open views

so i was doing a little "research" for my paper for GT research program... my paper is gonna be on how ppl can be genuine artists in this corporate america place thats always tryin to make a dollar. so i slept at rach's last night and got a bunch more ani songs, and some freakin awesome conversations (as usual... i love rachael), hell-- we even figured something out for senior week, but back to the point, i'm using 2 artists to learn from and write about in my paper who do a good job of being genuine artists. Ani difranco is one of them and i think joni mitchell will be the other (which may be hard to pull off, cause they are very different, but i think it'll work). so up until today i was thinking research paper, successful artists, and its like.. you write down how many CDs she's put out, the fact that she's successful with her own record label, rejecting some big corporate label, and how she's making it big anyway... selling out her shows, selling lots of cds, selling, selling, selling. well yeah, rach told me about some letter ani difranco wrote in response to an article that was published about her in this feminist kinda magazine naming ani as one of the top 21 feminists in the 21st century. ani's concern was the information they included about ani which included that she was making lots of money with her independent label.. basically you should read it: http://www.columbia.edu/~marg/ani/letter.html there.

well this article got me thinking just because how passionate she is and the stuff that she's saying. she's saying its NOT about the money and how come when you comment on an artist you have to say how much money they are making. there's just this whole feeling of purity from her, i cant even explain it cause its not like she's doing all the "right" things... when i did my presentation in class and mentioned that she's bisexual i could feel the room shift with discomfort. but theres just so much to be found in this music. and i guess reading that made me want to write the paper with out all those facts that make people smile and nod and say "wow she's a millionaire, and she does whatever the hell she wants"... i'd rather them say "she connects with people and works to portray the truth" she did this when she had 15 people listening in a bar.. and continues with her concerts packed with thousands of people.... so why do we need to hear one thousand and one million?

success isn't a dollar bill, it's not a whole bunch of them, it's living this life and doing something while you're here, something under your own power.

i like listening to ani cause i dont feel so strange, cause she's like 10 times more out-there than i am... and i can't whole-heartedly agree with every comment she spills out of my speakers, but damn is she brave, and damn can she speak her mind, and she's really got a message that is worth considering; you're mistakes are just as valid as your accomplishments because they all are part of YOU... and capitalism has covered our accomplishments with a price tag and we barely see the difference.

its just our choices, its just the place we live, its just the way things are, i never even thought about what kind of car ppl drive and how it affects the environment a few years ago... are we really to blame her in america? everyones got their problems, and shit they can do better.




inspiration, now thats one of the most necessary things on earth, yet no one really gets it. and this is why i love reading this stuff and listening to the music and talking about it- cause its interesting and it inspires me to learn a little more and form my own opinions on more of those fuzzy gray areas. can't just accept anybody's point of view cause they're convincing, you gotta learn for yourself. what a sweet weekend.



have an inspiring day,

jo