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Post by seoulmate on Jun 1, 2012 2:30:01 GMT -5
And now for my dark side personal rant: IMO, Adam is not getting a fair shake. He just isn't. #1 Album, critical acclaim for album and vids, TONS of targeted fan support, works his ass off, spectacular interviewee, etc etc etc. And yet all those positives just don't make more than a minor, disproportionally small, dent in the Numbers. I, for one, was expecting a shit-load more adds. From a lot more stations. Is 16 horrible? No. But is sure isn't good either. Not for the amount of promo and (face it) radio bribes paid. Not for the quantity of DJ and critical kudos. Is it the GEY ??!!??!! ??? ??? ??? ??? I dunno. But let me tell you what *I* heard on the radio this morning. Was listening to DC101 -> the "Elliot in the Morning" show. They played the YouTube of a 3-year old singing “Ain't No Homos Gonna Go to Heaven” with the entire church whooping and praising the boy as he sang. Pulled this excerpt off some radio's site (grabbed the first google hit, but forget to mark which one): [/i] [/ul] Adam CANNOT win a huge number of people over. People who listen to radio stations who rely on advertising. And, in my secret heart-of-hearts, I can't but believe that THAT kind of closed-minded hatred doesn't affect PDs who determine what gets played on their stations. Hits. Big hits. They get played on LOTS of stations. You.cannot.get.a.big.hit.without.being.played.on.lots.of.stations...... And I just don't know if that's going to happen. Can Adam survive if he doesn't have a big hit? Sure. His fanbase is solid. BUT.IT.ISN'T.FAIR............ [/quote] THANK YOU, HOPPERS. THIS IS A VERY DARK THING.
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Post by seoulmate on Jun 1, 2012 2:32:52 GMT -5
[opens a carved box sitting on seoulmate's table] [pulls out a sandalwood-scented taper; lights with long match] [watches quietly as wax starts to drip downwards] Hate that begets hate. Learned bigotry. What to do? Can't hate a 3-year old. Just can stare agast at the people surrounding him, perpetuating that hatred. These are same sort of people who would say "the only good nigger is a dead nigger", laugh at stories of Chinamen drowning in their laundries, and look on with satisfaction as their Jewish neighbors are rounded up into cattle cars. What do you do with people like that? What are the options? Reasonable ones, that don't turn you into the mirror image of the behaviors you abhor. [runs fingers through streams of warm candle wax; looks up] Education. Humanizing those that they try to demonize. And legislating equality, to counter those who would gleefully narrow down rights to solely their personal definition of righteousness. Legislated. As the fact that others, equality fanatic in their beliefs, would do the same to them if given a chance doesn't seem to ping any sense of irony within their fanaticism. Baptize your infants or they'll go to hell? Kill the infidels so you'll get your 91 virgins? Humans have depths of cruelty that are unfathomable. Adam is the human cast, by many, in the role of demon. With every interview and song he tries to change that tide. But that tide is strong. It is changing, especially in the young. But the water remains deep and icy cold. I grieve at times. I grieve most of the time.
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Post by HoppersSkippersMiners on Jun 1, 2012 2:43:44 GMT -5
lol.. hoppers, why are you trying to make the dark thread all squishy? [curls up on floor pillow; smiles sleepily] My mika-cushion is squishy. Hoppers, are we going to get to keep the thread? [walks over to the moongarden, sniffs the scent of the nightflowers, checks watch] I don't know. I think this thread may always wait in the dark. [smiles] Which we know is nothing more than an absence of light, without any inherent good or evil in and of itself. I'm guessing the gate here will always be on a light thread. Finding it may take some knowledge, like touching the right brick to get to Daigon Alley. But like most things here on ATOP, the rooms may get dusty from disuse, but they don't utterly vanish. One could still post on Constantine's thread if one truly desired to search for it. If you've bookmarked this place, you can find it. If you haven't, the gateways should work. As for the name change, not my call. Q3 created this pocket of space. I don't know if she knows what its become. But I don't think she'd mind if people kept it as a periodic conversation spot. After all, its those talks in the middle of the night where we tell each other our deepest dreams. It may not always stay as cozy as it is now. And its definitely not meant to replace the deep-end conversations that occur on the main threads. But I think it will be here.
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mika
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Post by mika on Jun 1, 2012 4:27:48 GMT -5
It is changing, especially in the young. But the water remains deep and icy cold. I grieve at times. I grieve most of the time. You two are honestly breaking my heart. I can't offer platitudes because respect for those lost and those still suffering prevents it, but you know better than I that every day there are also acts of human kindness and self-sacrifice so immense that they leave us breathless. Who saves one life saves the world. And things are changing - the dark side of populism and ignorance persists but I believe there's steady erosion of barriers - less tolerance for intolerance. And Adam apparently has Iranian fans - that makes me smile. (And that radio stuff - yeah, I fret but it's definitely 1 percenter fretting if you know what I mean. The odds of any artist making it to Adam's position with a body of work s/he can be proud of while gaining the respect of (fill in all the awesome talent) - I'm fairly sure the chances of winning the lottery are better. So I'll glare at the radio every time poor Jason Mraz sings but I'll know I'm being a little bit silly - I'll still glare though .)
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JazzRocks
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Post by JazzRocks on Jun 1, 2012 8:41:32 GMT -5
I'm so glad this thread is still alive & well and that I've found my way back. I love Atop but I've been posting less & less and skimming more & more lately - mostly because if I post honestly I'm never sure how it will be perceived. So I often just join in the flailing (it's so easy to flail over such a sublime human) and post celebratory gifs and dancing smilies. That's fun sometimes but becomes boring very quickly.
I do see quite a bit of criticism on twitter about so-called negativity (otherwise known as "wank" lol) here and I'm wondering if that has prompted the banishment to the basement of all but positive posts. I hope not.
Anyway - I find my interest in Atop returning now that there's more MEAT to sink my teeth into. And I will still flail & squee from time to time because how can one not?
Surprised and happy to see glittergma here. I'm seeing another side of her - and I love both. Btw - what did Kelly Ripa do/say that had you incensed? I must have skimmed through that.
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Post by glittergma on Jun 1, 2012 9:50:46 GMT -5
I'm so glad this thread is still alive & well and that I've found my way back. I love Atop but I've been posting less & less and skimming more & more lately - mostly because if I post honestly I'm never sure how it will be perceived. So I often just join in the flailing (it's so easy to flail over such a sublime human) and post celebratory gifs and dancing smilies. That's fun sometimes but becomes boring very quickly. I do see quite a bit of criticism on twitter about so-called negativity (otherwise known as "wank" lol) here and I'm wondering if that has prompted the banishment to the basement of all but positive posts. I hope not. Anyway - I find my interest in Atop returning now that there's more MEAT to sink my teeth into. And I will still flail & squee from time to time because how can one not? Surprised and happy to see glittergma here. I'm seeing another side of her - and I love both. Btw - what did Kelly Ripa do/say that had you incensed? I must have skimmed through that. SCROLL WARNING: LONG ASS POST!! : Good morning, Jazzrocks! And, everyone else here today. I've only had one cup of coffee, so bear with me. I've always felt I need to be *up* and *fun* on the main board. No need to bring my rl crap there. It's all about Adam and that is as it should be. I don't like to *cry & whine*, etc. And, don't feel like I'm really doing that here. It's just that I couldn't really be me there without being less than positive. And, things for me have been less than positive. I didn't realize how much I was suppressing that until I found the dark side...lol! And, I don't really feel the need to be negative here, I just feel more comfortable being me. I found myself not posting at all except in times of major flail. Some of the time, I felt sad and out of the loop, even when watching ustreams of our man singing his heart out. That wasn't about Adam or the board, it was about me. And, there was no place for it in all the joy that was going on on the main thread. I completely understand that. As I said before, I won't *live* here, but it's so nice to know I can come here and be *Broken Open* and not feel like I'm distracting from the *light side* of our beloved Adam. Adam, and all of you here, have given me so much. Just last week, I was ready to quit my new job. My stress level was such that it's never been in my life. It's hard for an old dog to learn new tricks. But, dammit, I was just not going to give up!! I honestly thought about what Adam would say about it. And, I kept on trying. It's not the first time that I have taken from Adams words and used them in my rl. I have stopped wondering why someone half my age can teach me so much. In one of the recent interviews, Adam says something to the effect of when he gets down or stressed, he thinks about what he does have now, not what he doesn't. I have tried to incorporate that into my daily thoughts. And, when I do, I really don't have it that bad. Could it be better? Yes, but I will have to do the work to make that happen. Last Sunday was a major stepping stone in my job. It finally *clicked* and I got it. The gal who trained me said that would happen. I had begun to doubt her, but she was right. It's still a bit stressful, but my confidence is gaining. I can do this!! As to what I am doing? Well, for the last 20 years, I worked with/for the elderly in hospital/nursing home settings. Now, I am working in bookkeeping, in the vault management department, in a big box store. Everything has to balance!! And, I truly think fear of failure was working on me very hard. I think I am finally finding my balance. LOL! So, once again, I wrote a flippin' book! Sorry bout it, but it feels good to get all that out. I really don't like to burden my sons, and honestly, they don't really get it. They just say, Mom...you're smart, you can do this. Well, honestly, I didn't know if I could. It is much harder to absorb and retain things as we age. And, I hate it!! LOL! But, I'm laughing about it now, so it is getting better. And, I thank all of you who have made it through this long ass post. I truly appreciate and love all of you!! Phew, time to kick back on one of those floor pillows & have another cup of coffee. 8-) Oops, almost forgot. About Kelly Rippa. It wasn't that big of a deal, but they had Jessica Sanchez on, and Kelly was saying that lots of times it wasn't the winner of AI that did the best. I kept waiting for her to mention Adam as she went through Daughtry, CA & a few more. She never mentioned Adam & it ticked me off...lol! Someone posted later that she probably thought he won, which could be? And, they did play NCOE going in and out of the game thing they do, so all was forgiven. So, if that was percieved to be negative, then I don't know what to say?? LOL!!
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lynne
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Post by lynne on Jun 1, 2012 9:51:58 GMT -5
I am teaching The Outsiders with some of my 8th grade classes. To begin a discussion of labeling and stereotyping, I get a bunch of candy bars and tell my students that we are going to do some descriptive writing and focus on senses other than sight, senses like taste and smell. Students who really like a particular kind of candy and who think they can really describe the sensations of eating their candy bar volunteer to come up in front of the class and do that out loud.
I tell them to close their eyes so that they can block out the sense of sight. I ask them why they chose that candy (they love it) and why they didn't choose another (they don't like it) and how they knew that (they'd tried them both before.) What the students don't know is that I have carefully switched out all the original candy bars and put other ones in their place. I have a few students do this at the same time.
This activity always leads to a great discussion about stereotyping, labeling, etc... One interesting thing is that very often it takes students eating half of their candy bars, eyes closed, before they realize they are not eating the bar they expected to eat. We discuss how we perceive things, people according to our expectations, and that it takes familiarity with these things, people being different than our expectations before we develop a new reality. We then discuss how this impacts our judgements about others and their judgments about us, and how frequently people may not ever understand reality because they walk away before the bar is half eaten.
We talk about how difficult it is to change labels already established and learned, and that if I don't like you initially as a student, you probably pick up on that and might not act as friendly to me; then I think I am right and am even less friendly, you are less friendly and respectful, and pretty soon I know you are a bad kid with an attitude and I am waiting to jump all over you.
We talk about how changing labels and prejudices takes time and frequent positive interaction. You have to give people, teachers for example, time to experience half of the candy bar that is you. Show them their label is wrong by being your best self in the face of their prejudice.
And we discuss how finding something good about the person who may have reservations against you, and concentrating on that during your interactions will help them pick up on your goodness. And that you have to keep doing that for awhile before you expect results. They need to eat half your candy bar. When people hate you, love sometimes works better than hate to change their mindsets. Be the person to change the circle that has been created.
Yesterday, one student whom I love but some other teachers do not, lol, came in to tell me she had tried that with one of the teachers who "hated" her and that it had worked. This teacher apparently pulled her aside and sincerely complimented her etc...
I feel like Adam is so good at changing perceptions because he has learned to be positive and focuses on positivity in his interactions with people, and they can feel that, so that even those going in with judgements about him, or his music or American Idol, leave with a changed mindset. I want him out there enough so that reasonable people experience him in enough "sound" bytes to see him for who he really is, and to hear and recognize his talent.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2012 10:02:58 GMT -5
Bear with me. I'm giddy with darkness. Once there was a place known to the world as "5.22.12 THE DARK SIDE - Post here if......" It wasn't easy to find. It was in a bad neighborhood and a lot of respectable people were scared to go there. From the outside it looked like this: There were even signs on the door, asking people who they were and where they were from: Inside there were the remains of a crystal ballroom. Cracked and broken mirrors sparkled in the gloom and there had been a terrible water leak. It seemed small, confining, and tawdry. Then some freaky people came along and cleaned the place up. You can read about what they did starting on page 4 of this thread. They transformed the squalor into a decadent hideaway for freethinkers of all stripes. There was even a moon garden. From the street, it still looked the same, but underneath it was a place where freaks could meet. On any given day and night, you could find someone ranting on their soapbox about injustice and man's inhumanity to man. Some people wanted to talk for hours about art, music, sex, a certain man, and The Man. Some needed a place where they could engage in high-spirited wit, whether acidic or gentle, and not be misunderstood. Some needed to be broken open. The people called their place the Dark Satellite of Love, though you wouldn't find a sign that said that and the place certainly didn't appear in any guidebook. You didn't even have to talk if you didn't want to. You could just come in and smoke your hookah and be left in peace, and a wonderful bar served libations and elixirs. Dark Adam signed on to be the barista (everyone knew how he was and just made sure they knew how to use the fire extinguisher). The people weren't under any illusions. The Dark Satellite of Love could fall victim to any number of disasters, from fire to the wrecking ball to simple neglect. They'd been told as much. But wasn't that true of any place? The Dark Satellite of Love was a place where people were free to see things that were, and ask, "Why?" And a place where they could see things that never were, and ask "Why not?" And a place just to say, "Yeah, my ass." So they threw away their pills, ranted, cried, loved, and danced. "Who live here in this cider house, Peaches? Who grind them apples, who press the cider, who clean up the mess, and who just plain live here... just breathin' in the vinegar? Somebody who don't live here made them rules. Them rules ain't for us. We the ones who make up them rules. We makin' our own rules, every day. Ain't that right, Homer?" -- John Irving, The Cider House Rules
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Post by glittergma on Jun 1, 2012 10:23:37 GMT -5
Hoppers, Mika, Lynne, Juniemoon, Jazzrocks, Seoulmate & anyone I mised..........I love you all so much right now!!
I just want you to know I have read all your posts and replied to one or two. The *deep* ones, I have to think through. So much to say, to find the right words, and to find the time.
But, I really, really love the words, be they heartbreaking or uplifting.
You are all Beautiful!!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2012 12:59:05 GMT -5
lynne, what I really like about what you are doing is that you are giving the students the tools to think critically for themselves. That seems like a rare thing these days. That it is ultimately their responsibility to make their way in the world.
I loved The Outsiders as a kid. Glad it is still being read by a new generation of kids.
glittergma, it seems that it always takes at least three weeks for a new job to start to click. At least that's how it has always worked for me. I haven't had to change jobs in 12 years. I might want to do something else soon ... skerred about it right now. (I know what Adam would say.)
I know what you mean about Fantasy Springs. Part of me wants to piss away hundreds of dollars trying to go. BUT I have decided to save my pennies. It looks like Adam is going to do a ton of these one-offs, and surely something will work out. My current plan is to hope for anything in Texas or a neighboring state -- New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, or Arkansas. (Come on New Orleans!)
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