The Generation Gap Part II

It's still the first week of classes: they don't start actually repeating until tomorrow, when your Wednesday schedule matches your Monday schedule and if you're smart don't have a Friday schedule. But since people actually do read Dyxieland, I was tipped off by The Country Homo to this really great article from Beloit College in Wisconsin called "The Beloit College Mindset List." They publish a list each year of the things that are inherently true to the incoming freshmen class, "providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shapes the lives of students entering college this fall."

Cool, right? Answer: NO. It is merely another tool to make Chatty Kathy feel like old balls. Rude.

I read the class of 2014 list and then the class of 2011 (GO HAWKS.) to compare and contrast the differences and honestly, with the ones that were listed for 2011, I didn't have a shocking connection with them. Because they've always been true for me. The shock came from reading the 2014 list because when it's pointed out to you what is different for them, it is insane. I then read the first list available from 2002 and had even less of a reaction to anything they were saying. They're right I don't care who J.R is, but I do know who shot him. This guy:


Right?

Anyway, here are the links to the lists: 2014, 2011, 2002.

What are the ones that shock you most from those lists, or from your incoming freshman class? Don't worry, no ageists here, date yourself away.

The Generation Gap and it's Astounding Ability to Make Itself Known Even in Your (really) Early 20's

The Generation Gap, as defined by urbandicationary.com, doesn't actually exist yet, but these definitions are similar: The MTV Generation, hide the wingtip, CUCAMONGA. If that doesn't clue you in to what I'm talking about then you're obviously an idiot.

But no, really. I'm just sitting here at my really engaging job thinking about things. Thinking thoughts. Big thoughts. I took a bathroom break during the middle of this really great sit-and-think-about-things session and encountered the first batch of babies trying to find room 318 in McBride Hall at the University of Iowa. Freshmen. Put down the iPhone. It will not help you read the map. Actually read the map. Look at it and read it. Put the smartphone away. While witnessing this complete dependence on technology, I realized that the longer I'm in this world, the older I get. I know, I know, stop me now, this is really uncovering something huge. HUGE. Sarcasm aside, I did realize something during my pee break: that even though these kids (heh, "these kids," GET OFF MY LAWN.) are only 18 and I a mere near 22, I feel so much older, so much more experienced than they. Which I guess with time is true, as it is with everything. But still. They have no idea what they just got themselves into. No clue. Not ready at all. Why is this not a section of some kind of prep thing? Why is the fact that you have no fucking clue what you are doing a topic tested on the SAT?

What I'm saying may be obvious. But have you ever had that moment when you realize it's real? Like really real? Like this is fucking it? Like taking one more step is you actually taking one more step and your Achilles tendon pops in a strange way but you keep taking that one more step because it'll be ok it's only your Achilles tendon?

Nope? Just me?

Well today is the beginning of a very busy semester filled with applying for The Next Step, making a documentary which you will undoubtedly hear more about in the upcoming year, working at the lit mag, being Madame du 508, trying my damnedest to stick to the blog schedule, many more opportunities to get the last word, but the idea of This Is It smacked me just as hard as the overwhelming feeling that unfortunately there isn't an app for that.

As this sappy post comes to an end, I am overwhelmingly aware of the fact that this, right now, this right here, right there, is the best time of my life.

So live well interwebz. Live well and prosper.

Elisa Kreisinger is a Smart Lady and I Hope She Wears Glasses

I found this link on good ole Salon.com this morning while sitting at my really engaging job that does really important things for the world and has only one requirement: to answer the phone that doesn't ring.

And what I want to say to you people is this: SEE! SEE! I'm not the only one who queers everything! Look Mom! I'm not alone!

According to her website popculturepirate.com, Elisa Kreisinger

is "a video remix artist subverting the carefully constructed world of corporate content to work off [her] massive consumption of pop-culture and reverse the psycho-social toll it takes on [her] sense of self." So, basically, she's my soul mate. What I discovered on the ever-faithful Salon website was an article highlighting her most recent work, where she queers Sex and the City. Thank God. It's called the QueerCarrie Project.

Maybe it's because I never really understood the allure of Sex and the City, much like I don't understand how to make a decent "that's what she said" joke, in that the overt heterosexual gaze alienated my queer ass from relating to any of the content-- even the gay men on Sex and the City were acting according to the rules of an explicitly heterosexual society-- but I never really liked the show. I never watched it like I watched The L Word. (OMG The L Word.) That is, until now. I'm only sad that seasons 3-6 are all compacted together. And props to Elisa for most likely having to watch the whole series to construct the narrative she creates in the 3 video series.

Here's the Trailer:

Kreisinger has also created several other video remix projects, including one that queers The Real Housewives of New York City: "The Queer Housewives of New York City." It follows Bethenny through a queer storyline since she's obviously the most likable (?) and entertaining (?) of the housewives.

The work Kreisinger does, this includes several other political video remix projects that you can check out on the projects page of her website, toys with the audience's perception. Viewing and experiencing her work involves similar habits we exhibit while watching TV or YouTube videos. As these habits transfer to viewing her work, Kreisinger inverts the viewing gaze by using such familiar images. We've all seen Sex and The City and we all know how shrill Bethenny can be, whether we want to admit it or not. So, by taking these images and re-appropriating their meaning by creating these Political Remix Videos (PRV), Kreisinger makes the unfamiliar familiar. The viewer almost can't grasp that what they are looking at is a subversion of original content because it reads as original content itself, completely normalizing the queer positive imagery. Pretty fucking cool if you ask me.

It's a shame the guerrilla team of video remixers that Kreisinger highlights in her project "Remixed/Removed" have to tackle the legal teams of media corporations who remove their art from host sites like YouTube because it infringes copyright laws. This is the new digital graffiti.

Also, I would like all of you to know that Eva Mendes has a sex tape and Wyclef Jean is running for President of Haiti. A Fugee. Running a country. Why am I even in school?