all or nothing #39 - are you giving it your all?
table of contents
1.events 2.words 3.missed connections 4.horoscope 5.listen
»looking forward
mapuche - the return of ancient voices
have you ever taken the time to consider the consequences of our heralded climate change solutions? even though it feels like we are regressing and abandoning the hopes of a greener future right now, our celebrated ideas of ecological progress can still leave indigenous groups disregarded. come through to our 119 hester street gallery tomorrow, february 19, from 6 - 8 pm for a conversation with argentinian photographer pablo piovano, whose work centers the mapuche indigenous community of south american patagonia. through his photographs, learn how green colonialism has affected the mapuche people and how they continue to persist. he will be joined by dr. sarah kelly and mapuche-williche painter ragko.
can’t (un)see it opening
we are all haunted by memories and images burned into our minds, a series of embarrassing, shameful moments that pop into our heads at random, forcing us to relive them. no matter how hard you try, you can’t unsee them, and will likely always remember them, the flashbacks contorting your body and poisoning your feeble little mind. next saturday, march 1, from 6 - 9 pm, abandon your woes and come to the opening reception of the group exhibition i can’t (un)see it at all street gallery’s 77 east third street gallery. maybe someone there will make you feel seen.
words
+how to unsuccessfully expect nothing+
recently, i had a conversation with another totally cool and chill human being like myself and, in the midst of our hearty little convo, i used the classic colloquial saying, “there’s many ways to skin a cat,” with a cartoonish wink and shrug. their beaming grin instantly dropped and their face contorted in sheer horror. they were appalled and confused, just a ball of negative emotion, deeply disturbed by the graphically cruel concept of literally skinning a cat. i feverishly explained the meaning of my words in an attempt to save face, but it was too late. awkwardness now permeated the air and we both shuffled toward an abrupt departure. so, i did what anyone else would do: i gathered the lint, old tissues, and gum wrappers in my jacket pocket and threw them in the air as a smokescreen to smoothly escape from the excruciating interaction. it was probably in the top five worst moments of my life. i kept combing through the interaction over and over again, trying to figure out what i did wrong. was it the wink? was it the shrug? was it my stinky little mouth letting out a cloud of toxic gas as i spoke? or was it, most realistically, me using a 17th century english proverb casually in conversation? it just sucks because i really thought I hit a dinger with that one. this unnamed conversation partner and i had just reached peak convo flow: trading bars, floating between sarcastic insults, physical comedy, and slightly offensive impressions. it was just a beautiful moment of recognition, two wayward souls becoming one in the harmonious throws of mutual understanding – until it all went out the window. and it really happens just that fast. one minute there are endless possibilities and the next, you're a social pariah, cast out and no longer a viable option for anything other than scorn. perhaps there really isn’t a difference between luck and god? and we’re all just wading through a sea of raw sewage, the majority of which is rotten excrement, but occasionally there is some priceless jewelry that accidentally flushed down the toilet or slipped down the sink drain. but what if we learned a reliable method to instantly turn trash juice into potable water? it’d profoundly change the world yet, superficially, the liquid within the trash juice would remain. its context would just be a little bit different. context is really the key to all interactions. if you didn’t understand the example i spoke of above, then i’ll spoon feed it to you now, so open wide. miscommunication is really just rooted in differing contexts. i grew up hearing about “skinning cats” as interchangeably as “hanging dogs.” others made light of “falling bridges in london,” and many talk about getting “sold down the river” like it’s not problematic. what might be harsh on the ears at first will slowly soften and bend as you continue to be exposed, like a failing immune system coming to accept the dark, dark condition that inflicts us all. so, rather than subtly adapting our behavior to make others feel comfortable, we must foist our own contexts upon others by refusing to change. but that cuts both ways, doesn’t it? i guess it just depends on who’s making the cultural context to dictate our interactions. today, my good intentions may be misconstrued and seen as the nefarious musings of a sociopathic loon, but tomorrow they could be the prophetic words of a visionary. it’s easy to throw stones from the outside, but once within, you’re challenging the structural integrity of your own home. at this point, the metaphors have been mixed up to a nearly unintelligible degree, but i think what’s important is that even if we all end up living in glass houses, we still need to get outside from time to time to take the temperature for ourselves.
missed connections
+2.14 valentine’s day
you: been cashing out
me: been crashing out
description:
maybe we could link up and hash this out?
+2.15 comedy show
you: not as funny as you think you are
me: still not laughing
description:
i can’t tell if you’re a bad comedian, or just a bad person. either way, you suck at life.
+2.17 president’s day
you: powerful
me: powerless
description
the world’s probably going to end in a couple days. want to watch it crumble together?
horoscopes
+Aries+
as long as the door remains open, every bull has the right to be in a china shop.
+Taurus+
“don’t confuse confidence with competence” sounds like something a very unconfident person would say to make themselves feel better for pussyfooting around. stop getting caught up with all these labels and slogans, and JUST DO IT.
+Gemini+
that infamous gemini once warned, “man, it's so hard not to act reckless,“ which is fun to say, but actually quite sad if you think about it.
+Cancer+
if you choose to wreck yourself, then there’s never any need to check yourself.
+Leo+
the bridges you burn won’t light the way, but rather will consume you in a fiery death as your flesh roasts before your very eyes. it’s much better to burn a bridge once you’ve already crossed it.
+Virgo+
flying is a state of mind. with an active imagination, you can never be grounded. but if anyone does successfully clip your wings, then just aim for the bushes.
+Libra+
your body can’t function with only half of a heart, so how can you do anything half-heartedly?
+Scorpio+
valentine’s day is over. president’s day has come and gone. so, it looks like that time of year again. the holiday fallout. it’s a rough couple of cosmic minutes and there’s only one way through it. first’ find a used metrocard on the street. but only pick it up if it’s face up. that’s very important. only face up. then go to the nearest bank. you know those pens they have attached to the metal strings? well, you can detach them with sleight of hand magic and a touch of elbow grease. once you have the metal string and the metrocard, you must unite the two. slip the metal string through the metrocard hole and wear it around your neck like a necklace. this will grant you invisibility from the omny fasicsts looking to strip all color from our city’s subways. then, find a piece of metallic trash. aluminum foil would be ideal. but it cannot be new. don’t just go into your pantry and get some fresh aluminum. that will not suffice. and you best believe we’re reading aluminum the british way. once enough sidewalk aluminimum is scavenged, then you must fasten a hat out of it and immediately put it on. this will keep your thoughts hidden from puppet-mayor eric, but it’s crucial to make the tip as sharp as possible on the hat; that will come in handy later. once you’re dripped out in your new metrocard chain and aluminum hat, think about the roman empire.
+Sagittarius+
if you throw caution to the wind, it will just disperse around, leaving you covered in caution. it’s always better to push caution off a cliff and make sure it’s dead.
+Capricorn+
ask for forgiveness, not permission; or don’t ask for forgiveness, either, and just do whatever you want and then disappear.
+Aquarius+
if you really want to go balls to the wall, then you’re going to have put them there.
+Pisces+
send it up.
playlist
+send us your writing, ideas, notes, observations or anything you want to gallery@allstnyc.com to be considered for future editions of all or nothing+
image credits
all images are by photographer pablo piovano, who will be presenting at 119 hester street tomorrow from 6 - 8 pm.