these texts are an archive of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area from march 2007 - march 2015. it stands as a record of close to a decade of my life, charting the struggles i faced as an artist, daughter, and lover. messy and chaotic at times, eloquent and poetic at others, these texts are an index i am proud of. it was here in this electric box that i learned how to be honest about my experiences and the person i needed to become. it was here that i first learned the truism that words make the world and how to trust such a beautiful, rife, hard fact.

thank you for meeting me here in such tall grass.


my artist website is here.

Sep 21, 2009

ART RANT! ART RANT!

i really shouldn't but i just can't help myself. i'm lugging out my soap box and that's just that-

i've been noticing a horribly annoying tendency in artists, especially poets, to accuse others of plagiarism over the slightest similarity. and when i say slight, i mean SLIGHT! it's obnoxious. seems a lot of people in the world are convinced of their own originality and that they are so stunningly brilliant and unique that anything they may have in common with another person is somehow an act of theft on the part of the other. it is beyond ridiculous.

there's a blog i check up on that, for the sake of my own ease and happiness, i should really stop reading. but i go on torturing myself with this persons inane and pompous drivel because, at one time, i actually really admired her. i thought her writing was gorgeous and important and i felt really close to the work she was doing. but then i started noticing some rather severe crimes against art being committed on her blog- namely posting other people's poetry (famous dead people's poems) on her blog without giving proper credit i.e. the name of the poet underneath the poem! and when the compliments started rolling in about what a great writer she is, she did nothing to correct it. she let it ride and took credit for work that isn't hers. and a person who holds an MFA knows the importance of siting sources correctly and diligently. please.

then this morning, i stumble over to her blog to find her accusing someone else of stealing lines from her. she even supplied a link! audacity shining bright! pot calling the kettle black! to put it as mildly as i can, it's just... well... tacky. and since i'm not tacky (or at least not as tacky as she is), i will not post any links here about her. publicly shaming someone isn't cool, first off, and secondly, if you've got a real act of plagiarism to deal with there are proper channels for that. come on!

and just to put it out there- references to 'teeth' and 'milk' and 'brambles' and 'petticoats' ARE NOT UNIQUE IN POETRY! OH MY GOD! it's so commonplace that it's laughable! and i ain't saying i've never used those words before, i have. and i probably will again. they're beautiful words. but i don't get on my high-horse and accuse another person of something as serious as plagiarism for using the same words in one of their poems. it's just so ridiculous and wholly pathetic. oh, i am steamed! i mean SERIOUSLY! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! this is why the majority of people in the world think poetry is stupid and a big annoying waste of time! this crap right here! I'M even annoyed with poetry right now because of this crap and i LOVE poetry! geez!

and i know... i should just stop reading this person's blog but i can't. i just can't. i have to keep reading it so that i can keep pointing this shit out and hopefully, one day, she'll realize that there are people in the world that aren't being fooled and maybe, MAYBE, hopefully, she'll wake up and stop all this (though i doubt she even knows my blog exists and, if she does, i'm sure she thinks i'm a twirp). i'd love to be able to go back to being a fan of her work but i just can't be someones fan when they're a bad person. my morality won't allow it. and presenting the work of someone who COMMITTED SUICIDE as your own does, in fact, make you a bad person. a weak person at best.

and i don't care that this particular offense i'm referencing was over 6 months ago, no correction or amends have been made and it still sickens me.

so for now, i suppose i'm a watch-dog. i'll get off my soap-box now and begin my day. snarl.

6 comments:

Heather Jerdee said...

O.k. I did have a good laugh about the teeth, milk, petticoats, and brambles. But only cause there is so much truth to what your rant is about. It's so annoying in the visual internet art world too. For ever one artist that actually has their ideas and work stolen by other artist's ( which is so sicking) you can easily find three others who are claiming this is happening to them. I have someone on twitter who is constantly going on and calling out someone she says is copying her. When her ideas and style are not even remotely unique to begin with. It's so annoying her head is too big to pull out of her own ass! And I like a lot of other things about her but when she starts tweeting about this,really yuck! Honey this has been a rant of mine for awhile too! It's kinda ruined part of my tweeting experience.

I did read something on the blog Book by it's cover about a artist who stole so much from another artist and got awards for it. It's so disturbing.http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/fineart/a-sad-story-must-read

But you know what, I've seen other artist on the internet start trends with visual's in their work or better said their own unique observations, and these images are all over etsy and what not in no time and they just keep on working hard at what they do. It's pretty interesting.

I'm all over the place with my thoughts, but to not give credit and go on letting people think you created something when you didn't ohhh that's bad!!!! That's so bad!!!!
I think I'm done ranting thanks for letting me share Angela cause this crapola bugs me too :)

angela simione said...

hi heather,

yes, i notice A LOT of this sort of thing on etsy. especially in the forums. as if we don't all live in the SAME WORLD and see the SAME THINGS. it really gets on my nerves too- hence the rant. and especially because a real act of plagiarism is such a horrible (and undeniable) thing that people really shouldn't toss that word around so freely (lest they find themselves in court for defamation of character).

we artists are part of a lineage... and it is an inescapable fact that, especially while we are new and still learning, that history will repeat itself. we will do very similar work to that of one of our friends or contemporaries, especially if we've got the same influences.

and all the artists out there who DO get plagiarized... they keep on working. harder and deeper and no one will mistake their work for anyone elses because they've invested so much love in their own practice that they are the best at what they do.

Radish King said...

I love a good rant :)


It's so annoying her head is too big to pull out of her own ass!

Even though I don't know you I love you for that statement which I plan to plagiarize almost immediately.

Rebecca

angela simione said...

hahahahahahaha!!!! :)

Hannah Stephenson said...

Enjoyable :).

Re: teeth/milk/brambles/petticoats...I think The Decemberists win original rights to those. Or at least use those enough to.

:)

angela simione said...

ha! thanks Storialist! you are exactly right. exactly! glad you liked the rant. :)