I don’t know
if I am looking in
or looking out
of
that window in the middle of the sunset
but sometimes
my ears melt
into my teeth
and I am content
to be a thing
swimming
inandout
of
Oblivion
“Halfway to Heaven” by Angie Hoover-Hillhouse
Artwork: “Fight or Fright” by Dessi Terzieva
I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Europe and Africa […]
I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.
– Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
———————————————————————
At 24, I related to Sylvia so much that it frightened me. ( If you’re not familiar, her story doesn’t end well). I felt her words in my bones. The fear of death without growth, the heaviness of responsibility, the inclinations to find life both meaningless and meaningful… I saw myself becoming her: A lonely, deflated, narcissist sipping on an agonizing cocktail of self-loathing and superiority. I think maybe that is what drove me to start making decisions in my own life.
What I understand now is that the right decisions are only right because you’ve made them. Whether you decide to be a missionary in Africa, or a pinterest-obsessed house-wife, you will be OK. The problems arise when your mortality weighs on you so heavily, that you neglect to make any decision at all. Maybe if I don’t choose, life will stop moving and I can just stop dying. But it won’t, because no one get’s out of this world alive, and if you don’t make your own decisions, Time will make them for you.
Don’t get me wrong. I can’t order at a McDonald’s without calling 12 friends for advice first, but I am much more capable of dealing with the big stuff in my life now that I realize I will die, and I have to make my peace with not having enough time to do ALL THE THINGS! Decisions-real decisions– require sacrifice and commitment. So, there is no moving forward without accepting the death of those lives that will never belong to you.
Here’s to breaking out of Limbo
– Angie
there was a night last December
when your cherubic fingers
broke off
and slid into my ear
because they couldn’t bare to feel for you
anymore.
Your parts,
like me,
know that you are more
than they are–
grander
and meaner
cleverer
and more masterful
but you
can touch no one
without them
” Your Parts” by Angie Hoover-Hillhouse
Artwork by Jesse Trees
THE END!
Today concludes our second series, Basic Instinct!
Stay tuned for some pretty cool stuff, including several of
Louis C.K.’s Early Short films!
—————————————————————————————————–
Coming Up:
Named for the famous line in Brian DePalma’s rendition of Carrie, this theme will take a look at anxiety, vouyerism, and fear of judgement as well as unconventional pieces (poetry, short dramedies, prose) by our favorite stand-up comedians.
I want to mention that we have a lot of cool stuff for this collection including several of
Louis C.K.’s early short films!
We can’t wait to share!
Pieces that look at ambition, fixation, neuroses, and superstition
Artwork by Steven Quinn:
http://society6.com/terra3/Taking-notes_Print
& Sammy Slabbinck
Hello Everyone! We’d love your help with our new name!
Which Website name do you like the best?
Meaghan and I are renaming our website. We are focusing on mashing together different pieces of art (e.g. poetry with collage, music & paintings), but we need help figuring out a memorable domain that is not currently registered. Let us know what you think!
artwork by Kieran Sperring:
Zombie Fiction is escapism that allows someone to become something more primal. Ironically though, I am not speaking of the zombies. It creates an environment of peril where murder is not only condoned, it is necessary. You are allowed to release your primal nature upon your fellow species without fear of moral or ethical judgement. Essentially, you are allowing the casual bystander to be a killing machine. No longer are they restrained by their sedentary lifestyles, now they are free to become survivors because, deep down, everyone thinks they can be badass if given the opportunity.
– Mitch
That foolish heart
that quakes and quivers
fears and fancies
futilely
for fate affirms
that it must fall
to fix
a feast
of florid fare
–Angie
Artwork by Kris Tate:
There is a debate I loathe, but which I feel I must address as it feels the need to keep rearing its scaly head from the public consciousness; “Are Video Games Art?”
Those who pose this question are missing the forest for the trees, judging videogames for their exploitative elements instead of acknowledging the design and collaboration that goes into the medium. People look at game content and see violence, running jumping, reacting quickly. They see something that is titillating, pornographic and entirely reactionary. But video games of today offer a level of creative agency that cannot be found in games of the past/ other mediums of art. This agency is what turns entertainment into self-expression. The ability to experience, discover, and create your own narrative in a medium that would typically be inaccessible (film/animation) .
Unlike a painting, a novel, or a sculpture, a video game employs teams of hundreds, working together, to create worlds that are then handed to their fans to be shaped and developed. The curtains raise, the scenes play out, and art is achieved. There are entire labyrinths of imagination laid out for each and every one of us to explore. Great, collaborative artwork the likes of which had never been dreamed before the modern age.
I have slaughtered innocents, rescued princesses, saved the universe, lost a daughter, loved and lost… all through this medium. I did things that I never could have attempted in our own world! Because of that, I have felt, seen, and expressed things that I never would have; and isn’t that what art is all about?
by Mitch Schiwal & Angie Hoover-Hillhouse
The Show Tell Project 
