art, education, imagination, storytelling tara l. conley art, education, imagination, storytelling tara l. conley

I'm from a black dot on a white canvas searching for rainbows

This is a multimodal piece I produced for my class in Culture, Media, and Education. I like fusing media and genres (written/spoken poetry, painting, digital video). Suites me quite well. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/20187343 w=398&h=224]

I am from long strokes of acrylic bent on canvas sky from blotches of black and blue mixed with white and reds I am from the taste of colors long forbidden Soul food, Black Foot, Irish-American.

I am from somewhere vague like shadows at noon from Negro seeds planted in the fields on hot southern days from an east coast milk truck named “Conley” for short. I am from somewhere whose love managed to give me life.

I am from hard fights and harder hugs from bedrooms of imagination filled with stories of magic carpets and gospel songs. I am from the house on 8th street where herbs grew in gardens instead of mangos.

I am from my mother’s eye Watching and waiting from her spirit longing to be free from the rainbow shirt that covered her belly with me inside.

I am from my father’s hands lost in the strokes of oily painted white mountains, from the heart he held to stop the attack, from hardened pale fingers I touched that were unfamiliar. From the shadow that moved curtains when it was over.

I am from an amalgamation of memories from a black dot on a white canvas searching for rainbows.

#culture #media #education #multimodality

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Internet tara l. conley Internet tara l. conley

We're totally technologically gentrified (I think)

Where are you located on this data map of the Internet? Where ever you are, odds are there's a Facebook around every corner. (source)

I wonder if it’s at all possible that as we strive toward a culturally pluralistic society in the new millennium, we may find ourselves technologically gentrified. It's already happening. We're utilizing virtually the same types of technology and media to spread ideas. What happens when said technology turns into a monopoly, where do our ideas go? Who owns them? When the Internet can be easily turned off like a light switch, one wonders, what the hell's next?

Facebook is to the Internet as Starbucks is to any random block in Manhattan. Everyone's *at* Facebook. Facebook is how many folks socialize and learn in third space. Google is the quintessential search engine that hoards all of our data. I’m not certain what the implications of technological gentrification are (if I may use my own completely random term), but it certainly makes a cyborg chick wonder.

#Internet #culture #Facebook #Google

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