It Is Awkward - I Lost All My Photographs

polaroid

as the charred squares

lied to my eyes that their

matter was disintegrating, salted

droplets eroded streams of

regret that deepened my dusk

and dulled my blaze.

but it’s somewhat amusing

isn’t it, that my own fleshy

urn holds no shape as

symmetrically sound as the squares

that charred and lied.

call out my name; let my ashes be the

penultimate vibrations that echo as

the squares squares squares grasp the twigs

and tufts of amphibological

debris, beckoning my

eyes to glow ablaze.

while the wisps of smoke

escaped the dancing radiance that crackled and

cackled as the memories i was

too burnt out to memorize, decomposed

knowingly, deceiving my

orbs that will

indeed always forget the

silently sleeping squares.

                        - J. A. Kind

Separations

"Oh, my God, I feel it in the air..."  It has ended.  The summertime sadness that was not quite that sad has come to a close.  I will miss pressing the chilled metal of my flattened wand that connects me to the cyberspace and the rectangular, orange collection of pixels.  

        - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 7: The Title

   The Biblical creation of man, as in Genesis 2:7 begins with “...the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth.  He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” However, before God created man, in Genesis 1:26, “...God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’”  To whom was God speaking, for God quoted himself?  Perhaps, God was speaking to the animals, for man can be said to be part animal and part God.  Man inherited God’s breath but was still formed from the dust of the earth, the dust of the animals.  Very Darwinish. The title Inherit the Wind symbolizes the amalgamation of the Biblical theory of creationism with the scientific theory of Darwinism.  Through free thought and speech man becomes a thinking “being” of intellectuality, spirituality, and morality.  Just like the wind, man inherited these.  However, the inheritance of intellectuality, spirituality, and morality can become abusive just like wind’s ferocious form, the tornado.  The tornado twists and turns, devouring a cathedral, yet it cannot destroy an idea.  But, wind also has a gentler force, a force that is still impactful but not destructive.  It carries the seeds that germinate into plants, clouds that produce nourishing water, and the perfumed aromas that awaken the senses in man.  Intellectuality, spirituality, morality. 

   Drummond was a religious man – he was able to quote excerpts from the Bible and speak in great detail about its concepts – that is why he appreciated the biblical beauty of the theory of creationism together with the scientific logicality of the theory of Darwinism.  He knew that for progress to continue, religious and secular thought was not an either/or situation – it was a combination of the two.  Man was not just scientific or religious.  Man was made from dust and breath – man inherited the wind.  And so, “Drummond slaps the two books together and jams them in his brief case, side by side.  Slowly, he climbs to the street level and crosses the empty square.” (Act 3, page 129)

        - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 9: The Ability to Think

   Whereas Brady stated, “...I believe in the truth of the Book of Genesis” (Act 2, Scene 2, page 101) and explicitly articulated that this is how he led his life, Drummond at no point, stated his own personal beliefs referencing the Bible over Darwinism or Darwinism over the Bible.  Brady believed word for word in the Bible – that God created man and blew life and wind into him.  He could not accept nor freely think of anything else.  His mind was closed.  Drummond, although he was accused of being an atheist, never stated Atheism to be his own belief system.  He put the Bible and Darwin’s book together at the end of the play, symbolizing his ability to question and think freely; but he never expressed his own views.  Drummond was able to quote scripture and understand Darwinism, thus showing his allowance for both and ability to draw his own conclusions.  With Drummond’s support, Brady ultimately concludes that his previous beliefs had the right to be questioned.  It was that, that mentally and then physically destroyed Brady to the point where he died.  Brady could not handle the ultimate truth of life – the ability to question. 

    However, Cates and Rachel were able to question and think freely.  Cates acknowledged and appreciated the Bible because of his roots, but he also needed to present the scientific point of view, regardless of the repercussions he might face.  He stood up for what he believed to be right – the ability to question and think freely.  Rachel eventually realized this.  In Act 3, pages 124 through 125 she realized, “[She] was always afraid of what [she] might think – so it seemed safer not to think at all...A thought is like a child inside our body.  It has to be born.  If it dies inside you, part of you dies, too! (Pointing to the book)  Maybe what MR. Darwin wrote is bad.  I don’t know...” Rachel continued to question. 

   The rest of the town was unable to do so – they were easily swayed.  Neither the judge nor Hornbeck declared his own beliefs.  They reported – either the reports of the jury, or the events in the town.   Overall, Inherit the Wind shows that the ability to question and think freely along with the ability to exercise free will are the overarching tenets by which one’s life should be led. 

          - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 5: The Second Review

   I give the play, Inherit the Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee a stellar review.  The play is packed with suspense, drama, witty comebacks, symbolism, allusions, characters that have multidimensional traits, and numerous cites from famous works such as the Bible. Personalities that appeared to be one sided were actually multidimensional – making them more realistic.  People oftentimes only show one side of themselves in public when in reality they are much more complex.  Throughout the play readers were able to see this in action.  For example, when Brady exclaims in pure shock and fear, “Drummond?  Henry Drummond?” in Act 1, Scene 1, page 28 in response to the news of Drummond’s involvement with the defense, cracks in his one-dimensional façade become clear.  A new side of Brady can be shown for a split second, one that is not necessarily the confident preacher the world knows him to be.  Soon after, Brady quickly recovers his preacher persona and declares, “If the enemy sends its Goliath into battle, it magnifies our cause.” (Act 1, Scene1, page 29)  In a dramatic fashion, the contrasting qualities within the play’s characters show their true intentions and feelings.  These instances of characterization throughout the play take the entire piece to a new level.  Readers are brought into a new world where characters’ personalities are mysteriously blatant and a courtroom “exists” underneath the town square of Hillsboro.  Overall, the play deserves much praise, for its readers are taken into a strange dimension filled with multidimensional characters. 

          - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 6: The Criticism and Sympathy

The social norms presented in Inherit the Wind, are blind acceptance of the Biblical version of Creationism versus keeping an open mind and allowing for the exploration of new mentifacts.  Lawrence and Lee used point – Brady and the townspeople – and counter point – Drummond and Hornbeck – to criticize and sympathize with Hillsboro’s social norms.  The authors used the differences between characters to present a sympathetic yet critical satire.  In the beginning, the authors criticize the social norms of Hillsboro by painting the townspeople as narrow-minded religious fanatics. When Matthew Brady arrived in the town, for all intents and purposes, he was almost deified – he was thought to be the savior of the town.  To conclude the song, “Give Me That Old Time Religion,” the townspeople sang, “It is good enough for Brady, It is good enough for Brady, And it’s good enough for me.”  (Act 1, Scene 1, page 19)  However, their own beliefs in which they were so entrenched, only allowed for the worship of the Biblical written word, God, and Jesus.  The satiric irony presented in this is that the townspeople were taking their religion to extremism - the whole reason for the predicament existing was because they felt threatened that someone was taking free speech to extremism and thus defying their beliefs in Creationism.  So, they blindly condemned the Darwin spouting educator when their own actions are condemnable by the rules of their own religion.  They worshiped a human when their religion asked for them to worship God.  Brady was not the voice of reason because he could only accept Creationism – he was a fanatic.  It actually killed him to acknowledge other’s ideas and beliefs.

However, through Drummond, Lawrence and Lee brought the voice of reason to the play.  There were many instances in which Drummond did not present anything other than neutrality, even though he was defending Cate’s legal right to teach Darwinian Theory.  The most prominent instance was at the end of the play, when the attorney placed both books side by side in his briefcase.  This absence of blatantly stating his ideas was Lawrence and Lee’s method of sympathetically criticizing the town and its social norms.  

Additionally, Lawrence and Lee invent a foil through the character of Hornbeck.  Hornbeck mocks the town with his observations and reports.  He uses allusions to the Bible to criticize the townspeople.  In Act 1, Scene 1, page 32-33, Hornbeck while biting an apple says to Rachel, “I’m not the serpent, Little Eva.  This isn’t from the Tree of Knowledge.  You won’t find one in the orchards of Heavenly Hillsboro.  Birches, beeches, butternuts.  A few ignorance bushes.  No Tree of Knowledge.”  Overall, to sympathize and criticize with the social norms presented in the play, Lawrence and Lee used not only the difference in the opinions of the characters, but also the way those characters expressed those opinions.

           - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 10: The Town

“Gimme that old-time religion, Gimme that old-time religion, Gimme that old-time religion, It’s good enough for me!” (Act 1, Scene 1, page 18)  The small town of Hillsboro assumed a narrow-minded, one-dimensional personality due to a combination of its limited exposure to varying viewpoints and cultural experiences, and unquestionable almost Biblical proportion of Bible reverence.  The town itself seemed resistant to challenge previously established and engrained thoughts, beliefs, and mentifacts with which its inhabitants were comfortable.  The townspeople were easily molded.  However, the molded matter of their make up was not like clay that has substance and character, but rather like dust that is ephemeral and easily blown by the wind.  A strong gust from an influential change in temperature and pressure could send the town into a frenzy, as it became upon Matthew Brady’s arrival.  To the people of Hillsboro, life was as simple as black and white.  Rachel said, “We live in Hillsboro, and when the sun goes down, it’s dark.  And why do you try to make it different?” in response to Cate’s saying, “...at the top of the world the twilight is six months long...” (Act 1, Scene 1, page 9)  Cate’s was able to exercise free thought and question preconceived ideas – Hillsboro, at that point was unable to do so.  However, ultimately, the townspeople were complacent.  They acknowledged Brady’s position, they acknowledged Drummond’s position, but they found Cate’s guilty as they went on with their lives, fully entrenched in the Bible and Creationism. 

        - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 8: The Freedom of Religion

   Religious freedom is an establishing element of American society – a backbone, if you will.  It has been a factor of American life for almost four hundred years.  The pros of religious freedom are that residents in America do not have to attend a certain religious function or utter words that have religious connotations.  They have the right to have total faith in their religion or lack thereof, and be able to preach about those beliefs.  However, religious freedom can lead to conflict.  Since American residents have freedom to practice according to their own belief systems, others in America feel threatened when those belief systems are thought to antagonistically converge with their own.

   In the play, Inherit the Wind, religious freedom was tested as a result of the imprisonment of Cates.  The backbone of America was shattered, broken, and disassembled and the bones and cartilage that made up the great bodily entity were scrambled.  The pieces were scattered.  It was not until the ability to question and think freely was introduced to the community of Hillsboro that the pieces were somewhat recovered and peace was restored.  At the end of the play Drummond says, “A giant once lived in that body. (Quietly) But Matt Brady got lost.  Because he was looking for God too high up and too far away.”  (Act 3, page 128)  The key to religious freedom is that it remains grounded. 

              - J. A. Kind

Jasmine - Prompt Eight: The American Cultural Freedom

   There are tornados.  There are instances of metamorphosis.  There are patchwork quilts and there are threads.  But only in America can they all coalesce to become the melting pot it is famously known as. Melting does not mean destroying – it means blending; substance does remain.  It means letting a small star on a forehead erupt into a tornado that binds and bellows as the threads from the patchwork quilt display, in collaged intricacy, the process of metamorphosis.  It means American footprints.  It means Half Face, Du, Duff, Taylor, Lillian, Professorji, Bud, Darrel, Jasmine, Jase, and Jane.  It means not letting go of the past but rather accepting it for what it is – the past.  America is a coalition of not only states, peoples, identities, histories, and emotions, but it is also one of cultures, environments, and love.  America is the land of the free – it is the land of the many cultures.  The novel Jasmine ends with this sentence, “I am out the door and in the potholed and rutted driveway, scrambling ahead of Taylor, greedy with wants and reckless from hope.”  (chapter 26, page 241) America is not perfect, it is dented with “potholed and rutted driveway[s],” but America is hopeful and flourishing with cultures, and hope and the freedom of variety will always try to conquer destruction. 

                - J. A. Kind

Jasmine - Prompt Eleven: The Self-Reliance and Selfishness

Throughout the novel, it was imperative for Jasmine to be self-reliant.  From working alongside her first husband, Prakash, to saving herself from the mad, disfigured, disgusting rapist, Half Face, this quality was a running thread through the novel that continued until the conclusion.  Jane herself, said, “My grandmother may have named me Jyoti, Light, but in surviving I was l already Jane, a fighter and adapter.”  (chapter 6, page 40)  Jasmine had to gather all her things, her necessities, confidence, emotions, and love; and as a mere teenage girl in India, devise a plan along with her brothers to get herself to America to fulfill the dream of Vijh and Vijh.  She then survived starvation along with brutal and numerous rapes.  She had to save herself from another rapist, and find the courage within herself to murder him.  But even before these adversities, Jyoti had the drive within herself and chose to push herself forward to learn English in a land where she was already disadvantaged by virtue of the fact that she was female, and without a dowry.  She was smart enough, creative enough, and determined enough to take a chance meeting and weave it into the fabric of her life, so that she could create the life for herself that she needed at that particular “incarnation.”  Her personality was contagious, people saw in her a spark.  Jasmine was like a woven, quilt-like “tornado” that blew through communities in various parts of the world.  She was a storm of passion, self-reliance, and determination that aided others with the gift of her lightning that powered the flash of inspiration and awe for people to help her and themselves. Lillian gave her the foundation to prosper, Kate introduce her to Taylor, and Mother Ripplemayer introduced her to Bud. What then evolved, was if given an inch of help, Jasmine would be able to create a yard in the fabric of her life and theirs.  

Throughout the story, Jasmine brought out her inner light through her perseverance and self-reliance.  She pushes herself forward, and in the process, ultimately aids others.  However, Jasmine used her independence and self-reliance to help others – thus she became trapped in a cycle of servitude.  This is what occurred with Bud.  So, when she finally saw how her servitude grew from her emigration, she became rightfully selfish.  She took her fate into her own hands, and used her self-reliance and selfishness (satisfaction and understanding of ego) to achieve not only her goals and others’ goals, but her wants and desires as well.  Jasmine evolved from being solely self-reliant and selfless to being healthily self-determined and selfish.  (go get ‘em Jase) 

          - J. A. Kind

Jasmine - Prompt One: The Favorite

Lillian was a boss.  She helped humans who had been smuggled survive in the wild arena we call the land of the free, America.  I admire and respect Lillian as a robust character with a heart of gold and a spine of steel.  She battled the evils that the fates sometimes deal to those who have committed evils to others in past lives.  Lillian was like a Betty White, who out of the goodness of her heart and shrouded in a cloud of kickass strength, mystery, and darkness, aided the alienated humans of America who were stricken by the fates.  While describing her heroine in the novel, Jasmine once says, “[Lillian] represented to me the best in the American experience and the American character.  She went to jail for refusing to name her contacts or disclose the names and addresses of the so-called army of illegal aliens she helped ‘dump’ on the welfare roles of America.” (chapter 19, page 137)  I appreciate the courage and bravery of Lillian and her daring quality of forceful character that set her apart from the rest of the individuals in the novel.  Lillian clearly lived a life of performing service to others.  She embodied the quote on the bottom of the Statue of Liberty – “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”  Lillian was a slice of true Americana, which is why she is my favorite character.  

                   - J. A. Kind

Jasmine - Prompt Four: The Setting

   In Jasmine it is not so much the place and time that matter when discussing setting.  Rather, it is how Jasmine’s experience in that place and time relates to Jyoti, Jane, or Jase’s experience in another place and time.  Jasmine evolved from Jyoti in the palpable mud huts of India, to Jasmine in the small apartment with the books on the edge of the bed, to Jase in Duff’s room with the collapsible cot, to Jane in the mishmash of different textures and layouts of rooms, and finally back to Jase in the unknown.  

   Back in India, during the Jyoti period, Jyoti and the other women were able to defecate openly with their physicality exposed.  While gossiping and bonding, they squatted and crapped.  However, in Miami during the later Jasmine period, Jasmine and her dignity and past were brutally and sexually assaulted – she was manipulated – and forced into self-defense.  She rose then, and in the fluorescent motel with the pink flamingos and scattered detritus and offal, she escaped.  Miami and India were quite different settings however what defined them was their comparison to one another.  In the novel Jasmine, it is not the contrast between the undisturbed forest and the manmade hotel that aid the imagination in an exploration of description, it is rather the experiences in those two places that are diametrically opposed that create the relationships of both contrast between settings and contrast between “incarnations.” 

                           - J. A. Kind

Incarnations Within Incarnations - The Question

How many incarnations does it take to incarnate?  The humans may never know.

                        - J. A. Kind

Jasmine - Prompt Two: The Motion Picture

Jasmine, presented by Jake Kind, in association with Warmer Brothers and 19^th Century Wolf, with the following main cast: 

(Not in order of appearance) 

Jasmine                                                                                                                                 Freida Pinto 

Prakash Vijh                                                                                                                         Sanjay Gupta 

Half Face                                                                                                                           Jack Nicholson 

Lillian Gordon                                                                                                                        Betty White 

Wylie                                                                                                                                  Sarah Paulson 

Duff                                                                                                                              Vivienne Jolie-Pitt 

Karin                                                                                                                                    Mireille Enos 

Bud Ripplemayer                                                                                                                      Alan Ruck 

With the appropriate director, one who is commandingly liberal, but sensitive when it comes to time, space, and violence, I see the movie adaptation as being a success.  In the motion picture, the juxtaposition of the present, forceful dullness of Iowa and the past, passionate, raw intensity of certain landscapes in India, expose the emotionally evocative lives, as drawn in the novel Jasmine.  Throw into that mix, the violence and horror of what occurred in fluorescent Miami, and the complexity of the relationships and “concrete jungle” that is New York City, an array of contrasting, vibrant visuals is obtained.  The novel is a piece of poetic prose, giving it the independence and authority that art captures and dominates.  Poetry can explosively yet subtly bring forth and expose our senses.  A movie can capture this.  The movie would have the capability of illuminating and sending forth shockwaves of sensory intimacy that would create feelings both on and in the viewer.  The cries of Jasmine, the sightings of the mud huts – these and more of the intricate language and settings that breed in the novel, would eloquently, impressionistically, and dramatically let the viewer feel and capture the true meaning of the book.  The movie would succeed. 

                          - J. A. Kind

Jasmine - Prompt Five: The Review

   Jasmine’s pupa stage, Jane, in the novel was entirely servile.  Her relationship with Bud Ripplemayer embodied this. Her submissive nature was explicitly evident in how she had to effect a sexual climax for Bud.  Jane reveals, “There are massages I must administer, pushing him on the prostate, tools I must push up him so that, at least on very special nights, he can ejaculate.”  (chapter 5, page 36)  Jane was a sexual, emotional, and physical servant.  This was not the life she truly wanted.     

   However, Jane would have had a similar servile role had she stayed in India; the characters would have changed, but the role would have remained the same.  Coming to America eventually afforded her the opportunity to escape that compliant cocoon and hatch a new identity filled with non-feudalistic equality and compassion to grow.  Even in her prior “incarnation” with Prakash, Jasmine was compliant when Prakash refused to allow her to become pregnant.  She did not have control over her own body and fate.   

   To have a life and to recreate the dream of Vijh and Vijh were two of the underlying reasons why she left India.  Being Bud’s sexual mistress inhibited the dream.  Her realization of this is why the ending resonated with me.  Jasmine was no longer cocooned in a life of servitude.  She took command of her destiny.  She did not allow the fates to dictate what her life would be – she took command, even though she had to brutally suffer to become Jasmine’s fully metamorphosed American female, Jase.  I give the book a stellar rating in that it poetically embodies the possibility of American metamorphosis.  The book would be a blockbuster motion picture. 

                       - J. A. Kind