Stories

November 17, 2011 - Army of Ink Me Jane

 

army of ink me jane

Me Jane .  

Dangling in a moment of vulnerability, out of her jungle mind came a thought…3 thoughts actually…Could she make it without the BOy?  Did she have to take such a wild and dangerously dependent leap—after all?  And was it really that difficult and frightening to just let go?

This swinging ink has layer upon layer of meaning to sit and wonder about—like…. Is she really swinging up high or is this a trick?  Is her foot in fact, firmly planted on the ground?  Is she clinging for her life at the mercy of the rope (or the BOy), or has she taken a firm grip to put a stop all this swinging business?   And what is this swinging business about anyway?  Which way is she going?  Back?  Forward?  Nowhere right now?  Or has she finally landed in her very own spot?   Is the rope attached?  Is it all about to uncoil leaving her in a heap?   Or is it going to lift her up, whoosh her away from whatever it is she’s so afraid of right now?  To be continued no doubt …..

 

September 28, 2011 - Pay It Forward

 

pay_it_forward 4

 

Pay it Forward is a movie about a boy who comes up with a dead simple idea and it takes on a life of its own.  Just imagine.  You do a favour that really helps someone and tell him or her not to pay it back, but pay it forward to three other people, who in turn, each pay it forward to three more – and on and on into a global outpouring of kindness and decency.   Kevin Spacey’s pitch of the assignment to his junior high class goes …

 

Pay It Forward

 

“You’re stuck right here in the 7th grade but not forever because one day you’ll be free.  (Class cheers).  What if on that day you’re free you haven’t prepared.  You’re not ready.  And you look around you and you don’t like what the world is.   So what if the world is just a big disappointment?  Student answers; “We’re screwed”.  Unless.  Unless you take the things that you don’t like about this world and you flip them upside down, right on their arse.

And you can start that today.  This is your assignment.  Think of an idea to change our world – and put it into ACTION!  What’s wrong?  Students answer; “It’s so weird”.  “Crazy”.  “Hard”.    Teacher says; How about possible?  It’s possible.  The realm of possibility exists where?  In each of you.  Here (points to head).”

September 16, 2011 - World Proof Children

Reposted from 2011, before social media ramped up the problem.

 

must watch

 

“Rather than child proofing the world, we need to world proof our children”

Todd Sampson panelist on Gruen Transfer  statement referring to kids exposure to sexualised bill board images and mass media.   See also, Phillips Adams article ‘Bad Times Stories’.

September 6, 2011 - Army of Ink Dump Dump Dump

 

army of ink dump dump dump

Some things just had to go.

Dump, dump, dump she did, with all the self defeating, nasty little habits she’d hoarded over time.  It was time to take the hanky firmly by a thread and with pedal planted nicely under foot, claim herself a hanky free place where she would no longer need to rely on being picked.  She also trashed the motion of skipping in dizzy circles to get to where she ‘d convinced herself she needed to be.  Now, a short distance beyond the clean-up, she sits to catch the slowing of her breath – reviving her tired little shoes and socks.  And puff went the world.

(Reposted from 2011.  Find her  in Clunk & Jam book 2019.)

July 7, 2011 - Draw On

 

BLOG timburton

BLOG tburton

“Drawing and visual media were his pain-relievers of choice … a response to conditions of disconnection and isolation.”    (From book pictured).    Tim Burton is the creator/director of  Batman; The Corpse Bride;  Nightmare at Christmas; Alice in Wonderland  and more.   “In spite of claims that he was an inarticulate youth who felt alienated from his neighbourhood environment, Burton’s point of view has always been humorous and high spirited.  Burton made much of his disaffected youth as muse for his early work.

Burton has endeavoured to come up with new models for the beautiful.  Skeletons, severed heads, and bodies and eyes that are stitched and pierced are recurring emblems whose twofold effect is to skewer conformist attitudes and affirm alternative ways of life.   Disfiguring the body (not his, the characters) allows Burton to deliver metaphors of social dysfunction and psychological disintegration with sensual wit. In the end, creativity is the saving grace of Tim Burton’s heroes.  Their example of imaginative activity, as a response to conditions of disconnection and isolation, is the overarching message of Burton’s work.”

(Words from ‘Tim Burton The Exhibition’ book).

June 24, 2011 - Army of Ink Little Me

 

army of ink little me

Place for little me …

Personal footnote:  Growing up is not so much about leaving the ‘little me’ behind and becoming something else – like a teenager or an adult. Our ‘little me’ is always part of who we are.  Always going to be around in us – somewhere.  But if you’ve had bad things happen to you when you were little, ‘little me’ it takes up a lot more space – leaving little room for play.  The Army of Ink are perhaps the ‘little mes’, taking form.   Coming back to life and playing on the page.  And they’re really strong.  Strong enough to keep hold of all those things that might have happened to ‘little me’.