From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2012 #1593 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Wednesday, October 24 2012 Volume 2012 : Number 1593 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: The Only Black Man at the Party/Art Nouveau [Anita G Subject: Re: The Only Black Man at the Party/Art Nouveau On 22/10/2012, Bob.Muller@fluor.com wrote: I think there are much bigger issues at > play. While the article also made my head hurt a bit, it's a topic that > has rarely been explored and examined at this level of detail which I > found admirable. Yes, I think our experiences are similar on this Bob. I also noticed my reticence to write anything about it for fear of looking stupid or, worse to me, culturally insensitive. Preparing to write some of my thoughts about this piece sent me hurtling back into my early 80s days when black women were starting to confront us white lesbian feminists with racism. It was so painful to hear the voices of these black women and to experience both their hurt and rage. To be part of a dominant white culture, especially one as colonial as Great Britain, caused me to feel a lot of guilt which took some time for me to manage. However, I thought I would step up to the plate and write something about this very important piece and here are a few thoughts to throw into the mix. What I really like about this article/essay was being given the chance to think about the character of Art as the author describes: "A self-authorized sexual predator, beholden to no sexual double standard, strolling the street with a bopping walk that could not but call to mind the jazz genre, Art Nouveau would seem the perfect vehicle to flee from the vulnerability and devaluation that marked the white female folksinger." Whilst I welcome a lot of food for thought and I guess any piece you write has to come in from a position it seemed a big leap for me to make that Joni, seeing "this black guy with a beautiful spirit walking with a bop" was a self authorised sexual predator - a black pimp with a bit of jazz musician thrown in. Yet, coming in context in the essay which talks about Joni having been seen over and over again as someone's 'Old Lady' and so much interest in who she was sleeping with, it may well be part of the picture. Joni could be free, perhaps she imagined, in the character of Art. Yet if you were a black man in the late 1970s wearing a really neat suit, would you neccessarily be seen as a pimp? Maybe you would. I know the SUS laws over here in the UK led to police stopping black people in good cars who were smartly dressed. Was Art a pimp? It never crossed my mind until I read this essay and it makes a good case for him being just that. My main issue with the piece is that there seems an assumption that Joni gained an elite position through creating 'Art'. Statements like "Therefore, in the end, this essay serves as a reminder thatcontrary to declarations that honoring Mitchell spelled the end of rocks sexismher beating the white rockers at their own game should not be confused with having changed the game." and "While Mitchells career is typically portrayed as a successful battle against rocks entrenched sexism, I tell a story in which manipulations of perceived race and genre were crucial in securing an exception" imply that Joni has been 'successful' in tackling sexism through adopting the persona of Art, which made her an exception. I think that's another big leap. Art was a figure Joni adopted for a few years - I've been listening to her for for 44 years because of her poetry and lyrical content. And, of course, a great deal of the later lyrical content of her work continues to draw attention to the difficulties she has experienced as an artist. I wouldn't describe Joni as having been an exception to the music business' sexism at any stage of her career, she never beat the white rockers and she would be the first to say that the game hasn't changed. Perhaps the author sees Joni playing with an image of a black man to gain advantage without really knowing what it is to be black. Which is, of course, true. However, by playing Art I don't think she gained any advantage. Be interested to know if others think differently. I was uncomfortable with the fairly contemptuous dismissal of the teachings of the Medicine Wheel. The paragraph is fairly long and extensive and talks about the part of 'Painting In Words and Music' where Joni talks about races being aligned to various directions within the compass. Those of us who have studied the Wheel also know that animals, plants, birds, rocks etc. are also given different directions with the idea of understanding and integrating within ourselves many aspects of our connections with each other and our world. Although I can see that the directional divisions on race could be interpreted as stereotypes, there is a comment where the author writes "In this racialized distribution of virtues, it would appear that only chiefs and artists, such as Mitchell, are able to obtain qualities from outside their own races store. Everyday people remain stuck with the gifts and limitations of their racial cohort." As someone who has benefitted from the Teachings and is neither a chief nor an artist I can say that this part strikes me as a particularly cheap shot not worthy of the essay and not very respectful to the Teachings. Everyone can benefit from learning from each other and being mindful of the planet. Anyway, I think it 's great to have something so new and thought provoking to read, even though it will make your head hurt and it does open up difficult feelings about Joni, elitism, gender and race and sexuality - well, it did for me. Anita ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2012 #1593 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list, sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------