Ten Second Rant






Tragic Misreadings, Gender Trouble, and Me

On my way to teach Paris Is Burning, Judith Butler, and theories of gender and performance। Seat of the pants, as they say, which is probably crazy given the subject matter. For some reason when I type in a title to this blog entry, it automatically converts to Japanese. That all pretty much sums up the postmodern condition as it exists today, here, in Pittsburgh.

Sometimes experiencing gender -- and drag in particular -- is a bit like cognitive dissonance. You know something's not quite as it appears, but you can't always name it, and in other ways, at the same time, everything is perfectly natural. Perhaps this is a drag life, in a way, since I have cognitive dissonance about my reality that goes way beyond the grumpy religion state of mind. Tragic misreadings of the map of power, indeed, Dr. Butler.

Today it's knowing how to explain Althusser and interpellation, understanding how that works in the other facets of my life (say, like for marketing and why certain kinds of campaigns are so powerful to people and others aren't). The irony of doing an enormous amount of intellectual work for academia, just to meet basic expectations (conference proposals, editing books, reviewing articles, sending in drafts of proposed pieces), while simultaneously trying to keep up on new marketing data, sorting out what exactly is going on in the consumer mind and who might actually be interested in customer loyalty programs, luxury green goods, and of course, technological innovation. for which I get paid. sort of.

I think I'm going to have more caffeine and go watch the movie with my students in the hopes that the latino/black drag scene from NY in the 80s and 90s will provide me with some deeper understanding of life right now. Either that, or maybe I just watch...

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