Birthday #32
Notes from your past self and academia in the present
When I was in high school at the height of a particular time of the internet, I discovered “StumbleUpon.” It is now a defunct website, but at the time, all you needed to do was type in the URL, stumbleupon.com, and then hit a button that would refresh the page with a new link. The button would remain so you could do this over and over again.
The results ranged widely, from article links to online games, from live footage of the aurora borealis in Iceland to online “mixtapes,” and from artwork to recordings of poetry. It was how I discovered Hel Looks, a street style blog from Helsinki, which, as a ~16-year-old, taught me about style and expression, and convinced me that I needed boots from Vagabond. It was also how I learned what Buzzfeed was.
StumbleUpon introduced me to “FutureMe.” It was an online service that allowed you to write an email to be delivered to yourself in the future. I think the company still exists, or has revitalized itself, because I get dodgy emails from them now. I did it for a few years for my birthday. I also scheduled a few to go out further into the future, 5 - 10 years, but those never arrived as the platform deteriorated and there was no account or login system. I wish I could access the archives of what I wrote, but I no longer have the email address they were sent to.
An obsession with communicating with yourself in the future isn’t a new thing. We can’t reach back, so we reach forward. I find my efforts endearing. Today is my 32nd birthday. I imagine receiving an email from my past self. I think about what I would have wanted to express and inquire–from all the ages I have been before today. And after taking a moment for all that to collect, I move into my birthday.
HOT — Shelled pistachios. INFINITY ∞ ROCKS stickers. Seeing ate9 perform. Journals that open flat. Smash Foods, Snack Bites. Sending voice notes.
NOT — Running out of ink. Immanuel Kant’s The Critique of Judgement. Web portals. My hair. Mixing up your toothbrush with your partner. Filling a cup with water and then knocking it over.
I started graduate school at the end of August. I’m pursuing a Master's in Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere and a Graduate Certificate in Performance Studies at the University of Southern California. Anyway, these are the top five books and readings from my first four weeks.
Performance Studies: An Introduction by Richard Schechner
Love this dude! A big part of why I love performance studies.
Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness, Chapter 1 “The Intensity of Psychic States” by Henri Bergson
Philosophy of time, space, and feelings!
“Historical Realness and the Choreographic Fragment” by Alison D’Amato
Judson era dance critique. Alison is a professor in the dance department at USC ☺.
In Between Subjects: A Critical Genealogy of Queer Performance, “Genealogizing” by Amelia Jones
I have two classes with Amelia this term and am a very lucky girl!!
“The Other History of Intercultural Performance” by Coco Fusco
Performance art with Guillermo Gómez-Peña that examined the “human exhibition” and challenged spectatorship.
Isn’t this photo great? My friend Al and Nat with Jolene. Al is folded, soft eyes, and holding. Nat is warped as Jolene licks her, a mighty burst of joy. In the mirror are Jamie and Z. Jamie is lounging, propped on her elbow. Z’s legs are folded over Jamie as he leans to take the photo.