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ACT_VS_ART

                                           January 17, 2009
                                           February 9, 2009

Maybe this qualifies as one of
the hipster intercine wars: the
activist vs. artist.


   But then, as far as I can tell, it's
   fairly rare for an activist to *look
   down* on an artist for being a mere
   artist, but it is fairly common for
   the artist to have an inferiority
   complex about it.

   The artist often fears that
   they're just screwing around        Oh, those activists are
   with non-essentials, while the      so *hyper*, they're so
   activist is out there trying        *politically correct*,
   to save the world.                  they're so *full of
                                       themselves*....



         Then there's the case of the
         activist that regrets not
         being an artist...  I wonder
         how common this one is:

         Circa 1919:

         "The Reeds [ John Reed and Louise Bryant ]
         now lived in Patchin Place, the
         picturesque dead-end alley at                 Picturesque?  When I
         Tenth Street and Sixth Avenue.                looked at Patchin
                                                       place, it seemed like a
         "One night as Reed hastened home he met       short, gated-off
         Sherwood Anderson on the corner of Fifth      dead-end surrounded by
         Avenue and Ninth Street, directly under       brownstones.  But then,
         the windows where the Mabel Dodge Evenings    it no doubt seemed
         once were held.  For an hour the two men      different in 1919, and
         talked of the poet's place in the world.      may have seemed
         Did he accomplish more, each asked the        different in 1959.
         other, by lying low and observing, by
         joining, or (as in Reed's case) leading             I didn't see it
         the fight for a better world?  Speaking as          until the
         a Poet, Reed appeared uncertain.  'If I             1970s-- the era
         could be dead sure I had something on the           when Charles
         ball as a poet,' he muttered.  Then, with           Platt lived
         a characteristic leap of thought, he                there, and was
         shrugged and said, 'Well, somebody has to           publishing the
         do the fighting.' "                                 "Patchin Review".


                   Allen Churchill,
                   "The Improper Bohemians"
                   p. 227
                                              IMPROPER_BOHEMIANS





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