renegations

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"caution"   click to view

In the upper left of "caution" we see a snag of caution tape from a renegade mission accomplished by Jennifer in february 1999, in which she traversed the construction zone of the new UCSB art museum.  We have long fancied such impromptu expeditions, as upon our many walkabouts we encounter such zones of construction or the unseen that beckon our exploration.  Z page this week got us reminiscing about our renegations from the last 14 years, via "chat"

ceci (10:49 AM):  hi! I was vaccuming    hemphill (10:47 AM):  Me too!!!     ceci (10:49 AM):  lol   

hemphill (10:49 AM):  wow, - what does that mean?... about us both sucking up dust and bugs and other particles, before coming to this session... interesting, especially for me because of the dust factor, dirt, which comes with going into a construction zone. You don't go in new, clean clothes, ya know.

ceci (10:52 AM):  right!    ceci (10:52 AM):  renegades often are in camouflage of their terrain     

hemphill (10:53 AM):  yes, color blending...my favorite memory

ceci (10:54 AM):  so let's see... we would be on adventures at night on campus... off hours...no man's land ...ours for the taking

hemphill (10:54 AM):  ...remember when we went ontop of the new humanities building - and scaled the thin disk, record like escapements?

ceci (10:54 AM):  that was the BEST, way high   up like treading on a saturn ring ...way beyond imaginings    

hemphill (10:55 AM):  I think Hesse or McLaughlin were with us on that one?    

ceci (10:55 AM):  Hesse for sure    hemphill (10:55 AM):  I thought so   ceci (10:55 AM):  after us breaking into a classroom!

ceci (10:59 AM):  so the first I remember, is the new admin building being built in like spring of 1996 I guess, yeah, 'cause when I got back to school the next year it was finished and in use by then... it was night, of course, we were walking by and we both looked at each other like.. we just knew what was next

ceci (11:03 AM):  in that moment I was remembering that back in high school Vinh and I snuk into construction zones of new homes being built and had romantic evenings in the wooden skeletons of homes to be, complete with candle lit dinner.

ceci (11:04 AM):  and I think you also shared with me at the time some memories of your past construction zone fun too...   what did we do, climb the fence, or find a gap to enter through?

hemphill (11:06 AM):  I'm pretty sure, we wiggled through something - a gap or whatnot... we may have needed to climb fence to get out.

ceci (11:06 AM):  I think a dumpster was involved... for helping boost us... and we went to the structure's upper levels, right?

hemphill (11:07 AM):  quick sideflash - the first time I ever climbed a fence, was with my dad, after we broke into my moms school and office to decorate her room for her 40th birthday, I think I was - um, 12?    

ceci (11:08 AM):  that is RAD.... another school!.... afterhours baby

hemphill (11:08 AM):  Ok, a dumpster, I do not recall that... ha ha ha....  And, if we went to the second floor, you may be thinking of another entry besides what i'm thinking of, though I don't think you are... I remember very skeletal - and lots of holes, and cement.

hemphill (11:10 AM):  That was the first I remember too though - and it was awesome! it was a possibly a greater turning point in our friendship... like, no turning back, ever!

hemphill (11:11 AM):  do you think that was pre- zbook? i'd guess pre for sure.

hemphill (11:12 AM):  I was so bummed by that whole new stretch of buildings and reconstructions, which that admin building seemed to be the first... because of the loss of z perfect tunnel.

hemphill (11:12 AM):  where else?    hemphill (11:13 AM):  I remember a disc hucking session on a big construction zone in Vegas - like a parking lot in construction - do you have that memory?

ceci (11:14 AM):  yes, in the back lot of the Venician, 1999...may...  we somehow, only Hemphill and cec, got out a random backdoor...

hemphill (11:15 AM):  p.s.l. that's the first time I've heard about yours and Vinh's exploits into off- limits - coolio - nice picture

ceci (11:15 AM):  .....and ended up where no one ever goes, total behind the scenes..... behind the sets....   where the garbage and dirty golf carts live....

hemphill (11:16 AM):  yes, that was a great trip too - minus the loss of the genie - somewhere out there, on the road to Vegas!

ceci (11:16 AM):  alleys and dumpsters and nthing painted pretty...   

ceci (11:16 AM):  O yeah!  sacrafice to the gods    hemphill (11:16 AM):  oooh, I didn't recall dirty golf carts.    ceci (11:17 AM):  ...yeah, just so not "Vegas"....  ...but what makes it all run you know...

hemphill (11:17 AM):  what do you remember about sacrificing to the gods? - I must have been imbibing something.

ceci (11:17 AM):  ...leave it to us to discover the real deal...   ceci (11:17 AM):  the genie    hemphill (11:18 AM):  I'd be paranoid to day, I've seen to many CSI episodes.

ceci (11:18 AM):  DUDE and it's VEGAS, where there is a cmaera in every crack and cranny!... although we were doing nothing wrong at all, just tooling around and hucking disc

hemphill (11:19 AM):  yeah, but still, Vegas seems, run by people...who don't play frisbee!

and, O yes, and let it be known that we adore hucking disc, or tossing the frisbee as it is commonly known, and play as we walk and travel as we huck, the disc always leading us to new terrains to trespass...

∞ ceci

6

The Story of Stuff

Speaking of the systems of industry and consumption that target us And that we participate in... have you seen The Story of Stuff ?  In just 20 minutes, this little video breaks down the infrastructure of our consumption based economy and our "stuff" dependent lifestyles and how the "linear system" of how our stuff is produced and consumed can't possibly sustain our "finite planet indefinitely." And all with super accessible and cute cartoon animation that bring in the palatable slash funny factor that keeps us giggling a bit so we can face and swallow the truth which, like I was saying in my last post, helps us get present to our reality so we can be in position for present action (change).

Annie Leonard, the author and host of The Story of Stuff, said this in the Los Angeles Times article from this month on her and her -Story- videos:

"We environmentalists are a whiny, wonky bunch," Leonard says. "We bombard people with facts. But who wants to join a movement where people just scold you? We have to make it inspiring. We have to make it fun."

YES! Exactly what Z page of this week "caution" is rooted in... awareness through pointing out the likes of the very silliness of our own "bought" into systems.  (And look at how our page "caution" also has linear system imagery, with arrows, just like Annie uses in her video.. neat!)  Annie's "fun" strategy of communicating that which is very serious is used in another of her videos The Story of Bottled Water, only 8 minutes and excellent. Both pieces contain links to solutions and actions we can take now. Watch them here....!

Click to View Large ... on the right side of "caution" find
the linear system going down, with arrows, like the 
horizontal one in The Story of Stuff

∞ ceci

6

this too shall trespass

"caution"

Both an ode and an exposé, "caution" is a cautionary tale about 

our modern world, the world we love and hate... of conveniences, 

standards, regulations, technologies, structures, communications, 

test markets, commercial branding, warnings, liabilities, and 

messages, messages, messages.  All with a good chuckle, of 

course, at all the hoopla and conditioned frameworks we create.

 * click all images to view large *

This page is comprised of mostly an assemblage of the daily stuff of our lives, gleaned from the stuff we consume, cut out tags and peeled off stickers with messages of some kind of warning or commercial agenda.  Messages that tell us or sell us what to do and what to not do. Or messages that "feel good" but are manufactured for the sole purpose to sell a product; we consume the message, we consume the product... in other words, we "buy it."  

But "caution," in the very act of identifying each object and placing it on this page, is also a revelry in being AWARE... of being a target, being a market group, being conditioned, being hooked on "convenience," and being a willing participant in it all.  It is a wake up call to our own part of the game and a kick in the pants for being hip to it.  It's a chance to call ourselves out and confess that these things that give us "security" and "freedom" actually keep us captive... 

 

...like the car that makes us feel free to go anywhere but is ruled by the viscous animal which is oil that holds the keys.  Huh, funny, I just now made that specific coloration, with oil.  This cut out image has always, for years now, signified to me the irony of our dependence on technology, as well as the nature vs. nurture debate, And now, in 2010, my thinking goes beyond technology, for it is painfully clear that our dependence is truly on what fuels our technology and the fuel that it is all manufactured with... for thAt is the true gate keeper and key master.  I could wallow in disgust and animosity but that is a loop hole keeps us in the muck where there is no hope or possibilities. It is our expanding AWARENESS and release of our shame that gets us present and in position to make actual changes.  For me, that is what this page is about, the moment of honestly looking myself in the face, and instead of crying, have a good laugh at our unthinkable state, and begin to trespass our trespassers, change the game, make new choices, cross the boundary lines of the regulations that regulate our minds.  Laughter may just be our first step over the barrier.

∞ ceci

6

week fourteen >> "caution" - JULY: HOT pages!

Continuing our forage into Hot pages, we take you now to territory off-limits.  Behold, "Caution"!  Freeze frame to a story flash of friendship on fire...one fateful night, probably in the fall, Zbook went renegade, leading us into the darkness of "under construction, keep out".  As we dared and lept through fresh passage and creeping hall, we called our courage to explore a building zone on UCSB campus - and truth be told, it wasn't the first or the last of such endeavorings.  Take hold, this thought: 'to none but the bold and courageous go any pieces of yellow tape' imposters watch out!

Tres-pass

Count-down - 4-3-2-1-

Vis-cer-al EX-plo-sion,

A-B-C, mo-neyin, brown-box a-la gol-den.
Beep - -Beep - B-eep,- Beep, Be-ware
deep holes, sharp blades, mean teeth, piercing rays.
Stay clear, Grass-crawler, take care -
nipple-test tech-nol-o-gys.

Mo-by pil-low-bombs,

point to king-dom comes,

Map-of- faces, Con-ste-lla-tions,

love-cannons stan-ding by.

Roc-ket boo-sters - trip-le threats,

Red-dead-ly, Bu-bbles,

Quick-craw-ling Scu-ttles,

French-phoned se-crets.

ExSat - De-li-ver-y,

Gal-i-le-o glow, groo-vy sanwich-to-go,

mar-ket -la-tit-ude – be-tween,

chiquita, monfrita,

comeshakeawithmea,

A-L-O-fellas-we-gree-tya,

Gold-pink-purple, hear me screamyah -

Your - Heart - PLAY - WOW - Do not leav-eah!

-J.G.