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.

Mar 31, 2010

tick tick tick tick

more and more, i've been thinking about philosophy- its relevance. its importance. philosophy as necessity. philosophy as NEED.

and like art, philosophy in this country is perceived as a pastime. something frivolous. something to take part in if you've got some spare time on your hands but not at all integral to daily life.

and how sad. how lost. ethics as an exercise in frivolity. it knocks the wind out of me.

and just as i think that an arts education should be mandatory; mandatory in the same way as literature and science and math, so too should be philosophy. how much cooler and progressive a world, a more humane world, if philosophy was part of standard education in high school. if philosophy was welcomed in to daily life.

i think philosophy is absolutely necessary- the ethic, well wrestled, well thought out, hard won code that governs a life. academia seems to be the only situation in which philosophic conversations are taken seriously. or the pockets it lives in when in discussion with close friends or colleagues who have a similar desire to live in a more conscious way, not just "go with the flow".

it is sad to me that in our common day-to-day existence, we are routinely asked, EXPECTED EVEN, to drop our philosophic code when it makes things even the slightest bit harder for others. and by 'harder' i mean less fun. what are ethics good for if i drop them when the tough times find me? isn't that when i need them most? when the temptation arises to skirt the hard responsibilities of my life and run? isn't that when a set of ethics is most needed?

but the trade is that sometimes you will walk the road alone. sometimes you will be Outcast. sometimes you will be Other. sometimes you will be Cruel or Crazy or Arrogant or Selfish. these are all titles that get applied in improper ways a lot of the time. it is not selfish to obey an ethical code. it's cowardly to not.

and all this is on my mind more and more. the more i read, the more i draw, the more i expose myself to the outside world, the more i find these deep pockets of discussion where art and philosophy are appreciated, nurtured, encouraged. and there is no rule that i must have all the answers RIGHT THIS SECOND... just that i try to head in a better direction. just that i am curious and open. just that i rinse the dust out of my eyes. just that i think.

4 comments:

Elisabeth said...

I have an odd relationship to philosophy, one of love and hate. As a child it seemed to be the province of the elite and therefore as a female and child I was excluded. These days I'm more discerning. there's philosophy with a lower care p and Philosophy with a capital. I prefer the former, though the latter has merit of you ca bear to wade through as clearly you are endeavoring to do right now.

Did you know philosophy was once just a matter of considerations of how to live a hood life, how to be a decent person and it applied to everyone. these days it seems it's moved ranks and is sadly seen to be the province of only a few. Though there is also a trend in which philosophy for the common man is taking over from psychology for everyone. These things move around.

angela simione said...

"Did you know philosophy was once just a matter of considerations of how to live a good life, how to be a decent person and it applied to everyone."

oh, this is it in a nut shell, elisabeth! that sentance is why i think philosophy is necessary. here in the states, funding for the arts basically doesn't exist save through a sprinkling of phillanthropic private agencies here and there. and at this point, the public education system does not require it. seems once you get passed the 6th grade it's time to put the box of watercolors away. and so the arts are seen as elitist. definitely. totally! and i think philosophy fell to that long before art did. i agree that a lot of it can be quite smug... but i think the core of philosophy - questing and thinking deeply - should be something that is prized and nurtured.

i do prefer the little p to the big P too- i want philosophy in my life daily and the little p is definitely the breed of philosophy that fits. nothing heavy, just a well thought out ethical code that i can lean on when life gets brutal.

Murr Brewster said...

I think I would settle for an education in ethics--by which I mean a consideration of all the repercussions in any situation. It would certainly elevate the political discussion in this country, which is currently more like picking sides in dodgeball.

angela simione said...

hi murr! good to meet you! and i couldn't agree more. especially about how the lack of philosophic thought/learning effects politics. and isn't it strange that ethical concerns are seperated from political concerns? i mean, by definition, ethics and politics are pretty much the same thing... or used to be. now it's just gossip. "dodge ball" is spot on! ha!