urban ku # 57 in which I be thinkin' bout thinkin'
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 10:40AM 
Knarly tree trunk • no embiggen - it's a Polaroid
I like reading, as a break from the heavier stuff, books which might be described as 'pulp fiction' - books purchased from the discount bins at the big-box bookstores. My main criteria for selecting them is that they have a military weapon/vehicle (submarines are my favorite) on the cover or a Sam-Spade type description on the book flap. In short, pure escapist stuff.
In my most recent read, I have run into a protagonist by the name of Easy Rawlins (a black man who's always telling people it's 'Rawlins, not Rawlings. Our family lost the g when we was runnin' so fast to get outa Tennesse.'). Ease, as his friends call him (that's short for 'Easy', which, in turn, is short for 'Ezekiel'), always has lots of stuff on his mind, something which one of his friends reminds him is "...the problem with most'a you black mens, Easy ... White people think we stupid but it's the other way around. We got so much on our minds all the time that we ain't got no time for little things like exactly what time it is or the rent. Shit. Here he askin' you about long division and you thinkin' about Lisa Langly's long legs, who you gonna have to fight to get next to her, and why this big ugly white man think anything he say gonna make a bit'a difference to you when you get out on the street."
A little later in the story, which, BTW, takes place in South Los Angeles just at the end of the 1965 riots, another of Easy's friends, Ronette, tells him, "That's why you always frownin, Easy, studying somethin' till it don't even look like what it is no more..."
So, you might be wonderin', what's this got to do with the price of photographic tea in China?
Well, I been thinkin' bout thinkin' bout photography and sometimes I be thinkin' I be thinkin' too much. Ronette's right. It is possible to be "studying somethin' till it don't even look like what it is no more."
I think that's the problem with 'pure' postmodernist photography - it don't even look like what it is no more. Extreme postmodernists won't let a picture be just a picture even though sometimes that's all, or almost all, it is. That's why I am not a card-carrying postmodernist.
Nevertheless, I be thinkin' bout that (but, hopefully, not too much). Thanks Easy, Jackson, Ronette and Walter Mosley (the author of Little Scarlet).
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comments: Chuck Kimmerle and Chantal wrote;
CK - "I think academics could learn a thing or two from Ronette. I was just talking with an art student who was frustrated with his recent end-of-year portfolio eval because he was told he needs to explain the meaning of EVERY single image in the grouping. From looking at the portfolio, some images surely had meaning, but others were just beautiful and/or interesting scenes.
Too bad art students have to be taught in such a strict regime. Of all departments, they should be the ones with the most freedom of expressions. Oh well....thank you Ronette."
C - "W. Mosley is one of my favorite fiction authors.....Easy is an 'easy' character to love.
Too much thinking can often get in the way of good photography. 'Shut up and shoot' is what I tell myself. It takes effort, but sometimes it's just best to shut the inner voices up and get on with the picture taking."
Reader Comments (3)
I think academics could learn a thing or two from Ronette. I was just talking with an art student who was frustrated with his recent end-of-year portfolio eval because he was told he needs to explain the meaning of EVERY single image in the grouping. From looking at the portfolio, some images surely had meaning, but others were just beautiful and/or interesting scenes.
Too bad art students have to be taught in such a strict regime. Of all departments, they should be the ones with the most freedom of expressions. Oh well....thank you Ronette.
W. Mosley is one of my favorite fiction authors.....Easy is an 'easy' character to love.
Too much thinking can often get in the way of good photography. 'Shut up and shoot' is what I tell myself. It takes effort, but sometimes it's just best to shut the inner voices up and get on with the picture taking.
while I enjoy the odd Elvis Cole ("Worlds Greatest Detective" bang em up/shoot em up whodunit) my own favourite escapist reading is the Inspector Kurt Wallander series - a middle aged detective who worries about his cholesterol... trouble is I just finished the last oen in the series for now