A Scene From an In Progress Play

 Dear readers,

Recently, I have been working on a play based on "The Rock" by Harry Chapin. Its not a very well known song and I definitely recommend you to check it out. More  importantly I would like to share a scene with you. I do hope that you enjoy it.

Hoping it is enjoyed,

Mike Hand

_________________________________________________________________________________

                                        Scene 3                                 
                                                                           
                    (The scene is the back of the school. AUGUST sits      
                    cross legged staring at the rock. From stage right     
                    MR. MATTHEWS enters.)                                  
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               Lets make this quick August, you know what I want.          
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               Yes I do.                                                   
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               Here’s my money.                                            
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               You’re short fifty.                                         
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               What?                                                       
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               You’re short Jerome. You punched me in the face so I        
               raised the price for you.                                   
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               You can’t do that.                                          
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               Now you’re short seventy five.                              
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                           (CONTINUED)     
                                                                           

          CONTINUED:                                              6.       
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               Excuse me?                                                  
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               You’re excused Jerome. Go home.                             
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               I think I’m going to have to have a word with the           
               Judge.                                                      
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               You do that, his opinion holds no weight to me.             
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               The man speaks with God, his opinion is all that            
               matters.                                                    
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               And what of his wife?                                       
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               She serves him well.                                        
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               Are you sure about that?                                    
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               Of course I am, if she didn’t she’d be like you now.        
               Wouldn’t she?                                               
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               I served this land well.                                    
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               Not well enough it seems.                                   
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               Fuck you Jerome.                                            
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               I bet you’ve been waiting to say that forever.              
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               Proud of yourself?                                          
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               Very.                                                       
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               Why are you still here?                                     
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                           (CONTINUED)     
                                                                           

          CONTINUED:                                              7.       
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               I’m still deliberating on whether or not the Judge          
               should hear this issue.                                     
                                                                           
                    (There is a long pause. AUGUST stands up and           
                    tosses MR. MATTHEWS a bag of marijuana.)               
                                                                           
          AUGUST                                                           
               Never again.                                                
                                                                           
          MR. MATTHEWS                                                     
               Fine.                                                       
                                                                           
                    (Mr. Matthews exits stage left.) 

Ranting about art and whether or not it is a reflection of society

Dear readers,

There has been something vibrating through the depths of my mind today. I always hear the term that "art is a reflection of society" and I wanted to say I disagree.

More accurately, I would agree if there was a modifier so that we could discuss the statement with out discussing all art. I would like to argue that society can be a reflection of our art as well as our art reflecting our society with neither being mutually exclusive or necessary in the discussion of a definition.

My main point of disagreement is that an issue may not necessarily have been discussed before the art piece debuted. For example, Mae West was addressing issues about homosexuality in the ninety twenties Broadway scene and is considered the reason for the Wales Padlock Law. From this we can gather that the art is not necessarily a reflection of society but a critique of social practices which is part of changing the public opinion and causing the society to change and reflect the art.

My next point of disagreement comes off the last point. I think the reason why we try to define art as such is because it is easy. Defining art as a reflection of society does not take much discussion on the part of any person discussing the topic. It is a simple categorization that is easy to justify but that doesn't make it right; in fact I would say that that is part of what makes it wrong.

Art is not easy to categorize because a lot of art is not made to fit firmly into a category. For example, today my roommate and I finished our journey through Bioshock: Infinite and as the credits rolled he looked at me and asked "so what genre do you think that was?". The obvious answer is, of course, first person shooter. However, as Ken Levine once pointed out, its kind of silly to categorize a game based on its camera angle. When you think about it he is completely right: Would you put Call of Duty next to Bioshock or Bioshock: Infinite?

So what category is Bioshock: Infinite? It is a drama, to an extent it is a tragedy and to another extent yet it was a science fiction adventure. Of course it was about none of that because art contains subtext. That subtext is why you cannot easily categorize any form of art.

With that we return to the question: Is art a reflection of society? Not strictly, while society can be reflected in the art we make, our art is often reflected in our society. We shoot ourselves in the foot trying to categorize some things that we take it too far and try categorize a subject that is too broad such as art. What people who say those words don't get is that any definition you make for art is lacking. No matter how encompassing you make your definition you will be forgetting something and you will have to either defend your definition or extend it.

So, you may ask, why have I wasted your time? I'm just trying to get this off my chest before finals are done to all those people who tell me that art is "simply just" something. Art is neither "simply" or "just" something but Fucking Obnoxious Things are both those. So perhaps one should decide if they FOT or art is a reflection of society.

Now I'm just ranting,

Mike Hand

Thoughts on Nothing (At All?)

Dear Readers,

Today I feel that I should make a blog post but I'm not sure what about. That really is quite a shame with all the things I could write about; Iron Man 3, the weather, mental health issues, politics, music etc. Instead I make this post rather selfishly for my own benefit and I expect no one else to get amusement from it because, like Sienfeld, this post is about nothing.

I think, in some strange twisted way, that that is actually what this post is about. A few years ago I would have been perfectly fine with something about nothing but looking back my only actual filler is about nothing. All my nothing has been terrible and their all things I can't believe that I have written. That may sound egotistical to many of you but take a moment and look at my other blogs. You will see a 365 challenge for writing. A 365 challenge that I completed when I was in high school. To top that off, most of the poems I wrote in that challenge I've effectively thrown out. That's right, I've written hundreds of poems and I've thrown out hundreds.

A few years ago, if some one told me they felt to restricted in their poetry style I would have been happy to tell them to do what ever they want. Now I tell them to change what they are doing entirely and learn a new format of poetry because making yourself be restricted in a way that allows for learning is the best way to feel unrestricted.

A few years ago, if I was writing a play I wouldn't put much (or any) thought into the visual proportion. I am currently writing a play based on "The Rock" by Harry Chapin- and while I am only half way through the first draft- and the opening stage directions are pretty explicit on how the lighting should be. Its pretty impressionistic and I am proud of that.

A few years ago, my research was looking up an article on Wikipedia. Today, I spend hours investigating a single issue and finding opinions from the community involved in that issue. Let us take an example, such as autism. For those who are not aware autism is a developmental disorder that is highly volatile in every way, shape and form during conversations. Why use autism you may ask? Good question reader I made up in my head; you see while doing research on the show Community I found a comparative essay about the character Abed on the former show and Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory and how the two characters engage in relation to autism. This piqued my interest and from doing more research I learned that Satashi Tajiri has Asperger's.

To those unaware of who Satoshi Tajiri is, he is the man who invented Pokemon. From there on out I have been attempting to research all the different opinions of people who have autism (or "autistic people" if you don't agree with people first. In my case I go by something that Edward Albee once said about how he is not a gay writer but rather a writer who is gay because one must transcend self) because I am convinced that in ten years time we will take away the microphone from groups and give it to individuals. From there we learn want the people want and not what we want. And of course there is a huge distinction: As such I want to urge my fellow artists reading this to hear the voices so that when the time comes we already know what we think and we can be ahead of the game. We can be a defining generation.

I don't think I'll put this up on Facebook (they only like me for my poetry),

Michael Hand