of me as a lady are floofy dresses and ugly hats, then be my guest. But if you’re going to tell people who are just trying their best to survive that they’re not doing good enough by your arbitrary standards, then you can take your “etiquette” and shove it.)

Process Notes:

The text in bold comes from the 1945 edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette. In the Cotillion program that I taught back home, this was the book from which we taught. It is 640 pages of what could be considered to be valuable information under certain circumstances, but asserts that these rules are necessary for daily life and carries a dismissive undertone, one that suggests that a person’s worth (often a woman) is determined by how well they can follow these rules. From the point at which I realized that this program was not for me, I have harbored a lot of frustration about the tone that Post takes. I guess that the text in italics represents a rather aggressive person of my thoughts upon reading this text now, a year out of the environment that the National League of Junior Cotillions creates. I wanted to interweave a statement about expectation and, to some extent, performativity into this piece, but I’m not sure that I succeeded. In truth, I’m not sure that I like this work very much, but it was an interesting challenge nonetheless.

For me, Agee’s writing introduced another layer of depth and humanity to Walker’s subjects. When I first saw the pictures, I was not quite sure what to think. As Kat noted, it felt like their unsmiling, stony visages added to the piece a sense of stasis that was hard to shake. However, Agee’s writing helped to dissolve the feeling that all of this was happening in a vacuum. His writing takes the moments of these subjects’ lives and zooms in on them greatly, treating them as individual families instead of a small part of this massive system of disparity and disenfranchisement.

His writing also felt considerate in a way that Walker’s photography just didn’t. When Agee details his feelings regarding the African American couple and the way that he had expected Walker to act toward them, I found myself considering the way that the men’s respective crafts played out in their respective behaviors. Walker’s unbridled willingness to insert himself into situations without thought for all of his subjects’ many aspects felt rather characteristic to photography. The thought pattern that I’m gathering from him feels like it suffers from the same narrowness of consideration as his camera lens. The camera captures still moments, but it only really captures the surface. From the pictures that are presented in the beginning of this work, I know little about the subjects’ true selves, only that they are poorer and have [seemingly] been dealt a less-than-lovely hand in life.

Agee, however, both in the moment with the African American couple and in his writing, seems to focus so much on the depth of the subjects. He pays greater attention to who they are and what they’ve experienced rather than what consumers can glean from outer appearance. However, I did appreciate that Agee also considered the ways in which his craft is inconsiderate of its subjects. He picks apart his subjects’ lives though words and, although he is able to capture a more comprehensive picture of them (no pun intended), he is forced to interact with them in a way that can leave a greater impact than the snapshots that Walker provides. His craft is prying in a way that is hard to ignore.