Hearts and Minds!
Yesterday I had a really profound and amazing experience with my youngest daughter. I let her cut the last part of school (subversive mom that I am), and we headed off to a museum to see an exhibit called THE SPACE OF FREEDOM. In it, paintings banned from public expression in Russia during the 1960s were displayed in a re-creation of a Leningrad apartment of that time. I was awed at the variety of art . . . and what some of the paintings seemed to say. I was awed that my daughter, all of eight but already determined to be an artist, chose some of the most "difficult" to comprehend paintings as her favorites. And so today I wanted to blog about artistic expression.
In INVISIBLE GIRL, between the lines, were some politics about Vietnam. I had spent seven years or so working with refugees and boat people as a volunteer English teacher, and their stories always remained with me, coming home with me at night as I would sit and think about loss and war, and what my friends and students had gone through. And within the book I chose to later write, was a scene about dropping bales of rice over Laos--a policy meant to "win" the hearts and minds of the people of Laos by filling their bellies. I don't know that rice can win someone's soul. Or that we should have tried. My feelings about war are pretty obvious. But the most amazing thing, the thing I take for granted, was my ability to write that book, to HAVE that scene, with Jimmy Malone dropping his bales of rice, arguing that it was a foolish proposition the government was sure to lose (and indeed we did). And it wasn't censored. It wasn't cut. I wasn't jailed. I wasn't executed. Secret police didn't come and drag me off into the night for my family to eternally wonder my fate. My family wasn't beaten.
If you are a writer, an artist, a musican, or do anything in the arts . . . if you READ what you want . . . rejoice.
THIS IS BANNED BOOK WEEK. Celebrate your freedom! Celebrate by reading something controversial. Something banned. It's your right.
And whatever you do, do not take that right for granted. Your heart and mind are YOURS to determine what you want to read, see, and SAY! Share what you want here.
Peace.
In INVISIBLE GIRL, between the lines, were some politics about Vietnam. I had spent seven years or so working with refugees and boat people as a volunteer English teacher, and their stories always remained with me, coming home with me at night as I would sit and think about loss and war, and what my friends and students had gone through. And within the book I chose to later write, was a scene about dropping bales of rice over Laos--a policy meant to "win" the hearts and minds of the people of Laos by filling their bellies. I don't know that rice can win someone's soul. Or that we should have tried. My feelings about war are pretty obvious. But the most amazing thing, the thing I take for granted, was my ability to write that book, to HAVE that scene, with Jimmy Malone dropping his bales of rice, arguing that it was a foolish proposition the government was sure to lose (and indeed we did). And it wasn't censored. It wasn't cut. I wasn't jailed. I wasn't executed. Secret police didn't come and drag me off into the night for my family to eternally wonder my fate. My family wasn't beaten.
If you are a writer, an artist, a musican, or do anything in the arts . . . if you READ what you want . . . rejoice.
THIS IS BANNED BOOK WEEK. Celebrate your freedom! Celebrate by reading something controversial. Something banned. It's your right.
And whatever you do, do not take that right for granted. Your heart and mind are YOURS to determine what you want to read, see, and SAY! Share what you want here.
Peace.
posted by Erica Orloff at 8:39 AM
7 Comments:
Being an immigrant, I rejoice in my adoptive homeland and am amazed daily that I get to do things that I never would have normally done if I still lived where I used to live, nor do I have to break my back to provide a living for my family.
And one of those things I cherish most is the ability to choose for myself and my children what to read/watch/listen to.
Great post, E.
Hi Karm:
Thank you so much for sharing the photo essay. It was powerful. And there but for the grace of God . . . just by being born here, what is possible, versus being born elsewhere.
E
As usual, great post Erica. Lots to think about.
My personal opinion is that the 'millitary' never actually "gets it right" with respect to winning over the people in the area/country where they are operating. But that's just my opinion.
I am lucky that I was born here, that I have supportive parents/friends/etc and that I am educated. But that does not have me in blinders to what the government has done/is doing to our rights and freedoms on a daily basis in this country.
To look at it from the POV of best interest: the government's interest is best served when the populace has fewer freedoms and rights. it makes their job easier. However, it is definitely not in the best interest of the people who are being governed. The people's best interest is served by maximizing their rights and freedoms. It is the dynamic of the constant struggle that keeps our country strong. Again, all my opinion.
My favorite lines in the movie V for Vendetta is where V is explaining the 'why' of his actions and he says that the government should fear the people, and not the other way around.
If the government, in fact, feared the people, I doubt that they would be taking away from the rights and freedoms of the people, such as banning books, art, etc.
Just my $.02...
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Ewoh:
You said it perfectly.
E
:) Thanks Erica... now if I caould only write so well in my WIPs I would be furhter along my way to published-authorhood :)
Excellent post, Erica. Thanks for the reminder that, despite its warts and sometimes tainted history, our way of government is the best. I sincerely appreciate the right to, within reason, express myself openly. It's one of our greatest gifts as a democracy.
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